Two weeks in, Harold woke to voices.
Not the uneasy kind. Just people are quietly busy.
The kitchen crew had been lifesavers. There wasn't a moment he came into the hall without seeing them working, always doing something to keep twelve hundred people fed. Pots moving, knives working, someone constantly stirring something.
He lay still for a moment, listening.
No shouting. No alarms. Just distant movement. Boots on packed dirt. The muffled thump of something heavy being shifted outside. The village is breathing on its own.
And it was a village now.
Two additional halls had been completed, with two more under construction. There were still people sleeping outside, but most had at least a pad between them and the ground. Some of the more outdoorsy types slept out in the observation posts built along the woodline.
Harold sat up slowly, stretching the stiffness from his shoulders.
His room hadn't changed much in the last week. Still sparse. Still temporary. But there was a real bed now. The table no longer wobbled after he'd stolen a shim from the woodpile. The shutter actually closed.
Luxuries, by current standards. Progress came in small comforts.
He dressed without rushing, washed his face in cold water, and took a moment longer than necessary to steady himself. The shaking hadn't vanished, but it was manageable now. Teaching others had helped more than he'd expected.
Downstairs, breakfast was already underway.
He took a bowl from the line and thanked the cooks. The porridge was thicker than before, with bits of meat mixed in. Someone had figured out how to season using herbs from the nearby forest.
He ate standing up, watching people pass.
Fewer lost looks. Fewer people are standing idle, doing nothing. Work crews formed without being told. Adventurers checked the board and moved on instead of lingering. The brothers kept them organized, ensuring teams were always out while maintaining enough people in the settlement to respond if needed.
They were better armed now. Most teams had at least one proper weapon. Though most of them had the crap goblin swords.
Finished, Harold rinsed the bowl himself and carried it back into the hall. He crossed the main space and stepped into the smaller room off to the side, the one people had started calling the Lord's office.
The name still felt strange.
The room smelled faintly of fresh-cut wood and fire. Some enterprising person had figured out how to make candles using beeswax and something else Harold hadn't asked about. Either way, it worked. A solid desk sat against the far wall. The map hadn't improved much since paper still wasn't an option, but a terrain model occupied the wide table nearby, notable features marked with slate notes.
It had already proven its worth more than once. Harold set his hands on the desk and took a slow breath.
Two weeks survived.
He ran through his mana exercises, centering himself and preparing for the upcoming meeting. They were doing better than he'd expected. Not as well as he'd hoped.
Today, he would have to send people to do things they weren't ready for yet. There would be deaths. He didn't see another choice.
Harold stood at the desk, eyes on the terrain model, and tried to decide where people would hurt the least.
There were only so many hands. Every task is pulled from another. Every success created a new bottleneck: food, water, shelter, security, and metal. None of them could be ignored, and none of them could be solved all at once.
He shifted a slate marker slightly closer to the mine.
That was the pressure point.
Metal changed everything. Tools. Weapons. Nails. Hinges. Without it, they'd stall. With it, they'd start accelerating in ways he might not be able to control entirely.
The door opened.
Beth and Josh came in together.
Beth moved straight to the table, slate already out, posture composed. Josh followed half a step behind, looking around like he still couldn't quite believe this was his job now.
"Mornin'," Josh said cheerfully. "Place is really coming together. Still smells like smoke, though."
Beth shot him a look. "It's a working settlement."
"Exactly," Josh replied. "That's the good smell."
Harold gave them each a hug and went back to the map.
Mr. Caldwell entered next, quiet and precise, a couple of slate tablets tucked under one arm. He inclined his head toward Harold, then moved to the side of the room, already reviewing numbers no one else could see yet.
"Morning," he said.
"Morning, Caldwell," Harold replied.
Hale and Margaret arrived together again.
They stopped talking as they stepped inside, their expressions neutral and professional. Hale took up a position near the wall, arms folded, eyes already tracking exits and sightlines. Margaret moved closer to the table, gaze flicking briefly over the terrain model before settling on Harold.
"Lord," she said.
"Margaret. Hale."
The last to arrive was someone Harold hadn't met many times, almost immediately dispatching her to the makeshift mine to get going as soon as she was summoned. She had come back specifically for this meeting at his request.
She was shorter than most, compact and broad-shouldered, with the posture of someone used to shouting over noise. Stone dust still clung to her boots despite an apparent attempt to clean them.
She paused at the doorway, clearly unsure where to stand.
"Come in, Lira," Harold said. "You're fine."
She nodded once and stepped forward. "Name's Lira," she said. "Mine foreman."
Josh perked up immediately. "Ah, the one who turned a goblin hole into something useful."
Lira snorted. "Usefulness is generous. But it'll hold."
Beth glanced over. "She's been running three shifts already. Pulled out workable stone and trace iron. Nothing clean yet."
"Yet, it's there, though," Lira corrected.
Harold inclined his head to her. "That's why you're here."
Lira's expression tightened just a fraction at that.
The brothers came in quietly, talking to each other. They looked up when they entered and said "My lord" at the same time, and went to speak with Mr.Caldwell.
The room settled as everyone took their places. No reports yet. No slates raised. Just the low murmur of people who'd been working long enough together to know this meeting would decide how hard the following week was going to be. Josh immediately started talking to Lira about something.
Harold looked around the table.
He rested his hands on the edge of the terrain model. "Alright," he said. "Let's talk about where we are."
The murmurs stopped. And the real meeting began.
Harold rested both hands on the edge of the table.
"Before we start arguing about what comes next," he said, "I want to make sure I understand exactly where we are right now. If I get something wrong, correct me."
No one objected. Beth actually looked relieved.
"Buildings first," Harold continued. "We have the lord's hall with three rooms added on. Two additional halls were completed. Two more are under construction."
Beth nodded. "Both frames are up. Roofing on the third hall tomorrow if the weather holds."
"Good," Harold said. "Each of those is still primarily sleeping space."
"For now," Beth confirmed.
"We've got a dedicated blacksmith building and one for the glassmaker," Harold went on. "Both functional, not comfortable."
"The blacksmith's place is barely civilized," Josh added cheerfully. "But it works."
"The kitchen building," Harold said, glancing toward Beth again, "should be finished today."
"Structure, yes," she replied. "The overhang and communal tables will take a couple more days."
"The barracks and watchtower are done, but almost none of the soldiers have beds or anything," Harold said. "Palisade around the barracks should be complete in about a week."
Hale nodded. "Assuming nothing changes with how we are using our soldiers for now."
"Which brings me to the gaps," Harold said. "We're critically short on furniture."
No one argued that.
"Beds, tables, storage, everything," Josh said. "We're improvising. A couple of guys are working on a small furniture production area. They just don't really have any time to make any. Hard to do that without lights."
"We still can't produce cloth," Harold continued. "Repairs only. No new production, though we have found things we can use to make cloth."
Margaret made a small mark on her slate. "Clothing degradation is becoming noticeable."
"Food," Harold said. "All hunting, fishing, and foraging. Fields are planted, but we're months out from seeing returns."
"Correct," Caldwell said. "We're stable, not secure, but the hunters are having to range further out. It is an issue I intended to bring up today."
"Some people are figuring out commodities," Harold went on. "Candles. Soap. Small things, but useful."
"And tradable," Caldwell added.
"Potion production hasn't started beyond what I can personally make," Harold said. "That's a bottleneck."
Margaret nodded. "We're relying on you entirely right now."
Harold grimaced. "Not ideal."
"The mine," he continued, turning slightly toward Lira, "is producing good stone. Iron is present but not consistent yet."
Lira crossed her arms. "Veins are thin and scattered. We're pulling trace iron, not real yield. Transport's also slowing us down, and we don't have real mining picks. One piece of good news, my lord, is that one of the miners is close to figuring out how to craft stone."
"Right," Harold said. "Which means the blacksmith is producing what we need, not what we could. And almost all of our metal is coming from looted things from the various monsters the adventurers are finding."
"With more metal, I could triple output," Josh said. "At least."
"Adventurers are still under-armed," Harold said. "They're adapting, but we can't really fix that until metal production improves. We've had some deaths, but they have all respawned. There currently is no one waiting to respawn, and most of the deaths have come from people exploring towards the mountains."
The brothers both nodded.
"And finally," Harold said, looking at Hale, "we have over a hundred soldiers. No current injuries."
Hale inclined his head. "119 currently, they're drilling well. Discipline's solid. But they need more time and better equipment before I'd call them trained. None of them come knowing formation drills."
"How long?" Harold asked.
"A couple more weeks," Hale replied. "Minimum. Longer if we want them to survive real fights, and they really need better equipment."
Harold absorbed that, then looked around the table again.
"Now, raw resources we are using all the wood we produce as demand for it everywhere, if we could produce more, we could use more. But the limiting factor there is again the tools, which need metal."
Harold nodded once and shifted the marker on the table.
"Clay," he said. "We've got a good deposit near the creek bend. Soft ground, easy access. It's one of the few materials we can scale without metal tools."
Josh leaned forward immediately, clearly waiting for his turn. "Already started on that. A small building's going up just past the wash line. Six volunteers so far. Mostly people who've worked with pottery or brick back on Earth, or close enough to fake it."
Beth added, "They're digging by hand for now, but it's workable. Bricks, basic pots, storage jars."
"That helps," Harold said. "Especially storage."
He moved the marker again.
"Charcoal," he continued. "We're making some, but not enough."
Josh nodded. "We've been doing it the simple way. Pits and covered burns. It works, but it eats labor."
"And wood," Harold added.
"Yeah," Josh said. "But if we don't do it, the blacksmith and glassmaker stall completely."
Hale spoke up from the wall. "Soldiers can rotate onto charcoal duty if needed. It's boring, but it doesn't need finesse."
Harold made a note. "Do that if production dips."
He slid the marker again.
"Bone and hide," Harold said. "We're pulling a lot of it from hunting. Too much to be wasting."
Caldwell nodded. "Bone's being used where it can be. Needles, simple tools, handles."
"The hide's the problem," Josh said. "We can scrape it, clean it, dry it. But turning it into actual leather is another thing."
Margaret chimed in. "We don't have tannin sources organized yet. No proper pits. No lime."
Harold nodded. "So right now, we can make rawhide. Stiff. Useful for lashings, shields, and some armor. But not proper leather."
"Correct," Beth said. "It'll hold things together, but it won't be comfortable."
"That's still something," Harold replied. "But leather's a priority."
He paused, then looked up.
"How feasible is concrete?"
The room went quiet for half a second.
Josh scratched his chin. "Primitive concrete? Maybe. Lime's the big hurdle. We'd need to burn limestone or certain shells at high heat. Then mix it right. Without iron tools, it's slow."
"But not impossible," Harold said.
"Not impossible," Josh agreed. "If we find the right stone and dedicate people to it."
Beth added, "It'd change how we build. Foundations. Drainage. Permanent structures."
Harold nodded slowly. "Good. I don't need it now. I need to know if it's a dead end."
"It's not," Josh said. "Just expensive in labor."
"Everything is, but we have plenty of labor right now. Honestly, the sun going down slows us more than anything." Harold replied.
He looked around the table again, making sure everyone was tracking.
"Alright," he said. "Clay keeps moving. Charcoal gets priority support. Bone and hide get organized, even if it's crude for now. And we keep our eyes open for limestone."
He rested his hands on the table.
"That's my understanding," he said. "If I missed something, now's the time."
No one spoke. Which meant, at least for the moment, he was caught up.
Harold exhaled slowly.
"Alright," he said. "Now let's talk about what we're willing to risk to change those answers."
"The material that would change our circumstances the most immediately is access to metal."
Harold rested his palms on the edge of the table and let the room settle.
No one interrupted him.
"I happen to know of a source of iron nearby," Harold continued.
Josh straightened a little, and Hale didn't move at all.
"But," Harold said, emphasizing the word, "that's a big if. Bigger than most of the things we've tackled so far."
He reached out and shifted a marker on the terrain model, pushing it a few days' travel from the village.
"It's a dungeon," he said. "A simple one, but active. And it sits atop what we need. It might not be worth it with the distance, but it needs to be cleared."
Margaret's slate paused mid-scratch.
"About a week out," Harold went on. "Far enough that we can't respond quickly if something goes wrong. Close enough that if we don't deal with it now, someone else eventually will. And we need the World's first dungeon clearance."
"And it's iron," Beth said quietly.
"Yes, I think there are other things as well, but I can't remember clearly," Harold replied. "Enough to change how fast we can build and arm people."
Hale finally spoke. "What kind of dungeon?"
Harold didn't answer immediately.
"It's a goblin one, it's where the goblins from around here have been coming from," he said at last. "With preparation, I think we can do it."
Josh frowned. "That's not a real answer."
"It's the honest one," Harold said. "This isn't something we brute-force. It's something we secure, and it'll take the best adventurers we can field."
That drew a look from the brothers.
The taller of the two, Evan, straightened slightly. His brother, Mark, stayed leaning against the wall, arms crossed.
"If you're talking about adventurers," Evan said, "then we already have a team in mind."
Harold nodded. "I figured you would."
"They formed on their own," Mark said. "No assignment and no pressure from us. They were already friends when they came here. Sarah pulled them together after the first goblin contact."
Josh couldn't help himself. "She doesn't wait around for meetings."
Beth shot him a look. Josh grinned and leaned back, wisely shutting up.
"Five people," Evan continued. "Sarah leads, and quite well, actually. Two frontliners, one ranged, one utility. They move well together."
"They don't rush," Mark added. "They mark ground, pull back, and come back prepared. They do push harder and further than most teams, though.
Hale's eyes flicked toward the map. "Casualties."
"A couple of times, but they have always respawned, and they have always killed what killed one of their number," Evan said. "They argue," Mark said. "But it's about approach, not ego. And once they commit, they commit."
Harold considered that. "Equipment's light."
Mark nodded. "Very. Bone and wood mostly. One decent blade they rotate depending on who needs it most."
"That explains some of the reports I've had," Harold said.
Harold looked back down at the terrain model, fingers resting near the marker that represented the dungeon.
Josh chimed in without looking up. "Also, if anyone's going to tell you no to something stupid, it's Sarah."
That earned a couple of faint smiles.
Harold exhaled slowly. "Good. Ok, dispatch them today to this area, Hale, send two squads with them, and Mark one other team as a just-in-case. I want them to recon and secure the dungeon. Then slowly delve into it. Hale, no soldiers in the dungeon, that isn't their job. Just escort the adventurers to the area, then start fortifying the dungeon. There will be goblins escaping from it occasionally."
He met the brothers' eyes.
"Start building the plan around them,"
Mark added, "If anyone can get eyes on it and come back alive, it's that team."
Silence settled briefly over the room.
Before Harold made a move, the weight of their predicament pressed heavily upon the room. The village's current lead hung in the balance, dependent on the swift decisions they were about to make. Harold didn't move the marker on the table this time.
Instead, he pulled a slate closer and turned it so everyone could see.
"Before we go any further," he said, "I need to go over perks."
That got everyone's attention.
Harold took a moment to look around the room, his gaze steady and confident yet shadowed by a hint of fatigue. His leadership was evident in the way he carried the weight of their collective hopes. "Not the ones we've already earned," Harold continued, letting the silence underscore his authority. "The ones I planned around before we ever got pulled over. World firsts. Regional firsts. Individual thresholds. I'm gonna cover part of why it is so important and why we need to take some risks right now."
Josh opened his mouth, then thought better of it and closed it again.
"I didn't write these down because they weren't guaranteed," Harold said. "I wrote them down because if we don't get them. It would harm our long-term standing in this basin and our standing as humanity as a whole. Last time, one of the Lords attempted to skip a lot of the foundational perks and hyper-specialize in stone. Importing much of what he needed. But when his source of stone was cut off by another lord, his territory collapsed. We need these general and world-first perks in order to stay in the lead."
He tapped the slate once.
"We've already hit one. World's first Monster den clearance, that one wasn't as surprising as we have nearly double the soldiers being summoned as every other village." Harold took a quick sip of water as he continued talking. He could see the people around him paying attention to his words. "I guess one of the rare or epic-tier villages could have done it, but their losses would have been horrendous unless they threw adventurer bodies in as well. I don't like risking the adventurers that way, though."
"They'll lose a random perk on death, and the amount of time it takes for them respawn will increase by half each time. The few people who have died already can attest that it's not comfortable. We've already had one person shy away from adventuring, feeling your death each time isnt something most people want to deal with."
"Mark, what's the respawn timer on the guy that's died four times already?" Harold asked.
Mark gave a quick snort but looked serious for a moment. "You know he died to a goblin, right? I'm not sure he's cut out for this life. But his respawn time is about 13 hours for his latest death. He's actually how we figured out how the timer increases. Each death, the timer goes up about 1.5 times. And it started with a 4-hour timer. It's pretty brutal. At ten deaths, you're losing about a week of time, and that will only increase."
Harold nodded to Mark while a couple of the others discussed that in quiet voices. Marget was the one who actually spoke up.
"That rate of deaths and the timer increasing is unsustainable. We don't have a source of new adventurers without recruiting from other settlements. If we have full teams out for weeks at a time, it would be a massive manpower loss for us."
Harold was already nodding as she talked. "Exactly the point I wanted to make, Margaret, thank you. We need to cultivate these people. We can't afford to risk losing any of them. They are too important to our future plans."
"Back to the perks and Den clearance, though. That gave us Quick Start, and Hale can attest to how much of a game-changer that one is."
Hale nodded. "Soldiers are already feeling it."
"Good," Harold said. "That one was mandatory, because of that, it will be easier to turn our soldiers into elites."
He slid the slate slightly.
"Next are the settlement-based firsts. These are slower, but they stack with individual perks and the lord perks I get. I know they seem small, but they're additive. For example, combining the Efficiency and Yield perks can speed up our construction efforts by 10%, allowing us to build essential structures more quickly. and that will only go up as time goes on." Harold looked at Beth and Josh.
"First building. First communal housing block. First fortified perimeter. Those are all common and uncommon. We haven't gotten all of those, but I think we will get about 60% of those, and they will stack a ton of modifiers onto us. Furthermore, we can get more of these since they are based on the building material, so we can get another one if we get the world or region first again when using stone. What isn't known yet is that concrete does count for that."
"Critical for all of these is that we were constructing on the first day. The majority of Lords took a few days to get organized and start building. Then almost all of them are still struggling. We were lucky enough to have the manpower to really throw into projects immediately."
Beth frowned slightly. "We didn't know there were perks attached based on building material."
"There are," Harold said. "Mostly boring ones. Efficiency. Yield. Reduced waste. Strength. They don't look flashy, but they compound. We're gonna need as many stone modifiers as possible since stone will be the primary building material in the future."
Josh didn't smile this time. He leaned forward, forearms on the table.
"So those perks don't change what people can do," he said slowly. "They change how long they can keep doing it and how much we can get out of it."
Harold nodded once. "Unless they get some kind of material perk that lets them manipulate that material, but yeah."
Josh glanced around the room. "That means the settlement that gets those first doesn't just grow faster. They'll make fewer mistakes. Lose fewer people to dumb stuff. Burn out slower."
He scratched the back of his neck. "Which means by the time anyone notices the difference, it's already too late to catch up."
Beth looked at him, surprised.
Harold allowed himself a slight nod. "They can also make learning easier, but yes, humanity's most successful regions in the past were all owned by one Lord who focused on getting as many boring modifiers as possible to make his people more productive."
Harold moved on.
"Individual general perks," he said. "These are the ones everyone should eventually earn just by living and working."
Margaret tilted her head. "You're assuming people won't sabotage themselves."
"I'm planning around averages," Harold replied, wagging his hand.
He ticked them off with his finger.
"For example, First sustained labor without injury. First week without missed rations. First night watch rotation without incident. These unlock endurance, focus, and fatigue resistance perks."
Caldwell blinked. "Those don't sound rare."
"They aren't," Harold said. "They're common and easy to miss, but they stack."
He paused, then added, "Most settlements don't even know they exist until someone else advertises them on the forum. Once we get most of these, I'm going to put the how-tos for many of these perks on the forum so we can maintain our lead. I plan on using information like this as a way to cement my authority and knowledge among our people." As Harold spoke, a flicker of skepticism crossed Beth's face, her brow furrowing slightly. She exchanged a glance with Josh, who raised an eyebrow, as if silently questioning whether revealing these details might undermine Harold's control or lead to unforeseen consequences.
He looked toward Hale.
"A lot of time training new troops isn't going to be about combat," Harold continued. "It's going to be about unlocking a sequence of basic perks. Endurance. Recovery. Discipline. The other part is mana exercises. Teaching them how to circulate it without hurting themselves. There are a couple of things I can unlock, and with some accomplishments, I can create perks soldiers can unlock that are condition-based. One of them is a challenge our scouts can complete to earn a better stealth perk. Things like that."
Hale looked extremely interested in that but let his questions sit until later.
"Then there are the risky ones," Harold said. "The perks we choose to pursue."
He touched the marker near the dungeon again.
"First, clear of a dungeon. That's a regional first. The perk tied to it is critical. Maintaining control of that dungeon matters even more because there are only two dungeons in this basin. Once we get control of that dungeon, we need to make sure it's being cleared as much as possible, which means adventurers need to be stationed there instead of elsewhere, and they won't like that. But we need the material we can get from it."
Silence held for a moment.
"These perks aren't about raw power," Harold said. "They're about tempo. Like the heartbeat of survival, it drives us forward, getting faster, steadier, and harder to kill before the other races here outscale us."
He glanced around the table.
"And for the time being, they make taking control of the other villages in the basin much easier."
Josh spoke up. "You planned this before the world ended."
Harold shrugged slightly. "It's hard to plan when you don't know how everything's going to go. I tried anyway."
He walked over to the wall where a stack of slate tablets had been waiting. He picked them up and handed them out one by one.
"These are lists of perks and how to earn them," Harold said. "Mostly common. A couple of uncommon. All available to everyone."
He looked around as people scanned the writing.
"Nothing flashy. I wouldn't be surprised if some people already have a few of these. I didn't distribute this earlier because I wanted people to learn them naturally. But we need to speed up, and this helps."
He nodded toward the group. "Distribute that to your people."
He took a breath before continuing.
"There are two other regional perks tied specifically to this basin. First is killing the region's monster leader. That's an adventurer job, eventually. The soldiers could do it, but we would lose far too many, and we don't have the equipment to do it. I'm estimating another year before we are ready to kill that Croc, and we absolutely must be the first ones to kill a regional boss. Unfortunately for us...the region boss here is an absolute monster. We need to increase our technology level."
No one argued.
"The second is clearing both dungeons," Harold said. "Both are currently out of reach."
He shifted topics without ceremony.
"The next world-level perk we need to push for is advancing from a village to a town. Most of the requirements are already in progress. Population is the biggest limiter. After that, it's support infrastructure and surplus food in the larder."
He frowned slightly. "The system's vague about the exact thresholds. I'm extrapolating based on forum discussions from before. Some of it feels arbitrary."
He looked up again.
"Sorry. That was a lot to dump on you all at once."
He rested his hands on the table.
"Questions?"
Beth spoke first, frowning slightly as she reviewed her slate.
"On the town upgrade," she said. "If population is the main limiter, do we risk hitting it before the settlement can actually support it? We're not exactly slowing intake."
Harold shook his head. "We're not stopping summons. We need the experts it brings. The tools. The soldiers. Cutting that off would hurt us more than rushing."
He tapped the table once. "The solution isn't fewer people. It's building fast enough to absorb them."
Beth nodded. "Alright. That's workable."
Caldwell followed, adjusting his stack of slates as he looked for an exact one.
"About the surplus food requirement," he said. "Does the system count raw stock, or does it need to be processed?"
Harold exhaled quietly. "I believe it's processed."
He shrugged slightly. "The system doesn't actually tell me. I'm extrapolating from old forum discussions and what people complained about. Raw food spoiled on them and didn't count. It doesn't help that we don't have salt."
Caldwell grimaced. "That tracks."
"Plan for processed," Harold said. "If I'm wrong, we lose some efficiency. If we plan for raw and I'm wrong, we lose too much food."
Caldwell nodded once. "Understood."
The room settled again, everyone recalibrating around the constraints they couldn't argue with.
Across the table, Evan and Mark exchanged a look.
Evan cleared his throat. "On the regional monster leader and the dungeons," he said. "We'd like to talk through that with you later. Just the adventurer side of it."
Mark added, "Not now. Just… when you've got time."
Harold didn't hesitate.
"Yeah," he said. "We'll sit down later and go over how adventurers fit into this world. What I expect from them, and what I'm planning to give them in return."
The brothers relaxed slightly at that.
"I'm not using adventurers as expendable scouts," Harold continued. "They're not a resource to burn through. They're how we deal with problems soldiers shouldn't be handling."
He looked directly at them. "If I'm asking them to risk themselves, I'll be building systems to support them. Better intel. Better gear. Better recovery."
Mark nodded once. "That's what we needed to hear."
Harold let the moment settle.
"Alright," he said. "If there aren't any more questions, we'll break here. Get your people spun up and be back here in 15 minutes. We have one last topic to go over."
The chairs shifted. Slates were gathered.
The meeting dissolved back into motion.
matt
ok info dump is done after this chapter. I hope this explains how the system works here. If anyone has a question or sees a gap please let me know so I dont mess it up later.
EDIT: fixed alot of things that in the comments
Advertisement
Remove
Report
Harold waited until everyone had settled again.
"This part," he said, "is where most people misunderstand how mana actually works."
He turned the slate so they could see it. No numbers. Just roles and arrows.
"The core governing rule of our mana system is that it rewards behavior over innate power," Harold stated succinctly. "The mana system here isn't designed to make super mages, but it can look like it if they accomplish enough," Harold continued. "It's designed to reward behavior. Repetition. Survival and accomplishment."
He tapped the slate.
"Mana doesn't exist in you by default. You get it from perks. A single common perk gives you enough mana for a few seconds of use."
Josh frowned. "Seconds?"
"Seconds," Harold confirmed. "Enough to push harder, move faster, stabilize yourself. If you try to hold it longer without support, you burn out."
He shifted the slate slightly.
"That's why rarity matters. Higher rarity perks don't just give more mana. They give better mana. Denser. More efficient. Capable of doing more within the limits of the perk that granted it."
Hale nodded slowly. "That lines up with what the soldiers are feeling."
"Good," Harold said. "Because soldiers aren't meant to manipulate material like crafters. They're meant to use mana to become better soldiers."
He gestured with his hand, palm down.
"Stronger. Faster. Harder to kill. More precise. That's the ceiling for them."
Beth leaned forward. "And crafters?"
"Crafters are different," Harold said. "Not because they're stronger. Because their perks allow manipulation instead of reinforcement."
He glanced toward Lira.
"A miner like Lira doesn't get a perk that says 'control earth,'" Harold said. "She gets something like Mine Harder. Her strikes dig deeper. They cut cleaner. That perk generates mana, and that mana is allowed to interact with earth."
He glanced toward Lira, noticing the way her hands moved slightly as if feeling the earth in her grip. There was a subtle vibration, almost a hum, that seemed to radiate from her body, harmonizing with the ground beneath her feet. It wasn't just power; it was a connection, a whisper between her and the stone, as if persuading the earth to yield to her will.
Lira's brow furrowed as she manipulated her mana. "So I'm not shaping stone. I'm… persuading it."
"That's a good way to think about it, if not for that example perk. I think for something like that, you'd be able to drive holes into the earth with mana. maybe scoop some out with some time learning it." Harold said.
He continued.
"A blacksmith gets perks that say weapons you forge are sharper, stronger, and more consistent. That perk lets his mana interact with metal. The product and material"
Josh nodded slowly. "So it's constrained by role and intent."
"By role," Harold corrected. "A glassblower gets something like heat regulation. Better temperature control in a kiln. That perk lets mana influence fire. It won't let him make explosions with just mana, just controlled heat."
The room was tranquil now.
"In theory," Harold said, "a very high-end crafter could do catastrophic things by pushing those perks to their limit."
Harold paused. "And that's exactly why they don't...for the most part."
Caldwell frowned. "Because they'd die."
"Yes," Harold said. "Crafters don't respawn if they die acting outside their role. That's not a punishment. It's enforcement. Doing those things isn't crafting, so if they get killed, they won't respawn. Imagine a crafter caught by surprise during a skirmish, choosing to wield raw mana to fend off attackers. In that desperate act, they step outside their role, and if they fall, they're lost to us forever. But they are the best option we have for mass destruction."
He looked around the table.
"Crafters are infrastructure. Lose one, and you don't get them back. Lords know this. That's why cities are so hard to take."
Beth's eyes widened slightly.
"Because the crafters defend them," she said.
"Exactly," Harold replied. "Not on the walls. In the foundations. In the streets. In ways you can't afford to counter without losing something irreplaceable. How do you fight someone that can manipulate fire on a mass scale or summon a wall of spikes in front of a cavalry charge?"
He let that sit.
"That's why wars are slow. That's why sieges matter. And that's why most Lords never risk their best crafters unless the city is already lost."
Margaret nodded slowly, absorbing it.
Harold moved on.
"Now," he said, "Lords."
Everyone straightened.
"Lords are… odd," Harold admitted. "We surpass soldier limits."
Beth raised an eyebrow. "In what way?"
Harold didn't hedge.
"We can do everything soldiers do," he said. "And usually better."
No one interrupted him.
"Not because we're special," Harold continued. "Because we accumulate perks faster. And we receive higher-quality perks tied directly to our settlements. We can also get the perks soldiers can get."
He tapped the slate again.
"Efficiency. Stability. Control. Logistics. Governance. Those minor perks stack. They all generate mana. And because our role isn't narrow, that mana expresses like a soldier's. Though honestly, I would kill to be able to get the crafter perks I used to have."
Josh frowned. "So a Lord is basically—"
"A very well-supported soldier," Harold finished. "With a lot of mana, now if that Lord can actually fight, who knows?"
Hale studied him. "But still not a replacement for an army."
Harold shook his head. "No, I can't be everywhere, and I can still be countered."
He set the slate down.
"My job isn't to win fights," Harold said. "It's to build systems that win wars, then support the people fighting those wars. There will be threats that only I or our elite soldiers can counter. But as I told you, from the Lord test I had to take. There is nothing we can do about angry crafters surrounded by something they can affect."
He looked around the table one last time.
"Mana comes from perks. Perks come from behavior. Roles define what that mana can do. Armies decide outcomes. Individuals decide when to spend themselves."
Silence followed.
Evan was the one who spoke up this time.
"Alright," he said. "Then where does that leave adventurers?"
Mark nodded. "Because they don't fit cleanly into either lane."
Harold didn't look surprised. If anything, he looked relieved.
"They aren't supposed to," he said.
He turned the slate slightly and added a third column.
"Adventurers are a hybrid role," Harold continued. "They get access to some soldier-style perks. Endurance. Recovery. Combat awareness. The things you need to survive repeated engagements."
Hale nodded once. "Makes sense."
"But," Harold said, "they also get something no one else does."
Mark leaned forward. "Monster perks."
"Yes," Harold said. "Adventurers earn perks tied to what they kill, where they kill it, and how they survive it."
Josh frowned. "That sounds… dangerous."
"It is," Harold replied. "And intentional."
He tapped the adventurer column.
"Adventurers don't manipulate the world like crafters. They don't reinforce themselves as cleanly as soldiers. Instead, they adapt."
Beth tilted her head. "In what way?"
"If you kill something that hunts in the dark," Harold said, "you might earn a perception perk. Kill something with unnatural resilience, and you might earn enhanced recovery. Kill enough of the same kind of threat, and those perks start to stack."
Evan's expression sharpened. "So they become specialists."
"Yes," Harold said. "But not by design. By exposure. It is our job to build those teams but also diversify them."
Mark frowned slightly. "Can they get crafter perks that way?"
"No," Harold said immediately. "They can't gain perks that allow manipulation. No earth shaping. No fire control. No production perks."
"But they can gain traits," Harold continued, "that blur the edges. Resistance. Movement. Senses. Instinct.
Last time, there was an adventure team that was famous for having wings and another that could walk through fire."
Josh muttered, "Which explains why some of them are already getting weird."
Mark shook his head slightly. "Not that weird."
He looked at Harold. "From goblins, it's been pretty consistent."
Josh glanced at him. "Consistent how?"
"Low-light tolerance," Mark said. "Not vision. Just faster adjustment when it gets dark. A bit better footing when the ground's bad. That's it."
Harold nodded. "That's what I expected, these goblins aren't much of a threat."
"Adventurers are how you deal with things that don't fit doctrine," Harold said. "Unknown monsters. Dungeons. Anomalies. They go where soldiers shouldn't and crafters can't."
Mark leaned back. "And the cost?"
"They burn out faster. It's a dangerous life. Sure, they respawn, but they still feel their deaths. " And we went over them, losing a random perk and the respawn timer," Harold said. Silence followed.
"So," Evan said slowly, "soldiers win wars. Crafters build nations. Adventurers… make sure neither of those gets blindsided."
Harold nodded. "Exactly, honestly, the adventurers are one of our biggest assets. We need them alive and working to get more and better perks. Give them ten years to accomplish that, and they will be powerhouses only Lords and Elites can combat."
He hesitated, then added, quieter, "So we keep people in their lanes whenever possible. It keeps the respawn rules intact."
He looked at Evan, then Mark.
"And don't spread this," Harold said, "but there will be times when I ask adventurers to do things that fall outside their role. Same with crafters."
Mark's jaw tightened. "Because sometimes the situation doesn't care about roles."
"Because sometimes," Harold replied, "the alternative is worse."
Josh, who had been quiet longer than usual, leaned forward.
"Then why can't crafters move with the army?" he asked. "Not as fighters. As battlefield engineers."
A couple of heads turned.
"If you've got crafters who can manipulate earth," Josh continued, "they could dig trenches—shape berms. Throw up earthworks. That's still within their role. They wouldn't be fighting."
Harold didn't answer right away.
"That's a fair question," he said finally.
He walked back to the table and rested a hand on the terrain model.
"Yes," Harold said. "In theory, crafters can move with an army and do exactly what you're describing. Digging. Reinforcement. Controlled shaping. All of that stays within role."
Hale nodded slowly. "That would change engagements."
"It would," Harold agreed. "And some Lords do it, we probably will too."
Josh tilted his head. "But."
"But," Harold said, "it turns every engagement into a risk calculation that can't be undone."
He looked around the table.
Battlefields are chaotic. Lines break. Scouts slip through. A crafter doesn't need to be fighting to die. One arrow, one ambush, one mistake—these are their death sentences. They won't respawn. Just being there cancels their respawn function. Lords employ assassins to find and eliminate them. It's chaotic.
Beth frowned. "And losing a crafter isn't like losing a soldier."
"No," Harold said. "It's worse. You don't replace them. You can train another one. But lose that capability for a time."
Lira spoke up quietly. "And most of us aren't trained to think under fire. My home city employed battlefield crafters. They had their own guard detachment that followed them everywhere."
Harold nodded. "Exactly. Using crafters as battlefield engineers works right up until the first time it doesn't."
Josh exhaled. "So it's a siege thing. Not a field battle thing."
"Mostly," Harold said. "Prepared ground. Defensive positions. Controlled environments."
He met Josh's eyes.
"There may be moments where I take that risk," Harold said. "But it will never be the default. And it will never be casual."
Silence followed, not uncomfortable, just thoughtful.
Mark spoke quietly. "So every time you bend a role, you're betting something you can't get back."
Harold nodded. "That's the cost."
Caldwell cleared his throat.
"One thing I'd like clarified," he said carefully. "Your potion works."
A few eyes shifted to Harold.
"You're producing them," Caldwell continued. "Which implies the role system allows it. But you've also been very clear about staying in lanes."
Harold nodded. He'd expected the question.
"Anyone can do anything," he said. "That's the part people misunderstand."
Beth frowned. "Then why bother with roles at all?"
"Because roles decide how good you can get," Harold replied.
He leaned back against the table.
"I can brew potions," he said. "I can make basic healing draughts. I can even push the quality a bit because of settlement perks."
Josh tilted his head. "But."
"But I'll never be great at it," Harold said. "Not the way a dedicated alchemist would be."
He gestured vaguely toward the hall beyond the door.
"When we produced the first potion here, the village earned the world's first perk for potions. That helped me with improved output."
Caldwell nodded slowly. "Infrastructure bonuses."
"Exactly," Harold said. "But personal perks? The ones that matter and allow me to really produce some amazing potions? I can't get them."
Margaret looked up. "Because they're role-locked."
"Yes," Harold said. "I'll never earn the perks that reduce reagent loss, stabilize volatile brews, improve potency per unit, or let someone experiment without killing themselves."
He paused, then added, "I had those last time, even got a few that allowed me to manipulate temperature."
The room didn't interrupt him.
"I could brew faster. Cleaner. Safer," Harold said. "I could push limits I won't touch now. Not because I forgot how. Because the system won't support me doing it."
Caldwell considered that. "Which means when a real potion specialist comes along…"
"I step back," Harold said immediately. "I train them. I support them. And I stop being the bottleneck. Which is what I'm trying to do now with my students, but teaching them mana manipulation is taking longer than I thought it would."
"Ok, any more questions?" Harold asked, clapping his hands. I'm telling you all this because in the future we will transition from this building phase to the development phase, because that is what will drive our fledgling village to a city and beyond.
He reached down and slid a thin stack of slates onto the table.
"Second to last thing," Harold said. "I've taken care to copy down every perk the settlement has earned so far. Look it over."
His gaze hardened slightly.
"After this meeting, I'm destroying it."
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
He passed around a couple of pieces of slate for them to read over.
"Ok, now last thing. We need to start building an identity for the people here. We aren't Americans or Brits, or Asian, or however you want to define our race here. Humanity needs to come together as one force. To that effect, I want to start forging an identity for all of us here. I won't have anyone discriminating against anyone here; we absolutely need everyone to pitch in against the forces that threaten us at our borders. To that effect, and I know I am early."
"I am claiming Empire. Eventually, we will conquer this basin and expand our borders. At the borders of our human sphere. The lines mesh... It's not on this side; it's the humans, and on this side are the other races. The lines are mixed together, and the line will be whoever wins those fights. When they see us coming, I want them to see the Empire coming to save them. I want them to want to join our umbrella. Let's start forging that identity now."
MILITARY & DEFENSE
Source
Modifier
WORLD FIRST: Quick Start (Epic)
+10% soldier training efficiency
−10% perk requirement threshold (soldier perks)
+1% baseline training efficiency to all future military buildings
REGIONAL FIRST: Disciplined Soldiers (Rare)
+5% soldier discipline
Reduced effectiveness loss when formations are disrupted
Watch Discipline (Common)
+2% night alertness & response speed (settlement)
Defensive Familiarity (Common)
+3% effectiveness when defending inside territory
CONSTRUCTION & INFRASTRUCTURE
Source
Modifier
Builder's Momentum (Uncommon)
+5% construction speed after 24h uninterrupted work
Shared Shelter (Common)
−3% fatigue & exposure penalties (housed residents)
Structural Integrity (Common)
+3% stone durability
−2% long-term maintenance
Adaptive Crafting (Common)
−3% material waste (material switching)
Standardized Measurements (Common)
−2% construction errors & rework
WORLD FIRST: Wooden Structure
+3% construction speed (wood)
+2% efficiency to wooden buildings' primary function
WORLD FIRST: Multi-Material Structure
+4% construction efficiency (mixed materials)
−2% repair & upgrade material cost (mixed)
WORLD FIRST: Defensive Structure
+5% wall & fortification effectiveness
50% defensive effectiveness while incomplete
LABOR & PRODUCTIVITY
Source
Modifier
Safe Practices (Common)
−3% work-related injuries
Task Specialization (Uncommon)
+5% productivity when workers stay in role
Tool Familiarity (Common)
−3% tool degradation
Reduced Handling Loss (Common)
−2% resource loss (transport & storage)
WORLD FIRST: First Common Potion
+5% efficiency for all potions
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Settlement modifier- +20% effectiveness to all common-tier potions brewed within village border
WORLD FIRST: Potion Brewed (Epic)
+12% alchemical process stability
+8% alchemical efficiency
-Settlement Modifer -Shelf Stability
Potions brewed within village borders degrade 50% slower
FOOD, SURVIVAL & RECOVERY
Source
Modifier
Balanced Rations (Common)
−2% daily fatigue
+2% natural recovery
Preservation Standards (Uncommon)
+5% shelf life (processed food)
Stabilized Claim (Common)
−3% morale decay during early stress
CRAFTING & TRADE
Source
Modifier
Dedicated Workspaces (Common)
+3% crafting efficiency (proper facilities)
Trade Readiness (Uncommon)
+5% value consistency & reduced defects
Local Market Formation (Common)
−3% internal labor/material reassignment friction
GOVERNANCE & ADMINISTRATION
Source
Modifier
Administrative Continuity (Common)
−3% penalties from leadership absence
Distributed Oversight (Uncommon)
+4% crisis response speed
−4% decision error likelihood
Harold found Sarah by the storage racks, kneeling in the dirt with the rest of her team. The air was filled with the tang of badly oiled roughhide and the metallic clink of gear being laid out. What little equipment they had was organized in careful rows, as if order might make up for the lack of quantity.
"Alright," Sarah said, holding up a torch and giving it a small shake. "This one's solid. This one's decorative. This one might actively hate us."
One of the younger adventurers snorted. "I'll take the hateful one. At least it's honest."
Caldwell stood nearby with a crate open, jaw tight as he counted the torches. "You're not taking six torches," he insisted, his voice firm but resigned.
Sarah, not looking up, replied calmly, "We're taking five, just one for each member. We can make more on the way if needed."
Caldwell opened his mouth to argue more, but Sarah's resolute mention of their need closed the discussion.
Caldwell opened his mouth, then closed it again. "Oil too?"
"Yes," Sarah said. "A little."
He sighed the long sigh of a man losing an argument he knew was reasonable. "Fine. But I want a list when you get back."
Harold stepped in beside him. "I'll make sure of it."
Caldwell glanced at Harold, then nodded. "Alright. Then that's on you."
"Thank you, Caldwell, I haven't forgotten all the work you've been doing for us," Harold said.
A few steps away, Evan was checking straps and quietly going over a map scratched onto a thin slate. He wasn't packing heavy, but he had the look of someone carrying responsibility instead.
"You're leading both teams?" Harold asked.
Evan nodded. "With the squad leader Hale is sending with us to lead the soldiers. We'll split once we hit the dungeon. I took the liberty of bringing some of the hunters with us to scout and run messages if needed. Signals are set. Fallback point's marked."
"And Mark?"
Evan jerked his chin back toward the hall. "Staying. Someone has to keep the board running and people moving."
"Good," Harold said. "He's better at that."
"Hey now, I'm not bad," Evan said.
Sarah stood and dusted off her hands. "We're about set."
Harold looked at the group. The patched packs. The borrowed blades. The nervous energy trying not to show itself.
"No," he said. "You're not."
Sarah blinked. "What did we miss?"
"You missed eating," Harold replied. "Come on."
She groaned. "Harold, we need to finish preps."
"You can argue after you've got food in you," he said, already turning. "Caldwell, they're stealing a meal."
Caldwell waved a hand. "At this point, what's a little more theft?"
As they moved towards the kitchen, the aroma of stew grew stronger, grounding them with its familiar warmth.
The kitchen crew had something close to stew going. Thick, filling, hot enough to fog the air. Bowls were passed out without comment. Bread followed.
Sarah took hers and sat on an overturned crate, blowing on the surface before taking a careful sip. "This would've been a five-star meal back home if you served it at two in the morning."
Harold sat beside her, his own bowl balanced in one hand. "Dad would've complained it needed more salt."
Sarah smiled at that. "Mom would've said it was fine and added pepper anyway."
They ate in companionable silence for a few moments, the kind that didn't need filling. Around them, the rest of the team talked quietly, checking straps, trading half-jokes that didn't quite land.
Sarah spoke first. "I know this sounds strange," she said, staring into her bowl, "but I feel more alive here than I ever did on Earth."
Harold didn't answer right away.
"Back there," she continued, "everything felt… already decided. School, work, bills. Even when things were bad, it was just the same bad, over and over." She glanced up at him. "Here, it's hard. And scary. But it feels like what I do matters, actually matters."
Harold nodded slowly. "It does."
She hesitated, then added, quieter, "I think I would've gone crazy if I'd stayed."
"You wouldn't have," Harold said. "You would've survived. You always did."
Sarah snorted softly. "Surviving isn't the same thing."
He looked at her then, really looked. Dirt smudged on her cheek. A nick on one knuckle she hadn't bothered wrapping yet—the steady set of her shoulders.
"Mom and Dad would be proud of you. You've always been independent, especially after mom and dad died. Remember that camping trip we went on when we were younger? It was raining, and everything seemed to go wrong, but you were the one who kept the fire going. Dad kept joking that you were the only real adventurer in the family. But out here, you have really stepped into your own."
Her eyes went shiny for just a second. She looked down quickly. "They'd hate the monsters."
"They hated traffic," Harold said. "They'd adapt."
That got a real laugh out of her.
After a minute, she said, "You're doing that thing again."
"What thing?"
"That quiet look. The one where you're thinking three steps ahead."
He snorted. "Occupational hazard."
She smiled, then sobered. "You wanted to know what I've got. Perk-wise."
"I did," Harold said. "And how you got them."
She nodded and stared into her bowl for a moment, organizing her thoughts.
"My starting perk first," she said. "The one the system gave me when I chose adventurer."
Harold leaned back slightly. He already knew which one she'd start with.
She didn't say the name right away.
"It's called Gravebound Resolve," she continued. "When someone near me goes down, or drops below a certain threshold, I don't hesitate. Fear drops off hard. Pain dulls. I move faster toward them."
Harold went still.
"It kicked in the first time," she said, quieter now. "During the night watch. Someone tripped. Everyone froze for a heartbeat. I didn't, I just moved."
Harold let out a slow breath.
"You had the same starting perk last time," he said.
Sarah blinked.
"I didn't tell you," he went on, voice steady but distant, "because I didn't want to put weight on you that wasn't yours to carry. I didn't want you trying to live up to something that hadn't happened yet."
His gaze drifted past her, unfocused.
"You grew into a powerful adventurer," he said. "Not quickly or loudly. But steadily. You earned a name. You earned respect. And you did it without anyone backing you."
His jaw tightened.
"A Lord noticed you. You were capable and visible. And to him, you were unprotected."
Harold's hands started to shake. He set his bowl down carefully before it could slip.
"He tried to take you," he said. "You fought back and you almost got away."
His voice dropped.
"His soldiers killed you. He had a special squad of elites trained to send out on those missions."
The kitchen noise seemed very far away now.
"It was ten years after we arrived in Gravesend," Harold continued. "I heard about it days later. By then, it was already… settled. Cleaned up and forgotten by everyone but the people who cared."
His eyes had gone glassy.
"I spiraled after that," he admitted. "Between my marriage falling apart and losing you like that… something in me broke. I didn't recover the way I should have. I think that was when the madness really started."
He swallowed.
And now," he said, quieter, "I see you again. I know what your perk does; it puts you closer to danger than anyone else. I can't keep you safe without breaking the world you're trying to live in."
He took a shaky breath, the fear of loss unspoken yet palpable in the silence that followed.
"I can't lose you again," he said. "And I don't get the choice to keep you out of this."
Sarah hadn't interrupted once.
She didn't fully understand the depth of what he was saying. Not really. But she understood the way his shoulders were drawn tight, the way he looked smaller than she'd ever seen him.
She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a firm, steady hug.
Harold froze for a second.
Then the tension bled out of him, slow and uneven, like he'd been holding himself together by force alone. For a long moment, neither of them spoke.
She held him there, steady and unyielding, until the shaking eased.
"I don't remember any of that," Sarah said softly. "I can't carry it the way you do."
Harold didn't answer.
"But I know this," she continued. "I'm not doing this because you're sending me. And I'm not doing it because of some perk."
She leaned back just enough to look at him.
"I'm doing it because I can't stop," she said. "If someone's falling, I move. That's just who I am."
Her grip tightened for a moment.
"Thank you," she added. "For telling me. For trusting me with it."
She gave him a small, almost apologetic smile. "And for not trying to cage me, and don't think I forgot you told me you were MARRIED?? You owe me a story."
Harold closed his eyes briefly, smiling, and nodded.
"Then come back," he laughed.
"I will," Sarah replied, without hesitation.
She lingered a moment longer, then tilted her head. "You're not done, are you?"
Harold exhaled. "No. I want to hear the rest."
She huffed a quiet laugh and leaned back against the crate again. "Alright. Don't say I didn't warn you. It's a lot of little things."
"That's usually how it starts," Harold said.
She counted on her fingers, not looking at him at first.
"General ones first. Situational Awareness, as I said. Sustained Exertion. Group Coordination." She paused. "Steady Breathing came in after the second long run. Helps keep my heart rate from spiking when things go sideways."
Harold nodded. "That one's easy to miss. Good foundation."
"Pain Tolerance," she continued. "Minor. Kicked in after I took that slash on my shoulder and kept moving."
He winced. "I remember."
"Balance Recovery," Sarah said. "Bad ground, roots, mud. I don't go down as easily anymore."
"That's six," Harold said quietly.
She smiled faintly. "You're counting."
"I always do."
Sarah picked up a cup absent-mindedly while explaining. "Threat Prioritization. That one surprised me. It doesn't tell me what to hit. It just… nudges my attention toward what'll get someone killed fastest." She caught the cup on the edge and, without losing her balance, gracefully repositioned it to prevent a mess. "I know," she said, returning to their conversation. "I'm watching it."
"Good," he replied, nodding.
"March Discipline," Sarah added. "Long-term movement with gear. Less fatigue over days, not hours."
"That's eight."
She took a breath. "Low-Light Tolerance from the goblins. Not night vision. … my eyes stop fighting the dark as much."
"Expected," Harold said. "Goblins give survival perks, not power."
"And Crude Weapon Familiarity," she finished. "Short blades. Spears. Anything ugly and cheap."
He nodded once. "That one is also from the goblins. You're at ten."
She glanced at him. "There are a few monster-specific ones, too."
"Tell me."
"There was something fast in the forest," Sarah said. "Didn't see it at first. Just flashes. Almost lost Jace when it attacked."
Harold's eyes sharpened. "What did you get?"
"Burst Acceleration," she said. "Very short duration. Only when starting movement. It doesn't last, but it closes the distance fast."
He leaned forward slightly. "That's a good pull. Rare too, I think, and mostly from ambush predators."
"I figured you'd say that," she replied. "It saved someone later."
"And the goblins?"
She shrugged. "Mostly what Mark said. Footing. Recovery. A little resistance to panic when things get loud and messy."
Harold studied her for a long moment, then nodded.
"You're well-rounded," he said. "Maybe too much."
She frowned. "What's that mean?"
"It means you're strong everywhere, but you're not sharp yet," Harold said. "Your perk set wants to pull you toward response and rescue. That's not wrong. But if you don't add control, you'll always be reacting."
Sarah crossed her arms. "So what do I hunt?"
He didn't hesitate.
"Pack predators that fake retreats," Harold said. "Something that punishes rushing. You need a counterweight to Gravebound Resolve. Not to suppress it. It needs to be tempered. You need to be able to say no to it sometimes."
Sarah grimaced. "That sounds miserable."
"It is," Harold agreed. "But it'll give you judgment instead of just momentum. Too many adventurers let their perks start steering their instincts instead of the other way around."
He paused, then added lightly, "Last time, you solved that problem by killing a roc in the high mountains."
Her eyebrows shot up. "A what?"
"A huge bird," Harold said. "Very angry. Very territorial."
She stared at him. "You're joking."
"I'm really not," he replied. "It also gave you your Name."
She opened her mouth, then closed it. "You're not telling me."
He smiled. "Not yet."
She shook her head, half amused, half unsettled.
"Eventually," Harold continued, his tone shifting back to practical, "you'll need to hunt things that increase your killing speed. Not strength or durability. Lethality."
Sarah tilted her head, trying to think it through. "Explain," she motioned.
"It's cleaner," Harold said. "When you move, you need to end threats quickly. The faster everything around you stops being a problem, the fewer people your perk drags you toward."
She considered that, then nodded slowly.
"When you get back," Harold finished, "I'll tell you where to find those monsters."
She slung her pack higher on her shoulder. "Guess I'll have to survive this trip first."
"That's the idea," Harold said.
"You also got those world firsts for killing monsters; you were lucky to get the one for killing 50. Each one gives you another 10% damage to monsters, so an extra 20% is nothing to sneeze at. The next one is at 500, then 5000. I think there was some debate there about just farming weak monsters and if they counted. I never knew the answer to that. Either way, I think you would benefit from fighting more powerful monsters and getting perks from them."
He hesitated, then reached into the pack slung at his side and pulled out a heavy glass vial. The liquid inside was faintly opalescent, thicker than water, slow to settle when he stopped moving.
"Take this," he said, pressing it into her hand. "One dose. For you."
Sarah frowned slightly. "That's not a healing potion."
"No," Harold said. "It's a body-tempering brew."
Her fingers tightened around the glass.
"It's permanent," he continued. "With no downsides, I don't need to explain to you how rare this is."
She went very still.
"I was forced to make this thousands of times," Harold said quietly. "Back when I was enslaved."
Sarah didn't look away.
"I hated it," he went on. "Every batch. Every time. This time, though… it felt different. Like I was taking something back."
He gestured faintly with his hand. "I had to substitute a few components. I don't have the full chain of perks I used to. So it won't be as potent as what I made before."
She waited.
"Still," Harold said, "you'll move faster. Hit harder. Your body will handle strain better. You'll be more durable. Roughly a fifteen percent improvement across the board. Not enough to make you reckless. But every little bit helps."
Sarah let out a slow breath. "That's not small, Harold."
"It's controlled," he replied. "And it won't interfere with future growth. You'll need a stronger version before you can take another, but this one won't block anything."
She turned the vial in her hand, watching the liquid catch the light.
"And the team?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Not yet. I used everything I had to make that, and I failed a couple of times first. When I can make more, or better yet, teach someone to make it, they'll get it. I plan on making it a reward for achievements."
She nodded, accepting that without argument.
"I trust you," she said.
She tucked the vial away carefully, deeper than her rations, closer to her chest.
"When I come back," she said, "you're telling me where I can find some of the monsters I need and about this wife of yours."
Harold smiled faintly. "We'll see."
She slung her pack over her shoulder and stepped back toward her team, confidence easy in her stride now, something solid under it.
Harold watched them go, the familiar weight settling in his chest again. He hadn't stopped the danger, but he would do what he could to stack the deck in her favor.