Mark sat down for breakfast and said hello to the outpost’s new residents. They had made plans last night to go south with Dale and Tom to where Cora had found the wheat fields. They had come to the decision that they wanted to influence future skills to include farming in their next level up to get skills closer to what they were familiar with.
Ava planned to stay near camp and keep an eye on the murder pigs. The name had stuck with everyone but Ava; she did not like everyone calling them murder pigs.
With no one else pulling him in another direction today, Mark decided he was going to look into the outpost upgrade for his settlement and then also visit Cave Camp and see what he could do there. If there were time left over, he would look at his class upgrade options.
When he finished eating, he pulled up the upgrade options for his outpost.
Forest’s Rest — Outpost Level 2
Next Advancement Requirements:
8 Permanent ResidentsImproved InfrastructureStable Food SourceSpecialized ProductionConnected Territory Pathway◈ ◈ ◈
Before he had finished reading the list, a new message appeared.
[Outpost Advancement Available]
Forest’s Rest has met all requirements for Level 3 Outpost.
◈ ◈ ◈
Mark realized that his Frontier Steward class had pushed him to go get the three new residents that he had needed for his outpost to level, which really came in handy. If the class continued to do things like that, advancing to a village was going to be easy.
Mark selected the outpost upgrade and waited for its results.
[Outpost Advancement Complete]
Outpost Level 3
Requirements
8 permanent residentsProfession structure or workshopActive productionTrade activityMaintained defenses
Benefits
Trade recognitionRoute marker placementAllied settlement awarenessExpanded resident limitSettlement inventory sortingCommunal crafting support◈ ◈ ◈
The benefits had not changed much from Level 2. He could now create trade agreements instead of only accepting them, and the resident limit had risen from eight to twelve.
Curious, he pulled up the requirements for the next level.
Village Level 1
Requirements
12 permanent residentsMultiple professions or classesLong-term food stabilityPermanent housingRecognized leadership rolesActive trade route
Benefits
Official trade route registrationSettlement quest generationExpanded settlement storageResident role assignmentImproved rested bonusRegional map visibility
Warning
Current location not suitable for Village Upgrade. Village needs room to support housing for up to 20 people, 5+ crafting stations, and future space to support farming or livestock.
◈ ◈ ◈
Mark was excited until he reached the warning. He wanted to learn what settlement quests were, but Forest’s Rest had reached the highest level its current location could support. For now, it could hold twelve residents.
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Mark sat there thinking. He had chosen the location while trying not to die, not while planning a settlement. He would have to tell the others about its limitations. He would not have to disband this outpost, but it was now limited, and he felt it. He had always known there was not room. The cabins in Lakeside, for example, were big enough to fit two people, maybe three if he tore everything else out.
Having the Frontier Steward class, though, Mark already knew that he would be building and changing. Now he knew that would one day mean moving too. With that realization done and his upgrade complete, he headed toward Cave Camp.
Across the stream from Cave Camp, he looked at it differently. He had once thought it might compete with his outpost and future village. Now he saw that it had the same problem: too many people and too little space.
Thinking back to the cabins in Lakeside, Cave Camp had room for maybe two of them at most. His worldview had now shifted. Going forward, he would look at locations and see their future potential, not only their current potential. The cave was valuable and had huge potential. But Cave Camp did not have room to grow; at most, it could be a staging location.
Mark could picture a future in which Forest’s Rest and Cave Camp were two of maybe half a dozen outposts needed to support the cave as its popularity grew. As he looked across the stream, the original group of six now numbered more than a dozen he could see. Word was spreading, and treasure seekers were coming.
Mark crossed the stream and walked over to the camp. When Jarek and Mira saw him, they came over and asked him to step aside with them to chat.
Jarek said, “Cora told us that she had talked to you and let you know what we were wanting.”
Mark replied, “My understanding is you want me to manage the camp for you.”
“Yes and no. Yes, we want you to manage it, but in the long run we want you to control it. We have realized this place is out of our control. And more people are showing up. We need places to sleep and we need the ability to trade. But none of us want to manage it. Cora indicated that this would be something you might enjoy doing.”
Mark looked at the two of them and then at the craziness going on all around them. He instantly said, “Yes, I would love to. This could be fun. My understanding is there was going to be a 10% tax, you could say, to support the outpost and that it would be split between this camp and my camp.”
“From our perspective, as long as there is access to trading through the outpost interface, we will leave it to you to figure out how or where to use the resources.”
“Okay, one condition. I can’t do all the work myself to upgrade and build. I will have resources to trade, but I will need muscle to do the work. I can create job lists of things I need done and what the trade offers to do it, but I will need you guys to provide people willing to do the work to build and make this area usable for a fair trade, of course.”
With that, Mark received a system prompt that granted him control of Cave Camp. He found it interesting that when he accepted, he got two prompts: one for control rights and a second giving him XP for taking control of a second outpost. With the XP notice was a message indicating he also got progress toward his next class upgrade.
The two of them waved and walked off.
Mark found a chair and opened the outpost menu. It resembled the one at Forest’s Rest, except for a tab labeled Cave. Inside were two options: Instances and Expedition Contribution. The Instances screen showed both cave instances on cooldown, one for another three hours and twelve minutes and the other for four hours and thirty-four minutes.
Mark liked being able to check their status at any time. He opened Expedition Contribution and raised it from zero to ten percent. When participants exited the cave, the system would require goods worth ten percent of what they had received and transfer them to outpost storage.
Each participant could choose which items covered that ten percent, but the system would not allow them to exit until they did.
Mark thought that might upset someone the first time or those who did not want to fairly share, but it would simplify the process without anyone needing to track it.With that completed, he closed that menu and looked at the upgrade menu to see what needed doing to upgrade to the next level.
Outpost Level 2
Requirements
Dedicated Cooking StructureStable Food ReservesDefensive MeasuresMaintained Water AccessConnected Pathways◈ ◈ ◈
4 / 5 completed.
They already had everything except defensive measures. Mark found Jarek and explained that the system would enforce the ten-percent contribution when people exited, so everyone should know what to expect.
Mark then explained that defensive measures were needed to upgrade the outpost to Level 2. Jarek agreed to get some work crews going between delves and pay those working out of the outpost storage. He let them know he would be back tomorrow and upgrade to Level 2 then if they were done and look into upgrading it to Level 3, which he let Jarek know was the highest available.
Mark, before he left, also shared the benefits of being Level 2, which included contribution recognition, meaning they could gain XP for working for outpost benefits and the outpost map, and that settlement task tracking would also be included, most likely allowing them to have the system track the tasks assigned out and payment of goods for completion.
Mark then left and headed back to camp. Of course, he looked up settlement task tracking on his interface since he already had access to it.