Burke might not come today. While I doubt he'll pick the option to become a slave... I still think having a few collars would be helpful, for people who just can't be reasoned with. I'm not exactly sure how to use them myself, both my previous lives I had dealt with them. I never had the knowhow to make them though.

I could make them with the illusion enchanting tree. Never in my entire life would I have thought to use a slave collar on another human being… Maybe the thief memories I have are influencing some of my decisions… I feel like I could use slave collars if it was on the right person. Like Olaf, or the bandit queen, or Burke.

While easy enough for me to make. If you add the cursed effect to it, slave collars like that would go for a hundred gold coins. They're bought by nobles for more… Nefarious purposes. The more elaborate the design the higher the price too. Who wants to see a hunk of metal attached to someone you own all day? Ideally it would be something more unnoticeable… Why am I thinking so hard about this right now? My hatred for Burke is corrupting what I've been thinking about. I need to change focus for now.

I head to the blacksmith, he's been busy and has also improved to the next rank of blacksmith. He could have picked either weaponsmith or armorsmith. Everyone who ranked up, I let them pick their own ranks. I assume they'll make the best decision for themselves since they know what they'd like to do more. He picked weaponsmith. Seeing as most of our troops don't wear heavy armor except for a few pieces but everyone of our soldiers uses a sword. Some even use two, plus he could make better bolts and arrows. So the rankup fits him better. I'll have to make another gnoll a blacksmith eventually for the armorsmith rank. Next I'll go talk to the tailors.

Both had picked a different path than the other. They suit each other a lot. The rank up would have unlocked clothier or seamstress. Clothier can more easily change the colors of cloth and also add more detail to any non clothing pieces. Like, blankets, flags and cloth bags. They can also sell cloth items for more than the seamstress. The seamstress has increased finishing speed of everything made plus a bonus to making clothing. I had them sew an insignia to show each branch the gnolls belong to. Either being thief, beast rider or mage now.

The chefs all picked master chefs. The glutton rank up doesn't suit anyone who isn't an adventurer. Even still chefs can cook monster meat and make it edible. While glutton only gets a skill that I need badly. Anything the glutton eats they can gain some of the stats from that monster. It's honestly an insignificant amount for most monsters… Except the strongest ones, eating a dragon would boost each stat by at least 10… Which isn't much for the risk you'd have to take to kill a dragon. Still even unlocking it, any stat boost to me is significant when my stats are low compared to other people. I wonder if it stacks with absorb?

I've used absorb on every monster around here. While some only gave one stat point in the type of monster they were. Spiders giving intelligence, wolves giving strength and bats giving dexterity. None gave a skill and from what I found out. The permanent stat boost only counts for the first time I absorbed a monster. Meaning I couldn't build up my strength by absorbing all the wolves I fight.

The five or ten stats I got from all the different types of monsters wasn't that big of an upgrade. The stat buff I get for consuming monsters isn't good either. It's ten times stronger than the permanent stat boost but only last for five minutes. It would be hard to absorb something and fight something else in time to get the benefit from the stat boost.

The alchemist could pick between potion expert or poison expert… We already had enough potions, so he picked poison expert… He poisoned himself and almost died though… So while he'll be able to make poison traps around the vicinity he might also kill himself or someone else on accident. Even so, having an expert poison maker will help in long term more than a potion maker. Poison can be added to weapons increasing killing potential. With how many great healers we have in this group. I doubt even if we raided, we would need to rely on potions that much.

Finally we have the enchanters. I really wanted to learn what they'd unlock but they still haven't hit 100 yet. They're close but not there yet. I did teach one the synthesis job and the other the tinkerer job. With that they've been messing around with increasing production.

The synthesis enchanter can now combine two rares. Reducing the time it would take to add a second effect to a piece of gear. While the tinkerer made a makeshift enchanting table. It was gold lined running to 8 different places that could hold enchanting paper. Making it possible to enchant 8 pieces of paper at once! Wow what a find! I'm so glad that I taught one of them tinkerer now. That cuts the knives cannon production down from one week to one day. Pokodo is the only other elementalist but she can't help make wind scrolls because she's not an enchanter.

Some of the woodworkers had managed to rank up. A few have chosen lumber worker. Making it easier to handle and deal with large scale building with wood. Others chose wood craftsman, making their wood work far superior to the lumber workers. Put together though, they could make intricate buildings very quickly that are also aesthetically pleasing. It'll come in handy for building more fortress's in the future. I could also higher them out as laborers for buildings in Shienta. From what I understand a lot of people in the slums have started making enough money to expand their house sizes.

Finally the stable master who was a beast tamer and beast rider leveled both up to rank up. Beast tamers can become beast masters or hunters. Beast masters make the best stable masters so he chose that. From what it sounds like hunters gain more benefits to help themselves and their pets in combat. It would be better for myself… Beast master increases the amount of pets you can tame… So either would help me in the long run.

While the beast rider class hit level one hundred it didn't rank up... I didn't even know that was possible… Maybe it's tied to gaining new mounts or something? Maybe it'll never rank up. We also have horses, pigs, cows, chickens and wolves at the stables now. The horses are from the bandit camp. I bought the pigs and more chickens and cows for food sources. A few of the beast riders have taken to going on expeditions to find new pets. I've tried to bring dogs into the fortress but they don't get along with the gnolls very well. The rarest pet we have is probably Zergnars dire dreadwolf.

Since I'm close to the forest entrance at next to the stables, I get the feeling like we're being watched. If it's Burke's group looking for a chance to attack I'll kill them all. The only way I could sense them is because of scout. I call out not seeing them but sensing them, I'm not sure it is Burke's group yet.

“Who's there? I know someone is there!”

A shadowy figure comes out of the forest. I still can't make out his face or see any distinguishing features. He has his body cloaked in shadows with the bandit passive… MEANING IT'S A BANDIT!

“Show yourself! GNOLLS! TAKE AIM AT THIS PERSON!”

I feel more fearful than normal because it's a person of unknown strength. They remove their cloaks hood. Underneath is the bandit queen… Why is she here? Running away will get her banned from every city, making her life a living hell essentially. I guess cleaning up shit has gotten the better of her. She looks defeated, almost sad how miserable she looks. On the verge of crying she finally gets words out.

“You… You help everyone unconditionally right?”

“Of course not, first, the person has to be a good person. Secondly, the person has to not have poured boiling oil down my friends back. Thirdly, the person has to not have had their husband cut the hands of my friend. Fourthly-”

She cuts me off, I can hear desperation in her voice.

“LOOK! I know that this is a long shot! I had no one else to call on for help! If you won't help…”

She looks at the ground… For all the wrongs she's done, I thought I would have been furious if I ever seen her again. I guess time heals all wounds because I do feel sorry for her.

“Come in. Depending on what you have to say, I'll help you.”