Chương 143: Chapter 154 — Then There Were Three

Mark woke before the sun had started to rise in the east. He had slept well for being in a tent and sleeping bag in a strange new zone. Mark wanted to check his traps before breakfast, so he slipped out of camp, making sure not to make too much noise. He assumed Malcolm was tired and would sleep in after the long hike the night before. Mark first traveled to the stand of trees northeast of camp and checked the traps. There was no activity there.

He adjusted them to make sure they were ready when something did come along. He was on the second of the four traps in the stand of trees northwest of camp when he found his first catch in the zone. At first he thought it was a rabbit, but after reading its identification, he realized it was a hare. He killed it and looted it.

[Bracken Hare Level 1] Defeated Loot Bracken Hare Meat Bracken Hare Hide ◈ ◈ ◈ The next trap he checked had been tripped and dragged to the end of its anchor, but whatever had triggered it had gotten away. Mark might need to make bigger, stronger traps depending on what had done this, but that could wait until later. For now, he repaired and reset the trap, then checked the last one, which was untouched. Mark continued back to camp and was almost to the fire pit when Malcolm climbed out of his tent.

He said hello to Mark, went over to the fire pit, and started getting it going. Mark was beginning to think he was not a morning person. Once Malcolm had the fire started and warmed his fingers, he turned to Mark to talk. Malcolm said, "I saw you walking back to camp. Are you out for a morning walk?" Mark replied, "Yesterday I set up six traps spread between the two stands of trees to the northwest and northeast of here and went to check on them." Malcolm said, "Nice. Did you catch anything?

I was wondering what was going to be for breakfast." Mark pulled out the meat and handed it to him.

"Here is what I got. You can cook it up if you like. I have other plans for breakfast, and I can most likely share them with you. But cook that up and we can store it for a snack later. I've never had hare before." Malcolm looked around the camp and said, "Did you find some cooking sticks yet so we can grill it over the fire?" Mark laughed and went to his packs to rummage around. He found the cooking gear Dale had given him, pulled it out, and brought it over to the fire pit.

Then he looked around for somewhere to put it. Again, no table. That and a chair were a must for today. Finally giving up, he returned everything to the pack except the cookbook, the spices, the skillet, and the spatula, then handed those to Malcolm. Malcolm looked over at Mark and smiled.

"I think I am going to enjoy hanging out with you. Back in the village I came from we had little to no ore, and I have not seen a real pan since I was brought to this world." Mark took a few minutes to tell him about the Forgeworks project and how it had opened up their ability to smelt ore, mine, and get blacksmiths working. Mark said, "By the way, the cookbook came from the owner of the inn back in Beaver Crossing. He is a good friend of mine.

Thumb through it, find something that looks like a rabbit recipe, and figure out what seasoning to use. You will appreciate the taste when it's done." Malcolm said, "Oh, that food was just amazing; he must have a good cooking class." Mark said, "Chef class, actually. He was a line chef before being brought here, having gone to culinary school and everything. Wish I could have stuffed him in my bag and brought him with me. But speaking of him, the next best thing."

Mark then opened his pack that Dale had handed him, pulled out his dirty dishes from yesterday, and put them aside and picked out the next note. On the top it said morning. After reading the note Mark started to laugh and then started to bring items out of the pack. They had a full breakfast that just needed to be warmed up and eaten. Mark looked back into the bag and found another note at the bottom that simply said, "Remember the cookbook. You can do it." This story has been taken without authorization.

Report any sightings. Mark could not stop the giggle that came out. Dale knew him so well. He had only eaten others' food when he was too far from Dale to get his food, and after this breakfast Dale was most definitely too far away. Malcolm finished cooking the hare and put it on a plate that Mark provided, and then Mark ran down to the stream and washed the pan downstream of camp and then brought it back up and warmed up the breakfast. They were about to eat when they heard a voice.

"That smells good. My name is Fiona, and I am hungry, and that food is making my stomach grumble." Mark looked over at the lady standing next to the stream, looking towards their camp. She was waiting for an invite to join them. Mark then mumbled, and then there were three. Mark finally came to his senses and invited her over. Going back to the pack, he found a third plate and fork and spoon and came over and handed it to her. He then divided up the food and handed each of them a plate.

She had taken three bites before she mumbled, "Oh, this is amazing. If this is how well you cook in the rough, I am definitely joining your camp." Malcolm laughed.

"Sadly, that is the end of the ride then. The food came from a Chef at an inn Mark and I stayed at a couple of days ago on the other side of the Frontier Gate." Fiona said, "Okay, if this is not how you guys cook, maybe I should head off. Any clue which direction the inn is?" Then she started to laugh, and Mark and Malcolm joined in too. Mark said, "If you would like to stay, I would love to have you. Now that there are three of us, we can start an outpost.

I did a bunch of scouting, and I think this is a great place for one, and I also have a surprise that might seal the deal if you're interested." Fiona said, "Even without any surprises, I would love to stay here with you. I am an Herbalist, and this marsh is amazing. I found over a dozen species of plants I have not seen before, and I can't wait to study them." Mark said, "Oh, you will like my surprise even more then.

I was lucky enough to get some saplings to start a small orchard; they need to be planted in the next couple days, and I think I found a good spot not too far from here." Fiona said, "You have trees. What types?" Mark said, "I have apples, pears, plums, and cherries. There are two different varieties of each fruit, with two trees of each variety." Malcolm said, "Mark, are you serious? You brought fruit trees? I came here expecting to have to live off the land for the first couple weeks."

Mark said, "Did I mention I have vegetable seeds and a complete collection of herbs and other seeds from an Herbalist friend of mine too?" The group spent the next hour going over all the items Mark had in his bags and inventory, along with what each of the others had. Mark was impressed when Malcolm pulled out some paper and started taking notes so he could get a good understanding of what they had to work with. Malcolm also talked about the Adventurers Guild and its maps and sent Fiona an invite.

She was surprised when she saw that another section besides theirs had been uncovered from the fog. They spent the next three hours going over their first plans for the outpost. Mark explained the school system, that he was a teacher, and that he planned to build a school. Malcolm was familiar with schools, but Fiona had never heard of them.

When Mark explained the process of completing lessons to earn and upgrade skills, she wanted him to generate lessons before the outpost was created and was disappointed when he explained they had to wait. Fiona said, "Okay, enough stalling; let's get this outpost created. I don't suppose one of you can explain the process." Both Fiona and Malcolm looked to Mark for the answer, and he explained the process of creating an outpost.

He also told them about the naming issue they had run into when creating Beaver Crossing, so the group tossed around names: Greenbank, Stillwater, Rush Hollow, and Reed Crossing. Then Mark suggested Twin Streams, and the group went quiet. They all looked over at the two streams flowing nearby and agreed that was the name. Mark brought up the interface to create the settlement and got a System error. They did not meet the basic requirements. They had only two shelters, and three were required.

Mark facepalmed and explained the problem. Fiona pulled a tent out of her pack, went over next to the other two, and set it up. [Settlement Name Recognized] Twin Streams Proceed with Outpost Creation?

YES / NO ◈ ◈ ◈ [Settlement Established] Name: Twin Streams Tier: Outpost Level 1 Central Structure: Twin Streams Fire Pit Benefits: Settlement registration Member list Basic settlement storage Settlement naming Minor rested bonus Limited territory awareness ◈ ◈ ◈ Before anyone could say anything, another System message appeared. [Regional Notification] Settlement influence has expanded Additional Outpost recognized Bracken Hollow regional development continues ◈ ◈ ◈