Chapter 28
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Ben walked over to the new fifty-foot Gatehouse and rubbed his hand against the surface amazed at how smooth it was and how sharp the corners looked. It looked and felt like the concrete fortifications were made out of glass and painted to look like concrete.
Everyone else stood up and did the same as Ben. This was the first time they had ever seen concrete it was yet another miracle to them. Ben could make a material that felt like stone and it could be formed into any shape.
They were also amazed at the height of the new Gatehouse. There were not many structures in this region that are five stories tall. With the architectural knowledge in this part of the world, it was difficult to build that high without worrying about the structure collapsing.
With the help of the interface menu Ben lowered the solid steel drawbridge and when it came to a rest even though it was a slow descent it still kicked up a small cloud of dust from the sheer weight of it touching down.
The new electric winches were working great and seemed to be plenty strong enough to raise and lower the steel drawbridge. The two solid steel portcullis plates also had their own individual electric winches and worked smoothly without showing any strain.
When the steel plate portcullis were raised they locked into place with thick steel hooks so they would not put unnecessary strain on the winch and chains all day long. This would also prevent anyone from being crushed if the winches somehow released the massive steel plates from being over strained.
Ben told everyone it was all clear and showed them the button panel on the wall inside and at the entrance to the gatehouse that would let them raise and lower these massive steel plate portcullis and the steel plate drawbridge. It was a simple thing to perform so they all instantly knew it worked like the light switches in their homes and then went back to working on the road.
Ben walked over to the nearest tower from the Gatehouse and climbed the stairs to the top of the walls. Opening the heavy solid steel door he stepped out onto the battlements and looked out across the landscape. The view was incredible he could see for miles in every direction.
'This is insane! I never thought that one day, I would actually be standing on a real castle wall looking out over the land like so many troops had done throughout Earth's history. The craziest part is this is MY castle! It isn't just pixels on a screen this time. It's almost like I am a new king of this unclaimed wilderness.'
Ben still couldn't picture himself as a king. Only a couple of months ago he was living in a tiny apartment working construction in 105-degree temperatures daily.
He decided to take a tour around the walls all the while taking in the view and checking to see if he missed anything or where improvements could be made.
While walking the walls he began to think there was enough room on the battlements to actually mount a few ballista or catapults on them. With the concrete wall and the stone wall combined, there was a 21-foot wide surface area up there. Because he added parapets on the inside and outside of the wall to protect the troops he lost two feet of space.
As he began to think about ballista, an RTS game that he used to play had a small version of a ballista that he always liked to equip his troops with. It was the Roman Scorpion.
In the game, the scorpion was operated by a two-man team. It had wheels that allowed it to be easily moved around and could hit enemy units accurately at long distances. If he could develop a ballista like it he could space them out along his walls to hit targets out of bow range.
'That will, of course, have to wait until later, for one I don't have the money to build a War Machines Structure, and two I don't have the manpower to even operate them. These slaves are great workers, but I doubt they would make good soldiers.'
Ben walked down the stairs of a tower back to ground level and closed the tower door behind him. He stopped outside to open his warehouse and check out how his supplies were coming along. Ben wasn't surprised to see his steel and concrete he had saved up was basically all gone now.
Even though this would stop production of the steel weapons until supplies began to bounce back it didn't matter since there weren't any troops who need to be armed.
However, Ben did have a decent amount of other goods including food, jewelry, wine, clothing, fabrics, and all the blacksmith goods. He also saw there was a decent amount of silk fabric now sitting in the warehouse. Instead of letting it sit around it was time to put it to better use.
He walked down the street to the Seamstress structure first and browsed through Earth's Renaissance era for women's royalty dresses. He found a few beautiful dresses that the noble women, queens and princesses would wear to court.
Ben picked out ten different dresses that looked like they were straight out of a fairy tale. They had lace, veils, ribbons, elaborate patterns, decorative buttons and multiple matching colors. He allowed the Seamstress to have free rein to use whatever resources it needed to make these ten different styled dresses. He hoped that once women saw them for sale they would flock to buy them.
'It may be difficult to sell these dresses at first because they are so foreign, but once a few women around town are seen wearing them I think the style will catch on. What woman doesn't love a beautiful dress made of smooth comfortable fabrics.' Ben thought as he finalized the designs in the menu.
The seamstress started work on the dresses right away. He left the Seamstress and walked over to the Tailor structure.
At the Tailor, Ben also looked through the Renaissance era for men's clothing. As he looked at them they all just seemed to remind him too much of the three musketeers outfits he had once seen in the movies. If the clothing was not an outfit that, he would proudly wear he did not want to try and sell it. So he continued his search until arriving at the Victorian era. He found outfits that looked like old school tuxedos. With flared sleeves, extended jacket tails, fancy under vests with patterns, and wide ties.
A few of these suits reminded him of modern formal gothic clothing that he had always liked but had never had a reason to buy. Being a young man who worked in construction, he had no access to formal occasions that he would wear such clothes too.
Once again he picked out ten men's outfits and allowed the system to use silk, cotton, or hemp cloth to create all the segments that made up the complete outfit.
'Now that I finished putting the silk cloth to some use there isn't anything left to do around here now. I guess I will go let everyone know I am taking off again and head over to Goldcrest City to make some money.' Ben decided as he walked in the direction of the five-story gatehouse.
Looking up at the tall Gatehouse before he stepped through the entrance he had to smile while thinking. "Good luck trying to cross the drawbridge ravine and scaling over that fifty-foot behemoth."
When he told his followers he was taking off for a few weeks he noticed they were acting differently as they looked him over wide-eyed. Earlier, he was so focused on building that he didn't pay much attention to how they were acting.
Ben pulled Rayner aside and asked him what was up and found out it was due to his outfit. People of this region had never seen mirror polished full body armor and decorative swords.
To his followers, it was a perfect fit for him because as each day passed they thought of him as some young god who could create things from out of thin air no one had ever seen before. Now he even had a suit of armor so shiny you could see your reflection in it. His never seen before armor and luxurious cape and sword made him appear as a young god even more now. They couldn't help look at him in wide-eyed admiration.
Rayner did not want to embarrass Ben by explaining how much his people admired him. So he explained it was due to his new full body armor.
Most people who wore armor on this continent would wear a front chest piece, gauntlets, and possibly greeves which was basically curved iron plates that protected the lower leg shin area. It offered some protection and simultaneously left many big opening that could still be attacked by any mediocre swordsman. So when anyone saw Ben's armor that covered his entire body it was a new concept never used until now.
This was because iron didn't grow on trees and it took skilled craftsmen to turn iron ore into armor and weapons. Even if the iron armor was crude to Ben it was cutting edge for this world's era and expensive.
This world did not have machinery to help mine large amounts of ore. Every chunk of iron ore was wrestled from the underground mines with picks, chisels, and pry bars. It would cost a fortune to have an entire suit of armor made like Ben's if they had the skill to even pull it off.
After saying goodbye to everyone, Ben stopped in the valley near the farms and opened the road menu and drew a straight road on the aerial view image toward the eastern road in the Aregard kingdom.
He stopped his road just before the forest though so it would remain undiscovered. He knew that if he built a road through the eastern section of the forest and connected it to the main road in the kingdom of Aregard it would only be a matter of time before curious people or Aregard troops started to get brave enough to follow it back to his fortress.
Even though he had strong walls now that could even stop cannons from breaking through, he still needed troops.
When he clicked yes to create the road, he let it begin to build ahead of him so that he could walk comfortably across the prairie on the stone-paved road and not need to avoid the thousands of bushes, rocks, and other obstacles along the way.
Walking along the new stone road he began to think of how he would need more manpower soon.
"I need to find a way to get experienced mercenaries or troops to join my fortress. Now that I have walls and an armory with weapons and armor, all I need to do is build a barracks for them to live in." Ben whispered while lost in thought as followed the new road east.
While Ben was thinking of how to draw in men that could defend his fortress the system who had been quiet for most of the day spoke up.
*Ding!* [Once the host constructs a barracks the option to hire troops will be available in the barracks recruitment room menu. The host can recruit as many troops that are needed as long as there are sufficient funds available to do so.]
Ben stopped dead in his tracks when he heard what the system just told him.
"What did you just say?! I will have the ability to hire troops through a recruitment room menu?! How is that possible and where the hell will they come from?!" Ben exclaimed loudly.
*Ding!* [The monsters of this world are born from dense concentrations of mana. It is possible for the system to exploit these physics by with a multi-functioning formation. When the formation forms a highly concentrated pocket of Mana and Qi the system can then create any type of life form from it by applying the same laws that create the varied species of monsters around this planet. The barracks were designed by the creator with a recruitment room that has one of these complex multi-functioning formations.]
If Ben were in an cartoon right about now there would be a small trail of smoke rising out from both of his ears, because all the neurons in his brain were being fried.
"I just have even more questions now! For the first question, MONSTERS? Are you telling me that there are goblins, trolls, and orcs, those kinds of monsters running around out there somewhere? You are also telling me you can somehow create humans?"
"Then another bombshell is it is possible to build formations like in the novels that gather Qi or make defensive or offensive barriers?"
Ben was about to lose his mind with all this new information. Up until now, he had no idea any of this was even possible.
*Ding!* [There are monsters though they may not be the type that you are familiar with from Earth's games and stories. They can be similar in some ways though. Some monsters have their own language or can even speak native human languages. They may roam the land as wild beasts or live in towns, villages, or clans. They might even carry weapons and wear clothing. It is also possible for the system to create monsters, humans or even races from Earth's stories and games like Elves, Dwarfs, Giants, and any other race types. The system will need extensive knowledge about their characteristics, talents, and abilities to properly create these fantasy races. As for your last question, it is possible to create different variations of formations. Formations must be accurately inscribed and they will need specific elemental charged crystals to power them. It will all depend on the host's ability to make formations and if you possess the proper elemental magic to create the crystals needed to power said formations.]
"Holy crap! So I could build a division of Elven archers who are known as the perfect fantasy bowmen? Then don't even get me started with Giants! I could design a full set of heavy steel plate armor for the Giants and give them a massive weapons. If I made a small unit of them they would wreak havoc across a battlefield!"
*Ding!* [This is all possible if the host has the gold coins to purchase these units. I must also inform the host that all created troops will have minimal skills and knowledge when they are first created. You will need the training fields and classrooms to educate and train them into elite troops. By using the system link chairs in the military classrooms it is possible to teach the recruits new skills. The host will also need to buy these skills learned through the system link chairs. This means you will need money to buy the recruits and the skills you wish them to learn. This allows the host to turn a basic recruit into an elite soldier within a month or two depending on the number of skill lessons they are assigned to learn.]
Ben opened the Build Menu and read the description for the training fields and classrooms that the system was speaking of.
[Ground Forces Barracks]: A large fortified five-story military dormitory. It provides your ground troops with a place to eat, sleep, and bathe. Houses 960 troops.
[First Floor]: mess hall, security room, recruitment room, weight training gym, laundry
[Second Floor]: thirty rooms with four bunk beds, two desks, eight closets per room, separate men and women's bathrooms and showers
[Third Floor]: thirty rooms with four bunk beds, two desks, eight closets per room, separate men and women's bathrooms and showers
[Fourth Floor]: thirty rooms with four bunk beds, two desks, eight closets per room, separate men and women's bathrooms and showers
[Five Floor]: thirty rooms with four bunk beds, two desks, eight closets per room, separate men and women's bathrooms and showers
[Locked until; built armory-water treatment-waste management-power plant]
[requires: wood-stone-iron-glass] [costs: 1000g]
[Training Fields and Classrooms]: A large open field with beginner and advanced obstacle courses, rappelling walls, rock climbing walls, drill fields, training dummies, and a school with classrooms that are supported by the system. Soldiers can go to an assigned classroom and establish a temporary link with the system to have combat strategies, tactics, formations, and military maneuvers from ancient and modern Earth downloaded directly into their mind allowing them to obtain new knowledge and skills over time. [locked until: barracks-research center] [requires: wood-stone-iron-glass] [costs: 2000g]
'Wow, this is incredible it sounds like a modern military training facility. I will need to build the Ground Forces Barracks for 1000g and the Training Fields and Classrooms for 2000g and then it will be possible to purchase recruits and train them!'
Ben closed the Build Menu now even more determined to make money, he activated his Whirlwind Maneuver technique and took off toward the eastern road that would lead him to Goldcrest City.
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Ben walked over to the new fifty-foot Gatehouse and rubbed his hand against the surface amazed at how smooth it was and how sharp the corners looked. It looked and felt like the concrete fortifications were made out of glass and painted to look like concrete.
Everyone else stood up and did the same as Ben. This was the first time they had ever seen concrete it was yet another miracle to them. Ben could make a material that felt like stone and it could be formed into any shape.
They were also amazed at the height of the new Gatehouse. There were not many structures in this region that are five stories tall. With the architectural knowledge in this part of the world, it was difficult to build that high without worrying about the structure collapsing.
With the help of the interface menu Ben lowered the solid steel drawbridge and when it came to a rest even though it was a slow descent it still kicked up a small cloud of dust from the sheer weight of it touching down.
The new electric winches were working great and seemed to be plenty strong enough to raise and lower the steel drawbridge. The two solid steel portcullis plates also had their own individual electric winches and worked smoothly without showing any strain.
When the steel plate portcullis were raised they locked into place with thick steel hooks so they would not put unnecessary strain on the winch and chains all day long. This would also prevent anyone from being crushed if the winches somehow released the massive steel plates from being over strained.
Ben told everyone it was all clear and showed them the button panel on the wall inside and at the entrance to the gatehouse that would let them raise and lower these massive steel plate portcullis and the steel plate drawbridge. It was a simple thing to perform so they all instantly knew it worked like the light switches in their homes and then went back to working on the road.
Ben walked over to the nearest tower from the Gatehouse and climbed the stairs to the top of the walls. Opening the heavy solid steel door he stepped out onto the battlements and looked out across the landscape. The view was incredible he could see for miles in every direction.
'This is insane! I never thought that one day, I would actually be standing on a real castle wall looking out over the land like so many troops had done throughout Earth's history. The craziest part is this is MY castle! It isn't just pixels on a screen this time. It's almost like I am a new king of this unclaimed wilderness.'
Ben still couldn't picture himself as a king. Only a couple of months ago he was living in a tiny apartment working construction in 105-degree temperatures daily.
He decided to take a tour around the walls all the while taking in the view and checking to see if he missed anything or where improvements could be made.
While walking the walls he began to think there was enough room on the battlements to actually mount a few ballista or catapults on them. With the concrete wall and the stone wall combined, there was a 21-foot wide surface area up there. Because he added parapets on the inside and outside of the wall to protect the troops he lost two feet of space.
As he began to think about ballista, an RTS game that he used to play had a small version of a ballista that he always liked to equip his troops with. It was the Roman Scorpion.
In the game, the scorpion was operated by a two-man team. It had wheels that allowed it to be easily moved around and could hit enemy units accurately at long distances. If he could develop a ballista like it he could space them out along his walls to hit targets out of bow range.
'That will, of course, have to wait until later, for one I don't have the money to build a War Machines Structure, and two I don't have the manpower to even operate them. These slaves are great workers, but I doubt they would make good soldiers.'
Ben walked down the stairs of a tower back to ground level and closed the tower door behind him. He stopped outside to open his warehouse and check out how his supplies were coming along. Ben wasn't surprised to see his steel and concrete he had saved up was basically all gone now.
Even though this would stop production of the steel weapons until supplies began to bounce back it didn't matter since there weren't any troops who need to be armed.
However, Ben did have a decent amount of other goods including food, jewelry, wine, clothing, fabrics, and all the blacksmith goods. He also saw there was a decent amount of silk fabric now sitting in the warehouse. Instead of letting it sit around it was time to put it to better use.
He walked down the street to the Seamstress structure first and browsed through Earth's Renaissance era for women's royalty dresses. He found a few beautiful dresses that the noble women, queens and princesses would wear to court.
Ben picked out ten different dresses that looked like they were straight out of a fairy tale. They had lace, veils, ribbons, elaborate patterns, decorative buttons and multiple matching colors. He allowed the Seamstress to have free rein to use whatever resources it needed to make these ten different styled dresses. He hoped that once women saw them for sale they would flock to buy them.
'It may be difficult to sell these dresses at first because they are so foreign, but once a few women around town are seen wearing them I think the style will catch on. What woman doesn't love a beautiful dress made of smooth comfortable fabrics.' Ben thought as he finalized the designs in the menu.
The seamstress started work on the dresses right away. He left the Seamstress and walked over to the Tailor structure.
At the Tailor, Ben also looked through the Renaissance era for men's clothing. As he looked at them they all just seemed to remind him too much of the three musketeers outfits he had once seen in the movies. If the clothing was not an outfit that, he would proudly wear he did not want to try and sell it. So he continued his search until arriving at the Victorian era. He found outfits that looked like old school tuxedos. With flared sleeves, extended jacket tails, fancy under vests with patterns, and wide ties.
A few of these suits reminded him of modern formal gothic clothing that he had always liked but had never had a reason to buy. Being a young man who worked in construction, he had no access to formal occasions that he would wear such clothes too.
Once again he picked out ten men's outfits and allowed the system to use silk, cotton, or hemp cloth to create all the segments that made up the complete outfit.
'Now that I finished putting the silk cloth to some use there isn't anything left to do around here now. I guess I will go let everyone know I am taking off again and head over to Goldcrest City to make some money.' Ben decided as he walked in the direction of the five-story gatehouse.
Looking up at the tall Gatehouse before he stepped through the entrance he had to smile while thinking. "Good luck trying to cross the drawbridge ravine and scaling over that fifty-foot behemoth."
When he told his followers he was taking off for a few weeks he noticed they were acting differently as they looked him over wide-eyed. Earlier, he was so focused on building that he didn't pay much attention to how they were acting.
Ben pulled Rayner aside and asked him what was up and found out it was due to his outfit. People of this region had never seen mirror polished full body armor and decorative swords.
To his followers, it was a perfect fit for him because as each day passed they thought of him as some young god who could create things from out of thin air no one had ever seen before. Now he even had a suit of armor so shiny you could see your reflection in it. His never seen before armor and luxurious cape and sword made him appear as a young god even more now. They couldn't help look at him in wide-eyed admiration.
Rayner did not want to embarrass Ben by explaining how much his people admired him. So he explained it was due to his new full body armor.
Most people who wore armor on this continent would wear a front chest piece, gauntlets, and possibly greeves which was basically curved iron plates that protected the lower leg shin area. It offered some protection and simultaneously left many big opening that could still be attacked by any mediocre swordsman. So when anyone saw Ben's armor that covered his entire body it was a new concept never used until now.
This was because iron didn't grow on trees and it took skilled craftsmen to turn iron ore into armor and weapons. Even if the iron armor was crude to Ben it was cutting edge for this world's era and expensive.
This world did not have machinery to help mine large amounts of ore. Every chunk of iron ore was wrestled from the underground mines with picks, chisels, and pry bars. It would cost a fortune to have an entire suit of armor made like Ben's if they had the skill to even pull it off.
After saying goodbye to everyone, Ben stopped in the valley near the farms and opened the road menu and drew a straight road on the aerial view image toward the eastern road in the Aregard kingdom.
He stopped his road just before the forest though so it would remain undiscovered. He knew that if he built a road through the eastern section of the forest and connected it to the main road in the kingdom of Aregard it would only be a matter of time before curious people or Aregard troops started to get brave enough to follow it back to his fortress.
Even though he had strong walls now that could even stop cannons from breaking through, he still needed troops.
When he clicked yes to create the road, he let it begin to build ahead of him so that he could walk comfortably across the prairie on the stone-paved road and not need to avoid the thousands of bushes, rocks, and other obstacles along the way.
Walking along the new stone road he began to think of how he would need more manpower soon.
"I need to find a way to get experienced mercenaries or troops to join my fortress. Now that I have walls and an armory with weapons and armor, all I need to do is build a barracks for them to live in." Ben whispered while lost in thought as followed the new road east.
While Ben was thinking of how to draw in men that could defend his fortress the system who had been quiet for most of the day spoke up.
*Ding!* [Once the host constructs a barracks the option to hire troops will be available in the barracks recruitment room menu. The host can recruit as many troops that are needed as long as there are sufficient funds available to do so.]
Ben stopped dead in his tracks when he heard what the system just told him.
"What did you just say?! I will have the ability to hire troops through a recruitment room menu?! How is that possible and where the hell will they come from?!" Ben exclaimed loudly.
*Ding!* [The monsters of this world are born from dense concentrations of mana. It is possible for the system to exploit these physics by with a multi-functioning formation. When the formation forms a highly concentrated pocket of Mana and Qi the system can then create any type of life form from it by applying the same laws that create the varied species of monsters around this planet. The barracks were designed by the creator with a recruitment room that has one of these complex multi-functioning formations.]
If Ben were in an cartoon right about now there would be a small trail of smoke rising out from both of his ears, because all the neurons in his brain were being fried.
"I just have even more questions now! For the first question, MONSTERS? Are you telling me that there are goblins, trolls, and orcs, those kinds of monsters running around out there somewhere? You are also telling me you can somehow create humans?"
"Then another bombshell is it is possible to build formations like in the novels that gather Qi or make defensive or offensive barriers?"
Ben was about to lose his mind with all this new information. Up until now, he had no idea any of this was even possible.
*Ding!* [There are monsters though they may not be the type that you are familiar with from Earth's games and stories. They can be similar in some ways though. Some monsters have their own language or can even speak native human languages. They may roam the land as wild beasts or live in towns, villages, or clans. They might even carry weapons and wear clothing. It is also possible for the system to create monsters, humans or even races from Earth's stories and games like Elves, Dwarfs, Giants, and any other race types. The system will need extensive knowledge about their characteristics, talents, and abilities to properly create these fantasy races. As for your last question, it is possible to create different variations of formations. Formations must be accurately inscribed and they will need specific elemental charged crystals to power them. It will all depend on the host's ability to make formations and if you possess the proper elemental magic to create the crystals needed to power said formations.]
"Holy crap! So I could build a division of Elven archers who are known as the perfect fantasy bowmen? Then don't even get me started with Giants! I could design a full set of heavy steel plate armor for the Giants and give them a massive weapons. If I made a small unit of them they would wreak havoc across a battlefield!"
*Ding!* [This is all possible if the host has the gold coins to purchase these units. I must also inform the host that all created troops will have minimal skills and knowledge when they are first created. You will need the training fields and classrooms to educate and train them into elite troops. By using the system link chairs in the military classrooms it is possible to teach the recruits new skills. The host will also need to buy these skills learned through the system link chairs. This means you will need money to buy the recruits and the skills you wish them to learn. This allows the host to turn a basic recruit into an elite soldier within a month or two depending on the number of skill lessons they are assigned to learn.]
Ben opened the Build Menu and read the description for the training fields and classrooms that the system was speaking of.
[Ground Forces Barracks]: A large fortified five-story military dormitory. It provides your ground troops with a place to eat, sleep, and bathe. Houses 960 troops.
[First Floor]: mess hall, security room, recruitment room, weight training gym, laundry
[Second Floor]: thirty rooms with four bunk beds, two desks, eight closets per room, separate men and women's bathrooms and showers
[Third Floor]: thirty rooms with four bunk beds, two desks, eight closets per room, separate men and women's bathrooms and showers
[Fourth Floor]: thirty rooms with four bunk beds, two desks, eight closets per room, separate men and women's bathrooms and showers
[Five Floor]: thirty rooms with four bunk beds, two desks, eight closets per room, separate men and women's bathrooms and showers
[Locked until; built armory-water treatment-waste management-power plant]
[requires: wood-stone-iron-glass] [costs: 1000g]
[Training Fields and Classrooms]: A large open field with beginner and advanced obstacle courses, rappelling walls, rock climbing walls, drill fields, training dummies, and a school with classrooms that are supported by the system. Soldiers can go to an assigned classroom and establish a temporary link with the system to have combat strategies, tactics, formations, and military maneuvers from ancient and modern Earth downloaded directly into their mind allowing them to obtain new knowledge and skills over time. [locked until: barracks-research center] [requires: wood-stone-iron-glass] [costs: 2000g]
'Wow, this is incredible it sounds like a modern military training facility. I will need to build the Ground Forces Barracks for 1000g and the Training Fields and Classrooms for 2000g and then it will be possible to purchase recruits and train them!'
Ben closed the Build Menu now even more determined to make money, he activated his Whirlwind Maneuver technique and took off toward the eastern road that would lead him to Goldcrest City.
Ben walked over to the new fifty-foot Gatehouse and rubbed his hand against the surface amazed at how smooth it was and how sharp the corners looked. It looked and felt like the concrete fortifications were made out of glass and painted to look like concrete.Everyone else stood up and did the same as Ben. This was the first time they had ever seen concrete it was yet another miracle to them. Ben could make a material that felt like stone and it could be formed into any shape.They were also amazed at the height of the new Gatehouse. There were not many structures in this region that are five stories tall. With the architectural knowledge in this part of the world, it was difficult to build that high without worrying about the structure collapsing.With the help of the interface menu Ben lowered the solid steel drawbridge and when it came to a rest even though it was a slow descent it still kicked up a small cloud of dust from the sheer weight of it touching down.The new electric winches were working great and seemed to be plenty strong enough to raise and lower the steel drawbridge. The two solid steel portcullis plates also had their own individual electric winches and worked smoothly without showing any strain.When the steel plate portcullis were raised they locked into place with thick steel hooks so they would not put unnecessary strain on the winch and chains all day long. This would also prevent anyone from being crushed if the winches somehow released the massive steel plates from being over strained.Ben told everyone it was all clear and showed them the button panel on the wall inside and at the entrance to the gatehouse that would let them raise and lower these massive steel plate portcullis and the steel plate drawbridge. It was a simple thing to perform so they all instantly knew it worked like the light switches in their homes and then went back to working on the road.Ben walked over to the nearest tower from the Gatehouse and climbed the stairs to the top of the walls. Opening the heavy solid steel door he stepped out onto the battlements and looked out across the landscape. The view was incredible he could see for miles in every direction.'This is insane! I never thought that one day, I would actually be standing on a real castle wall looking out over the land like so many troops had done throughout Earth's history. The craziest part is this is MY castle! It isn't just pixels on a screen this time. It's almost like I am a new king of this unclaimed wilderness.'Ben still couldn't picture himself as a king. Only a couple of months ago he was living in a tiny apartment working construction in 105-degree temperatures daily.He decided to take a tour around the walls all the while taking in the view and checking to see if he missed anything or where improvements could be made.While walking the walls he began to think there was enough room on the battlements to actually mount a few ballista or catapults on them. With the concrete wall and the stone wall combined, there was a 21-foot wide surface area up there. Because he added parapets on the inside and outside of the wall to protect the troops he lost two feet of space.As he began to think about ballista, an RTS game that he used to play had a small version of a ballista that he always liked to equip his troops with. It was the Roman Scorpion.In the game, the scorpion was operated by a two-man team. It had wheels that allowed it to be easily moved around and could hit enemy units accurately at long distances. If he could develop a ballista like it he could space them out along his walls to hit targets out of bow range.'That will, of course, have to wait until later, for one I don't have the money to build a War Machines Structure, and two I don't have the manpower to even operate them. These slaves are great workers, but I doubt they would make good soldiers.'Ben walked down the stairs of a tower back to ground level and closed the tower door behind him. He stopped outside to open his warehouse and check out how his supplies were coming along. Ben wasn't surprised to see his steel and concrete he had saved up was basically all gone now.Even though this would stop production of the steel weapons until supplies began to bounce back it didn't matter since there weren't any troops who need to be armed.However, Ben did have a decent amount of other goods including food, jewelry, wine, clothing, fabrics, and all the blacksmith goods. He also saw there was a decent amount of silk fabric now sitting in the warehouse. Instead of letting it sit around it was time to put it to better use.He walked down the street to the Seamstress structure first and browsed through Earth's Renaissance era for women's royalty dresses. He found a few beautiful dresses that the noble women, queens and princesses would wear to court.Ben picked out ten different dresses that looked like they were straight out of a fairy tale. They had lace, veils, ribbons, elaborate patterns, decorative buttons and multiple matching colors. He allowed the Seamstress to have free rein to use whatever resources it needed to make these ten different styled dresses. He hoped that once women saw them for sale they would flock to buy them.'It may be difficult to sell these dresses at first because they are so foreign, but once a few women around town are seen wearing them I think the style will catch on. What woman doesn't love a beautiful dress made of smooth comfortable fabrics.' Ben thought as he finalized the designs in the menu.The seamstress started work on the dresses right away. He left the Seamstress and walked over to the Tailor structure.At the Tailor, Ben also looked through the Renaissance era for men's clothing. As he looked at them they all just seemed to remind him too much of the three musketeers outfits he had once seen in the movies. If the clothing was not an outfit that, he would proudly wear he did not want to try and sell it. So he continued his search until arriving at the Victorian era. He found outfits that looked like old school tuxedos. With flared sleeves, extended jacket tails, fancy under vests with patterns, and wide ties.A few of these suits reminded him of modern formal gothic clothing that he had always liked but had never had a reason to buy. Being a young man who worked in construction, he had no access to formal occasions that he would wear such clothes too.Once again he picked out ten men's outfits and allowed the system to use silk, cotton, or hemp cloth to create all the segments that made up the complete outfit.'Now that I finished putting the silk cloth to some use there isn't anything left to do around here now. I guess I will go let everyone know I am taking off again and head over to Goldcrest City to make some money.' Ben decided as he walked in the direction of the five-story gatehouse.Looking up at the tall Gatehouse before he stepped through the entrance he had to smile while thinking. "Good luck trying to cross the drawbridge ravine and scaling over that fifty-foot behemoth."When he told his followers he was taking off for a few weeks he noticed they were acting differently as they looked him over wide-eyed. Earlier, he was so focused on building that he didn't pay much attention to how they were acting.Ben pulled Rayner aside and asked him what was up and found out it was due to his outfit. People of this region had never seen mirror polished full body armor and decorative swords.To his followers, it was a perfect fit for him because as each day passed they thought of him as some young god who could create things from out of thin air no one had ever seen before. Now he even had a suit of armor so shiny you could see your reflection in it. His never seen before armor and luxurious cape and sword made him appear as a young god even more now. They couldn't help look at him in wide-eyed admiration.Rayner did not want to embarrass Ben by explaining how much his people admired him. So he explained it was due to his new full body armor.Most people who wore armor on this continent would wear a front chest piece, gauntlets, and possibly greeves which was basically curved iron plates that protected the lower leg shin area. It offered some protection and simultaneously left many big opening that could still be attacked by any mediocre swordsman. So when anyone saw Ben's armor that covered his entire body it was a new concept never used until now.This was because iron didn't grow on trees and it took skilled craftsmen to turn iron ore into armor and weapons. Even if the iron armor was crude to Ben it was cutting edge for this world's era and expensive.This world did not have machinery to help mine large amounts of ore. Every chunk of iron ore was wrestled from the underground mines with picks, chisels, and pry bars. It would cost a fortune to have an entire suit of armor made like Ben's if they had the skill to even pull it off.After saying goodbye to everyone, Ben stopped in the valley near the farms and opened the road menu and drew a straight road on the aerial view image toward the eastern road in the Aregard kingdom.He stopped his road just before the forest though so it would remain undiscovered. He knew that if he built a road through the eastern section of the forest and connected it to the main road in the kingdom of Aregard it would only be a matter of time before curious people or Aregard troops started to get brave enough to follow it back to his fortress.Even though he had strong walls now that could even stop cannons from breaking through, he still needed troops.When he clicked yes to create the road, he let it begin to build ahead of him so that he could walk comfortably across the prairie on the stone-paved road and not need to avoid the thousands of bushes, rocks, and other obstacles along the way.Walking along the new stone road he began to think of how he would need more manpower soon."I need to find a way to get experienced mercenaries or troops to join my fortress. Now that I have walls and an armory with weapons and armor, all I need to do is build a barracks for them to live in." Ben whispered while lost in thought as followed the new road east.While Ben was thinking of how to draw in men that could defend his fortress the system who had been quiet for most of the day spoke up.*Ding!* Once the host constructs a barracks the option to hire troops will be available in the barracks recruitment room menu. The host can recruit as many troops that are needed as long as there are sufficient funds available to do so.Ben stopped dead in his tracks when he heard what the system just told him."What did you just say?! I will have the ability to hire troops through a recruitment room menu?! How is that possible and where the hell will they come from?!" Ben exclaimed loudly.*Ding!* The monsters of this world are born from dense concentrations of mana. It is possible for the system to exploit these physics by with a multi-functioning formation. When the formation forms a highly concentrated pocket of Mana and Qi the system can then create any type of life form from it by applying the same laws that create the varied species of monsters around this planet. The barracks were designed by the creator with a recruitment room that has one of these complex multi-functioning formations.If Ben were in an cartoon right about now there would be a small trail of smoke rising out from both of his ears, because all the neurons in his brain were being fried."I just have even more questions now! For the first question, MONSTERS? Are you telling me that there are goblins, trolls, and orcs, those kinds of monsters running around out there somewhere? You are also telling me you can somehow create humans?""Then another bombshell is it is possible to build formations like in the novels that gather Qi or make defensive or offensive barriers?"Ben was about to lose his mind with all this new information. Up until now, he had no idea any of this was even possible.*Ding!* There are monsters though they may not be the type that you are familiar with from Earth's games and stories. They can be similar in some ways though. Some monsters have their own language or can even speak native human languages. They may roam the land as wild beasts or live in towns, villages, or clans. They might even carry weapons and wear clothing. It is also possible for the system to create monsters, humans or even races from Earth's stories and games like Elves, Dwarfs, Giants, and any other race types. The system will need extensive knowledge about their characteristics, talents, and abilities to properly create these fantasy races. As for your last question, it is possible to create different variations of formations. Formations must be accurately inscribed and they will need specific elemental charged crystals to power them. It will all depend on the host's ability to make formations and if you possess the proper elemental magic to create the crystals needed to power said formations."Holy crap! So I could build a division of Elven archers who are known as the perfect fantasy bowmen? Then don't even get me started with Giants! I could design a full set of heavy steel plate armor for the Giants and give them a massive weapons. If I made a small unit of them they would wreak havoc across a battlefield!"*Ding!* This is all possible if the host has the gold coins to purchase these units. I must also inform the host that all created troops will have minimal skills and knowledge when they are first created. You will need the training fields and classrooms to educate and train them into elite troops. By using the system link chairs in the military classrooms it is possible to teach the recruits new skills. The host will also need to buy these skills learned through the system link chairs. This means you will need money to buy the recruits and the skills you wish them to learn. This allows the host to turn a basic recruit into an elite soldier within a month or two depending on the number of skill lessons they are assigned to learn.Ben opened the Build Menu and read the description for the training fields and classrooms that the system was speaking of.Ground Forces Barracks: A large fortified five-story military dormitory. It provides your ground troops with a place to eat, sleep, and bathe. Houses 960 troops.First Floor: mess hall, security room, recruitment room, weight training gym, laundrySecond Floor: thirty rooms with four bunk beds, two desks, eight closets per room, separate men and women's bathrooms and showersThird Floor: thirty rooms with four bunk beds, two desks, eight closets per room, separate men and women's bathrooms and showersFourth Floor: thirty rooms with four bunk beds, two desks, eight closets per room, separate men and women's bathrooms and showersFive Floor: thirty rooms with four bunk beds, two desks, eight closets per room, separate men and women's bathrooms and showersLocked until; built armory-water treatment-waste management-power plantrequires: wood-stone-iron-glass costs: 1000gTraining Fields and Classrooms: A large open field with beginner and advanced obstacle courses, rappelling walls, rock climbing walls, drill fields, training dummies, and a school with classrooms that are supported by the system. Soldiers can go to an assigned classroom and establish a temporary link with the system to have combat strategies, tactics, formations, and military maneuvers from ancient and modern Earth downloaded directly into their mind allowing them to obtain new knowledge and skills over time. locked until: barracks-research center requires: wood-stone-iron-glass costs: 2000g'Wow, this is incredible it sounds like a modern military training facility. I will need to build the Ground Forces Barracks for 1000g and the Training Fields and Classrooms for 2000g and then it will be possible to purchase recruits and train them!'Ben closed the Build Menu now even more determined to make money, he activated his Whirlwind Maneuver technique and took off toward the eastern road that would lead him to Goldcrest City.
