Notoriety, page 4
They quickly passed by the few market stalls that were already beginning to sell goods that were found in the beast-man tribes’ lands. These included rare herbs, minerals to include gems and monster parts that could be used in various crafts that were often wasted due to the lack of crafters that many beast-man tribes had. While these stalls weren’t doing much business and only a few food-based businesses had opened, Xeal knew that once players had easy access beyond his own guild, the area would fill up quickly. If things went according to how Xeal saw them going, once players were raiding across the river in the level 200-plus maps, this market would be full completely around the city rather than just a few businesses near where the teleportation hall was. Still, that was a ways off and Xeal needed to foster the necessary growth first.
When they entered the area that had been set up to house the teleportation hall, Xeal smiled as he saw the buildings that would house the FAE-owned businesses. It would be in these buildings that all the different types of goods that his guild’s crafters made would be sold to anyone who came to visit, and at the same time FAE would try and buy up as many raw materials as possible. Unlike in NPC cities where this prime real estate was unattainable, here in his city Xeal intended to monopolize it. Along with the stores were buildings to serve other basic functions, like a guard post, a bank, inn and other general purpose facilities. All of these took up the space along the wall surrounding the teleportation hall that was in the center of the space, where Issac Calder was watching over the team of FAE players currently working on the building. While the NPC who was serving as FAE’s head architect was not actively participating in the project, he was able to advise the other architects all the same. Upon seeing Xeal and his group, Issac Calder and the architect player, Catriona, who had been one of the players that had been part of the assault from Abysses End when Tenbris and Atius had made a play early on, quickly made their way over. While Catriona had turned out to only be average in combat, she was excellent with her attention to detail and information processing and was currently one of the more promising architects being developed.
“Guild leader Xeal, it is good to see you,” greeted Catriona.
“Yes, it seems like everything is coming along nicely.”
“It is. While we are still worried about the energy core that will interact with the void hearts, the rest of the building is sound. So, as long as we can succeed in the two tries that we have, we should be operational either today or tomorrow.”
“I see and what do you see as their odds of success, Mr. Calder?”
“Honestly, it is a flip of the coin. They have done everything right. It is just a question of if the quality is good enough. If I was permitted to look everything over I could be relatively sure, but this is an opportunity for Catriona to grow and if I looked over it, the gods would credit me and rob her of the boon from completing the building.”
“Xeal, is it really worth it to chance it failing and delaying the start of our network across the beast-man tribes’ lands?” questioned Kate from right next to him.
“Yes. If we waste opportunities like this one to develop architect players by having others who would only receive a fraction of the benefit, we will never create a group of masters.”
“Is it really going to be that great of a benefit at the costs it is taking to create them?”
“And just what is that supposed to mean, young lady?” retorted Issac Calder. “I will have you know that while it takes a large investment into creating those of my craft, that the best of us are always in high demand! While your guild leader may be a bit eccentric in how many he is trying to create and the amount of projects he is willing to see fail along the way, it is beautiful to observe. Each and every one of them have their own vision and style as they add little eccentricities. While not necessary, they can even inspire one such as I. This will lead this city to easily become a place for future generations of architects to come and study as they look for inspirations for their own works.”
“Xeal, if you had just had Mr. Calder here take lead on everything here the city would have cost over 30% less,” rebutted Kate. “Now we are talking about a situation where if we fail, we will lose one of the most valuable assets we currently hold. Heaven help us if they fail twice as Tinesi has already passed level 115 and can’t hit up any of the known void dungeons in other countries until more are found that will be an appropriate level for her. After all, she is the only void mage we have that is skilled enough to lead an expedition into a Hellish Nightmare Mode dungeon and clear it within a few tries. Now tell me again why we are risking more than we need to, to create master architects when the materials needed are so rare?”
“Because, only once we have had to perform under pressure can we know what we are capable of,” responded Catriona. “You can do everything perfect when nothing is on the line and freeze up when the time comes to put things into action, or you can just do it. I prefer to just do it. After all, I am well aware that should I fail on my first attempt, Master Calder will take over and I will be placed amongst those who will have to pray for a second chance as we build the simpler buildings.”
“Thank you,” responded Xeal. “Catriona is correct. While it may have cost 30% more to build our city, it is also being completed ahead of schedule and we are on track to have over a dozen platinum-ranked architects by the time they reach tier-6. If half reach mithril and a quarter of them become orichalcum-ranked architects, it will have been worth it.”
“What, you’re not aiming to have a few adamantium-ranked architects?” questioned Kate.
“Ha, if your guild manages to produce such a thing, it would be best to keep it quiet as only legends speak of such figures,” interjected Issac Calder. “After all, nations may become violent in order to secure their services, or to prevent others from doing so.”
“Sure. I still think that we could use the wasted resources that this is costing elsewhere.”
With that the conversation ended as Issac Calder walked away while shaking his head, as he pulled Catriona along while talking animatedly as Xeal turned to Kate with a wry smile as he spoke.
“You really need to stay out of the personnel files.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” responded Kate with a smug tone.
“Right, and I haven’t had detailed portfolios built on every crafter who shows promise, by the NPCs that I have hired to develop them.”
“If you didn’t want me to analyze them, you should have never commissioned them.”
“I get it, Catriona performs best under pressure. It’s why she sucks in practice, but in the moment she surprises everyone, but you didn’t need to stir up Issac as well.”
“Ah, he will get over it after Catriona succeeds on the first attempt and he gloats to me about it. After all, he likes nothing more than proving others wrong and talking about it around them.”
Xeal just smiled as they and the rest of their group made their way over to inspect everything in the area. After they were done, it was time for Catriona to make the first attempt to complete the teleportation hall in the basement of the building. Players would normally never enter this area as it was full of delicate arrays which were easily damaged, that were the key to directing the void energy as needed. It was also why only Xeal, Kate, Aalin and Gale were present, as the goal was to put extra pressure on Catriona, not introduce distractions as she did her final checks. Xeal smiled as she stopped and redid one symbol after another until she smiled at everything before retrieving the void heart and carefully approached the column that would hold it. She needed to make sure that she didn’t disturb any of the symbols, that had been drawn using various powdered crystals, as she moved.
When she arrived at the column, she held out the translucent orb, that radiated a slight distortion around its edges as it moved through space, as she placed it into a slot at the base of the column. This was followed by every symbol on the floor glowing before melting into the floor and becoming one with the stone beneath it. Xeal knew that this was the moment of truth as the void heart received the first wave of energy back as the circuit completed. If there was a critical error, the heart would shatter and even if it was only a minor error, it would likely crack and be unsuitable for this purpose. Along with the need of a new void heart, the portion of the floor that was determined to be the issue would need to be replaced as well. This would involve earth magic as the entire stone slab had been fused together to avoid any breaks in the array from a variation of material. This would require precise control as they had to remove the bad symbols without affecting the ones next to them. As such, it was often easier to simply just replace the entire floor. That, however, came at the loss of all the powdered crystal that had been used, which other than the void heart, was the most expensive part of the building.
Thankfully, all of that was unnecessary as the circuit completed and the void heart started to hum as it activated and sent power up into the pillar that was connected to the upper floors. This energy reacted with the powdered crystal channels that had been imbedded into the floor above, to create channels for the energy to be used. To maintain this power, the pillar where the void heart was implanted had points along it for MP crystals to be embedded, that would need to regularly be replaced with new ones as they ran dry. It was the use of the thousands of these crystals every week that would account for most of the cost in operating the facility. If they ever wanted to upgrade the facility for a wider range and more traffic than three void hearts, a more complex system would need to be built to keep up the energy demands. However, for what they needed at this stage, the current build would work just fine as Xeal smiled and Catriona turned around with a smile as she looked at Xeal.
“Well, it looks like you have been successful,” commented Xeal. “Now take what you have learned and do a complete redesign of everything for when it is time to build the next one.”
“What’s this about a next one?” inquired Aalin in confusion.
“Aalin, you don’t think that Hardt Burgh and the border fort town will be the only major projects that we will build, do you?” responded Xeal. “These are just the building blocks to our future projects that will be catered to players completely, rather than filling a need or exploiting an available space.”
“A whole city is just a building block?” interjected Gale.
“Gale, this city is being built to bring Nium and the beast-men closer,” responded Kate. “By its very nature it will be inconvenient for players who are looking to do anything but things focused on the various beast-men races. While the market area will see tons of activity as we act as a hub for all those seeking to explore this area and the unique goods that will be sold there, the numbers will be in the 10,000’s each day. It is the taxes that will be collected over time from the NPCs that will pay for the expenses of building this city and it will take over a decade just to break even. For true profitability at the rate where it will be worth building the city without any tax revenue and still having to pay taxes to the crown, we will need at least 1,000,000 players visiting our city every day. It is likely that what Xeal has in mind is much bigger than that though.”
“Not in the way you might think. While they will likely see that many players, I would hardly call them cities. More of advanced outposts that simply serve the purpose of facilitating access to remote regions that would be otherwise extremely difficult, or time consuming, for the average players to reach.”
Xeal smiled as even Kate looked surprised at his response, as Catriona finally took the opportunity to respond to Xeal’s directive.
“Am I to be limited to only designing teleportation halls?”
“No, though you will find that you may become a specialist for them, just like a smith may specialize in swords or armor,” replied Xeal.
“Very well. I suppose that makes some sense, but I don’t want to just keep building the same thing.”
“So, don’t. Take advantage of being able to study this array and look for ways to improve it. Find ways to increase efficiency. Redesign the upper floor circuit layout and the positioning of the portals according to how you see it working best. Catriona, never assume that what has been used is the best method to use, as you may find that others have just accepted good enough and never pushed the boundaries.”
With that Xeal turned to make his way upstairs before the conversation could continue, as he thought about how modified arrays had been discovered in his last life. While it had taken until the first players were approaching tier-6, once it became public knowledge, all kinds of adjustments had been made. The issue with this was they could be as subtle as shifting a symbol, or as complex as replacing half the symbols with different ones and could pass all tests only to fail in practice. Xeal knew that by giving Catriona the challenge to redesign this array, he was signing up to sacrifice thousands of gold as she tested it out. The good news was that she could make do with the beads that were used to teleport, using the device that King Victor had lent Xeal a few times. This would take the form of basically a miniature model that would be made as small as possible, with the restrictions being the need to be able to accurately make each symbol. It was while Xeal was thinking about this that he arrived on the top floor to the sight of a smug Issac Calder and just stepped aside as Kate came into view.
“Well, do you have anything to say?”
“Ah, Mr. Calder. I must say that it is a relief not to have wasted such a valuable resource. If only every project had run so smoothly.”
Xeal held in a laugh at the frown that crossed Issac Calder’s face at Kate’s response as it was daring him to continue, but it also made it clear that if he did, she would bring up other failures. In particular the recent issue with the foundation of the teleportation hall that had seen the whole building need to be rebuilt and had delayed its completion by weeks, as Catriona had replaced the other architect. Catriona had been on the team already and had called out the issues after she double-checked everything after the now ex-lead had. While the issues had been easy to miss, it was clear that the building would have failed the system checks and crumbled due to them. This was due to the fact that every building was run through a series of simulations, depending on what level of building it was. For a basic shed that would be used to store firewood this would just be a strong breeze, but for a building like a teleportation hall, it would need to survive some major stress tests. If a building had a critical failure during these, the system would leave it in the failed state and send the failure report to the project lead. By the same token, the system would repair any minor damage and send a problem report to the lead if it passed, so that they could address to reinforce the already completed building. While Xeal was pondering this, Issac Calder finally recovered and came up with his response.
“True, and sadly not all of the talents Duke Bluefire has supplied me with have the same level of attention to detail as Catriona here does. Still, they each must be given a chance to show what they are capable of according to his directives.”
“Yes, why is that, Xeal?”
“Simple. If you don’t let them try and fail, they will never believe that they weren’t up to the task. We also need them to all have an opportunity to learn from their failures and when they are ready to place their own resources at risk, try to show us that they have grown past their failings. After all, we will still need them for projects such as walls and houses on whatever projects FAE is contracted for.”
“Alright, I will keep that in mind when looking at how much gold is being invested in them that could be invested in our smiths, tailors, alchemists, enchanters, or any of the other areas that have been showing positive returns already.”
With this the conversation continued as it turned into having Xeal in the middle of the two as they continued to go back and forth. This lasted for a few minutes before Xeal shut it down with the fact that there were still more things that he needed to do before he could join everyone else at his home. This included making the rounds to check on how things had been developing since he had last been able to spend time in his city just over three months ago with Dyllis. Now he was returning with four of his wives bearing his children as the city was about to be opened for limited access, as no uninvited players would be allowed inside the walls. However, any who wished to adventure inside the beast-man tribes’ lands would be allowed to do so, many of whom would be seeking opportunities to acquire one of the various races. It was this group that Xeal was counting on to truly turn the city into a long-term success as they moved into the different tribes’ areas and used the city as a waypoint for returning to the rest of ED.
As Xeal, Kate, Gale and Aalin made their way to the main gate, Xeal smiled as he could see the corral that currently held all of the wild horses that had been subdued in the beast-man tribes’ lands. While there were only a few hundred, Xeal knew that they were as fierce as any warhorse in the kingdom due to the struggle to survive in the wilds. While this mainly manifested itself in their speed, many of them had also gained other adaptations to survive in the different areas. These mainly took the form of elemental resistances and tougher hides in the areas one would expect them to ram a foe to let others escape. However, there were also a few abilities that could be used offensively as well, such as retractable spikes on the bottom of their hooves. With all of the horses technically being monsters between levels 90 and 100 that were focused on escape, he knew that the first step was always breaking them. This, however, wasn’t as simple as having a single person ride them until they gave up over the course of a few weeks. No, this required the horses to be broken for the level that was intended to ride them. To make matters worse, a level 100 player would have difficulties with a level 50 wild mount. For a level 100 wild mount, it was common for it to require multiple tier-6 players or NPCs to manage. This was why bred mounts were far easier to deal with, as the only requirement to ride them was to be at least the same level of the mount. It was for this reason that Xeal didn’t expect many returns for the next few years and it was also why only a few other guilds had even started looking into these kinds of projects.
