Time seemed to fly past. Some orcs hammered away in the smithy, some others were swinging their axes wildly in the main squares. The miners had also not ceased their activity and Yerghug was still carrying on the legacy of Bulwud by constructing houses and fortifications. The changes the busy orcs had made could be seen everywhere as a result.
First, the patrolling orcs wore light armor and their axes seemed to shine like new because they were. Second, in order to better defend the settlement, the area inside the stalwart stone walls was being flattened by some captured orcs using new pickaxes.
The orcs were now surrounded by flat fields which they could observe in theory. But the reality was that another wall was being slowly etched out of stone. For now, they were just these etchings, these markings but the walls would soon rise.
Ed's fruit orchard was already surrounded by wooden walls as the first project Bulwud had undertaken. As for how things managed to change so drastically in nothing but a few days…
Ed was to blame of course. He gave plenty of the orcs skills improving the orcs' efficacy. The influx of new people also helped but not more so than his skills.
The spread of tough and on rare occasions, metal body, meant greater stamina and resilience. He also parted the skills of Yerghug to his other members and vice versa to more or less even the playing field.
Yerghug was a bit sour about having his skill lowered, it made him seem rather forgetful. Nonetheless, with the proliferation of his architecture and carpentry skills, everyone was leveling up together.
Yerghug was not the only one to receive this unjust treatment, the boar farmers also fell victim to such a ploy. Unlike with Yerghug however, they were removed from the boar farming task thereafter.
The new members of the tribe were the ones that took over these bottom-rung positions. Ed did this to show the orcs under him that they were valuable and for the new guys… well when they assimilated more tribes they could move up the ladder.
Who knew? Maybe they'd even get the treatment that the likes of Dakgu and Shel got.
Dakgu was fit to be a speedy assassin type but as an orc, he never fully committed. Ed respected his decision anyway and only helped him in terms of lightning mana
He gave him the Electrify skill that the Octocrawler had exhibited. Whenever he performed it, he would generate static that turned him sort of fuzzy. This meant that Dakgu had to get some hair on his body to increase the effectiveness.
Outside that specific skill, he also received tough, charge, sprint, and even nimble to greatly improve his speed and agility. Another skill was hurl which was nostalgic, to say the least.
On a separate note, it was evident that Ed lied about respecting Dakgu's decision. He had given him various speed-focused skills which, if Ed's theories on the consequences were true, were now forever tied to Dakgu.
Ed wasn't being willfully disrespectful, it was just that he knew these feelings of Dakgu came from his shame of Thunder Cry's thieving and sneaky behavior. Dakgu was slowly transitioning to this role even before Ed interfered.
Other than Dakgu, Shel also received some pretty standard skills. Most notably however was the pinpoint skill which Ed thought might be important for hammering and also tough and bulk up skills.
Basically, Shel would be able to strongly hammer down on things with pinpoint accuracy. Her smith talents would blossom from these skills alone.
Ed then moved onto providing more general and less tailored skills to some orcs like Gurln. The skills were charge, tough, and dodge roll. The dodge rolling would definitely come in key for fighting opponents many times stronger than oneself.
Even with all of that going on, Ed didn't forget to assimilate a couple of things for himself in both the mental domain and his orc body. He was working towards a more even balance of attributes.
'Status' It was time to see if it paid off.
[Name: Edw#&!]
Type: Orc
Health: 1800/1800
Mana: 299/299 (!)
Vitality: 14
Strength: 10 (!)
Agility: 9 (!)
Constitution: 17
Dexterity: 11
~Skills~
[Transmission lvl. 7] -Show-
[Fortified Mind lvl. 0] -Show-
[Assessment lvl. 3] -Show-
[Assimilation lvl. 7] -Show-
[Thought Manifestation lvl. 3] -Show-
[Language lvl. 1] -Show-
[System Link lvl. 6] -Show-
[Instinct lvl. 6] -Show-
[Adept Throwing lvl. 1] -Show-
[Mana Manipulation lvl. 9] -Show-
[Axemanship lvl. 7] --Show-
[Eloquence lvl. 4] -Show-
[Craftsmanship lvl. 2] -Show-
[Body Recollection lvl. 2] -Show-
[Alchemy lvl. 3] -Show-
[Formationist lvl. 1] -Show-
[Spiritual Mark lvl. 1 (!)] -Show-
Ed's eyes quickly skimmed past everything and noticed a couple of nice details. His mana was about to break into the 300 marks. Similarly, his agility was about to hit 10 while strength already did so. He was without a doubt the fastest orc the humans would ever get to see and his strength was likely not far off the top if not already there.
An unintended side effect of this continued increase in both strength and agility as opposed to constitution, was that Ed appeared both slimmer and stronger. The excess constitution from before didn't make him fat, the attributes seemed to only play a small part, but since the previous disparity was so large it did in contrast.
In fact, as Ed had been moving about a lot of people inquired about his training routine. The answer was obvious. He performed no more than one hundred- It was too obvious to mention.
In reality, Ed was afraid they wouldn't follow through with such a strenuous workout routine, It was a reasonable concern too as many of the orcs were afraid of balding from the stress it might bring. This was especially harmful to Dakgu if he was going to keep his new electrify skill.
'Many of them have a clear dome anyway' Ed commented before focusing back on his next move. He had powered up the orcs and the settlement was progressing well.
The next best move was to integrate more settlements or to at least spy on the humans for information.
'Why not both?' Ed thought to himself before heading off towards the center of Sanctuary. He had been visiting the goblins at the moment giving some final upgrades. With nimble, hurl, and a couple of simple skills like tough, they were eternally grateful as Ed left.
'I'll need to integrate them into our society at some point' Goblins were still widely looked down on by orcs due to their weak bodies. They were like prey in the eyes of the orcs, especially to those from the newly integrated tribes.
It wasn't unusual to eat your goblin captives to keep off starvation. Ed suspected this was the main reason why some tribes seemed to possess no goblins although a floor once existed for them.
Once at the settlement's center, Ed admired the sight. There used to be a stage in front of the smithy but Ed had it removed. The center which was just plain old dirt was paved into a circle and surrounding it were some buildings.
First was obviously the smithy and the rest were just empty buildings, all but one.
[Sanctuary Settlement Hall]
{A hall made by the residents of the orc settlement Sanctuary under the orders of their undeclared leader, Ed}
This building was designated to be the place to go for Sanctuary governmental affairs. In other words, Sharog's new home.
"Ed, welcome" As expected, Sharog welcomed Ed seeing him enter the hall. The hall was fairly large by orc standards but Sharog liked to sit near the entrance.
"It's about time for another meeting, right?" Ed asked Sharog who nodded. He didn't really need to ask but since he was leaving a lot of the work to her, it was only fair to give her some say on things.
'Dakgu, it's time for a new meeting' Ed transmitted a message to Dakgu through the spiritual mark. The young orc flinched in the midst of training as a result and received a punch to the face from Gurln.
Dakgu paused and looked at Gurln who slowly retreated his fist with a questioning brow.
"Aaah!!!! GURLN!!!" Dakgu screamed not liking his reaction. He pounced at Gurln and the two started a slugfest.
Moments later, Ed was giving a stare down to the both of them inside the Sanctuary Hall.
"You both think this is a joke?" Ed asked the two of them who rapidly shook their heads.
"I was planning on sending you both to conquer other settlements, you know that right?" Ed continued the two seemed shocked and then grateful. It was short-lived however as shame and regret overtook it within moments.
"We- I'm sorry…" Dakgu said. He wanted to apologize for both of them but quickly realize he had been at fault for the small scuffle. The two were in the middle of a spar. How was Gurln supposed to know Dakgu would be suddenly interrupted?
Gurln who saw Dakgu own up to his mistake had no choice but to grit his teeth and bow slightly.
"I'm also sorry" He could have tried avoiding Dakgu rather than fighting him.
'Looks like the prospect of leading orcs to battle is too appealing for them' They both apologized when they realized what was at stake.
"Still… I'm not confident on leaving it to just the both of you anymore" The two were young which didn't really disqualify them but it did bring some prejudice. Orcs were mostly chill but there were always exceptions.
""We can do it!!!"" The two said. To Dakgu this was a life and death matter and for Gurln it was a sign that he could get closer to earning Ed's trust.
"I'll be appointing the leaders of the two newly acquired tribes to accompany the both of you" Ed decided after thinking for a short while. Those leaders had proper experience and they could pass it onto the two.
They were however in the Sanctuary hall and the newly appointed orcs who heard this frowned.
Apart from the likes of Romagod, son of Romarod leader of the tribe of Romarod, there were no outsiders present for the Sanctuary hall meeting. The idea of having someone outside their circle lead was not very appealing.
Noticing this Ed frowned a bit.
"Politics… I should have just become a tyrant…" Ed muttered under his breath. It wasn't too late yet, right?