The Empires Rise

Once in the main entryway, we hear crashing from the dining room.

"You better not break anything in there!" My mother shouts at them.

Rhenriqi pokes her head out, "Don't worry, madam; I promise everything will return to its right spot. Just ensure this guy doesn't try to escape me again." She says all this while I watch Laxreal walk out with a lead attached to his hand.

"Ummmm, Laxreal," I start to say.

"Don't." He stops me, "I deserve it this time, I think."

Rhenriqi nods, "Yes, this is the second time you have died and come back to life. How am I supposed to keep up with you if you keep dying on me."

"So, does that mean you will be his guard?" Shadow asks with a smirk.

"Yes."

"What if he needs to teach people private lessons?" He further probes.

"Don't worry, I will make sure it is private." This time, she has a sinister grin on her face.

"Um, can we go back in, or should we head to the meeting room?" Draemish asks.

Looking again at Laxreal, I decide to go to the meeting room. I can't let it bother me; Laxreal is here, and it is my house. I shouldn't be afraid of a single room in my home.

We all proceed quickly into the room before everyone sits down. Rhenriqi joins us since she is quite literally tied to Laxreal.

I looked around for an accessible chair for her but found nothing. Thinking about it, I will consider the meeting room and see if there is an option.

- Customization to the meeting rooms is only available in buildings with a neutral racial stance. The building is primarily made for humans, so no customization options are available. -

I look at Rhenriqi. "Sorry. I thought I would try to find some seating that would work for you. Sadly, there isn't an option, at least not in this building."

With everyone that can sit seated, I jump into the following conversation. "What should we do about all the rewards? A lot of people are going to get experience bags and level up. Should we worry about it or just let it happen?"

"We should let them have their rewards," Shadow starts, "They fought with us without knowing anything about this world; they deserve every single reward that can be given to them."

"I sssecond that," Vranjaya states, "They alssso ssswore an oath to you, ssso it ssshouldn't be an isssue."

I did not see any disagreement from anyone, so I opened another notification about the rewards and selected to release them to everyone.

It doesn't take long before the room is filled with different bags and boxes.

Pushing mine off, I bring up the next topic for now. "We have finished everything we need to level up the settlement again. Should I do that next, or should I complete the quests?"

"I would say level up the settlement first." Rhenriqi is the first to offer her opinion. "We already have a lot of rewards to sort through, and if we can get some more space, that would be for the best since we are going to need to build a lot of housing for all the new settlers."

"We should finish the quests first." Shadow says, "We could get more resources and start the buildings. If we hold off for too long, it will be night again, and we don't want people to go without homes."

"We already have a chuck of people without accommodations. We should be thinking about housing first and foremost." Draemish offers a third opinion.

"Ok, let's put this to a vote then. We have three different options. Those in favor of the level-up, raise your hands."

"Hold on, why are we the ones voting?" Rhenriqi asks. "We aren't the only ones that can make these decisions."

Sighing, I look at her. "True, but most people are not in this room right now. They have sworn the oath, but they haven't been here long. We must keep things simple and low-key so this little group will do for the moment."

Not thinking deeper about this issue, she relents, and the voting starts.

Two people voted to level up the settlement, two voted to finish the quests first, and the remaining four voted to get more housing started immediately. Looking at my resources, I can start the construction of one hut and nine tombs.

Thankfully, with the influx of people, we have more foremen to complete more construction projects.

When the projects started, I asked again, "So, settlement or quests?"

This time, the vote goes right to level up the settlement. Going to the menu, I select to level up the settlement. This time, there is something new.

- Reward for completing optional tasks:

The experience accumulated over the amount has been retained to the next level. -

Thinking that it isn't much, I open the shortened settlement statistics.

- Settlement Information:

Name: Caelnova

Tier: Roadside Hovel

Level: 4

Experience: 12682/100

Population: 62

Territory Size: 1.3Km X 1.3Km

Settlement Tasks:

Have a population of 15 (62/15)

Have 10 settlers at level 3 or higher (62/10)

Build at least 5 different defensive buildings (7/5)

Optional Tasks:

Have 2 outposts under settlement control (1/2)

Have 15 settlers at level 3 (62/15) -

"Okay, good news first: We can level up the settlement again if we so desire," I announce to everyone.

"Then why aren't you leveling up the settlement?" Draemish asks.

"That is the second thing I was going to bring up. I want to keep the experience from the level up because it is an insane number at the moment. The only way to do that is to complete the optional objective," I answer.

"How much experience do we have, and how much is needed to level up?" she asks.

I show everyone the screen and some blanch at how much there is.

"We ssshould try and keep asss much asss possssible." Vranjaya agrees with my opinion.

"Then we should get the next outpost built," Shadow says.

"We have already decided to use the 'Mythical Treasure of the Fog' to craft a lumber outpost. All that is left to do is place it." I answer

"The best location would be to our west; there aren't any hills, and it is a nice open plain," Rhenriqi is the first to offer an option.

"That would also be my recommendation; the north and south have water, so all we need to do is watch for ships or monsters underwater. But it should be a big deal with how we cared for them in the last five waves," Laxreal agrees.

With no one objecting to the placement, I used the token and placed the Lumber outpost to our west.

No one can see what it looks like, but from my perspective on the map for building constructs, I see a small patch of trees sprout, and then a hut spawns next to it. Surrounding the hut is a fence just like outside of the manor.

- Tiny Lumber Outpost: (+10 units Tier 1 Wood, with a worker: 20 units Tier 1 Wood, 2 units of

Tier 2 Wood, and an additional chance to harvest Tier 2 Food) -

With the new outpost built, I can level up the settlement again, which will update the status one more time.

- Settlement Information:

Name: Caelnova

Tier: Roadside Hovel

Level: 5

Experience: 12582/200

Population: 62

Territory Size: 1.4Km X 1.4Km

Settlement Tasks:

Have a population of 25 (62/25)

Have 20 settlers at level 3 or higher (62/20)

Optional Tasks:

Have 10 settlers with professions at level 2 (2/10) -

Seeing that we still have the experience from the previous level, I breathe a sigh of relief.

"Alright, same issue, different solution," I announce to everyone. Before we can upgrade, we need 10 people to have their professions to level 2. With our current downtime, focusing on some professions shouldn't be an issue."

They all agreed with me, and finally, we completed the quests. Looking at them, I select the easiest one since it is complete.

- Resurrecting a Friend:

You promised to help bring Laxreal back from the dead and offered the settlement's assistance.

Task:

Look for ways to bring Laxreal back: 1/1

Resurrect Laxreal: 1/1

Rewards: Guardian for the Settlement -

"For the first quest, I chose to complete 'Resurrecting a Friend,' Laxreal. Could you please stand up?" I ask.

With him standing, I point. "He is the reward for this quest; more specifically, he is the guardian of the settlement. I presume this means he should be able to hand out quests like I can."

He nods, "That isn't all; I have more information about certain aspects of this world, but that can wait until later and when I experiment some more."

"Does that mean he can't go out and explore anymore?" Rhenriqi asks.

"Correct," he replies and then pats her hand.

Then, I choose the next quest to complete.

- We're Going to Need a Bigger Wall

As you have leveled up your settlement, forces have started to take notice. Plans are brewing to attack your fledgling settlement. You have given your settlement more time by destroying one of the encampments. But be warned, sometimes more time is worse.

Tasks:

Waves Completed: 15/9

Average Level of Settlers: 3.5

Difficulty Based on Levels: 4

Added Difficulty based on waves completed: 2

Total Difficulty of waves: 6

Rewards: ???

Penalty for Failure: Death and destruction of the settlement

Note: Increasing the population could help or hinder the attacking force. Be careful.

Special Note: The threat level has decreased due to the completion of a Unique Trial Encampment. -

- Rewards Generating:

16 X Selectable Type Chest

5 X Settlement Experience Bags

1 X Auction House Invitation

14 X Random Wealth Bag -

Once again, the area around the table is crammed with bags and chests.

Two of the items immediately pique my interest.

- Auction House Invitation: You may use this invitation to teleport the user and two companions to an auction event. The event happens once a month. Next event: 5 Days 4 Hours 41 Minutes 40 Seconds

Random Wealth Bag: Inside, it consists of various coins used for trading. Best of Luck -

"Interesting," I say. "Who wants to go to an auction?" I ask with a sly smile.

Draemish and Vranjaya immediately raise their hands.

"OK, when it is closer to the time, I will see if anyone wants to sell anything or if you want to change your mind. We might be lucky to find some people who were traders in the current settlement."

They sit back down.

"That is all for the settlement quests; all left is for people to complete their quests and then focus on their profession levels. Let's do a large settlement meeting in the morning after everyone has rested." I state.

With their dismissal, they all head out except for Laxreal and Rhenriqi.

"What's up, Laxreal?" I ask him.

"I want to make sure you are okay, and I want to continue our training. You have more affinities, which means you have more options. I don't think you can get out of it. I have talked with Rhenriqi, and she agrees that we need to strengthen you so you can hunt independently. It is useless for a powerful person like you to be trapped behind walls because you are the only healer."

"I mean, I am pretty strong as it is. I have 70 health and over 200 mana. It shouldn't be a problem for me to explore for a while and then come back and heal those that went out."

"What do you mean you have over 200 mana? How is that even possible? Even after upgrading to an E-tiered race, I still don't have as much mana as you... Wait a second. It's your Mana Heart, isn't it? Damn, damn, damn. Cheaters and their Mana Hearts. They always have more mana than those without Mana Hearts."

"Yeah," I pull up a notification I have ignored.

- Mana Heart has successfully integrated and merged with the user's heart and bloodline.

Bonuses:

20 Mana per point of Wisdom

1 Wisdom per Level

10 Health per point of Constitution

1 Constitution per Level -

I share this screen with him. And he looks at me in shock. "Twenty points of mana per point of wisdom, and one wisdom per level; stacking that with the one wisdom you get for being a mage, you receive at least 40 mana per level. That is ridiculous. I am only getting ten mana per point of wisdom due to my race being in the E Tier. If I am not mistaken, you must have four times the mana compared to anyone else at your level."

"I think so. Before my Mana Heart was completely formed, I started out getting five mana per point. Then, when it reached 65% of its development, it increased to six mana per point, one wisdom per level, and one constitution per level."

"Cheaters the lot of you," he scolds me.

Knowing he isn't mad at me specifically, I laugh, "Yeah, but it will be useful in the future." I give him a big smile.

"Yea, yea," he waves his hand. "Just make sure when you are done with your exploration, you help those injured."

I give him a thumbs up, "Is there anything else?"

"No, I wouldn't be shocked if you speed ahead in your profession now that you have so much mana at your disposal."

"I hope so. I was going to look at my last quest and see what goodies it provides me."

"Alright, Drake. We will leave you be. When you are ready to train, come on over to the Mage tower."

"Roger." As he leaves, I pull up the last quest in my log.

- Did Someone Call for a Training Montage?

You have leveled up once, but will that be enough? Before the night attack, reach level 3 in your class, learn more spells, and clear your Mana Veins.

Tasks: Reach Level 3 (0/1) FAILED

Learn more spells (6/4)

Clear more Mana Veins (100%)

Rewards: Random wooden consumables box

Pill of mana nourishment

Status: Lower rewards will be granted upon completion of the quest due to partial failure. -