Build a Civilisation

I now had six Scout Minions in total.

With that, I wrote a few new lines of code.

ON.

[Learn] -> {Resource Gathering}

then,

[Learn] -> {Woodcutting]

then,

[Gather Wood]

if night time, then,

{Return} and [Stand by]

I found out that at their base {Resource Gathering} level, they were incredibly inefficient and the number of resources they gained was quite minimal. It would be better to just let them continue learning and specialising. I decided on {Woodcutting} as it would be the easiest to manage and I would be able to convert them to Tokens if I needed to.

I set the code to ON. for all of the Scout Minions and promptly, they all began learning.

They were at somewhat different stages in terms of learning but the code specified that once they were finished, they would be able to [Gather Wood] so their time wouldn't be wasted.

I still didn't know what stage 3 learning entailed or even if there was a third stage, I would look at it once they achieved that level.

Once I finished organising the Minions, I decided to have a look at my crafting menu to see what I would build next. I didn't need any water-related mechanisms as Rosie's ability was sufficient to take care of anything water-related.

The main thing I wanted was some sort of permanent shelter. At the moment, all I had were {Instant Temporary Shelters} and they were very inefficient in terms of resource expenditure. I had unlocked quite a few things but no real shelters.

I considered making a few more garden beds. I could always train future Scout Minions in farming and get them to make use of them. Rosie was also free most of the time so she could just take care of any plants.

I walked over to Rosie.

"Apparently I just levelled up!" She exclaimed.

"Really? What did you unlock?"

"I unlocked a shop and I also got a few more packets of seeds."

"In that case, I'll make some garden beds."

I opened the crafting menu and made three more garden beds. My Woodcutter Minion had deposited some resources into my inventory during the day.

I placed them all near each other, they were joined by the edges. After that, I helped her fill them all with dirt.

It was quite a tiring process.

"Geez, that was more work than I expected."

"Yeah." She replied.

With the extra garden beds set up, she increased the number of crops we were growing.

As I looked up at the sky, I realised that the day had gone by quite quickly and it was almost night again. Suddenly, I received a notification.

[You have levelled up!]

Level-2 -> Level-3

Rewards:

- Builder Minion x1

- Builder Minion Recipe

- More Crafting Recipes

- Inventory space {+450}

What was this? In front of my eyes, a pile of smoke surfaced until within the dusty whirlwind, a new Minion appeared.

The Minion was holding a toolbox and appeared to be dressed like some sort of labourer.

I guess this was the Builder Minion.

As I scoured through the new recipes I unlocked, I noticed that there was one called a {Small Hut}. It was the best shelter that I had unlocked. The recipe was 400 wood and 50 rocks. It also had a build time of 1 day. I assumed that that was what the Builder Minion was for.

I had a quick look at my inventory.

<Inventory > 502/900

{163x} wood

{9x} apples

{261x} leaves

{16x} meat

{53x} rocks

I didn't have anywhere near enough wood, so it would be a little while until I would be able to craft a {Small Hut}. My Woodcutter Minion could only work so fast so I decided that the best strategy would be to build an axe and cut the wood myself. It would also be useful for clearing some of the trees around the camp.

The recipe for a {Lesser Stone Axe} was 20 wood and 10 rocks.

I crafted it and suddenly in my hand, it appeared.

I made my way over to a tree and began swinging at it.

{+8 wood}

{+5 wood}

{+6 wood}

It was quite an efficient method of gathering wood, however, I had never swung an axe before and as a result, I did not realise how much of a toll it took on my arms. After just a few swings, I was forced to take a breath.

"I'm going to go have a look at the sundial," I told Rosie.

I put my axe back into my inventory and began making my way towards the sundial which was just a little while away from the camp I set up.

As I was walking, I decided to have a look at the Minion menu and see what I could get the Builder Minion to do.

Actions:

- {Scout}

- {Build}

- {Repair}

- {Gather Resources}

It also had the option to 'gather resources' although I assumed that it would be similarly low-output, like the Scout Minions. It wasn't like there was anything else for it to do though, I decided to set up some code and get as much use as I could out of it.

ON.

[Gather Resources] -> {Wood, apples} ->

[Return] {Repeat}

I knew that it wouldn't be great but something was better than nothing.

Finally, I reached the sundial and looked at the time. The shadow was a little distorted today but I could see that it was around 6 pm, so there wasn't a great deal of time before night. I should be retrieving my Minions around now.

I set a return order on them and began making my way back to my camp.

On the way back, I had a look at a few more recipes. There were recipes for different tools and weapons, various small buildings and structures and some Minion boosters which seemed interesting.

There was something called a Booster Totem Pole, it cost 200 wood and apparently boosted Minion efficiency by 5% and you could also attach other boosters to it. It sounded quite good but I wanted to save my wood for the hut so I would likely build the totem pole later. I still didn't have any shelter to sleep under for the night so I was probably going to be forced to build {Instant Temporary Shelters} again.

After a few minutes, I arrived back at the camp and saw that Rosie was sitting on a log beside the fire.

All of a sudden, I heard growling in the distance.

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