Why The Smile?
[Unknown Ancient Town Centre
Town Grade - Subsidiary Grade Unknown
Town Level - Unknown
Town Occupancy - 0
Town Spawn Rate - Paused
Town Buildings - Mausoleum, Vault, Blacksmiths, Barracks, Throne Room, Palace Guard Warriors Hall, Beast Hall, Warehouse, Unknown damaged, Unknown damaged, Unknown damaged, Unknown damaged]
Dom read through the list of buildings that continued on, wondering what the Ancient Underground City would have been like when it was full of life and people, he pondered on what the unknown buildings were, aware that they had found warehouse and housing like spaces. He wondered if they had missed any buildings as they still had to find the original entrance to the Ancient Underground City.
[Would you like to claim, relocate or absorb the Town Centre of the Ancient Underground City. Be aware that due to the unknown origins and age of the Town Centre, grade and affects may vary.]
Dom thought for a few seconds on what would be the best option, if they claimed it, they could potentially have a pre built base to the south of Riverside. It was underground but it could be a great fallback option if anything major happened in the future, they could also continue to develop the route between the two towns and create a strong base if they grew them together.
The other option was to relocate, taking the Town Centre and spawning it in another location, potentially on the eastern coast so they could create a sea port in the future, or near the mountain to create a mountain village. The final option was to absorb, last time he had absorbed them he had gained some additional rewards or upgrade tokens, which had given him a necessary boost when they needed it the most. He decided to ask Gan Ning and Tomoe on their thoughts before he made a final choice.
"This is the Town Centre of the Ancient Underground City." Dom confirmed to his two commanders, "I have three options, claim it and refurbish this place as a new city for us, relocate it and use the Town Centre spawner to create a new Village or Absorb it and use it to upgrade Riverside. What do you both think?"
"That's a difficult choice." Tomoe replied, as she sat down on one of the benches beneath the top table, "I need a few seconds to think."
"I mean, it's quite clear that claiming it is the best option." Gan Ning stated, "With some refurbishment and hard work we could make this in to a decent back up base if we can make everything active again. However, the distance from Riverside is too far for our current size."
"And I don't think anyone would choose to live underground." Tomoe agreed. "Unless we could relocate everything to the surface, but then that goes against the whole point in claiming it in the first place."
"So we aren't claiming it then." Dom replied, "Do we relocate or absorb then?"
"I think once Riverside has become a larger city, with a huge population that needs subsidiary towns, then the relocation would be perfect." Tomoe said, "But then again, we aren't at that place yet, we need to prioritise our homes growth so that we can deal with our current situation. I think that we should absorb it."
"I am inclined to agree, however I do believe that we need to have a serious think about this, as I suspect the grade of this is much higher than anything else we have been around, and therefore we could be sacrificing a high tiered subsidiary town." Gan Ning responded.
"So do we look for long term growth or short term rewards?" Dom said, "that is the real question."
He thought for a few more seconds before making his decision. He sat down on the table, next to the skull of the former King, his Crown lay in front of him. Dom looked down at him and then around the room full of skeletons who were sat eating their dinner before their death.
"System, I would like to absorb." Dom announced, deciding that the now was more important than the future, if he missed the key decision now they may not even make it to the future to reap those rewards.
[Absorb selected, Town Centre will loose it's power and resort to a normal building... As all of the Town Centre actions have already been paused, this action will not take place...Calculating Town Centre Grade....Unable to accurately calculate due to deterioration....Relevant rewards rolled....Upgrade Token delivered to personal chest, please find reward there.]
Dom was happy that the mission had been completed, but also frustrated as he couldn't discover the rewards until he returned back to Riverside. He went to stand up, when another notification appeared in front of him.
[Congratulations on Completing Quest 3 - Conquer a Town]
[Calculating Completion Level]
[Completion Level - A]
[Discovered a rare Ancient City through your own luck, though you did not complete this conquest through military or diplomatic means, you did so through persistence and hard work from your ever growing Kingdom. Completion Grade would be lower if not for the rarity of the discovery.]
[Mission Rewards have been placed in your personal chest]
A huge smile appeared on Dom's face as he saw this, his second mission completed in almost record time from his current batch. With a completion grade of A, Dom expected a high level of rewards which he could instantly use, an opportunity for some high growth that would allow them to support or conquer Tongpai Town from the Type 3 Humans. He understood that their growth so far had been quick and almost cheat like in some instances, but it reassured him nevertheless.
"Why the smile Lord Lazarus?" Tomoe asked as she looked at him.
"We have completed Quest 3, Conquer a Town." Dom replied happily.
"I feel that this is my completion, and therefore I should get the reward." Gan Ning said with a laugh, "That is great news, we didn't even need to fight anyone this time! I feel that your quests are going to get harder if you keep completing them so easily."
"Why would you say that?" Dom said grumpily, an ominous feeling passing over him that he had had it to easy so far and Gan Ning had sent some bad luck his way.
"Seriously Gan Ning, why?" Tomoe agreed, staring daggers at him with her eyes.
Gan Ning shut up and looked away innocently, also worrying that he had said something he shouldn't have.
[System has calculated that there are eight re-usable buildings within the Ancient Underground City. As you have chosen to Absorb the Town Centre, would you like to relocate or absorb those buildings. They are: Mausoleum, Vault, Blacksmiths, Barracks, Throne Room, Palace Guard Warriors Hall, Beast Hall and the Warehouse.]
Dom was stunned, having normally having to walk up to each individual building and do this himself, he felt this was a huge timesaver and he would have to thank Game Support for her help the next time he logged in. He didn't have to think long as he felt the choice was simple based on their current needs.
"I would like to relocate the Mausoleum, Blacksmiths, Warriors Hall, Beast Hall and Warehouse." Dom replied, "Please can you absorb the Vault, Barracks and Throne Room."
[Relevant Cubes and Tokens have been sent to your Personal Chest]
Dom had decided this due to the fact that he didn't currently have a Mausoleum and wondered what that building would add to Riverside. An additional Blacksmiths, Warriors Hall and Warehouse would be handy, where as a Beast Hall was a new acquisition he was excited to try out. With the arrival of the Bank, he didn't need a separate vault and he was confident that his newly arrived Barracks would be big enough for the time being, and if anything he'd rather upgrade it. Finally the Throne Room was a building he didn't have, but he felt that with the Great Hall and him not being or planning to play as a King type character yet, that he would rather receive an upgrade token instead. He decided to keep the final choice hidden from Meritamen however, as she would most likely disagree with him.
There was a rumble as the Ancient Underground City shook slightly, loosing Dust from the ceilings, as the different buildings underwent slight changes as Dom's decision was made. Dom worried that something would collapse and stayed very silent for a few seconds as the dust settled. He was grateful to hear that their was no crashing noises and they hadn't suddenly been trapped inside the Ancient Underground City with no way to escape.
"What happened?" Gan Ning asked, looking around at the rest of the group had all stayed very silent whilst the shaking had happened.
"Nothing to worry about." Dom replied, hopeful that was the case. He looked down and saw that Trojan and Gregorios were both sat near some skeletons on one of the tables in the middle of the room, whilst a couple of Legionaries from Gan Ning's command were stood near the entrance way.
Dom turned to the staircase at the side of the room and decided that he would explore the upstairs and see if it was similar to his in Riverside's before heading back home before it was dark, tomorrow being a busy day of allocating his rewards and preparing for their next steps. It would still be a few days before Crassus returned with the information from the nearby Port City and Dom had to decide what they would do in the meantime.
"I'm going upstairs." Dom stated, getting up from the table and passing the Crown to Gan Ning to hold on to.
"I'll come with you." Tomoe replied, not wanting him to go alone. Gan Ning decided to stay behind and see what loot they could get from the Great Hall.
Dom soon reached the stairs and headed up them, followed by Tomoe. The space above was unfortunately not like the clear light marble space below, as the ceiling had seemed to have collapsed, leaving the remains of some furniture near the staircase entrance and little else to be seen other than large pieces of rock and stone that blocked all other vision.
"Well, that's disappointing." Dom said sadly.
"Something for the team to explore whilst they are clearing things out." Tomoe replied, shrugging her shoulders.
"I wanted to see it's comparisons to Riverside." Dom continued, "But I suppose that's something for another day."
"It wouldn't have been as good." Tomoe replied, patting Dom on the back, "because we wouldn't have been here."
Dom laughed at her cheesy response, before turning around and heading down the stairs in to the Great Hall. The visit to the Ancient Underground City had given them more questions than answers, still unsure on how or when they were attacked, or even how the City was entered in the first place. He wasn't sure he'd ever find out the answers he was looking for, but he was happy that they had at least finished their excavation for now, leaving a token team behind to finish bringing any further goodies back from the last few buildings discovered.
As he headed through the Great Hall back to the entrance, Gan Ning passed him the Crown back as he placed some other items in his backpack with a greedy grin on his face. Dom took it and paused in his step, he turned back towards the Head Table and tapped his empty fist on his chest in the direction of the skeleton King, saluting the leader whose kingdom had fallen to the unknown enemy that they suspected were the Type 3 Humans.
"Sorry that you have fallen." Dom said politely and seriously, "But we are grateful for what you have left behind, we will use what you have left behind to defeat our enemies and honour your memory."
The Crown in Dom's hand heated up, feeling warm in his fingers. Dom looked down at it and saw no physical change, but he definitely felt something and he pondered what that meant. After one final look he left at the Great Hall, he turned and finally left, leaving the Ancient Underground City to fall back in to history once more.