Chapter 23

After enjoying a long night of peaceful slumber, Ben woke up in the small tower hidden in the forest. Yesterday's injuries and exhaustion were like a dream to him now. With the miracle of being able to cultivate and use magic, he could bounce back from the battle as if it had never happened.

Ben descended the narrow tower staircase to the first floor and removed the barricade bar to open the tower door so that he could step outside. The early morning sunlight was streaming down through the canopy of trees that looked like a large green ceiling covering the gold and brown carpet of leaves that had fallen from so many passing seasons.

Taking a deep breath the woodland incense the scent of conifers and decaying leaves filled his senses.

'Looks like it will be another beautiful summer day today.' he speculated while enjoying the refreshing wind that wove through the woodland.

Before deciding what to do today, he checked the Warehouse supplies so that he could gauge how much of each resource and items were being added per day. This would give him a rough idea of when he would have enough supplies to build a few more structures and still have enough left over to sell in Goldcrest City.

The Warehouse was gradually building a surplus of fresh vegetables of Earth and Victus, native fruits, apples, canned foods, beef, cow hides, spices, cotton fabric, hemp fabric, men and women's clothing, metal ores, cookware, utensils, raw cotton, raw hemp, sand, glass, steel, stone and wood.

'It is great that I am starting to produce more than just food now. I am getting excited to build a few more structures so that I can make even more items in which I can sell.'

Since the people at the fortress had everything they needed and were probably keeping busy with the excavation job, he had assigned them there was no hurry to head back just yet.

Ben equipped all his gear and made sure to have the system mark all the profound beasts around him to avoid a repeat of yesterday.

He closed the tower door behind him and set off in a new direction while toggling his Herbalist Aura Vision skill on.

Over the next seven days, he had traveled deeper into the forest than he had previously. Ben was now able to hunt stronger profound beasts and collect a variety of spirit plants and herbs.

It wasn't all smooth sailing for him on his trek, Ben wasn't able to kill every one of these creatures quickly and had been injured occasionally. Even so, he would heal himself up and continue forward when it was possible.

Because Ben had been hunting higher cultivation creatures the money he made increased quickly. This gave him the determination to push forward every single day. If it was possible, he wanted to build a few more structures before returning to the city.

On the ninth day of his long hunt, he decided to turn around and hunt back toward the stone tower location.

By the time, Ben made it back to the Farms in the valley below the fortress walls he had been gone for twenty days. Tired and dirty from living out in the open for so many days, he continued to follow the road up the incline toward the stone block gatehouse while dreaming of a hot bath.

He decided to open his notices and review his advances from the long trip to occupy his time.

[Notice] [Skill: Enhanced Hearing has increased! Enhanced Hearing Level 19!]

[Notice] [Skill: Sword Proficiency has increased! Sword Proficiency Level 10!]

[Notice] [Skill: Sword Mastery has increased! Sword Mastery Level 2!]

[Notice] [Skill: Hand to Hand Combat has increased. Hand to Hand Combat Level 4!]

[Notice] [Skill: Pain Suppression has increased! Pain Suppression Level 10!]

[Notice] [Skill: Pain Suppression has Evolved into Pain Reflection Level 1!]

[Notice] Skill: [Pain Reflection has increased! Pain Reflection Level 3!]

[Notice] [Skill: Chameleon has increased! Chameleon Level 13!]

[Notice] [Skill: Silent Walk has increased. Silent Walk Level 10!]

[Notice] [Skill: Silent Walk has Evolved into Silent Movement Level 2!]

[Notice] [Skill: Bowman Sniper has increased! Bowman Sniper Level 7!]

[Notice] [Skill: Victus Zoologist has increased! Victus Zoologist Level 8!]

[Notice] [Skill: Analyze has increased! Analyze Level 7!]

[Notice] [Skill: Herbalist Aura Vision has increased! Herbalist Aura Vision Level 6!]

[Notice] [Skill: Grappling has increased! Grappling Level 6!]

[Notice] [Spell: Mana Manipulation has increased! Mana Manipulation: Apprentice Level 6!]

[Notice] [Spell: Mending Touch has increased! Mending Touch: Apprentice Level 7!]

[Notice] [Spell: Mana Javelin has increased! Mana Javelin: Apprentice Level 5!]

[Notice] [You have advanced in cultivation! Cultivation Stage Four: Level Seven!]

Sword Mastery: You can now skillfully handle any type of sword. You gain a +1 to attack damage for every level increase.

Pain Reflection: Not only has the pain you feel been greatly reduced, but the pain you would normally feel is partially reflected toward your enemy. +5 to reflected pain is added per level increase. [Currently reflecting 15% of total felt pain]

Silent Movement: You can now walk or run without making any sound while your gear weight is under five pounds. Each level increase allows an additional pound of gear to be worn while remaining silent. [Current total weight allowed remaining silent is 7 pounds]

Ben was confused when he noticed some notices seemed to skip a level or displayed a level higher than he remembered.

But when he opened his status he realized since he had not reviewed his notices for some time that gains were totaled up into one notice per skill. So if he had a skill that leveled up from 1 through 3 the final notice would just say, he had advanced to level 3 instead of showing a notice of both level 2 and level 3.

"Status!"

______________________

[STATUS]

[Host]: Ben King

[System Level]: 9

[Health]: 780/780

[Mana]: 620/620

[Strength]: 87

[Agility]: 71

[Stamina]: 98

[Intelligence]: 62

[Wisdom]: 61

[Vitality]: 78

[Charisma]: 63

______________________

[SKILLS]

[Running: Level 9]

[Spriniting: Level 8]

[Enhanced Hearing: Level 19]

[Sword Mastery: Level 2]

[Hand to Hand Combat: Level 4]

[Pain Reflection: Level 3]

[Chameleon: Level 13]

[Silent Movement: Level 1]

[Bowman Sniper: Level 3]

[Victus Zoologist: Level 8]

[Poison Resistance: Level 5]

[Analyze: Level 7]

[Echolocation: Level 6]

[Mercantile Skill: Level 5]

[Iron Grip: Level 7]

[Herbalist Aura Vision Level 6]

[Grappling Level 2]

______________________

[SPELLS]

[Mana Manipulation: Apprentice Level 6]

[Mana Ball: Apprentice Level 1]

[Mana Shield: Apprentice Level 1]

[Enhance Form: Apprentice Level 8]

[Slave Command: Apprentice Level 2]

[Mending Touch: Apprentice Level 7]

[Mana Javelin: Apprentice Level 5]

______________________

[CULTIVATION STAGE]

[Stage Four, Level Seven]

[Current stage provides +3 to attributes per level]

______________________

[CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES]

[Immortal Strengthening Technique: Stage 4: Level 7]

[Whirlwind Maneuver, Level 10]

______________________

[PROFESSIONS]

[Sign Maker Level 1]

[Graphic Designer Level 1]

[Carpenter Level 1]

[Furniture Maker Level 1]

______________________

'I get it now all my increases in skills, spells, attributes, and cultivation have been all totaled together and added to my status page even if every gain wasn't displayed in a notice.' Ben discerned while nodding to himself.

Distracted over his status menu Ben did not realize everyone was working on the road that led up to the gatehouse until he heard them all call out to him from further up the road.

It was a surprise to see how much they had accomplished while he had been away. From their progress, it was clear these slaves were used to intensive manual labor.

Now all along the road that led up to the gatehouse, there was a sheer drop off on each side of the road. If someone were not watching where they were walking and stepped off the road they would fall about 30-40 feet to the valley floor below.

They had almost finished digging out the earth along both the sides of the road and would soon begin to dig out the ravine that the drawbridge would span when it was lowered.

Near the gatehouse, the women had even set up a makeshift cooking area and had even put out large iron cooking pots full of water and silver cups from the Market so the hard working men would remain hydrated and full as they worked throughout the day.

They all dropped what they were doing to come over and see where Ben had been for so long. Apparently, they were a worried because he had taken off for so long without letting anyone know he would be gone. Ben had always been by himself for the most part and was used to going off on his own and not having to let people know what he was up to.

He was now sorry he had worried them, but it made him a little happy to know they missed him and were worried about his safety. When he let them all know that he had been in the southern forest this whole time they were even more worried. He thought about retelling his adventure and all the beasts he had fought with and thought it might be a little too much for them.

Ben inspected their progress on the inclined road and made sure to praise each of them for their hard work and reminded them not to push themselves too hard. When they went back to work, he left to head straight to the Bathhouse to enjoy a nice long hot bath.

With a total of 6583 gold coins and change, he opened his Build Menu and began to plan out his next stage of development. Once he was sure of which structures he would build next, Ben got dressed and left the Bathhouse.

His first task was to open the roads interface and place electric street lights every fifty feet along all his roads and even on the road that went through the forest. The streets light only consumed a small amount of steel and glass to make so he could make them without using his hard-earned gold coins.

[Electric Street Light]: Used to light up roadways at night. Draws electricity from nearby Power Plants. [locked until: built Power Plant-research center] [requires: steel-glass].