"My name is Zach..."
Zach climbed on one of the wooden carts' ass to address the captives.
"My camp is located on the grassy plane outside the forest..."
"Those who are interested in joining it are welcomed to join me as am headed there..."
"As for those who do not wish to part with their ancestoral land,I will not hold you back..."
Zach added as he did not want them to think that he was forcing them, even though he wanted all to join his camp,he knew that forcing them may not end well for him in the future.
"For those who shall join my camp,be assured that you will all be treated well,as for those who choose to head back,you are all welcome to visit and trade with residents of my camp at any time..."
The captives faces shone,as Zach's words were clear that he was not going to hold a grudge,as most cultivators were known to be petty and arrogant.
"I give an hour to come up with a concesus..."
Zach jumped from the cart and headed to a quite place,where he made a fire and cooked himself some spirit beast meat,as he looked up the rewards of his quest and his profile.
"Huh...!"
"A bronze chest,hope I get something rare from it..."
Zach did not open the chest that appeared in front of him and saved it for later. It was easier to transport the bronze chest to camp,than it would have been to transport the resources and materials in it.
As for his profile,he did not see that big of a change.
RACE: Human REALM: Foundation Establishment STAGE: Cultivator (Mid) TERRITORY RANK: Camp (Established) HP: 100% SPIRIT: 69% > Though he was not actively cultivating,his body had been absorbing the spirit qi from the spirit beast he ate and converting it to spirit qi drops,boosting his cultivation by a smaller margin. His dantian was currently at sixty-nine percent. Close to two hours later,twelve elders approached him. The captives had taken their time to discuss among themselves,as the bandits shivered in fear, awaiting their fate. "We elders of Evergreen Settlement greet Lord Zach..." " Lord Zach, sounds akward..." Zach thought as he acknowledged the elders presence,these twelve were all elders of the council that anaged Evergreen Settlement. "We residents of Evergreen Settlement thank his lord for saving us from eminent doom and will forever be grateful..." The elder cupped his hands and bowed towards Zach,he was accompanied by the rest of the captives. Zach nodded in acknowledgement. "As elders of Evergreen Settlement,we have listened to our people and have come up with a concesus..." "Since the a Lord has offered us a chance to head back to our ancestral settlement,we gladly accept,but in return for saving us,a third of our residents shall join his lord's camp..." Zach was surprised by this,a third of a hundred and fifty-six was fifty-two,add that to the twenty-nine bandits,and he would have gained an extra eighty-one residents. This would cut off five weeks from the remaining seven. In two weeks time,he would be ready to upgrade his camp to a settlement. These two weeks were enough for him to develop the camp. There were cabins that needed building and resources that needed gathering,and with the new additions to the camp residents,he estimated everything to be done in less than two weeks. "Go on..." Zach urged the elder as he could tell that he still had a lot to say. "Apart from the residents,we agreed to the lord's proposal of forming a relationship between us and promoting trade between us..." The elder said as he handed a folded sheepskin to Zach. "As the first step of goodwill,here is a map of the regions explored by a us,and also marked on it,are two villages we trade with, though they are quite far from here..." Zach looked at the map and noted the locations of the two villages,he also noticed an are marked with a skull and several others marked with claws. "What do these claws and the skull represent..." He had an inkling but chose to ask. "The skull is the location of these bandits,who were not as strong and daring as they are the last time they raided us..." Zach intrest was piqued... "When was it and how strong were they?" Zach inquired ignoring the pensive mood that had enveloped the twelve elders. "It was around two years ago and we found to a standstill..." Zach was surprised,it only took two years for the bandits strength to rise to search heights. Even for him, nurturing one person to low stage of foundation establishment would take him at least two years,leave alone six,as well as an additional more than thirty spirit qi gathering realm cultivators. A venture like this required a tone of cultivation resources. The spirit qi gathering pills and foundation stabilizing pills used up would leave a dent in ones pocket. "It seems that there is more to this bandit group than meets the eye..." This realization was enough to wipe the greed from Zach's mind. "I will have to increase the strength of my guards before upgrading the camp..." Zach decided as he started formulating a training schedule for his men. With a cultivation manual at hand,and a forest full of spirit herbs and spirit beast,the only thing that would be slowing his guard from becoming cultivators was their compression talent. "I need to head back sooner..." Zach thought as he folded the sheepskin. "What about the claw marks?" "Those are territories belonging to stronger spirit beast..." "Most have the aura close to that of bandit leader..." The elder added as an after thought... "So there are thirteen foundation establishment realm beast beyond the two kilometer boundary..." Zach was happy to hear this. "Anything else?" The elders looked at each other and nodded. "We also request sir to take our settlement under his care..." The twelve elders knew well that the bandit threat was not over. If the bandits that raided them did not head back, another batch would be sent over. And with their strength,they had no hopes of them surviving,but with Zach's protection, they had a chance at surviving. To them,Zach was like a god,and seen how he treated the five spirit qi gathering realm bandits as if they were nothing,they assumed that he had cultivators under him. They assumption was backed by the fact that he had traveled do far from his village.