Chương 69: Regional Threat

Mark was deep in a discussion with Garrick over the lack of experienced workers. So many people had yet to get to 8, and those that did had classes that were not practical or useful. Garrick wanted to put out recruitment for people to come work on the construction roles who were under level 8 so they could get a class built around either construction or labor or lumberjacking or something practical for their needs.

He was coming to the realization that they had resources, plans, and manpower, but the bottleneck was good skills and classes to support the work. They were talking ways to use the system to prioritize tasks that would lead to better skills and classes and, hence, better workers, as the goal was to build three redesigned outposts and then a sizable village. In the middle of their conversation, everyone around them froze at the same time Mark received a notification.

[Regional Alert] Dangerous Alpha Beast activity detected. Threat: Forest Alpha Bear Level Estimate: 12–15 Repeated attacks detected near active travel routes. Regional stability penalties may increase if unresolved. Recommended Response: Organized Group Hunt Mark read the alert a couple times, and by the looks on everyone else's faces, so were they. His first thought was the beast he had seen when trapping in the northeast corner of the zone. He had left it alone as it was way over his level at the time.

It seemed that it was time to figure out what to do. Ava ran over to Mark and said.

"Did you get that alert?"

"Yes, I did, and I am pretty sure I know where it's at." He opened his map, and indeed there was a regional alert notice over the area labeled "extreme risk." Ava replied.

"I want to go find it."

"Wait a sec. That thing is dangerous."

"I have Swoop; she can scout and make sure I never get close. You will need to know where it is if you are going to organize a fight, which, knowing you, you will."

"Who or what is Swoop?"

"Oh, it's my bird's name. I tried all kinds of names, and it kept rejecting them. I wanted Dropper, and she rejected it. I then offered Talon, Snatch, and Hook, and she refused them. That's why I called it bird for so long."

"Of course you wanted Dropper; that would have been great."

"That's what I told her, but she would not go for it. I suggested Swoop as a joke, and she loved it." Mark and Ava finally came to a decision: she could go scout, but she must stay way back and let Swoop be her eyes, and Bramble could follow its scent, but she must stay safe. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. The sounds around camp ranged from excitement to fighting something so high-level and fear that they would die in their sleep.

Mark went around and assured people that they would be safe. They would start out by doubling the guards that were out patrolling the trails and get all the scouts to track it. He also let them know that he would be going up to the Cave and organizing a party to hunt the bear down. But no one was to rush; they would go in 2 days, and in the meantime anyone that still needed gear, weapons, or armor should buy some, or if crafters, they should pick up the speed on making gear. Garrick came over and said.

"Mark, I heard what you said. We will stop construction for now on the longhouse and work on building the new walls we talked about to replace your barricades that will keep the workers busy and out of your way until you can get some of those meatheads up at the cave to go kill that thing for you."

Before Mark could head to the cave, Tom and Dale walked over and let them know that they would work to get more gear and food in prep for the group and would be up to the cave in a while to find and fix any needs in the gear or food area. Lena and Cora also walked over to let them know they were going to do the same as Ava and start scouting, and they would keep an eye on her and not to worry about her. With that, Mark finally went to the cave.

When he got there, he found a group of 15 that were going to go right then to fight. Mark reminded them that the system said they needed an Organized Group Hunt and that he was going to set up a system task for the area to gather and equip a group and then in 2 days take that group out to kill the bear. Some protested, but the wiser of the group got the others on board, and they switched from running off instead to preparation. They then brainstormed in a large group.

They talked about just going in with spears and clubs. Which was shot down after Mark shared the info about the trees being torn up with claw marks over 8 feet tall down to the trees. The conversation moved to traps of various sizes, with one person talking about building a giant cage until someone asked how they were going to transport it and convince the bear to run in. They finalized their plan on building a large pit trap with very sharp spears in it, along with large bear traps as backups.

If they could get it to fall in the hole and injure itself, they could use spears and arrows and other thrown weapons to whittle it down until they killed it. They would need to get crafters to make equipment, laborers to dig the pit, and the trackers and scouts to track it and keep it distracted while they dig the pit. Mark then created, through the system, the regional hunt contract and shared it with all of them and asked them to share it with anyone missing.

[Regional Hunt Contract] Target: Forest Alpha Bear Threat Level: High Participation Rewards: • Contribution Reward • Shared Loot Distribution • Regional Stability Bonus Requirements: Registered Hunt Participation People immediately started signing up, and Mark started to create the jobs needed to prep and scout and directed people to sign up for them. They had one crew building a trail to the edge of the extreme danger zone. And guards to guard them.

Runners and messengers were out sharing the word and letting people know what tasks needed doing and where to sign up. Mark sat there and realized for the first time that everyone was looking to him for guidance. They followed his plan; no one tried to push their own plan. Was this because they trusted him, or was it maybe the influence of his class? By the time he got back to his camp, there were already 35 people signed up. He was not even aware there were that many people in the area.

In his camp, preparations were in full swing. In preparation, Garrick came over and shared designs for large bear traps they could use. And more tasks were assigned for its production also. As everyone went to work doing what they could do, Mark went to his crafting station and started making more bows he had already made a dozen of them a day ago, and they had all been snapped up, and this would be another case of more need than current supply, so he spent the next few hours back to his roots, crafting items.