Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 261: Lone Wanderer

As much as Zane was weary after his encounter with the ghostly assassin, no doubt sent by Bartholomew to take him out when he least expected it. His attention was immediately drawn elsewhere. There was a message from the system, which he found to be compelling.

One which he had not seen until now. Probably because he was preoccupied with more important things. But it was hard to ignore at the moment as his mail box was practically exploding with fireworks. Almost as if his mother was trying to tell him something.

Because of this, Zane quickly activated the messages screen of his system and found something interesting.

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[Hidden Achievement Unlocked: Lone Wanderer]

[Description: You have decided to walk a lonesome path in a world fraught with danger at every corner. As a drifter, who belongs to no community nor creed you have naturally found your own way to advance in life.]

[Rewards:

Title Unlocked: Lone Wanderer

Feature Unlocked: Camp Management

Item Unlocked: Drifter's Camp]

[P.S. I hope you enjoy my gift! Mommy is rooting for her little vagabond!]

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Camp? What exactly was a camp? Was it similar to a settlement? If that was the case, then why was it an item? These were the first thoughts that flooded through Zane's mind as he read the message. Only for his mouth to drop in disbelief at the shamelessness of his mother.

Seriously? She hooked him up with a special feature simply because he was on the run? How as that not blatant favoritism! Then again, she outright said that the system was created in the first place to help him survive, so it was only natural that he received some perks that nobody else did.

Still, Zane couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed as he closed out of the message, and entered his inventory screen where he found that there was indeed a new item in his inventory. The icon was that of a stereotypical hobo's sack attached to the screen. Which Zane ignored entirely as he read its description.

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[Drifter's Camp]

[Quantity: x1]

[Description: A basic camp which can be placed and packed up at will. Note: Cannot be placed near enemies.]

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Though the description was deliberately vague, if he had to guess, this was his mother's way of allowing him to maintain the benefits of the settlement management screen while still being nomadic in nature.

And judging by the fact that there were no enemies nearby, at least not that he was aware of Zane decided to quickly test this theory. The sun was going down, after all. And because of this, Zane looked over at his new travelling companions and made a decree to halt for the night.

"We'll make camp here for the night. At dawn we will move out."

Nobody dared to disagree with Zane, and because of this he found a flat piece of desert land just off the highway where he placed his camp. It was even more rudimentary than he thought. Quite literally, a bed roll was placed, along with a pack next to it.

However, what was impressive was the moment he placed the camp down, a new feature appeared on his screen. Which was in the exact same place Settlement management had been. Zane looked at the Camp management and found it was more extensive than he thought.

He could place undead in the encampment to act as watchmen and sentries. To protect and alert him throughout the night in case he felt the desire to sleep. Which though Zane's body no longer required, he was mentally accustomed to.

In addition to this, there were stations he could craft. Stations that required recipes, but once crafted could help him fulfill the previous functions of the system. Such as crafting gear, potions, runes, enchantments, and any number of other critical items that Zane had not really bothered investing in while acting as the leader of Gravestone.

He could also build defenses, turning the small camp into a mobile fortress which could be placed, modified, and packed up with a single thought. But of course, these defenses required blueprints, like everything else.

For the time being, Zane really only had the blueprints he had unlocked for Gravestone. Such as the Grim Forge and Stygian Iron Works. Which he could still place within the boundaries of the camp. Speaking of, the Camp appeared to be upgradeable. He only had a measly 100 square feet to make use of with the first level of camp. Which was the Drifter's Camp.

But, presumably, he could make something much larger.

And there were, of course certain limitations to stations based upon the level of the camp. For example, if he wanted to actually build a Grim Forge, and Stygian Iron Works he needed at least a level 3 camp.

For now, all he could really do was make some minor things, like furniture, a cooking pot, et cetera. As for how the Camp was upgraded, it quite literally came down to what he built, and how he built it. If he just randomly placed things in any direction without thought, he would only be able to reach a certain level.

But if he invested a certain amount of time, effort, and resources into planning the layout of his camp. Then he could raise it to even higher levels. So basically, to get to level II. He would first need to build a cooking pot, a shelter of some kind, et cetera.

None of which was actually required for Zane to survive. As he no longer needed to eat, and he could endure any weather conditions that were thrown at him, assuming it wasn't a natural disaster of some kind.

This just seemed to be his mother's way of keeping him entertained while on the move. And Zane could easily surmise this because she quite literally left a note saying as such.

[P.S. It wouldn't be any fun if I gave you everything without working for it, would it? -Love, Mommy!]

Zane couldn't help but sigh when he heard this… Without a doubt his mother had given him quite a boon with the camp management feature. While at the same time, she designed it so that he would have to work hard just to make it viable. Because of this, he could only sigh before expressing his thoughts aloud.

"We have a lot of work to do…"