Town Hall

"What do you think we should do now? I can't build my restaurant straight away and I will need to wait until we unlock the blueprint to start. So…, ideas?"

Twix piped up with his suggestions. "I think we should build a house for you to live in first. At night it gets quite cold in Spartan Fire. We are close to the mountains and the cold seeps down from the snow caps at night. Your tent will not be enough to keep the chill out."

Kit was sceptical that the plain looking mud hut would be any better than his tent. Twix was from this area so he would trust his judgment for now. Anyway, he would know for sure in the morning if he was right.

"Ok I will follow your plans Twix. Let's start with a house."

They all headed back towards the three mud huts. Kit looked at the group of hut's location and frowned. How was he supposed to identify his block of land? There was nothing indicating which patch of grass was his. Kit decided to try asking the all knowing CAL. 'CAL how do I identify my piece of land.'

A soft glow began to appear on the ground not far from where the three huts were built. Soon a large glowing rectangle was formed on the ground. When Kit saw the size of the rectangle he was satisfied. It was the same size as the extra large block he had seen in Flower Field town. He could build a mansion on top of this land in the future if he was rich enough.

"Twix, what do I have to do to build my house. I've never had to construct one before."

"Oh, it's quite easy for an earth Elementalist like Grandpa. He will form the shape of the house for you, and I will finalize it with my Lightning Element. You will just have to make the roof. I can teach you how to do that to."

Kit had never been so happy to hear those words. He had been picturing them all playing in mud trying to slop enough together to form a hut.

"Thank you. I'll leave it to you and Grandpa then."

"Wait you just need to purchase the hut before we can begin." Grandpa stood in front of Kit with his hand outstretched.

"How much will it cost Grandpa?"

"20 bronze crowns."

Kit took out the small amount of money and happily paid for his new house. 'What a bargain! Owning a home in such a small place has a good perk.'

Ding!

[Mud hut]

Player can build a place to call home.

Building requirements: Mud, straw.

Kit became elated at the new notification. He had a permanent home in Spartan Fire! Now that he had unlocked the building Kit and Mars made sure they were far enough away so they wouldn't get under foot. Kit was eager to see how the pair would build the mud hut. Grandpa took out a wooden staff similar to the one Kit had seen Twix use.

He held the staff out in front of his body. Patterns began to form on the staff with a soft orange light. The light started to increase in intensity. When Kit was about to turn his head from the intense light, Grandpa slammed the base of the staff on the ground.

In the middle of Kit's plot of land, a circle of mud started to rise. Kit couldn't hold in the thrill of watching magic right in front of his eyes and let out a whoop. Grandpa snorted at his outburst. Once the mud circle resembled the other mud huts, Grandpa's staff stopped glowing and the mud ceased rising.

Twix already had his staff in hand. Crackles of blue light went up and down Twix staff. Twix pointed his staff towards the newly formed mud hut and a burst of lightning hit the structure. A rich earthy smell permeated the air. Kit understood Twix had just heated the mud to a solid form, like a kiln does with clay.

Kit happily ran over to his half built new house.

"Don't touch it yet lad. It will have to cool down. By the time you finish making the roof it will have cooled down to explore inside." Kit nodded at Grandpa letting him know he understood.

"Come and sit under the tree Kit and we can start on your roof. It won't take long with all of us doing it together."

Kit followed Twix over to a large tree and plonked himself down. He was ready to learn how to make a roof. Twix took out large clumps of straw from his storage bag and some rope. He then explained how to bundle the straw and tie them at either end. He then took out a large sickle and trimmed the edges of the bundles.

Grandpa had made a cone shaped wooden frame while they had been bundling straw. Once all the straw was in neat bundles Grandpa started fixing it to the wooden frame. Kit and Mars came over to learn the process. Once the roof was complete Twix pointed his staff at the straw roof and floated it over to the mud hut. He easily maneuverer the wooden frame to fit perfectly onto the mud hut.

Ding!

[Mud hut complete]

Congratulations! Player now has a permanent residence in Spartan Fire.

Upgrades available when blueprints are promoted to next tier.

Kit's house was complete. He was very satisfied with the basic structure. Although it was small it was perfect for one person.

"Kit, I have some spare animal skins to place on the floor and to cover your door."

Twix went into Kit's house and arranged the skins to his liking. Kit didn't care what it looked like as long as it was going to be warm later tonight. He would use his pallet and sleeping bag from the camping equipment until he brought some furniture.

"Ok Mars your turn." Twix had a big smile on his face. Kit could tell he was happy with having more people in town.

"I haven't brought a piece of land yet. Grandpa, can I buy the lot next to Kit's."

"Oh ho. I forgot you would want your own piece of land as well lad. Well, how about I give you the land over there as a founding members gift. How does that sound?" Grandpa beamed at Mars.

"Thanks Grandpa I am honoured to receive a gift from you."

The party then got to work with Mars' house. By the time they had finished Kit's stomach was starting to rumble. He realised it was well past lunch time. He took out the camping kitchen and started to make an Apelop salad for each of them. As he was cooking, he was thinking about what to do about his lack of meals for the restaurant. He had more than enough drinks available to sell but only one meal.

Kit handed the meals out once he was finished cooking. Grandpa let out a loud hum when the juicy meat was exposed to his taste buds.

"Kit, you really are a chef. This is the best meal I have ever tasted."

Grandpa then gave his full attention to the food in front of him and appreciative noise accompanied him for the whole meal. When he was finished there was not a scrap left on the plate. Kit smiled at the old man's enthusiasm for food.

"I'm glad you liked it Grandpa. I'll need to work on creating more meals. This is the only one I have been able to make a successful stats meal out of. I will run out of the ingredients eventually though so I will need to find lots of ingredients in the area to make meals from."

"For food like this I will bring you whatever you need. Just ask and I will get it." Grandpa had a solemn look on his face as he said the words. Kit had the suspicion Grandpa was also a foodie like Mars.

"Ok Grandpa that would be great! Do you know much about the properties of the plants and animals in the area?" Kit wanted to get an idea of what probability each ingredient would have for a stats creation.

"I don't, but my wife is an expert on all the plants and most of the common animals in the area. She would be able to answer all your questions. She has written a mountain of books for herself as well. I'm sure she would lend you some."

Kit heard a gasp from Mars. Kit glanced over to see him practically bouncing. Kit raised an eyebrow at him in question. "My dad would love a native book on flowers."

Kit thought he would like the books as well. As soon as he met Grandpa's wife he would ask. Kit was curious about the other inhabitants of Spartan Fire, so far, he had only met Twix and Grandpa.

"Where is everyone else in Spartan Fire. There are 46 other residents beside us, right?"

"The only ones to live in the central part of Spartan Fire are Twix, Clive, Grandma and myself. Everyone else lives on a farm scattered at the old borders of Spartan Fire."

"Surprisingly Spartan Fire covers a wide area. We did a little shuffle of property about five years ago to try to expand our borders. Unfortunately, it didn't work. The only way to increase the border is to promote the town in size. Now that we have two new residents the expansion will naturally happen when we upgrade the town."

Grandpa had a satisfied look on his face.

"Then I should I also buy a farm now. If the town grows too fast I might miss out on one." Mars had a thoughtful look on his face.

"Yes, Mars my boy, that is a great idea. How big a size do you want?"

"I will buy the same size as Kit."

"Haha! The town has grown so much in such a short time, this is fantastic."

Kit was also happy this was after all where he now called home. He thought about what he should be doing next. Grandpa interrupted his thoughts.

"Well before I leave you lot to expand the town. How about I help to build the town hall. Then I'm going fishing, I've waited a long time to just relax and fish. This old man is very happy about retiring."

All three of them thanked Grandpa. "Right then where do you want it?"

Kit blinked his eyes. He had no clue. He looked towards Twix for the answer. It was his original hometown after all.

"Um well it should be in the main part of town, right? Kit is going to build his restaurant over there. So why don't we build it a little down from Kit's land. Kit looked to see where Twix had pointed.

The piece of land was further away from the lake rather than edging onto the bank like his own property. He thought it was a good place. It didn't take up a prime real estate spot on the lake but was still close enough that if a road was built you would still be able to see the water from the front of the building.

Kit and Mars both nodded in agreement. Grandpa then got to work raising a mud structure. The town hall was rising from the ground at a slower rate than Kit's house did. As Kit was watching he noticed the town hall was a large rectangle with four circular rooms at the end of each point of the rectangle.

This was the biggest structure he had seen so far since arriving to the Forsaken state. He assumed Red Splash village also had one, he had just not seen it in the small glimpse he had of the town. Once the large building was fully formed it was zapped by Twix lighting. The four of them set to work making the roof.

Kit was standing in front of the new town hall with a sense of satisfaction. In a moment he would be able to go inside and open the Spartan Fire town menu. He couldn't wait to see what being a founding member would give him access to. Before he could make a move towards the building Grandpa cleared his voice gaining the attention of everyone present.

"Well, I will hand the reins officially over to you now. I just resigned from my post. Tomorrow we can start on your training." A wicked smile formed on Grandpa's face. Kit felt like he would be a very unhappy camper tomorrow after Grandpa had finished with him.

"Right you lot, I'm off to go fishing for what is left of the day. Have fun playing in the town hall."

Grandpa quickly strode towards the lake. Kit felt like the old man was running away before he could be roped into more work. He gave a chuckle at the retreating figure. He then sucked in a breath through his lips. This was it. He was about to start building Spartan Fire into a legend.

Kit strode towards the carved door with Twix and Mars hot on his heels. He paused at the entrance to take one more deep breath, he then placed his foot inside the door.