Trial by Conquest: Chapter/Scenes 22 (Patreon)

— Trumpets —

Never before in the history of the Trial has a Master Builder gained the alliance of an epic level being before founding their civilization, nor has Isolation ever before seen a Legendary theme. For this incredible feat, you will be rewarding with a boon worthy of such an achievement.

You have gained a God Gem!

Max had just enough time to wonder what a God Gem was, and at the contradictory nature of the prompts—rewarding him for choosing the spider nymph theme whereas before it had punished him for how he had completed her dungeon—when another prompt appeared.

— Trumpets —

Congratulations, Master Builder! You have chosen your theme

Spider Swarm.

From now on your people will feel the urge to move and migrate with the changing of the seasons. Your skin shall feel the smoothness of silk. And your enemies will fear your deadly traps.

The Civilization of the Amber Swarm has been born!

New options are now available in your Civilization U.I.

The prompts just kept coming! It seemed even choosing to settle in the meadow by the river had been a good choice.

— Ding Ding! —

Hark and Rejoice, Master Builder! You have decided to found your civilization in an area steeped in life magic — The entrance to Malachite’s Ludo Narrative Echo Chamber (chromatic level dungeon). For choosing such an appropriate location, you have unlocked a settlement bonus!

Bounty of Seeds

All trees within one kilometer of the village will bear either fruits or nuts, all year round, regardless of tree species. Grow more types of trees to increase the variety of fruits and nuts that can be harvested.

Be Aware: This bonus can only be claimed if the commander’s residence star-gram is placed on this location and within the next twenty-four hours. Failure to begin settlement construction within the allotted time will result in the negation of this settlement bonus.

This was getting seriously awesome! He’d just ensured that they wouldn’t need to worry about starving until the settlement was so large the population inside the paremeter of the village was larger than the surrounding forests could support. Max didn’t know much about agriculture, but he suspected that tens or even hundreds of square kilometers of fruit and nut orchard could support a lot of people.

And the prompts still weren’t done.

— Ding! —

You have learned the skill Silk Weaver. You have gained an ingrained instinct for how to harvest the silk from all kinds of Giant Spiders, spin that silk into threads, and weave those threads into cloth. This skill comes with several sub-skills:

Make bone needle

Make spinning top

Make basic loom

Be Aware: You have learned your first skill. Skills are normally acquired through residence of a skill granting building, though as you have just learned, there are other ways to gain skills as well. Practice your skill to level it up. By leveling up your skill, you will unlock new opportunities to diversify and innovate.

Max wasn’t exactly sure he was ready to jump into weaving cloth right now—he had so much other stuff to do—but it was awesome to see that the perks the Spider Nymph had promised were already starting to bear fruit. It would have been nice if she’d told him all this though. On the other hand, maybe she hadn’t actually known herself. The prompt did say this was the first time anyone had the Spider Swarm theme.

There was still one final prompt to read through before the deluge was over. This one wasn’t nearly so earth shattering as the last four, but it was nice none the less.

— Bong! —

You have chosen your theme, Master Builder, and are about to found your settlement.

New Quest — Develop your settlement to the following levels:

Population: 250

Unique Military Buildings: 1

Unique Culture Buildings: 1

Unique Commerce Buildings: 1

Penelty for refusal or non completion: None

Reward for completion: Two Deity Engrams

Do you accept the quest?

[Yes] or [No]?

Duh! Max hit yes without a second thought.

He let out a long breath as the final prompt winked out of his vision.

“That was a lot of stuff!” he said out loud.

“What was?” asked Wildflower.

Max quickly filled her in on everything that he’d just read. The Forest Nymph’s reaction was enthusiastic to say the least. Max almost had to physically restrain her from going full briar wolf and running off into the forest to see if any of the trees had starting growing strange new fruits and nuts. Eventually, she agreed that they should start on building the settlement first.

Wildflower also had no idea what a God Gem was and when Max retrieved it from his inventory, the analyise prompt just said it was an item of great power. That was literally all it said.

— Ding! —

You have received a God Gem

This is an item of Great Power

Even Thorax wasn’t any help.

Seeing as there didn’t seem to be anything they could use the blue and sparkly jewel for right now, Max put it back in his inventory and turned his attention to the matter of the Commander’s Residence.

Navigating back to the ‘Found your Settlement’ option in his menu, he now found that it redirected to his list of available deity en-grams

Currently, only the Commander’s Residence wasn’t grayed out. All the other en-grams he’d collected just said, “Primary building requirement not met” when he hovered over them.

Max wasn’t sure exactly what was going to happen when he hit the go button, but when he did, his mouth dropped open in shock. His wasn’t the only one. Next to him, Wildflower gasped, and even Thorax let out a deep hum of what sounded like appreciation.

It snapped into existence about twenty feet in front of them. Memories from Max’s past seeped to the surface, giving him the words to describe what he was looking at. It looked like a gigantic blue hologram, made out of mists and stars. Faint blue lines of light connected the brighter stars, making a constellation vector diagram of the building that was to be built.

The building itself looked just like what Max had seen when he’d been picking the theme, all Arabian tent and Japanese temple, but rendered in blue mists and starlight.

He turned his attention to Wildflower and was startled when the en-gram also moved. A quick series of experiments showed that the en-gram moved in response to Max’s focus.

“I think here!” Max eventually declared after a few minutes of discussion about where they were going to put it. It was a spot about halfway between the river and the forest’s edge, giving equal access to both, while favoring neither.

A nod of agreement from his two companions and Max pressed the new button in his U.I. to permanently place down the star-gram.

Error: You cannot place a Commander’s Residence as you do not have a commander to assign.

Son of a bitch. He supposed he should have seen that coming. Wildflower may have agreed to be a commander, but it wasn’t as though he’d gone through the process that the Master Builder back in the dungeon had gone through with him to make him a commander.

A quick scroll through his U.I. brought him to the option to assign a commander.

Error: You cannot assign a commander as you currently have no followers.

Gods damn it!

Max went literally one option down in the U.I. and tried one more time.

— Ping! —

You are trying to recruit a follower or followers

Focus on the name or characterisits of the individual or group you wish to extend this invitation to.

Max looked hard at Wildflower who was looking at him with a quizzilke expression.

Do you wish to extend a follower invitation to Wildflower?

[Yes] or [No]?

Max hit [yes]

Wildflower’s eyes widened.

“I got a prompt!” she said.

“That’s great!” A thought occurred to Max. “You can read? Does paper even exist?”

“Paper? No idea. But prompts? Of course.”

“Huh. Interesting.” He studied Wildflower’s face, whose gaze was still locked onto the space where he’d expect a prompt to appear.

“So, are you going to accept?” A small part of him was still worried she’d back out at the last minute.

“What? Oh. Yes, yes of course. I—I just need a moment. This is a big decision.”

“No kidding.” When he’d gotten his own prompt in the simulated memory world dungeon place, it had said being a commander was a lifelong pledge. He wouldn’t be suprised if the prompt Wildflower had just received included similar warnings about becoming his follower.

Wildflower took a deep breath.

Then, Max received a prompt.

— Whoosh —

The being known as Wildflower is now your follower. Social menu has been updated.

Congratulations, Master Builder. You have taken on your first follower! A man dancing by himself is just a sad nut dancing alone. The first to join in makes them so much more! Without followers there can be no leaders. Honor those that put their trust in you, Master Builder, and they will repay you a thousand fold.

— Ding! —

Having become your follower, WildFlower is now eligible to become a commander. Do you wish to extend her this invitation as well?

[Yes] or [No]

Max grinned. “Hang onto yourself, my lovely nymph, because this train ain’t finished yet.” He hit [Yes]. Only then did it occured to Max that Wildflower wouldn’t have a clue what a train was.

Wildflower just moistened her lips with her tongue. “I got it.”

She didn’t hesitate this time.

— Trumpets! —

Rejoice, Master Builder! The Forest Nymph Wildflower has become a commander!

Social menu has been updated.

Commanders represent your inner circle in the Trial by Conquest, holding many special abilities usually unique to Master Builders. This makes them uniquely qualified to carry out many important missions.

As your first commander, Wildflower has received a minor boon — increased chance to discover minor treasures.

Max grinned from ear to ear. Coupled with her people’s affinity for being naturally good scouts, this boon could make for a potent combination.

Wildflower seemed to think so to, or at least was reveling in her new status. The smile on her face, if possible, was wider than his own.

“Are you ready to found our village?” Max asked.

“I never thought I would live to see such a wonder,” Wildflower said. “Do it.”

Max did it.

A quick navigation through his menu was all it took. Seconds later, Max was waving his hands in the air to position the giant hologram building made of stars right where he wanted it — far enough away from the river to hopefully avoid the risk of flooding, but close enough so that the building’s sphere of influence would reach well over the other side and up the cliff.

Max could feel the power radiating out from the hologramatical deity en-gram. A part of him that was intricately connected to this world as a Master Builder told him everything he needed to know.

He would only be able to place other village buildings within a certain range of the Commander’s residence. There were exceptions, like the watch tower, but he didn’t know how often he’d find them.

What he did know was that he wanted to control the river, and the high ground on the opposite bank.

With a final wave of his hand, he placed the building, and as he did so, another round of trumpets sounded.

— Trumpets! —

Congratulations, Master Builder!

You have established your capital settlement.

Your civilization menu has been updated.

What would you like to name your village?

Max thought about it for a second before declaring, “The village shall be called Swarm Central!”

Yet another round of trumpets.

— Trumpets —

The village of Swarm Central has been founded.

You are the eighty-sixth Master Builder to found their starting village.

Always remember, the march of time waits for no man.

Wasn’t that the truth?

There was a lot to be done before the village was even remotely worthy of the name. And they’d only just begun.

Deciding that he needed to get a better grip on just how these buildings worked, Max wandered over to the star-like hologram and tried to place a hand upon it. To his surprise, the 3-D diagram for how the building would eventually look felt far more solid than light and mist had any right to be. It felt like the fog that forced them forward in Malachite’s Ludo Narrative Echo Chamber.

To his wonder, a connection formed in his mind with the en-gram, and as a Master Builder, new options became available to him. He knew, instinctively, that he could assign residents to this building. These residents would gain special perks so long as they remained residents. Perks such as being able to level up skills that the building provided. They didn’t have to be physically present in the building all the time, but being absent for too long would start to affect the benefits.

Also, everyone could be resident in only one building. That meant that they’d have to choose what skills they wanted to level up carefully.

You wouldn’t lose the skills you’d been working on if you stopped being a resident, but neither would you be able to progress the skill any further.

Max could easily see how the careful administration of residences would be critical if he wanted any hope of winning the Trial.

But to even get to that point would require a lot more followers than just his current one — lovely though Wildflower was.

It just meant they had to get on with things.

Normally, becoming a resident wouldn’t be possible until after the building was complete, but a commander’s residence was an exception.

He quickly concentrated on the idea of giving both himself and Wildflower residency in the as yet unbuilt HQ building, and was greeted with yet another prompt.

— Bells! —

You are now the primary resident of Swarm Central’s commander’s residence. You have gained the following skill:

Construction: You now possess the knowing of the magical art of construction. Combine raw materials with deity-engrams and watch your creations rise to the heavens! Increasing this skill will increase the speed at which buildings can be built, decrease raw materials required, and grant special bonuses to future residents.

Current level: 1

The look of excitement on Wild Flower’s face told Max that she’d just received a similar prompt. But the trial wasn’t quite done yet.

— Ding Ding! —

By placing a commander’s residence you have automatically received two basic deity en-grams — Basic Residence (Spider Swarm Themed), Village Street (Spider Swarm Themed).

Max’s grin threatened to split his face.

And that was just the icing on the cake.

He looked around the meadow — at all the untapped potential of this little bit of paradise, surrounded by fruit and nut trees and bisected by crystal clear flowing water.

It was time to sketch out his new home. And he was going to do it with mists and stars.

The next few hours featured Max slapping down dozens of basic residence en-grams along with hundreds of village road segments made of the same stars and mist.

At first, Max had been only practical in the layout, giving the area around Commander’s Residence a good village square and branching out in a grid pattern from there. He figured that the Commander’s Residence would naturally become the focal point for the settlement, so it made sense to give the area around it a wide open area for public events.

Then Wildflower had returned from collecting fruit and nuts from the surrounding supernaturally abundent trees and had gotten in on the action as well. To her, the glowing blue lines of streets and lanes harkened back to the artwork she’d seen on her travels. Of mountain dwarves who painted hunting scenes on cave walls or halflings who bent field grasses into wonderful circle patterns.

And it was certainly true that the cliff top over the river would give an amazing view out over the village.

The result was several village districts shaped with far more creativity than just straight lines at ninety degrees.

Daisy District now lay on the east side, shaped like the petals of a flower surrounding whatever that round middle bit was called.

Just up from the river bank played host to The Fish Market, a tight inweave of streets formed like interlocking carp — or at least, so assured Wildflower. Max honestly had no idea. He barely knew the difference between salmon and tuna when it came in a can — let alone swimming free.

And finally, their last joint project of the night before Max really insisted that they needed to get on — a massive ass spider, taken from the likeness of Thorax, now sat on the far west.

Max called this piece of literal street art, ‘Grump Zone,’ and if ever they had any heavy industry or sanitation dedicated engrams, he knew exactly where it was all going.

Of course, for the foreseeable future, all these were only outlines. The number of deity engrams Max had access to was extremely limited. It really brung home just how important finding more dungeons would be to growing his civilization.

He finished off their work session by placing down the teashop engram opposite the Commander’s Residence on the other side of Swarm Central’s Village Square, the shipyard engram down by the river bank, and the watch tower engram, right at the very top of the cliff on the other side of the river.

Fording the river again and making their way all around the hill to the south—past the dungeon mouth—through the forest and up the hill to the cliff top, took far longer than he would have liked.

So much so, in fact, that he was half regretting not choosing the bridge deity engram when he’d been given the chance.

All those thoughts were left behind though when the deed was done. The now very much night time view from the top of the cliff looking down over his and Wildflower’s efforts was well worth it.

“It’s beautiful,” Wildflower whispered.

Max nodded.

“No one in all the Amber Vale will be able to stay away,” she continued. “This is the wonder the Master Builders bring.”

They stood in silence for a moment. There was a splash in the river below as something large surfaced for a moment. Probably a fish.

A small frown crossed Wildflower’s face. “You’re going to make me commander of the village, aren’t you?” she asked.

“That’s the idea.”

Wildflower looked up at him and bit her lip. “You know I want to explore. I want adventure. I don’t want to be bound to one place. That’s why I left my home forest in the first place.”

Max studied the girl who was his only companion in this strange and scary new world. The green of Wildflower’s soft skin was bathed in the blue light of the village outline, giving her an ethereal look. Her chestnut brown hair fell down her back and over her shoulders in waves. And her curves all curved… all of them.

But despite her incredibly feminine appearance, Max knew she was no shrinking violet. She was a fighter. And though he couldn’t remember his time from before the Trial, he got the distinct impression that she had already stood by him through more hardship and challenges than any girl he’d met before.

If the state that he’d first woken up in this world was any indication, he’d known quite a few girls in his old life.

He reached out and hooked a stray strand of hair behind Wildflower’s ear. “I will not cage you, Wildflower. The moment we find another commander who can take command of Swarm Central in your place, if that is what you wish. The prompt said your people are natural scouts. Leading the forward units seems like more your thing. And you do look good on unicorn back.”

Wildflower smiled up at him. She was beautiful.

Max felt the urge to bend in and kiss her.

Wildflower must have sensed his feeling, because she suddenly looked regretful. “Max, we can’t be lovers. I’m sorry for teasing you before. I didn’t think I’d feel this way after so short a time together. I really like you. You are everything I’d ever want in a mate. But now that we have unicorn hair, we mustn’t—”

Max cut her off by placing a finger on her lips. Something inside of him had clicked.

“Wildflower, that quest means we mustn’t have sex. But that doesn’t mean we can’t love each other. I want you and unless there’s some kind of bullshit magic stopping me, which you should tell me about right now, I’m going to kiss you. Right here, right now.” He paused. The night wind blew through both their hair.“Is there some bullshit magic I should know about?”

Wildflower’s cheeks had darkened to a delightful shade of emerald. “No,” she whispered.

Max bent down as she reached up on tip toes. He felt her nearly-naked body press against his. Their lips met. Soft. Tender. Breathy. Her arms wrapt around his neck. His hands fell around her waist.

For a long time, they simple held each other, closely sharing each other’s breathing. Max felt the world dissapre around him. The mysteries of the trial, the threat of death, the fact that he had family out there, somewhere in this world—in that moment, it all became unimportant.

After what seemed an age, they broke apart.

“Wow,” Wildflower whispered.

“Yeah,” Max breathed back.

Wildflower giggled. “I could do that all night.”

“We’re going to have to sort out sleeping soon,” Max replied, but he knew it was easy to tell from his voice that his heart wasn’t in it.

Wildflower simply smiled up at him and pulled him in for another kiss, and while the first had been soft and tender, this one became much longer and far more passionate.

The moon was full and low, seemingly massive in the night time sky.

Man and woman stood embraced atop the cliff by the river, silhotted against the celestial body by anyone below who might be watching.

Hidden in shadow, a wet figure by the river with light blue skin was watching.

As the man and woman continued to make out at the top of the cliff, the figure giggled to herself. Occasionally, her gaze strayed to the many constellations of mist and stars that outlined the yet-to-be-built village.

She heard a gruff sound approach, like the muttering of an old man.

With a hurried movement, she turned and slid back into the river, headfirst, with a loud plop sound.

Not long after, Thorax arrived at that curve of the river bank, scanning the blue-lit area with all eight of his eyes. On finding nothing, he muttered to himself. “Probably a fish.”

First | Previous | Next