In their natural habitat, wolves and other similar predators usually killed only one or two of the weakest member of a pack, but in my case, my ruthless hounds, summoned from another world, enhanced by alchemical potions, my magical seals, the buffs of the fairies, and mana, showed no mercy and relentlessly pursued their terrified victims. One after another fell young deer, wild goats, and even three large hippopotamuses. There were all manner of usual and unusual games in this strange forest.
Several times we had to avoid the well-marked territories of some of the more fearsome predators, for which I was very grateful to my hounds' noses.
I also found some trees with wild apples and other fruits and with the help of the bear, I shook the trees until the fruits fell to the ground. Then I carefully picked them with the help of my imps and put them away in my bottomless new ring.
"These fruits shall make a wonderful moonshine," I rejoiced again and again as I rubbed my hands contentedly.
Late in the evening of the next day, I finally made it back to camp, where I was greeted by an incredible sight - it was enclosed by two large wooden walls forming a triangle with the river, which was also protected by a series of fortifications!
There was a deep ditch in front of the walls, and I subsequently learned that the walls had been built hollow and the excavated earth had been poured into them, reinforcing their strength as well as saving a considerable amount of labor.
I hurried to one of the nearby gates and after some questioning learned of the bad news.
It turned out that numerous groups of orcs had started attacking the adventurers near our camp. In addition, one rather large group has attempted to directly attack the camp itself. As a result, a full mobilization was declared and everyone helped in the building of the wall.
In recent days, the wall has been built at a very fast pace. Everyone here was in perfect health and was much stronger than the average person. And the fighting classes were stronger and faster than even the strongest people on Earth. Furthermore, they were bursting with mana, which gave them extra strength and stamina.
The mobilization had started five days ago and the construction of the wall a few days before that. So, at the moment it was almost ready and that was quite encouraging for me. I saw a few acquaintances, and after catching the news of the last few days, I made my way to George Bristol's big tent.
“Meridin, or should I say ‘player number 72161’”, he greeted me with a frown. "Just what I needed with your one week bonus! Now everyone wants to go zombie hunting and no one wants to stay to guard the camp!”
That's right, I remembered giving my player ID to the government, wanting to get more contribution points for my achievements.
"You are welcome," I smiled innocently, "I'll pick a personal prize next time, since I am troubling you that much," I winked at him.
Hearing that, the face of my friend twitched a bit, but he quickly changed his voice. It was all very comical.
"This.. Thank you for reaching an important milestone Meridin. We are all grateful and appreciate it. Also, keep sharing your rewards. Here, I haven't seen you in a few days and you've gotten taller and leaner somehow."
"Oh no, just the opposite. I've been eating a lot lately and I've gained weight. They used to tell me I was beautiful, but now they tell me I'm fat."
"You're a good man. You also have your genius class."
"No, no, it's not like that. This is an ordinary class. Just a few skills stacked next to each other." I shook my head dismissively." I'm but a simple person, who can barely handle such complicated skills."
"Nonsense, your animals are so strong."
"These ordinary pets? A chicken can do more than them."
"And this bear of yours? It is a born enemy of the zombies."
"A most ordinary bear. Can't even do a dance. Don't mention it."
Soon George became serious and we started talking about the future plans for the camp.
"People want to hunt and they are right," I said. "Time is one of the resources we cannot afford to waste. The sky is high and the ground is low. The moon comes and goes, followed by the sun. Can we stop them?"
"You're right Meridin, but the grass grows tall and the birds lay their eggs in the tallest trees. The danger from orcs is not something we can ignore lightly."
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At that moment, from the river came the song of the crickets, and the wind brought the smell of the night flowers.
"Even Buddha stopped meditating one day. We too have to find the golden mean. We must simultaneously strive to earn as many currency units as possible, but at the same time be wary of the dangers," I said.
“Animals die for food and people die for wealth. Nothing can escape the great Tao. How to get people to abandon their greed and work for the common good then?”
Here I thought for a while and then answered:
"No one can escape the great Tao. That is why we have to work with people's greed. We have to offer them rewards. When we don't have wealth, we must find it. When we cannot find, we must seek the wisdom of the ancient philosophers."
Here George Bristol fell into deep thought and suddenly I noticed a small trickle of sweat trickling down his body. I saw a great insight suddenly come over him and I froze. I did not want to interfere with his inspiration.
When we're thinking about something really important, and the stakes are really high, we're able to see really far. Time passed, and finally George slowly raised his head.
"What wealth Meridin?"
"To the hungry, wealth is food. For the thirsty, water. For everyone else, it is the promise of a better life. We must do just that."
Then we discussed for a long time and decided to make many changes.
Two days filled with meetings passed. As a result, in the camp, many long speeches were given; about the danger of the orcs, the goblins and the intelligent races we were competing with in this game, on which the future of humanity depended. It was announced that everyone who wanted to live in the city, and have access to the tree shops, had to earn a certain amount of contribution points by doing different missions and activities. Be it military or civilian. Also with these points, you would be able to exchange for a multitude of different rewards, items and services. This way we could all work together for a better future.
The city of zombies would have designated hunting areas that would be guarded by military groups.
The areas would be divided by difficulty and different hunting groups would be able to accumulate currency units in relative safety. The military's job would be not only to guard the zones from orcs, but also from larger or more dangerous groups of zombies. This way even adventurers who lacked battle orientation skills could have a chance to accumulate currency units and combat experience.
The military would alternate guarding and scouting, with hunting to enhance their own fighting skills.
In this way, the hunt would not be chaotic and would always meet certain strategic objectives. Furthermore, it would always be centrally planned, but at the same time currency earning and the development of people power remain the main priority.
Those who blatantly broke the rules would not be allowed access to the shops. But not before, our politicians make an effort to make compromise solutions. Our main aim, naturally, was to find a way for everyone to work together.
***
"What do you think of this development?" asked Nathan.
"I find it very interesting," replied the Tower Spirit. "I think the chances of mankind have increased today. Is it worth investing in a race that cannot unite, even for a great purpose?"
"Yes, exactly." Nathan agreed and slowly sipped his tea.
***
But before all that happened, I met my business partner Nico. When I showed him the quantities of mana-rich meat I had caught over the past half a week, he nearly had a heart attack of happiness.
After we talked at large about the future, and about the value of my investments, I gave him my old magic ring and just like that, our restaurant became the proud owner of the first “refrigerator” in camp!
In addition to the several cubic meters of fresh meat, weighing several tons, we had a lot of other meat that was being smoked for later use.
“Meridin, this ring will help us tremendously. With your investments and the profit from the past days, I've hired a hunting party that's been hunting and killing game for the various restaurants every day for the past few days. However, they waste an awful lot of time and effort getting the animals here. So, with the help of your ring, they will become much more efficient, and the meat will always be fresh,” Nico kept waving his hands as he explained.” With my cooking skills, I'll be able to preserve much more of the natural mana in the meat, and so it will be tastier and more useful for developing the magical abilities of our clerics. The warrior classes that don't have the meditation skills really like this kind of meat! We will become rich!!!”
I hastened to agree and filled out various documents for my next investment in the business. So far I had invested a large amount of credits from the alchemists, the weapons I had collected from the orc battle, some currency units, and several different types of credits to various other organizations, the most important of which was that of the new government. And of course tons of meat.
"Just tell me one thing, how the hell have you managed to convince the alchemists to sell alcohol only to us."
"Hehe, I have my ways. Like you, they were delighted with the “gifts” I bought them. As well as the fruits for the fruit brandy. But it's only temporary, you know. When they start making larger quantities of alcohol and demand picks up, they'll want to increase their distribution network. And besides, I'm a guy with a lot of connections in different places in the new government and outside of it. That makes things a little easier and more convenient." I winked at him.
"That's right, that's right," Nico nodded respectfully. "It's good to know a lot of old alcoholics. It will help our business a lot." my partner wisely remarked.
"No, I didn't say that!"
"So you don't know old alcoholics?"
"I know, I don't know - how should I know if they're alcoholics or not?!"
"Buddy, you need to make sure you know the right people first before you brag about your acquaintances. The ancient poet said that when the wind blows from the east, and the sun touches the distant mountains, only the trees will remain safe."
"Are you calling me a tree? Scoundrel!" I shouted, chasing Nico with an old dirty frying pan.