“So yeah... basically just stay out of the tunnel for now. We can send a few groups there in a week or two, to take care of the ant hive and we will have ourselves a dungeon that we can run. Once the tunnel is clear and if any of you want to enter the Dungeon, I would say wait until you have your second class before doing so, and to be safe head in with a full party and be fully supplied with health and Mana potions, a few antidotes as well for the Centipedes. That place was pretty hard, especially that last boss. If you do go in be careful, there aren’t that many of us and any loss of life is unacceptable as far as I’m concerned.” Everyone around the table nodded that they understood.

Next everyone relaid what they had discovered in the surround area’s. To the north there were caves at the base of the mountains that could be mined for various metals, so far copper and iron have been found but they haven’t ventured too deep yet so there may be more. The caves are also quite numerous and expansive containing monsters if you go deep enough so it isn’t unreasonable to think that there could be another dungeon there to discover.

To the east on the ocean there is apparently an island not too far off and can be seen if you use a spying glass or telescope from the top of the city walls. There’s also apparently a light house on the island and it emits light during the night. People are likely trapped there, so it was decided that tomorrow Aiden would use his last free building token and build a port. The cheapest ship that he felt could be considered safe cost 150,000 and it was a small shipping vessel with sail’s that required a crew of at least 6 and cold hold up to 100 passengers if necessary.

The town would have enough to buy one in the next two days and if not then the Guardians would pool their money and purchase one anyway. They didn’t want to wait too much longer in case the people on the island were in danger or had issues with gathering food or fresh water.

To the south where Aiden and Victoria had their failed expedition, he learned a town was still standing as a group of people passed through there on their way here. There seemed to be survivors and they were doing fine from what they could see, but Aiden would head out in that direction to make sure after the situation with the island was dealt with.

The west was where most people had come from. There were many isolated farms and residence in that direction as well as a few more town further west. The journey through the forest was dangerous however and many lost their lives making the trip.

So far about 10 miles in each direction of the town was mostly explored and no major threats have been found. There were some clusters of monsters here and there but it was decided to leave them for now as a continual source of monsters to fight.

Aiden cautioned everyone not to travel any farther for now. They needed to secure the region closest to the town, and would venture further out as they got stronger. The average level of the Guardians was now between 2-5 with some outliers like their original 10, with Cassandras group taking the lead with all their members at level 7.

They were doing quite well, not every one can stumble upon dungeons like they had, and be forced to fight to survive, gaining many levels in the process. Aiden though wryly. The meeting ended there and everyone talked for another few minutes. He used this time to get to know the new members of his order better.

The next day true to his word he purchased a storage warehouse for the town and placed it next to the market building. Then he purchased the port. He had a budget of 3.5 million credits left of the total he was allowed to spend with the free token’s and it just so happened that a mid sized port cost almost as much at 3.4 million.

The port could anchor six mid sized (25 to 40 meters) and two large ships (40+ meters) with room for a few smaller ones like they were going to purchase. It came with three buildings for whatever use you needed and it had a small wall stretching around the whole thing and a few hundred feet into the ocean with two guard towers for defense.

Aiden joined Cassandra, Lily and their party’s on a trip to the mountain range. He was curious about the caves and how deep into the mountains they went. They had three volunteers from the non mana awakened with them that wanted to help out and try their hand at mining.

He thought they would be much less effective but they wanted to help so it was fine with him. Better they contribute in whatever way they can then just sit in town and do nothing like he saw a few people doing the other day. He would need to address that at some point.

Once there he left Cassandra, Chris, and the volunteers to their mining and headed deeper into the caves. There were a few monsters on the way, mostly overgrown rats, bats and things of that nature that grew more populous the further he went but nothing too dangerous. Well too dangerous to him that is, he would need to warn the others to keep vigilant while they mined lest something sneak up on them.

The volunteers would be especially at risk. One good attack from these things and that would be it. Thankfully he learned from Maggie, who chose Cleric as her class, that healing magic and potions worked on non Mana awakened so unless it was a fatal wound that killed too quickly to get help, they would be fine.

The cave split into a few tunnels on the way and he was thankful for his map interface or else he would probably get lost on his way back. He found a few more deposits along the way finding some new ore’s like tin and silver. He had been walking for over three hours now and went pretty deep, he decided to turn back lest the others start to worry. The cave system here was indeed massive, he only took one path straight into the mountain and it split many times along the way. It would take weeks to explore properly and he most likely wouldn’t be the one doing it.

When he got back he shared his map with the others there and relayed what he found and learned. They all headed back to town after that. On the way Aiden stayed back with the volunteers and watched how the party’s fought together.

He was impressed, both party’s were a solid team at this point and worked well together. He was slightly worried about the party with all the kids but knew there wasn’t really anything he could do about it. They were all young yes, most would say too young for this kind of life, but they seemed to be adapting and they were doing really well.

Back in the town they dropped off all the ores they mined at the crafting hall and Aiden watched as the Blacksmiths and Armorsmiths worked. He took a look at some of their creations examining a few as he went, while asking the smiths about their work. They were slightly embarrassed and said that what they made wasn’t really useful as of yet but said they were improving daily.

Bronze Short Sword - (Common) / Quality (Poor) / Damage Physical 17-20

Bronze Long Sword - (Common) / Quality (Average) / Damage Physical 24-27

Iron Long Sword: - (Common) / Quality (Average) / Damage Physical: 28-33

Iron Chest Plate: - (Common) / Quality (Average) / Def +10 / -3 Agi -2 Dex

Aiden could understand what they meant, the stuff they were making right now probably wouldn’t be used by anyone except the weakest members here that couldn’t afford anything better, but the craftsmen would eventually get to a point where their gear would be as good if not better then the things the system offered. Aiden was looking forward to that day.

He noticed The Iron Chest Plate subtracted 3 points from agility and 2 from dexterity and asked about it, learning that it was the combination of the crafter’s skill and the weight of the armor. He though that made sense but hadn’t run into it before since both he and Victoria always went for leather armor. He checked the system shop, and sure enough most heavier armors subtracted from certain stats but made up for it with higher defense ratings.

He walked over to Laura, one of the members of Cassandras party, as what she was doing caught his eye. She was carving small writing into an iron ring with a tool he didn’t recognize and he could actually see Mana flowing from her hand into the tool and further into the etchings. Intrigued he picked up one of the finished ones and examined it.

Iron Ring of minor strength - (Common) / Quality (Poor) / +1 Str

Description: Run you fools! For I wield a ring of unimaginable power!

Aiden laughed quietly at the description. It seemed the crafter could add little tidbits to their work in the description, it was a nice touch. He wondered why he never got the option to do it himself, then figured it must be because he never tried making a piece of actual equipment before. He would have to try it out in future, perhaps making a bow or something.

'Well that was interesting' he mused. It seemed at least one person had picked up enchanting which he was hoping for and was a second choice for him as well. However the bonus stat that came with the class wasn’t what he needed at the time so he didn't take it.

The ring itself was of poor design probably from one of the earlier works from one of the smiths. He stopped for a second and wondered which of the two smithing classes were capable of crafting accessories as he hadn’t seen a specific class for it. When he asked one of them he learned that both classes could apparently.

The accessories would be useful to everyone right now since even the crappy ones from the shop were priced highly. He put the ring back and smiled at Laura telling her she was doing fine work and to keep it up, causing her to blush and look down murmuring a thank you.

Aiden laughed internally and wondered what the hell had happened to him since the ‘apocalypse’ as some people were calling it. It seemed his personality had a major shift from before. He was never an outgoing person and preferred to keep to himself. Now however he conversed with people and it didn’t bother him any. He was even enjoying it.

He couldn’t pinpoint when exactly this had changed or why, and he spent they rest of the day wondering around town and pondering on that. He eventually came to the conclusion that it was a combination of the world and the outlook of the people changing. It wasn’t just him, everyone seemed to be more outgoing and revitalized.

Meanwhile Victoria was learning to cook from some of the folks in the kitchen. She had never really learned before except for the occasional fried eggs in the mornings, opting for takeout usually. When they were out and away from town it would be a useful skill to have in emergencies. The dried rations they mostly ate now that were from the shop were fine but rather bland. And wasn’t that a surprise when they were found. Aiden had checked the food section before which was pretty pricey, but the rations were located under supplies and cost a lot less.

She wanted to be able to cook up something they hunted and have it taste good. It wouldn’t unfortunately be anything special, like the cooking class that one person had chosen, which added temporary buffs to the food, but she wanted to learn anyway.

It gave her something to do since life in the town was kind of boring for her. There just wasn’t anything for her to do other then walk around and maybe get to know some new people. So she decided on a hobby and cooking seemed interesting and useful, plus she got to listen to some gossip from the ladies here which was always amusing.