Chapter 3One hundred and fifty villagers. Jason beamed in delight as he looked down upon his flourishing kingdom. No longer was it a small settlement that would collapse at the smallest threat. No, it was a bustling village now.
The village was shaped in a square with well developed dirt roads. In the center was the storage facility, now tier four. Made of stone instead of wood, it could store up to ten thousand resources. Over the past day, Jason had been stockpiling resources, and as of this moment, his storage was full.
During the past week, the nearby forest had been cut back quite a bit, giving the village sight of the surrounding landscape, as well of plenty of land to be developed. It"s time to get ready for the battle. Jason cracked his fingers. It was time to go all out. He purchased two buildings; a blacksmith and a barracks. The buildings instantly appeared in the desired locations.
Under the units section, two new units appeared. A spearman and a swordsman. Each cost more than a villager by two times. A spearman didn"t deal as much damage and had less health, but the increased range made them less likely to die. These two units didn"t appear out of thin air like villagers. Instead, a villager was converted into a different unit type. Thankfully Jason had plenty of villagers to spare.
Jason recalled how many monsters would appear during the first monster wave. Considering that his goal was to prevent anybody from dying, he needed to overwhelm the monsters by having superior numbers.
Half of his remaining resources was spent purchasing fifty spearmen. Such an army composition didn"t deal much damage, but he wasn"t finished. He spent his remaining resources on defences. A five foot high palisade was erected around the village. On the inside was a platform for his spearmen to stand on. Like this, his spearmen would be able to attack without regard for their safety. This was something the swordsman unit wouldn"t be able to do.
If pushed come to shove, his villagers could join the fight. The only problem was that they only had tools for weapons, and their health was severely lacking. The monsters would ma.s.sacre them. These fifty spearmen would have to hold.
Jason made sure to build a gate in each cardinal direction so that his villagers could continue to gather resources during the little time he had left.
As the sun neared the horizon, a horn suddenly sounded in the distance. Jason narrowed his eyes as he turned to face the noise. There, to the south, he saw something. Green creatures exited the forest, covered in leather armor and carrying crude weapons. They were goblins, with levels ranging from five to ten. To Jason, they were nothing much, but he was unable to partic.i.p.ate in the fight. The problem was that his combat units were fresh recruits. They had no combat experience, meaning their morale would quickly fall should things turn south. In addition, they had no combat skills.
Over the past week, Jason prepared as much as he could. The only thing he could do was trust in his village. As the goblin horde approached, he sent out his will. His villagers ran back and forth in a panic, while his spearmen lined up on the palisade. When they saw the goblins, they froze and trembled in fear.
"Don"t be afraid! We have the defenders advantage!" A youth with short brown hair called out to his brothers-in-arms.
"Defenders advantage? What"s that?" The nearby spearmen asked in confusion.
The youth tapped the palisade with a grin. "See this? A goblin is only what, four feet tall? Up here, we must be giants to them!"
The spearmen glanced at their weapons and then over the palisade. Upon realizing that the youth"s words were true, their fear vanished into the wind.
As Jason watched from above, his eyebrows rose in surprise. A special unit? He focused on the youth with brown hair, whereupon a screen with detailed information appeared. Jason nodded his head. I was right. This kid has the makings of a leader.
Sometimes, a unit has a random chance of acquiring a skill. This youth had the Brave pa.s.sive skill, which allowed him to keep a cool head. Thanks to him, his spearmen were no longer trembling. With this being the case, Jason would make sure that the youth would survive this battle. He had the makings of a hero unit. Jason shivered at the thought. If he could get a hero unit this early, the development of his kingdom would skyrocket.
The horn sounded again, this time followed by high pitched shrieks. The goblins started to sprint at full speed. They would reach the palisade in a few moments. Just as Jason was about to send a command, the youth called out. "Spears at the ready!"
The spearmen lowered their spears over the palisade, turning it into a barbed wall. The goblins charged forward recklessly, hollering all the way. Their war cries quickly turned into screams. The frontline was littered with holes as they turned into shish kabobs.
There were multiple flashes of light as the goblins in front died. The goblins behind were undeterred. Unlike normal goblins, they held no fear. Their mission was simple: destroy the village at any cost. When they reached the palisade, they hacked at it with their weapons.
The palisade trembled underneath the spearmen, staggering a few of them. One fell forward over the palisade, screaming in horror. Up above, Jason clicked his tongue in annoyance. Just then, a hand stretched out and grabbed onto the falling spearman, stabilizing him. It was the youth with brown hair. "Watch your footing!"
After saving his fellow soldier, the youth turned and stabbed out repeatedly. He cared not for accuracy. There was no need. As long as he pierced forward, he was sure to hit something. Suddenly, a green arrow facing up appeared above the youth"s head. Only Jason could see this. When he did, his eyes glittered as he once again read the youth"s information. He gained the Pierce skill! Jason clenched his hands in excitement. This kid would be his lucky star.
As the goblins hacked and slashed at the palisade, the durability of the wall fell. It was only made out of wood, so its health wasn"t the highest. Deep groves covered the palisade. It was on the verge of collapsing.
Just as it was about to break, the last goblin fell to the ground, dead. The combination of fifty spearmen and palisade was too much for the first monster horde. They were completely outcla.s.sed.
The youth raised his spear and roared, followed by the rest of the spearmen. Jason let out a sigh of relief. If the goblins had better equipment, the battle would have gone completely different. Thankfully, this was only the first monster wave, so the difficulty wasn"t that high.
After the spearmen were done celebrating, Jason commanded them to return to a non-combat state, except for a few. When the first week pa.s.sed, monsters were allowed to roam freely. This meant the village would occasionally be beset by monsters. That meant patrols would now be mandatory. Not only that, but when villagers entered the forest for resources, there was a chance they would encounter monsters and be killed.
To counter this, Jason planned to setup a squad system. He would send squads into the forest to clear out the monsters nearest to the village. In this way his villagers would at least have some degree of protection.
As night fell, the village fell asleep. Only a few spearmen remained awake to patrol the palisade. Jason setup a shift system so that the spearmen on patrol would remain well rested. He also setup ten squads, each with five spearmen. The composition of the squad was lacking, to say the least. It was problem to be fixed later. When he was finished, the sun once again rose over the horizon. With the speed set at sixteen times, night pa.s.sed in less than an hour.
When his village awoke, the villagers and squads set out to perform their tasks.
There was one thing that left Jason full of antic.i.p.ation. His goal was to complete the tower in less than five years. He reached the middle-floors in record time, but that was only because they were rather easy. From this moment on, it would take much longer to ascend. He had twenty years of catching up to do. That was what made this floor unique. He had the option of speeding things up by sixteen times. That meant if he used his experience in the kingdom building floor he would be able to quickly catch up and surpa.s.s the other ascenders. In this alone, he held supreme confidence in doing.
Just then, a report from a villager broke him away from his thoughts. As he read the notification, his eyes squinted in glee. A quarry! To the east, a quarry full of copper and tin was found. Finally, Jason would be able to start producing equipment for his units, but more importantly, for himself to consume.
Another notification came, which caused Jason to pause. The same villager that just made the report suddenly died. He could tell because the connection between them was severed. That meant one thing: there were monsters in the quarry. Monsters which needed to be wiped out.
Jason cast out his will. The youth with brown hair, whose name was Ronald, received Jason"s command. Ronald turned to the east and called out to his fellow squad members. "Follow me, my brothers!"