Chapter One-Hundred and Thirty-Eight: Little Walking, Little Talking

"Good morning Shigure!!!!" yelled Drake, storming into the tent.

Shigure grumbled, not even reaching for his weapon as he pulled the covers over his head.

"Rise and shine stinky! I'm leaving soon, so we ne-" Drake began.

"You're leaving?!?" Shigure shouted, pushing the covers off, leaping out of bed, running over to Drake, and grabbing him by the shoulders.

"Y-yeah… I'm going to be going and assaulting the Ant's nest. Come on man, we talked about this like a week ago," Drake sighed.

"Do you think I listen to anything you say?" Shigure said seriously as he released Drake, walking over to the bed as he began equipping his armor and weapon.

"That's not something you should be saying to your Manager. Haven't you ever worked before?"

"I'm 17, I haven't had a chance to work, I was going to get a summer job but the tutorial happened," Shigure sneered.

Shigure had become much more coarse and casual with Drake over the past month. Not particularly wanting to speak to him with respect or courtesy.

"Oh I thought you were 16?" Drake asked.

"My birthday was last week. Don't you remember crashing the party that Uta had set up for me…?" Shigure asked back incredulously.

"Did I do that?" Drake smirked.

"I hate you."

"It's ok I'm leaving so hate me while you can. Anyway, about the food shortage you mentioned on your birthday," Drake said changing the subject.

"So you do remember!" Shigure yelled, pointing the end of his sword at Drake.

"I never said I didn't," Drake laughed, pushing the sword away from his face, "Now to business, I have to go scout the Ants out later so I don't want to waste any time. I think they are part of the reason the animals have become scarce-"

Drake began explaining his theories with Shigure, the teen yawning but listening along attentive enough to understand.

"So you are saying the Ants ranked up?" Shigure asked.

"Not necessarily, but at the very least are smarter and possibly larger than before. I killed a few Juveniles before and still have the quest for it and they weren't exactly a problem. But then again, the Goblins had captured those ones and removed their fire sacs so it's hard to tell," Drake explained, "But basically I think the Ants are the ones hunting the tutorial clean. So my idea is to wipe them out and hopefully the food with be fine then."

"And what if that is not the reason?" Shigure asked pointedly.

"Then we have to survive somehow on what we have for the next sixty days," Drake said shrugging, " Honestly I don't really need to eat is what I found out, or at least very little now after ranking up. It's mostly for the taste."

"That may be true for you and your abomination-worthy stats, but you are forgetting that 90% of the tutorial that is left are just crafters and sub-level ten. They don't have the same physique the upper-level people have. They would starve long before the tutorial ends…" Shigure said, sighing at Drake.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. We can only hope that I'm right for now and that killing the ants solves our food problem. How much do we have left?" Drake asked, his face turning serious.

Shigure scratched the back of his neck, holding his hand out.

The next moment an inky black puff of smoke bloomed next to him, a hand with a clipboard appearing and handing it to him.

"Thank you, Uta," Shigure smiled.

"It is my pleasure, my Master," Uta said, bowing and moving to the side of the tent.

"...I have to see if Theodore can do that…." Drake grumbled, holding his hand out open and palm up for a moment.

Nothing and no one came. Drake shook his hand briefly to cover up what he was doing embarrassedly.

"Moron…" Natto giggled.

It was worth a shot. You have to admit that it would have been pretty cool. Drake thought.

"It looks like we have enough food for around 2 weeks at most. Our stockpiles are fine and everyone has contributed enough up until the sudden absence of monsters that no one will have trouble using their points to trade for food," Shigure explained.

"Trade Points? You have a point system?" Drake asked, astonished.

"Of course, we have a system… How do you think people are able to buy anything here?" Shigure replied.

"Trading?" Drake offered.

Shigure grumbled, mumbling something like 'moron' before explaining briefly.

"No. There is only so much you can trade outside of non-perishable items. Sure the Skill Stones are worth something, but that is only to those who have slots to use them. And any Rare or better stone usually don't find their way to the market we have here since people would rather hoard them or use them themselves. So we have to have a point system based on what you contribute to the Outpost. Food and perishables are a certain amount of points. Skill stones another; weapons, armor another; and services rendered another. It took a lot to make this Outpost work. Are you telling me you didn't have something similar at your own Outpost?" Shigure asked.

"Nope. I just gave everyone everything," Drake said flatly.

Shigure slapped his hand to his face.

"How did you ever get this far…"

"Sheer grit, good looks, and luck!" Drake smiled, ignoring his insult.

"I think you mean dumb luck…" Natto amended.

I won't deny that. My skills are based on a random rolling system after all. But credit where credit is due, I did have to learn the skills and assimilate them. Not to mention actually survive until we got to that point…. Twice I might add. Drake scoffed.

"Why is it that the more time I spend with you, the more I despise you…" Shigure sighed.

"Sounds like a personal problem. But is there anything pressing we need to deal with before I leave? Bear will be going as well, so you need to have all the security and defenses be tight. Don't want another Adam happening," Drake pointed out.

"Bear is leaving as well… I see," Shigure murmured, pursing his lips in thought for a moment, "I believe we have all the bases covered. And I remain the strongest after Bear so there should be no problem with people trying anything this time around. Are any of your own people staying?"

"Nope. Everyone loves me too much to stay," Drake chuckled.

"I highly doubt that, but that does make it easier. I've already placed and invested in the leaders that replaced the others you… fired. So there should be no problems outside the food," Shigure said, reaffirming his confidence in Drake leaving.

"Oh, wait. Lamar is staying. Can't very well bring him into a hive of monster Ants. Though I do want to level him up…" Drake lamented.

"That is not how that works…" Shigure said wryly.

"Hmmm?"

"Craftsmen, Pure Craftsmen classes and Non-combat classes gain experience and level through performing their work, whatever that may be. How did you not know this, haven't you been with Lamar for over a month?" Shigure said in disbelief.

Drake quickly remembered the Farmer Class he had seen during his rank-up, realizing that Shigure was correct and the description had mentioned a different way to level up.

"Well, the big man doesn't talk much, except when he's insulting me," Drake said, chuckling wryly.

"Reminds me of someone…" Shigure jabbed, getting up from the bed.

"Please, I'm the picture of a nice and respectful person," Drake countered.

Shigure didn't respond, only scoffing and walking past Drake to the tent entrance, pulling back the canvas so he could go into the morning sun.

Drake followed behind him out of the tent, Uta waiting until both had left the tent to exit as well.

"I'll be back by nightfall, so if anything comes up just make sure to stop at the camp outside the outpost and tell me," Drake instructed, "You've done a good job building the Outpost back up after everything, so I'm honestly not worried. Keep it up and you will be going places once this whole tutorial ends I'm sure."

Drake gave Shigure a clap on the back, harder than he should have, pushing the young boy forward.

Shigure grunted in pain and scowled back at Drake.

"Oh by the way," Drake said, throwing some jewelry back at Shigure, enough for him and Uta, "Happy Birthday you little shit."

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Drake walked through the Outpost instead of going straight back to the camp. Wanting to see how the situation inside was for himself.

He was surprised to see how homey it felt inside. The pop-up street stores on each side of the dirt roads offering this and that. And sections carved out for tents and even some crudely constructed buildings for the occupants to live in. There was even a small inn that was towards the center of the Outpost, using points as admission.

Drake wasn't interested in how the point system worked. But he was interested in seeing if there was anything he could trade for that would be useful.

Moving from street to street casually, people made room for him, or at least most of them. Many of the people inside the Outpost knew who Drake was from his earlier escapades. Or have seen him rubbing elbows with not only Shigure but Bjorn as well.

Drake didn't mind it, and he also didn't mind the people who paid him no mind. It wasn't as if he needed to be given special treatment or anything. He was just casually browsing after all.

After a bit of perusing, Drake found the shops he was looking for in the Crafters District of the Outpost, a small stone's throw away from the center and towards the North end of the area.

Finding a rather short person, Drake walked up to the street stall, looking at the rings and various accessories laid out on the counter.

"Hmmm…" Drake mused, inspecting one after the other, honestly unimpressed.

"See something you like laddy?" the man said the top of his head peeking over the counter.

"My, it is a North Rock Dwarf… That is interesting…" Natto mused, seeing the man poke his head out.

A what? Drake asked.

"It is a variation of the Dwarven Race. They are found on a planet that is frigid and cold to the point not much else lives there on the surface. The environment is as hostile as it gets and the monsters on it are even worse. Many of the intelligent races, if you can call them that, live underground in caves," Natto explained.

Oh… Where do they rank on the Fantasy Ladder? Drake asked.

"Below what your perception of real Dwarves are? While they are skilled at crafting, they do not hold a candle to the real thing," she scoffed.

As Drake looked at the items on the counter, he couldn't help but agree.

"Not really…" Drake answered, "But I was wondering maybe I could trade or sell some of these," Drake said pulling out his extra accessories he had made.

They ranged from rings, to earrings and necklaces of each stat.

The Dwarf's eyes bulged as he spotted them.

"Where did ya get these treasures boy?" he shouted.

"Made em. And have you always been a Dwarf? I thought there were only humans in this tutorial," Drake asked.

"Yeah, found me an item that changed my race. Didn't care much though since I got to tinker with things," the dwarf said dismissing the question, his hands going for the accessories in Drake's.

"These are for stats I haven't been able to come across yet… Where did you even get the materials for this?"

"Killed a bunch of Kobolds, why is it rare or something?" Drake asked.

"Wouldn't say rare. But we haven't had many stat equipment come through here besides the Strength and Dexterity kind. Lots of the youngins want Intelligence and Vitality ones and for good reason."

"Oh, why's that?"

"They don't want to die. And a Mage has a long cast time, so the stronger the spell the better for the cost of the cast. Not sure what I can give you for this though, it's beyond what I can trade for… Hell, I don't think most people can trade for this equipment right now. The monsters all gone, and the animals too. No one is doing much of anything except waiting out the tutorial," the Dwarf sighed, handing back the ring.

"Hmmm, how about this then. I don't have time to trade all of these. What do you say about trading them for me? I'll give you a 50-50 cut of whatever it sells or trades for," Drake offered.

The Dwarf's brows raised in surprise, "You sure about that boy? Seems like too good a deal to be true. And why me?"

Drake smirked, "Yeah I'm sure, and is it bad if I say you just happen to be the first person I talked to?"

The Dwarf scoffed looking at Drake incredulously.

"You're a dumb one, but it's a deal. When are you going to come back for your half of the loot?"

"It's what I'm told," Drake chuckled, "And I think maybe a few days before the tutorial ends. So make sure you get some good deals for me, old man."