Back in Providence The Crew had another new arrival. Mike was someone they knew but not someone they had seen in quite a while. Leah had shown her usefulness during the hunt. As a whole they were a long way away from where they needed to be. D knew he couldn't expect to gain levels as fast as they had the first day. Still he felt the constant need to improve. There was something scratching at the back of his mind telling him he needed to move forward faster. He just didn't know why. D knew there was important information in that damn Town Hall. They just couldn't access it yet. None of them were a high enough level and they didn't meet the population requirements.

"I healed Mike a little more he is resting in the barracks now." Dan walked over to D and said. "What's on your mind?"

"I can't place it but I just feel we all need to grow stronger faster. Rather then go hunt I think we need to take a trip to another territory stone. We got the most loot and the most Exp claiming this one. We need to be more in a fight then just hunting in the forest." D said

"Listen I get it but out there who knows what dangers await. Maybe let's take it slow. We can wait for more people to trickle in get our base camp all set then venture out." Dan replied

" I can't explain it but it's like an itch I can't scratch. We need to be doing more. My gut has a bad feeling. So far we've been lucky. What are we going to do when a monster or person shows up who's so much stronger then us? How can we protect what we have if they could wait us out at the gate or challenge us for the settlement." D responded

"Well how do you plan on gaining levels. Joe noticed last night that one of the lights disappeared. That means there's another settlement not insanely far away. Maybe we could see what they're doing?" Dan said

"Still there two more within eye sight. Mike should be someone we can trust. We've known him since we were kids. How are you and Joe getting along?" D asked. Joe seemed like a reliable guy. He protected his family he was trying to help not just be a burden. D was hoping Joe and his family would become a part of what they were building here.

"Joe has a noncombat class. He has an earth mana. It seems he can manipulate wood. His class is called Earthen Druid. He can feel if the area around him is healthy. He can stop other earth mana attacks with a skill called Gaias Might. He's older so he's not going to be much help in a fight. He was a logistics guy in the army." Dan was filling D in on how the mana training went with them when they were out on the hunt. "Gina was a counsel woman before the integration. She might be a good fit for Mayor. She has a semi combat class called. Truth Seeker. She also has light mana like me and Leah. I say it semi combat because she has a skill called Truth Hurts. If she uses it on someone and they are lying it does damage based on how many times they lie. She can stack the damage and let it all hit at once."

"That's an interesting skill and class. What about the older sister Kim?"

"Oh she has a combat class alright, she just doesn't seem like she wants to be a fighter. She has fire mana and her class is called Flame maiden. She can cover her body in flames that don't burn her with her mana. We tested it and she could burn wood with it some I'm sure it would burn a beast or a monster." Dan said

"Well get The Crew together have Joe, Kim, and Gina meet us at the town hall building in 5 minutes." D told Dan while turning to walk towards the town hall himself.

D was lost in thought. Gina seemed like a kind women. She raised two badass daughters from what he could tell. If they made her Mayor they wouldn't have to worry about someone new showing up alone and trying to push for the position. Joe being able to manipulate wood was great. D wanted to have the barracks divided into more smaller rooms. If Joe could manage that it would be a huge boon. Kim having fire was a bonus too. Dave wouldn't need to start every fire. Still there was so much to do. With Mike showing up there was another mouth to feed. How would they start to feed everyone when the population grew? What would they do to keep food coming in there was no refrigerators. They hadn't be able to plant any crops. D then realized the settlement was concrete. They would have to plant crops outside the walls. To much to think on he had to divide this all up.

D had been waiting in the town hall racking his brain for ideas. When it came to a fight he could get the job done without question, but run a settlement wasn't who he was. Finally the rest of them started to arrive. Dan walked in first with Joe, Kim, and Gina. Rob and Dave came in a minute later.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Ok now that everyone's here we have a few things we need to discuss. Joe how do you feel about helping turn the barracks into more of an apartment style area? Dan says you can manipulate wood."

Joe " I'd be ok with that. I want to pull my own weight."

"Good now Gina I hear you were a counsel women before all this. I was hoping you could be our Mayor and as more people come help organize food stores, hunting parties, and try and figure out if anyone is coming with bad intentions."

Gina "I'd be happy to take over the Mayors roll. There are thing we would need you haven't thought about though. We need something like a police force once we have a decent number of people here. We also need to start using the blacksmith and alchemist shops. Trade may become useful in the future. There's a lot to plan and do. I would need an assistant."

D hadn't thought about any of those things. His mind was mostly focused on how to grow stronger who or what to fight next. This all seemed like to much. Maybe they shouldn't have claimed this territory stone. His head was hurting already.

"I would like to try my hand at blacksmithing." Dan said

"Really why's that?" Rob asked

"Well I feel it goes well with my class. So if I can get my profession and my class to kind of go hand in hand I think I could make some awesome weapons and armor for everyone." Dan said

"Go ahead then give it a shot. You've watched enough episodes of that damn knife making show. You must have some idea how to do it. Just don't ruin all the metals we have in there messing around. Start small and work your way up." D said

"Rob and I were talking earlier we want to try alchemy." Dave added "Potions are hard to come by if we can learn how to make them we don't have to worry about always having a healer with the hunting party."

"Yea we don't know anything about it yet but we're sure once we can get some information on it we will be ok. Dave's always been good with plants." Rob said

"Alright let's go check on Mike and see how he's doing. I want to go scout the surrounding area some more today before dark." D said

With that being a wrap on the first unofficial meeting they all left the town hall. Dave and Rob stopped to talk amongst themselves. Gina, Joe and Kim went towards the training hall where they had been staying.

D was almost to the barracks when he heard a loud boom come from the area near the gate. He took of running. As he glanced around he caught sight of Rob and Dave running towards the gate as well. They knew more people were going to be coming but they didn't think something like this was going to happen so soon. They reached the gate together. D looked back and could see Dan and Joe hanging out of sight of the opening in the gate. Dan must have given Joe a sword. Dan has the mammoth sword out and ready Joe was holding a standard sword at the low ready. D nodded to them both.

"What the fuck was that." Dave said

Two ugly men stuck there faces into view. "Open the gate were taking control of this settlement." One of them said

"Eat a dick bitch this is ours if you challenge us for it. Go ahead it'll be your death." Rob said

D could see more movement on the other side of the gate. These men weren't alone. He wasn't sure how many there were in total.

"We have a group of 12 with us. They do what they are told. Soon you all will too." The man told them

D used IDENTIFY on him and saw he was a level 5 named Artak. He had dark hair and a rather plump build. D decided it was time to put up or shut up.

"Open the gate Rob I accept his challenge." D said

*Ding* a challenge for the settlement Providence has begun. This challenge was proposed by Artak and accepted by Daemon. This dual will start in two mins.

Rob and Dave looked a little taken back by how quickly this had all started. They went from a meeting to a fight to the death in a matter of minutes. Artak and his friend entered the gate. Following them was a mix of Men and Women. The followers didn't look good. Most of the men had recently taken a beating. Some of the women seemed to have been slapped around as well. These men didn't control this group with respect they did it with fear. D used IDENTIFY on Artaks friend he was a level 4 named Erik. These two screamed asshole just by looking at there faces, and the way they held themselves. D had planned to slap that right out of them. After he was done with Artak he would let Rob or Dave handle Erik. This place has only been there home for 2 days, but no one was going to take that from them.

Artak started to walk forward and pulled a pair of daggers from his inventory. Now he had a extra smug look on his face.

D equipped his chest armor and sword. The look on his opponents face changed. He either finally used IDENTIFY and released the level mismatch or he could tell D's weapons weren't of the normal variety. Either way he must have known he bit off more then he could chew. It was to late it seemed. A challenge was set and answered

*Dual will begin in one minute*

D was ready he could feel his blood pumping. He would get some decent Exp from this. He was sure as shit going to make a fool out of this asshole. Make sure this man knew the error of his ways. Then he would allow Rob or Dave the chance to finish off Erik. These two needed to be wiped out. Men like this were sure to treat people poorly and the stronger they got the more they would take from the people around them.