Chapter 3 - Common Folk

[Congratulations Guest99831, after reaching resources of thousands, you have received the right to become the ruler of common folk. As the first person to reach this stage, you can choose from the following races as your common folk:

- Human

- Dwarfs

- Elves

- Orcs

- Goblins

- Demons

- Pixies]

Common folk, contrary to the starter race, don't give any bonuses, but each race has its own characteristics. Humans tend to have frequent rebellions and a high desire for freedom.

Dwarfs just want peace while they keep making products, weapons, and such. They don't have high hopes for freedom as they are aware of their weakness against other races.

Elves, as always known, don't like humans, so choosing them now will be troublesome because of my initial race. They also have very problematic characteristics. You can't eat living beings in nature; you can only eat fruits that have fallen from their trees. When I was playing this game, I always destroyed my base after getting Elves as the common folk race because it was hard to find balance with the initial race if it wasn't Elves.

Orcs are very gluttonous as they have huge builds and need so much nutrition that most players become vulnerable to incoming attacks when they play with Orcs because they have to keep hunting and farming for them. The Orc race is a bit easier, and because of their warmonger nature, they can be used for both attacking and defending, which makes them the most popular race.

Goblins are the second most popular race after Orcs because of their hunger for gold and lust. Goblins don't eat as much as humans, dwarfs, and Orcs, but they yearn for gold and sex slaves. Most players playing with Goblins have to keep attacking neutral cities or players to obtain gold and slaves. But after three wars, if Goblins can't get either of the two, they tend to take the player or their initial race as slaves.

Neutral cities are the ones that live here naturally. There are towns, cities, villages, and castles waiting for players to conquer or pillage them. There are benefits to both choices. If you conquer and take them under your wing, you'll gain additional taxpayers, farmers, patrol units, soldiers, trade routes, and merchants.

The second option is mostly used by Goblin players as they have to keep taking slaves to appease Goblins. After pillaging those neutral locations, you'll gain resources corresponding to the settlement type. For example, villages will give you crops and food. Castles will give you additional swords, spears, shields, armor, and such. Cities provide various benefits, but the downside is it's hard to breach the walls, and if you don't end the siege quickly, you'll face hundreds of incoming enemies from either players who want to improve their relationship with the neutral kingdom or players who want to take you down.

Back to the common folk races, Demons are a complete pain and worse than Elves, which no one wants to play with. Some Elf players try to improve without caring about their common folk, but I never saw any Demon race player stay in the game. Their desire for everything makes them troublesome. They yearn for slaves, food, gold, war, and torture. Demon players have to play more aggressively than Goblins because their slaves don't survive more than two days, and they have very little patience.

Pixies are one of the easiest races if you just want to farm and trade with everyone until the deadline. Though I say that, it's if you are playing a normal game that ends when you reach one year in the game, rather than a ranked game where you fight for five years for absolute dominance over the map. In ranked games, Pixie players are always targeted by other players, but if they are lucky, they'll have Orcs close to their settlement. Thanks to their nature affinity, husbandry, and growing plants, crops become really easy.

As I said before, Orcs are a gluttonous race, so players with Orcs as their common folk and Pixies as their initial race always form an alliance at the beginning of the game. There are some lucky players who get Orcs as their starting race and Pixies as their common folk, making them invincible for the whole game if there aren't any mechas or higher beings like angels and such.

Even though I had enough raw food and with the multiplier system I could get even more, I didn't want to choose Orcs because I wanted to use Dwarfs' excellent engineering. It seems stupid, but I already had a strong race for battle, so why take one more when I can get a smarter and more technical race?

With my population growth bonus and mining efficiency, there will be a huge stockpile of military equipment thanks to my Dwarfs.

Choosing the Dwarfs, I confirmed my selection. The next second, there was a bright light just like before.

*Ding! Host received 10 Dwarfs.*

*Multiplying ten times...*

*Success.*

*Congratulations Host has received 100 Dwarfs.*

After the light died down, there were hundreds of Dwarfs kneeling before me. Thankfully, the system didn't multiply only male Dwarfs. At first, when you receive common folk, they come in pairs of 5 males and 5 females to breed. But now, thanks to the multiplier, I had 50 males and 50 females. With my growth boost, it won't take much time for me to get fifty more.

"Great being, where shall we settle?" One of the Dwarfs standing a step forward from the others said as he kept his head down.

"For now, you will stay here in this mountain. When the right time comes, you all will settle right next to the river," I said with a flustered face. 'Great being? That's too much of an embarrassment.'

I plan to let them settle here first before gathering enough forces to deter Ravagers when they attack. After that, I'll build a city next to the river while this mountain will be my great castle, which no one can reach. Of course, flying races are still a pain, but that's another day's problem to be solved.

After leaving the Dwarfs to build their own houses, I moved inside my hut and prepared some food. There were a total of 50 hunted deer meats alongside 1000 raw food, which was cow meat. Wanting to try which one was better, I cooked one from each, and both tasted good without falling behind.

Walking outside, I remembered two hundred superhumans waiting for orders. Stupid of me to forget that many superhumans. There wasn't any use for this kind of army before the Ravagers, but it won't hurt to have them. Thinking for a few minutes, I decided to use them to patrol around the mountain. From what my recon team said yesterday, there were a total of five caves around the mountain, and I don't know what lives in there, but I know one thing: after the first Ravager wave, magical beasts and beings wake up because of the disturbance caused by Ravagers.

Knowing that and not preparing against it would be suicide. Apart from sending them to patrol, I also chose my first research, which was the wooden wall. To protect my base in this mountain, a wooden wall was enough. After finishing that research, I'll probably upgrade to tier 2 for a stone wall. I don't want to waste my time on effects and bonuses for production, collecting, and such because of multiplying, so I'll mostly focus on researching building types and defensive traps, towers, and advanced equipment for soldiers.

Hours passed as I watched the Dwarfs building their houses, which had more beautiful looks than the houses built by the system. Everything was going perfectly, to the point of making me anxious. I always felt like I was forgetting something but couldn't put my finger on it.

Shaking my head and dismissing those thoughts, I focused back on the Dwarfs. Even though they were small, their buffed build wasn't something to underestimate.

A few hours later, my people returned from their missions and reported to me. The resource gathering unit returned with 30 wood and 20 stones, which were two times what they brought the first day. That's because each time they go out, they discover around us better and get more efficient in collecting and finding resources.

*Ding! Host has received, 30 units of wood, 20 units of stone.

*Multiplying ten times..*

*Success..*

*Congratulations, host has received, 300 units of wood, 200 units of stone.*

The recon unit reported to me that there was an Orc settlement near the mountain just next to the river, and they had seen about twenty of them. They also stated that there were two buildings just like my barracks, as they pointed out.

Hearing them, it's concluded that the settlement belongs to a player who had Orcs as their initial race. I didn't want to fight everyone because these people were real, but this player had the settlement where I'll build my first city. You have chances to move your base until you build your first building, but this guy had already built two barracks, meaning he can't move out of my way.

There are only two options for me to take. The first is to force him to become my vassal, which will make me conquer his territory while he becomes a lord living under me. The second option is to take the land forcefully by killing everyone and destroying his base. I want to think of a third option, but I don't know what happens when your base gets destroyed, so that's on hold until I figure it out.

With that in mind, I opened the system and went to World chat.

[Guest99831: To the veterans, what happens when your base gets destroyed?]

[Guest64824: Nothing much, you just die.]

[Guest19384: Kekeke, what kind of question is that?]

[Guest47261: Don't mock him... Without me.]

[Guest19384: Kekeke @Guest47261, this guy is funny.]

As I looked at the chat, my anger rose as they kept mocking me.

[Guest00127: There is only one end after your base is destroyed, and that's death. If you're in a tight situation, I recommend you bow down to your attacker and become their lord. It's better than dying, rookie.]

There was only one person who answered my question with sincerity, and that was Guest00127.

[Guest99831: What do the numbers at the end of the word 'Guest' mean?]

[Guest00127: The only conclusion we have is that the numbers are distributed in order after you get here. That's to say, I got here before everyone who has a number higher than mine...]