Baron nodded in satisfaction as he stared at the marvelous status of his workshop #1. Humming happily, he then walked out of the gate and went to his second workshop.
As he entered, he was met with sharp eyes that almost made him run for his life. Until he remembered who it was and he stopped his tracks.
Clearing his throat and slowly turning around, he faced the 'greeting' person head on.
It was a woman in her late 60s, but she was scarier than the gangsters he'd seen.
It was Sassy the Tanner, the old expert of an obsolete art he managed to convince to work with him, for a good share of the profit of course.
It was amazing someone still knew how to do it, since back in Terran hunting had been mostly illegal and people opted for synthetic leather already.
He flinched a little at the old woman's stoic stare. She was looking him down, arms crossed, and very intimidating.
He put up an awkward smile. "Good afternoon, Sassy!"
The woman grunted at him, not caring for any nonsense. He cleared his throat, getting on topic. "Are we on schedule?" He asked, looking at the various soon-to-be leather that were drying in the yard.
The whole yard smelled pungent with a mix of earthiness and astringency.
There were dozens of workers absorbed in activities, with various tools made of animal bones lying around. There were makeshift bone knives, hammers, and some other tools he couldn't name.
A number of workers were standing over a wooden trough filled with water mixed with other stuff, their sleeves rolled up, and mixing the bubbling concoction.
This concoction was made by Sassy herself. Apparently, she got a skill called appraisal which helped her figure out the various alternatives to her old plants.
It was amazing.
He'd have complimented her if she hadn't been so scary.
Anyway, he looked at the hides that were stretched taut on wooden frames, some of them were being brought to the concoction.
"Looks like we are on schedule." He said, answering his own question.
The old woman nodded. "We'll need to refill the raw materials."
"The stocks should be coming any time now." Baron said.
Speaking of raw materials, other than buying hides from the fighters, there were also 'loggers' who sold their wood to him.
After all, the territory expressly prohibited cutting trees within it and replacing the cut trees with seedlings for the trees within a kilometer outside. He could even foresee 'jobs' specializing in re-planting.
Of course, these loggers would need protection so they often went out with groups of fighters, the most popular was one lead by a dude named Drake.
In any case, Baron's business mind could already see the potential of these models.
Without a doubt, a lot of these collectors would soon form the first rudimentary market in the territory.
And Baron was dead set on occupying a good place in it.
…
While there were some already planning on how to get rich inside the territory, there were also some who wished to get stronger, aiming to fight not for the hide or their meat, but mostly for the experience.
"Aren't you baiting too many?!" A man with fluffy red hair yelled at his brunette friend.
Their party of seven were now running from a mob of thirty. They had similar features to mole rats, only they were green and slimy.
Troy rolled his eyes, pulling on a wooden sword he bought from the territory.
How was he supposed to know they nested underground!?
"It's fine! Just run towards the walls if we can't take it anymore!" One of the two girls in the group yelled. She was cute and petite, but she was tough as nails.
Fred swooned."My Lulu is so Smart!"
"Of course!" She said proudly, aiming an arrow at a monster, though the arrow head stuck on its scale. "And who's your Lulu!"
"My Lulu, don't be rude! Don't take after your cousin!"
"Fight!" Another yelled, pulling their attentions back to the enemies aiming to freaking eat them, all while shooting some arrows behind him as they fled.
But after running for a while, they realized there was something wrong.
"We should be at the wall by now!" Fred yelled, looking around. He turned to his companions. "Who led the team?"
"It was Troy!"
"Damnit! It's like you don't know he had a nonexistent sense of direction!"
Troy gasped, offended. "Hey!" How rude!
"Anyway," Lulu screamed. These idiots! "Focus!"
Thankfully, they reached the wall on time, and the sentries attacked right on schedule: One shot every three seconds.
Heaving a breath of relief, the backs further inwards and attacking the monsters get past the sentries.
"Stab!" Troy called out a skill he got, like a dweeb. "Stab! Stab!"
Fred rolled his eyes, but otherwise did not have the time to mock him. He was busy defending his own appendages!
Fred and the others slashed and slashed, making sure not to accidentally enter the sentry's shooting path. There may not have been any innocent Sentry victims as of yet, and they certainly didn't want to be the first ones!
"Just attract them all within the sentries' scopes! They're bound to get hit eventually!"
The group started baiting mobs to the circlement. The sentry towers didn't shoot subsequently as there was a few seconds to cool down each shot, but this was enough for them to safely mob a few monsters at a time and help each other level up.
Of course, some rivalries was unavoidable with certain manchildren, trying to one-up the other. It got to the point where they very nearly got into an accident.
"Watch out!" Fred paled as Troy accidentally changed positions just after the sentry shot an arrow—and he went directly at its path!
Will troy be the first innocent victim of the sentry tower?
Luckily, Troy was a bit clumsy and lost footing and he fell back first on the ground, the sharp arrow narrowly missing his nose.
"Fuucckkk that was too close!"
Fred cackled, though it was mostly in relief (not that he'd ever admit it). "HAHAHAHA! You're lucky your nose is so flat! HAHHAHAHAHA—"
"Shut uppp!"
Lulu's temper finally exploded. "SHUT UP! Don't you see you're still weaklings? How could you be so careless?!" She yelled, "Joke around when you can one-shot these damned monsters!!"
The two man-children finally behaved, focusing on the task at hand.
They did this all day long, levelling up under the protection of Altera, gathering strength.
All this in the hopes of eventually joining the ranks of the strong of their territory, and carving a good life for themselves with their own fists.