Town Builder - 57 - Arcane Architect or Eternal Architect? (Patreon)

Chapter 57: Arcane Architect or Eternal Architect?

The quality of the construction in the city of Thira could have been better.  I examined a few buildings, and they were built so poorly that they only had half of their possible building health when they were built, and most were behind on maintenance when I inspected them.  So, the builders didn’t have the required skills when they utilized their plans.  I walked the roughly paved road through the center of the city sprawl.  It looked like they had used rubble from the prior city to pave the streets since the stone was mismatched and rough.  I walked slowly, and the rough signs in front indicated the building’s function.  I went looking for an inn.

The population was about half human and half elementalkin—most of the blue-skinned water variety with a handful of red-skinned fire type.  I saw a few dark-skinned earth elementalkin at a distance.  No white-skinned air elementalkin were seen before I entered the first inn I found.  The room was mostly empty except for two old men drinking at a table and a large, round woman behind the bar.  “Do you have any rooms for rent?”  I asked the human woman. 

The large woman smiled at me, “Sure thing, adventurer, a silver per night and includes breakfast. Lunch is five copper, and dinner is six copper.”

”I will take two rooms for twenty-five days and all meals.” I placed a gold piece on the counter.  The woman nodded and gave me a key with the number five stamped into it.  Another key with six was placed on the counter for Yorric.

“Give me a minute, and I will get you your lunch,” the woman said, going into the kitchen and returning with two large bowls of thick soup and half a loaf of bread for each of us.  I tucked into the bar and started eating.  My bodyguard took a table to keep the room in view.  Yorric was not a great companion.  He was always focused on the job and barely talked.

I engaged the barkeep, “We came here for the dungeons.  Is there anything you can tell me about them?  I am looking for the one dungeon that has 12 levels and that allows mounts to be ridden within.”

The woman nodded, “Ah, The Vault of the Forgotten Oracle—a very long dungeon, that one.  Yes, you can ride a mount.  It is almost necessary as it is some 100 miles across the first level.”

“Anything you can tell me about the first level?” I asked while sliding a silver coin tip across the counter to her.

“Never been myself, but the talk has been that the first level is cold volcano flats.  Rock salamanders and rock elementals.”  She said, taking the silver.

I groaned.  Rock?  Would my hail of stones be effective against these monsters?  I ate my food.  It tasted good but offered no buffs, “Yorric, we will rest tonight and then  head to the dungeon first thing.”  We headed up to our rooms.

The next day, we got the horses from the stables and rode out to the dungeon.  A shabby guard stood outside the entrance and said all we needed to do was stand on the stone disc in from of the arch together and touch the large glowing blue gem.  No more than five adventurers and five mounts.  If there are more, then the teleport does not work.  

We flashed inside, and we were met with a red sun blazing down on the black flats of stone that went into the horizon.  A large lizard was lounging in the sun on a higher rock formation about 40 yards away.  I moved just close enough on foot to use my analyze skill on the monster.

Rock Salamander, Level 28

Ok, this didn’t seem too bad.  “Ok, Yorric, we will work together to kill a few so I can get a feel for the strengths and weaknesses of the salamanders.”  We mounted and rode forward.  

When we got within ten yards of the rock salamander, a small pile of rocks stood up.  The stone elemental had wisps of dark black smoke between his joints as his fist slammed into Yorric’s mount.  The attack knocked Yorric to the ground, which was terrible as the rock salamander had also charged us.  “Yorric, I will lead the salamander away.  See if you can handle the elemental by yourself.”

I started to cast my simple stone bullet stone to get the salamander’s attention.  I pulled it away, and Titan, familiar with this game, let the monster follow us as I charged and cast my hail of stones spell repeatedly.  When the salamander collapsed, I jumped off Titan, pulled my axe, and attacked the rock elemental.  We quickly whittled it down with Yorric on one side and me on the other.  It had strong natural armor, and our swings picked at its health.  

When it finally dropped, I checked and barely got any experience.  Yorric had me out-leveled by too much.  We spent hours in the dungeon and figured out the opponents.  The salamander was always paired with a stone elemental.  This was terrible since the two creatures had different speeds.  So I couldn’t build up an effective group to follow me.  There was also an elite stone elemental that was twice the size of a regular elemental, and these were usually accompanied by two stone elementals in support.  With a salamander in support, these encounters were extremely challenging for our group of two.  The stone elementals also dropped lesser stone essence about 50% of the time. Essences were important for enchanting items and buildings.

I eventually figured out how to round up a group of faster salamanders and contain them in a large circle, while the slower stone elementals made a smaller circle.  Titan had to maintain a certain speed to accomplish this.   After I shredded the salamanders with my hail of stones spell, I could work in the elementals.  The only hiccup was the elementals took minimal damage from the stone sphere of magic.  

So, I needed to cast five times as many spells to eliminate the elemental groups.  It was irritating, but my magic pool was very deep.  Yorric waited near the exit while I practiced my method with Titan.  I slowly advanced….level 23, level 24, and finally, level 25.  Yorric had only gained one level, reaching level 33, but he had switched to an observation role after I had gotten comfortable pulling groups of enemies.

It took two days in the dungeon of constant grinding to get to the level 25 mark.  I was recovering my aether with Yorric when I checked my character sheet.  

You have reached your class selection.  You can select a class name based on the three skills you have unlocked.  If you want suggestions, you can go to predefined classes and their associated skills and bonuses.

I eagerly opened my class selection sheet and was ready to drop three skills into class creation.  “I am hurt you don’t want my advice, Tallis.”  I looked up sharply to see Simba sitting with his tail whipping behind him irritably.

“Simba?  Long time, little kitty.”  Secretly, I was happy to see him.  It had been a long time, and not only did I miss him, but I also realized he was helping beyond the game’s scope.  Maybe it was the Matriarch AI guiding him, but Simba was the tool to facilitate it.

“Well, Tallis, I am only here until you choose your class.  Unless you pay for me as a permanent companion.”  Simba said with irritation.  I remember the greedy developers who decided to charge $100,000 for players to have a permanent AI companion.  I actually had the money sitting in an account controlled by the Silver Linings Playbook.  I would see how this reaction proceeded with Simba first.

“So, what advice do you have for me, Simba?”  I asked the tiny tiger.

“Since you asked.  You can select three skills.  These skills will not count toward your cap of 23 skills.  You currently have two skills from when you selected the balanced Adept.  This gave you +25% regeneration to all your pools and +25% to skill growth.  The two skills you selected were Artistry: Drafting, and Earth Magic.  These skills got a massive boost to learning speed and didn’t count toward your cap.  Now, the three skills you select for your profession will get the same boost.”

“Can I select the same skill again?”  I asked.

“Yes,” Simba answered, “The learning speed will be compounded.” 

“So what is your advice, Simba?”  I asked, getting slightly impatient about choosing my profession.

“I assume you want to continue drafting your powerful buildings to add to Malcum?”  Simba asked patiently.

“Yes, that is what I was thinking,” I said without hesitation.

“The three skills I suggest are Artistry: Drafting, Enchanting, and Enchanting: Ritual Magic.  This will give you the profession of Arcane Architect.  Each profession has a major boon and minor boon, and one minor penalty.”  The cat finished, and I looked expectantly at Simba, who added, “I do not know what the boons or what the penalty will be.  No one has selected the profession yet.  You can see this by entering the skills and hitting the submit button.  It will not lock you into the profession until you hit accept.”

I entered the three skills into the interface and hit accept.

Arcane Architect (can be edited to an acceptable profession name)

You have discovered a new profession.  If you select this profession, then you will be rewarded the accolade of First Arcane Architect.  This accolade will be tied up with others choosing this profession.

Arcane Architect

Skills: Artistry: Drafting, Enchanting, Enchanting: Ritual Magic (+200% learning speed)

Greater Boon: +5% chance to add a magical ability to a newly drafted building plan

Lesser Boon: +10% to speed of redrafting building plans

Lesser Penalty: -10% damage in combat outside of an urban setting

I read it a few times and then asked Simba, “Why do I need the base enchanting skill?  Can I select something else?”

Simba cocked his head and circled the ground before sitting again, “By selecting the enchanting as one of the three skills, it gives you the greater boon.  That magic ability to your building is a natural ability.  It is in addition to any normal and magical effects added to a set of building plans.”

I looked at the profession again and made a decision to drop the enchanting skill and slot in Earth Magic: Stone.  My reason was being able to build buildings was part of my class.  I didn’t think I was going to be able to recruit more builders once the NPC auction competition increased when the game launched.  I looked at the newly generated class.

Mystical Stone Builder

Skills: Artistry: Drafting, Earth Magic: Stone, Enchanting: Ritual Magic (+200% learning speed)

Greater Boon: +50% health to stone buildings drafted

Lesser Boon: Stoneskin (cool down 60 minutes) creates a skin of stone equal to your current maximum health pool

Lesser Penalty: +5% build time for stone buildings drafted by you

I reviewed the results.  A huge increase in the health of my buildings was not to be taken lightly.  With the quality of the construction, I was already getting 50% to the health of our buildings.  If the plans were 50% stronger, then that would translate to a 75% boon.  The lesser boon was not only useful in combat, but it essentially doubled my health.   

I started trying a number of combinations, always keeping artistry: drafting and enchanting: ritual magic.  Each time I was looking for a set of boons that were better than the arcane architect.  Simba was patient when I started, but his whipping tail soon showed irritation.  I paused at one combination.

Eternal Architect

Skills: Artistry: Drafting, Masonry Structures, Enchanting: Ritual Magic (+200% learning speed)

Greater Boon: Drafting buildings made primarily of stone all have the following effect: +1% regeneration per 24 hours

Lesser Boon: +10% to build speed of stone structures

Lesser Penalty: -10% to build speed of structures that are less than 50% stone

This seemed pretty amazing.  My stone buildings would not need any maintenance; over time, they would repair themselves.  I could also help increase the build speed of buildings that were mostly stone.  If I had to build other buildings, then I would just not participate in the construction effectively, not incurring my penalty.

I looked at Simba and asked, “What do you think?”

Simba seemed to consider, “It is a good class.  Whereas the arcane architect would give you a 5% chance to add an effect that is directly related to the purpose of the building, this gives you an effect 100% of the time on new building plans you draft.”

I hadn’t been aware that my bonus would coincide with the true purpose on my drafted building.  That made this decision more difficult.  I tried a few more combinations by going through all my skills just to be thorough.  Finally, I returned to my decision between arcane architect and an eternal architect. 

My decision came down to the value of the 1% health regeneration.  Even though it was extremely slow, it would save on my city maintenance and greatly increase the value of the plans I was selling to players.  I didn’t edit the name, as Eternal Architect sounded cool.

When the changes were made to my character sheet, Simba looked at me, “Tallis, your next advancement will beat level 100 when you can select your specialization around your eternal architect class.  Although the progression for the arcane architect had better options at level 100, your eternal architect isn’t too bad,” he added snidely. 

I had figured the cat had given me the best possible advancement, but I didn’t feel the goals of the Matriarch were completely in line with mine.  My goal was to get myself in a position to free myself in the real world, and that meant making enough funds here to buy that freedom.

Simba spoke, “Now that you have selected your profession, I have to go, Tallis.  If you don’t purchase the companion option, I will see you again at level 100 to help you select your specialization.”  I blinked, and Simba was gone.

Yorric had been impassive as I worked with Simba and looked at me expectantly.  He had fatigue lining his eyes, and I forgot NPCs needed to sleep.  We had been going for three days.  I looked at my harvest from the three game days we spent. 

59 lesser stone essence

Stone of Penetration x 109, sling ammunition (ignores 50% of armor)

Stone Buckler, reflects 5% of damage to the attacker

Rock Salamander Meat x 180

The salamander meat was from Yorric trying to relieve his boredom.  He wasn’t too skilled and destroyed as much meat as he successfully harvested.  I only received the magic items from caches around the elite stone elementals, but I avoided those encounters after I noticed clear terrain features that identified where they were hiding.  They just took too long to bring down, so they affected my efficiency. 

We exited the dungeon to a night sky and the disinterested guards outside.  The walk back to the city was quiet, and I let Yorric rest in his room while I ate at the bar.  No players were present, so I had the large woman barkeep to myself.

“How did your dungeon trip go?” she asked.

“Excellent.  We learned a lot and will try the floor boss next time we enter.  Can you tell me anything about the creatures on the second floor?”  I asked with my hands while eating the roasted chicken before me.  Once again, the meal tasted good but offered no buffs. Were buffs for food rare?

The barkeep leaned against the counter behind the bar, “The dungeon gets hotter and hotter as you descend.  The 12thlevel and final level is a fire expanse containing lava pools being filled from lava waterfalls.  If you make it that far, you should get protection.”  She tapped her chin, thinking, “The second level is rock spiders and mud elementals.  Like I told you, I never ventured there myself, but I have seen many adventures come in here covered in mud and complaining.” She chuckled. “I usually charge them extra to clean up the mess.”

I thanked the barkeep and tipped her another silver before heading to my room.  In my room, I started a chat with Mad Dog, asking about the floor boss for the dungeon.  Unfortunately, the forums didn’t have a lot of information.  It looked like maybe twenty players in the testing tried the dungeon, but other than the description of the first floor, there was not a lot of information out there.  It was the only dungeon that was currently tagged as allowing mounts.  One player said he explored as far down as the third floor, and Mad Dog said he would contact her for me to buy some information, hopefully.  Mad Dog advised me to get to level 30 before trying the floor boss and be prepared to die to find out its weaknesses and habits. 

The next day, we ventured back to the dungeon.  I spent half the day making level 26 before I went with Yorric toward the floor boss.  The obelisk clearly marked the boss in the far distance.  I didn’t plan to fight it, so I just checked him out.  During our long trip there across the floor, I reached level 27. 

The floor boss was on top of the obelisk.  It was a massive stone salamander with dozens of salamanders milling around the obelisk. You had to clear all the surrounding lizards in order to challenge the boss safely. 

Amazingly, all the salamanders got into a pack as I rode Titan in a large circle.  Not a single stone elemental appeared!  I would have come straight here if I had known about this earlier.  I had Yorric get out of his thieving experience range and then massacred the large pack of stone lizards.  When the last one fell, I barely reached level 28.  A shadow fell across me as I was reviewing the gains, and I looked up.

You have been crushed by Stone Salamander Pack Leader (Dungeon Floor Boss), and you have taken 5000 damage. You are dead.

That had me fuming as I got ready to respawn.  My relationship with Titan had built up over the last few days and was now knocked down.  I lost all my experience toward level 29.  I didn’t think it was fair as the floor boss had been over 50 yards away and hadn’t made a single move while I rounded up and killed all of his progeny. Then it attacked while I was distracted.

I respawned in town and found Yorric at the bar waiting for me.  My untalkative bodyguard finally asked, “Did it hurt?”  I just started laughing at the absurdity of it all.  A giant salamander, the size of a truck, jumped and smashed Titan and me flat because I had been too distracted looking at my character sheet.  I spent some time drinking with Yorric and asked him about how he joined the infantry.

Suddenly, the giantkin was talkative.  He was the 3rd son of Fenric.  Fenric was his father and a famous bowman in his home country.  Well, he admitted he was shit with a bow but could throw a spear farther than any of his brothers.  He joined the army to impress a girl.  She got promoted and reassigned elsewhere.  Now, he hoped to finish his 20-year term and settle down on a farm afterward.

When I felt the conversation petter itself out, we headed back to the dungeon.  I had 22 days remaining before the end of the testing period, and the game officially launched.