The Pilot of Wrath

Chapter 22 – Pay to Play

“How much?” Matt and Franklin asked at the same time.

Tobias just looked at them and smirked. “Well that all depends on what you want.”

“Get to it. Just tell us what the deal is so we can make a decision.” Matt said. He knew Tobias had a little flare for drama at times.

“Ok, ok. So, it goes like this. The building is technically tier locked. As a forge master, I was able to unlock the base functions of this office and the forge hub. Everything besides the construct pads needs to be purchased.” Tobias started but was cut off.

“I am so sorry; I thought the forge was ready to go when it was included. I didn’t know it had some functions that couldn’t be accessed.” Franklin apologized.

Tobias just smiled. “I don’t think anyone knew that, but it does lead to the next part of our problem. We need to decide on what to purchase and in what order. There are several categories with many options in each. Our limit will be the average level of the forge workers, when it comes to what we can buy.”

Tobias went on to explain that they started with a level one forge that upgraded to a level 2 when Tobias arrived and touched a control panel. That action had allowed access to the restricted areas on this level. The formerly restricted area happened to be the design and purchasing lab they were standing in.

The black table they were sitting around was a design table and could be used for 3d renderings that could be stored or sent to the pads outside. Any object could be summoned… for a cost. Tobias explained that there were ways to offset that cost such as using your own design, copying an existing item, and putting your own materials into it.

The example Tobias used was to summon a sword. If he wanted to summon a sword, he could use the shop feature and pick from a list of items and enchantments. The cost in credits to do this was astronomical, but it could be done. If he input his own design, the cost would be lessened, it would go down even more if he supplied the design and raw materials. It turned out that replication was also possible but was limited to consumable or expendable items and instead of credits, it cost mana.

Franklin had a frown for the first time that Matt had seen. “At this rate we would run out of credits very quickly.” He looked at each of them and continued. “I personally donated all my remaining credits to the settlement coffers. There was already a good amount in there from my selections when designing the city, but they won’t last long with the cost of these items.”

“I would be willing to donate some of mine to help with the startup costs or to get some of the things I personally want.” Tobias said. “But that’s not all. These summoning pads are a 2-way street. We can sell things from them to the system, getting credits in return.”

Tobias then went on another very long-winded explanation of how it worked. The general idea was that the more refined a material was, the more they could sell it for. He used the example of iron. If they sold the ore, the price was set by the ton but if it was refined and smelted into ingots, the price was set by kilos. They could also work it into a steel or other alloys to get even more. The more work they were willing to do themselves, the more they would get in return. They could also sell completed items. If a jeweler made a strength enhancing ring or something similar, they could sell it through the forge for what appeared to be a hefty sum.

“So, this is where I make my recommendations.” Tobias had the same look and tone as when he had to deal with the board of directors. “I say we meta game the system. If we sink costs upfront, we can get a jump start on our production. I also think we should fill the machine shop and expand the forge.”

Mike perked up at that. “What do you mean expand the forge?”

“This isn’t the final layout of the building. We can upgrade it not only in capability with our levels, but also in size. If we open the pads up to everyone to use as they wish, we can prevent a bottle neck in their use by having more available. We can also set the fee to use them at whatever we want.” Tobias briefly outlined his plan for the pads.

Franklin thought about it for a while and after some discussion with the others, they came to the decision to set a 5% use fee for the pads. That was only for the selling of items since the cost to buy things was so high at the moment. They also decided on their purchases. They went with an expanded forge that had a foundry for refining ores into useable metals. The area reserved for the machine shop was then cleared out of cots with much grumbling from everyone there. Then Tobias went wild and bought every piece of level 2 equipment he could find.

Matt decided to donate half of his remaining funds to the coffers of the forge since he would most likely be directly benefiting from it. Franklin and Mike looked absolutely flabbergasted at the amount he so casually spent. The governor muttered something about it being more than his current reserves for the city. Within the blink of an eye, the room was filled with machines and Tobias nearly danced on his way out to inspect it all.

The amount of equipment was astounding. There were multiples of everything that Tobias bought so there wouldn’t be choke points on equipment. When purchasing, he had designated the spots for it all to go, and the scattered light show proved that the system had installed them automatically. After he reviewed the layout, Tobias gathered the acolytes and started showing them the equipment. They seemed to have forgotten that they now had to find new places to live in light of the shiny new tools.

Franklin and Matt decided to let the forge staff do their thing, since they had another meeting to attend. They walked out of the forge and found a sizeable gathering forming on the grassy lawn nearby. It wasn’t the full amount that Franklin had estimated but folks seemed to still be trickling in. Matt walked over to one of the larger groups to enlist their help with his plan.

“Hi folks. Think I could get your help with something?” Matt asked the group of around 50.

One elf stepped forward and offered a hand. “My name is Kleis. I think we can make something happen.”

“Good to meet you, I am Matt. I was hoping that we could have the crowd break up by class and then send a few representatives for me to talk to. That way I’m not trying to shout to a huge crowd. “

Kleis looked over his shoulder and got nods from his group. “I think we can manage that. It might take us some time, but we will see it done.”

Matt smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks, Kleis. It looks like we have most of the folks here so send them my way when ready.” With that, they had a quick huddle then split off in pairs. Matt watched them go, just observing how they handled the process.

After about half an hour, the crowd of several thousand had been divided into tight groups arranges across the lawn. Before Matt could even think to start calling people over, each group had around 8 to 10 representatives break away and head for Matt and Franklin.

As they arrived, they bowed before introducing themselves. Matt knew he wouldn’t remember all the names as he was surrounded by nearly 100 people. He did note that a good number of them were from Kleis’ group. After the last of them came up, Matt settled them all down and got started.

“Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Matt and I hear you all want to focus on your combat classes.” He got nods and words of acknowledgement from everyone. “Great, first things first. Don’t bow to me or call me lord. I am not a noble and don’t need any special treatment for my ego. Second, this is going to be an introduction and a chance to organize. We will not be training today or assigning specific roles.” He saw some disappointed looks but a lot more understanding faces in the gathering.

Matt went on to outline how things would be working now. He told them that there were no restrictions on leaving the gates to hunt and level but did advise caution. He found out that there was a relatively large healer crowd, and many had a healer class secondary to their combat classes. They briefly covered party composition, but it seemed that they would be working in larger groups until they had higher levels. A move that both Franklin and Matt agreed with.

Franklin then took over and told them that the forge would be up and running soon. He went into detail about the selling aspect of the forge but asked them to check with other crafters before selling. Everyone agreed that it was better to level the people of the city before they sent resources away to who knows where.

Matt dismissed them with the ask that they come check in with him in a few days. He said that it wasn’t micromanaging but wanted updates to adjust his plans. They all promised to stay in touch and dispersed back to their groups.

Matt watched them go, hearing the excited voices carried by the wind as they wandered off. “Frank, I have an idea but didn’t know your plans and wanted to talk to you about it.”

“Oh, what now?” The orc asked as they walked away.

“You see the inside area of the star points?” Franklin nodded. “Did you have a plan for those or is it open for debate?”

“I didn’t have anything specific. Why do you ask?” Matt was getting the side eye from the governor.

“Perhaps its best if I draw it out. Let’s head back to the map shack.” Matt said. Franklin agreed to meet him there and Matt went to pick up Van to traverse back to the building with all the plans. When he got there, Franklin wasn’t far behind him, needing only a few minutes to finish the trip. Matt had gone the long way around, getting a look at the rest of the settlement he had missed on his way to the forge.

Having acquired paper, Matt traced the shape of one point on the star from the city map that had more detail. Franklin had just walked into the room when Matt had finished tracing. “Good timing, here is what I’m thinking.” He began to outline his plan for the governor. He made several of the tracings to draw over and each one was slightly different in appearance.

Franklin studied the drawings, flipping through them in order. “This is an ambitious plan, Matt. While I’m sure we have the masons for the project, time and materials are a concern.” He looked at the drawings once again before letting out a long sigh. “I think it’s a good idea. Let’s put it on the short list and we can get to it after we build some of the other infrastructure.”

Matt asked that Franklin share the plans with Tobias as well as the others involved in developing the settlement. Saying his goodbyes, he left to go check the progress of the pilots working outside, having seen several constructs dragging trees through the gate. When he got outside, he was honestly shocked at what he saw.

Stacked neatly in tall piles, were hundreds of trees, their branches sheared, leaving only the useable parts behind. The pilots had sorted them by size and cut them into uniform lengths by some unknown means. Nearby, but still out of the way of the log piles, there was another pile consisting of the corpses of animals.

As Matt watched the progress, he saw that it wasn’t just the pilots out there. Dozens of other people were on the ground helping organize and process the materials. One group was running large 2-man saws and trimming trees to length before they were stacked by nearby pilots. A second group was processing all the animals, stripping them of hides and meat.

Rohm saw Matt and hurried over to him in his own construct. “Matt, just in time. We have cleared out a decent amount of the trees on this side of the city, but we are finding huge deposits of stone. None of us have any tools to remove it and I have already sent a runner to fetch some of the builders and masons.”

Matt thought about the problem for a moment before responding. “I might be able to help. The forge is now up and running so we might be able to get some heavy equipment out here to help.” He made a quick call over the radio to ask Tobias if they could rush some pickaxes and shovels sized for the constructs. Tobias said that it would be easier and cheaper to summon them rather than make them from scratch since they had no raw materials yet.

“Ok, Rohm. Send a couple pilots over to the forge, Tobias will have some tools for moving all that stone by the time they get there.” Matt paused and looked at the pile of beasts. “Had any trouble with the local wildlife?”

Rohm laughed. “At first, we did. Lots of people were a little jumpy and panicked. That didn’t last long and soon it became more difficult to keep the crews together. Once the levels started rolling in, it was all we could do to keep them from rushing off into the woods looking for more.”

Matt had to explain how his chat had gone with the non-pilot combatants. Rohm was surprised at the turn out but promised to assign some pilots to act as support for the folks on foot. He also said that most of the beasts they had encountered were in the level 5 to level 10 range, barely a threat for a mob of pilots. There had been one hold up that was due to a personal request from one of the city planners.

“I think it’s a good idea.” Rohm said as he sat with Matt on one of the felled trees. “It might be a bit of a hassle now, but it will be worth it in the future.”

“I can’t say I blame them. The interior is rather bleak. Having some trees to break up the monotony would be nice.” Matt reasoned. Rohm had told him of the city planner and her request. She came running out shortly after the pilots started their deforestation efforts and begged with Rohm to help her.

She was a type of demon whose culture held nature in especially high regard. It was the main reason that she chooses this settlement over others. At first Rohm had thought her to be asking them to stop but what she actually wanted was a little trickier. She had gotten the go ahead from Franklin to set aside some areas around the city as parks and green spaces. What she wanted from the pilots was for them to uproot some of the smaller trees rather than clear cut them.

The pilots of course were very confused but were in a good enough mood that they obliged and started transplanting some of the saplings. She was still out near the wall with a shovel and large bolts of what looked like burlap. Each sapling had its root ball bundled with some soil and then watered to keep them alive until she could transfer them. Rohm had asked some of the pilots to help carry the saplings in when they moved back inside the walls that evening.

“After today, I think the carpenters and masons will be plenty stocked for a while.” Matt observed. “Hopefully that means they will be able to get started on personal homes and shops soon.”

“Honestly the barracks isn’t so bad, but I would like to have some bath houses up and running soon.” Rohm had a wistful look to his face.

“Are your people big on community baths?” Matt asked and got a weird look from his new friend.

“What, just because I am part cat, I cant like water and a hot bath?”

That wasn’t at all where Matts mind had gone but he decided to clear the air. “No, that’s not it. On my home planet, where there were only humans, but some cultures had public baths, and some didn’t. The culture around them varied from place to place, so I was just wondering how common it is for our demographic.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Rohm looked embarrassed at the outburst. “While I haven’t asked, it would seem that it is going to be popular since it was front loaded on the list after your meeting.”

“It was not part of my culture, but I guess I will have to adapt. I still really do miss showers.” The confused look on Rohm’s face made Matt explain the concept. It seemed to spark something in the felid since he got a very contemplative look on his face. Matt took that moment to make his excuses and returned to the forge to check in on Tobias.

“So, how’s it going?” Matt said. The words startled Tobias who had been nose deep in his new terminal and hadn’t noticed Matt standing in front of him for the past minute.

“It’s great!” Tobias nearly shouted before regulating his voice. “Ahem. We have made a lot of progress and even with the load of giant digging equipment we have plenty of points and mana to spare.”

Matt laughed at the proverbial kid in a candy shop. “Glad to hear it. Listen I have a request.” He got a nod from Tobias, so he went on. “I need a new ammunition type. I have high explosive, and an armor piercing with my affinity, but I need something that does a little extra damage on squishy things.”

“So, like a fragmenting round? Kinda like a hollow point where it expands super-fast or splinters when it hits?”

“I’m open to suggestions but it’s a definite weak point in my current load out. From what Van says, if I introduce it to my weapon and mech, it will allow me to generate them with mana.”

Tobias leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment. Matt just let him do his thing, knowing better than to interrupt him. “I think I can make something like that. Can you leave a couple of your rounds here for me to experiment on?”

“I can leave a whole magazine for you to tinker with. Both types actually, one rifle and one auto cannon.” Matt paused, an idea from the trip finding its way back to the forefront of his mind. “And can we figure out some sort of anti-armor weapons?”

Tobias started taking notes on his tablet. Typing faster than Matt could ever hope to. “I will come up with something. Also, that might help with our combat classes and their weapons. What they have now is just… sad.”

“Hey!” one of the acolytes yelled and shot Tobias a scathing glare.

“Sorry!” Tobias yelled back. She huffed and walked off. Headed to where the cots had been moved.

“Take your time.” Matt said. “I will be headed out tomorrow. I plan on doing a little sight seeing and maybe trying that meditation thing again. I felt I was on the brink of something last time.”

Tobias rubbed the back of his head and looked away. “Yeah, sorry about that. I kinda panicked when that happened the first time.”

“No worries. I think you are right, and I need to do that alone and far away from people.”

Matt said his goodbyes and promised to come back for breakfast the next day before he left. He didn’t want to loose his momentum but also had things he wanted to do besides babysitting the city. If the worst happened, Tobias could get him on his radio. Another thing we need. Communications will be a massive benefit. How many times have I seen someone running by to deliver a message? Hell, its probably a class or a skill for all I know.