“So, how did you get all of this set up already? It’s only been like three days since the patch hit.” Sarah said, looking around at the empty city. “I was there when Ennolf and Nuoda were setting up Fallowton, so I know there’s no instant building mechanic for city owners. Or is it different for new nations?”
I shook my head at that. “I used my skills to make the city. If we need to expand for more people, I can do so easily enough.”
Sarah blinked in surprise. “Huh. Never knew there were skills like that. Alright, this is getting interesting. Just so you know, the population of Fallowton was somewhere around five thousand, last I heard.”
“I… should have enough houses set up?” I muttered, looking back at the city I had built. “If they need more, just let me know. I also designated a few buildings for shops, so any craftsman should be able to get to work right away.”
Over the last three days, Diane had sold all of the whale parts, as well as the materials I had acquired from the mobs around the dungeon. However, perhaps because the various materials weren’t in as high demand as the dragon parts, everyone either paid with currency or with items that Diane had converted through the auction house.
After purchasing the shops, the bank, another respawn anchor, and a training field for the city, that left us with about thirty platinum. From the management window, the only amenities that I could really buy with this were either a normal dungeon ticket or a teleportation nexus. I could technically afford both, but the nexus would be utterly useless if we didn’t have another city to connect them. As for the dungeon ticket, I was planning to try it out once everyone had moved in. Fallcry needed some form of reliable income, after all.
Sarah hummed thoughtfully, before walking towards the stairway leading down from the wall. “Well, do you mind if I get started? This will probably take a while to get everyone brought over.”
I nodded my head, watching as she found a large open area near the center of the city, where I had the respawn stone buried. Sarah took a deep breath, raising her staff as a silver magic circle appeared above her. “Echoes across time and space, gaze into another land. Retrace my steps, and let the journey begin anew. Across worlds, beyond boundaries, become a bridge for weary travelers.”
She struck her staff down to the ground, and a large, circular portal appeared in front of her. She stood still, looking at the gate, but let out a low whistle. “Even with the buff from joining you, this is a heavy cost. At this depletion speed… five minutes is my limit.”
“Can you enchant an item to create this portal? If so, I can use that item myself.” I said, but Sarah shook her head.
“The skill requires you to have been to the destination yourself to establish the portal. You never went to visit Fallowton, so it won’t work for you.” She answered, and I simply blinked.
“You have a gate to Fallowton open right now.” I pointed out, and this time it was her turn to pause. “I’m just going to walk through the gate real fast, and be back in just a minute.”
She looked like she was trying to find the words to retort, but I simply chuckled and passed through the gate. On the other side, I could see Ennolf and Nuoda mobilizing a large group of people near the gate. “Oh, hey Drake!” Nuoda waved, and I looked at her curiously. Swaying behind her was not one, but nine tails.
“…Those are new.” I muttered, and she chuckled.
“Ennolf saw a cosmetic trait being sold online for multiple tails, and got it for me. It doesn’t really have any practical effect, and is actually a negative trait because they can get in the way. But, since it’s a cosmetic item, it’s still popular…” She explained, and I shook my head in confusion.
“I see… give us just a minute. I just came here to visit. The portal cost is too high for Sarah to maintain it for long. The next time the portal opens, it should be stable for everyone.” I said, before turning around and walking back through, seeing Sarah on the other side.
“There, that should be good for the enchantment to work now, right?” I asked, and Sarah nodded her head. With a sigh, she closed the portal.
“Do you have any wands or staffs to use for the enchantment?” She asked, and I nodded my head.
“Give me just a minute.” I said, before sending a message to Bella. Do you have any spare staffs from training your carpentry? I need one with an enchantment slot, preferably multiple in case the enchantment fails.
Sure. I’ll be right over. She responded, and I looked at Sarah.
“My friend is coming by with some now. She does some carpentry, so she makes things like that when she has free time.” I explained, and Sarah nodded her head in understanding.
“Right. That should work fine.” She said, before I thought of something that suddenly started to bug me.
“By the way… how did you find us?” I asked Sarah, who looked at me in surprise. “I told Ennolf that I was in Chimeris, but I never told him where in Chimeris, as far as I can remember.”
“Oh, that! That’s easy.” Sarah chuckled. “I saw a clip of you fighting online yesterday, released by the game company. You were shooting elemental arrows out of the sky like you had an army of archers at your back. It was pretty cool, really. But, I saw in the background that you were at the border between the forest and the mountain region. I figured that if I just followed the border, I’d get here sooner or later.”
That must have been from the sponsorship. I nodded my head in understanding. Looking at my menus, I saw that I had earned thirty-eight ‘sponsorship points’. I didn’t know yet whether that was a little or a lot, or how much it would cost to get any information.
As I was thinking about that, Bella ran up, having sprinted down the road from Aetra Village. “Sorry for the wait!” She said, panting for breath. “Was training… anyways, here are the things you asked for.”
After she said that, she pulled four plain, wooden staffs out of her inventory. Each one of them had at least one enchantment slot. “This enough?” She asked, and Sarah nodded her head.
“Yeah, this’ll do fine.” The orc woman said, taking the first staff. She closed her eyes, chanting under her breath as energy began to wrap around the staff. I couldn’t recognize the words that she was speaking, assuming that it was in another language from the world of players.
After about thirty seconds of chanting, the energy settled into the staff, and Sarah handed it over. “There, that should do.” She said with a grin. I appraised the staff, and sure enough, it not had an enchantment to establish a portal with Fallowton.
“What was that language just now?” I asked, curious. “And you always seem to strike the ground with your staff when you activate your magic. Is that just a habit, or..?”
“Yes and no. First of all, the language is just Spanish. I always use Spanish when I’m enchanting, to add an extra layer to the ritual. Striking the ground with my staff is the same thing. I learned pretty early on that if you always associate an action with the activation of a skill, it acts like you channeled that skill, increasing its potency. But to keep it effective, you have to be consistent.”
“So, whenever I’m using my spatial skills, I always strike the ground with my staff. If I don’t have a staff, I snap my fingers. Then, depending on the skill, I might do another action along with it.” She explained, shrugging her shoulders.
“I see… that’s a smart way to take advantage of the channeling mechanic.” I nodded in understanding. With that cleared up, I held up the staff, activating the enchantment within it.
The gate opened once again, and Ennolf was the first to step through. He wore his usual apron and chef’s hat, smiling at me. “You left before I could say hi! So, this is your city?” He asked, looking around.
“Yeah. To your nine o’clock, the building with the silverware sign is a restaurant that I set up for you. You’ll need to supply the ingredients and cookware, but the building is all set for you.” Unfortunately, when I designated the restaurant as a shop with the system, it didn’t give me any customization options. The only thing that the designation did was give the shop its own inventory, and the ability to register workers.
Thankfully, that didn’t seem to bother Ennolf, whose face lit up in joy. “I’ve already got everything I need for that! I’ll go and get started making a meal for everyone, then.”
Without waiting for an answer, Ennolf immediately ran to the restaurant to get started. Meanwhile, more and more people began to emerge from the portal. I wasn’t really familiar with any of them. The vast majority of them had burnt out brands on their foreheads, marking them as Fallen.
These Fallen were of every race imaginable, and quite a lot of halfbloods. Not only that, but there were plenty that looked like they were just barely mature enough to be considered adults. They looked around at the city, moving aside to make room for those coming after them.
After a while, a few players began to emerge. However, compared to the roughly five thousand Fallen, I only counted twenty players, including Nuoda and Ennolf. Still, it was good enough that they were willing to come here, given what I knew of the guild’s policy. Like how the League of Assassins existed to protect NPCs, the Successors guild was created to help low-level Fallen, especially ‘Failures’.
With that in mind, I could only assume that a significant portion of these five thousand residents were level one. There were others that were equipped for battle, who I assumed to be the soldiers Ennolf had recruited for Fallowton. However, I wasn’t sure if they’d be strong enough to fight back against the monsters of Chimeris.
Such was the inherent flaw when you set up a city revolving around low level individuals, it became harder for them to survive in a high level environment. Still, if I talked to Aetra, maybe I could get a few of her warriors to help defend this area.
Once Nuoda stepped through the portal, she nodded at me with a smile. “That’s all of us.” She said cheerfully. “I made sure to stay until everyone was through, so it should be good to close the portal now.”
With a nod, I deactivated the enchantment on the staff. The feedback from being active for so long rushed back through the wooden staff, causing it to splinter and shatter as soon as the portal closed.
Nuoda gave an amused smile, before her nose twitched. “My husband found somewhere to cook, didn’t he?” She asked, and I pointed at the restaurant. She nodded her head, raising her voice to get everyone’s attention. “Alright, everyone! Find somewhere to get comfortable. Ennolf’s making dinner for everyone, and then you can all pick a house for yourselves.” After saying that, she looked over at me, as if silently asking if that was okay.
I simply gave her a nod. I wasn’t going to ask them to pay for their new homes after they just abandoned their lives in Athua. Hopefully, them leaving Athua wouldn’t cause any significant problems, though I’m not sure what could happen because of that. The country had never really paid much attention to privately established cities, from what I knew.
