“Dhruvah under the blood moon’s effect,” Thaddeus repeated in shock. The thought of Dhruvah being mind-controlled never occurred to him. He inadvertently summoned a Forest King to help him commit suicide.
“Alfred, is there anything I can do?” Thaddeus begged.
”Sir, I believe it is possible. As bear kin, you have a close affinity with bears. I believe you can expend experience to help Dhruvah break free from the curse. But to do so, you need to touch him. I give you a .001% of succeeding,” Alfred explained.
“At least it’s a chance,” Thaddeus said.
“Yes, sir. A very small one,” Alfred agreed.
Thaddeus wondered if he was programmed to be passive-aggressive or if it just came naturally to him.
Since reaching Level 20 he hadn’t invested any of his points. He pulled up his stat sheet:
Name: Thaddeus Brown
SKILL NAME
SKILL LEVEL
Race: Human/Bear kin
Load Bearing (Racial)
Class: Artisan
Nature Affinity (Racial)
50 (+50%)
Title: Pioneer
Oversized Weapons (Racial)
Level: 20 (7158/8000)
Earth Magic
3
HP: 544/544
Two-Handed Axe
15%
MP: 448/448
Lumberjack
81
STR: 49
Analyze
67
AGI: 44
Surveyor
49
VIT: 26
Field Dress
14
INT: 32
Woodworking
67
WILL: 14
Cooking
16
CON: 34
Leatherworking
59
Charm: 8
Tailoring
40
Free Attribute Points: 40
Forging
66
Free Skill Points: 0
Smelting
55
Fame: 5
Toolsmith
43
Architecture 11
Wagoner 6
One Handed Axe
44%
Cleave
37
Bash
36
He put 40 into vitality, 6 points into the constitution, 5 into strength, and 5 into agility. He decided to keep four stats in case he need a late boost in one category.
Name: Thaddeus Brown
SKILL NAME
SKILL LEVEL
Race: Human/Bear kin
Load Bearing (Racial)
Class: Artisan
Nature Affinity (Racial)
50 (+50%)
Title: Pioneer
Oversized Weapons (Racial)
Level: 20 (7158/8000)
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Earth Magic
3
HP: 2065/2640
Two-Handed Axe
15%
MP: 448/448
Lumberjack
81
STR: 54
Analyze
67
AGI: 49
Surveyor
49
VIT: 66
Field Dress
14
INT: 32
Woodworking
67
WILL: 14
Cooking
16
CON: 40
Leatherworking
59
Charm: 8
Tailoring
40
Free Attribute Points: 4
Forging
66
Free Skill Points: 0
Smelting
55
Fame: 5
Toolsmith
43
Architecture
11
Wagoner
6
One Handed Axe
44%
Cleave
37
Bash
36
He could see the wolf boss slamming into the fortress from the battlements again. In the distance, he saw Dhruvah looking for the challenger.
Getting ready, Thaddeus jumped off the wall as the wolf slammed into the wall again. As fast as he could run, he made his way to Dhruvah. When the bear got sight of Thaddeus running toward him, he stood up on his hind legs. Standing on two feet Dhruvah was over 14 feet tall. From that height, the massive bear looked down on Thaddeus like he was an ant to be crushed.
System Message: Dhruvah has accepted your challenge. Win: become one of the seven Forest Kings. Lose: Death.
Thaddeus faced looked horrified. If being in a Beast Wave wasn’t bad enough, now he challenged a Forest King to a duel. It took a certain kind of stupid do both a once. But he achieved it.
When Dhruvah landed on the ground, it rippled. The ripple sent Thaddeus flying like a toy off a bed when a kid bounced on the mattress.
Unfortunately, he went soaring right to Dhruvah like a pitched baseball. Dhruvah cocked his hands back like a batter about to swing for a home run. Thaddeus was vulnerable, there was nothing he could do. If he used his shield to block the Dhruvah, he wouldn’t touch him. All he could do was add four extra points to vitality.
Dhruvah hit him and then slammed him against the ground. It felt like he was standing in between two semi-trucks while they crashed into him. Everything hurt. All he could do was moan. He took out his last healing potion and drank.
“Congratulations sir, I transferred 7,547 experience to Dhruvah. He should be coming out from the Blood Moon effect in a few minutes.
System Message: You lose 2,064 damage. You are stunned for the next 5-minutes.
Was the last thing Thaddeus read before losing consciousness.
When he woke up Dhruvah was cuddled beside him, he looked at Thaddeus and said, “Good morning cub. Thank you for helping me break free from the Blood Moon curse. When the curse wore off, I saw Yihuta trying to attack. We fought, and I was able to kill him. To keep you safe, I slept next to you.”
“Thank you elder,” Thaddeus said politely and checked last night’s rankings
System Message:
Final Wave Completed. Time: 49 minutes and 26 seconds. Global Rank 98. Settlement Rank: 3. Congratulations for making it making into the Global, Top 100, and third place Settlement Rank. Reward: 1 Bronze Treasure Chest and +5 fame.
Thaddeus quickly stood and cheered. He survived and earned third place.
“Congratulations, sir. You are ranked third out of the 1,325 settlements remaining and listed in the Global Top 100 rank. You have earned a historic achievement,” Alfred congratulated him.
“Thanks, Alfred,” Thaddeus said. “Wait—that means over 20,000 settlements were destroyed, how?”
“Yes, sir. Several people were under the assumption settlements had a protection period,” he explained.
“Most will probably rebuild,” Thaddeus said.
“As long as the kingdom’s ruler approves, they may. But first, they’d have to clear the beast from their old settlement,” Alfred explained.
“Can they restart somewhere else?” Thaddeus wondered.
“Kings, emperors, and gods look unfavorably on failure. I doubt they’ll be given a chance to own a settlement again unless they bribe the sovereign,” Alfred explained when another notification flashed in his eyes.
System Message: Demeter is pleased by your accomplishment. Reward: + 5 authority with the Church of Earth.
“Thank you?” Thaddeus said unsure if that was a good thing or not.
“Now that you’re safe, I’ll leave you,” Dhruvah said lumbering away.
Thaddeus read through notifications and messages. He saw Dustin and Heather both messaged congratulations. He read the battle reports, explaining how much damage he dealt with and received. He looked at the last message last night while he was asleep:
System Message
Congratulations you reached Level 30.
His level jumped from 26 to 30, his settlement was safe, earned a bronze treasure chest. He Couldn’t be happier.
“Sir, would you like to open your bronze treasure chest?” Alfred asked.
“Of course,” Thaddeus said excitedly.
System Message:
Congratulations, you earn 25 silver and one common building.
Thaddeus didn’t need to see the list of common buildings; he knew what he wanted. He quickly chose the tannery and placed it on the west side of the forge. Now the tannery, forge, and carpentry shop was next to each other.
System Message:
Demeter is displeased you put a tannery across from her church. She gives you a warning. She upgrades the tannery to a rare building: Ventilated Tannery—the smell of the tannery is mitigated by the vents. Penalty -10 favorability with Demeter.
“Sir, may I warn you that upsetting gods is not wise. The gods are unpredictable and vindictive. I suggest you offer up Demeter a sacrifice,” Alfred suggested.
“A sacrifice? What would I sacrifice?” Thaddeus asked, weirded by the suggestion.
“I suggest you offer Yihuta,” Alfred suggested.
Thaddeus planned to build a new set of leather armor from Yihuta hid. Now his plans were ruined. He’d have to use a Level 35 wolf instead.
Alfred explained how to make a sacrificial offering. He cut down six trees to make logs. Stack them on top of each other and then place the sacrifice on top. When carried Yihuta‘a corpse, placed it atop the pyre, and lit it on fire. He said a quick prayer to Demeter offering the sacrifice and watched as the beast's body burn.
System Message:
Demeter is pleased by your sacrifice; she likes her new puppy Yihuta. Reward: +10 favorability with the Church of Earth.
‘New puppy?’ Thaddeus thought in surprise.
“Yes, sir. Whatever you sacrifice appears in the Divine Realm,” Alfred explained.
Thaddeus didn’t even care enough to ask. He had enough of a particular goddess and wanted to keep the gods out of his life.
He walked to the fort to let the animals out when the fire burned out. The fort looked worn and broken in like an old shoe.
“Alfred what’s the damage report?” he asked.
“Sir, the forts durability is 12,379/17,000,” he replied.
Thaddeus liked the look of the worn fort. He swore that one day he completed the fortress. If he didn’t have this, he would have surely died. It also made sense to have a fortress in case bandits attacked. That way the people would have someplace safe to stay until help arrived.
When he opened the doors, he saw the animals lazily munch on grass, unconcerned about last night's beast wave. He walked them back down the hill to the hamlet. Then ran back and picked up the prairie dog, coyote, and wolf corpses and took them to his newly ventilated tannery.
The shop looked like Alice’s, but the tools and tannins were of better quality. There were also windows with filters overhead. He wasn’t sure how the filters worked, but the tannery didn’t smell at all.
Upstairs the rooms looked the same as the Carpentry Shop, there were three bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. He lay on a bed, looked up at the ceiling, and debated whether he should sleep there until he was finished tanning the hides.
But he decided against it. Until the barn was built, he preferred being around the animals to make sure they were safe at night.
Instead of field dressing the animals, he left them on the floor of the tannery and ran to the wood. He wanted to see if he could loot the coyote and wolf dens.
This time when he went into the forest, he didn’t get a warning notification. He ran 250 feet into the forest to where he remembered the coyote den was located. The den was a small hole that opened between three rocks. Outside the den were coyote hair and brush. He noticed drops of blood outside.
Getting on his knees he crawled inside the cave. As soon as he crawled inside, he received a system message:
"Sir, would you like to loot the coyote den?" Alfred asked.
"Yes," Thaddeus said, and he received another message:
System Message:
You earned +5 gold and one bracelet.
He quickly checked out the bracelet.
Coyote Beaded Bracelet
Level
45
+5 Agility Bonus
Durability 45/45
Increases AGI by 5 points.
Then he ran to Wolf Den when he got there, he saw a tall white wolf laying outside the den! She was locked onto him and growled. She stood up slowly and looked at him angrily like she knew he was responsible for killing her pack. Just behind her, he saw a litter of pups. The animals looked at him curiously, but the mother looked at him revengefully.
He slowly backed away without analyzing her. He didn’t want to upset her, and he didn’t want to fight anymore either. When he was far enough away, he ran back to the settlement.
“Alfred, invest the gold and silver,” Thaddeus ordered.
“Excellent choice, sir. You now have 164 gold and 25 silver in your investment account,” Alfred said.
That was more than triple the investment about two months ago. Investing early was sure to pay off. Even better the more he earned in dividends the more shares he bought. It felt good knowing he was growing a small nest egg in-game.
Thaddeus felt his stomach gurgling and checked the time. It was 11 am. He realized he needed to eat and finish two houses. He ate a piece of coyote jerky and bread and got to work. He had three days left to finish four houses and the roofs. It was time to get to work.