Adam woke to the smell of cooked meat and followed his nose to find Ma sat by the fire pit while all the other vermite had gone back to their burrows for the day.

"It needed cooking, or it would go off." Ma commented about the meat as Adam noticed all the remaining boar had now been cooked. She handed him a portion and filled him in on the events of the night while he ate. It was refreshing to have someone else take charge while he just listened.

With the direct supervision of Ma the vermite in the camp had been much more productive. The two huts had now been joined by a longer structure with an open front that Ma planned to use for storage. There were already neat piles of wood and cut grass drying to make more thatch. The enclosure with the piglet now had a small sty inside and had been cleaned. Around the fire sat a number of new stools and the original gate into the camp had been replaced with a sturdier double gate that was six feet high rather than four and had gate posts and a lintel across the top making the whole thing more secure.

Adam was impressed with the changes that had occurred. Ma's intention was to place structures all around the edge of the camp to make the most of increasing the wall height and then leave an enclosed courtyard centrally that would be much more protected. She had then moved the vermite into a central burrow that had been dug out further and branched so there was only one entrance leading into the area. The excavated earth had been used to strengthen the walls when mixed with water and some grass.

To manage all this Ma had Lei's group of vermite head back and forth from the stream and grassland with Soh chopping wood in the same area. Pa and Fa stayed at the camp managing the work. After looking around the camp and sharing how impressed he was Adam wondered about the rest of the vermite.

"What about Ti and Rai? I saw them leave camp before I went to my hut." Asked Adam.

"They went to explore the mine that you mentioned." Replied Ma. "They found the spiders you warned of and tried to avoid them as they collected ore. In the end they killed a couple as they got closer to the nest, but they think it would be safe to go back."

"Good. I'm glad they were safe." Adam did a little mental arithmetic to work out the level 2 spiders would give Ti or Rai 10 exp each; leaving 2 for him; much better than no experience which is what he would get if he now killed them. Using his followers to collect exp for him meant they had to be pushed in the same way he had pushed himself. It would only help them all grow.

Moving on he asked about Kai and Wu; finding out that they had both accepted a profession. Wu had become a gatherer and Kai, surprisingly, a tailor. While Wu had gathered some fruit and nuts Kai had watched the pups and turned a few of the leftover hides into boots; a jerkin and a small sheath for one of the daggers. Boar Hide Boots - Defence +1; durability 3/3. Boar Hide Jerkin - Defence +2; durability 5/5. Keeping his cloth shirt on under the jerkin the entire outfit was a massive improvement from his previous attire. He only now realised that he had been wandering around in what would be classed as rags in polite society.

Feeling pleased with the new outfit Adam remembered the odd pride Ma had once displayed about her tattered jacket and asked.

"What about all of you? I don't want everything used for me." Ma grinned in reply and held out a small tunic that had been created from his torn shirt and pulled it over her head.

"I didn't want to ruin the surprise of your new clothes." She said while proudly pulling her jacket back over the new outfit. "Kai wanted to repay us first, but will make things for the others as well."

Adam was pleased he was not the only one to benefit from Kai's new skills and smiled along with Ma who bade him good night before heading to the burrow to join the other vermite in sleep. He marvelled at the difference between having to organise the vermite and just waking to find the work done. His camp was better; his breakfast had been made and the chores around camp done. Making Ma the leader of the vermite had been an excellent choice. He didn't even need to link with each vermite to collect his exp; it flowed through Ma as a central point. He collected 12 exp for all the various gathering of materials the vermite had done; 10 exp for the new buildings and changes to the camp; 8exp for the new clothes; 6exp for the exploring and 6exp for the spiders killed. There was a further 2exp for Cae killing a fox which also meant his second Staff Wielder vermite was now level 2.

In collecting all the exp Adam became aware that there was one follower he still didn't know about - Sharky. He established the link to see what he had been up to. The excited circles that Sharky started swimming as Adam made contact reminded him of a loyal dog. He gave a virtual pat down the link as he learnt that Sharky had returned to the sunken ship and cleared out all the creatures that had respawned then found a cast-iron pot that he had brought to shore the day before and left for Adam to collect. This gave Sharky 650exp for the kills and an extra 50exp for finding the pot. Along with another 200exp for the kills when starting to explore the underwater cliff Sharky had once again outdone all the vermite. Adam collected the 180exp to add to the 44exp from the vermite. Praising Sharky and thanking him for the pot Adam tasked him to clear the ship once more to look for more treasure and then continue exploring the cliff.

Followers managed Adam considered what to do with the 421exp he now had saved up. 320 went into levelling Elemental manipulation to level 6. He was disappointed that this didn't offer any new mana types but was worth the exp as it would make unlocking basic control of each element easier. Rather than save the remaining 101exp he spent 20 then 40 to level balance, making his Staff Wielder class level 3. Then he used another 40 to level stealth and make Scout class to level 3 too. This awarded him 3 attribute points; given where these had come from Adam broke the mould of his previous allocation and put the two from Staff Wielder into vitality and recovery and the one from Scout into perseverence. He then looked at his new status page.

Adam: Adam God Class (Hidden) - Level 5 (Secondary Classes not shown) Attribute Value Characteristic Value Health 110/110 Vitality 11 Health Regen 5.5/hour Recovery 11 Stamina 160/160 Vigor 16 Stamina Regen 16/hour Fortitude 16 Mana 31/31 Intellect 31 Mana Regen 4.4/hour Clarity 27 Skill Points (SP) 11/11 Perseverence 11 Skill Point Regen 1/hour Willpower 10 God Power (GP) 5/5 Unallocated Points 0 God Power Regen 5(11)/day* *max GP Regen cannot exceed GP Equipment stats Defence 4

Having completed his interactions Adam sat and played with the water mana until his mana pool was exhausted and then made his way to the forest to hunt boar.

The hunting was easier than before. Adam had not realised how much he could benefit from a small 10% boost in his physical stats. Along with increased balance and working out that once they started a charge the boar could not alter direction he could now dodge over half the initial attacks. As predicted due to the respawning there were 14 boar in the forest. What he hadn't predicted was how an increased level significantly affected the exp he would gain.

Notifications: You killed 8 Boar - level 2. You gain 0 exp You killed 3 Boar - level 3. You gain 15 exp You killed 3 Boar - level 4. You gain 60 exp You killed Razorback - level 5. You gain 66 exp

Only 75exp instead of 220exp and even the Razorback gave less exp than before. If it wasn't for the materials he had gathered through byproducts it wouldn't have been worthwhile. He had definitely improved fighting, dodging attacks and both the timing and ease with which he could use fire lance. This meant there were some gains that couldn't be so easily quantified but it showed the only way to level quickly would be by fighting higher levelled creatures.

Checking his map that left an obvious choice to explore next rather than head back to camp. The Forest, coast area.