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Chapter 6 - Steering the Boat
🕑 Added 2023-10-30 20:46:20 +0000 UTCLogan started the day with fixing up the boats. He took Simmons away from his work to carry lumber to the riverside with him. The large blonde man of stoic disposition only nodded and picked up a whole tree trunk on his shoulder to carry uphill north.
Logan set down a hefty log by the riverbank, which the Armor allowed him to carry, but it was just a twig compared to Simmons’s load.
“Thanks, Simmons,” Logan said.
“That’s all?” Simmons asked.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it, go back to doing what you want.”
“Roger.”
Simmons was easy. He was so efficient and of high work ethic to begin with, that he barely needed guidance. Easily one of the most valuable people in their village.
Logan had Tumor draw up a red schematic for him to fashion a boat. Just a simple fishing boat with oars would suffice. It needed enough space for three people and the fish.
“Can we make a container for the live fish in the design?” Logan asked. “Something that could be lifted from the bottom and carry the fish down to the pond?
[Would it not be easier to fashion a method to drop the fish directly from the river, down the waterfall and into the pond?]
“Sure! Logan said and smirked. “I’m listening, brainiac.”
[Perhaps some cache to trap the fish in, which when removed from its place would float downstream into the pond?]
“Damn you, Tumor,” Logan said. “That’s actually pretty smart.”
[Smart is one of my definining positive qualities.]
“Along with humble,” Logan smirked and thumbed along the smooth barked lumber. “The fish caches might get stuck somewhere, especially by the waterfall.”
[It’s faster to still create them and have them go downstream and go untangle them, than to carry them with water down the hill.]
“Hmph, you’re right.”
[Besides. If some of them get lost or destroyed, it is the cost of the saved time or energy. Even if 70% of the captured fish are captured and taken to the pond, that is still lower opportunity cost.]
“Yeah, yeah, don’t belabor the point.”
[Belabor, huh? I was not aware you had the capacity to expand your vocabulary.]
Logan chuckled. “Shut up and help me design a set of enchantments.”
The two of them worked by the bank of the river. The day was a humid and windy one, giving Logan an easy from bugs and the oppressive heat of the jungle. Strange blue birds circled around the water and took dives to catch fish. Logan watched them and felt peace.
Once Tumor was done with the designs, Logan made them. The caches were a simple contraption. A simple wooden box, with a few holes in them for the water to change, so the fish wouldn’t drown in a deoxygenated water, if they were trapped long enough. Then Logan enchanted the outer surface smooth and frictionless, so it would less likely get trapped in something. Finally he made the lid of the box float, so they could actually be found and retrieved. That pushed him over the edge and a sweet minty feeling washed over him.
[Sub-class Level Up!]
[Enchantment level 31]
[Attribute Level Up!]
[Focus: 32]
After making ten caches for starters, he came up to the giant trunk which Simmons had carried up here. From it he [Transmuted] a boat. It was twelve feet long with three benches and a wide middle. Logan didn’t bother making anything fancy. Some of the fish he would tell the fishers to pass downriver and get later. But most would be better to just put on the boat and eat the same day. They had a lot of mouths to feed.
After making finishing touches to the fishing boat, he felt the fresh mintyness again.
[Sub-class Level Up!]
[Transmutation level 30]
[Attribute Level Up!]
[Durability: 25]
With the task done he went back to the village and chatted up a few of the new members. Two men, older than Logan, two women, one young and one a mother with a child of three in her arms, face full of worry.They were a few days old in the new world.
The other man was a bodybuilder type with a stern expression. He had chosen a [Warrior] class, and Logan had no objections there. He told the man to report to Jefferson, who was in charge of the hunting and fighting force of the camp. The broad man nodded and went off. Logan trusted Jefferson to tell him more of the details of how things worked around here.
The others had not chosen classes and were all around rather confused. Logan told them it was fine, and that he’d prefer if they picked something that was directly needed by the camp, but he told them that they should pick whatever they felt comfortable, as long as it wasn’t something completely useless like [Painter].
Logan also told them about Numa, and picked up a stick from the ground. With [Transmutation] he fashioned the stick into a simple wooden toy dog for the child. The little boy grabbed it with an eager hand and the woman holding her smiled in gratitude.
Logan told them that they should definitely prioritize a class that could use Numa if they had affinity for the magic. Classes that could use the amazing resources were as a general rule much more powerful.
After he was done with them, he told them to go to Scilla, who was the camp’s effective quartermaster. She was in charge of the daily operations. She would assign them jobs for until they had classes to specialize with and she would help them discuss their classes if she would have the time.
Which she often didn’t. The next thing Logan did was to go visit the tall lanky woman.
“Hey, chief!” Scilla called cheerfully when she saw Logan. She was cutting roots with a knife, helping their two cooks, a woman in her forties, Marlie, and her assistant, a scrawny young teenager named Jake.
“When was the last time you took a break, Scilla?”
“I could ask the same of you, chief,” She retorted.
Logan scoffed. “Not your job to worry about that. But it is my job to make sure you’re not burning the candle from both ends.”
“And who’s going to do that to you?”
“Frey’s keeping me on the straight and narrow,” Logan said and grinned.
Scilla grinned back and put down the knife. “Fair.”
They walked a few paces to sit on a log, one of their carpenters had fashioned into a bench. Logan would love to [Enchant] it with a softness spell, but it would be a waste of Numa for now, even with his ability to regenerate it with the darkmetal and its enchantments.
“What you need, chief?” Scilla asked.
“For you to take five, for starters,” Logan said. “But also I just wanted to know how things are around here. I’ve been away for three days.”
“People are tired, sure,” Scilla said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “But they feel safe and happy. You’re trusted, I think I’m trusted. They love Freya.”
“Who doesn’t,” Logan said and smiled to himself.
Scilla smiled fondly at him. “She’s a good girl, yeah.”
“So what’s new?” Logan asked. “Any problems?”
“Those two young boys, Michael and Joe, they’re still refusing to work.
“Assholes,” Logan muttered. “What are they, sixteen?”
“Yeah, Joe’s seventeen, I think.”
“Did they pick up classes?”
“They say their classes are their own personal business.”
“What do they do all day?” Logan asked.
“Dick around,” Scilla said.
“Alright,” Logan said and grimaced. It sucked to be brutal like his old dad, but he needed eighty people to be happy, not two assholes. “You take charge of food distribution for the next, say three days. No food for those two boys.”
“Damn, chief,” Scilla said, but Logan could say she agreed wholeheartedly.
“If they capitulate, take them under your wing and let’s see if they want to be good boys, or continue with the Pleasure Island bullshit,” Logan said. “If they try to steal, throw them out. If they try to steal after being thrown out, capture them and I’ll… Think of something.”
“Why can’t they just play ball,” Scilla muttered.
Logan shrugged. In any other circumstance, he’d like to be lenient. He knew all about petulant little boys who wanted independence and to just do their own thing. But it was not a luxury they could afford right now. Logan hated the fact that he could suddenly see Malcolm Specter’s point of view much clearer.
I’m not my father.
Logan and Scilla went over other things and planned for the future. Logan told her about the thing with boats and the caches to prepare the fish farm, or at least keep the pond populated. She got excited about that. She really liked fish. Logan wished he could share her enthusiasm.
The two of them were already starting to chat this and that, which was according to Logan’s plans. He needed his second in command to gossip and relax for a while. Unfortunately it didn’t last long.
One of his warriors, an ex-agent, called Perkings, with a [Ranger] class jogged up to them.
“Mr. Specter,” He said after gathering his breath.
“What’s up, Perkins?”
“There is something you really need to see.”
Comments
Scott Frederiksen
Or people from Malcolm's camp?
Skyus B
blue zombi in comming ?
