Chương 136: Chapter 132 — Steward's Priorities

Silvermere Region Day 8 of the Grainworks Initiative Mark woke early. Planning out a new outpost and future village with Garrick yesterday had been fun; Mark enjoyed days like that. But today he needed to get serious about working on his next rank advancement. He ate breakfast at the inn, and Dale had made a bunch of new dishes with the food Mark had brought back. Mark's favorite was some cherry breakfast croissants that were just amazing.

After breakfast, he returned to his cabin to plan, first bringing up his advancement requirements.

[Frontier Steward — Journeyman Rank] Advancement Requirements Establish 1 recognized village (1 / 1) Beaver Crossing recognized Complete 3 regional infrastructure projects (0 / 3) Projects Under Stewardship Grainworks Initiative Timber Consortium Adventurer's Enclave Support a population of 500+ across connected settlements (340 / 500) Establish 3 recognized regional specializations (0 / 3) Maintain a collection of 15 recognized manuals (10 / 15) Structural Reinforcement Techniques Trail Surveying and Route Planning Advanced Food Preservation Methods Wilderness Resource Extraction Basic Metal Forming Principles Furnace Efficiency and Heat Control Iron Tool Design Principles Advanced Fasteners and Joinery Basic Foundry Operations Metalworking Organization and Safety Establish 3 recognized institutions (0 / 3) Expand controlled territory influence to 7 connected regions (3 / 7) Grainfields Silvermere Forest Discover and establish contact with 3 System-controlled regions (2 / 3) Cave Harbor Potential Advancement: Master Frontier Steward ◈ ◈ ◈ Mark looked over the list; he was farther along than he expected.

He decided he was going to make a list of his priorities. He started a list on a piece of paper and divided the list into three sections. Immediate Priorities, Near Future, and Long-Term. Looking over the three great projects, he saw that all of them were on timelines that could fail, so he added all three to his immediate priorities list. Next he looked at population. There was not much he could do about that directly.

If he connected a few more settlements, that problem would take care of itself, so he added it to the long-term list. The next item on the list was to establish 3 recognized regional specializations. He opened his interface and found the tab for that. He briefly read through it and decided it was important, but not a top priority. After a couple of minutes of thinking about it, he put it on the near-future list. Next he looked at maintaining a collection of 15 recognized manuals. He had ten.

He figured there had to be more recognized manuals scattered throughout the regions, and eventually they would begin creating their own. He was making progress on it but needed to look around and ask what others had. That would go on the near-future list. Next on the list were three recognized institutions. He had firsthand knowledge about schools because of his trip down south. They could start that, but he would need to find two more. That one he added to the near-future list.

Next was expanding controlled territory influence. He brought up his interface. He already had credit for the Grainfields, Silvermere, and the Forest. He then looked at Mistwater Basin. He had been up and down the trail on the right side of the lake, but that only accounted for 15% control of the area. He was way short of finishing that. Because of the lack of true boats that could handle a lake that big, he added it to the long-term list.

Next he looked at the Brightwater Valley map; he was at around 35% control there. He could almost kick himself for not taking the extra time to explore the full zone and add it to his controlled territory influence. He needed four more; that would have been an easy one. He added that to the near-future priorities. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. He then added exploring three more regions to the long-term list.

Those were going to be a pain, but he needed to do them. Lastly, he looked at the System-controlled regions. The Cave and the Harbor both counted. So in his hunt for more controlled territories of influence, he would need to look for strange and bizarre things; there had to be at least one more like it out there, if not a few more. With class upgrades reviewed, he thought over other projects he needed to do. He had to get Rivergate Landing up and going.

Garrick would handle the construction; he could stop by in a few days and make sure the settlement was set up and equipped with everything it needed. He, of course, had to work on each of the three great projects. So he scratched out the general "three great projects" entry and added each one by name. Grainworks Initiative, Timber Consortium, and Adventurer's Enclave. Of those three, he ranked Adventurer's Enclave first, Timber Consortium second, and Grainworks Initiative third.

Over the next few days, he would visit each of them. Mark then took his list and went over and stuck it to the wall using a nail and a hammer. That would remind him of his priorities each day. Garrick, of course, would complain that he put nail marks in the wood, but that was fine. He would just make Garrick sand them out to annoy him when he saw it. He took another look at the painting of Silvermere Lake and added items for his home to the list of things he would get while he was out.

He then walked over to the door; he was going to head to the Forest first and figure out what was going on with the Adventurer's Enclave and see how he could help out. Mark exited his cabin and headed to the barn. Just before he got there, David ran over and let him know the oxen were on the way and that Garrick had assigned a team to follow them down the river to create the towpath as they headed south, cutting out the worst of the river plants that would be in the way for the towlines when they got to the barge.

Mark finally made it to the barn, saddled his horse, and started toward Southgate, where the northern road would eventually lead him back to Forest's Res, where he wanted to check on Clara. As he traveled the road, he could see a lot more traffic than before. Horses and mules hauling wagons were now not a rarity. He got passed by a couple runners, which surprised him as they were moving faster than his horse. It must be some kind of a skill thing. Southgate was busy. There were supplies stacked all over the place.

They were shipping things from other zones to theirs and then distributing them inside the Grainfields Region, so it was a huge yard full of goods. They might have to build some warehouses there soon. When he got to Forest's Rest, he could see that the wall had been extended; there were two more longhouses and three more cabins built. The area was no longer small.

When he lived there, he had made the decision to not make it bigger and turn it into a village, but it seemed the people who had stayed behind had other ideas. The place was growing anyway. He was surprised to find a hitching post next to the cooking house. Its popularity made it a place that many runners and wagon drivers stopped by on their routes to eat. When Mark walked up to the window to order, Clara yelled and asked him to come around to the back door; she wanted to talk.

Before the door had even opened, she was talking. Clara said, "Mark, did you hear that Dale got his hands on a bunch of fruit? Can you believe it? Where in the world did it come from?" Mark said, "That was my doing; it came from the valley south of the grainfields." Clara said, "Wait, you brought him items and brought me nothing?""

Mark looked ashamed and looked through his inventory, pulling out a few random items, including apples and cherries, some potatoes, carrots, and a few other veggies, including some herbs. Clara quickly snatched them up and stored them in her inventory. Clara said, "Okay, now, Mark, I need you to tell me every recipe you know." She then pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil and looked at him. Mark said, "I know how to burn toast if that helps." Clara said, "I will take it and anything else you can think of.

If the system takes it, I will give you a free meal for each one you give me." Mark said, "Don't I eat here free already?" Clara said, "Not if you don't give me some recipes, and I will charge you double." Mark sighed. Somehow he'd gone from Frontier Steward to unpaid cookbook consultant. He then started listing the few things he knew how to make, which was not a lot. As Dale had told him long ago, he could burn water.

Still, he gave her ten small recipes, including peanut butter and banana sandwiches, which Clara said were gross but wrote down anyway. It was funny; not a single recipe he gave her had the items to make it with. Maybe somewhere out there was a tropical region full of bananas and peanuts. Stranger things had happened. At least they had bread. When the conversation finally wound down, Mark headed to the crossroads, which was the closest inn, and went to sleep.

Crossroads had grown too; there were a couple new longhouses and a couple new cabins. There was a new barn and stables, and it was full of wagons, where the drivers were most likely spending the night at the inn. All the normal rooms in the inn were full, but they put him in a staff room that was empty so that he would not have to find a place to put a tent like so many others still did. Tomorrow he would figure out what was happening with the Adventurer's Enclave.

Whatever they had built over the past week, he hoped it was becoming more than another camp. The region needed explorers just as much as it needed farmers and builders.