Chương 106: Chapter 102 – Beaver Crossing

Mark looked around at the site of his soon-to-be village. It had been a crazy week since they completed the Forgeworks, and everyone had finally gone back to their regular activities. Mark had spent the last week moving into his new house. He could hardly believe that Garrick had insisted that he be the first formal resident of this place. He was still struggling; they did not yet have a name for the village, and it was only about an hour until their designated time to create the village.

Mark had agreed to meet Garrick for the final inspection tour. Not that Mark had not already seen it all, but Garrick insisted that a tour was required before they create the outpost, which, if everything goes as planned, will upgrade to a village level 1. Mark and Garrick had reviewed the list multiple times, but Mark went over it again before the meeting. They had a completed road network. Dale's new Inn/restaurant was finished, and his staff was all trained, and rooms were ready to rent out.

Mark's cabin was complete along with 5 others that matched it. They also had 2 longhouses for those more transient visitors that did not want to pay for nights in the inn. They had wells completed for water and guard towers to help support the defensive needs. And then they had storage. Garrick had insisted they build multiple large storage buildings and stock them with all the needs of a village for at least a month's use.

And not in the village but around it, they had lots of farms and livestock areas outside what he guessed would be the village limits. Even the bridge across the river was complete. The time had finally come, and Garrick took him for the tour. 6 cabins, 2 longhouses, Dale's Inn, storage buildings, wells, and the walk around the outside perimeter road. They had built a livestock pen nearby also just in case that was helpful for the requirements. And they had 4 workshops complete.

They even had one of the new blacksmiths making items in one of them with some of the newest ore coming out of Forgeworks. Garrick was so proud of it, and Mark was worried that he would try to take him through it all a second time. Then he led him back to the Inn where they all stood in the street, as there were far too many people to fit in the inn. All the regulars were there. Dale, Lena, Cora, Tom, and Elias with his wife and child. Clara and her brother were here.

John and his team from the Forgeworks were there for support. Along with what must be at least 100 others in attendance. Garrick said, "So, Mark, have you decided on a name?" Mark said, "I am still deciding. I have a minute or two left, right?" People started yelling out names from the crowd. They included New Southgate, River Crossing, South Rest, and Mark's Landing. Mark said, "Absolutely not Mark's Landing." Ava said, "I think Beaver Crossing would be a fantastic name." Mark said, "No, I don't think so."

Ava said, "Why whats wrong its a great name." Mark said, "We are not naming a village after a beaver." Chew, Ava's new beaver companion, bond started pulling a branch through the square. Mark just looked at it in disbelief that it would be interrupting this. Dale then laughed, "I don't know; it seems like a good name." Garrick said, "I have heard worse; it's not a bad name." Then many others started to put their thoughts in; some loved the name, others hated it. Even more started to yell out other names.

Then they were all interrupted by a system message. [Settlement Name Recognized] Beaver Crossing Proceed with Outpost Creation? YES / NO Mark just stared at the screen, and the crowd went quiet; they must have gotten the same message. Mark was just about to start the argument over again when one of the guards on the western tower hollered, "People approaching from the west. It's a large group." Everyone turned and looked in that direction, but whoever it was was outside the area they could see from the ground.

Ava sent Swoop to investigate. Then the guard yelled again, "Wait." Then a pause, "They're children!" Then a longer pause, "Lots of children." The people around Mark began to speculate and talk about what it was, what did it mean, and why they were here now. Mark looked at his screen. Then he thought about the name he still did not like. Then back in the direction of whatever was coming. They had put in weeks of work, and now something was going to interrupt it. Then finally back to the screen.

Then he mumbled, "One disaster at a time," and clicked the "Yes" button. [Settlement Established] Name: Beaver Crossing Tier: Outpost Level 1 Central Structure: Dale's Inn Benefits: • settlement registration • member list • basic settlement storage • settlement naming • minor rested bonus • limited territory awareness Mark quickly went over the list and then brought up the upgrad option to level 2 and clicked the button.

They had planned for this; other than setting up trade agreements, he should hit level 1 village in just a few minutes. He was now on a clock, as he wanted to get this done before his next challenge arrived. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

[Settlement Advancement] Beaver Crossing Outpost Level 2 Achieved Benefits: • expanded settlement storage • settlement contribution recognition • improved rested bonus • route marker recognition • settlement task tracking Mark then set up three trade agreements. One from Southgate to Beaver Crossing, Another from Fisher's Point to Beaver Crossing, and the third from Cave Camp, or Forgeworks as people had started calling it, to Beaver Crossing.

Then he clicked the upgrade to outpost level three; these were the easy ones. [Settlement Advancement] Beaver Crossing Outpost Level 3 Achieved Benefits: • trade recognition • route marker placement • allied settlement awareness • expanded member capacity • settlement inventory sorting • communal crafting support Everything was proceeding exactly as they had planned. Then a system message appeared. [Village Qualification Achieved] Settlement requirements exceeded. Proceed with Advancement?

YES / NO This was the moment, more than a month of planning, a month of hard work, and preparation, and Mark pressed "Yes." [Village Established] Settlement: Beaver Crossing Tier: Village Level 1 Benefits: • official trade route registration • settlement quest generation • expanded storage • member role assignment • improved rested bonus • regional map visibility Then just after he finished reading the screen another message showed up.

[Leadership Roles Recognized] Mark — Founder Steward Garrick — Construction Coordinator Dale — Food Steward Additional leadership positions may be recognized as settlement complexity increases. Garrick at this point finally started to smile. Dale just looked in Mark's direction with a look like I did not say I was a village leader. Then another message showed up. [Settlement Reassessment In Progress] Additional qualifying infrastructure detected. Mark looked at this message and just frowned. What did that mean?

They were supposed to be done. Then the message continued. [Settlement Reassessment In Progress] Recognized: • Agricultural Production • Livestock Operations • Storage Network • Internal Road Network • Regional Crossing Infrastructure • Supporting Population Mark slowly began to understand what was happening. The system was counting more than the small area they thought of as the village. It was tracking the farms, roads, bridges, livestock, and outlying structures. Everything. Then the message changed.

[Settlement Advancement] Beaver Crossing Village Level 2 Achieved Benefits: • trade caravan support • expanded communal storage • settlement specialization selection • improved crafting support • settlement supply tracking • minor travel bonuses on connected routes That is when all the cheering started. Mark sat there stunned. Village level 2. No one expected that. Garrick said, "I told you we built enough," Garrick said smugly. Then another message appeared.

[Village Specialization Available] Recommended Options: • Agriculture • Livestock • River Trade Selection may be delayed. Mark quickly selected the delay button; he was not ready for any more surprises right now. That was a decision for another day. The messages finally stopped, so he brought up the village overview. [Settlement Overview] Settlement: Beaver Crossing Tier: Village Level 2 Population: Calculating... Recognized Structures: Calculating...

Trade Routes: 3 Leadership Roles: 3 Specialization: Unselected Settlement influence assessment in progress. Population and structure totals will update as recognition completes. Mark was looking at the screen as numbers slowly started to show under population. Just a few to start with, and then more started to come in. There was someone in the crowd that said they got a system invite to add their farm to the town, and they accepted, and then others started to say similar things.

Mark glanced again at Garrick; he had such a pleased look on his face. And then looked around at the crowd. Ava said, "Mark, they are here. I think you should say something." Ava then pointed in the direction of a group of people; there were five women and two men, And what must have been 30-40 children. Mark looked at the group; they had obviously just shown up in this world. Some of the kids looked scared, others excited. One of them was pointing at Swoop flying around.

Two of them were heading toward Bramble with the intent to pet him. And there was one woman that stood out of them all. She was grabbing the two that were trying to pet Bramble and ushering them back toward the main group. Mark could tell she was in charge and trying to keep them all in order. Mark then looked toward his cabin and then around the new level 2 village he stood in. He had just completed one of his Journeyman requirements to create a village.

Then he looked back toward the group of kids and somehow he had the feeling that the hardest part of the day was just about to begin.