You are Summoned

Chapter 274. First 50 to 5.

The headquarters turned faded and blurry as the rank five upgrades started. Unlike the other buildings, I could still work in the headquarters while it was being upgraded. Most of the other classes involved in the challenge would probably have welcomed a break to explore the map or personally deal with a theat. For me, I was able to use my minions to do most of the dirty work.

Various caravans continued to run the trade routes, each dropping off resources when they arrived at my market. The roads were having an impact, and even though it was just a small speed buff, I could tell the difference when watching the progress on the map. I was surprised to see the occasional red dot appear on the various trade routes.

So far, they appeared to be minor threats, and any nearby patrols were quick to respond to them. I was able to watch one skirmish that occurred on the route between my cavern and the gnomish cave. A red dot appeared on my side of the route, and my squad guarding the route moved quickly to intercept.

Luckily, there were no caravans nearby, so if the warriors could deal with the threat, we’d be in good shape. I could see a small distance around my squad and as they drew close, the threat turned out to be a trio of those lizards we had fought early in the challenge. My minions had little trouble dealing with them, and I hoped my kobold troops would do equally as well.

The additional squad members from the upgraded barracks hadn’t all spawned yet, so this squad only had five warriors. Despite only having five warriors, it did have one of the first sorcerers in it, so that should help in the fight. My kobold warriors were still modestly equipped and wielded a spear with a steel tip and a dagger as a backup weapon.

I was happy to see that one of the five warriors had a crossbow out that he was pointing in the direction of the lizards. They still didn’t have much in the way of armor, with all the kobolds only wearing leather armor that offered modest protection. Hopefully, as the crafting center really got going, they’d get better gear, and maybe a shield for the spear wielding kobolds would be a nice addition.

My crossbow wielding kobold opened the fight with a shot that hit the first lizard right between the eyes. It looked like the training exchange between my people and the elves was starting to pay off. In addition, the sorcerer fired off Bursts of Flame at the next lizard charging toward them.

The blasts of fire did some minor impact damage, but the damage over time component seemed to do the trick as all three blasts burned into the thick hide of the lizard. Neither creature was dead yet, but both the injured lizards were struggling to stay upright. The spear wielding kobold warriors didn’t rush to attack or run in fear. Instead, their training kicked in and they stopped and readied their spears to receive the enemy charge.

Only the size of large dogs, the lizard charge wasn’t too devastating on the diminutive kobolds, and all four of the spear wielders managed to skewer their attackers. The two already wounded lizards died immediately, but the final one struggled at the end of one of the spears until his crossbow wielding comrade finished the lizard off with a final shot to the face.

There were no system prompts granting awards or resources, the skirmish was just another day in the life of a kobold warrior. I felt a bit better at my forces being able to defend against threats to the caravans. The threat would be reduced once all the road networks were in place, and their buffs helped to keep attackers away.

The haze around my headquarters suddenly dissipated, and I found myself inside a rather nice room. It was all constructed of the gnomish stone and looked sturdy and official. There was also much more in the way of furniture and décor. I had a long, mushroom stalk desk with chairs for meetings that I’d probably never have. The map table was separate from the meeting area and sported a comfortable chair with padding for me to sit on.

Heading outside, the outer door was now made of thick planks of wood reinforced with iron straps. A large wooden beam rested against the wall just inside, which could be used to secure the place in an emergency. A small waiting room was separated from the meeting room and map table where I’d normally be.

A small group of kobold workers began to filter into the headquarters, two sitting at a desk in the waiting room as if waiting for visitors, and the others trying to make themselves useful by cleaning and organizing things in the building. I also had a trio of kobold warriors standing guard outside, two regular warriors and a larger one tagged by the system as a sergeant. These were additional troops and didn’t count against the total number of squads my barracks could produce.

A system prompt appeared just after I got a good look at everything.

Congratulations, you’re one of the first 50 participants to construct a rank 5 headquarters. Rank 5 will be the rank cap for this challenge. Bonus rewards will be assigned based on your position in achieving this milestone. Your rank is #39 and you have received additional resources, a new structure, and enhancements to your headquarters.

Rewards:

Armored resource storage silo. An additional, armored silo has been added to your quartermaster’s hut. This silo resists attempts to destroy or pillage the resources inside, resulting in an additional 2% bonus added to any resources that are stored inside. Your existing silo will also be slowly upgraded to the new standard at no cost to you.

As part of your reward, the new silo will be initially filled with resources.

Headquarters upgrade: Redoubt. The Redoubt upgrade for your headquarters transforms it into a secure defensive structure designed to hold off attackers for as long as possible until help can arrive. A dedicated defensive squad will be added as a garrison and other options for defense may unlock at a later time.

That was a nice surprise. I had a feeling I was doing well on the challenge due to my minions handling a lot of the heavy lifting for me outside the cavern. Being in the top fifty to construct a rank five headquarters gave me some confidence that this arena run was going to be worth it.

Standing outside the building, I could see it begin to go hazy briefly as the changes to it took place. Over at the quartermaster’s hut, I could see the second silo appear. Just as the system advertised, it looked to be made of sturdy stone, a huge improvement over the slapdash construction of the original.

When my headquarters finished up, I was surprised to see that it had transformed into a mini keep. A crenelated wall with a fortified gate surrounded the building, which now had thicker walls and firing ports at various points around it. The windows had wood and steel shutters that could be closed and bolted if we were attacked, and the defenders had expanded to a full squad, including a sorcerer.

The good news kept coming as another round of system notifications appeared, apparently triggered by my upgrades.

Your Faction Morale has improved from Disgruntled, to Neutral.

The morale of the confederated Zalbairn Forest Elves has improved to Disgruntled.

The morale of the Village of Millstone has improved to Disgruntled.

Continued trade with the Gurtzam Rock Gnomes has changed their reputation with you from Friendly to Potential Ally.

Everyone seemed happy, but it was apparently too soon for the city of Shoremarch to improve their opinion of us. It seemed that any imminent rebellion among our confederated groups wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Given their reputation improvements, it was probably time to institute a mutual defense pact with each of them.

Both factions had been given plenty of time to recover from our initial conflicts, and it was time for them to start shouldering the burden of defense a bit more. I pulled up my confederated factions tab to see where each of them stood.

Confederated Factions.

Zalbairn Forest Elves.

Population: 118.

Military forces: 2 squads.

Average structure rank: 3.1.

Morale: Disgruntled.

Village of Millstone.

Population: 194.

Military forces: 3 squads.

Average structure rank: 2.8

Morale: Disgruntled.

Neither of them had that much in the way of military forces. Still, I opened the negotiation tab and implemented a mutual defense pact with each. It wasn’t much of a negotiation, both were confederated factions and couldn’t tell me no, but I was happy to see that the new demands didn’t tank their morale. Waiting to force the defense pact until both were stronger had been the right call.

A mutual defense pact with the Zalbairn Forest Elves has been established. Should either faction be attacked by an outside foe, the other agrees to lend military aid. This pact will also require the confederated faction to expand their military presence. At their current population, the Zalbairn Forest Elves will add an additional 2 squads to their total forces. Other troops will train and deploy once their population increases enough to support them.

As the faction leader, you may request control of up to 2 squads of the Zalbairn Forest Elves to use in your territory as you wish. Please note that taking these troops far from home or causing them to take heavy casualties will negatively affect the morale of this faction.

The elves now had two squads I could order around. One was already patrolling the trade route between us, so I added the second one to the same task, giving us better protection on that route. Now I needed to do the same thing with the human village.

A mutual defense pact with the Village of Millstone has been established. Should either faction be attacked by an outside foe, the other agrees to lend military aid. This pact will also require the confederated faction to expand their military presence. At their current population, the Village of Millstone will add an additional 2 squads to their total forces. Other troops will train and deploy once their population increases enough to support them.

As the faction leader, you may request control of up to 2 squads of the Village of Millstone to use in your territory as you wish. Please note that taking these troops far from home or causing them to take heavy casualties will negatively affect the morale of this faction.

It seemed like I had the same deal with the human village. Both were capping out at five squads of troops and giving me two to deploy as I wished. Just like I did with the elves, I placed both human squads on the trade route between our factions. That should give us better protection and not put too much of a strain on their morale since their troops would still be close to home.

If things got dangerous out there, I could count on using the elf and human troops to guard the supply lines and free up my kobold squads to deal with any problems that were sure to pop up.