Dark Fate, Chapter 74 (Patreon)

Chapter 74 – Staffing

I started my staffing concerns with the Necrozians. They would be the easiest to deal with, with the Master being able to control all his underlings. Fifty drones, ten workers, and one Master were what I needed for the shipyard.

“You’re in luck, there,” Shadraus said as he looked over my shoulder. “The Necrozians have been fighting the Gurlen for the last few years, and the Gurlen have been selling any Necrozians they capture through the Minion Market, in order to get better weapons, or even just food for their people. Prices have dropped quite a bit in the last two years.”

I looked up at him. “The last two years? How do you know this? Weren’t you sealed away, or somesuch?”

“Ah, yes. But, since I was connected with the System directly, I still had links to the outside. So, I could follow events, and learn the intricacies of the economy, like any good merchant should.”

I nodded in response, and turned back to my work. That would explain how Shadraus’s level had grown so high. Merchants gained experience by doing merchant things, rather than killing. Well, in addition to killing. Getting into Tier 3, as he had, was certainly possible if he spent ten thousand years studying the markets.

Minions   by Species (Necrozians)

Name

Price

Description

Nehera

125000   gp

Race: Necrozian Master

Level: 37 (Tier 1)

Class: Overseer

Profession: Magitech Engineer

Deity: Gestus

Skills: Magitech Engineering,   Financial Management, Bureaucracy Proficiency

General: Enslaved and exiled in   lieu of termination due to heretical beliefs.

Necrozian   Drones (50 Pack)

10000   gp

Race: Necrozian

Levels: 10-25 (Tier 1)

Class: Laborer

Profession: Dockworker

Deity: N/A

Skills: Metalworking, Hauling,   Construction

General: Fifty Necrozian drones,   specialized for hard labor and construction. Perfect for young Masters to   begin their empire.

Necrozian   Warriors (10 Pack)

120000   gp

Race: Necrozian

Level: 45 (Tier 1)

Class: Fighter

Profession: Soldier

Deity: N/A

Skills: Melee Weapon Mastery,   Ranged Weapon Mastery, Adaptive Tactics

General: Ten Necrozian Warriors,   sold as a unit. Well-rounded skills for varied combat loadouts.

The good thing about using Necrozians was that only the Masters and above really mattered. Oh, sure, there were sometimes specialist units amongst the drones and warriors, but it was the Masters, not the horde, that really mattered. That meant instead of having to individually hire all those dockworkers and warriors, I could get a discount on generic packs for them all. As a bonus, they all came with basic equipment, which was nice.

Minions   by Profession (Miner)

Name

Price

Description

Generic   Miner Starter Pack (Gauz)

3000   gp each

Race: Krils

Level: 10+ (Tier 1)

Class: Varied

Profession: Miner

Deity: Varied

Skills: Mining, Pilot

General: Guaranteed to be at   least Level 10, with proficiency in Mining and Piloting, so they can operate   either ground-based or space-based mining rigs.

Remembering something Shadraus had just said about the Necrozians, I checked for worlds where there was currently some kind of active conflict going on, and found out that the Krils mining colony of Hadarn IV had come under attack from Y’than slavers. The Krils, according to the System’s basic description, sounded something like ‘space dwarves’. Perfect for mining work. They even had species perks for it, apparently.

And there was suddenly a lot of them up on the Minion Market, as the slavers tried to dump their cargo fast, before the Krils defense fleets caught up to hem. Thanks to that, there was actually a really nice sale going on, and, if I wasn’t too picky about secondary skills or gender or the like, I could pick up my miners on the cheap. For an extra 1000 gold per miner, I was able to get some good-quality gear for them, since these miners would only come with slave collars and the rags on their backs. Coming out to a total of 24000 gold for all six that I needed, I felt that was one hell of a deal.

Minions by  Race and Classification (Fimaazro, Nonmilitary)

Name

Price

Description

Taji   Kakuz

25000   gp

Race: Fimaazro

Level: 25 (Tier 1)

Class: Artificer

Profession: Industrial Designer

Deity: Resa

Skills: Magitech Engineering, Industrial   Design, Chemistry

General: Designer/engineer for   industrial machines and facilities.

Ran   Samiess

32500   gp

Race: Fimaazro

Level: 10 (Tier 1)

Class: Magitech Engineer

Profession: Starship Designer

Deity: Masi

Skills: Magitech Engineering, Starship   Design, Reactor Systems

General: Talented civilian   starship designer. Credited with design of a new freighter design with   increased efficiency.

Junko   Cote

12000   gp

Race: Fimaazro

Level: 10 (Tier 1)

Class: Bard

Profession: Architect

Deity: Kou

Skills: Magitech Engineering,   Industrial Design, Singing

General: Civilian architect and   interior designer, with magitech engineering experience.

Guse   Shumis

45000   gp

Race: Fimaazro

Level: 30 (Tier 1)

Class: Overseer

Profession: Bureaucrat

Deity: N/A

Skills: Paperwork, Financial Planning,   Resource Management

General: A skilled administrator   for outposts with limited logistics.

Fimaazro   Computer Specialist

25000   gp

Race: Fimaazro

Levels: 10-25 (Tier 1)

Class: Hacker

Profession: Computer Technician

Deity: Varies

Skills: Computer Programming, Intrusion   Countermeasures

General: A listing of computer   technicians, all at least level 10. Capable of defending, maintaining, and   repairing computer networks.

Fimaazro   Laborers (Four-pack)

30000   gp

Race: Fimaazro

Level: 10-25 (Tier 1)

Class: Varies

Profession: Varies

Deity: Varies

Skills: Varies

General: A four-pack of healthy   Fimaazro, capable of doing manual labor of some sort. Price reduced due to lack   of specificity.

Now, I was cutting some corners, here. I searched out the designers and the overseer directly, since they were the ones I was most concerned with, but I went with generic options for the IT guys and the laborers I intended to turn into engineers. The generics always cost less, because it was basically a matchmaking pool, rather than looking at specific minions. I don’t know how the System arranged the prices, but I wasn’t about to complain, and risk losing access to the market.

Anyway, it cost just over two hundred thousand gold for me to buy and equip my new Fimaazro workers. The Fimaazro looked like cat-people, and apparently had similar attitudes. Some of them could be pretty territorial. I figured that if there were problems, I could always just replace them with locals, once more of them were in the minion marketplace, or going out and catching them. Of course, if I did that, I’d have to make sure that people back home in Atlanta didn’t catch on. Abducting people as slaves would ruin my relationship with the police real fast.

Minions by Classification (Military)

Name

Price

Description

*SPECIAL*

Crew   of SCN Rithan

5000000   gp

*LIMITED TIME SPECIAL! Offer   ends in 01:03:24*

Race: Knelfi

Levels: 30-48 (Tier 1)

Class: Varies

Profession: Varies

Deity: Varies

Skills: Varies

General: The entire crew of the   SCN Rithan, an Oscuns-class Covette. Recently captured by the Savage   Claw Clan. Limited time offer for a crew of military-trained spacers. Ship and   personal equipment not included.

That was HUGE. Five million gold was no small ask, sure, but getting an experienced crew for my ship? One that was already familiar with the exact type of ship I had, and its weaknesses? One that had worked together before, and probably had a grudge against pirates? That was too good to pass up. Sure, they didn’t have gear, but that was fine. Another 500k would give them all military-grade gear.

Shadraus nodded as he looked over my final list of purchases. “Excellent choices. And a lucky grab there, on the crew of the Rithan. Those deals only last two hours, on average, before they get split up into other packages.” The lich looked at me from the side of his eye. “Just how high is your luck, this time around?”

I had to look, since I hadn’t bothered keeping up with that stat. “Uh, sixty-four, with bonuses from items and all. I was nowhere near to that last time, not until I was much stronger.”

Shadraus grinned. “That would do it. The higher your Luck is, the more likely you are to find random boons. Of course, you are also more likely to run into random problems, too.”

“Yeah, like ‘just so happening’ to run into an Orc Boss and his goons when I was just trying to get around town.” I shook my head, and said, “Anyways, you think you can have these minions delivered out to my second place, over where the ship is?”

“Yeah, yeah. It is registered with the System, so that’s an acceptable drop-off point. But if you take delivery there, instead of at the System Shop, there will be a 10% delivery charge. You sure you want to do that?”

That brought me up short. By my count, I had already spent almost six million gold this afternoon, just on the people and their gear. A ten percent fee on top of that was not exactly chump change. Oh, I could cover it, but that didn’t mean I was exactly thrilled at the idea.

I sighed. “Unfortunately, I have to. Don’t have transport for over a hundred aliens with me right now. And flying the corvette around would be… unwise, even if I have the skills now. There anything you can do for me?”

Shadraus laughed. “Well, since you’ve done so much business, I can waive the delivery fees for your other purchases and get them sent directly out to the asteroid belt. You were planning on going to Ceres with the colony digger, right?”

I nodded once. I wasn’t even upset that he saw through my plan. It was the obvious place to set up shop, if you were going to create a base in space, and didn’t want to deal with treaties on the moon. Because, if I created a moon base, I’d have to make sure I didn’t run afoul of any treaties that the major powers had about using the moon left over from the Cold War. Best to just avoid all that mess and go straight out to Ceres, where it would literally be the Wild West.

“All right, then. I can get all that stuff delivered up by Ceres, so you’ll just have to go out there and pick it up. That’ll happen in seventy-two hours. Your people will be gated into your secondary compound in four hours.”

I transferred the funds, and Shadraus nodded. “All right. That settles up for the ships, and your people. Actually, while you’re in here, there’s a couple new things I thought I might show you. Could be useful for you.”

I perked up. “Something new? Like, new for this world, new? Or new new?”

“The second. Or, at least, if it existed before, I haven’t seen it. Now, you know that I am linked to all the System Shops on Earth, right? Part of being the local administrator? Well, a couple things came in from other areas that are very interesting.”

I chuckled. “Well, don’t keep me in suspense, man. Tell me what they are so you can start trying to sell them to me.”

The merchant smiled, and said “Well, can you blame me for wanting to sell a few more things? Your spending is one of the few things giving me any noticeable experience as a merchant, you know! As you go up in tier, you only gain any real experience from sales of high-tier items, or large ticket items. You do get a pittance per normal sale, but it takes forever to add up to another level!”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatchya got?”

“Well, the first thing is a Dungeon Tracker. This thing is like GPS, but it can lock on to the energy dungeons give off. If you’re in range of a dungeon, it can tell you where the entrance is, the dungeon’s level, and the level of creatures you can expect inside. There’s even an online component where you can send and receive updates, so people can make notes on monster types and the like.”

“That…” I gaped. “Wow. Just wow. That could change everything, if it got out. It would certainly change up the guesswork in deciding whether or not the dungeon, and its likely rewards, are worth the risks it poses to your party when you dive. That would save some lives, for sure.”

“Or cost them, when some fool thinks that level is all that matters in a dungeon.”

I grunted in reply. “Yeah, but those kinds of people were going to die anyways. This’d be big. Who is selling it?”

“That’s the interesting part. They’re selling it for only five hundred gold, but they want to remain anonymous. They even sent the initial prototype off to the System Shop by courier. The only clue is that they used the New York shop.”

“Hmph. Well, I’ll take one, all the same. Never know when it could come in handy. What is the second thing you need to show me?”

“Now, the second, and I’d say more impressive, thing is a unique weapon. I’m not talking about ‘unique’, as in how each sword made with Damascus steel is different from the others due to how the metal hardens and is shaped. I’m talking Unique, like the Curse of the Black Knight potion.”

“Oh, well, now I’m interested. Tell me more!”