You are Summoned

Chapter 277. Buying Protection.

You are currently ranked 74/2432 in the arena challenge. As a participant that has reached the top 100 at this stage of the challenge, you will be granted additional rewards at the end of the challenge.

To provide a better chance for all contestants, each contestant’s structures will all be automatically upgraded to match the current rank of their headquarters. If the majority of their buildings are already at the same rank as their headquarters, the headquarters will be upgraded by one rank and some additional resources will be provided to that challenger. This upgrade applies only to existing structures and will not unlock any new structure patterns.

As I watched, all my buildings began to upgrade to rank five. To my delight, it seemed that the upgrades also applied to the roads I was constructing. They were all upgrading to the improved trade road versions. I felt a bit bad at having wasted resources on hiring the road construction crew, but having the roads upgraded automatically was more than enough compensation for that.

It looked like my defenses were even upgrading, and at the two entrances to the cavern, the walls were more solid, and the gate was now flanked by two towers. The expanded housing complexes were now two-story affairs with a basement below. New eggs were already appearing, and I was going to have a population explosion.

Gear and equipment for my minions were also being upgraded, but it would take some time for it to be distributed by the rank five quartermaster’s hut. The farms were generating more than enough food for my population and were contributing a strong flow of resources to our silos. The crafting stations were also looking great, with dedicated areas for forging, alchemy, leatherworking, tailoring, and a general work area for everything else.

My sorcerers hut grew and expanded. It was now a four-story, stone tower with strange glows appearing through the windows. The top of the tower was flat, with crenelations encircling it. Several sorcerers were painting strange symbols on the ground before they began to raise their arms and chant. A system prompt explained what they were doing.

Your minions in the sorcerer’s tower have divined the coming apocalypse and are attempting to summon a powerful defender to help protect their people. You may choose to allow them to work on their own or provide additional resources to improve the power of their summoning. As it currently stands, the summoning will generate a full squad of dragonkin warriors to assist you once the final stage begins.

A gauge to show how powerful the summoned defender will become has unlocked in your headquarters interface.

A quick check showed an empty bar with five levels of power marked out on it. As a test, I pushed a tenth of the resources from a silo into the ritual. The gauge moved forward, almost to the first line. I slowly added more resources, and when the gauge hit the first line, I was rewarded with more information.

Your sorcerers will now summon an elite sorcerer to support your dragonkin warriors. In addition, the warriors will possess upgraded gear and equipment. They will also have several combat abilities to further enhance their power.

That was a nice addition to the sorcerer’s hut, and I knew that it would bug me if I didn’t max out the summoning before the ten days were up. As it stood, all my buildings had been upgraded, and all the funds I had pouring in were rapidly filling the silos since I had no construction projects to drain them.

Caravans were running to all my trade partners and confederated factions, so it was time to make use of the economic empire I’d created. I started by purchasing all the mercenaries available in my marketplace. Along with the mercenaries, I bought the dwarven repeater crossbow upgrade for my defensive structures.

Along the wall of the entrance fortifications, oversized crossbows appeared, along with a pair of kobold warriors to operate them. There were two crossbows on each wall, and the size of the weapons was somewhere between a heavy crossbow and a ballista. When the first weapons appeared, I received information on them. A system notice told me they were enhanced by dwarven tech mages to unleash two shots every time the weapon was fired.

After a few minutes, the hired mercenaries began to march in from the marketplace. There was the single squad of the kobold skirmishers that I ordered outside the main gate to patrol the forest there for the time being. They would be great to harass and attrit a force moving toward my cavern. The lessons I’d learned from Major Finley were going to come in handy.

The two groups of twenty kobold prisoners were armed with makeshift prison shanks. Each was led by a large, fat kobold in leather armor and holding a whip that gave off electrical sparks when it hit. They were just fodder to throw against a foe to give my stronger forces time to prepare. For now, they would remain in the cavern in the open area behind the crafting stations.

My new dragonkin mercenaries were much more impressive than the prisoners. Each stood nearly seven feet tall and were bulkier and more muscular than an orc. A pair of leathery wings growing from their backs was sadly just for show, so I wouldn’t have an air force during the fight. Each elite dragonkin had darkened plate armor protecting them, and they held oversized swords as their main weapons.

A faint glow of enchantment could be seen on the blades, and for longer range work, each dragonkin had a bundle of javelins strapped between their wings. These guys looked like they could give my minions a run for their money, and other than some facial similarities, I had trouble believing that they were related to the diminutive kobolds I commanded.

While I waited for my funds to rebuild so I could have a shopping spree at the consortium, I tried my hand at some diplomacy. If the apocalypse was coming, maybe the rock gnomes and the city of Shoremarch would be willing to become more than just trading partners.

You have opened negotiations with the Gurtzam Rock Gnomes and offered a mutual defense pact.

You have opened negotiations with the Free City of Shoremarch and offered a mutual defense pact.

The Free City of Shoremarch has rejected your offer and sends word that they are content with their current agreement and will continue to trade with your people.

The Gurtzam Rock Gnomes have accepted your mutual defense pact and will send a squad of their troops to help defend your cavern. In return, an extra squad of your warriors will proceed to their home cavern and assist in its defense. This squad is in addition to your existing forces and does not count against any population totals.

These exchanged forces will be under the command of the host faction, though they can be recalled, and the mutual defense pact cancelled if either side wishes.

Nice, a squad formed up in the barracks and started to march toward the rock gnome cavern. When they got there, I would get a peek at what gnome cavern looked like. It was too bad the Shoremarch didn’t want to join us, but maybe I’d get another chance at them before the apocalypse started.

The squad heading toward the gnome caravan was a free, system generated one. It gave me a peek at what my other squads would look like once all our newly hatched kobolds were trained and equipped. At the lead of the squad was a burly kobold in chainmail with a steel breastplate. He wielded a longsword and had a round wooden shield in his other hand. Eight regular kobold warriors followed, each equipped in chainmail and wooden shields, with a steel-tipped spear as their main weapon. They also had a backup weapon, either a shortsword or mace, on their belts.

Two more warriors were equipped with crossbows and steel daggers. They wore studded leather armor instead of the heavier chainmail of the melee troops. Following behind the kobold squad was a sorcerer. The upgraded hut now gave my sorcerers a magically reinforced robe that the system reported was as strong as chainmail. Holding a wand in one hand, the sorcerer also had a dagger belted to his waist.

Having the new sorcerer spawn triggered some system information on spell upgrades.

New spells and upgrades to your existing ones have been unlocked with your sorcerer’s hut reaching rank 5 and becoming the sorcerer’s tower.

1. Flame Burst. This spell now fires off a total of five bursts of flame that do increased impact damage.

2. Regeneration. This spell now covers a small, targeted area, providing its healing to all allied forces withing the area of effect.

3. Scorching Ray. This new spell generates a beam of intense heat that greatly damages a single target.

Arena challenger spell changes.

1. Flame Burst. This spell now fires off a total of five bursts of flame that do increased impact damage. You can have a total of 5 charges of this spell and a new charge regenerates every 4 minutes.

2. Scorching Ray. This new challenger spell generates a beam of intense heat that greatly damages a single target. You can have a total of 2 charges of this spell and a new charge regenerates every 5 minutes.

My kobold sorcerers were now a force to be reckoned with, not to mention the challenger spells I had access to. I also remembered to check in on the tariff station to see what its improvements looked like. The building was now made of stone and seemed like it was study enough to survive an attack by dungeon monsters. Even better, four kobold warriors stood guard, two inside, and two outside the door.

I also received a notice that the upgraded, rank five version of the station would collect a greater percentage of the loot gained by adventurers in the dungeon. As an added bonus, some of the goods created in my cavern at the farms and crafting stations would be sold here for additional profit. These profits still needed to be sent by caravan, and the journey from the tariff station to the cavern was the longest one in the zone.

I had almost forgotten about the watchtower I had constructed near the tariff station. It had transformed from a rank zero, rickety wooden tower that helped prevent monster attacks, into a stone, two story tower with battlements at the top where a pair of kobold warriors and one of the dwarven repeating crossbows stood watch.

Inside the tower was a full squad of defenders that would respond to any exterior threats, as well as any dungeon outbreaks. The tower would also add additional escorts for a caravan leaving the tariff station, providing four kobold warriors as guards. With the kobold squad patrolling the route, the new guards, and the improved roads deterring against attacks, the rich tariff station caravans should be well protected.

Now, all I had to do was amass my wealth and buy every mercenary contract I could get my hands on before the apocalypse was unleashed on my kobold empire.