Rowan looked around contently at everyone doing their jobs.
The builders had already started to draw up plans on the dirt and were discussing amongst themselves.
There was also a small pile of firewood on the side, a display of the other team's hard work.
It made Rowan look incompetent for doing nothing and wasting time, but it was actually the other way. If instead, Rowan had worked alongside his subjects, they would have quickly lost their respect for him and wouldn't trust him in urgent situations. However, Rowan still had something left to do.
Rowan walked to the center of the clearing and called to the System, "Use City Stele," and it obliged. A perfectly rectangular bronze stele appeared before him, followed by multiple system notifications.
[Congratulations! You are now the owner of a village.]
[Please name this village.]
Rowan had never considered the name before. His thoughts wandered, 'This will probably become the future capital of my country, so what should I call it?'.
'Haven, New Haven, Frontier, and things like that sound too cliche. And I can't possibly call it Rowan's city, right?', he continued thinking as he paced around the clearing.
'I've got it,' an idea came to him from nowhere, 'since I can't call it Rowan's city, why not Nawor? It has a nice ring to it and everything.
He quickly went to the city stele and told the System his choice.
[Are you sure you want to call this village "Nawor"?]
"Yes".
[Congratulations! You are now Lord of Nawor.]
Rowan eagerly checked the stats of his village.
[Name: Nawor
Level: Primary Village
Grade: Bronze (1/3)
Population: 11/300
Summons/Day: 10
Support: 80
Specials: N/A
Subsidiary Villages: 0/0
Upgrade Conditions: 200 population.]
The upgrade button was greyed out.
'Hmm, 19 days till upgrade', Rowan mused.
Suddenly, a thought interrupted his musing, 'Oh right, how could I forget'.
Rowan quickly pulled up another status window.
[Name: Roan
Talent: Platinum
Titles: N/A
Profession: Lord
Race: Human
Age: 29
Cultivation: None (Universal Qi Gathering)
Skills: None
Equipment: Coarse Cloth Shirt, Coarse Cloth Pants, Coarse Cloth Shoes]
Rowan studied his status screen closely. Nothing in particular stood out to him except his profession. And just as he had the thought, another panel opened before his eyes.
[Profession: Lord
Description: You rule a territory.
Perks: Universal Qi Gathering. Can hold another profession of choice.]
'Does this mean that I can cultivate?'. Rowan, eager to master fantastical powers he could only dream of, immediately sat down. As he started thinking about cultivation, clear instructions came to him from nowhere.
He breathed in and out, methodically feeling his body and the outside. He felt warmth spread through his abdomen and a slight wind gathering about him. As he repeated this methodical passage, time seemed to lose meaning.
"My Lord, we have returned," a voice interrupted Rowan's cultivation. When he opened his eyes, the sun was noticeably farther along its path. Liam and Olivia were carrying a small deer as they walked towards him.
"How long has it been?" Rowan was curious about how much time had passed. To him, it felt like only a few minutes.
"It's been 2 hours since we left, my Lord. We explored the surrounding 1.5 kilometers or so". Olivia stepped up.
Liam continued with their information, "As you can see, my Lord, we hunted a deer along our path for everyone to eat. From what we saw, to the south, the trees and vegetation get sparser; this is where we found the deer. And to the north, the trees got denser. To the east, we found a small stream, my Lord".
"Alright. You two give the deer to the cook and the fisherman. Then take the firewood group to gather from the stream". They left after a quick salute.
Rowan then checked everyone else's progress. Seeing that everything was flowing smoothly, he went back to cultivation.
When he opened his eyes again, the sun was almost down and an aroma of cooking meat filled the air.
Curious, Rowan checked his status to see if there was a change. The only difference was.
[Cultivation: Qi Gathering 1 (Universal Qi Gathering)]
'Nice', Rowan smiled excitedly.
He went to the small fire that had started in the center of the camp. Everyone was sitting on the ground, resting. As he walked up, everyone hurried off the ground to greet him.
"It's alright. Rest for now. No need to be so formal", Rowan exclaimed, shaking off their salutes.
The group made way in the circle for Rowan to sit. To his right was Liam, and to his left was Olivia. Just as he sat down, Liam rummaged into his pockets and pulled out 4 coins. "I forgot my Lord. The deer dropped this", he explained.
Rowan nodded and took the coins, not knowing what to do with them.
The group continued to chat idly, waiting for Nicholas to come with the meat.
When the meat and vegetable soup finally came, everyone rejoiced and started to eat.
Rowan had questions he wanted to ask but decided to put the unimportant stuff till tomorrow.
The group only finished eating after sunset.
Rowan started giving orders for the night, "Liam will take the first watch". Rowan quickly gave out the order for the watch, excluding the chef from this duty. He would take the last watch right after Olivia.
Everyone quickly dispersed into their respective huts, content with the food and excited for the next day.
Rowan also went into his hut and quickly entered a deep sleep.
He was awoken by Olivia. Seeing the panic in her actions, Rowan quickly sprung up, making as little noise as possible.
"I also woke up Liam", she whispered. "I don't know what I saw. It seemed somewhat humanoid but had long claws", she continued.
Rowan quickly headed out, unsure what to do.