CC 10: Thesaurize ~ One!

“Sixteen days.” Joe was standing atop one of the tallest towers he’d made yet, which was matched only by its twin on the opposing entrance of the labyrinthian walls that surrounded Novusheim. There was forty feet of open air between the two stone defenses, even if technically they were a single serpentine superstructure. “No, I can't forget that ‘days’ means something completely different on Jotunheim… I believe it would be more accurate to say ‘a little over four hundred hours’.

A tiny smile graced his lips as he thought of how annoyed the Dwarves had been that they needed to adjust their mindset on issuing quests and requests. He was glad of the small moment of levity, as he was extremely tense at the moment. Far into the distance, the Ritualist could see thousands of monsters scrambling across the open, frozen tundra toward his beautiful, untested new setup.

Gently patting the ritual tower he’d just created, Joe spent a few minutes activating the ritual that he had put in place. Bubbles of acid had proven to be an effective opening volley against the densely-packed monsters, the mass of the attack enough to stagger most of the foes that it hit. Once the ritual was active, in place, and ready to give the invading monsters a proper greeting, he turned and inspected the changes he and the Council of Masters had made over the last several hundred hours of work time.

The straight-edged stone palisades that had once surrounded their Town had been fully replaced, the Trash-tier stone having been broken and almost entirely reduced to rubble during the assault by the Cyclops. To replace the protection and killing corridors, Joe had invested in sturdy city walls; all the resources he technically owed to the Council of Novusheim instead being devoted to the project.

He had finished ringing the innermost layer of the Town with Tier five, Journeyman-rarity walls. Even now they were slowly being empowered by the best Enchanters among the Dwarves and humans that had migrated here with them. “No shortage of Uncommon cores, at least. They can always add a higher-tier layer to it later, when more Rare cores are available.”

From there, the wall swirled out around Novusheim in a whirlpool pattern. The Ritualist had maintained at least six inches between each hundred-foot section of stone, ensuring that no single attack would be able to take down the entire superstructure. Now, it was time for the culmination of his efforts to be put to the test. If the approaching monster wave was repulsed easily, it was highly probable that the Town would get a surge of morale, allowing them to quickly build a bunch of workshops and other necessary items for their Town.

The now-familiar enemies were approaching, and the time for planning had come to an end. Massive Penguins sprint-waddled forward with surprising speed, Ancient Ice Salamanders snuck along beneath the clouds of snow, four-limbed Hoardlings thundered along, and… Something new. “Uh-oh. I don't like new things when they’re coming to eat me. Scouts! New enemy, I need a report!”

“Councilman Joe!” Came a sharp reply, a stark difference from the situation Joe had been in before he’d defeated the Cyclops. The Ritualist stood straighter as his newfound authority was recognized, and a Dwarven scout immediately began rattling off a report on the monster coming toward them. “It appears to be called a ‘Verglas Leaping Leopard’. Initial observation shows only five percent of the horde is composed of this new type of creature. Most likely possibility: it was unable to attack settlements under the rank of Town. Going by the sheer numbers of attackers previously, there’s a ninety-eight point two percent chance this is a correct estimate.”

“New levels, new devils.” Joe muttered to himself as he gave the scout a nod of appreciation. “I knew that we were going to have to deal with new monsters eventually, I wonder how many per settlement rank? There were only Penguins, Salamanders, Hoardlings, and Boss monsters during the last rank, but we also skipped straight to ‘Village’. Was it just one per settlement rank? No use speculating, I guess we'll just haveta find out the hard way.”

Another quick glance around revealed a startling fact: a huge number of the population of the Town were amassed along the tops of the walls, wanting to get a first-hand look at how well the defenses held up. Joe's neck and back started to itch as he was slammed with a small bout of anxiety. Rolling his shoulders, he tried to ignore them as the monsters sprinted closer.

*Hzzt… Fwizzz!*

The Ritualist stood firm as his outermost duo of ritual towers spun up an enormous ball of acid and launched it at the onrushing creatures. Both impacted at nearly the same time, sending nearly fifty monsters tumbling as they ran into the creatures in front of them. That was when Joe's smile started cautiously growing. “Looks like the stopping power of the Double Bubble Trouble is much more effective than a single hit. Good, Heartpiercer Mcshootypants was right about that.”

A cheer erupted from the assembled townspeople as the bombardment of acid continued. In their mind, victory was already secured, and everyone was immediately starting to revel in the knowledge that they could settle down and build up their City without fear. So long as this Town could stand strong on its own against the otherwise relentless onslaught of wandering monsters, the path to a permanent society was clear. At least until they tried to push to a higher rank and capture all of the benefits that came with it.

Monsters started to pour into the walls, sprinting along the killing corridors as rapidly as they could. The whirlpool layout ensured that they wouldn’t be able to ever reach their top speed, keeping monsters from crashing into the walls and damaging them at the same time. A trade-off to this was the fact that the monsters were able to maintain a constant speed throughout the entire distance; so overall it was a wash in terms of how long it would take them to get to the center of the labyrinth. Still, Joe took it as a win that they wouldn’t have to deal with the constant maintenance of Penguin beaks being embedded into stone.

“Leaping Leopards!” A warning was called out just in time, and Joe threw himself to the side as a Leopard pounced through the space he’d just been standing, directly bounding over the outermost wall. It spun in the air, claws flashing at him, but was unable to halt its momentum and dropped the remaining distance to the ground far below.

Joe took a few deep breaths, trying not to hyperventilate. He’d gotten used to being safe atop the walls, and this was a sharp reminder not to get complacent. Still, that had given him plenty of time to study the creature as it went past him. The beast was snow white, with dark blue spots along it that would help it blend into this frozen tundra it called home. A quick guesstimate told him that it would be nearly twenty feet long from tip to tail, and stood eight feet high from the bottom of its feet to the frosty spikes of its ears.

He hopped to his feet, finding out firsthand what the ‘Verglas’ part of its name was as his head *cracked* onto a transparent sheet of ice that had followed the beast on its jump.

“Ow!” Joe yelped in surprise, his Exquisite Shell ensuring that he took no damage from the strange terrain feature that had been created. He reached up and felt the odd parabola of ice that hung in the air, sliding his hand down it and realizing what was happening. “Heads up! They create ice bridges after them when they jump!”

His ritual orbs popped out of the bandolier on his chest, and he quickly began smashing the frozen surface, even as Penguins lined up to get on the ice bridge. As soon as the flightless birds had their stomachs touch the new path, they shot up it like they’d been launched from a slingshot. Over a dozen of them went up over Joe, separated only by the incredibly thin surface before he was able to destroy it. As soon as he knocked a chunk of the ice out, the entire pathway shattered, dropping the remaining Penguins to the ground.

They didn't seem to mind, instead simply running to rejoin the line of beasts entering the walls of the Town. Joe watched the monsters, quite disgruntled over all of the surprises they were experiencing. “Gonna have to find the limits of that real quick. Those cats are dangerous.”

The rest of the Beast Wave continued fairly normally, and no other Leopards came over the spot Joe was standing. Roughly a thousand monsters in total entered the killing corridors around the Town, but as the notification cheerfully informed them approximately an hour into the attack, none of the monsters had been able to enter the Town itself.

Beast Wave Cleared! Congratulations! You have perfectly repelled a Beast Wave, not allowing a single creature to step foot into an area civilians reside! You've earned a bonus!

Bonus 1: Morale boost! For the next 48 hours, or until a monster manages to damage a resident of Novusheim, current morale is multiplied by 2.5!

Bonus 2: Productivity boost! Your citizens feel safe and secure, allowing them to produce at a slightly higher rate. Production speed +10% for the next 48 hours, or until a civilian of Novusheim is threatened by monsters.

Amidst the cheers, applause, and laughter that Joe could already hear resonating from the center of the Town, he could hear other, more serious conversations. Plans for expansion and growth were already beginning to take shape. Artisans and Craftsmen were running toward their workshops, or bitterly complaining about the lack thereof. The people of Novusheim had been plagued with the constant threat of war, destruction, and the loss of their homes for far too long. Joe hoped that now they could be filled with renewed hope, and excitement for the Town they’d built together.

He would let them celebrate their first real victory, as he worked to ensure that it was just one of many. Joe took a deep breath, and started toward the Town Hall, knowing that he had lots of work to do as a councilman. His eyes flicked over to his new title, and he allowed a bit of excitement to fill him as he read over the most in-depth title he’d ever earned.

Councilman of Novusheim.

Privileges: While in the area controlled by the Town of Novusheim, you have the authority to declare a state of emergency, requisition resources for purposes of bettering the Town, ordering members of the Legion to action, and pass judgment on crimes.

Responsibilities: Abusing your privileges can lead to being removed from the council. you must work for the betterment of the citizens of Novusheim. You must be present for 8 of every 10 council meetings if you are in the area.

Bonus: You are the first human on the council. All human citizens will be inclined to offer you discounts, work for or with you, and are much more likely to accept your orders without complaint.

All of it made sense to Joe except for the bonus, as he was uncertain how that would work without some kind of mind-bending. “You know… it's kinda like having a high reputation with people. Maybe titles like this are why Dwarves were able to use reputation as currency? They could spend it all and still have the positive effects of high reputation?”

The only way to know for sure was to keep the title for a good long time. As the Ritualist looked around, realizing that there was so much that needed to be done, he knew he’d be able to put the title to good use.

“It's going to be a wild year.”