Ben trained in the Qi chamber and inside the Wizardly School training room for the next few days to allow his funds to recuperate.
Now back inside the subterranean ship harbor, he opened the Steam Shipyard Menu and found several categories for steamships. There were categories for warships, transport ships, cruise ships, personal ships, and even special purpose ships.
There was even an option to modify ships or to create your own ship from the ground up. Ben began browsing in the warship category at the top of the menu and found out as soon as he opened it every ship was grayed out. When he tried to click on the any of the listed models a prompt would pop up stating a prerequisite was still needed.
Ben discussed it over with Athena and from what he was told there was still a hidden structure or structures which need to be unlocked to gain access to the warships.
'You've got to be shiting me? I just spent all this money to get this Steam Shipyard and I still can't build half of the ships it offers?'
Ben frustratingly went through the other categories which most of them had no use to him presently. He did not need most of these ships like the cruise, trade, or fishing types.
The first ship to make him stop and examine it was a steam-powered Yacht. From the description, it appears it would be a fancy boat which is richly decorated and furnished. From what Ben could make out it sounded like it would be similar quality to his Small Palace, but placed into a two hundred and fifty-foot long Yacht.
He clicked on the ships specs and was surprised at what he found. These steamships were set up to operate like small mobile settlements!
With a [Power Plant, Water Treatment], [Waste Treatment], [Trash Incinerator], [Warehouse], and [Market] they could travel over the waves indefinitely while carrying everything they could need in a spatial Warehouse. The ship's captain would have privileges to remove anything that was stored inside of the ship's Warehouse and the crew had access to the market.
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Yacht Steamship
Length: 258 ft
Beam: 45.5 ft
Draft: 24.5 ft
Propulsion 2 x 290 psi boilers
1 steam turbine propeller
Equipped with:
1 mobile Power Plant
1 mobile Water Treatment Facility
1 mobile Waste Treatment Facility
1 mobile Trash Incinerator
1 mobile Warehouse
1 mobile Market
[requires: wood-stone-steel-glass-marble-cotton-leather-wool-copper] [Costs: 1000g]
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For the number of materials and gold coins it seemed expensive for a wooden ship but if you were to build everything it offers individually it would cost more than 1000g.
Ben decided to go ahead and begin construction of a yacht but he made a slight modification. He decided to add a thin outer layer of the Mythril Alloy to be attached to the Yacht's hull. This was the same alloy he had been creating in his Foundry to produce the lightweight armor for his troops.
He was worried about traveling through uncharted or shallow waters. If the yacht were to hit a cluster of submerged rocks it would easily sink with only a wooden hull.
There was also the unknown of what might live out in the ocean depths. This is a world of profound beasts so there might be a few nasty creatures living in the oceans as well.
The ship would take a few days before it would be complete so Ben left the underground harbor hidden in the mountain and returned to the fortress.
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Chancellor Rayner reported to Ben a couple days ago that more and more people have been arriving at the fortress while he was off creating new businesses in each of the kingdoms.
Ever since the roads were opened people have been traveling to the fortress and gained entrance through the Gatehouse by the military troops manning the walls. The troops were ordered to allow any civilians to enter the fortress who showed up looking for a new place to live.
Chancellor Rayner described them as not knowing why but they had an urge one day to pack up and travel to the fortress settlement in the hopes that they could make a better life for themselves here.
The mysterious glowing Obelisk in the central park appears to have lived up to its description. Most of the Small Houses in the new neighborhood were about full now and Rayner had put in a request for Ben to build more when possible.
Ben could not build a steam warship like he had wanted to so he decided to use his funds to build more homes. As the way, it stood now there was an unwritten rule where new residents would start off in Small Houses and if they could find a useful role to fill around the settlement they would continue to be awarded better housing depending on how far they advanced themselves.
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Most of the original residents along with Mythia had already made it through grades one through eight and they were ready to begin their high school lessons now. A few of them used the knowledge they learned to acquire a position in one of the offices of either Rayer, Stefan, or Lysa.
They were helping organize housing, system menu training, and education for new residents. They also took care of the records of each person who became a new subject of Avalon. They had to record names, ages, relatives, past occupations, and needs of everyone joining them.
These people working under the Chancellor and the Great Officers were relocated to the Large House neighborhood and it proved to motivate others to work hard.
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Ben built one hundred new Small Houses which lined a few more streets making a larger residential area. They now had over three hundred various sized residential homes and they were beyond the settlement/village size and could be classified as a small fortified town now.
When Mythia came out of her Qi chamber to go eat, Ben tagged along and told her she would no longer attend school for the time being. She was only fourteen years old and this was the average age of an eighth grade US student.
They went over to the Wizardly School and went through a similar process when Mythia used the Sect Headquarters HALO. She was once again equipped with a similar HALO that somehow helped her to rewire neurons and unlock parts of the brain related to using magic.
One hour later she was ready to begin attending magic spell lessons. From today forward she would attend Firebolt and Lightning Bolt spell lessons for half of the day and the other half would be devoted to cultivation.
Ben wanted her to just learn these two basic spells currently available in the classroom lessons and in the future he would add his complete list of spells for her to learn. The time until they invaded Trareniel was quickly approaching so it was better to stick with learning two simple spells for now.
Over at the small school district Ben had built in the past, he decided it was time to construct more schools. Everyone had been seriously attending their lessons and even new residents were told they would have to attend the schools.
It was already at the point where more advanced schools would be needed for those who wanted to continue forward toward a set goal.
He began by making a huge park next to the Intermediate Education For All school and Elementary school. He designed the park to resemble a beautiful campus quad. The quad had paved stone walkways and large open lawns.
Yoshino cherry blossom trees were evenly planted around the quad along with benches, fountains, statues, and flower gardens. During the spring, summer, and fall it would be an excellent place for students to gather.
Surrounding the large quad Ben built six new schools. These new schools are the [High School Education For All], [Military High School], [College Education For All], [Military College], [Vocational School], and a [Aristocratic Academy].
[High School Education For All]: Provides teenagers through adults with advanced modern education. [Locked until built elementary school] [requires: stone-wood-glass] [costs: 200g]
[Military High School]: Offers a regular high school education but with an extra curriculum of military lessons and physical training.[Locked until built elementary school] [requires: stone-wood-glass] [costs: 200g]
[College Education For All]: Provides advanced education for young adults and ages up. [Locked until: built High School] [requires: stone-wood-glass] [costs: 500g]
[Military College]: Prepare candidates for service as future military officers. Provide a high-quality education that includes significant coursework and training in the fields of Earth's military tactics, military science, military strategy, and military command philosophy. [Locked until: built Military High School] [requires: stone-wood-glass]
[costs: 500g]
[Vocational School]: Provides educational lessons for various occupations in and around the fortress. [Locked until: built high school] [requires: stone-wood-glass] [costs: 500g]
[Aristocratic Academy]: Prepares men and women for future nobility titles. Students will learn advanced knowledge that will prepare them for any role they choose or are placed. Provided courses include the study of etiquette, dance, music, medicine, literature, economics, philosophy, sociology, geography, military science, business administration and management, and supply chain management. [locked until: built college] [costs: 500g]
With this selection of schools, his people would have different options to choose from on how they wished to progress. The only school not available to everyone would be the Aristocratic Academy. A person would need to stand out above the others to be chosen for enrollment to the Aristocratic Academy.
These people would be the future nobles of the Avalon kingdom and Ben wasn't going to make it as easy as attending classes to become a noble. They would have to prove by their dedication, they were worthy to be given permission to attend the Aristocratic Academy and upon graduation, they would then be awarded a noble title.
Ben went to find Rayner and told him about the new schools currently being constructed and what each one of them offered. He also instructed him to attend the Aristocratic Academy along with Stefan and Lysa, once they finished their high school lessons.
It would be easier on them to attend a college before attending the advanced Aristocratic Academy but Ben wanted to push them along so that he could make examples of them. He planned to make all three of them nobles and award them huge estates and servants to inspire the others to work hard as well.
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Over near the factories and manufacturers, Ben constructed one last place for the day. It was an [Outdoor Gear Manufacturer]. He was interested in the winter gear and survival products it could produce.
[Outdoor Gear Manufacturer]: Produces outdoor camping, and survival equipment. Tents, sleeping bags, fire starters, water filtration, climbing gear, winter gear, and winter sports gear.
[consumes: wood, leather, plastic, rubber, steel, cotton fabric, hemp fabric, silk fabric, nylon, wool, chosen metals] [requires:stone, wood] [Costs: 200g]
From the Outdoor Gear menu, he began producing cross-country skis, snowshoes, cold weather sleeping bags, fire starters, waders, climbing and rappelling gear, solar charged headlamps, water filtration pumps, canvas wall tents, 20lbs. portable metal wood stoves, foldable cots, solar charged lanterns, along with a few other interesting products that would be good to sell or issue to his troops.
This winter was nearing its end soon so he figured next winter he would have his troops begin to learn how to use cross-country skis and snowshoes. If they were ever in a situation where they had to travel through the wilderness in the winter skis and snowshoes would make life much easier on them.
There were no plans to send his men out on any winter patrols or missions but they would have this new outdoor equipment on hand for any unforeseen emergency.
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Ben decided to stop in over to see how the Half-Giants were settling into life around the fortress. He gave them some tips on weight and physical training and he also used Raise and Lower Earth spells to submerge a few thick logs next to their home.
They had no way to physically train their weapons so Ben made log dummies for them to hack away on. It would be pointless for them to perform mock battles to train because they would never be fighting anyone their size. The Half-Giants needed a human size targets to train their skills on.
After checking in with the Half-Giants Ben went to train with the Fairies and once the sun went down he went home to spend time with Mythia who was hanging out in the castle penthouse with the other young female cultivators.
With all the running he had been doing the past few months he felt a little tired so he decided to lay on the couch and relax once everyone had gone off to sleep.
Inside the quiet penthouse surrounded by the sound of relaxed sleeping breaths of the girls who had fallen asleep, Ben was soon lulled to sleep by their rhythmic breaths for the first time in quite some time.