Chapter 7: Settlement.

“Just let yourself dry naturally.” Grumped Chef.

Berlioz pulled another blanket from the bag. “I hate sitting on a soggy bottom.”

I laughed at the antics, it was great to see Berlioz acting his age and fooling around.

“Can we start without him?” asked Chef seriously.

Kali got up and joined Berlioz’s side. “get one for me please. You’re right about sitting on wet fur, it’s so itchy.”

“You know what.” Said Lachi rushing over and grabbing out a blanket. “Ahh that’s so much better.”

“You might as well.” Before I could finish my sentence, Chef was up.

He took a blanket from Berlioz and shrugged at me. “It didn’t itch until she mentioned it.”

We were supposed to be having our first meeting to decide our next steps, but once Berlioz saw an opportunity to wind up chef, I knew I’d have to wait a while. After the pool party in the basin, I fed everyone and handed out bedrolls for the twenty-six Panthera that this little rag tag group of teens were supposed to be leading. Once everyone was situated and I had packed away the morbid piles of ant and mantis remains, I asked the four named Panthera to join me in my tree house. We started by calmly sitting in a circle, but Berlioz quickly threw a spanner in the works and ran down to get a bag of blankets. Once everyone was dry and my floor showed more damp fur blankets than it did dreadwood floorboards, the jolly teen cats rejoined me.

“We all good?” I asked nudging Berlioz. “No more itchy butts?”

“All’s good, Oscar. What did you want us here for anyway?”

Kali rolled her eyes at Berlioz. “Isn’t it obvious.”

“Is it?” Lachi asked with raised brows.

Chef hung his head. “I’ve seen smarter kittens pull an elders tail.”

“Was that a cuss?” I laughed taking a mental note for the next time Berlioz did something stupid. “Never mind all that. The reason I asked you guys here is because we have thirty Panthera and one house.”

“We should have brought those tents.” Sighed Lachi.

Kali shook her head. “No, tents are too temporary. I think Oscar wants to talk about building something more permanent.”

“Kali is right.” I declared. “This place is going to be our home. I want to build in the trees and more importantly I want all of you to gain the skill required to build your own homes.”

“You want everyone to gain the carpentry skill and rank it up to expert.” Berlioz said inspecting his claws. “That will take ages.”

“I don’t think so.” I said with a smile. “We’ll start with just you guys, as a test for my theory. I’ll go out with Anansi and mark a trail; Berlioz will show you how to gain the skill and then once you’ve all got it, you come find me. I recon by the time you get to me I should have easily captured three boars; to top it off you guys can get some hits in with your spears and daggers before you kill them and gain even more skills. If I find more boars, then you can get enough XP to level those skills too.”

Lachi matched my excitement. “He is as wise as an elder.”

“I don’t buy it.” Said Chef crossing his arms. “These boars you speak of what level are they?”

“like mid-fifties.” I answered.

Chef spoke more out of fear than doubt. “So, they’re ten times our level and you think we can just catch them.”

“Oh, no.” Berlioz interjected. “Not us, Anansi. I’m pretty sure that spider could feast on every monster in this forest if he wanted to. He’ll creep up a tree, shoot a web and dangle the boar helplessly. I’ve seen it done and it’s nothing for the scary little guy.”

Anansi filled my heart with pride as I spoke. “He appreciates the compliment, Berlioz. So, guys does that sound like a plan?”

“I just have one question.” Said Kali standing to loom over me. “What do you get out of helping us?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. You guys need help, I’ve got this huge area that’s safe and protected by my authority and apart from it being the right thing to do. I guess, helping others gives me a warm fuzzy feeling in my gut.”

Lachi ruined the moment. “That sounds like gas.”

“Definitely gas.” Laughed Berlioz. “What are we gunna make to get them the skill?”

“Floorboards.” I answered with a cheeky grin.

A tongue and groove floorboard was a simple design and would gain them the skill quickly enough to be hot on my heels. I trusted Berlioz to get it done and even more than that I trusted the Panthera to want new skills. Even now I was itching to gain and rank something new, and if I found any stray boars on the way I was definitely going to net myself a few counts of large XP.

While Berlioz climbed up a dreadwood to cut one of their log sized branches, I grabbed up the travel pack that once held the numerous sodden blankets and took off. Journeying north I had Anansi mark the trees I zipped between with his vibrant orange webbing. With my tracking skill at expert, spotting the damaged tree trunks and troubled earth was all too easy and I soon found myself distracted by my anxious thoughts.

Sure, I had led the Panthera to safety and I had a plan to make them comfortable but how long could I really keep them safe. I had no knowledge of the world I was in and had just murdered a bunch or orc slavers, what if more orcs came. It was inevitable wasn’t it, after all the shaman and his band of scouts were clearly just the forward party. I needed more information, but it felt like it was too soon to start asking about the Panthera’s time in captivity as even Berlioz didn’t volunteer the information.

Brushing aside the thoughts of orcs charging my oasis, I noticed a freshly oozing tree trunk and as I zipped on a boar caught my eye. There was no evidence of any more of the creatures being around so instead of capturing this one I pulled out my corrosive club and dropped from the tree. Physics dictated that falling from the height that I did, my legs bones should have shattered instead the system seemed to transfer all of the potential energy into my attack, causing my club to cave the boar’s skull in and melt the poor pig’s face.

Congratulations, you have slain Iron hide boar and have gained the following: large experience.

I didn’t bother skinning it or extracting its core, instead I dropped my pack to the ground and grabbed the boar by its tusks. When I first entered the system, I couldn’t move the first boar I had killed, but now with the extra points in strength and a lot of effort, I managed to drag the dead thing into the open mouth of the large pack. Dimensional storage was a dream, to look at it and feel it’s weight, the bag was empty, but I had just shoved a massive boar inside. Not wanting to hang around for the root demon to find me I zipped back up to the trees and followed the direction the boar had come from.

On my way I had found two more boars feasting on the sap of trees and I felt a bit selfish taking them down, but I needed my share of the XP too. After what felt like years of travel with my social anxiety getting the better of me, in the form of panicky thoughts about starving Panthera, civil uprisings and orc assassins slitting my throat in my dreams, I finally came across another pack, no, a sounder of boars. How did Berlioz even know that, taking position in the trees I made a mental note to fact check my cat bro with the more knowledgeable Kali.

After a quick count I found that there were twenty-three boars beneath me, each of them either sleeping peacefully or trotting around completely unaware of their imminent demise. Again, there were no piglets which confounded my assumption that the boars pair off to raise their young. I wasn’t going to get involved in the capture of these boars, I had a much better predator on my wrist for the job. With a word from me and a jolt of excitement from Anansi, he crawled off and got to work.

I watched in awe of his speed as he silently zipped from tree to tree weaving a massive web a several feet above the boars. Once his web was done, he returned to me and struck me with a feeling of starvation to which I responded by feeding him another monster core. Once he had consumed the rare core, he returned to his web and positioned himself above a wandering boar. A line zipped down and took the boar by its hind quarters, lifting it up to dangle helplessly. To my utter amazement, before the boar was off the ground Anansi was over his next victim. It took a matter of seconds for him to restrain the dangerous beasts, and I feared what would happen if he ever felt like snacking on me and the Panthera.

While my terrifying spider buddy wrapped up the pig pinatas, I took advantage of the large web he had crafted. Leaping from my branch I reached out and grabbed for a vine, only to slip and fall, bouncing as I landed on the springy web. I wanted that acrobatics skill, and I had the perfect opportunity to get it. three more times I fell, but on the fourth I managed to grip hold of the vine, swing, leap and land on the other side.

Congratulations, you have successfully executed a rope swing and have gained the following: Acrobatics.

I pumped a fist and pretended that the dangling boars were my cheering audience as the squealed in terror beneath me. with the skill finally acquired and nothing but time on my hands I climbed down to the ground and got a closer look at the boar’s environment. Inspecting the brutalised tree trunks, I discovered that the sap the boars had been feasting on had hardened into an incredibly durable resin. Withdrawing my dagger through the new method of the system interface, I smiled at the magic of it appearing in my hand before testing the blade against the solid substance. It scratched the surface but would take considerable pressure to cut it.

Next, I called out my bow and fired an arrow at it, the tip struck the resin but failed to go any deeper. The stuff was amazing, obviously it wasn’t anything compared to Anansi’s webbing but if I could extract and utilise it properly, not only did I have an unlimited supply of a stamina recovery component I also had a ridiculously useful resin to use in my building and crafting projects.

By the time Anansi had finished wrapping up the boars, leaving only their eyes and nostrils uncovered, I had completely run out of ways to keep myself entertained. The four named Panthera were taking ages, I wasn’t worried however as I assumed Berlioz was probably just messing around in an attempt to impress Kali, at some point he would figure out that she wasn’t into him, but for now there wasn’t anything wrong with a little puppy love. Thinking about the four of them and the twenty-three boars I decided to split them evenly, with me and Berlioz taking the XP from the remainder, I already killed three boars, so I’d let him have three, while I take the last two.

Growing even more impatient, I decided to go ahead and kill my two boars. The notification sounded in my mind, and I ignored it both times as I pulled out my blade and watched the blood drip from the boar’s ocular cavity. While stared into the distance for any signs of the coming Panthera, I felt an odd tremor beneath my feet. Panic struck me but was soon replaced with a soothing calm from Anansi. Just as my heart slowed, a tentacle like root shot from the ground and reached one of the boars.

“No, you don’t.” I roared launching my dagger.

The web bearing blade cut the root before it could reach the boar, and I pulled it back just as two more roots shot from the ground. I threw my dagger at one and raced to towards the next, they were slow once they came out of the ground, so I managed to pull my dagger back again and make the cut, defending the boar from its vampiric thorn. I thought I could hear a shriek somewhere in the distance, but it must have been the wind. Panting, I pulled out my machetes and waited for another root to burst from the ground. After a minute had passed, I accepted that the demon root had retreated and took to the trees. With my bow aimed at the ground, I guarded the captive boars until I heard a voice in the near distance.

“I told you he’d find a lot of them.” Called out Berlioz.

Lachi was close behind him. “There’s got to be like thirty of them.”

“Twenty-three.” I corrected. “Now hurry up. The roots back.”

Berlioz stopped on a branch and withdrew his daggers. “What? Where?”

“Did you say a root was back.” Asked Kali catching up.

Chef touched down beneath the boars. “That’s concerning.” He said inspecting the severed tendrils.

Berlioz dropped down and approached slowly, ready for a fight. “I say we take them back home and burn them.”

“I think it’s a good idea to take them back, but I want to do more than just burn them.” I said collecting the rest of the roots and shoving them into my pack. “Anyway, Chef, Kali, Lachi, you get six each.” I said gesturing at the dangling boars. “Stab them in the eyes with your spears and daggers, oh and use Berlioz’s bow as well, that should get you some extra skills.”

“Are you ok, Oscar?” asked Berlioz noticing my serious expression.

I patted him on the head. “yeah bud, all good just a bit shaken up. They burst out from the ground really suddenly and I’m worried they’ll come back.”

“Guys lets get this done.” Called Berlioz pulling out his bow and handing it to Kali.

I shook my head at the display of favouritism. “Those three are for you.”

“He already killed two on the way here.” Said Kali rolling her eyes.

Lachi stabbed into a boar’s eye. “Kali’s acting like she’s not impressed but he handled himself well.”

“He really did, I would like to train with you as Berlioz has.” Requested Chef, standing to attention. “if you would permit it.”

“I’m not making any promises until everyone has the skills we need to survive.” I said holding up my hands. “plus, if anyone’s getting special training it’s Kali, just so she can show Berlioz that she’s too good for him.”

If blushes could show through fur, Kali’s cheeks would have been a beacon. The Panthera quickly finished off the boars, netting themselves six counts of large experience each, it was enough to start with and in the coming days I was sure each of them would match Berlioz in skill ranks. After all the squelchy eye stabbing was finished, I began the arduous job of melting Anansi’s webbing and shoving the heavy boars into my pack.

Watching me struggle Berlioz said. “Look he’s doing it again.

“This human treats you like his own cub, and you laugh at his ignorance.” Chided Chef pushing past Berlioz and approaching me. “Oscar, did you not see how we packed at the orc camp?” He placed one paw on the boar and the other on the bag of holding. “You must simply ‘will’ the item to transfer.” And the boar disappeared.

I gave Chef a solemn nod and got back to work, but the embarrassment I felt burned my cheeks and I remained silent until the job was done. While I worked, the Panthera guarded the perimeter, and it wasn’t until I had finished that I noticed that the three much weaker Panthera were still in the rags that the orcs had provided them. I had been so focused on the future that I had completely ignored the present; how could I forget to provide them with sufficient armour.

I beat myself up the entire way home. Flashes of boars goring each of them, tearing through the rags that covered them and destroying their small frames, plagued my mind. My mana bar wasn’t full, but it was surely high enough to craft a few sets of boar skin armour from what Berlioz and I had collected earlier.

“Oh, shit.” I said touching down next to the ladder to my tree house.

Berlioz pulled out his spear, startling everyone who saw. “What is it?”

“Nothing like that bud, I just remembered we left all those boar hides behind earlier.”

“We should probably go and get them, there was enough to clothe everyone here.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“I’ll go out with Kali later and get them.”

“You will?” Asked Kali accusingly.

Berlioz adopted a Chesiree grin. “There’s so many skills I could teach you.”

Kali turned her back and started climbing the ladder. “I’ll pass thank you.”

“She doesn’t know what she’s missing, Lioz.” Lachi threw an arm around Berlioz’s shoulder. “I’ll come with you; I want to get that evasion skill you used to flip over the boar.”

“No one is going anywhere until; you’ve gotten some sleep, and I have made you armour.” I startled the named Panthera with how authoritative my tone was. “Berlioz you can either go with Anansi tonight or with me in the morning, but we are not putting anyone’s life at risk by going out there defenceless.”

Berlioz straightened up and held out his arm. Anansi either sensed his meaning or my understanding, either way he leapt from my arm to his and with a nothing but nod, Berlioz turned to collect an empty pack and zipped away.

“I’ve never seen him take anything so seriously.” Said Chef, watching Berlioz leave.

I patted his sandy furred head. “He’s pretty serious when it comes to protecting his people.”

I let my words linger while I climbed the ladder. It had been a long enough day, and I seriously needed some sleep.

Unarmed Combat (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Str 2

Acrobatics (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Dex 2

Alchemy (Novice) Rank up (Expert) Con 2

Endurance (Journeyman) Rank up (Expert) Con 2

The second I woke, the only thing I thought about was pouring that bright light of experience into my new skills and I praised the system for its efficiency. The light in had dimmed a fair amount but was still bright enough to rank up a few more skills. I wanted to focus on constitution because as I understood things that stat determined the recovery time for my stamina and health, I assumed intelligence governed my mana bar, but I could be wrong. It was so frustrating not having any information and with the Panthera so young they were in the same boat as me. Before I dismissed the void, I wanted to see how my stats how coming along.

Name: Oscar Hollow

Race: Human

Level: 1

Class: None

Linked familiar: Anansi

Attributes.

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 32

Constitution: 18

Intelligence: 26

Wisdom: 31

Charisma: 10

Luck: 2

Status conditions: Anxious.

Resistance: bladed-weapons 50%

bug-type 50%

Weakness: Threat to Panthera.

Charisma was my only unaltered stat and although I really wanted to focus on constitution it made sense to build all my stats to a similar level, besides who ever heard of an uncharismatic leader. I tried to ignore my status condition and the new weakness that was clearly linked to it, like anyone suffering from anxiety would do but with it written before me shimmering in a depressing blue hue, there was no denying it. if my anxiety was centred around the Panthera’s survival then the only thing to do was ensure they thrived. With my checks done all that was left was to truly awaken and when I did, I woke to a surprise.

“I made this for you.” Berlioz handed Kali a bundle of black fur.

Kali took it with a quizzical look. “You can’t buy my affection, you know.”

“I made Lachi and Chef similar items.” My little cat bro looked worn out as he struggled to stay upright. “And before you thank me, I did it for Oscar. He would have spent all day crafting you guys the best gear he could imagine.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Forget about it.” Berlioz stumbled towards his hammock. “Just don’t let him down. He’s a great man but he’s stupid enough to die for you if you let him.” He hopped in his hammock. “Everyone’s depending on him…” He fought sleep as he spoke. “He should be able to depend on us…”

With his final word Berlioz fell into a deep slumber. I laid there for a minute, letting Berlioz’s selfless act settle in my mind. He must have stayed up all night, chipping away at his mana bar while he crafted three sets of armour. The state of him showed how taxing the effort was, and I had to be honest after the way he had been behaving it surprised me to see him do such a thing. I wanted to jump out of my hammock and give him a big old brotherly hug, but I knew how painful the migraine that came with mana depletion was; waking him up now would just be cruel.

I finally got up when the smell of pork wafted into the tree house and caused my stomach to growl something fierce. Kali was already stood next to Chef Infront of a much larger fire pit that had a huge multi layered spit built over it. I must have slept in late as every Panthera present was already sat around the clearing in the oasis listening to Lachi telling them an animated story while they chowed down on roasted boar meat. I made my way over to the fire pit and analysed the armour that Kali wore.

Iron hide armour

Scarcity: Rare

Damage resistance: Piercing 100%, Slashing 100%

Effects: High defensive bonus, Blocking x20, pockets of holding.

Abilities: None

The armour itself was similar to Berlioz and mine, in the fact that it consisted of three layers, not including the shoes. But each layer differed, the trousers were thick but form fitting, and the top had extra pockets fitted into the chest eliminating the need for a bandolier and the coat was more of a hooded cloak. When I scanned Chef’s armour the stats were exactly the same but his looked more like what I had described a chef’s outfit too look like, although I had imagined that he would be adorned in a proper set of chef whites with one of those hats to match, but I could always make that a reality in the future.

Neither of them noticed me while I stared glossy eyed going over the new data. Why hadn’t I scanned my own armour before. The damage resistance was great, but the effects were more interesting. Blocking must have been a skill, but for it to have a twenty times multiplier hinted at hidden stats. Would something with climbing times twenty make me twenty times a better climber if that was a thing. it frustrated me endlessly that I had to figure these things out with just a hint of data. The other thing that caught my eye was the abilities, sure it had none but the fact that it was there meant that it could have some, right.

“Why are you staring at us?” Asked Kali, waving a paw before my eyes.

Chef patted himself down. “I think he’s Analysing us.”

I snapped out of it. “Not you, the armour Berlioz made.” I quickly changed the subject. “Quite the feast you’ve prepared here Chef.”

“I didn’t do it on my own,” Chef pointed towards four mountain lions that sat close to the basin. “My brothers over there helped, I even managed to teach them both the carpentry and cooking skills.”

“I didn’t know you had family here with you.” I said only now seeing the resemblance. “how about you Kali, any siblings here?” looking around I couldn’t see any other white lions.

Kali’s eyes dropped to the ground. “I was the youngest of my pride, all the rest had matured and were…”

“I’m so sorry.” I said realising I had just put my foot in my mouth. “What you’ve all been through is hard for me to understand but I’ve faced loss before and well, I can’t say it gets easier, but we can keep ourselves busy enough to numb the pain.”

“I wouldn’t mind getting out there and killing some boars.” Said Kali faking a smile for my benefit.

I laughed. “You and Berlioz are more similar than you’d believe.”

“there he is.” Lachi called out, pausing his story. “Hey, Oscar come and tell these guys how you captured twenty boars and fought off a massive root monster at the same time.”

“He’s exaggerating.” I called back in response, before looking to Chef and Kali. “Come find me in about an hour or so.”

I grabbed one of the metal plates that we had claimed from the orcs and Chef served me some of the boar meat before I wandered off.

As I walked, I heard Kali say. “How are we supposed to know when it’s been an hour?”

I picked at the plate of meat as I walked and was sure to finish it before I reached the piglets that I was starting to grow fond of. Pepper perked up at the sight of me while George still shied away, a hand full of vitalaberries quickly changed the nervous piglet’s mind and soon enough the both of them were feeding from my palm. I had approached the area initially just to feed the boars but seeing them gave me an idea. pulling out my dagger I stuck it into the dread wood next to me and when I removed my dagger sap began to ooze out. I collected a sample in my metal plate and left the rest for the piglets to feast on.

With my sample of the dreadwood sap in hand, I gathered some rocks and built a small fire pit. Chef eyed me curiously when I used his cooking station to ignite wood for my own fire, but he understood when he looked over to see what I was doing. The sap boiled quickly, bubbling away it turned black as it reduced. The sap had started off as a sticky golden fluid ready to consume but once its colour changed it became a tar-like adhesive. I took two small rocks and dipped one in before sticking it to the other with the tar. Placing them to the side I watched the boiling sap reduce further until it became a dry black crystalline disc.

I put out the fire with a handful of soil and inspected the rocks, they were fused together with the tar so perfectly that it was easier to chip away at the rocks themselves than it was to separate them by breaking the dried tar. Oddly enough, the completely reduced sap in the plate behaved in the opposite manner, one tap with my dagger and the entire disc shattered into dust. The alchemy skill had taken a tiny amount of mana from me while I cooked the sap, so I assumed that not everyone would be able to produce this effect but when I scanned it, I knew that Chef would be replicating it the second I informed him.

Stamina Salt

Alchemical Benefits: High stamina recovery

Uses: Seasoning, Effervescent.

With one experiment, I had gained two major results. The salt would keep us moving in the most strenuous situations and the adhesive would be a perfect replacement for the use of Anansi’s webbing for our building projects. I had been somewhat reluctant to start, thinking that I would be abusing the bond between Anansi and I while building up our village but now I wouldn’t have to rely on him, at least not for construction. When I showed the salt to Chef, he showed his excitement with a simple smile and said. “I will provide you with something special, very soon.”

I after the success of my experiment I spent some time looking through the loot we had taken from the orc camp. I found some interesting things in one of the bags, but I wasn’t ready to take them out. With my hand on a bag of holding I skimmed through the listing of items, an alchemy station, enchanting table and the Shaman’s cane made me want to yelp with excitement, but I calmed myself down and carried the bag up to the tree house.

After depositing the bag, I called on Anansi and with him back on my wrist I went to listen in on Lachi’s stories. The tiger was a spirited storyteller and I’d be surprised if he didn’t have a skill for it. Berlioz must have filled his head with wild stories as Lachi recited almost poetic retellings of my time before saving the Panthera. When the tiger started telling wonderous Panthera folk tales, I quickly grabbed an orcish war drum I had seen listed earlier and matched his tempo and tone with my rhythmic playing. The story was about a white lion, or maned one as he put it, battling for the future of their dungeon and when the tale ended with lion valiantly executing its grey furred half brother and bringing forth an era of peace and prosperity, I received a notification.

Congratulations, you have successfully played, orcish war drum and have gained the following: drums.

I wondered if the skill would be attributed to dexterity or maybe intelligence but before I could sneak off for a power nap to find out, Chef and Kali came looking for me. I joined up with them and beckoned Lachi to follow us to where the bags were resting. While I searched for the bag that contained parchment and charcoal, the three of them sat patiently.

“I want to start the building effort today, if you guys are up for it.” I said getting a feel for the drawing implements before me.

Lachi looked concerned. “will it just be the four of us building?”

“No.” I said crumpling up a page of parchment. “I’ll be building today, while you guys teach the carpentry skill to everyone here.”

“Everyone?” Gasped Kali.

I nodded. “The sooner the better right.”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit too much, too quickly.” Suggested Chef.

I laughed. “Not at all.” I went quite, while sketching the trees in front of me. “So, the idea is that you will work with everyone on a one-to-one basis, crafting one floorboard per Panthera.”

I paused to draw, and Kali broke the silence. “That will literally take all day.”

“Yeah, it’s supposed to.” My focus was more on the parchment than anything else.

Lachi punched his palm. “What about gaining experience? Shouldn’t we be learning to defend ourselves and ranking up skills.”

“Berlioz will be taking people out with Anansi tomorrow.” I said standing up and gathering my parchment. “Come, I need another angle.”

We walked to a spot between the trees that allowed me to see exactly what I needed. As we walked the named Panthera spoke in hushed whispers. When I sat down and continued to sketch the three of them sat with me in silence until the charismatic Tiger finally broke.

“Don’t you want to tell us our next move.” Said Lachi.

I looked up at him. “I already told you what I want you to do.”

“But where should we start?” asked Kali.

I held up my parchment and smiled. “Start with the Panthera you know best.”

“Should we get started?” queried Chef.

I stood and walked to the next spot, they followed, and I said. “it’s up to you, you’ve got all day.”

“What are you drawing?” Asked Kali.

I finished up the sketch and walked to the north to get a view of the oasis. “give me a minute and I’ll show you.”

The three of them waited while a drew and before long I got a welcomed surprise.

Congratulations, you have successfully designed Tree fort and have gained the following: Architecture.

Holding up the final sketch, we could see my intricately designed tree fort in its glory. It was going to span the width of the northern tip of the oasis and reach three stories high. This fort was to be the central hub for everyone to gather in and set the standard of living conditions for all Panthera present. I wanted them not just to be comfortable but to have pride in their new home.

Looking at my vision of comfort and security, each of the Panthera had a different reaction. Chef gave a solemn nod and hurried over to his brothers, Lachi praised to suggested structure and hurried off to describe it to his audience and Kali stood with a smile on her face that almost hid the sadness in her eyes. I think for the white lioness, the reality of having freedom but never returning to her dungeon was finally sinking in.

“We will build a pride like no other,” Kali announced in a soft tone. “Even if it must be on the surface of the system.”

After She walked away, I got to work. I hoped that Berlioz would sleep long enough for me to use Anansi’s webbing to construct the scaffolding I would need and maybe the initial foundations. It took me over an hour to cut down the required amount of the massive branches. While I sourced the wood I needed, I watched Chef teaching his brothers, while Lachi and Kali were still trying to find their first students. It wasn’t until I had finished cutting platform boards for my scaffolding that the tiger and lion had managed to pick out five students each.

A few hours later I was finished with my scaffolding and looking over my plans, when Berlioz appeared next to me. He hadn’t made a sound and clearly wanted to spook me, but I was so focused that I just ignored him while my heart slowed down. Seeing what I was doing Berlioz dropped down and started preparing the wooden beams I would need, while I paced across the wide platform marking and cutting into the trees that would support the fort.

“How was your nap?” I asked joining Berlioz.

“Not the best.” He answered. “My head was still pounding when I woke up.”

“Mana exhaustion’s a bitch ain’t it.”

“I think I need to focus on building my wisdom and intelligence, or at least find something out there that can regenerate mana.”

“You’ll be taking people out when you’re ready so why not have a look then.”

He stood and looked towards the capybara swamp. “Something tells me it’s out that way.”

“Are you psychic now?” I jibed. “We can look together once everyone’s got some initial skills.”

Berlioz cut a plank a little too thin. “I can survive without you.”

“I know.” I could see fear in his eyes. “But wouldn’t it be better to fight side by side.”

He stood again looking towards his people. “They need your guidance more than I need your help.”

“And I need you to help me guide them.” I stood with him, placing an arm around his shoulder. “We’ve got this bud, the two of us will keep them safe.”

He stepped forward, letting my arm fall to my side. “Is there anything you need before I start training them?”

I explained my success at creating an adhesive and he came up with the brilliant idea of inserting a dimensional reed’s root into one of the dread woods. The result was better than I had expected, the root acted like a pump and sap poured out of the short reed that was left to grow. It took less than a minute to fill a spare cauldron with sap and with the might of Chef and his brothers we placed the cauldron up on some rocks and lit a fire beneath it.

I let the mountain lion continue teaching his brothers and focused on creating my adhesive. While it bubbled, I watched Berlioz leave with his first trainee and my heartbeat quickened at the thought of him having an accident. I guess my character sheet was right, their risk was my trigger and would probably get me killed at some point. Once the adhesive was prepared, I ladled it into a pouch and was surprised that I was able to empty the entire cauldron into a pouch the size of my fist. Were the natural grown reeds capable of storing more than the enchanted bags. I shook my head at the thought, not wanting to get distracted.

When I got back to the scaffolding, I threw up the spider man hand sign, forgetting that Anansi was with Berlioz and not on my wrist ready to zip me around with ease. Luckily, I had Anansi gather all the wood up on the platform as climbing the thirty-foot ladder with a heavy beam would have been a ball ache. I got into the zone and shaped the perfect joints before fusing them to the first supporting tree and after about three hours I had finished the first of seven hexagonal support structures that was larger than my tree house.

Standing atop the structure, I looked down to see Berlioz handing another Panthera a bed roll before marching out with his next trainee. Before he left, he took a few vials of something from Chef and pointed at me. I found out a few minutes later that Chef had concocted a potion out of vitalaberries and stamina salt and had been so swept up with teaching his brothers and the rest of the Panthera that he had forgotten to give the potion to me.

“I had after all, made the initial potion as a gift for you.” Said Chef, with a smile that showed as large fangs.

Time flowed without feeling and the planets rose over head. Taking another sip of the revitalising potion I watched my stamina bar shoot up. Almost all of the Panthera slept beneath the stars, each of them had killed at least one boar and gained as many skills as they could in a day. The ones that didn’t sleep where my named four, the leaders of this pride. They went out into the dim green forest, with excited eyes and smiles on there faces. They went towards the legion ant’s zone, likely to gather some vitalaberries and see what else they could forage. I was on my third support structure and had no plan to stop until sleep took the option away from me.

Watching the named ones go I didn’t feel anxious. I knew they were armed and armoured, skilled and capable, and as long as Berlioz was in the lead with Anansi on his wrist, I knew they would return safely to me. for a moment I stopped working, to see the planets’ reflections mystically shimmering on the basin’s surface and with the rushing of the waterfall and the rhythmic snoring of the Panthera filling my ears with their oddly soothing sound, I didn’t just have hope for the future, I had faith in it.