Invent ~ 35!

“I have a proposal to make this way more dramatic than it needs to be,” Joe told the group of volunteers who showed up to help him install the Guildhall. “I just want to make sure that everyone is on board with having some fun with this project.”

There were several smirks all around as everyone nodded. Only one person was shaking his head, but Havoc wasn't about to stop the human from having his fun. Seeing that the group was on board, Joe guided them all into position for fabricating the Guildhall, then showed off his prepared Ritual of the Ghostly Army. “Look here, everyone. What I'm going to do is make a giant fog bank inside this volcano. It's going to substantially boost the humidity for a few moments, but my water-collection rituals will turn it all back into water pretty quickly. No need to worry about it being an issue for any length of time.”

“I can confirm that piping and water collection sites have been set up while you were gone! Any excess water will flow to them without issue. Stan had you pay for it and everything,” Bauen called from his position in the second ring of volunteers. Joe's finger shot out and he pointed at the Dwarf, switching it to a thumbs-up after a moment.

“Totally forgot that was an important thing to factor in! Without you, I might have just flooded our pretty new town!” Joe’s response made the gathered people chuckle, as though he wasn’t completely serious. “Everyone ready? Make sure not to move, otherwise you might miss out on being part of the ritual.”

Without another word, Joe tossed his ritual diagram in the air, where it expanded into a massive cloud of fog that filled the entirety of the empty Shoe in moments. Sound began to act strangely, shapes appeared in the fog that Joe knew were not actually there, and the heat began to intensify as the fog started boiling away nearly immediately. Sweat tried to form on his body, but his Neutrality Aura wiped it away without issue.

He activated the next ritual in the sequence, the one that would pull up the Guildhall from practically nothing. Soon, mana and aspects were pouring into the ritual diagram, and the outline of the building slowly became filled in with matter. The construction process went off without a hitch. Joe had collected plenty of materials for the Uncommon building, the people in the area had a good understanding of what they needed to do to help him, and the ground had already been cleared for the work.

The dense fog stopped pouring out of the ritual, clearing away to reveal the shiny new building that would allow them to have diplomatic relations not only with their own people, but allies and potentially even enemies. Joe dismissed the message informing him that reputation had been paid out of his account to the people that were working with him. He didn't mind, not one little bit. “Feces, it’s nice to work around professionals again. Is it weird that I started to miss people when I was down in the dump?”

“Why were you down in the dumps, buddy?” Jaxon called as he strode in to take a look at the new structure. “Your good friend Jaxon is here to help you become more well-adjusted to this new world! What can I do for you today: back, neck, shift your entire abyssal spine? Hold the gramophone… is it just me, or does this building look familiar?”

Most of the people in the area had flinched when Jaxon's voice took on a snarl, but Joe knew that it was simply his terrible dump stat of charisma coming into play. “It should look familiar; this is as close as possible to a clone of the Guildhall we built on Midgard.”

“That was amazing! How cool is this place? I knew coming here was the right idea. That flier was really on point!” As Joe and Jaxon were speaking, a few people Joe had never seen before—a Dwarf and a human—wandered past, discussing what was going on in the world. The human was far too loud and wildly over-exuberant. “Looks like the show is over, but still… too cool.”

There was nothing like a little bit of random admiration to really make a day happier, and even as his chest puffed up in pride, Joe tried not to look like he was listening to the practically shouted conversation. But it seemed like his moment in the sun had passed. They were already on a different topic.

“Did you hear about what happened near the border? The Oligarchy just took over two different small fortress towns in retaliation for the Elves grabbing a bunch of land!”

“Fe~eces, how are they going to fortify that, Bro?” The Dwarf held up his hand to stop the answer, deciding to make his own production instead. “Dude, I bet they just burn those two towns to the ground and walk away.”

“How'd you know?” The human laughed, and their conversation faded as they walked away.

“Next time, if people just stand around and watch these go up, I’m going to charge them for the show if they aren’t participating. Maybe we can get some bakers and street vendors to sell food and trinkets at the same time?” Joe shook his head at the peanut gallery’s enthusiasm for destruction, knowing exactly how time-consuming and resource-intensive it was to bring buildings up to a livable standard. “Yeesh… it's hard to think that people are going to come here and try to destroy this town at some point.”

“That's why we need to get you working on defensive systems!” Havoc grabbed Joe’s arm and began dragging him into the newly built Guildhall. “Now that you have a town hall, you can officially set permissions, instead of ‘delegating’. Go in there, designate Stan as your stand-in, and let's go practice your skills by devising new and interesting ways to destroy your enemies! I’ve got a great idea on how we can condense your mana further-”

“You already told me about the three-ton boulder; the answer is still no,” Joe told the Dwarf curtly. “Please just give me a normal training method.”

“How do you expect to grow if you don't take risks?” Havoc shook his head in disappointment. “Do you want me to send you to the warfront? Combat is by far the best way to increase your skills. Plus, we are on the precipice of an all-out war right now. If the Oligarchy gets their way, we’re going to invade based on having an entire extra army compared to the Elves. All they have going for them is territory, and we can grind that out under our boots. Is that the sort of training you’re hoping for?”

“No, what I'm hoping for is the ability…” Joe started tweaking the Guildhall’s settings, “…to do amazing things and change the bad ending that is coming for an entire people.”

Are you sure that you want to set ‘Unnamed Hamlet’ as a spawn point for members of the guild ‘The Wanderers’? Linking a spawn point for your guild will allow potentially racially-unaligned members to spawn and teleport into your town. Yes / No.

Joe accepted the bind point for his guild, setting a rule that would allow him to see who came in, who left, and if anyone granted access to another person. Of course, that would only work if they came through via teleportation, or resurrecting here after dying.

Then Joe did something that he had never tried before, as he had never needed to speak to his entire Guild at once. Accessing the chat feature, he paid reputation to send a message to his current Zone, and a fee of gold to extend it back to Midgard. “Guild members of The Wanderers. I am Joe, the first Elder of what will one day be The Wanderers sect. For your information, I have created a guild-specific neutral town in the Dwarven territories. You will be able to spawn here upon riding the Bifrost; you will also be able to teleport here. Please note that if you do not follow the rules of the town, the large number of Dwarves present will quickly enforce the law.”

He mused over what else to say, finally deciding on, “My goal with creating this town is to find a way to eliminate the hostilities between the Elves and the Dwarves entirely without bloodshed. The end of the Wolfman War soured me toward creating a Shattered race, and I would much prefer not to be a part of such wholesale slaughter ever again. If anyone in the guild knows of a way that we can attain peace, please contact me immediately.”

Joe felt pretty good about that message, so he sent it and turned his attention to learning what other things he could do. One feature caught his eye immediately: as he had created a Guildhall on behalf of his guild, and if each Zone was only allowed one Guildhall, he could set a tax rate that would pull in money from all guild members on the zone, regardless of whether they were a part of the Dwarven faction or the Elven faction. He set the rate to eight percent, which was lower than the ten percent rate that had been set back on Midgard.

“Now I can set up a trade city that can deal in both Elven and Dwarven goods, while also acting as a currency exchange,” he mumbled to himself before setting a few other small options such as rights, privileges, delegations, and laws for the town. As soon as he was done, he glanced to the side and noticed that Havoc was tapping his foot on the ground impatiently.

“Yes, yes, I understand. I will not take him away again. Not without notifying you, at least.” The Dwarf was growling under his breath, clearly unhappy that he needed to make a compromise with anyone.

“Who are you talking to?” As soon as the question left Joe's mouth, a feeling of dread came over him and he looked back and to the left. “O-oh, you were speaking to Major Cleave. That’s a normal thing to do, so of course you were. I just thought you were talking to me. I certainly realized that she has been standing next to me since I returned to the Shoe.”

“Enough flirting, you two.” Havoc tapped at the air in front of him. “Apprentice, why haven't you completed this class quest? The ritu-whatever. The builder one.”

“The one that requires me to do a bunch of research? I haven't gotten a chance to get to a library since I got onto this Zone, so how am I supposed to-”

“Hold the calculator… what do you mean, you need to ‘do research’? Don't you only use aspects and rituals to build your stuff?” Havoc’s protest made Joe blink in surprise, and he slowly opened his quest log. As he stared at the progress bar, it rapidly ticked up until it displayed one hundred percent.

Class quest complete: Apprentice Rituarchitect. Research percentage: 100%. Reward: +2 to all stats! Record-breaker reward: You have completed this quest faster than any other Rituarchitect in history! You have gained access to Apprentice Rituarchitect II!

“Well? Explain yourself!” Havoc barked at Joe, who couldn’t physically answer at the moment.

You have crossed the threshold for Strength! Try not to move as your muscles increase in density!

You have crossed the threshold for Dexterity! Your body will automatically begin testing your fast and slow-twitch muscles to ensure the incoming upgrade is successful!

“Ughgh.” Joe gurgled as the conflicting messages hit his system, resulting in a mini-seizure that left him twitching on the ground.

Havoc kicked him in the chest, sending him sliding across the floor. “I asked you a question, Apprentice; I didn't tell you to make a puddle of drool!”

Joe hit the wall, his Exquisite Shell shattered, and everything went dark.

“…there are many schools of thought on that subject, but the overall agreement is that no, there is no single factor that works for physical skills in the same way that Mana Manipulation and Coalescence do for magical skills.” Havoc’s hushed voice, which Joe only now realized had been droning on into his ears for an unknown length of time, abruptly cut off as he realized that Joe was officially awake. “Hey there, sport! Looks like you took a nasty rockin’ to the noggin!”

You have been taught the hard truths of the world by a Grandmaster for the last hour.

Skill increase: Retaliation of Shadows (Journeyman VI -> Journeyman IX).

Skill increase: Mana Manipulation (Student VI -> Student VII).

Skill increase: Mental Manipulation Resistance (Beginner II -> Beginner VIII).

“Were you teaching me in my sleep?” Joe groggily inquired as his Neutrality Aura reactivated and started clearing up his post-unconscious brain fog. “Why was I out for an entire hour?”

“You should stop asking questions.” Havoc looked to the side, a small smile on his face, and refused to answer any more questions along that line. “By the way, you should take a gander at the sheer number of permanent residents rushing into this little town of yours. I put out some feelers, and it turns out a whole bunch of people are willing to relocate if a Grandmaster is offering classes once a month for residents.”

Joe did not need to check his town statistics in order to understand exactly how many people that would draw. “Havoc, I understand that I managed to complete your assumed-impossible quest and so forth... but why are you going to all of this trouble to help me extensively, while simultaneously throwing me into situations I'm unprepared for?”

“I have my reasons.” Havoc offered a hand and pulled Joe to his feet. “The main thing is, the fewer people that know what I'm actually doing, the better. You have a lot of eyes on you, and now you’ve earned a babysitter from both the Legion and the Oligarchy. You also apparently don’t understand what it means when I call you ‘Apprentice’, so let me clearly explain it to you. As my Apprentice, if something were to permanently happen to me, you would be in charge of all of my holdings, including intellectual properties, blueprints, templates, all that fun stuff.”

The Reductionist did not know how to respond to the strange openness he was receiving, but before he could think of something to say, Havoc finished his explanation. “So, I need to make sure that you are trained and prepared to protect those things until I am back on my feet. As to what I am doing around the town; let's just say I’m preparing some contingencies for when your plans to achieve peace blow up in your face.”

*Whumpf!*

“The town is under attack!” a voice called out just as a fire started in the ‘Orange’ sector, the housing sector. Joe started running toward the sounds of battle, but before he took even a dozen steps, everything went quiet.

Your Hamlet has defeated an assault by the Elven-aligned troops!

Quest updated: Ranker II Peerage. Major Elven incursions fended off: 2/5!

“What just happened?” Joe bellowed as he slid to a stop.

Havoc started laughing at the confusion pouring off the human, “Private security from over a hundred high-rank crafters that flooded the area is what just happened! Congratulations, your town has a personal army you don't even have to pay! Let's get over to your Workshop; for the next two weeks, you are studying under my personal tutelage. I'm definitely not trying to keep you away from my secret projects that are going on under your nose and need another two weeks to complete.”

“Ah… Havoc, I can understand sarcasm, and you’re not even being subtle-”

“Come with me now, or miss out!” Havoc started marching into the purple light district, where only Joe’s lonely workshop currently stood.

Jaxon suddenly came sprinting into the area, searching around wildly. “Joe! You didn’t blow up! But I heard an explosion? How is that possible? *Gasp!* The town must be under attack!”

Joe groaned while simultaneously trying not to laugh. His reputation was starting to get the better of him, and he decided in that instant that he should just give up and roll with it. “Everything’s fine, Jaxon. It’s already over. Also… thanks for being a good friend.”