Jonas sat in his newly made office, listening to the laundry list of requests people had for the camp. As leader, it was his role to ensure that the people of the yet to be named camp were happy and safe. Balancing those two was becoming increasingly difficult, as much of the population vastly preferred working on their professions than working on their classes.
It was understandable that people wouldn’t want to risk their lives fighting monsters every single night, but it was getting progressively more difficult for the defenders to keep the town safe against the steadily more difficult monster waves. The people who were keeping the town safe had little time to work on their professions on top of all the other things they needed to do, and it was causing the strength of many to be lacking. This was easily the biggest problem the camp was facing, but it was far from the only one.
People didn't like sleeping in barracks, and the availability of private housing was growing slower than the population was. He and a few others had made the decision to give the defenders priority access to the homes, which had upset those who got stuck into barracks. A few others who had shown their worth to the camp were also given priority, such as Otto, a few of the better crafters, one man who had begun farming and gardening for extra food, and most of the people who had evolved their classes.
It had been 2 weeks now since they had become an encampment, and many people were beginning to evolve. At first it had been one every other day or so, but that had increased to 1 or 2 people a day evolving. Jonas himself had been the 12th person in the camp to evolve, as his class had quickly fallen behind his profession. He had little interest in his class, as it was much less beneficial to him than his profession was. Looking at the description, he thought about how his power was now tied to the camp as a whole.
Elected encampment leader
Elected into your position, you have gained the trust and respect of those you lead. A leader does not rule with an iron fist, instead lending a guiding hand. Profession will be lost upon losing your position as leader. Gain +8 Charisma and Wisdom per level, +5 Intelligence, Strength, Agility, Constitution, Fortitude, and Perception per level. +12 free points per level.
His profession had leveled quite quickly as well, bringing it to a solid level 18. He had entirely abandoned his class, deciding to work on it only when it became necessary. His focus was brought back to the tasks at hand as the man in front of him continued rattling off all the items on the to do list.
“We need more space for homes, which means we need to expand the walls. We also need to set up workstations for some of the crafters, as they are complaining about only having the hand tools the smiths have made. The smiths are complaining because they are going through the metals we dig up faster than we can get it. The miners are complaining because they have to fight off monsters every hour or so as they dig.”
“Is there anything we can solve in the short term at least?”
“Not without dedicating more people to certain tasks, we are already stretched thin.”
Jonas rubbed his temples, trying to think of ways around some of the shortages the crafters were facing. He may have a solution to the issue of guards being in constant demand, but that depended on if Mike really had a lead on that front. Mike had told Jonas he would be leaving to potentially find someone who could help guard the city, but that had been several days ago. He could only hope the man wouldn’t get himself killed exploring out on his own.
__________
Mike was lost. He’d had a general sense of where his destination was, but it had been a while, and he was not the best with directions. In the past two weeks, conditions in the camp have been getting worse and worse, with the guards having the worst time of all. He had decided to help on that front, and tear himself away from his cycle of craft, kill spiders, craft, to go find a solution to the issue.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
Those two weeks had been productive however, as he had brought his class to level 19, and his profession to level 21. He had been throwing every free point he had earned straight into strength, as he was missing the feeling of being so much stronger than his opponents. Besides, his sweet new set of Tarantula armor would protect him just fine if anything did manage to land a hit on him.
Tarantula Brood mother Armor (Rare) (Synergy)
A set of armor crafted from the carapace of a tarantula brood mother. This armor is strong to slashing and piercing attacks, while being weak to blunt attacks. Due to having a complete set of Tarantula Brood mother Armor, mana conductivity and durability are increased, as well as granting the wearer an increased resistance to poisons and toxins.
It was easily the best thing he had made so far, and had gained him two levels on its own. He still had yet to make a replacement for his hammer, and was forced to use his soul ax instead to kill his enemies. He had tried to make a new one, but none he made were stronger than his ax. It was a bit disappointing, but he would need to wait for the miners to dig a bit deeper before he had good enough materials to make a sufficiently strong weapon.
He swept aside bushes, branches, and even a small tree that had been in his way, as he ran through the forest, still looking for his destination. He was relatively sure he had found the right place, when he saw at least two dozen forest wolves, and several night stalkers guarding the entrance to a cave. On top of the largest wolf sat a familiar bunny that Mike smiled upon seeing.
“Kenny!” He said, jogging over to pet the little rabbit. Little may not have been the right term, as he was at least double the size of what Mike had remembered. He identified the little guy, almost tripping upon reading the result.
Battle Bunny (level 14)
“What the shi-” He got out, before several of the night stalkers attacked him, with many of the wolves putting themselves between Mike and Kenny. Mike easily leapt over, slid under, and dodged around the several panthers, easily avoiding the oncoming attacks. With speed far past what any of the beasts could match, he leapt through the air, grabbing the bunny off of the alpha wolf and landing next to the cave entrance.
Kenny nuzzled Mike upon recognizing him, and the rest of the pack seemed unsure how to react. They looked ready to pounce once more, when a whistle came from the cave behind Mike, which caused all the animals around him to sit, some growling in disappointment at not getting to eat him. Mike turned around, getting quickly caught up in a bear hug from the man he hadn't seen for so long.
“Mike! It’s so good to see you, how have you been?” Martin said, the attempted tackle hug not moving him even an inch.
“I’ve been great, when did you get so many animals?” Mike asked, stroking Kenny’s back as he spoke.
“It got easier and easier as I got more, they just bow to the pack leader now.” he then pointed at himself. “And said pack leader is me.”
Mike looked at all the wolves and panthers, each of which had obeyed the commands of the man. He identified him, wondering what kind of level would be needed to assert this kind of dominance.
Human (level 15)
Apparently not as high as Mike had thought. He was only a single level higher than Kenny, which Mike was still confused about. Martin gave Mike a deep look, before giving him just as confused a look as Mike had given Kenny.
“How the hell are you level 20! I have been leveling at a fast pace, and I’m nowhere near that.” He said, giving him a look. By the frantic and slightly too fast way he spoke, Mike guessed that going a little over a month just talking to animals wasn't the best for one’s social skills.
“Oh you know, just killing and crafting.” Mike responded, wanting to just get to the point of why he came here. “Listen, I have a favor to ask you.”
Martin gave him a smile, responding, “Anything for an old teammate, what do you need?”
“I have gotten together with a large group of people, and I figured you would likely be able to help out with protecting the group.” He gestured to the animals all around. “It looks like you have got together a much larger fighting force than I had anticipated.”
To Mike's surprise, the man instantly agreed. “That sounds wonderful, being here alone for so long has been terrible, and feeding this many animals is getting to be too much for me. That's completely ignoring the fact that my cooking sucks, and they would tell me such if they could speak.”
Mike gave the man a wide smile, “Don't worry about food, we have the greatest cook for miles over in the camp.”