The Empires Rise

When I arrived back at my hut, I immediately saw something that wasn't there before, or at least the option wasn't there before. There is a small exclamation point hovering just on one of the walls. Curious if it would follow me, I walked around the hut it did follow. Getting closer, I reach out and touch it.

- Please place the door where you would like it. -

Confirming that I could place it anywhere on the hut's walls, I decided to put it facing the west and towards what I believe will be grasslands in the future. With the door in place, I open it, step inside for the first time, and hear a "ding."

- Task: Enter the hut (1/1) -

Looking at the quest, I see a button at the bottom of the screen that says "Complete Quest?". Thinking about it, I decided that now would be an excellent time to complete the quest, seeing as I am almost out of mana, and night quickly creeps upon me. Selecting it, I receive several notifications in a row.

- Completing quest... Calculating rewards.

For walking to the four cardinal directions and entering the hut, receive an 80% completion rate.

For finding five different food sources, receive a 50% completion rate.

The total completion of the quest is 130%. Increasing rewards accordingly. -

Receive 1 X Lords charter

Receive 1 X Settlement Experience Bag

Receive 3 X Small Resource Box

Receive 1 X Special Population Box

Receive 1 X Small Personal Inventory Bag

Looking at the rewards that are all over the floor of my hut, I take a small breath and look for the things that pique my interest right away: the small personal inventory bag and the special population box.

Thankfully, finding the bag was easy since none of the rewards were on top of the others. Grabbing it, I analyze it.

- Small Personal Inventory Bag: Can carry up to 4 different types of items within. You can stack up to 100 for each type of item. An Enchanter can deconstruct it. Owner: None -

Finding that it has no owner, I try figuring out how to claim ownership of the bag. Announcing that I am the owner, while stupid, doesn't work. I look around for something sharp so I can try and cut myself and put my blood on it like in the many different novels I have read, only to realize the only sharp things I have are either the small sand crab's carapace or my new boots.

Feeling that cutting myself on a non-clean carapace wouldn't be the best of ideas, I slowly lean down, press the tip of my finger on one of the spikes on my boots, and get a drop of blood to come out. I didn't receive any notification of damage, so I found that it wasn't enough harm to my person. I wiped the blood on the bag, discovering it didn't work either.

Frustrated, I gave up and instead analyzed the special population box.

- Special Population Box: The person that opens this box can either get four persons with classes and professions or one bound companion that can act as a guide. -

Now, that is a tricky choice for me. If I go with the four people, that means I need to find out how to house them, feed them, and keep them all happy while still having very few options as to how I can help currently. And just making an educated guess, they won't have any more knowledge about what is happening in the world, just like myself. On the positive side, it gives me more hands to work with around the territory so that more things can be done faster.

If I go with the companion, it would be more valuable right now since there is only one more mouth to feed, and there is a lot of potential with it, stating that it is a guide. Another thing to note is that while the four-person option is there, nothing says that the companion I would get is a human.

I find that either way, I am gambling with having more mouths and hands or fewer mouths and hands while also having a potential bank of knowledge. Finally, deciding, I go for the one companion that is a guide.

Having selected the option, a blinding light inside the hut slowly condenses into a small Raven. I feel a sharp pain deep inside my chest as something connects to me on what feels like a soul level. I analyze it quickly.

- Name: ---

Species: Raven - Corvus (F)

Gender: Male

Planet of Origin: Earth

Health: 3/3

Mana: 21/21

Class: Mage

Class Level: 1

Profession: N/A

Profession Level: N/A

Attributes:

Strength: 1

Dexterity: 2

Constitution: 1

Intelligence: 2

Wisdom: 3

Charisma: 2

Free Attributes: 0

Skills:

Analyze Level 4

Find Shiny Object Level 6

Arcane Shot Level 4

Note: This companion is bound to the user Drake Taldrit. This is a soul companion. Upon death, there will be a one-day timer to spawn next to the bound user. The respawn time will increase as the companion rises in the level/evolutionary stage. -

With the explanation in the note of the companion, I now understand what that pain was. Unable to figure out how the connection fully works, I look down at the raven as it looks at me with its head cocked to one side. I give a small caw in my direction, and then I hear a voice in my head.

"So you are the master that I must follow?"

Responding with some surprise and confusion as to how this animal speaks to me, I nod.

"Hmmm, there is a lot of work to be done around here to get it up to speed."

Again, I nod, still confused, as it starts to hop around the room when it looks at the small bag still in my hand.

"Are you going to bind that to yourself or not?"

With as much willpower as possible, I tamp down on the confusion in my heart and ask a prominent question, "How?"

"Oh, you don't even know this much, and I would have thought of more considering your circumstances."

"My circumstances?"

"Well, yes, with that thin-"

I notice a slight stutter in the raven and can tell there is a little bit of a shock.

"What was that?" I ask with a small amount of concern.

"Well, it seems I cannot talk about that for now. I guess I will have to move on and inform you of how to bind an item to your person."

Sitting down so I am not looking down on them, I nod and see them hop up onto the top of one of the boxes that have appeared as part of my reward.

"So, before we start, I have some questions for you. First, what is your home planet like? Second, what information do you have about where you are? Third, what is the situation in the area that we are currently located in? And finally, what was the completion rate of the first quest that you have completed."

Thinking about these questions, I respond, "To answer the questions, I will go in the reverse order so that you can figure out what might have happened from there. Starting with your fourth question, I completed the quest with an" I go back to my menus and see a completed tab under the quest screen. Selecting it, I can see how it was rated again, so I have an accurate description of what happened. Continuing where I left, "130% completion rate for the quest."

He quickly interrupts me, "130%, that is quite a good start for you; I am sure we could have gotten it higher if there was a more in-depth look around the area."

Nodding my head again, "I agree with you on that, but as I was running out of time and also was quite low on mana, I decided that it was best if I completed what I had done already and tried to get inside so I am not stuck outside for the night."

Nodding his head in agreement, I continue answering his questions, "For your third question, I have found two bodies of water, one completely covering the territory's southern border and another covering what feels like just the middle half of the northern border. A dock on the northwestern section of the beachfront is not in good repair. To the east is a lot of hills and craigs, and the west is what I think as grasslands."

Seeing that the raven cocks his head to the side again, I ask curiously, "Is there something wrong with the area we are in?"

"Not wrong," he responds, "but it isn't the best for us if we want to start building anything."

I nod, knowing he is probably talking about the lack of wood in the area.

"Well, there isn't anything we can do about that now. Please continue."

"So with those two out of the way, all of the information that I have been able to gather was the basics of what a mage is and some information about casting arcane shots, as well as how to grind out herbs and ores for when I am going to be enchanting."

"Seems like not a whole lot, seems like a poultry amount."

I give a slight chuckle at that. Knowing that the small joke worked, the raven relaxes a little bit.

"Now, please answer the first question, and then I think we can move on to what would be useful in this situation."

Once again, nodding, I answer the first question, "Culhara was a pretty technologically advanced planet, at least from what I could tell. There were touchscreen phones, computers, internet access for everyone, and healthcare, but it still cost quite a pretty penny for certain surgeries to be completed; we were on the brink of hovercars, or at least that was what I had read a couple of days before. And lots of content about medieval/dark ages to play with games in a 3D environment if you could afford the gaming setups, or just reading novels for those that couldn't."

Seeing that it has gotten the information it wanted, I notice a slight smile in the eyes of the raven.

"With all of that, I am glad to know that even with the change of environment multiple times, as well as being in a location unknown to you, you were able to have at least some courage to explore. I commend you on that. Now, to get back to your question of how to bind something to you. Can I ask a question as to what your class is?"

"My class? Sure, I mean, I picked the mage class. I don't know why you are asking, though, since shouldn't you be able to analyze me and see my stats?"

"No," he replies in a slightly flat tone, "Unlike you, who can see my stats, and I know you can because of how the bond works, I cannot see anything other than your name, race, and planet of origin. Everything else is blank for me."

With a quick start, he hops closer to the edge of the box and closer to me with some shock, "And what do you mean you have the mage class? I thought only-"

Again, he stutters and looks like he is shocked.

With what feels like a gasp, he stops his thought and moves on.

"Seeing as I can't explain what I want to means that I won't be able to explain how to bind it. The only thing I can think of is having me bind it and hold onto the items you want to put in it for the time being."

Looking skeptically at the raven, I don't know my head since we have just met. Instead, I respond, "How about for now, we just set it off to the side and focus on some other things around the room?"

"Good plan," is the only response I get. And with that, it hops off the box and, with a gentle flap of its wings, flies up to land on my shoulder while looking at the other items.

"So I would recommend starting with the charter, as I haven't seen one of that color in a long while."

Agreeing with him, I analyzed the charter first.

- Lord's Charter (Silver): The user will receive the Lord's interface for their chosen settlement. It comes with 250 units of Tier 1 Wood, Stone, and Metal that will be put into the Lord's Chest. Receive 1 Instant Completion Token (Bronze). Receive 2 Time Reduction Tokens (Iron). And Receive 2 Resource Reduction Tokens (Iron) -

Looking over at the raven, I can see only a slight shock in its eyes as it looks back at me.

"These are some pretty powerful items to have in the early setup of a settlement. We can do a lot with them to make things easier for us. Let's use the charter and get the items to review what we need to do next."

Agreeing, I use the charter, and with a flash of light, I now have an overhead view of my small territory. With that, a notification appears.

- Having successfully used the Lord's Charter, please select the settlement you want to control. -

With only one selectable option, I chose the hut I am currently in.

- Selection successful. Would you like to name your settlement? -

A keyboard appears in my mind's eye. Slowly thinking through the options, I quickly type out Caelnova. Once completed, another notification tells me I can find the other items in the chest located in the chosen building.

Still stuck in the overlay mode, the raven says in my mind, "To exit out of this, please state 'Close Settlement Overlay.'"

Following those directions, I return to myself and see a small bed in the corner of one room and a chest at the foot of the bed. I analyze the chest.

- Lord's Chest: Can hold reward boxes that have not been opened from missions the lord has completed. Holds any amount of tokens for the improvement of the territory. It has ten spaces to start and can be upgraded along with the level of the territory. Items stack up to 1000. -

The inside of the chest is described in the charter I used. After analyzing the items inside briefly, I return to the last four things that need to be opened. Studying both provides me with the following.

- Settlement Experience Bag: Upon using the settlement attached, the user will receive 50 Experience towards the next level. -

- Small Resource Box: Upon opening the settlement attached, the user will receive 50 units of Tier 1 Wood, Stone, and Metal. As well as 25 units of Food. -

Quickly opening the resource boxes, I get the items that immediately go into my materials tab. Curious as to where those materials exist, I quickly ask the raven.

"When I receive materials, where do they go?"

"Well, they enter the available chests or warehouses within the territory. Note that you cannot open chests too far away from the settlement; otherwise, the materials will spawn right on top of you and might crush you under the weight."

Taking note of that advice, I looked one more time in the chest, and it has indeed increased the number of materials, and now there is also food included.

"One more question about the materials. Why can I see how much is in the chest through my menus?"

"On that note, anything a construction material that appears in a warehouse or Lord's Chest will be counted and tell you exactly how many materials are within. Now, if you consider that you can have villages and so forth underneath one lord, you will get a drop-down to see what is in a specific village storehouse."

Nodding along, I reach for the experience bag, only to be stopped by the raven. I look over in a little bit of confusion.

"Why are you stopping me from opening this bag?"

"Because this is probably one of the rare items that came out of that reward!"

"Rare in what sense?"

"Rare as in, you can't get these experience bags other than through extremely challenging quests or overshooting goals by a good margin. We should store this bag and only use it when we are on the cusp of a level-up for the settlement for when it gets harder to level up!"

"Does it get that hard to level up settlements?" I ask out of pure ignorance.

"Extremely hard. Consider that we are currently just a level one roadside hovel."

Stopping the raven, I glare at him. "Where are you getting this information."

"Well," it says, looking like a chicken with its feathers removed, "you have to go into the settlement tab within your status menu."

"THERE'S ANOTHER TAB TO GO THROUGH!" I shriek in dismay. Quickly going to my status page, I see another tab, making it the fourth one I now have to look through. And there it is, all of the information the raven is discussing.

Settlement Information:

Name: Caelnova

Tier: Roadside Hovel

Level: 1

Experience: 2/10

Territory Size: 1Km X 1Km

Buildings:

Hut Level 1

Small Dock Level N/A !!Repairs Required!!

Requirements to level up:

Beat five monsters in the area (2/5)

Have three different buildings (1/3)

Sighing, I rub my forehead and lower my head. "There is a lot that still needs to be done."

Looking outside and seeing that the sun has gone, I call it a night.