After a few days of marching, I had finally calmed down completely. It seems that being called a hero is still a trigger for me. Just another thing I need to work on. With my mind finally centered I opened up the notifications that have been blinking at me for a few days. It seems that I have gained a level in renowned true archer and first homesteader. Two levels in heroic commander brought me to level 20 which gave me some extra goodies.
The ability I gained from the level 20 level up was, march boost. I chose to immediately test it out as I was still in command of the entire army. Which was at the current moment heading back to GreenWave.
The ability took quite a lot of energy for me to keep it up, but we were resting every night, so it gave me enough time to recharge for the next day. The boost was about 20% shaving off about two days from our march. It was quite a good result. I could’ve just given the command to someone else and left everyone behind so I could run back faster, but it was nice to get to know the soldier a bit better.
I have not spent enough time with them, so this was a good moment to get to know them a bit better and merge myself into army life a bit more. Our new citizens were already quite happy as they were able to eat a normal amount of food every day. Many needed to be carried by other soldiers not just because of wounds but mental breaks as well.
For many, this was the first time they had the chance to relax, which unfortunately gave them time to think. What they went through was not easy on anyone. So much destruction and death just for some revenge. I have to thank my old friends who were able to talk sense to me when I was like that, and I guess that’s also a reason why she got under my skin with that hero comment.
My endurance stat went over the 320-milestone awarding me with another trait. This time I was quite pleased to see that the trait was a simple one, peak endurance. I didn't even have to meditate on it, the name is enough.
The one unfortunate thing about it is that I would now need to do even more running to keep up with my training plan. Hopefully, it doesn't affect me in unforeseen ways while I am in my current growth phase.
My dexterity is also past the 1500 mark leaving me only to get a few more vitality points. In truth, I can actually reach the second rank right now. Heroic commander gave me 25 more free points from the milestone, so I have enough to make it past the 1500 requirement. But I will hold off on ranking up just before I turn 14. Reaching the threshold four months ahead of schedule made me feel quite good.
Just before I closed my achievement page, I remembered my adventurer class and chose to level that up as well. Unfortunately, there weren’t any interesting abilities or skills to choose from the three level-ups I had accumulated. With that, all the stat points went into energy storage, so I didn’t have to worry about accidentally messing up my training schedule. After that, I joined the marching soldiers.
The days marching went by quickly, but the nights were quite fun, and I learned quite a few small games that everyone played. They were fun and helped pass the time. Word games were the most popular during marching and only games allowed.
When we finally made it back a celebration was thrown but most of the council members were giving me the evil eye at the beginning. We had sent word ahead about how many new people were coming back. No one liked it at first because of winter. Now the apartment buildings had to be filled up to capacity leaving no free space to enjoy alone time.
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After two days of meetings and setting up our new citizens, I was finally able to get to my home. A visit to the sauna and then a deep sleep for almost 24 hours was just what the doctor ordered. It seems that my body still needs some extended sleep every once in a while, otherwise, I would just get too exhausted. Perhaps it wasn't my body that needed it but my mind. After thinking some more about it that made a lot more sense.
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Rich refocused himself on training, teaching and improving his crafting. During his lectures, more and more people came to observe from a distance. There were too few spots but all who attended were able to more easily achieve breakthroughs so learning energy control became the new obsession for the people of United Freeholds.
His crafting continued to evolve as more and more interesting materials were brought to him. He no longer only made unique weapons that were ordered from him but all other items as well like tools for different crafts.
Rich rarely went out to hunt something but when he went it was to back up others. Rich only stepped up to protect someone’s life. Otherwise, he would let them struggle until they emerged victorious.
This helped the United Freeholds people to become even stronger. Soon snow was falling constantly. Winter had truly arrived. Finally, the land grew more peaceful and only mad men still marched their armies.
For the citizens of United Freeholds, the winter was no longer something to be feared. While the GreenWave town was overpopulated their overall conditions were still a lot better than most of the remaining world.
Work never ceased as miners still went mining, hunters still hunted and the cutting of lumber never ceased. The people who didn’t have work during the winter chose to do other things, but they never rested, working to secure a better future for themselves.
Eventually,, laws were set in stone about darker skills and classes. Criminal organizations were established but with the permission of the government. Those laws were not made public but only those who touched the darker side of this world were able to learn of them. This change was slow and for most people, it happened unnoticed. No one a part of these criminal organizations was allowed to target regular people. A different option was chosen.
The upgrade of class and skills was turned into a game with real consequences so everyone would still gain experience. Criminal organizations could only target themselves and a few other targets who know about the darker side, but they still had to protect their own goods, otherwise risk losing them. Slowly the criminal organizations took their own territories, and the games became even more complicated.
There were a lot more recruits for the legion as many of the new citizens decided to join the legion simply to gain a job during the winter when options were limited. Luckily, the threat of hunger was something no one had to worry about thanks to the supplies brought back by the army.
There was also an influx of new coins that helped keep the economy afloat. Without that supply, people wouldn't have been able to exchange credits for coins, which would have been quite troublesome.
The building of the portal station progresses slowly as only a few people were able to work on it. The dungeons were growing fast. The soldiers and anyone else who wanted to improve themselves were given delve slots to delve even into dungeons with only a few rooms. The Inn Dungeon's Retreat was doing good business as both delvers and miners often slept or ate there.
The death of Vivienne and the loss of her army was just a small reporter that only interest a few people. Everyone had bigger things to worry about as they still needed to survive the winter and make sure that they were strong enough to continue their campaigns or defend against others next year. Months went by fast. The United Freeholds celebrated the winter solstice but soon after everything went back into routine until winter started to end.
Everyone was already hard at work preparing new fields. But about a month before Rich turns 14 a terrible storm signified the true end of the winter. It was a true test for any building but luckily the Unite Freeholds only needed to make a few repairs.
To the far east where the storm originated from an unfortunate creature was swept up when the storm had true strength taking him far from his home. Now there was only ocean under him. He had to keep flying with the wind hoping he would make it to land before he fell from exhaustion.