As soon as the weird time freeze effect ended, the old rundown cabin changed before my eyes. The warped floorboards straightened out, the dull grey weather worn color faded away, leaving behind a rich stained wood grain in pristine condition.

It was like time ran backwards. Everything in the building rapidly restored itself to new condition, even the holes rusted into the sides of the franklin stove filled in. In the exact middle of what had been the Livingroom, a marble pedestal rose out of the floor, atop it sat the Settlement Control Orb. It looked just like the City Core, but expanded from baseball size to about the size of a basketball.

Headman’s Hut

Administration Building - Rank 1

Quality: Above Average

Administration Bonus: +10%

Durability: 330/330

Sleeping Accommodations: 2 - comfortably, 4 - uncomfortably

Storage: 20 slots

Damn! That’s some snazzy shit right there, I thought as the status window appeared in front of me. I hadn’t seen building prompts before, even in the hamlets or villages I had been in before, and while twenty storage slots didn’t seem like a lot to me, for someone who didn’t have access to a System Market, it was a godsend, especially if it had the higher cost time freezing attribute to them.

Time to see what I’m working with.

Summary

Amenities

Buildings

Defense

Diplomacy

Essence

Management

Market

Population

Production

Settlement Name

Jade Redoubt

Settlement Tier

Tier 1, Hamlet

Settlement Type

Neutral

Settlement Specialization

N/A

Settlement Owner

John Baker

Territory area

300 Acres

Population

1

Essence Generated

29

Essence Bank

5,000

Essence Upkeep

0

Loyalty

Amicable

Morale

Happy

Production

0

Subject Settlements

N/A

The tutorial didn’t say anything about starting out with five thousand Essence! I might get a lot more done right off the bat, nice.

Three hundred acres isn’t bad, but what’s this about only a population of one? I clicked over to the population tab and saw my name listed there, my cultivation tier (Energy), my highest skill level (Meditation/Polearms), my job (Headman), and how much Essence I provided per day (29). Below my entry, I saw a button labeled “Invite Citizens”

I clicked on it, and a new window popped up. Within the new window, fifty-two names filled the space containing all the same information categories that showed up under my listing. Beside each name was a small box that I could check, and above those was a box labeled “Invite All. “

I briefly scrolled through the list, seeing what I had expected. Most of the people were severely under leveled and didn’t have much to show for in their skills. The exception was my family, my ex-wife and my friends. Yang Ming stood out as well, not for his cultivation, but for his Rank 22 Acupuncture Skill. He must have used one of those skill books early on. He did mention using his acupuncture skills to help correct my foundation… maybe there is more to that than I originally thought.

After pushing that thought to the side to consider later, I went ahead and clicked the invite all button. Immediately after clicking the confirmation button, I heard a small uproar from outside. All the people seemed to be talking at once. I Minimized the prompts for the moment, then turned around and went outside.

As I stood on the small porch, I observed the mass of people. Many seemed confused, some were happy and stuck their finger into the air, others were angrily demanding answers.

“What’s with all the clamor?” I called out, getting everyone’s attention.

Everyone fell silent for a moment, before they all erupted with questions directed at me.

“What does this mean?”

“Who are you to claim leadership?”

“Are we safe here?”

“I won’t be a slave again!”

I only made out a few questions and a single declaration from the overlapping voices. I raised my hands to quiet everyone. When that didn’t work, I tried shouting. When that didn’t work, I poured a trickle of Ki into my throat and bellowed. “QUIET!”

The sheer volume managed to shock everyone into silence. Before they could start back up again, I took the initiative. “My name is John Baker. I just traveled over seven hundred miles to get back to my family, my friends and I managed to rescue all of you from slavery. I’m going to make a few statements that will hopefully answer some of your questions and assuage some of your fears.”

I took a deep breath and began. “Right now, we are as safe as we can be in a Settlement without walls. Once I get a handle on everything, I am going to be erecting said walls and see about getting some roofs over our heads. I claimed leadership because I not only saved you all, I am the one who acquired the City Core that established this System recognized Settlement. The prom-”

“That’s not fair! We should vote!” Someone called out from the middle of the group. I couldn’t make out who had said it, but it didn’t really matter.

“Yeah, we should vow-” someone else called out before I interrupted.

“I said quiet! I will not be interrupted.” I panned my angry gaze over everyone, making as much eye contact as I could. “There will be no voting on who is in charge. I founded this settlement, I bled for the Core that allowed me to found it. I am making this a home for me, my family, and my friends. You are all last-minute additions. If you don’t like it, you know the way out.” I pointed at the valley entrance we recently came through.

“I’m not going to kick you out without just cause, though. I’m not some heartless bastard. If I was, I never would have brought you all with me. I don’t hold with slavery. The idea of one person owning another sickens me, which was part of why I freed you all. Now, as I was saying, the prompts you have all just received are an invitation to become citizens of Jade Redoubt. I don’t know yet what all that entails, aside from acting as a census. You, being officially members of the Settlement, populate more of the interface from what little I’ve seen so far. I don’t know a lot yet, but I was working on it. While I do, Magnus, Kiara, Cody, Rowan, Will you all keep watch? Make sure no monsters wander in? Nothing should spawn within the three hundred acres our hamlet occupies.”

At seeing the nod of the others, Magnus answered for the group. “You got it, bro.”

“Okay, I’m going back in side to sort all this shit out. I’ll answer individual questions later once I get a handle on everything,” I said before turning around and going back in, with Rose by my side.

“Bloody hell, I hate dealing with people.”

“I know, hon, they are just scared, though. They are grateful for you saving them, saving us,” Rose said.

“Gods know I’ve missed you.” I pulled my wife in for a long, slow kiss. What felt like an eternity in one way, and mere seconds in another, we broke apart. “I need to get to work on this,” I said. Even I could tell my voice was a bit husky, but I pushed the rising need down and forced myself to focus on priorities.

I brought the Settlement interface again and looked at the summary tab to see what had changed. As I watched, the population numbers climbed in short bursts as more people accepted the invitation to become citizens. As the population increased, my starting Loyalty and Morale of Amicable and Happy fell one stage after another. I pushed it out of my mind for the moment. I had expected it to fall, especially after that brusque speech I had just given. It was something would have to work on at a later date.

I was about to click on the building tab when I remembered the Dungeon Core in my inventory. Wanting to see what would happen, I pulled it out.

Settlement Enhancement Item detected.

Assessing…

Item Identified.

Available Uses Assessed.

Congratulations, Headman.

A Dungeon Core has been detected within the Area of Influence of Jade Redoubt.

How would you like to utilize this Enhancement Item?

Option 1: Form a Dungeon within the Settlement’s Area of Influence. The Dungeon can be guided by your choices, although full control is not granted.

Option 2: Break down the Dungeon Core into 10,000 Essence to be added to the Essence Bank.

Option 3: Integrate the Dungeon Core with the Settlement’s Essence Gathering Array, resulting in doubled Essence draw from the environment and increased Essence collection from the Area of Influence.

Interesting. If there wasn’t already a dungeon half a mile away, I would grab the chance of a personal dungeon without a second thought. The resources alone would be more than worth it, not to mention how it could be an amazing training ground for my people. But with a dungeon already present in the valley, it’s not as essential. The big question is, do I take the ten thousand essence in one lump payment, or do I increase the Essence density and double the Essence gathered from the AOI? I minimized the prompt and pulled up my Settlement interface again, this time clicking on the Essence tab.

The amount of Essence gathered per day was still increasing as more people accepted the invitation. I dismissed that section for the moment and looked up the AOI. Thirty points of Essence gathered per day at this stage. So, if I doubled that, I would get an extra thirty… assuming I don’t manage to advance the hamlet to a village during the next year… it would take almost eleven months to equal the lump sum. Classic dilemma of short- or long-term gain. It also said it increases the Essence density, in addition to the type bonus, it might make it better to cultivate in the hamlet than it would in the dungeon, assuming all dungeons have the same Essence density, anyway.

Well, I already started with five thousand essence more than I had expected, I should be able to get quite a lot done with that, and if everyone joins the settlement, I should get at least three hundred essence per day from the population alone. Which means it would take less than a month to generate that same ten thousand Essence. With my mind made up, I clicked on integrating the Dungeon Core. It was better to plan for future success. With that problem settled, I selected the building tab.

Summary

Amenities

Buildings

Defense

Diplomacy

Essence

Management

Market

Population

Production

Building

Purpose

Bonuses

Durability

Headman’s Hut

Administration

+10% Administration effect

330/330

Designate building purpose

Construct New Building

Nothing surprising so far, I thought. I noticed the Designate purpose button was greyed out; I tried clicking it anyway, but as expected, nothing happened. I didn’t have any new building to designate a purpose for, and either the Headman’s Hut couldn’t have its purpose changed because an admin building was a requirement, or a building’s purpose couldn’t be changed after it’s been chosen. One more thing I would have to explore later. I went ahead and clicked the Construct new building button and a new screen popped up.

Housing

Hut

Size

Sleeps

Comfort Level

Durability

Essence Cost

Small

2

Uncomfortable

100/100

60e

Build options

Medium

5

Uncomfortable

150/150

370e

Build options

Large

10

Uncomfortable

200/200

1470e

Build options

Long House

Small

20

Uncomfortable

150/150

1,125e

Build options

Medium

40

Uncomfortable

200/200

1,875e

Build options

Large

160

Uncomfortable

300/300

7,500e

Build options

Cabin

Small

2

Comfortable

300/300

400e

Build options

Medium

4

Comfortable

350/350

800e

Build options

Large

6

Comfortable

400/400

1,200e

Build options

Defense

Wall

Type

Section Dimensions

Defense

Durability

Hard points

Essence Cost

Palisade

1’x10’x10’

30

300/300

1/50’

50e

Build options

“That’s it? Three buildings and a wooden wall? That’s bullshit.”

“What’s wrong?” Rose asked me.

“It’s these bloody building options. No workshops, no greenhouses, just huts, longhouses, cabins and a simple wooden palisade.” I ran my hand through my hair in frustration. “It’s fine. I can work with this. I was just expecting something more.”

“More? Like what?”

“I don’t know, something like a gathering shed, medicine hut, a workshop, the usual things.”

“Usual? Oh, you mean like… in one of your games?” Rose asked, then shook her head.

I let out a sigh. “Well, when you say it like that… yeah, it sounds stupid. It’s fine, there is an option to designate a purpose to the building after it’s built. It’s just… a little more generic than I had expected. Maybe I can buy new blueprints, or perhaps more buildings will unlock when we level the hamlet.”

What first? A wall to make people feel safe, or a roof over their heads? I needed more information.

For the moment, I disregarded huts. They didn’t provide enough sleeping spaces for the essence cost. Longhouses would be more like dormitories. It would be crowded and there would be minimal privacy, but it was shelter and would make the most efficient use of the Essence I had available. I clicked on the Build Options button next to the medium longhouse to see what I had to work with.

Building Options for Medium Longhouse

Please choose between simple construction (single room structure) or complex (multi-room construction)

Simple

Complex

Well, simple would probably be the cheapest option, though it would provide absolutely zero privacy. People won’t be happy about it, especially if I’m staying in the Headman’s hut with my family. It should do well enough in the short term. Hell, if people are too upset about it, I could tell them to build their own homes, instead of me just magicking them up. I selected simple.

Medium Longhouse (simple)

Base Material: Wood

Dimensions: 25’ x 100’ x 10’

Construction Materials: 750 units of Wood

Manual Build Point requirement: 458 BP

Essence Cost (materials provided): 625e

Essence Cost (no materials provided): 1875e

Manifestation time: 7 minutes 33 seconds

Would you like to:

Construct

Modify

How much wood counts as a single unit? How many trees would I need to cut down for this? Would I have to plane the logs into boards? Do branches count towards the wood units? I tried clicking on each of the different terms, hoping to find an answer to my questions. Unfortunately, they didn’t provide any additional information. It was something I was going to have to experiment with, or find a guide on the Marketplace. Just to see what would happen, I clicked on modify.

Would you like to Modify:

Materials

Dimensions

When I clicked on the Materials option, a huge list scrolled down. All kinds of materials ranging from simple stone or metal to more exotic materials. Each one way was greyed out. I tried to click on one and received this prompt.

You lack both the Settlement Tier and required Technology advancement.

Well shit. There goes having our homes built from solidified clouds. I bet the floor would be more comfortable than any mattress I had ever slept in. I went back to the previous prompt and selected Dimensions.

Infront of me appeared a wireframe 3D image of the longhouse. I could reach out, grabbing various points and manipulate the size and shape. At the bottom of the window, the total Essence costs were listed and rapidly increased as I played around with it. If I moved the lines in such a way as to leave the building structurally unsound, those areas would turn from green to red. Next to the Essence cost at the bottom were two buttons. One said “Save Template” the other said “Accept” I left both alone for the moment.

Along the side of the window, the buildings properties, like how many people could sleep in it updated as I increased its size. It looked like, for every square foot bigger the building became, it cost an extra point of Essence to construct if I didn’t have the required materials. If I wanted to fit everyone as comfortable as possible, without walls dividing the building into separate bedrooms, I would have to increase the length by twenty-five feet, which increased the Essence cost to 3,125e.

I could even activate a function that would show the sleeping areas as colored in ovals. Each one took up roughly a five by ten-foot section of the floor. Wide enough that people could sleep without touching their neighbor, unless they were a very active sleeper. I tried to increase the number of sleeping spaces without increasing the size of the building itself, but when I did, the comfort level for everyone dropped a rank. I knew if people suffered from discomfort for too long, their morale would definitely drop, which would bode ill for the long-term survival of the settlement.

Before finalizing my decision to make a longhouse, I backed up until I came back to the main building page. I needed to see how much it would cost to build a wall.

When I selected the Wall’s build options, instead of showing me a similar page to that of the longhouse, it showed me a map of the Hamlet, well its Area of Influence and the single building, anyway. Along the top of the window were shapes made from dotted lines that reminded me of the Paint software that used to come on every Pc. I could choose a circle, a square, and a wiggly line. I assumed the wiggly line was to draw where I wanted the palisade to go instead of using a pre-made shape.

After selecting the circle, I could expand its size all the way to the edge of my AOI. I nearly choked at the cost of building a palisade that long. 64,050e! there’s no way I can afford to manifest a palisade almost two and a half miles long. That’s just fucking insane.

I shrank the circle down until it was less than the total amount of Essence I had in the bank. It looks like the longest wall I can put up, if I put everything into it is… a circle with a diameter of almost three hundred twenty feet. That puts me at a one-thousand-foot-long wall, costing all five thousand of my banked Essence.

I took a quick peek at my total population and Essence generated numbers. It looked like just about everyone had finally accepted the invitation to be a citizen, so I was up to a population of fifty-two people, including myself. With the dungeon core installed, my new daily essence generation was four hundred seven points per day. So, with that much income, if I spent all my Essence on the wall, it would take… I did the rough math in my head, just under five days to save up enough for the medium longhouse. The dungeon core didn’t add that much to my daily Essence generation, only an extra thirty points per day. Speaking of the dungeon core, didn’t the System call it an enhancement item or something like that? I wonder what else I have that might count…

I looked through my inventory and my eyes fell on the stone elemental core. I pulled it out and was satisfied with the prompt that followed.

Settlement Enhancement Item detected.

Assessing…

Item Identified.

Available Uses Assessed.

Congratulations, Headman.

A Stone Elemental Core has been detected within the Area of Influence of Jade Redoubt.

How would you like to utilize this Enhancement Item?

Option 1: Break down the Elemental Core into 500 Essence to be added to the Essence Bank.

Option 2: Integrate the Elemental Core with a single structure, utilizing the Core in this way will infuse the structure with Earth Essence, increasing its Defense, Durability and Weight.

Option 3: Create a Guardian Golem for the cost of 5,000e and a daily maintenance cost of 50e

You do not meet the Technological requirements for this option.

Damn! A few Golems would have made for a nice addition to the settlement’s defense. If I could make them green, then they would be thematically appropriate with the hamlet’s name, too. Increasing the defense and durability of a structure isn’t bad either, neither was the pure essence boost to the bank.

John: hey guys, how do you feel about donating those elemental cores we picked up to the settlement? They can be cashed in for Essence or be used to boost the defense of buildings. I was thinking about using them to strengthen the wall and, well, fund part of the cost so I can put a roof over everyone’s heads at the same time.

Magnus: you want me to give up my shiny rock to make a safer home… just fucking with you, of course I will.

Cody: It’s God’s will to protect the helpless. I will give mine gladly.

Rowan: Cody, no need to get all preachy, just a simple yes would’ve sufficed, ya know?

Cody: I wasn’t being preachy!

John: leave your bickering out of the chat line, do it in person, and not around me.

Kiara: lol. I was just going to sell mine, sure you can have it. I just gave mine to Magnus. He is going around to everyone to collect them.

John: thankyou everyone. I appreciate it. Time for me to get back to work.

In just a few seconds, Magnus brought me the five other elemental cores. Unfortunately, as I was about to go back in and get things going, a new savage red prompt appeared in front of me, and by Magnus and Rose’s reactions, in front of the whole hamlet.

Warning!

Citizens of Jade Redoubt!

A grave situation demands your immediate attention. Your leader founded your settlement in the Domain of another, the formidable Alpha Steelhorn Ram. This powerful creature, along with its horde, intends to launch an attack in just 30 minutes to reclaim its domain. Your lives and the very existence of your settlement hang in the balance. This is a call to action!

Settlement Quest

Defense of Jade Redoubt

Quest Description:

The Alpha Steelhorn Ram has declared war on your settlement, and it approaches with the intent of driving you away. As citizens of Jade Redoubt, it falls upon your collective strength to defend your new home.

Quest Requirements:

1. Ensure the survival of at least 75% of our population.

2. Safeguard the Headman’s hut from destruction.

3. Eliminate or drive off all of the attacking beasts.

Quest Rewards:

1. Essence

2. +20 Loyalty and Morale.

3. Unknown: a potential reward for the Settlement as a whole should you survive.

Penalties for failure:

1. The destruction of Jade Redoubt and the City Core that made it possible.

“Mother fucker!” I stormed right back outside to a scene of utter panic. “Magnus!”

“Yeah, I got the message. Looks like everyone got the message. What’s the plan?” Magnus asked as he followed me outside.

“Get everyone capable, ready to fight. I’m putting up the palisade right now.”

I brought up the Wall construction prompt again, and this time there was a new option. I clicked on the “Add Enhancement Material” option and found out that each of the Cores I included would increase the Defense and Durability of the Wall by ten percent. I adjusted the wall to be an even three hundred feet in diameter, a ten-foot-wide gate and included half of the Elemental Cores. After all the hurried adjustments, I clicked construct.

Wood Palisade

Base Material: Wood

Dimensions: 1’ x 940’ x 10’

Construction Materials: 750 units of Wood

Manual Build Point requirement: 1177 BP

Essence Cost: 4710e

Manifestation time: 19 minutes 37 seconds

Quality: Average

Defense: 39

Durability: 390/390

Hard points: 18

Special: Infused with Earth Essence, +30% Defense and Durability.

Confirm Construction

Y/N

I clicked yes, and all around our new home, a rainbow-colored mist rose in a perfect circle, sense enough that I could not see what was happening inside. It reminded me of what happened to a corpse after it was looted, just in the other direction. After a minute of watching, I noticed a grey light being added to the bright colors. The walls were being built, but it would take nearly twenty minutes to do so. Fortunately, if the warning was correct, we would have a grace period of ten minutes before we would be attacked.