You are Summoned

Chapter 254. Construction Zone.

Finally, I was able to open the build structures tab. The selection was limited, and there were a few indistinct, greyed out icons showed there was more to unlock in the future. As it stood now, I had a few things to start with.

Available Structures:

Mushroom Farm.

Housing Complex.

Barracks.

Crafting Station.

Fortifications.

Playing around with the interface, I found that I could assign a percentage of our resources to several projects at the same time. From what the system had suggested, I needed to try and get a bit of everything built and see where that led me. To start with I chose to build the three structures I didn’t currently have.

Once selected, the system required that I choose a place inside of the cavern to build my structures. For the crafting station, I placed it further in the cavern, back near the far wall where the kobold rebels had been lurking. I wanted to leave quite a bit of open space around the existing farm and housing areas for future expansion.

As far as the barracks, it was placed next to the headquarters. If I needed help or assassins tried to hit me inside the headquarters, I wanted my troops nearby. There was also only one spot I could currently select for fortifications, the area around the cavern entrance. Once I’d made my selections, I distributed the resources equally among all three projects to get a feel for how quickly each structure would be completed.

You may now see your current resources as well as all resource gathering efforts. Some starting resources have been placed in your reserve, as well as additional resources as part of your compensation for arena certificates.

When I concentrated on resources, I could see the image of what looked like a storage silo. Just over half of the silo was filled, and I could see a small trickle flow from my headquarters and into the silo. In addition, a thin trickle of resources moved from the forest to the silo, but it was only like a drop every minute or so. Not surprising given my lumber gathering kobolds’ lack of any type of work ethic.

The farm also had a resource link, but when I focused on the link, I was informed that farming would only supply resources after the needs of the tribe were met. I’d have to expand the mushroom fields or add a new one if I wanted them to become a resource generator for me. Already, from having my farm automatically upgraded to rank one, I could see my kobolds looked a bit less scrawny.

They were still rather hungry looking, so I added a second mushroom farm to the queue, placed right next to the first one. Once I confirmed my choices, the existing resources inside the silo flowed to where the buildings would be constructed. The supply of resources drained quickly with four buildings under construction at the same time.

It was a race to see if my resources would dry up before the construction was completed. Watching the buildings, it seemed like they were coming together at a rapid pace. At each building site, a small, smoke-like haze was found covering the area. It was a barrier preventing any of my existing population from entering.

There would be no sending in kobold workers to increase construction time, but at the rate these structures were building, I doubted that my kobolds could make much of a difference. A noticed dinged in my interface, and I could see that the first structure was completed. It was the defenses around the entrance.

At the cave mouth, a palisade made of mushroom stalks had been constructed, with a gap in the wall wide enough for a wagon to fit through. There was no gate at rank zero, just a spiked barricade that the kobolds could move into place. It wouldn’t hold back a determined attacker, but it would serve to funnel them into a single entry point where my troops, once I had some, could negate any numerical advantage the enemy might have.

Next to be completed was the second mushroom farm. Just like the system had explained, this farm was already rank one and had the same larger footprint as the original one. The other two buildings, the barracks, and the crafting stations were close to completion when the supply reserves ran out. Like a car slamming on the brakes, production slowed to a crawl, powered only by the trickle of resources generated by the headquarters and the slackers out in the forest.

I couldn’t find anything in the headquarters options to make my kobolds work harder, and I was considering sending my minions out to harvest lumber when I noticed a new trickle of resources coming in from the second farm. It wasn’t much, but it was more than the logging operation was bringing in.

In addition to the extra resources, my kobolds no longer looked scrawny. They were still a diminutive race and not all that muscular to begin with, but I wouldn’t have to worry about any penalties due to them being malnourished. If I expanded the farms further, maybe it would help stimulate population growth, or maybe grant my workers a buff of some sort.

To my delight, the forest gatherers began to step up their game as the food situation worked itself out. They were still mostly slackers, but now half of them were actively working at any one time. The flow of resources from their efforts was still negligible, but every little bit helped.

After maybe an hour, the other two buildings were completed. The system gave a breakdown of each as I looked them over. The barracks turned out to just be large tent, with a rather burly looking kobold standing outside. He was holding a simple wooden spear with a stone tip and wore a camouflaged tunic. The kobold must have been their version of a Drill Sergeant, and he began to shout for new recruits to join up, but only a few of my kobolds were responding.

The crafting stations were a series of three tables with various tools strewn about them. My shop teacher in High School would have had a fit at the way the tools were being neglected, but that seemed par for the course with these kobolds. A forge and anvil were placed by one crafting table, and a stinking vat of something foul was bubbling away next to several animal hides at another. The final table had blueprints for various things haphazardly placed upon it.

It wasn’t long before one of the kobolds wandered over to the stations and began to mess around at the forge. Instead of waiting to see what he would do, I checked in with the system information on my structures.

Barracks, Rank 0. This simple tent houses a veteran Kobold warrior who will begin to train a portion of your population for war. The percentage of kobolds that choose to take up fighting as a profession will depend on the civilization focus that you choose for your people. It does take time to train a warrior, but once trained, they will be organized into squads and you may command them to defend or attack a specific location, or begin to patrol an area.

Crafting Station, Rank 0. The crafting station allows your people to learn new skills and create items to improve their way of life. In addition to improving your farming, construction, and military equipment, crafters may occasionally unlock new discoveries that will improve your civilization’s chances of survival.

I wasn’t going to have a huge army anytime soon but having a few kobolds with sharp sticks was better than what I had now. One thing I was going to have fun doing was watching my crafters work. They would eventually be creating all the gear for my troops, as well as doing upgrades for my other structures. That could really make a difference over time.

The rank of a structure was the main determining factor on how effective it was, but it seemed that there was always at least a small chance that my minions would discover something new and unique to my faction. Whatever they discovered might give us an edge that the other contestants might not enjoy. From the laughable efforts of the trio of kobolds now attracted to the crafting stations, I wouldn’t hold my breath on any world changing breakthroughs anytime soon.

After the first kobold recruit entered the barracks tent, the kobold drill sergeant walked inside and began shouting at him. A few minutes later, the first recruit had been trained, and emerged from the tent with a look of confidence. He was still dressed only in the dirty tunic all my other kobolds wore, but he at least held a wooden spear with a stone tip similar to the one the drill sergeant carried.

The spear was held in a way that told me the kobold now knew the basics of how to use it but was nowhere near an expert on the weapon. When I selected the barracks tent, I could see three other kobolds being trained inside, each had a bar over its head that filled up as they progressed through their training.

I was also prompted about where I wanted them stationed. For now, I selected to have all the kobolds join the same unit and have them patrol the entire cavern. Later, when I had more soldiers to work with, I’d have a dedicated unit standing at the cavern entrance. There would also need to be patrols guarding the lumberjacks and any other foraging operations.

I would also need some way for my people to start exploring the map. Whether that would be through my kobold soldiers, my minions, or some other method, I had no idea. It seemed that with the last structure built, the system decided it was time for the training wheels to come off.

Your tutorial session is now complete. The first stage of the challenge, is now active. This first stage will last for 30 days. Build up your power during the next 30 days so you can weather the greater challenges that await.