Now that the farm was set up, it was time to take care of his house. When he put it up originally he didn’t have enough wood to put a roof on it. That was still true, but he had enough to put up a frame he could attach a tarp to. When he was in the dwarven dungeon last he had acquired a large hide tarp that was previously the wall of one of the camp houses. The dwelling had been destroyed, but this piece was still in good shape. The owner had offered it to Alan when he saw him eyeing it. It was a reward for helping to save the town, but he had still felt a little guilty. Not enough to prevent him from taking it though.

  Using a few boards he was able to create an underlying framework for the roof that would provide a slight slant. This would help make sure water ran off of it when it rained, rather than pooling and possibly rupturing it. He should have used more nails to make sure it was firmly attached, but he didn’t have enough to do it properly. Hopefully the few he had left would be enough to keep it in place. As he climbed down he was greeted by Two Socks and Alan was able to gently rub his furry head. He was then met with a series of Network messages.

  Achievement earned: I have an Erection

  [You have constructed a building. Crafting speed is slightly increased while inside an appropriate building.]

  Grand Achievement earned: Come Together

  [You have founded a town. As the first on your world to found a town your achievement has been upgraded to a Grand achievement. The effect of Arrays is slightly improved.]

  Congratulations, you have founded a town! Current town is rated a Homestead, tier level zero. Would you like to name the town? [Y/N]

  “Alan, you ok? You’ve been standing there for a while.” Tamee’s voice broke him out of his confusion.

  “Umm…I am made of questions right now.”

  Another Tamee sigh, “what did you do this time?”

  Alan filled her in on the notifications and she too was speechless for a time. Apparently grand achievements were very rare and very valuable. The reward seemed nice, but Tamee said there were other rewards from it besides the one stated. She still wasn’t allowed to share it with him, but maybe this was the kind of thing his mentor had meant about sharing in Alan’s achievements.

  “The building achievement is no surprise, but I didn’t even know there was one for founding a town. No one on my planet has founded a new town in living memory. Also, how is that considered a town?”

  Alan didn’t know, but Tamee explained how he could check his town menu. This was something he now had access to since he was officially part of the town. As the founder he had expanded access. Before he could get in though, he had to name it.

  “Amthraxia, strong name. Now, look at the town level status.” Tamee told him.

  His town was rated as a homestead, this was apparently the lowest level of a town and consisted of at least one home and a field for growing food. His house was considered a ‘crude house’ and counted for the home. Apparently it wasn’t finished until he had put the roof on it. His fruit garden counted as the field. The town could be upgraded a few levels before it became a village, but he had a long way to go. He would need to add several specific buildings, more fields, and the big one was more people. A village needed at least thirty people, and that just wasn’t going to happen. Alan exited the menu to tell Tamee about what he learned, but first he was greeted by a new notification.

  Town Dungeon Created

  [As a tier zero village your town has spawned a dungeon obelisk. The dungeon will spawn monsters at an increasing rate and power level until the boss is defeated.]

  “Ok Tamee, this is getting ridiculous, I just put a tarp up! What is a town dungeon? It says that the village caused a dungeon obelisk to spawn.”

  “So that is not that big a deal for you at the moment. Every town has at least one dungeon associated with it. This is a way for the residents of the town to grow, and it is seen as a good thing. Normally a town would have at least a couple of adventurers who would regularly clear the dungeon. They get experience and loot and every time they clear it the clock gets reset. If they fail to clear it the dungeon will start spawning monsters.”

  “This doesn’t sound so good for me because I have other places to be. How often would I have to clear this thing? My house was supposed to protect me from monsters, not cause new ones to show up.”

  Tamee continued her explanation, “a dungeon obelisk is not even a dungeon really. It contains the smallest dungeon core possible. All it can do is generate monsters and cannot create an actual dungeon. Because of the low level the boss will reset fairly quickly, but it should still be knocked out for at least two or three days each time it is defeated. Also, the monsters coming out of that should be capped around level three or five, with the boss being a level five or six.”

  That didn’t sound too scary. He was about to explain what he learned about his town when he realized he didn’t know what his grand reward meant. “What is an array?”

  “Do not take this the wrong way, but I would rather you read about it in the wiki. Now that you have unlocked one it should have a section on it. You can ask me questions after your first read through, but it is a lot and I really do not want to get into all of it right now.”

  “Really, isn’t it like your job?” Alan asked.

  A raspberry was her only response. Hmmm, Alan wondered hong long until the raspberries started producing fruit. With no other choice he sat down and started going through the wiki. At the same time he infused more stones with mana. He was making a few of each type now and had gotten so good at it he could read during the process.

  So, Arrays. There were several types of arrays but the two he had a description of at the moment were something called an army array and a town array. Technically there was a building array too, but it was linked to the town array. All forms of arrays were a system that made managing things easier. The army array would allow you to organize an army into groups and give them orders. You could have an army without one, but there were apparently some huge bonuses given by the array that made it ill advised to go up against another army if you didn’t have your own array.

  The town array was automatic once an area qualified, which Amthraxia now did. The array was what allowed the use of the town menu and was like a system that allowed the members of the town to organize themselves and interact. It also included something called ‘blueprints’. These were preprogrammed designs for certain buildings that could be selected through the menu and placed in the real world.

  They didn’t magically appear, but if someone from the town went to work on it there was some kind of Network weirdness that would cause them to naturally build it in that place and it made the process of building it go much faster and not require much knowledge of construction. For example, his town came with a blueprint for a crude house, a basic house, a tanning shed, a granary, and a generic shop. You could gain more designs from other people somehow, or you could make your own. The crude house, for example, was a result of his haphazard construction. If you built something and the Network recognized it, it would become a blueprint.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Alan selected a tanning shed and placed it a little distance from his house, near the limit of the array. It was a weird experience as he got a visual overlay of the building in his vision and if he tried to place it in an impossible position it turned red. It also seemed to snap into certain positions. Looking back at the town menu he could see that there was a basic layout with slots for buildings. He could modify it through the town but since this would probably never become a real town he didn’t worry about it. Once he placed the wireframe version of the tannery he walked over to the space he had designated. In order to build it he would need a certain amount of wooden boards, nails, a tub for dipping skins, and access to tannins. He wasn’t sure where tannins came from but it didn’t really matter since he didn’t have any of the other materials either.

  If he managed to build the tanning shed, a granary, four basic houses, create three more fields, and increase the population to thirty he would be able to upgrade his homestead into a village. That would unlock further blueprints and benefits for the town. As a tier zero homestead all he got was access to the town menu and the dungeon obelisk. He wouldn’t know what the other benefits of the higher tiers were until his town upgraded.

  He asked Tamee some minor questions, but the wiki had done a pretty good job explaining what an array was. The fact that his arrays were slightly improved might show up in various ways. Allowing them to be improved faster, bonuses being greater, or who knew how else. Alan had been eager to go see the dwarves, but he felt it was important to check out the dungeon obelisk first.

  It showed up on the town map but was actually located about a kilometer from the edge of his homestead. Two Socks followed him as he made his way over to it. The obelisk was a grey piece of shiny stone about four meters high. Written vertically on the obelisk on all four sides was Amthraxia, designating the town it was attached to. As he stood there he didn’t notice any monsters around.

  “Put your hand on it,” Tamee suggested.

  Placing his hand upon the obelisk he received a message that the boss was currently on cool down. There was a timer next to it and after studying it for a moment he realized the timer would reach zero in about ten minutes.

  “Well Socks, it looks like I’ll have to wait around a little and fight this boss. I would rather not come back here to find my house infested with monsters. No offense.”

  He cocked his head in what Alan took to be his cute sign for confusion. He tried to teach Socks to play fetch, but he was not into it at all. Instead he sat next to Alan and they waited for the obelisk to count down together. Without his hand on the stone he would just have to guess at the time, but he didn’t want to stand next to it in case the boss suddenly appeared.

  When the time came he needn’t have worried. The stone started glowing and smoke swirled around it. When the smoke cleared there was a gorilla standing below it. It was sitting on its legs with its arms resting on the ground in front of it. It was currently about one hundred and fifty centimeters high, but if it stood up it would be around two hundred and twenty. Its arms were thick columns of hairy muscle and its eyes were not friendly. It looked around it for a moment and then caught sight of Alan and the wolf. Two Socks started shivering and when the gorilla bellowed out a challenge and beat its chest the little guy panicked and ran away. It was hard to blame him, if he was still capable of it, Alan might have peed himself a little.

  Beast: Silverback (Boss) level 6, threat: Extreme

  “So, I probably should have asked earlier, but is there a special significance to being a boss?”

  “Two creatures, both of the same type and level, but one being a boss will not be equal. It varies dramatically by boss, but at their weakest a boss should be three times as powerful. You got this, I think.”

  “Thanks.”

  The gorilla boss was still pounding away on its chest and baring its fangs. Of the many wild creatures of Earth the gorilla is one of the most deadly. You wouldn’t know it watching them at a zoo, but everything about them can be lethal. They have thick powerful fingers, but thankfully they don’t have claws. However, their teeth are large and sharp and their strength is tremendous. He doubted the boss could be taken down with any of his spells, but entering melee range would be tough. Even with his gladius the beast would still have reach on him.

  Alan could use three max power fire bolts but it would leave him almost drained of mana. That wouldn’t leave him with much to heal if he needed it. If he had a choice he would walk away from this fight. He was not a good match for this powerhouse. But he didn’t have a choice. If he didn’t kill it then the next time he returned there could be monsters all around. They would probably be low level but he didn’t know how many there would be. And the boss would still be here.

  Time to nut up. The fight would start with a crossbow shot and a medium fire bolt to test its magic defenses. The plan would be to kill it with a thousand cuts. Using both of his knives and his speed he would go purely on the defensive, but leave cuts all over it when the beast attacked. Eventually the blood loss should weaken it enough that he could finish it. His prismatic orbs should provide some openings to deal more significant damage, but he would also have to keep an eye on his stamina. If he lost his mobility he’d be dead in a moment.

  Everything was going well, right up until the plan began. His shot with the small crossbow only grazed its arm. He should really practice with it. The firebolt caught the beast in its hairy chest, but the flames lasted only a moment. It must have an incredibly high constitution or a resistance to magic. The third thing to go wrong was that he had underestimated its speed. Alan was still the faster one, but it was not by nearly the margin he had thought.

  His only real advantage turned out to be the anger of the beast and its lack of control. If one of its fists connected with him it would crush bones, but the wild swings left the beast off balance and prevented it from chaining its attacks together. Meanwhile Alan would take a quick slice or make a sudden stab. Each time he left a small wound that trickled blood.

  The boss’s skin was thick and even if he was truly trying to hurt it he would have had a hard time cutting deeply. Each wound seemed to increase the boss’s anger. Alan made the mistake of trying to block one of the swings with his seax instead of dodging. He was hoping that the added force of the gorilla's blow would allow his dagger to slice deeply and cause a real wound.

  As the arm came around he positioned his dagger so that the edge would deflect it above his head. Instead the arm pushed the pommel of his seax into his head. Dropping the blade from his numb fingers he stumbled back, his vision going black. He fought off unconsciousness and was only saved from being crushed by another blow because the gorilla had indeed received a viscous wound to its arm. It was currently cradling it with the other arm.

  Regaining his balance he shot a prismatic orb at the gorilla and withdrew his gladius from his ring. Charging forward he punched the longer blade into its side, hoping to hit the kidneys or lungs. The blade entered at least ten centimeters, his panic giving him strength. As he went to withdraw it for another thrust the gorilla’s wounded arm thrashed out in response to the pain.

  Alan was again knocked back, but a quick healing spell allowed him to ignore most of the damage. The blow lacked most of the boss’s strength and it was only a glancing hit. Unfortunately he dropped the gladius as he went flying. He scrambled over to his seax while the monster recovered. Its left arm had a gaping wound that was leaking a stream of blood. The hole in its side, however, was gushing a river of thick dark blood. That should be enough to end the fight. Alan backed off to let it bleed to death, but the rage of the gorilla was enough to allow it to follow him.

  No amount of anger could save it in the end. Alan only had to dodge a couple of wild swings before it stumbled. Then he jumped on its back and plunged both blades into its heavy neck. It tried to rise but a follow up set of stabs caused it to collapse again. He lay there on top of it for a moment catching his breath. While he ended the fight in relatively good condition he had almost lost it all there, twice. If Tamee said this was considered a weak challenge then he would need to get much stronger if he had any hope of helping humanity survive.

  The body underneath him began to shudder. He quickly stabbed it again before he realized it wasn’t the boss recovering. Jumping down from its back he watched as it turned to dust which formed a tornado. This was the same behavior he had seen in the maze dungeon. Tamee had told him it was a standard way for dungeon cores to reward kills. Most dungeons were not entirely based around a quest, especially town dungeons apparently. When the dust settled he was left with a large pouch. Opening it he found his greatest reward so far. Golden coins spilled over his hand. There must be fifty of them in there. Collecting them back up he placed the pouch in his ring. If only his town actually had a store.

  Placing his hand on the grey obelisk he got a message that the boss was on cooldown and the timer wouldn’t reach zero for another three days. Time enough for him to grow stronger. He made his way back to his house and found Two Socks cowering on the wolf pelt bed. With a sigh Alan saw that it had peed itself and the bed in terror. Good thing he had more pelts. That could be the wolf’s bed now. He sat down next to it and gently stroked its fur for a while till its heart stopped racing.

  “It’s okay little one. That creature was not meant for you, that was my fight. You stay here and protect the garden, that’s your job.” Alan infused a boar steak with mana and left his furry friend nibbling on it.

  With everything at the house ready taken care of and at least three hours until dark it was time he had a go with the dwarves. Last time he had to help defend them from rampaging kobolds. What would they have in store for him this time?