The Empires Rise

Stepping outside, Oria, the earth elemental, was right before me. "I need materials in chest to start buildings." They say in a monotone voice.

I nod and give them access to my hut and Lord's Chest. Knowing what they are about to see, I inform Oria. "We don't have much wood left. I know this will slow down the construction efforts. But I know several things that don't require wood and might take longer to complete can be built in the meantime. Start with those, then see if there is any way to start a project without all the supplies."

Nodding their head at me, they look through the menu. They select to build two tombs for the other two undead of the settlement, their habitation, and the earthen bulwarks. Leaving Oria to handle building matters, I turn to my now expanded group. There's Uxa, Laxreal, Strauvana, and Zul'Zara. Following behind them are my sister, father, mother, and Draemish. We head out of the settlement with three warriors, two hunters, a mage becoming a druid, and three ranged support figures. I try adding more people to my party, but I am limited in how many I can have at a party. I look at the party menu and see only six available spots.

I asked Ritotorous about this. "This makes sense; a typical person will only be able to have four party slots available to them. Your noble class gives you a bonus of one additional slot. I think your Mana Heart is also increasing your party limit by one. I am not certain, though. Another way this will increase as your Charisma stat increases. You will get one more party slot for every five charisma points. There is more to this system that I will explain as you figure it out."

"Why not now?" I ask with a bit of frustration.

"What is the fun of knowing everything without learning in the process." He responds flippantly.

Continuing into the settlement, I pass people. And find they are doing what they can to help. It is a bit shocking as it hasn't been long since they arrived at the settlement, and are willing to work together. It makes sense, though, in one way. One world is in strife from an apocalyptic amount of zombies, one is very tolerant of all species, except for shifters, and one is full of different races that seem to at least be at peace with each other. Lastly is my home planet. Those two are just standing off to the side. I can see they are still trying to wrap their heads around the fact that these fantastical species of people exist.

We approach the last two humans, "Are you okay?" I ask them.

"We are fine," Jemol responds. "Just trying to get our wits about us and figure out what we can do. From what I see, most of these people have things under control. I am hesitant, though, as to if I should go out and explore." He is wringing his hands together.

"Why did you pick the leatherworking profession?" I ask him, looking for a way that I can help the situation.

"I used to be a hunter and leatherworker back home, but I was also an RPG gamer. So when I saw the options before me, I immediately went to the one that I always played as, Warrior. As for profession, I went with what I knew, just like when I chose warrior. I didn't want to stray too far from my roots."

Hearing that he used to be a hunter, I ask, "Have you thought about joining under Shadow? I am sure there are plenty of opportunities to grow your skills, even those as a warrior under him." I say, having a slight hunch about what will help those commander classes under me.

"I didn't think about that. So many things are new that the bigger picture is blinding me too much for me to focus on a smaller detail like that." He stands straight and looks at Shadow, "If you would have me, I would be thrilled to help you scout the area."

Shadow gives his ascent to the request and then looks at me. "You knew that this would happen, didn't you?"

"What happened?" I asked him since it was only a hunch.

"I got the option to create a scout squad. At my current level as commander, though, I can only have one squad of 5 people."

"That is interesting. I wonder if it is the same for the other commanders as well. Are there any other benefits that you get for the squad?"

"When I inspect it, it says that those in the squad can find resources, treasure, places of interest, and enemies more easily. It also says that based on how much they find, the level of the squad can increase, thus making all of those things even easier with more bonuses to come later."

I turn to my other commanders, "Maybe we should complete all the squads before we leave? I don't want us to lose valuable squad experience if we can avoid it."

With a nod, all three start looking around and calling out to people. Uxa, my father, sister, Roma, and Rognar all offer to join the knight squad. Laxreal, Gibnic, Zul'Zara, Narus, and Oria join the mage squad. I tried, but as the one giving the commander class, I could not enter. Finally, my mother, Autumn, Muiress, and Strauvana join to finish off the scout squad.

When my party members join those squads, they leave the party, and I receive a new set of notifications.

- Uxa leaves the party.

Laxreal leaves the party.

Zul'Zara leaves the party.

Strauvana leaves the party. -

Curious as to why they left the party, I ask Laxreal.

"To join the mage squad, I had to leave my party. I have a hunch about something. Why don't you try to invite Vranjaya to your party and see what happens."

Following his suggestion, I invited her to the party. My menu changes with another new notification.

- You have invited your commander into your party. As is the case, your party menu will become an Army menu until your commander or commanders leave the party. -

- Vranjaya has accepted your army invitation. -

There is one more notification that pops up.

- Congratulations, you have started your first army. Though small, they find and conquer more to increase their power. As their power increases, your troop's numbers shall expand.

Reward: 1 X Random Bronze Resource Box. -

The menu visibly changes. I can see that it is now a tree-like structure. On the top is myself. Branching from there is my only commander in the army, Vranjaya. And from her are five branches going to those in her squad. I can click on Vranjaya's name and see her information and the data of those directly underneath her.

I look at Ritotorous and smile at him. "This is what you meant earlier when you wouldn't tell me, huh?" I send in a thought.

"Well, yes, I know how much you like to figure things out. And in some instances, there isn't an option to explore. With this being so convenient for you, I thought, why not? And only nudged you in that direction.

Grateful for my fine feathered friend, I stroke his head and continue to invite the other two commanders into my army. "Should I be aware of anything when I want to go out into the fog since this time will be very different than last?"

"Yes, there will be a bit of a difference. But not much. I recommend bringing extra food as you never know when you need it. Also, inform the commanders that those in the army will be brought along whether they want to, as armies need to go on campaigns together."

"Will there be an option to leave parts of an army behind?" I ask.

"Yes, but that will be when you can have several armies active simultaneously. Your noble class must increase and evolve before that can happen."

Looking around at everyone, I tell them the next step. They, in turn, tell those under them. Since there isn't much we can do right now with the limited resources for buildings, we head to the edge of the territory. With a large group of people heading out, I stop and look at those we are about to leave behind.

Calling out to them, "If any of you want to explore this initial area for treasure chests and resources, please do so. There is a wooden fence that lines where it should be safe. I will not guarantee that there aren't any monsters out there. I would recommend grouping up so you can be safer. Any resources found would be helpful. Those who find treasure chests feel free to open them if they aren't resource boxes. You do not need to open them to be drowned with materials."

We continue towards the fog wall. Ritotorous catches up after grabbing more food from the Lord's Chest and putting it in my Small Personal Inventory Bag. We get to the fog wall after a seven-minute walk. Pressing my palm to the wall of fog again, I get a notification.

- You are about to enter this region with an army. Would you like to continue? Yes/No -

Looking back at my army, I select "Yes."

A flash of light is behind me, and a new notification is before me.

- As a noble leading this army, you may select what you want to do since it is the first time entering as a noble.

War

Extermination

Exploration

Conquest -

I see that Ritotorous is still with me, and I ask him about the different options.

"War will put you against another settlement. It could be a newer settlement or one that is older. To clear the objective, kill the settlement's leader, raze it to the ground, or force the leader to join your payment. Rewards will be based on the path you take. I would not recommend this option; we are still at a low power level and might run into a more powerful settlement.

Extermination can be cleared by destroying monster encampments. One thing to note, this will be a gauntlet. While there are times that you can rest and slowly go through them, it won't be that long for rest. I would recommend this option, though, as you are looking for ways to extend that timer. Also, the rewards of this option are based on the number of camps you clear and the level of the encampments.

Conquest will put you in front of an outpost; these outposts are monster-controlled. Once you have cleared the outpost, you can claim it. This will move it to a part of your territory if it is not adjacent.

Exploration is like what you experienced before on a much larger scale. You can develop a central base and then find treasures and opportunities there. This has fewer reward options as it is just that exploration.

One thing to mention is that most of these options will scale based on the size of your army and the average level of those in the military. Since your army consists primarily of level 1 settlers, you will be given lower-level encampments and outposts to deal with."

Thinking about these options, I pick one, and with a flash of light, I am back in front of the army.