Mark woke to people already eating breakfast. Tired from gathering wood after returning from the cave, he dressed and joined them. They now had a large supply, and his final load had earned no XP. The system seemed satisfied.
Mark joined Tom at the table for breakfast; Dale was still cooking food. Shortly after he sat down, Lena and Cora walked into camp. Tom yelled, “Two more for breakfast, Dale.”
Before Lena and Cora sat down, Tom told them about the XP Ava got while turning in her gathered resources to the outpost.
Lena went over first and pulled out items that she had gathered for the last couple days. She made a happy sound and then went to sit down to eat.
Cora went over, put her stuff down, and then just stared at the table. “Is this supposed to do something?”
Lena replied, “I just got a ton of XP for gathering resources for the outpost.”
Cora replied, “Nothing.”
Mark then said, “Oh yeah, it did not add you as part of the outpost. Do you want to be added?”
“Let me think about it.”
They talked about the advantages of being a member of the outpost and then about her not sleeping there. She finally decided that for now she would just stay as is and think about how it would change things for her, as she really did not want to settle down and bind herself to one place.
Cora joined them at the table, and Dale served breakfast. One cave group had found a fungal cavern filled with mushrooms and new crafting and alchemy resources, exciting the herbalist who hoped to gain or develop a related class. The other group encountered a narrow crystal tunnel with mineral growths, unstable terrain, and a rare crystal resource.
They let Mark know that the pair from Lakeside was excited about what they found and let the group know that they were aware of at least four or five people in the Lakeside area that would most likely come to join in the adventures. The Cave Camp outpost members had decided with the cave interests that they would make a check-in system for the cave and that they would rotate through groups on a first-come, first-served basis so that no one group monopolized the cave.
It had also been determined that all cave visitors would give 10% of the proceeds from the loot gathered to the Cave Camp, and that would be split: 40% of that would stay there to build the camp, and the remaining 60% would go to Forest’s Rest since they had discovered the cave and maintained the primary routes and support infrastructure around it.
They also asked if Mark could come help them with their outpost management. They found that through the system, they could keep control but assign management rights to another person, and they wanted to know if Mark could do that for them so they could concentrate on the cave.
Mark told them that he would come and talk to them about it within the next few days. For now, he needed to take off; he was in a race to beat Ava to Level 8 today.
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Mark planned to build a southern trail connecting Forest’s Rest to the ruined camp so they could better reach the burrow cluster and marshlands. Depending on the XP, he might extend it east or west after consulting the others.
With his decision done, he set off on his task. The first thing he did was create a new gate out of camp. His current gates headed directly east and directly west, and he wanted this one heading out directly south. He gathered material and produced the gate while working at the craft areas and was happy to see he gained XP in the process.
Once he installed the gate and set up the traps and alarms around it for nighttime protection, he slowly worked his way south. The first third of the way was the hardest, as it was through the forest, and he had to clear a lot of plants and even remove two trees to make his path straighter.
The rest of the way was pretty easy, and he quickly found the old trail and improved it all the way to the ruined camp. He was making good time and figured that he would get back to the camp just a little after lunch, and then he would decide on the next project.
When he got back to camp, he looked at his experience level. He had earned enough to get him really close. One more good project would push him to Level 8.
He had just settled into his lunch when the bird came flying into camp, circled, and then left. Moments later Ava showed up. She ran directly up to Mark. “I won! I am Level 8.”
Catching her breath, she continued. “I received the class Beast Tamer; its focus is on companion bonds, wilderness exploration, animal handling, and a few other things I can’t remember.”
[Class Selected]
Beast Tamer
[Beast Tamer — Level 1]
Class Focus:
Companion Bonds
Wilderness Exploration
Animal Handling
Coordinated Hunting
Wild Adaptation
◈ ◈ ◈
Then again, with her hands in the air, she screamed. “I won!”
She finally sat down and grabbed a sandwich Dale had made for lunch.
Dale walked over and asked, “Ava, when did you level?”
“Just now. I ran straight here after I leveled.”
“Okay, I was just wondering because I hit Level 8 and got the Survival Chef class just after breakfast.”
[Class Selected]
Survival Chef
[Survival Chef — Level 1]
Class Focus:
Meal Preparation
Preservation
Resource Utilization
Settlement Support
Culinary Expansion
◈ ◈ ◈
Ava just looked at him, and Mark thought she was going to cry, and she just turned and walked toward her A-frame while she mumbled. “Oh, then I didn’t win.”
Dale looked at her as she walked off. “Was it something I said?”
Mark walked over to Dale and congratulated him on his level and new class and reminded Dale that Ava was just fourteen and to her it was a big deal that she was going to be first.
They spent a few minutes going over Dale’s class and the things he needed to do to level. The process was similar to outpost progression but had more choices and not just a single requirement. He had focus areas of cooking, preservation, morale, nutrition, and food sustainability.
Each section was broken into accomplishments he could do, like preservation; he could be working on gaining skills in smoking, drying, storage, preservation, and food stabilization. All of the things would improve the food he made, and the class would directly improve his Field Cooking skill, increase the speed of preparing meals, and improve food stability.
Mark finally went over to Ava’s A-frame and knocked on the side. She reluctantly opened it, and he let her know how proud he was that she got her class and that she beat him. She finally started to smile again and said, “I knew I could beat you.”
After that, Mark left camp to finish off his level.