Raze ~ 9!

“Alright, guys.” Joe and his team were sitting around a tiny table at the coffee shop, planning out their goals for the new quest. “What do we need to do to make this happen?”

Jess raised her hand, and Joe pointed at her. “Please don't do that. Just speak when you have something to say.”

“Gotcha.” Jess grabbed a chunk of chalk from the table and started drawing on the wood. “There are more things to consider here than simply growing or importing food. There are the logistics of getting it here, having people to work with it, and places to store it if it isn't used right away. Here is what I think we need, in no particular order. Firstly, I think that it's important that we produce the food ourselves. If that means growing it, fine. If that means magical items, whatever, so long as they are able to make it happen long term.”

“With that in mind, we need to make buildings to store food before we are producing large quantities of it. We can start with a little production, to keep from starving, but this is something to keep in mind. Food rots fast, and as this is a game, I expect that there will be other issues to take into account.” Jess was making a long list, and the entire party was enraptured. “Warehouses, yes. Cold storage means good insulation on the building, which means high-quality materials used in the construction. Anyone know when winter is due in here? Is there winter?”

“Uh… I’ll look into it.” Poppy stood up and walked off at a brisk pace.

“Good.” Jess looked back at the list with a furrowed brow. “Roads. We need good roads between our buildings if we want to be able to transport stuff. Walls, to keep out thieves and protect our workers. Workers! That means a place for them to sleep. So, an apartment at the minimum. Some form of entertainment so they don't need to go too far, and-”

“Winter is a thing, and the edge of it is about a month out I think.” Poppy popped back in with the information, making Bard jump and cuss softly at the scare.

“Good, perfect.” Jess took a deep breath and looked Joe directly in the eyes. “In that case, in my professional opinion, I think that you need to find a way to make a greenhouse.”

“Greenhouse.” Joe parrotted. He was in shock from having a full plan laid out like this. “I… wow. I was going to go on a quest for a magical cornucopia or something.”

Jess shook her head. “This is far more likely to exist.”

“Fair enough.” Joe looked around. “All in favor of going searching for blueprints to a greenhouse?”

“Let’s do it.” Alexis put out into the group. Everyone else nodded, so Joe did so as well.

“Alright.” He looked at Jess. “You’ve really proven yourself, I'm gonna give you a task while we’re gone too, okay? Show that we can trust you when we aren't around, and we’ll make sure it's worth your while. All of this?”

Joe motioned at the charts and list she was still making. “Get all the material you need for these. I’m going to give you a token to claim land for me as well, find what you think will be a good spot, and start hiring people. Get the foundations set up. Make roads. Don’t worry about actually building, just get everything else ready.”

Jess hesitated, then nodded. “We should also work out my salary…?”

“Find what’s fair, add twenty percent, and make it happen.” Joe grinned at her. “I’ll get you access to an account. Make sure to keep receipts, I highly doubt that we are done paying taxes just because we are in a new world. All that changed was who collects them.”

“It also lets you see what I buy.” Jess sweetly added.

“Yup.” Joe bluntly agreed.

“Consider it done, boss man.” Jess mock saluted and looked around. “Don’t forget to get geared up.”

“Knew I was forgetting something.” Joe blew a raspberry and stood up. “Alright guys, I’m gonna pop over to the city for a shopping trip. Anyone want a ride?”

“Let’s do it.” Jaxon agreed winningly. Joe chuckled nervously. Everyone except Jess decided to go along, and the team walked into the temple and teleported into the main square of Ardania.

“Remember Joe,” Alexis stated sternly, “you are here for getting gear, not for researching. We’ll do that too, just make sure that you get what you need for survival.”

“On it!” Joe promised with crossed fingers.

“I see that.” She glared. “If you die because you didn’t do this right, I’m gonna be so mad.”

Joe simply skipped off, headed for the market. He went for the Odds and Ends shop right away, but also put Masterwork Metals on his list. As he walked into the first shop, he spied his mother and the current owner discussing stock over a hot tea. He was confused for a moment as to how she had beat him here, but remembered that she had access to the same transportation network that he did. “Hi there! I was hoping that I could get some help with upgrading my current gear?”

The owner looked at him and harrumphed. “Hello there, youngling! Here to run me out of business again? Tell everyone about outdated prices?”

“Nothing like that! Just the gear this time!” Joe responded to the curmudgeon as happily as possible.

“I see that you lost your little robe since I last saw you, where did it get off to?” her tone implied that she had better like the answer.

“I’m really sorry to say…” Joe had to hold in his frustration, “I lost it in an instant dungeon to the Boss. He… I died right after, so I'm uncertain as to what happened.”

“Hmmm. Not to be trusted with higher tier enchanted gear, huh?” The old woman muttered to herself.

“Nothing like that!” Joe shook his head vehemently. 

“I’m pretty sure that I told you that all magical gear is alive, even if just barely, yes?” The ancient person stared at him with nearly mummified eyes. “The more powerfully made, the more alive it is. That building you made? I give it a year or two at the most until it is awake. What are you doing to protect that young mind?”

Joe thought about it and needed to make sure to choose his words carefully. “I am helping build a powerful, Noble Guild around it. As we go forward, there will be powerful people and powerful protections in place, all of these will have a vested interest in keeping it strong and protected.”

“Hmm.” There was a pause. “I suppose that keeping you away from the good stuff will only weaken you in the long run, and keep you from keeping the building strong. I suppose that’s good enough. Come here, let’s find you something that suits you.”

“Hi mom, thanks for the help there.” Joe only got a serene smile in reply, so he knew that she was in agreement with the old lady for some reason.

“What are you after?” The old lady demanded. “What do you think you need?”

“I need as much mana and mana regen as possible.” Joe responded instantly. “I use lots, and lots, and then even more mana.”

“I see.” She walked away and came back a few minutes later with a full set of luxurious purple gear. “Here is my offer. I have a set of robes that will boost mana regen by one percent, a shirt, pants, underwear, and socks that all do the same. Together, this becomes a set of gear called ‘Wise Man's Wardrobe’. It grants a fifteen percent mana regen bonus, self-cleaning, and minor self repair. Also, all socks are set items, it is just that these ones just work with the rest of this gear.”

“Got it.” Joe looked at the gear, noting that the gear was only categorized as Rare. “Is this the best that I can get, or is this your highest recommendation for me? Or do you have any of these items? I really do like my current robe since it boosts Darkness type spells?”

“Recommendation.” The cool answer came. “It doesn’t add any armor, but it can take care of itself to a small degree, and I think that is going to be more important to any gear you purchase in the future. As for that Robe of Liquid Darkness… it would be best if it went into storage until you can use it properly.”

“I don’t understand what that means.” Joe only got a flat stare in return, and reluctantly took off his robe. He took the offered gear, paying a price of twelve hundred gold that nearly made him gag; and that was after his discount. Attempts at haggling was met with a stoney glare, and he had no choice but to accept the price that could buy a large building in town. “Is there… anything else you would recommend?”

He presented a list, and she shook her head. “That would all come from the Architects Guild. Blueprints or blueprint paper, at least. Otherwise you could always learn to make your own or buy from the Mage’s college. The inks and such could be purchased from the alchemist, or again, made yourself. Raw material from the alchemist as well.”

Joe thought of the creepy alchemist, Jake, and winced. He’d rather not need to go in there, but if that was the best option going forward… Joe nodded, equipped his gear, and strolled out of the shop. Next on the list was Masterwork Metals, mostly just to see if he could find anything interesting. He had only been in here a few times at the start of his time in this world, but he had a favorable impression of the owner. After browsing the shop and not seeing anything, Joe asked the owner if he could make weapon augments like his titanium taglock.

His wasn't in danger of breaking; but if you waited until you needed something, you were setting yourself up for failure. The smith wasn’t impressed. “Taglocks, huh? That's a nasty little implement you’ve got there. Yeah, I can make ‘em, I just don't like to do so. I prefer making weapon and armor augments that help people protect themselves.”

“Armor augments?” Joe greedily leaned forward. “Do tell!”

The smith looked Joe up and down. “Alright, well. You’re creepin’ me out, but yeah, you can take any type of armor or weapon and make an augment for it. Essentially gives you boosted skill points for the type of gear it is. You can also try and make them yerself, but I gotta warn you, they are expensive for a reason. Now, you can also get basic augments like that taglock pretty easy, since it is actually just another, smaller weapon strapped to the first one. Same name, very different results.”

“How do you make the skill-style augments?” Joe started recording the conversation on his personal notepad.

“Well, first ya take the class that makes the augment type you want.” The smith grinned crookedly. “But the short version is that you take a chunk of gear and try to extract its ‘meaning’. This destroys the gear - whether you succeed or fail - and only gives you a fairly small boost even if you do get the augment. Better to pay the price, boyo.”

“Gotcha.” Joe already had plenty of skills to bring up, but he would get to this one eventually. “Thanks! Can I get a few of these taglocks, though?”

“Sure, why not.” The smith waved him away and told him they would be ready in a few days. Joe turned to leave, then stopped himself and got directions to a glassblower.

When he got to the glassblower, he put in a large order for hundreds of sheets of glass. They were all to be the same size and thickness, and he made sure to let the man know that he would come back every few days to get whatever had been made till that point. A quick stop at the alchemist, and Joe felt that he was as ready for the next steps as he could be. 

All ready for the trials ahead, Joe saw that he still had a few hours until the assigned meeting time. So, naturally, he wandered over to the library and started researching mentions of greenhouses or other styles of easily growing large amounts of food in as short a time as possible.