I Built This City [LitRPG Lateral Progression Kingdom Building]

Ellen waited silently for anything else to pop up in her notifications, but after almost a full minute, nothing arrived. The shocking addition of a Settlement tab to her own menu was the last thing to apply, and she was pretty sure the other Ellens were working through their multiple Levels as well.

At Level 10, everyone obtained two Attribute Points to spend, sometimes preassigned by activity. Working out a lot would guarantee the next award would be in Strength or Endurance, and possibly offer a Perk to further boost it. She’d passed over Hardy many times just because she didn’t need the extra Endurance.

In Ellen’s case, it had automatically assigned a point to Perception, and let her select the second between several Attributes. She put one into Agility, this time. That finally allowed the System to process her next Level, the ever so important Level 11.

The Class Evolution.

Ellen had been looking forward to this, and already had a rough idea of what she wanted. The selection menu opened up… and up… and up. Dozens of choices scrolled downward, many of which she had no idea what they were. The Tier 2 routes for Hunter were fairly well-known, with more options available depending on how much someone had done outside of the standard activities. Hybrid Tier 2 Classes were also available, such as for those who started as a Tender and switched Class to Hunter—or simply did a lot of animal-related activities—gaining access to the Beast Handler Class.

Ellen had access to that Class. Along with many, many others.

“Has anyone looked at their Class Evolution options?” She looked around as she asked, but the question didn’t need a verbal response. She saw the looks of confusion and uncertainty in the eyes of anyone who hit Level 11. Which, considering the massive award that they just received, should be every Ellen.

“I have some really interesting ones available,” Apprentice Ellen observed, breaking the silence. Her usual energetic and careless manner was gone, and a thoughtful frown was on her face. “I’m pretty sure I know which one I’m going to take, but I’m still looking through my options. It’s even letting me choose stuff like Forester and Broker that I never trained for at all.”

Merchant Ellen leaned out the nearby window frame. “The same for me, but I think I should stick to something reasonably Merchant-related. I was going to try Factor but there are some more interesting options here, and I’ve been looking at the Settlement Interface a little as well. This is a lot more complicated than I expected. I’m pretty sure it’s counting all of the Classes we have as prerequisites for each of us, so we’re getting Hybrid Classes that are hard to get.”

Ellen sighed. “I know it’s tempting to pick something that is incredibly rare, but make sure it does actually match what you want to do.” She scrolled through the choices. “I don’t have Mana Manipulation, so any of these magic-based Classes would require my Level 11 Perk to take that. I’m tempted to do it anyway for some of these, but be very sure whatever you pick is what you really want to do.”

Apprentice Ellen opened her mouth.

Without warning, Healer Ellen stuck her head out of the doorway. “Don’t you dare just say that a death can reset and try again! That award was only once, I’m pretty sure. It will take a long time to get back up to Level 11 even with banked experience!”

The mouth closed.

“Even knowing I’d have to take Mana Manipulation, some of these are tempting.” Carpenter Ellen glanced down from where she sat at the edge of the roof. “There’s one called Woodwright that is like a Carpenter that lets me heal wooden structures and reinforce them with magic. That’s very useful.”

Ellen looked through her own list and saw the very same one. It had been offered to her, as well… despite her focus on hunting and survival. She raised an eyebrow and considered what that meant, but Merchant Ellen spoke up about it first.

“It looks like we all have the same options, or at least very similar.” Merchant scratched the back of her head as she stared into the distance. “Maybe a few differences if there are some obscure prerequisites like an Attribute minimum or Perk requirement we can’t meet. Don’t take something too far off even if you might enjoy it, I guess. Woodwright is probably good if you don’t see anything more interesting though.”

Apprentice Ellen puffed out her cheeks. “You should all praise me for opening up the magic-based Hybrid Classes. I’m going to get a really good Class I think! Something good for hitting the dungeon.”

“All these Classes and I don’t see anything related to swords. I do see Archer and so on…” Mason Ellen drummed her fingers on the rooftop. “I wonder if it’s because none of us have unlocked a sword-based Skill Enhancer? It’s definitely using our unlocks collectively. Which means future Class Evolutions could have even more options if we study more skills.”

Merchant Ellen nodded again. “I’ve found one that’s definitely for me, though. As nice as Factor is, I think you should all look at Founder on the list if you have it. I’ve never seen anything like it but I think it would be perfect. Hard to explain if anyone looks at our Guild card, but that’s true of most of these.”

Curious, Ellen pulled up the Class description.

“That’s… I’ve never heard of that one, despite the simple name,” Ellen admitted. “And it references the Settlement Interface we just unlocked. I can see why you’d be interested.”

All six of the Ellens fell silent as they perused their options, quiet enough that one of the cats leapt up into the window to watch the half-dozen redheads ponder their futures. The feline observer peered at the unusually long silence between the girls… then began licking his paw and grooming himself.

Predictably, Apprentice Ellen was the first to come to a decision.

“I think I’ve settled on one.” Apprentice stretched her arms over her head. “A lot of really tempting ones here, but I really thought hard about this. I found one called Spellstrider that is a combat-based caster Class, with a speciality in using mobility to enhance spells, and spells that aid mobility. It sounds interesting and I’ve never heard of it before.”

Carpenter Ellen glanced down at Apprentice. “That does sound like a good choice. I’ve looked through my options and decided that my first pick was probably for the better. Woodwright it is.”

“Try not to select stuff that’s only for the dungeon.” Merchant Ellen looked up. “I mean… you’re fine, Apprentice, but everyone else should be more careful. We’re going to need to spend winter getting this place running, so more than one of us focused on combat just isn’t smart.”

Mason Ellen swung herself around to ease down the ladder. “Should we keep calling you Apprentice Ellen? Seems a little… understated for something like what you got. I was tempted by the idea of magically shaping stones, but I think I’ll skip taking Mana Manipulation and do it the hard way. I took Hearthmaker instead. It’s focused on making comfortable buildings and furnishings out of stone.”

Apprentice grinned. “Nah, keep calling me Apprentice. I think it’s funny. I get a great unique Class but still called Apprentice? It can be our own little joke.”

“Surprisingly humble for you, Apprentice.” Healer smiled and gave her sister-self a playful, teasing shove. “I think I’ve settled on Lifebinder, which uses magical healing with an artistic bent. I think it’s a Tender-Apprentice-Artisan Hybrid, which might actually be known but rare.”

Ellen nodded. “These all make sense. We’re specializing a lot more than I thought, but I like it. Makes sure we have our bases covered. It would still be nice if we had someone more focused on clothing and boots, but I guess housing is more important anyway.”

“I couldn’t find anything more appealing than Founder,” Merchant Ellen sighed. “But calling me Founder Ellen seems pretentious, especially now that I’m looking into how this Settlement Interface works. I think it’s picking up things from each of our specialties, so diversifying is still a good idea. Did you settle on something, Hunter?”

Heaving a sigh, Ellen looked back at her choices and rubbed the back of her neck. “Is it strange that I’m the most indecisive of all of us? I’m pretty sure I have it figured out, but it was a lot of work. I almost took Wild Warden, which was all about keeping track of the resources and animals and health of a section of wilderness. I’ve never heard of it before, it sounds a lot like a Ranger or Game Warden, but more interesting.”

“I saw variants of Druid in the, those would be interesting too, if you wanted to use magic.” Apprentice Ellen clapped her hands together. “I can teach anyone who picked a magic Class how to use their mana! At our level the bonuses won’t mean much, but it’s good practice!”

“I saw that,” Ellen agreed. “But I found something better. Still does need Mana Manipulation, so I guess there’s my Perk choice for this Level. But this was something I’d never imagined. It’s basically Wild Warden with magic, which sounds… way too useful to pass up. It’s called Landkeeper, and as far as I can tell it is just the same but better.”

Merchant nodded. “Makes sense. We do know Hybrid Classes tend to be better because of all the investment put into getting them. We’re cheating the System here, somehow. It worries me… maybe we shouldn’t have reported the dungeon. We’re going to need to find ways to keep people from stumbling onto the town when we aren’t ready. Maybe we should come clean to the village, too.”

Ellen selected Landkeeper and sighed as it immediately granted her Mana Manipulation, as expected. Nothing to be done for it. She shook her head at Merchant, though.

“Maybe, but we’ll have to be careful about it.” Ellen looked down at her hands, flexing the calloused and weathered fingers so different from Merchant Ellen’s. Would this persist if she died again? Would her… descendants diverge more because they kept her appearance?

Another reason to stay alive.

“I wonder what Class Village Ellen took?” Apprentice Ellen’s question cut through Ellen’s musings, bringing her head up to look at the surprisingly thoughtful-looking Apprentice. Had all her antics been an act? Or was she simply forced to confront the situation and be serious for once?

Merchant Ellen shook her head. “I think she’s lagging behind in Levels. She might not have gotten to 11, so we have a chance to talk to her about it. I’ll try to head down there as soon as I can and see if that’s the case… even if she wasn’t quite as high as us, she’s probably close by now.”

“I wouldn’t underestimate her Level, she works daily,” Healer Ellen reminded.

Ellen crossed her arms and sighed again. “Maybe. I don’t think she’ll do anything rash, though. I think she’s settled on being the part of us that still wants a normal life. Maybe if we send her back to mom and dad they’ll leave us alone.”

Nobody seemed to like that idea, and Ellen grimaced at it as well. Even if it might work and Village Ellen might be happy, it felt wrong. Like a betrayal.

“All right, girls,” Merchant Ellen announced. “Let’s stop with the brooding and figure out what we’re doing here. I just opened up the Settlement Interface, and it’s telling me we still have work to do on the Longhouse… which is what this is, I guess?” She rapped her fingers on the stone wall.

Ellen nodded, resolving to look into the Interface herself later.