Blueprints

Ding!

[CAL]

Town Hall activated.

Player Kit now has access to the Spartan Fire menu.

Kit blew out a shaky breath then walked further into the empty room to allow Twix and Mars to enter. He didn't wait for their arrival, he quickly opened his menu. A new tab was available for him to explore. Spartan Fire Hamlet, Kit quickly opened the menu.

Spartan Fire

Size: Hamlet

Population: 50 residents

Spartan Fire Prestige: 17

Spartan Fire Points: 145,227

Daily income: 0

Blueprints unlocked: Mud Huts, Farms, Town Hall.

Spartan Fire Region Promotion Requirements

Small village

Small village promotion token 0/1

Population: 50/50

Town Hall: 1/1

Blueprints unlocked: 3/5

Spartan Fire Prestige: 17/50

Kit eyes flew over all the information in front of him. They landed on the promotion requirements. He saw that they still lacked three fields to unlock the town upgrade. Kit ran his eyes over the screen one more time. This time he noticed a blue button on the screen with blueprint purchasing. He quickly pushed the button with his finger.

A small list of blueprints appeared. He quickly scrolled through them to find a restaurant. After a quick scroll he found what he was looking for. He clicked on the restaurant blueprint.

Restaurant: 20,000 points

A basic building. Upgrades to structure available at purchaser's expense.

Kit quickly purchased the restaurant.

Ding!

[CAL]

Restaurants now available to purchase in spartan fire.

Kit felt like he was going to die from excitement. He could now build his restaurant! He let out a loud whoop. He heard laughter but couldn't see where it was coming from because he had the menu open. He quickly closed the screen. Mars and Twix laughing faces greeted him.

"How did I know that would be the first thing you would do?"

Mars was still chuckling at him. Kit could only give him a sheepish smile in return. All he wanted to do right now was leave and go and build his restaurant. He held himself back. He had already been selfish in purchasing the restaurant blueprint without consulting the other two, so he forced himself to stay in place.

He needed to discuss things with the others before that could happen. Plus, the person to build his restaurant had gone fishing!

"Sorry I know I should discuss things with you both first, I just couldn't help myself."

"It's ok Kit, I think we all knew you would want to purchase a restaurant blueprint before we did anything else."

Twix was smiling as he spoke. Kit started to feel guilty about his rash actions. He could tell his friends understood his reasons, but he still felt a pang of regret at not discussing things first.

"Still, I'm sorry, it was very selfish of me."

"Not really. Your restaurant will be a big draw to pull people to Spartan Fire. Remember I already told you chefs are very rare in the Forsaken state. I would have suggested purchasing the restaurant blueprint anyway."

Kit couldn't help but to be happy about the fact that there were not many chefs in the Forsaken state. It would mean more business for him with having less competition! Kit was all smiles. He was already happy with his first purchase as a founding member. Now they needed to come up with a plan to grow Spartan Fire.

"Did everyone read the promotion requirements?"

Mars and Twix nodded. "Even though we only need one more blueprint, I really think it would be fair to pick one each."

Mars frowned at Kit's words.

"Kit, we need to think about this a bit more. We can't just pick something at random. We want to grow the population so we need to think what would be most useful for Spartan Fire. We have limited funds to purchase blueprints and I don't know how we earn more points."

Mars had a serious look on his face. Kit was a little shocked at Mars words. He realised he hadn't really been taking being a founding member seriously. If they wanted to make Spartan Fire prosper, then they had to be serious in their planning from now on.

Kit quickly tried to adjust his way of thinking about Spartan Fire as secondary to his restaurant, and put it on equal footing.

"I know a bit about this from Grandpa. Points are earned when the town receives money. For instance, when someone purchases land, the money gets converted into Spartan Fire points. So, we need to think of a way for us to make regular income for the town."

After the shift in his thought process Kit took Twix' point seriously. He tried to get some inspiration from other towns he had already visited.

Kit reflected about his visits to Flower Field town. Besides the town entrance fee, the market also collected money from vendors to set up a stall. Spartan Fire was nowhere near big enough to collect entrance fees. So, the market was the next best option. Kit looked at the blueprints available and saw the market at least it was available to purchase.

Kit relayed his idea.

"That sounds like it might work Kit. Ok, so a market is one of the blueprints. Do we need anything else now?"

Twix piped up with the next idea.

"We need prestige to get a promotion as well. So, a Spartan Fire quest board should be the next blueprint we buy. Completing Spartan Fire quests will grant prestige points. The 17 prestige points we have so far are from completing tasks assigned by Grandpa. With a board they will automatically appear."

"The only catch to this is that the reward money comes from converting Spartan Fire points into the reward money. This is why it is important to have a steady stream of income coming in."

"The other good thing about the board is that residents can also post about quests that they would like to have completed. The rewards for the residents' quests come out of their own pocket. But this is also a way new residents to Spartan Fire can earn money."

Kit and Mars immediately agreed with Twix idea. Kit was happy to see that the quest board was also available to purchase. There were also blue prints for a general store, grocer, basic workshop, well and a butcher. Right now, those blueprints were not urgent to unlock.

After they all finalised the agreement two more notifications sounded with the purchasing of a market and a Spartan Fire quest board. Kit brought up the screen once again. A smile bloomed when he saw that all they need to do now was raise the prestige, gain a promotion token and they could promote the town to a small village.

"Twix do you know how we get a promotion token?"

"Don't worry about that Kit, Grandpa already has quite a few of them ready for upgrading the town. We won't have to worry about collecting them for a while."

Kit was happy one more thing was already complete. He moved his eyes to look outside the town hall through the open door. The sky was starting to darken. He would have to wait until tomorrow to build his restaurant.

He didn't want a single thing to go wrong with the process, so he didn't want to complete his restaurant in the dark. He still selfishly wanted to build his restaurant first before the market and the quest board. This was his dream after all!

"Let's have some dinner, then go to sleep. I'm worn out from such a big day. Tomorrow, I want to build my restaurant first thing in the morning." Kit had a dreamy look in his eyes as he spoke about his restaurant.

After dinner Kit returned to his new residence. He stepped inside and looked around at the fur covered walls. 'Lucky I am not picky about the aesthetics of this place.' As he was roaming his eyes over the fur he heard a rustling at the entrance to the mud hut.

Kit glanced over to see a black ball of fluff enter his house. "Snowball, where have you been?"

Kit went over and picked the little houdini up. Lately he was disappearing on his own adventures and only coming back of a night-time. "Are there too many interesting things to explore?"

Kit received an excited yip in reply. Kit chuckled at his companion. He gave him a hug and a kiss.

"Snowball we will be staying here now. You can explore freely but I want you to return of a night time ok. I will worry about you otherwise."

Kit fixed a serious gaze at the small dog. He hoped Snowball could understand him. Big round eyes stared at Kit and Snowball released a soft yip in reply.

"Good boy. I'm glad you understand. You are so smart."

Kit took out some food and gave it to the little ball of fluff. He watched him eat with a frown. They were in a high level area now. Kit really was worried that Snowball would get himself into some trouble. Kit would need to find a way to be able to find Snowball if he didn't return one night.

Kit didn't know how he would cope if something happened to the cute ball of fluff. He sighed. He would need to find someone that had experience with having a companion to talk about Snowball. Kit felt he couldn't do anything tonight, so he shoved the thought to the side for now and went to sleep.

Kit awoke in his new home as the sun's rays were just starting to shine through his mud hut window. Kit was happily surprised that Twix had been right. The mud hut was actually very warm, he didn't feel the slightest chill last night.

Kit's mind began to wander as he lay in bed. Then he remembered he was finally going to build his restaurant today!

A huge smile spread across his face. Kit pulled on his boots and ran out the door almost tripping over his own feet in his haste. He thought he would have to go and wake everyone up, but to his surprise Grandpa was already waiting for him.

"Morning Kit, I see you are eager to begin your training."

Kit's budding excitement came to a halt. He had forgotten that Grandpa had organised Mars and his training to start today. A pout formed on his face without him realising. How many times could his poor heart take putting off building his restaurant. This was like someone was playing with his emotions on purpose! Kit didn't want to wait any longer!

"Grandpa I wanted to build my restaurant this morning. Can we start the training after my restaurant is complete?"

"Do I look like a newborn lamb to you? I know if we build your restaurant this morning you will not start your training today. You would be too engrossed in adding all the finishing touches to it. So, NO I will not build your restaurant until after we finish training today."

Kit was about to try to persuade Grandpa when the old man kept talking.

"You are now a Spartan Fire founding member, but your level is so low. This is an embarrassing thing for a Forsaken state resident. How can I let you three stay at such a low level when you are going to be the pillars for my Spartan Fire?"

Kit swallowed all the words he was going to use to persuade the old man. Kit could tell from his firm voice that there was no getting out of training today. He could only pray it wouldn't last all day so he would have time to build his restaurant later. He knew he wouldn't get the most out of the training today because he would be preoccupied with his thoughts about opening his restaurant.

But who would be any different from him? If they had the chance to achieve their dream, they would be distracted too!

Grandpa left Kit standing there pouting and went and retrieved his other two companions. Soon Kit wasn't the only one standing there pouting.

"Grandpa this was the first day I could have a sleep in. Why are you getting me up so early?"

"Twix stop complaining. This pair are not the only ones that need to raise their level." Grandpa was giving Twix a firm look. Twix shrunk his neck at Grandpa's fierce look.

"Right now, first I need to know what level you brats are actual at."

Kit's ears went red. He didn't want to tell Grandpa his level. If he thought Twix was still a low level, what would he say about his. He didn't get the chance to hide his level, Mars spat out their levels for him.

"Kit's level 18 and I'm level 22. We only started improving our level three weeks ago, so they are not high."

Grandpa and Kit froze at Mars words. Their stunned expressions were for different reasons.

"Mars how the fun loving fruits are you only level 22. Your attacks are so much higher than mine."

Mars gave Kit a look like he was an idiot.

"Kit, you have unlocked lots of skills from cooking right?"

Kit nodded his head.

"Those skills gave you a rise in your stats, yes?"

Kit was still at a loss where Mars was going with his line of questioning.

"Seriously you still can't figure out why my attack stats are higher than yours?"

Kit shook his head. He had unlocked an increase in all his stats except his attack and defence. How had Mars gotten his stats so high. Mars smirked at Kit.

"I have unlocked more fighting skills than you. They are also not at such a low level as yours."

Kit made an oh face. Mars and Twix started to laugh at his expression. Kit felt that made sense. Mars was a fighting maniac. It was only natural that his stats in fighting would be way above his level. Kit realised another fact. Although their levels were similar in size there was a vast difference between their skills.

Kit had a feeling even if he kept up with Mars level there would still be a great divide in their fighting ability. Kit's plan to improve his skills so he wouldn't hold Mars back took a dive. Even if he became a master swordsman, he had a feeling next to Mars, he would still look like a novice.

Kit felt a pang. He hoped this wouldn't become a problem in the future. His fighting skills were doomed to always be inferior to Mars.

"Kit, stop looking so sad. We will all help you raise your fighting level. Besides your dream is not fighting, it's building a restaurant, so of course our stats will be distributed in a different way."

Kit stared at Mars. He was a surprised at his insight. Mars was right, he wanted to build a restaurant of course he would be behind Mars in fighting, their priorities were very different. Kit started to cheer up. So what if he wouldn't be the greatest fighter, he was going to make his restaurant a legend!

Kit suddenly had another thought. Wait! Would this mean he would be the side kick when they were adventuring. Who wants to be the side kick! 'Damn it, stuff being ok with my skills in fighting being inferior. I will work just as hard to raise them. I don't want to be known as the side kick!'

"You're right Mars, I think it's important to raise my level. I don't always want to be inside the restaurant. I want to do it all. I want my dream plus going on adventures with my friends."

A light lit in Kit's eyes. He will not be left behind in his fighting skills! Kit started to look forward to starting his training with Grandpa. He wasn't going to be the side kick!

"What are you so proud of. You think being a level 22 is so great?" Grandpa was eyeing Mars with a look of impatience.

"Damn it. Where on Fornax did you live before this? How am I supposed to start your training with such a low level? I will have to totally change my training plans."

Grandpa looked sour at having to revise his plans.

"You open your restaurant for today. We will start training first thing tomorrow. I don't want any of you late so make sure you are up in time."

Grandpa was pointing at Kit with a fierce face. He then turned around and started to head towards Kit's land near the lake. Kit had just become determined to complete his training today with a gold star, now Grandpa had changed his mind. Kit deflated until he registered what Grandpa had said.