Ben studied his Build Menu for some time trying to decide on what he would like to construct next and what was needed to unlock those buildings he wanted to build.
'I don't have as much money as I would like right now so it may be best to start off with the necessities.'
Walking north to where the stone quarry was built, Ben spent 200g to build a [Mine] to produce various metals. The system explained that each metal ore gathered by the Mine had a production rate percentage that could be increased by upgrading the Mine level.
[Mine]: Produces nickel, cobalt, iron, gold, silver, copper, platinum and mithril. Production amounts depend on the mine's level [requires: stone, wood]. [cost: 200g]
"If this Mine produces Platinum, Gold, and Cooper I could learn how the currency is made here and begin minting my own coins!" Ben excitedly exclaimed as he read the Mine description.
*Ding!* [Unfortunately you are prohibited from using your Mine in this way. If the host were to begin minting money from the ore created from the Mine it would destabilize the world's economy. It would be no different than making fake money on Earth and spreading it around. I have core instructions to alter the host's Mine or Mines by preventing them from producing currency related ores if they are used to create spendable currency. You can make items from these ores and sell those items or directly sell the ore for currency.]
Ben knit his brows and screamed up at the sky like a maniac, "Oi Kamisama what gives up there?! Just as soon as I come up with a way to make a lot of money I get divine blocked?! This damn system and its locked Hardmode is going to be the death of me down here!"
*Sighs*
________________________________
Once he calmed down Ben found out the more precious the ore is, the lower the production percentage will be.
He could bring in a good amount of iron a day but Mythril would only be produced in small amounts. This was the same for gold, silver, and copper. If the Mine were to produce 20 tons of copper ore, concurrently it might only produce 2 tons of gold ore.
The main reason he had started off building a Mine wasn't for the gold or platinum though, it was so that he could unlock the [Tool Maker].
Back behind his keep, he built a dirt road that ran parallel with the main central road. Ben paid 200g to build the Tool Maker on this new road and this action unlocked a few new buildings for him.
"Now my Mine, Farm, Lumber Mill and Stone Quarry will all run at higher production with the addition of the Tool Maker. I also unlocked other buildings previously unavailable to me." Ben quietly said to himself as he reviewed the Toolmaker description.
[Tool Maker]: Produces hand tools consumed by workshops, farms, mines, guilds, industry, etc. It also comes with a custom design menu that allows you to design your own tools. [consumes: wood, iron, steel, precious metals, nylon, plastic, rubber, glass] [Locked until: built mine]
From what he could figure out the Tool Maker was a crucial structure to have without it many of the other operations would remain locked or run at lower production levels.
The Tool Maker also seems to add a bonus to production rates on many of the other structures.
Next, he decided to build a [Research Center]. Ben wanted to provide his area with clean water and waste disposal and to accomplish this he needed the Research Center to be built first.
The [Water Treatment] and [Waste Treatment] structures were considered advanced technological concepts not yet invented on this world. Like many RTS games the player needed to research advanced technologies before they were able to build them. The Research Center once built would provide instant access to some more advanced structures that the system offered.
[Research Center]: Unlocks modern structures and facilities that are not native to Victus. [costs: 500g]
'Alright, now for the [Waste Treatment] and [Water Treatment] structures. I will put these two on the road behind my keep so that they are out of sight from the main street.'
Ben stopped to ask the system if the Waste Treatment structure would discharge any nasty smelling gases like the ones, he was familiar with back on Earth. The system explained it is an enclosed structure that brought all the areas waste into a confined space by using space magic similar to the Warehouse and once it was inside the space pocket it would be incinerated with a high-tier fire magic until it evaporates.
It also worked like an interspatial ring that had a pocket dimension to store things in it so all the mess and smell was cut off from the outside world.
[Waste Treatment]: Disposes of all human waste inside a pocket dimension. [locked until: built Research Center] [Costs: 200g]
[Water Treatment]: Provides clean purified water from the surrounding atmosphere. [locked until: built Research Center] [Costs: 200g]
[Auto_Notice] [You have built a total of 10 structures! Every ten structures will now increase the system level.]
[Auto_Notice] [The system has advanced a level! System Level Three!]
"These are a new type of notice I received a couple of these in the forest as well. It looks like these auto notices always open on their own. System can you set these auto notice to not open if I am in combat. I do not want anything popping up like this to distract me if I am fighting or doing anything dangerous."
*Ding*! [The system will make alterations due to the host's request.]
'Alright back to building then. Now that I built the waste and water treatment structures I have unlocked additional structures.'
Just to the north of the brand new treatment structures, Ben built a [Public Modern Restroom] and a [Public Bathhouse]. Both of them were modern facilities constructed in a style often seen on Earth. Each new facility also had separate areas for men and women.
Ben could have just added a bathroom to his keep and saved some money instead of building these public facilities. He did not expect to always be the only person living here so it was better to build a few facilities that could be used by him and any other people who would one day live here with him.
[Public Bathhouse]: A large facility that provides separate baths for men and women. Hot and cold running water is available in both the showers and baths. Also, includes a large sauna room, steam room and five large jacuzzis. [Locked until: built water treatment plant] [requires: stone, wood]
[Public Modern Restrooms]: A modern styled restroom complete with flushing bidet toilets, sinks that provide hot and cold water, sectioned off stalls with locking doors, and urinals. The restroom has self cleaning options that will keep it clean and smelling fresh while consuming a small amount of wood to produce an endless amount of toilet paper and paper towels. [consumes: wood] [locked until: built water treatment, waste treatment] [requires: stone, wood]
'Perfect! Now I can finally stop pooping in a damn hole and take a hot shower, bath or relax in a jacuzzi!'
Ben was so excited once the bathhouse was built, he went straight inside and began checking everything out.
There was a spacious locker room that had walls of lockers so people could put their clothes away and not leave them scattered around the floor. Inside the locker room, he also found a decent size shower room with shower heads evenly spaced all around which had hot and cold knobs.
In the main bath area, there was a huge Roman-style bath already full of warm water. On the far wall past the bath, he saw two separate rooms. These two rooms were the sauna that provided a dry heat that made you sweat profusely and the other was the steam room that had a hot misty steam that hung in the air.
After, exploring the two rooms he found a row of five jacuzzis also filled with hot water being circulated around with air jets.
Ben immediately stripped down nude on the spot and slowly climbed into the first jacuzzi and sat with his back to the jets.
"Aaahh, This alone made spending two weeks in the forest worth it." He quietly said as he exhaled in comfort.
After spending a good 20 minutes enjoying the massaging water jets, Ben left the bathhouse feeling like a new man.
'I think next, I will build a Farm and an Orchard. I want to make a Farm that grows various Earth vegetables this time and an Orchard that grows a variety of fruits native to this planet.'
'I believe since my food contains Qi and Mana unlike any other food in this world it should become popular. It may take a awhile to sell them at first but once people try them and feel that burst of energy along with the benefits that comes from eating them even regular people who don't cultivate or use magic will get addicted to them.'
Ben contemplated his food strategy as he followed the dirt road down into the valley where his first Victus vegetable Farm and Cattle Ranch were previously built.
Next, to the first farm he had built earlier Ben began construction of a second farm and across the dirt road from the farms he built the orchard that would grow mixed native fruits.
Ben now had 379 gold coins left and he was curious about magic so he asked the system what type of magic it recommended for him. The system opened the magic section and showed him something called [Mana Manipulation].
The system recommended it as a great starting point for learning magic. This would allow him to be more in tune with mana and control how much he applied to each spell or he could even use it to create his own spells.
[Mana Manipulation]: Allows the host to feel the Mana energy around him. With Mana manipulation, it is possible to alter the flow, gather and shape Mana. Mana can be used in many ways as a weapon or a shield the possibilities are endless. [costs: 100g]
After Ben read the description he also agreed and bought it for 100g. He had seen this spell in web novels before and remembered how the MC created mana bolts, a mana shield, and even braided the mana into a rope to bind enemies as a crowd control type spell. It was versatile in its application and would be a great introduction to magic for him.
As he was purchasing it the notification icon appeared and began to flash letting him know that he had another notice to review. Curious he opened it up. It seemed once his new Farm and Orchard had been constructed he had unlocked a hidden structure.
[Notice!] You have built more than ten new structures! You have unlocked a hidden build!
When, he had closed the notice his menu opened to the unlocked monument description.
[Obelisk]: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free!" This 60 foot tall white marble obelisk emits an energy that calls out to the poor, homeless, and persecuted who are wishing for a better life. If a person can not find a safe route to this obelisk they will ignore their subconscious desire to travel toward it.
[unlocks after ten built structures]
'I think I will hold off on building this Obelisk right now. I will need to build a road that connects to the Aregard Kingdom road I followed here so that people drawn to the Obelisk can get here safely without traveling into that forest. It's a shame, I would love to bring in some people and give them a nice place to live.'
'This place needs better defenses before that can happen. I may have an army come marching up to my doorstep if they discover a new road leading into the frontier and decide they like this land and want to take it from me.'
After, Ben thought it through he decided it was better to keep his location a secret until he felt it was defendable.
With the Stone Quarry now having been up and running for two weeks now the Warehouse had a decent amount of stone stockpiled. It was time to find a use for the stone instead of just leaving it to sit inside the Warehouse.
With the help of the Defences category custom design interface, Ben used the stone wall tool to mark out where he wanted to build his outer wall on the interface.
The top of the plateau had an long oblong shape to it and it seemed that if Ben began building the walls on the outer top edge of the cliffs it would give him a nice circular oblong shape.
His other thought was that if the walls were right on the edge of the cliffs anyone on top of the walls battlements would have a clear shot at anyone below the fortress in the valley.
If he were to line the walls with archers and ballista the enemy would be easily picked off. The cliffs that made up the sides of the plateau rose about forty feet off the valley floor to the top of the plateau, so if he were to make a thirty-foot-high stone block wall anyone in the valley would need to climb seventy feet up to reach the top of his walls.
Ben figured that even though this would be hard for the enemy to accomplish, he didn't want it to be as simple as leaning a seventy-foot ladder against the walls and climbing up.
His plan to prevent this was to use the moat option to make a moat at the base of the plateau on the valley floor that completely in circled the fortress eventually. If an attacker wanted to scale his walls they would need to send men forward to try and fill in the moat all the while under fire from his defenses. Then they would need to bring up ladders and try to make the seventy foot climb up without getting taken out if they did somehow manage to fill in the moat.
With the amount of stone, Ben had he was only able to make three layers all the way around. This gave him a wall three feet thick and thirty feet high. The thickness was not even close to being enough yet, but he had other plans for finishing the walls off later. This wall was just to give him a little safety for now from creatures or if a bandit party happen to find his location.
"System, if I were to build a defense can I take it down later?" Ben asked unsure if it were possible to remove these structures without having to attack and destroy them.
*Ding!* [Everything built can be reclaimed but you will lose thirty percent of the resources used to build it.]
'That is much better than losing everything after it is deconstructed.'
Over at the road that went through the wall leading down into the lower valley, Ben made a stone block gatehouse with the remaining stone and some iron ore was also used that went towards creating the two iron portcullis.
[Stone Block Gatehouse]: A interlocking stone block gatehouse The two entrances are bared by two Iron portcullises that can be raised by winch levers or by using the system interface. [locked until: built mine] [requires: stone-iron]
When the stone Gatehouse was completed a barrage of notices began flashing for review.
[Notice] [The system has advanced a level! System Level Four!]
[Notice] [Minimap is now unlocked for use!]
[Notice] [Health Point bar is unlocked for use!]
[Notice] [You have enclosed your keep!]
"Oh?!"