I am still on Denver time, but I posted an edited chapter of book 7 ten minutes ago.

It doesn't inform people when I add more tiers to view a post, so here is the link. When I edit 394 in the morning I will move it over too and send out a seperate announcement https://www.patreon.com/alwaysrollsaone/posts/soldiers-life-my-125954759?collection=2220878

This town builder chapter edit was mostly removing the NSFW scene that was described in detail. It is now a fade to black.

Chapter 18: Caving to Desire

I left with Jaesmin to find Sanso. He was working with his elementals on expanding, compressing and paving the roads in town. We had a heavy rain last night, and the paths were quite muddy. “Lord Tallis! I am glad to see you this morning!” he greeted me with a friendly smile.

“Master Sanso, you are in town early this morning. I was just coming to find you to set up our building priorities for the next few weeks.” We walked a little way as Sanso converted the smoothed mud paths into solid rock.

A little hesitantly, he asked. “I was thinking…or rather Elice was thinking that we should add a sewer system to the town before it grows too large. My elementals could dig the proper tunnels, I could harden the stone around it, and we could get it done in a month or so.” 

Sewers? Did we need sewers? The game had bathrooms, but I hadn’t used one since being in the game. I hadn’t seen an NPC do so, either. I got a bad feeling this might come up in a developer update. Elice walked around the corner and began directing Sanso to where to add stone next. Sanso looked a little abashed, but obeyed her commands without comment. I think Sanso was here early because he had spent the night in town with Elice. I guess my elementalkin alchemist wouldn’t be a love interest for Sanso.

I got Sanso’s attention again after Elice left. “Sanso, I think the sewers are a fine idea. I have a number of priority projects though. I need a small tower for a new air mage and a house by the docks for our incoming shipwright. The shipwright has five members in his family, so it will be a good-sized residence.”  I pulled out some plans. “Since we don’t have any available lumber, both structures are going to be made of stone, probably summoned stone, as we don’t have masons or quarrymen to supply it. I will start work on the tower while you and Jaesmin work on the house.”

I left Sanso and got to thinking about the sewers. What I needed was someone skilled in city planning—a civil engineer. Did they have those in this game? I opened the NPC auction interface and searched. I found two skills among NPCs that seemed to match up: city planning and city infrastructure. The city planner’s description was closest to building out a city. City infrastructure was more on the maintenance side.

I found a dwarf woman with the perfect skill set. She had a master skill level in city planning, city infrastructure, and city defenses. Her temperament was choleric, though. Was it worth it to bid a platinum coin on her? I only had one bid slot left, and I was already worried my NPC salaries and expenses would outpace my income. While I was in college studying architecture, I hadn’t taken any courses in civil engineering yet. This game was evolving to mimic real life, so I got the funds and placed the bid. It would be better to focus my efforts on designing buildings, not where to build them to maximize efficiency.

I spent most of my day working on the foundation for the air mage tower. The troupe of kids in town found me and shadowed me while I impressed them with my skill in earth magic. Savannah, the young, unbashful, curious, elven girl, asked innumerable questions, but I patiently answered them all. My reprieve came when Vivale came to get the children to resume lessons at school. “Lord Tallis, thank you for babysitting,” Vivale said with a wink. This caused an uproar among the children as they said they didn’t need babysitting. Their protests continued as they followed their teacher.

Checking on Sanso and Jaesmin, I found they had finished their building. I was only about a quarter of the way done with my air mage tower. Even using food to expedite my magic regeneration, I still couldn’t match Sanso’s repetitive castings. The air mage was due to arrive sometime tomorrow, so Sanso would have to join me to finish his tower tomorrow. I didn’t trust him to work on it alone due to his lack of artistic ability and lack of construction skills.

I checked the shipwright’s house and it had 80% of the building health it could have had. There was no way to fix it, as the house was completed. It was functional but not overly impressive. He mostly followed my blueprints, but they lacked fine detail. I learned I needed to be present at over half the construction to have my skills applied.

Jaesmin prepared a very thick chicken and rice soup for dinner. Once again, it needed salt. I also noticed the smell of the soup tonight. It had layers to the taste and smell. In the past, the smell and taste in this game was very one-dimensional. You could only sort one smell or taste at a time. I could smell the fatty chicken broth and all the fragrant herbs in the soup tonight. It made the consumption experience much more enjoyable, but I wasn’t sure if it was from a game update or just a better perception on my part. If Simba had been around, I would have asked.

“Jaesmin, your cooking is getting so much better!”  She smiled and nodded. She started on the dishes, and I went to help her, standing directly beside her so our hips touched.

“Lord Tallis, the sink is too small for both of us to work on it. I will do the dishes, and you can resume your drafting.”  I hesitated, uncertain as the smell of Jaesmin’s hair hit me. She smelled a little bit of earthy sweat, which I found appealing. Why was I treating her like a robot, a thing? I moved behind Jaesmin and reached around her to help. For some reason, I thought this action would be sexy and test her interest in me. I couldn’t help with the dishes, and the more I tried to help, the more I squeezed Jaesmin into the sink with my hips. She was initially caught off-guard, but then giggled as I fumbled the dishes. She relaxed into me.

“Why don’t you do the dishes, and I will just stand behind you, Jaesmin,” I said, resting my chin on her shoulder. She had the physique of a laborer with muscular shoulders. My arms wrapped around her waist. She paused a moment before sighing in contentment. She was distracted as I kissed her exposed neck, tasting the salty residue of her hard day. There was a slight undertone of lavender from the perfume she used in the morning. Her dark brown, silky hair tickled my face as my kissing intensified.

Jaesmin finished doing the dishes, and I used my left arm to spin her to face me. Her lips mashed into mine, obviously unpracticed. I used my hands to lift her buttocks onto the counter, and we continued kissing. She locked her arms around me and then her legs, locking us together. Her hazel eyes were wide with lust and passion. She wanted this more than I did.

As we continued, the kissing became more practiced and softer, and soon, our tongues were engaged as well. My hands had been gently rubbing her back over her shirt, and I took a moment to snake them under her shirt so I could rub her bare back. “Do you want this?” I asked, pausing briefly. Her emphatic nod was all I needed.

I locked my hands under her buttocks and drew her away from the counter while we resumed kissing. I walked us up the stairs to the bedroom. On reaching the bedroom, I lay her down on her back while at the same time lifting her shirt up and over her head, taking in her beautiful, tanned, athletic body. I lowered myself onto her…

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I lay there later not quite believing what had transpired. Everything had been so real I had forgotten this was a virtual world. I had forgotten what I had been missing. Maybe the developers turned something on because my lust had never been that strong before in the game. And it was absolutely amazing! It definitely wasn’t quite like the real world, but it was extremely close. The smell of sex also was noticeably absent for one.

My perception of the world was changing. I wouldn’t mind if I was trapped in this world if this level of realism existed. The NPCs felt a little flat personality wise when I first started, but I think they were learning and evolving. Not wanting to wake Jaesmin, I lay there briefly before initiating, forcing my body into a sleep state.

The next morning, Jaesmin was already up and bouncing around in the kitchen, making my favorite: scrambled eggs and bacon. I came behind her and wrapped my arms lovingly around her from behind. She leaned back, and we kissed. “So, Jaesmin, last night…was it ok? I mean, did you…Do you want to…”  She patted me on the cheek.

“Yes, it was fantastic, but I think I need more practice. Maybe again tonight?”  She had a knowing smirk on her face, and I returned it. I ate quickly, eager to finish the work today and go another round with Jaesmin.

We met up with Sanso at the air mage tower by the river and, working together, quickly raised the small tower. The townsfolk brought us lunch, and by mid-afternoon, the structure was complete. I was definitely lucky to have recruited a mage of Sanso’s power so early in the NPC auction. I went and checked on the two guard towers. The large tower by the river had two militia on duty, boredly watching the river and the dark woodlands beyond. They were new militia and had not been part of the orc battle. I rode out to the plains guard tower, leaving Jaesmin and Sanso the plans for the enchanter’s tower so they could work on the foundation.

Three of our full-time guards manned the plains tower, and a fourth was a militia in rotation. I talked with them briefly with them noting the only excitement was that the town kids had tried to sneak out to harvest some wildflowers in the plains. I would have Vivian scold them at school. I thanked them for their service. I told the guards that once Galana returned, we would resume our expeditions to gain more experience. They nodded appreciatively. I was very fortunate that they didn’t seem to blame the orc refugees or me for the attack and the death of the townsfolk. The four orphaned children were adopted into new homes, and their overall mood was positive. Maybe that was because the programming made them that way.

The tower by the river rang the alarm, causing all of us to focus back toward town. There was a commotion in the commons with people pointing up into the air. Was it a bird? A plane? No, it was a man flying above, circling our village. My anxiety settled as I figured out what it was. Our new air mage must have arrived!