Mark and Ava reached camp just before lunch the next day. Ava had pushed them to move quickly so she could beat Mark to Level 8. Tom was at the crafting station, while Dale had cooked enough food to feed an army.
Mark pointed at the pile of food and said, “I think you made more than Ava and I could eat. Were you expecting us?”
Dale laughed and said, “No, it’s for the guys at the cave; we made an arrangement for me to cook for them.”
Mark had wondered what was up with the cave; he had received two more messages this morning putting the cave at 19%. He added that to his long list of things he needed to check into today.
The four of them sat down to eat. Lena was apparently at the cave with the others. It turned out a group of six came with Cora from the east and started working in the cave. They had stayed last night in camp and went to do the cave that morning and planned to build some shelters there near the cave since they expected Mark back today.
Ava blurted out, “I have a bird now, but Mark does not believe me.”
“I never said I did not believe you; I have just not seen it.”
Ava just pouted and then started looking around. Then she looked toward the east and whistled. Nothing happened, and she just kept looking in that direction and whistling again. Then the sound of a bird could be heard, and a huge bird the size of a full-grown eagle flew into camp and landed on the ground about 15 feet from the group.
Ava had a smug look on her face and said, “I told you so.”
The three men just looked at the bird in amazement.
Ava then said, “It likes raw meat or fish. If you toss some out, she will eat it.” Apparently Ava knew it was a female bird.
All three of them pulled out a piece of meat from their inventory, and then they all laughed. Dale won by tossing his first toward the bird. It quickly picked it up and then flew off heading north.
Ava then let them know that she would be out the rest of the day hunting and exploring. She said she was getting small amounts of XP when the bird had been exploring the zone on their way back to camp. Ava then left camp and started heading south with Bramble leading the way.
After she left, Mark told them the two biggest things he had learned: classes appeared at Level 8, and they could create an outpost with benefits such as shared storage. They decided to create one without further delay.
Mark stood up, went to the center of camp, and said, “Create outpost.”
[Settlement Registration Initiated]
Proposed Settlement Type: Outpost
Evaluating Requirements...
◈ ◈ ◈
They all sat looking at their system message. Then another came.
[Requirements Met]
Outpost Level 1 established.
Settlement Name: [Name Required]
Registered Members: 5
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
◈ ◈ ◈
They all sat there waiting for more, and nothing happened. Tom turned to Mark and said, “Well, now what?”
Mark replied, “Oh yeah, I forgot they told me that we would get a new system menu.”
They all opened up their system menu and found the tab labeled Outpost [Name Required]. Then another system message appeared.
[Outpost Benefits Unlocked]
Settlement Storage AccessMember RegistrationShared Territory Awareness ExpandedMinor Rested BonusSettlement Task Recognition Enabled
◈ ◈ ◈
They quietly explored the new menu for more than twenty minutes before anyone spoke.
Dale said, “Oh, I found here in the menu an option to start the settlement storage, and as a founding member, we can grant access to others. Should I start the process?”
Tom said, “I found the settlement leadership, and it has no one assigned. I set Mark as Leader and set me and Dale as founding members. The system says that will allow all three of us to set settings, but only Mark will be able to upgrade or remove members.”
Mark finally spoke. “I think we need to name this place. Anyone have a preference? The place we visited out west was called Lakeside, and well, it sat next to a lake.”
They all talked over names and chose Forest’s Rest as the name of their outpost, which the system accepted as a unique name and updated their tabs.
Dale finally pressed the button to start processing the settlement storage. It let him know that storage containers had to exist and items put into them for the system to accept them. But once the settlement storage system was finished processing, they could get any item out of any storage bin in the settlement.
There was a sorted list and a search feature. It also categorized all items and said that future upgrades would enable more total space but did not really clarify what the current limits were. It also had settings to lock storage to only settlement members or allow nonmembers to access it. They could also limit or allow access by single item or category. For the time being, they set access to only settlement members.
They then found the members list. They currently had listed Mark, Ava, Tom, Dale, and Lena. The list also included two contracted beasts belonging to Ava. They then added Cora as a registered visitor and allowed her full access to the storage, as she was a trusted friend.
Mark brought up the shared territory awareness and read what that meant. It turned out that all members and trusted friends would get map access to the settlement map and all settlement trails. Mark pulled up his map function.
There was a new map labeled as Forest’s Rest, which basically showed the small camp and about 5–10 feet in all directions around it. Mark switched to his zone map, which now had the camp labeled with its new name and showed much more data. As he watched, he could see small swaths fill in southeast of him. He guessed that was Ava’s, Bramble’s, and the bird’s work.
Mark finally found the tab labeled “Outpost Upgrades” and clicked on it.
[Outpost Level 2 Requirements]
Dedicated Cooking StructureStable Food ReservesDefensive MeasuresMaintained Water AccessConnected Pathways
Progress:
3 / 5 Requirements Completed
◈ ◈ ◈
Well, that sure explains all the well-organized paths he saw in Lakeside. The system wanted civil engineering works done to increase the outpost’s capacity. Mark had a water source. It was not close but not terribly far away either. But the access was not maintained. So it was time to do a little construction project and upgrade his outpost.
Mark discussed the requirements with Dale and Tom. The three spent four hours improving the path toward their water source and adding stone markers like those near Lakeside. When they finished, nothing appeared to change.
Tom and Dale gathered water and returned to camp while Mark headed to the cave. He found a much fuller camp than expected, with Lena and Cora talking to the six newcomers.
They had built five lean-tos, a fire area, and a cooking table with chairs. Dale had requested the cooking space in exchange for preparing their meals.
The group, while waiting for the next cave run, had made those and was now waiting. They explained to Mark about the timer and the only two instances. The group sat around the fire counting down the remaining time before the next cave run.
Looking at the camp and after just having done the outpost setup in his camp, he explained to them what he had learned, including how to create it and give it a name. The six huddled together for a few minutes and created their own outpost. As Mark was not part of their group, he did not see any system messages. But he pulled up his zone map and found a new outpost labeled “Cave Camp.” Not the most exciting name, but he now had close neighbors.
Mark finally walked over to the cave and received the message that it was blocked for three hours and twenty minutes until the next instance unlocked. Mark took one last look at Cave Camp and then decided maybe he should add a trail more directly from his camp to the cave.