Logan was surprised to see a half-made wall made of wood. Made of woods would be the more apt description. It was as if Simmons had just chosen the most barely manageable sized tree trunks for a baby elephant to move. But they were stacked in a neat row facing towards the west and sliding towards north-west, which was the opposite side to the pond, with the cliff and the waterfall being dead north.

A chorus of tired but enthusiastic cheers came over the camp as Logan returned. Admittedly he didn’t recognize more than half of the folk here, but he recognized some key people. There was Simmons, two of the doctors that had picked a crafting related class, and the young doctor with [Alchemist] as well as the heavy set fisherman.

In addition to Simmons there were 2 more agents in addition to Balmer of all people. Logan had to blink twice at that. Kat was also there as well as a dozen people Logan couldn’t name.

“Well, well, look who bothered to show up,” Kat said. Logan was happy to see her on her feet.

Balmer came up to Logan and stared at the Armor. “What the hell are you wearing?”

“That’s a long story,” Logan said. “Here’s a shorter one. “I found Scilla and her friends. They’re joining our camp.”

“Good,” Simmons said and stared down Logan, arms crossed.

Logan looked up at the man. They both gave each other a level stare. Logan knew how it was. He had been a complete spoiled asshole in their old life. He had probably given Simmons more headaches than either of them could count. Logan knew he didn’t deserve to lead any of them. But here was Simmons and even a couple of other agents. Logan had given them a choice, and they had chosen him.

Logan nodded. Simmons nodded back.

*

After a quick assessment of the sorry pile of lumber and leaves and mud upon a damp open ground, it was clear what needed to be done first.

Logan cleared his throat and tried his hand at leadership properly for the first time in his life.

“Simmons, I need seven heavy logs here,” he called out to the large blonde man. Simmons nodded and picked up a massive wooden log like it was a shopping bag. “Scilla, I need you to gather a group of six who look least busy.”

“Sure, chief.”

Logan enjoyed the looks on the faces of Scilla’s group members when Logan turned the pieces of lumber one by one into walls, floors and roofs. The astonished gaping only stopped when Scilla collected herself and told them to hold the walls steady.

Turned out they needed a few more people than Logan had thought, but those came eagerly. Balmer and Kat came up to hold the other piece of the wall, so that Logan could fuse the pieces and morph support beams out of the walls.

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It was a crude box of a house, but Logan made it with efficiency. While this hut was smaller than the first one made at Malcolm’s camp, it was of a sharper design. Logan was pleased to notice that he still had plenty of excess Numa left in his Armor.

And so they made three more of those buildings, each of them housing twelve people comfortably, which was enough for their current situation.

Logan wasted no time. It was time to pay back all his bullshit and use this Numa he had stored. Next he made tables and benches with the vast amounts of wood Simmons had chopped down in the last two or three days.

Then he made a stack of spears. With the simple design, and his high levels, Logan barely spent Numa on that endeavor. They didn’t have a lot of warriors, but nonetheless, it would be good if there were enough arms for everyone, just to be on the safe side.

He also fashioned a couple of axes of various heft for Simmons. Logan figured he’d sort out individual needs later.

Simmons appeared to lose all reservations about Logan’s leadership at that point. With great zest he performed whatever task Logan set him to for the rest of the day and Logan had never seen him smile, much less grin happily like the big man did.

The last of the evening was spent on working on a pier for fishing. It wasn’t absolutely necessary, but it would probably result in more fish than just shore-fishing. And besides, Logan had plans to set up a fish farm down the road. Daniel, the [Fisherman] was very pleased with both the pier and the idea of a fish farm. The mousey man from Scilla’s group, Morris, also expressed great interest in the fish farm idea.

Logan left them to brainstorm after he and the people helping him were done with the pier. By then the orange sun of this world was starting to fall behind the horizon and the shadows got longer. The sky was clear, which was good. Logan had plans to enchant the housing with wind and rain resistance, but they could hold out for a night.

Monkeys, birds and insects made their now-familiar concert. While there were some wild screeches intermittently coming out of the jungle, Logan felt content. For the first time he realized that this jungle was his home now. And it wasn’t too bad of a home at the end of the day.

It had been a long day and a lot of his Numa was spent. Tumor noted that it would take approximately 52 hours for the Armor to gather enough Numa to be fully charged again.

Extremely reasonable. If I don’t have to be constantly fighting, we have a Numa battery that recharges pretty fast. It’s too bad only I can use it, but it is what it is.

Logan made a note to find out which of the people in Scilla’s group could use Numa. He also made another note to make an effort to stop calling them ‘Scilla’s group’. They were his group now.

The world has sure gone through a damn apocalypse for things to end up so that I have to lead.

[For better or worse, they chose you Logan.]

“I sure do hope it’s for the better,” Logan muttered.

[The fact that you are second guessing yourself could be construed as a sign of a wise leader, not prone to tyranny.]

“True,” Logan said, as he tossed a few berries in his mouth. He got a few odd looks for talking to himself, but he ignored it. “But it could also be construed as being indecisive.”

[Touché. Leadership is a complicated topic.]

“Say hi to Tumor from me,” Kat said and sat down next to him. Balmer followed and gave Logan a nod that wasn’t entirely hostile. Logan gave them a smile.

“I have to admit,” Balmer said slowly, almost reluctantly. “You really got shit going once you got here.”

Logan looked at the fire they had going in the middle of the camp. Most people were gathered around it, holding bowls and cups of food and water. They were talking with gentle, content smiles on their faces. The same smile Logan had going. Logan realized something. While not exactly happy and thriving, these people felt safe and hopeful. Tomorrow would bring more security, more growth. More work, but they would be up for it. Logan realized something. Maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t all that bad a leader after all.