In the next few days, the girls were distributed to the assembled tribe teams, all while ensuring that none of said teams had another member of their former tribes within them. It would not do to have any unnecessary split in loyalties developed. Jack had made sure Selin had a rather comprehensive guide on hand as to how to develop their newly acquired members to perfection, ensuring long term loyalty without a need to rely on the contract they were all bound to by now. Of course, it was still better to be safe than sorry, thus the contract to begin with, but a willing participant was always the clearly better choice.

  The excitement could clearly be heard all across their slowly developing settlement as their guest parties began their own first forays in the enhanced dungeons, once again enjoying the thrill of growth. There was little that could surpass the euphoria of seeing ones experience bar growing once more, especially so when one remembered the implied chance to reach second awakening. That too was another thing that still boggled the minds of both the chiefs who had sent their people here, as well as those sent over. Each and every one of them had been instructed to investigate, carefully and without snooping too much, how it was possible, and if the same could be replicated anywhere else. Still, their first priority was obviously to level up. Much as the idea of such a place falling under their own tribes control was immensely appealing, it would do no good for them to remain without their own second awakening expert in case of failure. It was clearly the better choice to acquire a deterrent force before risking for the greater prize.

  It was a boon for Selin's tribe as well however, and in more ways than one at that. Clearly, the influx of healers who would eventually be fully integrated within their tribe was a major gain, but so was the traffic and trade that bloomed in the wake of it all as well. More people scouring the dungeon meant more drops. More drops meant greater demand for craftsmen to upgrade gear, which in turn called for more supplies, endlessly feeding the circle.

  Soon enough, the territory Selin's tribe had taken over was no longer sufficient, resulting in an expansion of the camps grounds, resulting in the development of the second wall. The season of Conflict was damn near upon them, and it would not do to have such a unique hub of civilization developed for the first time in the outer steppes to be without protection. That too demanded more craftsmen and builders, further feeding the cycle of development.

  It was not all good news only for the developing groups though, as soon enough the first reports of beastmen scouts scouring the outer steppe reach Selin's- and in extension everyone else's- ears. And despite the fact it was a piece of information that everyone was already expecting, it was still devastating for many to hear. They had gone by for a decade or two without being raided, so while there where more than a fair share of stories about the event, people had began to hope they could perhaps live their lives without ever experiencing one. No such luck would grace them it seemed.

  Jack knew better though. It was no mere chance that a certain part of the outer steppe was raided, for the beastmen had a rather well developed rotation plan that allowed for human tribes to repopulate in between their raids, ensuring their ways could be maintained indefinitely. That however, was not information Jack was willing to share. Not only would it not help them at this particular moment, but said piece of information would soon enough become redundant. The reign of beastmen was doomed to end after all, and relatively soon as well.

  Of course, with the word of beastmen scouts roaming the outer steppe, there were plenty of opportunists who tried their luck as well. Chiefs who sent over people to at least try and convince Selin and her tribe to run away as their forefathers had tried, many of whom had succeeded often enough. Obviously, Selin had shut them all down, emboldened in her decision due to her tribes current progress, the time they still had until the actual raids begin and Jack's fortifications that were deployed across the budding city.

  The Cradle. That was what the place was eventually named. A name chosen for the simple reason of it being the place where their new leash on life would truly begin. That and the fact that it would be the place where all of their second awakening warriors would come from for quite some time. Jack had played little to no role in the whole naming process, leaving in the hands of Selin, Mina Ast and whatever council they decided to keep. This place would be their seat of power. Their home for generations to come. He had seen no reason to leave his own mark on it. This whole rebellion thing, while started and empowered by him, was nothing more than a distraction. A temporary entertainment as he sought his way back home.

  Jack's own progress was also quite staggering, the gap between himself and anyone around him growing wider and wider with each passing day. It was to be expected though. Not only was he gaining experience from crafting new equipment for the kids, occasional sneaky shipment to Anastiela for her new recruits and the people of Selin's tribe, but he was also receiving a constant stream of experience through his weapon usage in slaying monsters. All that was adding to a sizable amount, allowing him to rather easily disregard the general understanding about the speed at which one could level up. As such, was it any wonder that Jack was already close to level 38?

  There had been next to no changes in his skill set however. Not one recognized by the system at least. Everything new that Jack came up with was, as far as he himself believed and with system following the same principle, just an extension of his already existing skills and as such not creating any new entries in his status windows. There was quantifiable growth however, for as he grew stronger, certain concepts became clearer in his mind, giving way to several enlightening moments where he 'unlocked' access to a list of new, though mostly niche, item variants.

  Another thing that was going for Jack was acquisition of information, mainly through the lens of the new healers Selin's tribe had just attained, the most important of which was geographical knowledge. As it turned out, one of the girls had come from a long line of map makers, supposedly dating all the way back to the origin, though aside from her own family still passing down that particular piece of information, no one believed it to be true. The girl in question had extremely old looking map on her hands though, recorded on which was the layout of the continent if it was to be believed.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  It was through that map that Jack gleamed the path he would have to take once he finally decided to leave. He would have to travel all the way to the end of the steppes outer region, then cross the Deadlands and once that was done, he would still have to cross a place that was ominously named 'Thousand steps of despair.' What was that all about, no one knew. Rare few dared to explore the Deadlands, with none who spent more than a month within ever returning. That particular trip however would have to wait a fair bit longer. Jack was sure he could weather the road, but he could not say the same about his maids. Not to mention, he had come to a decision to fuck big time with elven kingdom that threw out Nivi.

  ------

  Another couple of weeks passed by, with more and more sightings of beastmen scouts flooding in. What should have been an unlikely event, seemed to grow more and more likely. Precisely because of Jack's presence and actions, the tribes living on the outskirts of the outer steppe had moved further away much sooner, leaving the usual hunting ground of beastmen raiders rather deserted, forcing the scouts to move further and further in, slowly but surely creeping ever closer to the Cradle.

  There had been a number of people wishing the beastmen would not travel so far within the outer steppe, but as days passed by, that particular hope transformed into nothing more than wishful thinking. And yet, despite the advancement of the beastmen scouts, no word ever got back to their superiors about the existence of the Cradle. Not one scout that wandered anywhere remotely close to it would return alive. Sure, the beastmen scouts could, and would detect their human counterparts, but what they could not hope to contend with was Jack and his unreasonably large spirit detection area. To ensure the element of surprise, Jack himself moved whenever he detected a hostile approaching.

  Jack knew better than anyone that his actions would not eliminate the near guaranteed clash between raiders and Selins people as the former eventually stumbled upon them. What he would achieve with his actions was no less important however. By denying beastmen the information of the existence of the Cradle, he ensured no coordinated and overly large force would come after them. And by the time survivors from the smaller encounters would bring word back about Cradles existence, it would be far too late.

  -------

  It was finally time. The land trembled as thousands upon thousands of feet stomped in a chaotic and not at all unison rhythm. Boisterous laughter, impatient boasting and sounds of all manner of mounts mixed into a cacophony of sounds, betraying what was happening. Any bystander not familiar with the local customs would surely assume the beastmen were marching for war, only to then wonder how come they all seemed all too eager for it. As far as one could see, faces filled with nothing but bloodthirst and joy could be seen.

  The frontier fortresses were left behind, and the seamlessly endless army of beastmen began to split apart, forming approximately thousand men large groups that then finally stepped into the outer region of the steppe where numerous camps of scouts awaited them, each flying a different set of flags as though calling their allies over. Unlike the overly eager freshly arrived forces, the scouts themselves seemed much more grounded, their fur covered faces rugged and unkempt. And yet, despite their somewhat rough appearances, they all held a similar glint in their eyes.

  A painfully slow day passed by raider groups found their own scouts joining them and getting briefed of the findings said scouts had mapped out, then deciding on the path they would take, raiding and pillaging anything they would come across as they did- sometimes that even included other beastmen groups, though that later particular activity would usually start much, much later in the season. It was at this time that the raiding groups also learned of the anomaly that the scouts had discovered, coming to the obvious conclusion they would have to venture much deeper than normally to fill their need for combat, raiding and pillaging. Not that it would stop them. For raiding and pillaging they had come, and raid and pillage they would.

  And so, the next morning they all headed out, their spirits high as they followed their respective scouts, weapons at the ready and senses trained sharp. It was not only the humans that would have to be accounted for while they hunted out here. There were plenty of beast groups that would try and pick their members off at any chance they get, and so the raiders would have to respond, eliminating threats and moving forward.

  "Any reason in particular our prey has retreated so far back within the outer steppe?" a raiding party commander asked on of his scouts as they advanced, filling the time with at least attempted conversation.

  "Hard to say. There are no signs of drought or famine, so that's out. No overly large population of predators either. From what I have found, they have retreated not all that long ago either. Plenty of signs of their recent occupation still around. If I had to guess, some sort of a religious event perhaps? Or a moot of tribal leaders, occurring every few decades or so." The scout replied, mentioning his own findings as well as a few possible explanations, though he also made sure he did not know the actual reason.

  "So we are going in blind is what you are saying?" the commander smirked.

  "Not geographically. We know the terrain just well enough. And plenty of smaller tribes had been noticed, though most of those too seemed to be on the move further in the outer region." the scout replied once more.

  Their conversation continued on even as their thousand men strong group kept moving forward at a brisk pace, taking down any of the local wildlife that they encountered along the way, of which rare few dared to come close to such a large force, doubly so with a second awakening individual- the commander- leading the group.

  As luck would have it, they caught up to a small tribe on their third day, no larger than a few hundred individuals. Then, like rabid beasts they pounced on the opportunity, with their mounted cavalry taking charge- both literally and metaphorically- to entangle the small tribe as they tried to flee. As expected, they never stood a chance, the cavalry catching up to them in no time whatsoever, the rider faces adorned with huge grins as they harrased the escaping tribe, considerably cutting down their collective speed.

  The tribe had little choice in the matter. without mounts of their own, all they could do was huddle closer together, doing their very best to fight back while still fleeing. Unfortunately, their fate was sealed, for soon enough the main force of the raiding army caught up to them, proceeding to engage in combat, slaying many a man, and women, who tried to resist. Plenty of tribesmen who were quick to surrender were also cut down despite their decision, as though the beastmen had entered a blood frenzy of sorts. Much like predators would sometimes kill even while full. It was in their blood to hunt and kill, and so it seemed that some of the beastmen had similar instincts.

  It was nowhere enough. How could it be? A few hundred, admittedly weak people, split among more than a thousand beastmen would never suffice, with only a small portion getting to properly soak their weapons in fresh human blood. No, this was just the beginning.

  Jack Raja(?)

  Age- 27

  Species- human(?)

  Level- 37

  Class- Awakened twin aspect of Creation and Destruction(Ex)

  Stats unassigned: +14

  Attributes:

  Strength- 34 (14+7+13(gear))

  Vitality- 28 (12+8+8(gear))

  Dexterity- 29 (15+6+8(gear))

  Intelligence-20(15+ 5(gear)

  Spirit- Spirit- 30 (20+10)

  Skills- Wisdom of Creation and destruction(EX), Choice of the creator(EX), Eyes of procurer(EX), Matter storage(EX), Arukain language(C), Spark of inspiration(EX), Origin of matter(EX), Unbound by laws of the lessers(EX), The end made manifest(EX). Destroyers presence(unique legendary).

  Spells- none.

  Titles(unlocked): The real Monster, Big Game Hunter, The brilliant rookie, The insane Solo. Monster debugger.The actor. Executioner. Survivor. Pioneer, Record breaker.The new champion supreme. Slavemaster, Eldritch garbage disposal(legendary).

  Gear: Two handed sword(t3)+ 5 str +5 vit: Armor 3str +3 vit +3 dex; Ring 1 - spatial storage, ring 2 +5int, ring 3 +5 str; amulet +5 dex.