Doctor Doctor

Dom and Lucius soon left Helena and headed back towards the Town Centre. They now had a Lumber camp and a Docks, they also had the farmlands slowly being set up and growing, with the Animal husbandry supplying additional sources of food.

"I now have 5 unique buildings." Dom commented to Lucius, "The Dock, Animal Husbandry, Lumber Camp, Heroes Hall, and the two Warriors Halls. Before I complete the Town Centre upgrade and the final of the 3 quests, I still have the Building Upgrade Token and the Elite Villager Spawn. What should I do first?"

"Upgrading the Town Centre is obviously a priority, and it is obviously getting later and later in the day." Lucius replied, "However, we should do things one step at a time and in order. We had already planned on upgrading a building and using the Elite spawner, so let's do those first."

"Ok!" Dom replied, "Let's do that. System, can I use my Upgrade Token on any building or is it random?"

[You can choose which building you wish to upgrade]

"I can choose what to upgrade." Dom said to Lucius.

"Well, buildings such as the Granary will upgrade alongside the Town Centre you would expect. So your choice is between the Lumber Camp, Heroes Hall and the Hoplite Warrior Hall. You could also choose the Docks, Legionary Warrior Hall or the Animal Husbandry, however they are all new and we haven't seen the capabilities of them at their currently levels yet, so it would be a waste." Lucius replied.

Dom agreed with his thinking, knowing full well that jumping in to something too quickly could mean missing out on some basic fundamentals in the long term.

"Let's upgrade the Hoplite Warrior Hall." Dom accepted, "The Legionnaires are of a higher level, so it would be great to help Alexander's men be in line. The Lumber Camp is working extremely efficiently, and it is mainly missing man power as they can't use all of the equipment currently, so to upgrade it now would be a waste. The final option is the Heroes Hall, but I can only see the upgrade reducing the time, and I think an upgrade to our main forces is more important currently than our top levels."

[Upgrading Hoplite Warrior Hall.....Upgrade Complete.

Due to using a D Grade Town Centre for the Upgrade Token creation, effects should be minimal. However as Token not used on a Town Centre, the upgrade has been more successful. Please see new stats below:

Hoplite Warriors Hall of Riverside

Hall Grade - S

Hall Level - 2

Spawn Rate:

5 Armoured Hoplite Warriors a day (Can be upgraded with Village growth), 1 Spartan Hoplite Warrior a day (Can be upgraded with Village growth)

Spawn level - Armoured Hoplite Grade A, Spartan Hoplite Grade S

Spawn Type - Armoured Hoplite

Further Types can be unlocked throughout the game and Mission Completion

Upgrade notes:

Spartan Hoplite added to Daily Spawn, Grade S

Hoplite Warriors have upgraded from B to A, including better armour for heightened defence and improved manufacturing techniques for their Doru spears, giving them more flexibility]

"Yes!" Dom exclaimed.

[Spartan Hoplites are warriors trained from birth. When a male spartan was born, they were first checked to make sure they were in prime health, if not they were left to the elements, to die or be adopted from a lower caste. Those that were healthy were bathed in Wine, before following a tough youth where they were not allowed to fear the dark or loneliness. Mothers giving them the Tough Love to allow them to grow in to the strong warriors they were.

From the age of seven they were placed in a barracks and trained in warfare, where they would live until they were twelve. From then they would be stripped naked and abandoned, with nothing but a red cloak and expected to survive. Once passing this trial they would be part of the military, but still training. They were unable to marry until they were thirty years old, having to live in the barracks until this age. They also had to be part of the military forces, even if just in the reserves, until they were sixty years old.

They were famed for being able to win against much bigger numbers, especially against other Greek States and the Persians. The Spartan Warrior caste relied heavily on serfs and slaves who would dress and feed them, as they were bred for one thing, and that was war.]

"Good result I assume?" Lucius asked inquisitively.

"We have received an upgrade to the Hoplites armour and also an additional spawn a day." Dom replied.

"That's great! so 6 Hoplite a day?" Lucius asked.

"5 Armoured Hoplite, 1 Spartan, plus our 5 Legionaries a day." Dom replied.

"1 Spartan a day?" Lucius exclaimed, "They are hard people on the field of battle, but even harder to deal with away from the field of battle. This is great news, but also will cause a headache. They are not known to be easy to get along with."

"What do you mean by that?" Dom asked.

"They are stubborn and believe they are better than everyone else. In most cases in a fight they are." Lucius replied, "If you are not from their caste, you are lower than them. We will need to merge them in to our community and show them a strict hierarchy."

"This sounds like its going to be hard work." Dom grumbled.

"Yes, but they will be worth it!" Lucius replied with a grin.

"System can I spawn now?" Dom asked.

[Negative, Hoplite Warriors Hall has already spawned today, please return tomorrow]

"We'll have to wait until tomorrow then." Dom lamented, before continued to talk with Lucius. "Let's head to the Town Centre and spawn our Elite Villager."

Lucius followed Dom as they headed back to the Town Centre, the sun slowly getting lower.

"Hopefully the next batch are back soon from Gluttonous Chiefs Village." Dom grumbled, aware that even though the journey to the village was safer along the riverbank, they hadn't fully explored that forest below the mountains yet.

"I agree." Lucius replied, "They will have little light to see them home otherwise. I may head up with the Legionnaires tomorrow and see if there is anything important that has been missed."

"That's actually a very good idea." Dom commented.

They soon reached the Town Centre, to see that Villagers were returning to the houses that had been built. There was a clear structure to how the houses were built, with them being built with clear pathways between them, in square formations.

"System, please use Village Spawner Cube." Dom requested.

[Rolling for Elite Villager....Villager chosen.]

The Town Centre door opened, and a bald middle aged man, with a long white robe walked out. He had a long grey beard that was thin and only fell from the centre of his chin, the rest of him being clean shaven. He had the look of a scholar, and had a gentle smile on his face. Beside him was a slim, middle aged woman with long black hair and dark eyes, as well as a very attractive woman who was in her early twenties, who looked very similar to the middle aged woman.

"Good evening Lord." The man began, before doing a low bow, soon followed by the two women. "This is my Wife and Daughter, I hope that we will be welcome. My name is Hua Tuo, I am a doctor."

"Of course you are welcome here!" Dom replied, quickly stepping forwards and helping the man up. "My name is Lazarus, and this is Riverside our home. Beside me is my chief advisor, Lucius."

Lucius stepped forwards and shook the mans hand. "We don't have a doctor here currently, it is ideal to have you with us. Do you have any experience with animals?"

"I do." Hua Tuo replied, "I have studied the workings of both Tigers and Bears, as well as Deer, Apes and Cranes. Do you have any issues?"

"No, but it is definitely a skill we are in need of." Lucius replied seriously.

"Well, we actually have some Tigers here." Dom interrupted and laughed, before asking the system. "Show Stats."

[Hua Tuo

Villager Grade - S

Hua Tuo is an ancient Chinese doctor from the end of the Eastern Han period and the beginning of Three Kingdoms Period. He is labelled as the founder, and first user of anaesthetic during surgeries in Ancient China, as well as being an expert in acupuncture and herbal medicine.

He was given the role of the Warlord Cao Cao's personal doctor, much to his dismay, due to Cao Cao's repeated issues with head pain. He treated him for a long time, before feigning his wife's illness and leaving. When Cao Cao heard of this, he recalled him and imprisoned him, before ordering his execution.

Upon his death, nearly all of his knowledge was lost to history, pushing medicine back a generation. Cao Cao soon lamented his decision, as his favourite child died of illness, and the only person who could have saved him was Hua Tuo.

Can be converted to a Hero Grade through completion of personal hidden missions]

"Tigers?" Hua Tuo asked. "I would definitely like to meet them. But first, this is my wife Lady Sun, and my daughter Hua Xiu. They both are very skilled with medicine and are very knowledgeable. Obviously if you are ok with a woman treating you."

"We have many skilled women here and don't differentiate between the two genders for seniority." Dom replied quickly, "One of my commanders is a woman, as are some of the family heads. You are both welcome here."

"This is good to hear." Lady Sun interrupted, "some men don't trust a woman to treat them. Our daughter is an expert when it comes to Herbal remedies, if we have any herbs nearby we can start looking at what we can concoct."

"That is great news." Lucius commented, "We haven't really had anyone look out for things like that yet, so it would be great to add it to our surveys."

Dom soon finished with the introductions, before Lucius stepped in and continued to converse with Hua Tuo and his family. They decided to first get them a house to live in, before looking at setting up a location somewhere for them to treat any villagers that needed it.

"People approaching!" Dom heard someone shout, before noting that is was Duncan who was stood on watch, waiting for the next batch of people to return.

Dom looked at noted that all of the remaining Hoplite were returning, as well as the Villagers that Paul had taken with him. He hadn't expected them all back and was intrigued to find out why.

"Why are you all back?" he asked.

"The bodies were attracting unwanted attention from the forest." Subutai replied, "I felt it prudent to have everyone return with the key items we have, and then return tomorrow with fresh minds and bodies."