Chapter 61 - Rebuilding the Base
Night came and Zach's house was quite cramped upon seeing Ethan, Mike, Carl, Isabelle, Viktor, Patricia, and Kevin inside eating together with them. Looking at their faces, the food on the table must have been delicious seeing them eating them with smiles on their faces.
Zach could also be found eating with them and had to admit that the food was really good. In fact, what they were eating came from the meat of the Mutated Deer that he had killed before. He was surprised after experimenting if it could be eaten but after tasting it, he couldn't help but eat with excitement as it was just so delicious as it had a completely different taste from any meat he had eaten until now.
"Does this really come from a beast that you've hunted outside of the base?" Viktor asked since it really was delicious. In fact, aside from it being his first time eating Deer meat, the idea of eating beast's meat never once crossed his mind even while he was still in Pluto Sanctuary.
"Yeah. It's called Mutated Deer and I found it drinking water on a lake." Zach replied while looking at Viktor.
"Well. Enough for the beast's meat as we already know that they could be eaten. The problem now is, Earth has become completely foreign to us, and that it might be safe to say that it had also become a sanctuary since I also got items dropped from it." Zach followed before taking out two items from his inventory.
[Item: Butcher Job Class Scroll
Item Tier: 1
Item Rating: None
Item Classification: Ordinary
Item Function: A scroll that has been embedded by the experiences of a Butcher. Using the scroll will transition the user's class to a Butcher allowing the user to have the skills and experience of a Butcher. (Note: Once you transitioned, you can no longer change your class.
Item Evolution Requirement: Evolution is not applicable]
[Item: Bronze Core
Item Tier: 1
Item Rating: None
Item Classification: Ordinary
Item Function: An item that was created inside every ??? monster. This item will activate an occupied shelter and can also be used to upgrade a shelter.
Item Evolution Requirement: Evolution is not applicable]
"I also got a skill book from it which was quite a lucky harvest." Zach said, however, he already used it for himself after seeing its use which he felt was quite a necessary skill to have in the long run.
[Skill: Beast Affinity
Skill Tier: 1
Skill Type: Passive
Skill Rating: 1 Star
Skill Description: Having this skill will increase the affinity of the user toward any beast.
Skill Cost: None
Skill Evolution Requirement: 1 Evolution Crystal (Tier 1)]
"Though the calamities were over, it was, however, replaced by the danger coming from the beasts. I don't know what's out there but it's safe to say that it's not a completely safe place." Zach followed thinking that they needed to be more prepared since they didn't have the power of Shelter Protective Shield in this place.
Hearing such a thing, Ethan and the rest of the shelter owners suddenly get serious knowing how this information would impact the base. With that, they then just continue eating while talking from to time, especially about the current situation of their shelter before finally deciding to rest for the night.
The next day came, and everyone could be found gathering once again in front of Zach's house. However, when you look at it closely, the number of survivors who attended this time has become smaller than yesterday.
"First. I am grateful to know your decision about wanting to stay. As your leader, I won't treat you unfairly and show you that working under me would be the best decision you have made in your life." Zach said while looking at the loyal survivors who had chosen to stay with him. He doesn't know how many were gone but it's still a fact that they left so he no longer thinks of them.
"Those people who have left have no idea that Earth wasn't as safe as we thought it would be. Just like Adam and Eve, there were other beasts living here, and just yesterday, I killed one myself so staying here with me would be the safest place you can ask for." Zach followed with a smirk as he couldn't imagine what kind of faces those who left would have when they saw that leaving was the stupidest thing they made.
"As you can see, the base has completely become a forest. So right now, the most important thing that we need to do is to rebuild the base. I know some of you might be thinking of just living in the shelter however, Pluto Sanctuary is not our home, Earth is. Also, the shelter was not invincible as the possibility that it might be overrun by monsters or beasts was still there. Hence, we need a place to retreat and a place where we call our home." Zach followed since it was the truth.
"For now, let's just focus on discussing what roles you will be playing in the base. In my days in Pluto Sanctuary, I acquired a lot of items that were out of the ordinary. I don't know if you knew or heard about it but sometimes when you kill a monster with a class higher than an ordinary monster which I call bronze-class monsters, a particular item called Job Class Scroll will be dropped. They were all ordinary classes and all of which were classes pertaining to a profession of what humans normally have before." Zach said.
"Here with me are Job Class Scrolls of Doctor, Engineer, Mechanic, Chef, and Butcher, so those who know medicine will be given Doctor Job Class Scroll, those who have knowledge of construction will be given Engineer Job Class Scroll, those who have skills of being a mechanic will have the Mechanic Job Class Scroll, those who were confident about their cooking skills can have the Chef Job Class Scroll, and lastly, those who work as butcher before will have the Butcher Job Class Scroll." Zach continued.
"As for the others, you just have to wait before we can gather more professional classes so until then, you will help with the reconstruction of our base. On the other hand, for the Rangers that have decided to stay, I have Soldier Job Class Scrolls with me, however, I need you to think about it carefully since once you've chosen a class, you will no longer be able to change them." Zach followed.
"Right now, let us just forget about leveling up and just focus on the job at hand. However, the Rangers will only need to help with the reconstruction for a month and I promised to give you all reasonable rewards because just like I have Job Class Scrolls, I also have several items with me that will greatly help in the long run so you just need to be patient." Zach continued.
"I think that was all. Then to properly formalize your decision for choosing to stay, we will be having a feast tonight." Zach said with a smile. Following that, he then told Ethan and the rest to start organizing the Rangers and have them oriented as to what kind of work they will be doing all the while asking if they want to have the Soldier Job Class Scroll since it would be their choice if they want to.
At the same time, Zach had Anna look after the Lifestyle Group from which those survivors who had knowledge of the profession that Zach had told immediately got their Job Class Scrolls as they used it without any hesitation.
After finalizing everything, Zach and the rest of the survivors then started to work as they cleared the area that surrounded the base seeing them cutting all the trees, plucking all the plants and grasses on the ground, and demolishing the walls and all the ruined houses while the Engineers and Architects around were having a meeting about the design of their new base.
When Zach heard all the equipment, materials, and necessary things that they needed, he immediately bought them all without holding back since the very first thing that they wanted to build was their base headquarters while some would start constructing everyone's houses especially Zach's.
It's a lot of work to do, however, there were a lot of them added by their strength that has become stronger than before. Also, now that it was not hard to take out supplies, the houses that they would build would no longer be limited but Zach still decided to have wood as the main material as he was quite skeptical about using concrete because aside from it would take time to build something, he wasn't sure what would happen when they would continue to get stronger.
With that, time then passes by and the sky turns dark. Zach told everyone to stop working for the day so they can rest and start the feast. Looking carefully at the base, there could be found a huge building made mostly of wood. It wasn't finished yet but looking at its foundation, it was safe to say that they were constructing a large three-story building.
On the other hand, there could also be found eight buildings that surround the headquarters whose purpose was still unknown to everyone, and lastly, a number of still not complete houses in the area.
If it was before, they only needed at least three hours to build a house, this time, however, they took their time after a new design of the house was created by the architects after considering that they would no longer limit the materials to create one.
To give Zach the recognition that he should have, his house was planned to have two floors while the rest would settle on an ordinary one. This was carefully discussed since they really do not need extravagant houses since this is only something that they build so that they can have a place to return to if something happens or if they want to have peace of mind away from Pluto Sanctuary knowing that the place wasn't safe at all.
Meanwhile, Zach could be found alone inside the living room of his house as only his wasn't demolished as everyone knew that he needed a shelter to protect his daughter from the cold of the night.
All this time, Zach kept on looking at the information showing on the laptop's screen as it listed all the remaining survivors back on the base. The number shows that 382 survivors have decided to stay and work for him.
Among the survivors, exactly 124 have come from the original Rangers Group while the remaining came from the ordinary folks. And looking at their decisions as to which group they wanted to be. All 124 Rangers continue to work as Rangers while 62 survivors who came from the common folks have also decided to join while the rest enlist themselves in the Lifestyle Group. To sum it up, the Ranger Group is now composed of 186 survivors while the Lifestyle Group totaled to 196 survivors.
Looking carefully at the screen, Zach could see several familiar names upon seeing Anna, Edward, Bod, Jackson, and James on the list that made him smile however, the more he searched for names, his smile started to fade after seeing some of them weren't on the list.
"So, she also perished." Zach softly muttered after not seeing Rose's name on the list which meant that she didn't survive the tutorial, or she left and decided to be independent, but the chances of the latter were slim knowing that they knew each other.
Zach also couldn't find Thomas' name on the list which means that he also died. With that, he then just continued looking for more before finally moving towards the most important things.
"382 survivors. Well, it's still a lot." Zach said before he stopped thinking about it and just headed outside to see Ethan and the other shelter owners since aside from the ones who had joined the first meeting, another shelter owner had decided to come for work for him whose name is Allen who came from the Rangers Group.
After talking to them about some stuff, Zach also ordered some of the Rangers to stay watch since they didn't know if some beast would suddenly appear however, they weren't that worried since Adam and Eve were also around guarding the place. With that, the base then became quiet after they enjoyed the feast and finally went to take a rest.