With one of the tasks completed I look forward to being able to finish the second requirement for the level up of the territory. With such a low amount of health left I look towards Ritotorius and ask, "Would it be possible for you to go around and kill several more monsters so we can start getting closer to leveling up the territory?"

With a nod of his head I open the door for him to go out and see what spoils of battle he can reap while I go and sit on the edge of the bed and go through my settlement tab and start looking towards the future. Looking I see that I have the Small Dock, a Small Garden, and also a Hut.

Not much by any means but then I see the fencing option, thinking that I click and see that I can place it down and a grid type pattern appears. Fiddling with the placement of the fences I find I can place a corner on one section of the grid and then it snaps into place on its own. If I want to have the fence go in a specific direction I can also have it free flow and follow my thoughts.

With not much to protect at the time I go with setting the fence to go around the initial 100 meter section of the map that I have walked around just to give myself a little bit of a perimeter for safety against lower level monsters like goblins.

Upon having placed it down I see that it will require 200 units of wood in order to complete. Lower than I thought it was going to be overall but I also know that I will not be able to easily replenish it in the future unless I can find some sort of wooded area, or get more resource boxes.

As I am hovering over the garden I take a closer look to see that there is a small information panel that can be expanded at will. Doing the logical thing at this moment I expand the window.

- Small Garden: Increases the yield of small food items that are planted here. Increase in between 1 to 5 units. -

Thinking about that I also go and look at the Small Dock.

- Small Dock: Helps to attract fish in the local waters to make it easier to gather food. Passively provides 1 unit of raw Tier 2 food every 5 days. -

Seeing this I am ecstatic to find that I can get a higher quality of food stuff passively. Even though it is a long time between receiving it at least it will give me a different flavor compared to bread, berries, and flowers. I am also sure that Rito will thoroughly enjoy the fact that we might get some fish.

Thinking of Rito I wonder how his hunting is going when I receive a prompt quickly.

"Congratulations, your soul bonded companion has slain a level 1 slime. Reward 1 Experience Point (Given to Ritotorous based on contribution)."

I check to see if there are any updates quickly to find the monster slaining task has been completed and that the settlement has gotten one more experience point as well.

Looking more in depth at the experience of the settlement I am able to find something interesting. The settlement acquires experience based on the monsters slain in the territory directly, by people making things from their professions, or as a reward in the form of "Settlement Experience Bags".

With some idea of what to do next I get ready to head out of my home when I remember that I still have low health. Checking to see if there is any progress on that front I see.

Health: 4/5

With the good news that my health has gone up I try to remember how long it has been since I have been inside. Knowing it hasn't been that long I check the sun's position just to make sure only to find that it is dipping quickly below the point I can see it on the horizon.

"I guess I spent more time figuring out how the fences will work and other things that I anticipated." Chuckling to myself and working up the courage to go further out again I hear Rito call out to me.

"I see you have found some things out, I am glad to see that you are able to come outside again so quickly. It is a wonder that people say that humans are the most adaptable to their environments."

Taking the compliment and responding with a small smirk at my discovery, "And who knew that ravens could be so talkative and still miss out on some information that would be useful sooner than later."

"Well it's not my fault that someone had to go and get hit on the back so hard they couldn't help me scout some things out." Came his retort.

"And what have you found oh mighty Rito, scout extraordinaire, seeker of shiny objects, and feller of slimes." I respond with a good natured smile on my lips.

"Now I don't think I will be telling you, Drake, sitter of beds, purveyor of comfort, and opener of boxes.”

With an exaggerated gasp at him, I give him a look and decide to be a bit more serious. "So really though, what have you found out?"

Seeing that the word banter has stopped for the time being Ritotorous tells me. "So I think I have found the 4 major monsters that we will be fighting for the current size of the territory." With a look of intrigue I send a mental image of me motioning on. "In the south there are lots of crabs on the beach and some of them have come further onto shore. The north contains slimes, most of which are just water slimes, there are some grass slimes on the northwest side and gravel slimes on the northeast."

Quickly interrupting him, "So does that mean that in the west we have the goblins and in the east there are more skeletons?"

Giving me a small mental glare for interrupting he responds. "While it isn't just skeletons in the east that is what a majority of them are from what I could tell."

With the last piece in place I get a new quest prompt.

"New Quest:

Skeletons, Slimes, and Goblins! Oh My!:

Having found yourself surrounded on all sides either by water or by the monsters of the land a choice has come to you. Do you clear out some of the area of more of the monsters, or do you let them continue to grow more in number until you can't handle them anymore.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

While in the immediate area you can't find any place that would allow these creatures to have a place to stay, not all locations have been investigated as to what threats might be there.

Tasks:

Enter the fog and clear out 1 group of enemies (0/1)

Level up your settlement to Roadside Hovel Level 3 (0/1)

Rewards: ???

Special Note: While these monsters are slowly coming into the territory more they will not attack en masse unless there is a large enough trigger."

Looking towards the sky I give a small sign. "The one place we haven't gone due to the potential risks that might be involved and that is now the only place we can go in order for us to survive the ever increasing problem. Oh how I wish I had some more help as I can't do everything by myself."

I look down again towards the ground and feel a rush of wind on my head as I see that Ritotorous is right in front of me giving a concerned look that only a raven could possibly give. Honestly it just makes it look like he is just looking at a dead carcass that isn't quite dead enough.

Feeling that there are no other options I give one last look towards the sky and decide that since it is so late in the day already that I will call it a night after running the wood to the fence so at least I can have some sort of defense now that I hear that I will be having more monsters coming into the territory.

Finishing my tasks quickly I go and lay down with Rito perched on the chest at the foot of the bed as I mention to him.

"Honestly Rito, I feel like having picked the enchanting profession might have been a bad idea. I mean look at what we have around, there are flowers, herbs, and berries, not to mention the potential ores that we could get in the east. I just feel that it is too advanced of a trade to have started out."

Opening one of his eyes he looks over and comments. "So you haven't tried looking more into what enchanting does and how it would work with the things that we have around us?"

"No" I reply a bit dejectedly.

"Well once we get up I think that should be one of the first things that you should focus on as not only will that help to increase the settlement level but it might help to increase your knowledge of what is possible with the things we have around us."

Getting that somewhat cryptic message from him, I rest my head back down on the bed and try to focus on getting some sleep.

In the middle of the night a prompt quickly flashes into being.

"Mana Heart progress 25% complete. Mana Vein progress 15% complete. "

Then just as suddenly as it appears it disappears.

Tossing and turning for most of the night fearful for what might come I only am able to get a couple of hours of rest making waking up the next morning a strenuous task.

Ritotorous, quickly waking up, hops onto the bed and lightly cuffs my head with his wing telling me that we need to get a start of our day. And like he said last night I take a quick look around my surroundings trying to figure out what he meant by taking a closer look at things.

Seeing my confusion after about 20 minutes, Ritotorous decided to give me a hand. "So when you were learning your profession in the integration room what were some of the things that you learned?"

"Well" I start "it taught me how to grind different materials down so that way they will work better for some of the tools that I need to use. There were also scenes of people applying different types of enchantments onto different types of weapons, and armor."

Nodding his head at me. "Did you notice any specific way they were adding them on? Were they going for specific points on the items or did it seem more like they were just applying it anywhere they wanted."

Thinking harder about what I saw, I remember catching a quick glimpse at the end of the series of instructions and images of one particular image of an item. While there was nothing special about the item itself, what was interesting to note that I missed was that there seemed to be nodes along the item and that the enchantments were going around one node and then having connecting lines to another.

I relay this to Ritotorous and he nods his head again at me. "So if there didn't seem to be anything special about the item other than these nodes. What do you think is missing that would help you in being able to be an enchanter?"

Quickly replying this time. "I would first have to be able to see the nodes so that way I know where I can either start an enchantment or so that way I know how to connect one node to the next and if there is a particular order that needs to be followed for a specific effect."

"So for you to be able to see..." slowly Ritotorous trails off.

"What will I have to do to be able to see the nodes?" I ask fully engrossed into what he was talking about.

"You have been able to do something you can't yet. This is getting frustrating!" He says finding that he is unable to talk about something that I can tell will greatly improve the rate at which we can proceed forward with getting everything set up.

Just frustrated by the situation I threw my hands in the air and looked for something that we could do that would actually be productive. I look over at him and motion towards the door.

"Should we head outside and see what the situation is out there or do you think we can get more things figured out by being here talkings?

Being just as frustrated with everything Ritotorous flaps his wings and then lifts off the bed to come and land on my arm before replying to me. "Well at least there might be some good news for us once we go outside at the very least."

"Good news?”

"Well you did get your quest just at the end of yesterday, so maybe we can work on some of those goals today!"

"I agree, that is something we should work on. And before I forget, let me make sure that the fence was able to be completed last night!"

Looking I do see that the fence did complete its construction last night and that now there is a fence running around the 100 meters of my home. Stepping outside I have to decide which direction to go. With a staff in my hand I feel that the only appropriate way to determine the direction is to throw it up into the air and see which way the head of the staff points.

Continuing with that plan I threw it up as hard as I could, as it fell back to the ground I mistook which direction it was falling only for the end to bounce off the top of my head dealing 1 point of damage to me and then dropping to point to the east.

I rub my head from where the staff hit me, reach down to pick up the staff and look at Ritotorous. "Not. One. Word." Glaring at him while he has his head turned away from my direction. I continue my terrible morning by going around the house and see one skeleton right up against the fence with another 4 not far behind it. Looking and seeing that they are all only level one I choose to use the distance, and fence to my advantage and start shooting Arcane shots at them.

I miss my first shot, before continuing, since I notice that the skeletons aren't the brightest of creatures and they can't get to me. It is right after my first shot blasts the skeleton against the fence to pieces that Ritotorous joins in by shooting his own at the skeletons still advancing our way.

It takes a couple of minutes of us shooting at a safe range before we kill all of them.

"Congratulations, you have killed 4 level 1 skeletons. Reward 4 Experience points (Shared with Ritotorous)”

Thinking about it, I should be able to complete my first level up of the settlement. Going to my settlement screen I see a big red "Level Up" button right on the page. I look over at Ritotorous and ask. "If I level up the settlement now will there be any potential for additional rewards that I will be missing out on if I was to instead level up at a later time?"

Shaking his head he replies. "No, the only time that I know of that there are additional or increased rewards are when you over complete a quest, or when you get an achievement for something. So it should be good to level up the settlement now without any issue."

Nodding I mentally click the button and there is a small flash of light at the edges of the territory and I get a couple of prompts quickly.

"Congratulations, your settlement has become a level 2 Roadside Hovel. Reward 1 X Small Resource Chest"

"Congratulations, you have leveled up your settlement for the first time, you have been awarded the choice between a Small Equipment Box, or a Small Population Box."