Chương 72: Regional Steward

Mark touched the Rootmaw Alpha, and his loot awards were displayed.

Major Reward: Territorial Essence Rootmaw Alpha - Unlocks Regional Management - Expands regional awareness and stewardship functions Regional Development Rewards Frontier Operations Archive - Improves leadership and operational coordination understanding - Can be studied/shared Regional Contract Seal - Improves settlement task coordination and contribution tracking Skill / Knowledge Books Structural Reinforcement Techniques - Foundations, supports, defensive construction Trail Surveying and Route Planning - Roads, efficient routes, safer travel networks Advanced Food Preservation Methods - Smokehouses, preservation, travel rations, storage Wilderness Resource Extraction - Quarrying, gathering efficiency, identifying resource deposits Basic Metal Forming Principles - Smelting basics, crude furnaces, ore identification, shaping simple metal Crafting Materials Rootmaw Alpha Bone Core - Rare regional crafting/construction material Rootmaw Alpha Claws ×4 - Weapon/tool crafting material Thick Rootmaw Hide Bundles - High-grade leatherworking material Reinforced Tendon Bundles - Durable crafting bindings/stitching Food Resources Prime Alpha Meat Reserve - Rare high-quality meat with enhancement potential Preserved Beast Fat - Cooking and preservation ingredient System Note Due to exceptional operational contributions, additional reward categories unlocked.

Mark was stunned by the pile of items he received. He briefly looked through the list and closed the message. The party around him was continuing, and he was tired; he needed to sleep. He would review the loot and all the system messages he brushed away in the morning. As he walked into camp, he looked around; his A-frame had been moved. They had already started on the next phase of the Forest's Rest camp rebuild. The long house was not yet completed, but it should be in a day or two.

And they moved the A-frames in prep to start building the three cabins they were going to build. Just as he was about to walk in the A-frame he noticed the chicken coop and pen for the baby goats just outside the wall of the camp. In all the hustling over the last few days, he had forgotten all about them. Who was taking care of them and feeding them? Mark woke up to the noise of the camp. It was after sunrise, which was not surprising after all the craziness of the last few days.

He could hear voices talking about their levels and their rewards. It had to have been ten or more hours since the kill, judging by the height of the sun. He was surprised they let him sleep in so long, but he needed it. He walked over to the table and sat down. His thoughts were on breakfast, but when Dale brought over lunch, he guessed he was not surprised. Someone Mark did not know sat down at the table and spoke.

"That was crazy. I am a trail runner and only deliver messages and goods around the area, and I made out huge off that. Three levels, can you believe it? Crazy, right?" Mark congratulated him over his levels and the items he told him about. Mark looked around to find people working. It was just another day. Crews were hauling logs and moving stones. He overheard someone talking about the service tonight around the campfire at the cave to give a memorial for those that died.

He also heard that one of the people that were participating got a healer class after they leveled and were doing miraculous things in helping the wounded recover. With her help, people were recovering 10 times faster than they should have. Wounds stopped scars from fading away, like it had been more than a week rather than just 12 hours since the fight. Tom was sitting at his bench holding the hide he got, looking at it from different angles and mumbling about what he could make with it.

Elias and his son were discussing the skill books and farming equipment they had gotten for loot, and Finn was trying to tell his dad it would have been better to get a weapon or armor. The camp was busy and full of activity. Mark, though, needed to just step away and go over the system messages that were just blinking away at him that he had been ignoring since the kill last night. Finally, he decided to just go for a walk.

He headed east on the new trail heading that way and followed it until it came to a T going both north and south, and he took the south path. When far enough out of all the hustling around, he stepped off the path and found a nice tree to lean next to and sat down. And triggered the first message. [Level Up] Character: Mark Level: 9 [Level Up] Character: Mark Level: 10 Mark paused the messages and assigned his stat points so he would not forget. He added 2 to strength and 1 to agility.

Then added 2 points to vitality, 2 to perception, and 3 to intelligence. Strength: 12 Agility: 12 Vitality: 18 Intelligence: 20 Perception: 27 [Frontier Steward — Rank Advancement Complete] Previous Rank: Novice Frontier Steward Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. New Rank: Apprentice Frontier Steward He paused the messages at that point. Two levels that was incredible. He went almost two and a half days without sleeping more than an hour or two.

Those were some really nice gains. He brought up the benefits for his new class level. expanded regional awareness • improved task coordination • regional management access • settlement relationship tracking • infrastructure overview That was interesting; they reminded him of the message on the primary reward from the Rootmaw Alpha. Territorial Essence - Unlocks Regional Management. He pulled the item out of his inventory and started to examine it. [Territorial Essence] Absorb and integrate regional authority?

Y / N After choosing yes. [Regional Management Unlocked] But nothing else came up. So he opened his interface and started reading through the regional management screen he now had access to. There were so many options he did not know where to start. Then he found a tab labeled "Forest Region" and clicked on it.

[Regional Management — Forest Region] Controlled Influence: 83% Connected Settlements: 3 Population Overview Forest's Rest: 18 Residents, 5 Temporary Visitors Cave Camp: 13 Residents, 22 Temporary Visitors Eastbank Camp: 7 Residents, 11 Temporary Visitors Regional Population: 76 Average Regional Level: 7 Profession Distribution Builders: 6 Hunters: 12 Scouts: 5 Crafters: 8 Cooks: 3 Farmers: 4 Laborers: 10 Specialized Classes: 12 Unassigned: 16 Regional Status Travel Safety: Improving Food Security: Moderate Housing Pressure: High Construction Demand: Critical Predator Activity: Reduced Infrastructure Active Trails: 12 Major Construction Projects: 5 • Eastbank Outpost • Cave Camp Outpost • Forest's Rest Outpost • Southern Migration Route • Cave Defensive Perimeter Trade Activity Active Trade Agreements: 2 • Lakeside Exchange • Cave Camp Supply Network Resource Demand: • Lumber • Stone • Iron Tools Resource Surplus: • Leather • Preserved Food • Wheat Regional Alerts • Housing shortage increasing • Skilled labor shortage detected • Southern expansion viable • Wildlife migration destabilized after alpha removal Mark sat there and viewed the screen that was a lot to unpack.

While he was watching it, a few of the numbers went up; they were still having active migration to the area. Mark realized that this was no longer about just his camp. His Outpost. This was a Region and he was now the steward of it. This was bigger than him. He was responsible for the 70 + individuals in this zone. And he had the feeling this was just the start. Mark then brought up his class requirements for the next rank.

[Frontier Steward — Apprentice Rank] Advancement Requirements: • Maintain 3 functioning outposts (1 / 3) • Establish an active regional trade network (1 / 1) • Coordinate 3 successful regional operations (1 / 3) • Support a population of 50+ across connected settlements (50 / 50) • Develop 5 specialized professions within settlements (3 / 5) • Expand controlled territory influence to 3 connected regions (1 / 3) • Construct a permanent regional infrastructure project (0 / 1) Potential Advancement: Journeyman Frontier Steward That list looked daunting.

He looked at the last one Permanent regional infrastructure what could that mean? That might be fun to do. Expand control to two more regions he would need to travel. Population: He blew that one way out of the water. Outposts: two more. Well, he needs like four more, so that one was easy. Mark finally stood up; he needed to get back to work, see what was needed, and see where he needed to help. When he arrived back in camp, he saw two kids standing near the west gate. Just looking around lost.

Mark walked over and said.

"Hello, my name is Mark. I am the leader here at Forest's Rest. Were you looking for someone?" The girl answered.

"Hello, I am Clara, and this is my little brother Ben. A group of nice people found us lost over that way." She pointed west.

"They said they were coming to see some cave, and we followed them there. Someone there pointed us this way and said you would know what to do."

"I assume you have no family with you, correct?"

"No, sir, we were walking to school together, and next thing we knew, we were in a bunch of trees standing on a trail."

"Yes, we know what to do."

"We don't want to be a bother; we can work for food." Mark laughed.

"Don't worry, we all work for food. I think we have just the thing for you." Mark then led them over to the table and had them sit down. Dale brought them some food, and they ate like they were starving. Dale dropped off a third plate in case they needed more than the first helping. Mark led Dale to the side and explained to him that they were found somewhere on a trail by a group going to the cave and were told to come here, as we would know what to do.

Mark asked him if he could get them to tend to the animals, as they had the baby chicks, goats, and murder pigs that needed tending. Dale said.

"So you want me to be their babysitter? I don't have time for that." Then Dale walked over and picked up the kid's dishes and had them come over to the sink and wash them. Mark watched for the next half hour as he showed them around camp and got them an A-frame to stay in, and if he was not wrong, he gave the kids Dale's own A-frame and taught them how to feed the animals. During the exchange Mark heard that the boy was 9 and his sister was 11.

Dale might have given him crap about watching after the kids, but Mark could tell from the way Dale treated them that he was going to enjoy their company. Maybe he could turn the kids into mini chefs.