Congratulations, intense practice has culminated in the following perk:

  [Perceptive Mind] — Enhances all senses. Common

  Ben nodded, contented. He was almost sad that the training for the perk would end—but there was enough other stuff to focus on, so he was definitely happy with his progress.

  Even without the new perk, he could have sensed the presence behind him. He didn’t turn around as he asked, “Sarah, what can I do for you?”

  “Did you just get a perk?”

  “What makes you think so?”

  “You didn’t continue with the exercise as you usually do.”

  “That is very perceptive of you—which is ironic, because I just got [Perceptive Mind]. So the answer is yes, I did get a perk. But I am sure you didn’t come just to observe me play with these toys.” He pointed toward the equipment Barry had had manufactured for the training.

  “Well, I was wondering if you would spar with me? Just for 30 minutes?!”

  Ben shrugged. He was a little ahead of schedule and had an hour until they had to run the Mine dungeon again—today they would actually go all the way if things worked out. Since they had acquired the dungeon, they hadn’t returned to the final boss and had simply cleared it more frequently instead.

  “Why not, what did you have in mind?”

  “I discussed with Barry what weapon would be best for me, and we agreed that an axe might be a bit too heavy for me right now.”

  Ben nodded. With the way attributes worked, there was no reason for a woman not to acquire the same level of strength as a man, however, Sarah was still young, and while she was fit from all the training, it was only a slight exaggeration to say that his axe weighed about half as much as she did.

  “So we agreed that a short spear and a small shield might be the best setup for me. It allows me to use my dexterity and make up for my reach disadvantage.”

  “That sounds like a good decision. Have you already practiced your forms with that gear?”

  “Yes, that’s why I would like to test it against you.”

  “Good, then let’s go.”

  ***

  Ben extracted the True Iron ore and handed it to Marcus and Carter. The two former lumberjacks, who were now some of their leading crafters, had decided to collaborate, bringing together Marcus’ growing smithing skills with Carter’s experience in crafting armor. It felt like a logical evolution and Ben was keen on anything that would help keep his people safe.

  Apparently, smithing with True Iron had proven difficult so far, and no item had really made the cut.

  Ben fist-bumped both men and let them know that he believed in them before returning to his office.

  His mother and Barry waited for him. With Adam on his trip to the city—by now he should have already arrived and, depending on procedures, maybe even be back—the rest of the council was present.

  Sixty days had passed since Arrival Day. Two months of upheaval, loss, and growth. They had received their Settlement Credits for the month—a lot more than in the past.

  “With six dungeons under our control, we got 3,000 SCs. We have 360 citizens, 359 of whom are Tier 1, which means 1,795 SCs, and one in Tier 2, which means 10 SCs. In total 4,805 SCs.”

  “That’s a lot,” Barry grumbled.

  Allison tilted her head side to side, “It is, but at the same time, we have had to convert Credits to SCs all the time just to keep up with building all the apartment buildings that we needed for all the newcomers. We have added more than 200 people since last month—and we need 650 more to get to level 3, that alone will cost us more than 15,000 SCs. So I would suggest we stockpile SCs for now, that way we can save Credits that we can use in the System Store for the essentials that keep people happy.”

  Ben was inclined to agree. He still wanted many things—some of which were not even available in the Settlement Interface—but they were still small enough that they didn’t really need a House of Healing, which would cost 1,000 SCs, right now.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Okay, unless there is something urgent that you need, Barry, we won’t spend anything right now, with one exception: we need a cold storage facility for our food surplus. The space in the inn is not sufficient anymore, which is a good thing—it means we are producing a lot of food that will feed our growing population in the future.”

  Barry and Allison both agreed, so Ben proceeded to build the small warehouse in their crafting district.

  They would revisit their build plan once Adam was back.

  Ben felt a bit guilty, because he had planned to launch their market economy by now, but he forgave himself. Things were still moving along nicely and they would tackle that problem in earnest once Adam was back from the city.

  Next was his trek back to the grove, this time with the professor.

  ***

  Allison had decided to stay at home this time, as she didn’t want to weaken the settlement’s defenses further, given that one team was in Simonston.

  Therefore, it was just Ben, Jamal, Michael, and Anne on the way to the grove, plus Randal Gunther, the professor.

  The older man—who looked younger than he had three months ago—was fit and could easily keep up with them, but despite the staff he carried, he wasn’t a fighter, so in case of trouble, the four team members would have to deal with it.

  They made good progress, and after their last experience, Ben planned to make the trip in one day, returning late at night again. They had some camping equipment with them in case they were delayed, however.

  During their hike, Ben used the time to talk at length with the professor. Not just about his plans for the grove but also about his past research—and they also returned to the poem that Ben had liked so much that he had made it the motto for the academy.

  At some point they returned to the topic of perks in general and how one could go about gathering them.

  “Do you think it is harder to gather perks when one isn’t a fighter?”

  The professor thought about it for a moment, “I don’t think so. I think your very bright friend Adam started a census on perks but paused it when the Protectorate grew as he didn’t want to be too intrusive with new citizens. It might be worth restarting it, at least with volunteers.

  “From what I have observed, it matters more how intensely you engage with what you do than what that activity is. I think the systems, particularly in Tier 1, reward getting into a flow state. Whether that is because you are in danger in a fight or getting really deeply into tailoring a new piece of clothing doesn’t matter.

  “Now, it might be true that people in life-and-death situations are more likely to get really focused on what they do than somebody who can get distracted by other people or things while working, but the difference is probably marginal.”

  “That is a relief. I believe we can only succeed in the long-term if our crafters, educators, healers, and all the others, can keep up.”

  “I agree, and that is one of the things that I like so much about your fledgling nation,” Randal said with a chuckle. “Take me as an example, for whatever reason I got [Clarity], which is rare, on Arrival Day. I managed to, relatively quickly, evolve two perks that I got early on to uncommon, [Critical Thinking] and [Research]. I am also halfway through the Triunes for Mind and Magic. So even though I might have gotten lucky, my pathway to Tier 2 is quite clear.”

  “Wow! That is amazing. I didn’t know you were that close to Tier 2. I am sure you are ahead of most citizens, but still that gives me hope that we will be able to uplift more people in the not-too-distant future.”

  The professor nodded. “I hope so. It would be a shame if an old man like me would make it to Tier 2 before such young and strapping folks like these.” He pointed toward the rest of the team with a grin.

  To Ben’s surprise it was Michael who responded first, “Challenge accepted.” With that he left them to scout ahead.

  Anne just laughed and nodded to Jamal, “We are not too far off. Unless things slow down dramatically, we should get there in the next couple of weeks.”

  Jamal grunted, “We will; however, it’s best not to forget attributes.”

  “You are correct. Based on the books we have, increasing attributes gets progressively harder the higher they are; therefore, it stands to reason we should raise them as much as possible before one adds ‘artificial’ points from the tier-up process,” Randal agreed.

  Before they could continue the discussion, Michael reappeared. “Dire Wolves. At least three.”

  Ben took his axe from its harness and oriented himself. The trees around them were not very dense, so they couldn’t funnel the monsters in any one direction.

  “Professor in the middle. Anne, Jamal, and I will cover him. Michael, roam as you see fit.” More for the benefit of the professor than his team he added, “This is very doable—no reason to get nervous. We have done this a million times.

  “Once they engage, taunt them, Jamal.”

  It didn’t take long for the huge beasts to appear. One of them was close to two meters at the shoulders; the others, fortunately, slightly smaller. All of them had dark gray, shaggy fur, golden eyes, and long, ivory fangs.

  The Energy-born creatures circled them for a minute or two before they attacked simultaneously. When they were a dozen meters away, Jamal used his [Provoking Roar] and the two wolves that had targeted Ben and Anne swerved toward the large man, with their fangs bared.

  The three of them formed a line, protecting the professor and preventing the wolves from surrounding Jamal.

  Ben made a conscious effort to apply the progress he had made over the last few weeks with his new fighting style.

  He moved to what he tentatively called Axe Stand—his knees were slightly lower, which improved his flexibility and mobility. It required more leg strength, but fortunately that was something that Ben had in spades.

  His strength also meant he didn’t have to go all out on every strike—“Axe Strike,” in his head. Smaller movements were typically sufficient to create devastating damage and let him attack—or defend—more frequently.

  His first strike left a bloody gash on the wolf’s shoulder, but he immediately had to step back to evade a snap of the beast’s jaws that could rip him apart. He almost stumbled as his old and new style collided, but quickly caught himself and went back to attack.

  He took two quick steps forward to enter the wolf’s space when lightning-quick movement from above made him abandon his attack. He rolled to the side to evade whatever new enemies had arrived.

  December the posting frequency will shift to three chapters per week (M/W/F).