“How many more?” I asked, glancing at the quest timer. We only had an hour until the siege. I wasn’t sure how long it’d take to train people in those professions once it was done, but I knew the goblins had each taken fifteen minutes to go from peons to apprentice carpenters.
“About one of each material per second.” He shrugged. “And it will shave about ten minutes off the total.”
“Pass,” I said because there was no way we could afford to spend over a hundred times the cost of the buildings just to shave thirty percent off the time frame. Not when we needed materials as much as we did.
“Whatever you say,” Carl replied, shrugging his shoulders at me before glaring at one of his apprentices. “Grojavier! Stop bending the nails when you strike them. Go slower and do it right or the whole thing will just collapse.” He sighed and smacked his hands on his thighs. “If you don’t need anything else…”
“Nah, go to it,” I said, nodding toward the buildings. He was already gone before I had even finished my statement. Hell, I’d half expected to see a little smoky outline of him in the place where he’d been like in a Wile E. Coyote cartoon.
The sad thing was, we actually had a bunch of Magestone left, but no way of using it because we didn’t have enough other materials to craft any of the things that required it. The whole thing was frustrating because it was like the time in Titan Gate where I’d wanted to craft Magical Dragon armor. It required a bunch of easy to get materials and one super rare drop. I’d hunted the super rare drop over a month but then still hadn’t been able to make the armor because I needed a week’s worth of easy to get items from the mithril hills.
Still, there had to be a way to make use of it. I wanted to ask Crash, but he was too busy planning the defenses at the gates with Dark Heart to be of much use. Both of them had gotten seriously into the whole defense thing, which I suppose was fine since I mostly wanted to craft the structures.
Having to do that and plan the defense strategy had been more taxing than I’d wanted to admit, in no small part because I had felt totally responsible for our success. At least if we failed now, I’d have someone else to blame in Hell.
“Hey,” I called as I approached the Kapre before glancing from the demonic tree to Cain. “I’ve got a question.”
“Hay is for cows,” the Kapre said, pulling his cigar from his mouth and gesturing at me with the lit end. “But ask your question anyway.”
“Sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “I was just wondering if there was anything else we could do with all this Magestone.”
“You mean besides what Crash has earmarked for the ballistas and suchlike?” the Kapre asked me while Cain scratched his beard and looked at the sky like he was lost in thought.
“Yeah, aside from that,” I replied trying to hide my shock. I hadn’t known Crash was having them make ballistas. That was pretty sweet.
“Then no,” the Kapre said, shaking his branches and causing his leaves to rustle. “You know what I can make. If we had Hellstone, we might be able to do something, but Magestone? That’s not really my bag.”
“There’s one thing you could make,” Cain said, turning to look at me with his dark eyes. “But I’m not sure how useful it will be.”
“Why is that?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at the old man. “And what is it?”
“You can make a hatchery with Magestone which will allow you to raise animals, but…” He shrugged. “Even if we had it built, raising animals would take a long time, and besides, you’d need eggs to raise something.”
“Interesting, but not terribly helpful,” I admitted. “What would it cost?”
As I spoke an icon appeared over Cain’s head, and as I looked at it, a menu listing the building opened on the screen.
Hatchery
Durability: 1000
Use: Allows the creation of Hatchers. A Hatcher can raise various animals when given eggs or young.
Cost: 100 Thatch, 1000 Wood, 500 Fiber, 100 Stone, 1 Magestone
I nodded as I looked at it, we definitely had the materials, or would once the shredders came back in, but Cain was right. There was no way it would be useful to the fight. Besides, even if we did make it, it’d probably take too long. Unfortunately, there was no way to know for sure without building it. And we did have the materials… What did we have to lose? I was about to tell him to go have Carl lay it out when another building caught my eye.
Warding House
Durability: 1000
Use: Allows the creation of Runecarvers. A Runecarver can etch wards into various items to imbue them with magic.
Cost: 1000 Thatch, 10000 Wood, 5000 Fiber, 1000 Stone
My jaw hit the ground as I stared at that for a minute before turning my gaze to Cain. “Um, what sort of wards can a Runecarver do?”
“Defensive ones, mostly.” He shrugged. “They can put wards that defend against various elements and the like, provide passive buffs, etc, but the wards will only be as strong as the material they are carved on, so they tend not to have a lot of strength behind them since most things are made of stone, metal, or wood.”
“What if we carved them into Magestone?” I asked, a brilliant idea forming in my mind. If Magestone was better for the wards, we could place chunks of warded Magestone strategically throughout the town to enhance the effects.
“That would work much better,” Cain replied, scratching his beard once more. “But it would take a lot of Magestone to craft enough for it to be worth it. Then again, I’m not a Runecarver, so you should really ask one of them.”
“Kapre? Any opinions,” I asked, turning to the demonic tree.
“It’s not the worst idea, assuming you have the resources to do it.” The tree rustled. “Time is of the essence, though.”
I nodded, thoughtfully. Fuck it, go big or go home, right?
“Cain, can you tell Carl to lay out both a Warding House and a Hatchery?” I asked, and as the old man nodded to me, I watched our huge cache of collected materials vanish into the ether. Still, it was fine, we’d get more.
At least, I hoped we did.
38
“Where the fuck is Two’ Manchu?” I grumbled as I watched the quest timer count down. We had only ten minutes before the siege started, and neither he nor Sabre had shown back up. I knew they weren’t dead because our party window still listed them as alive, but they should have been back. I mean, okay the sword wasn’t ready yet either, but even if it was finished, it’d do us exactly no good if they didn’t come back soon enough for us to use it.
“I’m not sure, boss,” George replied, staring up at me as I made my way toward the newly completed Hatchery. “I’d hoped Fatty would be back before we started. As much as I dislike the numbskull, I do like having him fight beside me.”
“I’d like to have the both of them back too.” I nodded, knowing we needed all the help we could get.
Still as I surveyed the town, I was glad Sabre had sent me back with the Kapre. There was no way we’d have managed to fortify the town and gotten the Ring in Strife otherwise. Hell, even with Crash, Dark Heart, and I all working on the defenses, we’d still had to skip over some things, like spiked outer walls.
That said, thanks to the fletchers, we now had a bunch of bow-wielding archers in training, each led and trained by a castle guard. Hopefully, that would make up for the fact that most of the stone walls were only two or three sections high, and worse, the three goblin runecrafters hadn’t progressed past intermediate skill level despite all the rune carving they’d done, which means they hadn’t progressed in ability far enough to carve any Magestone.
Still, we’d have to make it work with the stone wards they’d carved into the walls. There was no other way.
Even the hatchery had taken a lot longer than the other buildings because it was freaking huge. It’d taken at least four times the square footage the other buildings had, and the only way we’d been able to do it within the town’s footprint was by building a second story onto the s
tructure so we could move the hatchery above the rest of the shops.
I wasn’t even sure why we’d bothered, only that I thought it might help. Now I was regretting it because we’d have had a few more sections of wall without it. Still, I kind of hoped it’d wind up being worth it, and now that I stared at the newly constructed building, I had to say, I was impressed by its size.
Its immense stone walls gleamed in the light, and with the shops below it, I was almost sad we’d be leaving the Town of Silver Gables soon. We’d put so much work into building up this town and after this siege, one way or another, we’d be leaving it behind.
Sure, we might be able to build a new town later, but this one, assuming it survived the Skeleton King’s assault, would always have a special place in my heart.
“I guess I hope the girl is okay too,” George said, nodding at me. “She ain’t bad on the eyes, so it’d be a waste if she were to die before I tapped it.”
“Glad to know where your priorities lie.” I laughed and shook my head at the rabbit. “Now, let’s see if I just wasted a bunch of time or not,” I added, hoping they’d both return soon while casting a confident glance that was only skin deep at George.
“What do you mean?” George asked as I pushed open the wooden doors to the hatchery. An apprentice hatcher, this one human, stood off to the side stacking feed. I wasn’t sure where it’d come from since I hadn’t seen anyone make deliveries. Then again, there wasn’t much else to do on account of there being no animals inside. Guess none of the NPCs had eggs and what not lying around.
“What can I do you for, mate?” the hatcher asked, looking up at me and flipping the long red hair out of his eyes while wiping his hands on his yellow leather trousers. His face was covered in sweat as he moved toward me and held out his hand. “I have to say, I’m super thankful you let me become a hatcher. It will mean a lot for my family.”
“Eh?” I asked, taking his hand and shaking it. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I was just a peasant before. Now I have a profession, which means I’ll make more money and be able to move my family to the swanky part of town.” His face fell slightly. “Assuming we don’t all die in the next few minutes.”
“I hadn’t even thought of that,” I mumbled to myself because I really hadn’t. I’d given exactly zero thought to what it’d mean for the individual NPCs when I made them into professionals instead of peasants. Hell, the only reason this guy had gotten chosen was because he’d been nearby at the time.
“Well, it means a lot to me anyway.” The hatcher smiled, but his eyes had lost some of their gleam. “So what can I do you for?”
“I found this egg,” I said, pulling out the White Dragon’s Egg I’d acquired in the pickup dungeon and showing it to him. “Can you do anything with it?”
“Have you seriously been keeping it in your inventory?” he cried, pulling it from me and holding it to his chest like I was the devil incarnate. “Don’t you see the health bar underneath?” He pointed at the bars displayed above the egg. One was totally empty, and the other was half-filled.
“Uh, yeah?” I asked, confusion filling my voice. “I have no idea what it means.”
“This red one that’s half full is its health bar. If it went to zero, the egg would decay, and be useless.” He scowled at me. “I can’t believe you were so careless.”
“Sorry, I didn’t know,” I said sheepishly as I stared at my feet because the glare he gave me let me know ignorance wasn’t an excuse.
“I guess it’s okay,” he snorted before shaking his head at me in a way that let me know he didn’t really mean it. “Do you want me to store it?”
“Can’t you hatch it?” I asked, looking over at him.
“Hatching this will take about four hours, and the baby will require dragon milk, which I don’t have. Additionally, if you’re not here to imprint on the baby when it’s newly hatched, it won’t listen to you.” He gave me a wistful look. “I’d suggest you store it until you have more time.”
“What happens if I leave it with you and leave town?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him because I wasn’t sure I could take it with me. What if I went to a new town, and it didn’t have a hatchery? The egg might die before I could find another to deposit it.
“You can go to any hatchery and request a transfer. It takes about twenty four hours,” the hatcher said, shrugging at me. “So you want me to store this? I can even get the health filled back up for a thousand Rhuvians.”
“Yeah, do that,” I said as my Rhuvians decreased by another thousand. A soft cry of pain escaped me as I stared at my wallet. I only had three thousand left thanks to all the stuff the town had needed. Not only had I drained the town’s treasury, but I’d wound up spending most of my own money too.
“Will do,” the hatcher replied, turning to take the egg away.
“Thanks,” I said to his back, but I couldn’t keep the disappointment out of my voice. I had hoped to have a dragon to fight the undead army coming our way, but apparently, it wasn’t in the cards. Even if I’d made the hatchery sooner, there’s no way I’d have found dragon milk. Hell, I didn’t even know where to get dragon milk.
“So, let me get this straight,” George said as we walked out of the hatchery and headed toward the north gate to meet Crash and Dark Heart. “You spent a shitload of resources to build a building so you could hatch that egg?”
“It wasn’t really that much,” I said, blushing slightly.
“It was enough that you’re going to feel pretty fucking stupid if we all die!” he snapped, glaring at me.
“Fair enough,” I replied, nodding at him because he was right. If we wound up dying because we got overrun, I’d probably feel pretty dumb. Still, what would a few more segments of wall really do in the grand scheme of things? Not much. At least, that’s what I tried to tell myself.
“Fair enough,” George mimicked in a decidedly dopier voice than I had in real or digital life, and before I could say more, the counter in the corner of the screen hit zero.
The ground started to shake as trumpet calls exploded across the horizon, and the image of a massive skull appeared across the sky. Its eyes glowed with scarlet flame and the silver crown upon its head gleamed like star fire.
“Have you made your peace with death, adventurers?” it asked in a voice that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up straight. “Because death comes for you all!”
39
“Man the battle stations!” Crash cried as undead burst from the ground in front of the walls. Their bony, rotting hands tore the earth asunder, pulling themselves free like the town had been built on an Indian burial ground filled with Hell’s most hated.
The screams of banshees shattered my hearing as the undead hordes rose as one and pointed their twisted visages at us. Their cries rippled over my skin like cobwebs as the peasants turned archers stood alongside us behind the walls.
“You got this?” I asked as Crash directed the archers to unleash a volley of arrows at the undead.
“Yeah, you guys do your thing,” Crash replied as silver arrows rained down on the undead army.
“Okay, I’ll head to the west gate,” Dark Heart yelled over the din of the musicians playing furiously behind us. Then she turned and sprinted off toward the west as Crash’s archers unleashed arrow-filled death across the battlefield.
More screams filled the air, but I ignored them as I climbed up onto the battlement so I could see over the wall. The sight made my heart fill with joy. The arrows the priest had blessed had already eviscerated a huge swath through the undead. Still, those that weren’t dead were coming. Fast.
Thankfully, we had planned for this. I just needed to do one thing before I left Crash to defend the gate by himself and headed to the south gate.
“Raise Golem!” I cried, pointing at a strategically placed pile of stone. My magic erupted from my fingers and swept over the stone, turning it from lifeless rock into a towering stone golem. It raised its head to
ward the sky and shrieked loud enough for my eardrums to pop, and then as I set it loose on aggressive, it charged straight for the undead lumbering toward our walls.
System Message: You have raised a stone golem. Health: 250 Mana: 0.
As its stone fist crushed the skull of the closest skeleton, I took a deep breath and exhaled it while concentrating.
“Reflecting Fog.” As I said the words, red mist swirled up around my golem, covering the entire entryway to the castle.
“Go!” Crash cried, and I nodded to him as I leapt down off the wall and ran across town toward the south gate. As I entered the area about twenty feet from the gate, I was instantly glad we’d wound up being able to use the runecrafters even if they couldn’t do Magestone carving.
System Message: You have receive the buff: Strength of the Ages. Your Strength and Dexterity have increased by 5.
System Message: You have receive the buff: Holy Regeneration. Your Health and mana recovery has increased by 10%.
“Hurry!” George yelled as I tore my eyes from the buffs glowing in the top left corner of my HUD and leapt up onto the wall to see what George was pointing at.
Unfortunately, what I saw made my heart sink. Undead were already crawling up the walls despite the arrows our archers were pumping into them. I’d been at the north gate because it had only been built two sections high unlike the west and south gates, and I’d wanted to make sure Crash had the Golem and Reflecting Fog combo going, but clearly that had been a mistake because even that short time had been almost enough for this gate to get overwhelmed.
“Control Undead!” I screamed, letting my magic flow as I utilized all my gifts to ruin the undead scaling the wall. As my power leapt out, the six highest skeletons turned to my team. A smile crept across my lips as I directed them to attack their brethren.
Soulstone: The Skeleton King: A LitRPG Novel (World of Ruul Book 2) Page 25
