After a short stop at the main camp, Aaron gathered all of his people and made for the plot he had scouted earlier.

  There was a lot to be done, and the goblins were the first to get started, throwing up some temporary tents and scouting the area around them.

  Several of the goblins had gotten particularly close with their wolves, he noticed, and they were already naturally using them as mounts as they scanned the region from their backs.

  While Zach and Marko decided that they would set up their first proper shop within his land. It was going to be a joint venture, after all.

  And while all of that was going on, Aaron’s first order of business was to pull everything useful he had for building a camp out of his scabbard. And it was a long list of items.

  There were items from early in his trials that he had basically forgotten about, like his orc banner, which he planted in the middle of his camp. It was a red thing with crude paint that looked to have been painted with somebody's fingers, but he didn’t hate it.

  And while he didn’t necessarily want his camp to look like an orc camp, extra boons were extra boons. A 10% bonus to stats after resting was no small benefit, either. But he realized after placing it down on his plot and glancing over the settlement status in the System page, that there was an area for a banner, and it was now occupied.

  It made sense that if banners were as powerful as this, there would be a limit to how many one could use. But since he had no other banners, he left it. If someone else had something better, then he could remove it.

  As he continued through his list, there were some items, like the griffon breeding grounds, that he decided to keep in the spatial storage for now. For example, the Griffon breeding building required both Griffons and a tamer Class to run it, and so it was useless for now. If they happened upon some griffons and managed to catch some, he would absolutely place the building. But since they couldn’t use it yet, it made more sense to wait. After all, he had no idea how his camp would expand over time, and wanted to try and keep it as orderly as possible.

  Next was his Basic Regeneration Ward got hung from a wooden post in the middle of the camp, and provided a weak healing effect for the entire settlement.

  There didn’t appear to be a limit to the number of wards he could place, but they did require mana to operate. For now, he infused his own mana into it and asked that his followers top it up if they noticed it run low.

  The ward also wasn’t overly strong and was nearly useless for Aaron. However, his people could heal more quickly at home, which was no doubt handy. And if they managed to place enough of the wards, perhaps their effects would be strong enough to give a real healing buff if they were forced to defend their home against attackers.

  He also made a note to get some of those mana cores Julius had mentioned. He already had a use for passive mana within his camp, and he was confident it was only going to get more and more energy hungry.

  Next, he placed the rod of camouflage, which also came with a mana cost. It made his camp blend in with its grassy surroundings. But it didn’t make anything invisible. The Bellagio was also relatively easy to see for a keen eye, but the camps around it were hard to distinguish from their surroundings. Still, despite not being perfect, it could cause an enemy not to spot their outer perimeters and walk into a defensive turret or ambush.

  That said, he decided to turn it off for now. He didn’t want to be stuck charging everything up with his own mana, so until he had a mana core, it was impractical to use everything. Also, he was at home and could defend the place himself. He would probably turn it on when he left.

  After that, he placed the Cosmic Training Cube. However, it wasn’t instantaneous, like some items. A transparent cube the size of a McMansion appeared near the center of camp, but it was hard to make out any details as it was colorless and transparent. Slowly, it began to construct itself with a seven day System timer.

  Seven days wasn’t particularly long, though, so he wasn’t about to complain. Especially not when compared to the Divine Temple, which he placed beside it.

  A huge, transparent pyramid appeared, and beside it was a System timer with one month displayed upon it.

  Ah, okay. Guess you’ll be taking a while. Shoulda guessed.

  Rummaging through his scabbard, Aaron looked at what else he had to place. There were a few items like the communication orb, Well of Truths, and material fusing device, which he also decided to keep within his spatial container until he had a building to put them in. He also kept the soil in the container until the goblins had prepared his new farm. It didn’t need to be lying around, losing moisture.

  Next, he placed his six sentry orbs around the settlement, which also would require mana. According to the System, the sentry orbs would hover around, shooting lasers at any would-be attackers, and required someone stationed as a guard to give them commands. None of that mattered immediately, though, as they would take three days to build.

  His Obelisk of Dominance also remained in the scabbard. From the sounds of its description, it was purely for conquering people and had no use in a friendly settlement. Not unless he wanted to go all evil dictator on them.

  There was also the antler roach eggs he still had from way back in the trials that he wanted to make use of, but wasn’t sure exactly how he was supposed to.

  As he walked around, he noted that a few goblins had already left to fell nearby trees, and spotted a few of them hauling the downed trees back with the help of the wolf companions.

  Aaron continued to stroll around the little camp. He was officially impressed. His little green companions mightn’t have been the strongest warriors, but they were proving their worth already.

  With most of his buildings placed, and everybody hard at work, he took this moment to go through his scabbard with more detail than he had in perhaps ever.

  There were a bunch of items he didn’t really need anymore. He wasn’t sure if he should just give them away to the others or not, but decided to wait on it and make a decision later. He had, after all, gotten as strong as he had thanks to his hard work and wasn’t entirely sure about just giving his people handouts.

  The gods certainly didn’t seem to think that they should just give him anything without earning it. Even at the very end, he was expected to beat them on his own merit, and Yendal had certainly made him pay many times. And they no doubt understand the multiverse better than he did.

  He had almost forgotten about the communal quest token when he spotted it in the scabbard. It was set to open three months after the trials, and over a week had already passed in what felt like the blink of an eye. He was going to need to keep a close eye on the token. After all, he didn’t want to miss out on it.

  “This camp is coming along nicely. I feel like my people finally have some security. We owe you thanks,” Treg said, interrupting Aaron’s thoughts.

  “Oh, don’t thank me. I intend to make you and your people work for it.”

  Treg smiled. A little hard work was a small price to pay for safety in a world like this. “I’m serious. You have saved us all. If there’s anything. Anything at all. Just tell me.”

  “Mate, Treg, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Unless you can look after a bunch of antler roach eggs for me, just keep doing what you’re doing.”

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Eggs?” Treg scratched his chin unexpectedly. “I don’t know what antler roaches are, but are like beast eggs? Why do you have them?”

  “Quest reward,” Aaron shrugged. “Don’t know what good they are, though.”

  “I see. Interesting. You know, I don’t know if you noticed, but a few of the younglings have really taken to the wolves. I have been meaning to tell you, but on the way over here, a couple of them hit level 25, and were offered beast taming Classes. We’ve now got two Verdant Plains Tamers and a Feral Beast Rider. Quite lucky for them, really. They were struggling and had really fallen behind. You see, tamer Classes can bond with their beasts, and actually gain experience as their beasts grow stronger and kill things. Those young ones who didn’t fare too well in the Tutorial are now out-levelling the rest of us, thanks to how strong the wolves are, and since they can grow when their wolves kill things, I don’t see it stopping anytime soon.”

  “Damn, that is good. They’ll be the strongest of your entire group soon.”

  “I’m sure they will be. But that’s not why I mentioned it. If you like, I can see if they can do anything with those eggs of yours.”

  “Right, nah, yeah, that's a great idea. They’re all yours,” Aaron said, scooping the eggs out of his scabbard and piling them up for Treg. “Mate, you do what you have to, no pressure. I’m just glad we might get some use out of them.”

  “Gladly! I’ll see to it! Oi, boys,” Treg said, yelling out to some nearby gobbos. “Collect the eggs and put ‘em somewhere safe! No eating!”

  He still needed griffons, but it sounded like with his gobbo companions gaining tamer Classes, he was already halfway to being able to use the breeding grounds.

  Treg’s news also inspired him. If he found more F-grade or even E-grade people who were good with animals, setting them up with a wolf so they could get a tamer Class evolution wasn’t a bad idea.

  Hang on, I wonder if that cat girl has a tamer Class?

  Whether she did or didn’t, didn’t really matter. The point was that, for anyone weaker than the wolves currently were, they presented a surefire, easy way to gain levels and get stronger. A good way of pulling up weaker members of the camp, at least as long as they still had wolves to spare.

  With the basics underway and having to wait some time until his camp was properly built, Aaron took a seat on a log and opened up his status page. It was time to check his Skill unlock and finally get around to spending the free points he had building up.

  And for once, Sooty was nowhere to be seen. But Aaron knew exactly what the devious goblin was up to. Ever since fraternising with the goblin girls, he had taken far less interest in Aaron. And he decided to select his Skill without the little soot goblin to teach him a lesson. If he was too distracted chasing goblin girls, then that was his own fault.

  Pack hunting [ Uncommon ]. The pack that hunts together sticks together. Passively, provides minor damage and resistance buffs when fighting as part of a pact.

  Mounted Charge [ Uncommon ]. From atop your mount, you charge your enemies with powerful force. When activated, this Skill provides both you and your mount a speed bonus when moving toward your enemy, and a damage bonus for the first attack that you land, the damage of which increases the faster you are moving.

  Submerged Strike [ Rare ] Your martial abilities extend beyond the hard surface of the ground, and into the depths below. When activated, the user strikes with an immensely powerful attack that increases in power the deeper they are underwater.

  Void Crusader [ Epic ] You are the light against the darkness. Freeing the multiverse of a most corrupt and deadly infection that threatens to spread across it. Passively provides the user with void resistance, and increases their energy resources and raw power output when inside a void corruption.

  Skill merge [ Soul Shattering Strike ] + [ Turbocharged Haymaker ] = [ Soul Shattering Haymaker ] [ Legendary ]. With this attack, you have created an absurdly powerful combination of power and raw soul-crushing energy. When activated, the user throws a punch that exists in both the physical plane and the spiritual. This attack does ridiculous damage to both energy, soul morale, and the target’s physical form, and is enough to break both bones and fighting spirit in a single attack.

  Aaron audibly sighed as he went over the selection. He wasn’t giving up any of his current Skills for Skills that were only useful while fighting with Zero, regardless of how much he liked the wolf’s companionship. That removed the first two options. And not just because he didn’t like the Skills on offer, but also because he didn’t want to risk steering himself toward a tamer Class.

  Submerged strike was rejected for similar reasons. He didn’t fancy himself an underwater fighter.

  Void Crusader was equally limiting. Sure, if he had lots of void corruptions to deal with, it might be nice. But he didn’t.

  However, his last option was at least interesting. He didn’t want it, though, since it didn’t sound like much of an upgrade. It wouldn’t just limit him to a single attack where he currently had two attacks for different purposes, but there was no combo chain, and not only that, but it was the same Rarity as his Soul Shattering Strike.

  However, despite not sounding any better than what he currently had, the fact that he had unlocked a Skill merge option was interesting in and of itself. He used his haymaker and his soul shattering attack all the time, so it wasn’t hard to understand why he got an option to merge them. If he wanted to merge something else, he would need to focus more on using the Skills together, he realized.

  Not picking a new Skill wasn’t the end of the world. Sooty had already explained that a certain amount of energy would be stored, increasing his likelihood of getting better unlocks next time.

  But it was getting a little annoying, and he realized he needed to think about his leveling more going forward. He was at a point where he really needed to think about his direction when leveling, since all the Skills he had were pretty good, and not Skills he could just throw away. If he wanted to continue growing and getting Skills worth discarding what he currently had, he needed to level with purpose and plan in mind.

  But at least he had a better idea to work toward now. After all, he was pretty happy with all of his Skills, and it made focusing and thinking about what to get next exceptionally difficult, and had resulted in him leveling without much direction for a while now.

  However, Skill merging changed all that. He just had to take a moment to think about what he wanted. What Skills did he have that would be better combined into a single Skill?

  It was something he would need some time to think about.

  Dismissing the Skill selection without choosing anything, Aaron moved on to the 60 free points he had to spend. And he decided to throw them into Dexterity, as the stat was falling a little behind, and his body was only getting stronger and faster with every level. Dexterity was massively important for fine motor control, which only got more and more difficult as one got stronger.

  Once his points were placed, he then gazed over his status page before getting back to work.

  [ Name: Aaron Dober ]

  [ Age: 23 ]

  [ Race: Human [ Awoken ] ]

  [ Grade: E ]

  [ HP: 75800 ]

  [ MP: 41300 ]

  [ SP: 115400 ]

  [ AP: 3000 ]

  [ Class: Empty-Handed Energy Monk, lvl 64 ]

  [ Profession: Ogre Gastronomist, lvl 46 ]

  [ Stats ]

  [ Strength: 824 (+491) ]

  [ Vitality: 758 (+461) ]

  [ Fortitude: 1154 (+677) ]

  [ Dexterity: 570 (+345) ]

  [ Agility: 900 (+520) ]

  [ Intelligence: 499 (+302) ]

  [ Willpower: 413 (+273) ]

  [ Charisma: 377 (+276) ]

  [ Perception: 574 (+333) ]

  [ Titles: Shadow Trials Trailblazer, Stamina Control Prodigy, Mana Control Prodigy, Vitality Control Prodigy, Holder of a True Blessing, In the Eyes of the Gods, Aether Wielder, World Overlord, Endurer, Dominator, Challenger, Shadow Trials Hall of Famer, Behemoth Slayer, Pack Leader ]

  [ Traits: Fate Weaver (Alpha), Major Blessing of Oozagh the Rotund, True Blessing of Yendal the Empty-Handed, Herald of a God, Death Cheat, Pack Alpha ]

  [ Racial Skills: Inspect, Lingua Multiversa, World Map ]

  [ Profession Passive Skills (3/3): Mass Produced Cooking!, Conductive Gut, Adipose Fusion ]

  [ Profession Active Skills (6/6): Spirit Toes, Oozagh’s Breath, Foul Ichor, Unsightly Degustation, Perfect Measurements, Spirit Hands ]

  [ Class Passive Skills (3/3): Reverse Cycle Faux Core, Equal and Opposite, Soul Vortex ]

  [ Class Active Skills (6/6): Soul Shattering Strike, Spectral Projection, Gorgon’s Time Dilation, Turbocharged Haymaker, Spectral Rush, Spectral Bullet Punch ]

  “Not bad. Not bad at all.”

  He let out a satisfied sigh, happy with how much his stats had gone up since getting back to Earth. He was finally able to level his Class and was making great progress. However, that had come at the expense of leaving his Profession behind, and on top of that, he was just about out of food. He turned his attention back to the rest of the contents of his scabbard, which were almost entirely meat.

  Time to get cooking.

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