Chapter 36: Step 36 to Greatness: Automation Is Possible, Even In A Primitive World

After waging war against the invisible germs, the tribe retreated to the settlement. Sera had brought back the first batch of clay to test her pot-making skills.

As for the rest of the tribe, they were mastering the spear under Mika’s eagle eyes. Adrian had given all of them a spear mastery skill book to refer to while practicing.

Naturally, they couldn’t understand what was written in it. However, much like Mika, they could see the images and learn by copying her.

After getting the combat class system, it seemed Mika could understand English a bit. Hence, her understanding of the spear skyrocketed.

He also gave them two enhancement cards each. Amika only got one since he already used one on her last night.

The preparations for the upcoming battle with Juan’s group and the other tribe was going well.

"Now that Mika is busy training them, I got nothing to do," Adrian mumbled, sitting at the doorstep of the longhouse.

He had planned to take Mika along to farm slimes. That way, she would benefit from the 10x blessing and level up faster.

Mika, on the other hand, declined to do it when they got back. It seemed his words about the tribe needing her teaching skills had gotten her a bit too fired up.

In her words, she would teach the rest a few moves to practice before hunting slimes. But looking at her now, it was clear she had no intention of stopping at ’few’ moves.

With a sigh, Adrian opened his inventory and, as usual, began sorting through the cards he had.

"Oh, the watchtowers. I completely forgot about them!" Adrian smacked his head, taking out the common structure card.

xxx

Item: Watchtower

Type: Structure

Grade: Basic (White)

Durability: 180/180

Height: 4 meters

Structure Stats:

⬩ Detection radius: 80 m

⬩ Occupant capacity: 1

⬩ Combat platform: Unavailable

⬩ Companion post: Unavailable

⬩ Weather resistance: None

⬩ Visibility to enemies: High

Passive Skills:

⬩ Elevated: The occupant can detect any unfamiliar movement within an 80 m radius.

⬩ Warning Bell: A large bell comes attached with the tower. The occupant can use this bell to alert the settlement as needed.

Warnings:

The tower does not provide any protection in harsh weather. The top is left open, and the occupant can get attacked at any time.

xxx

"Useless."

That was the only thing Adrian could say about the tower. It was an insult to even call it a tower, considering it was a wooden platform on top of four pillars. One misstep and the occupant would go tumbling down, resulting in unnecessary injuries.

"Just four meters high. If Nixa stood on Mika’s shoulder, they would be taller than this so-called tower."

Adrian often had reservations about combining cards now, but the tower wasn’t one of them. He immediately combined the card to get a [Reinforced Watchtower].

This tower was much better than the previous one. Its height increased to 6 meters, and the detection range was up to 140 meters. It even had railings and curtains made of hide and vines that acted as windbreakers.

"A combat platform as well," Adrian nodded. "If anyone masters the bow, I can station them on the tower."

Yet, it wasn’t quite what Adrian was looking for, so he combined the cards again.

"Tower height ten meters, detection range two hundred and twenty meters. Nice. Nice. What about the abilities? Tsk, still no active abilities."

In addition to the previous abilities, now the tower had a ’nest’ for a companion next to the platform and a ’doghouse’ under the four reinforced pillars.

"...I have combined it so far, might as well continue."

xxx

Item: Sentinel Bell Tower

Type: Autonomous Structure

Grade: Epic (Purple)

Durability: 1,000/1,000 (Loses 1 durability every 12 hours while active. Durability loss doubles during alert state.)

Height: 14 meters

Structure Stats:

⬩ Detection radius: 360 m

⬩ Occupant capacity: 0 (Autonomous structure. Doesn’t need active human input.)

⬩ Alert radius: 500 meters

⬩ Threat Recognition: Basic

⬩ Visibility to enemies: High

Passive Skills:

⬩ Autonomous Structure: The Sentinel Tower operates fully without an occupant. Detects targets independently, 24 hours a day.

⬩ Conflict deterrent: Any creature that gets detected by the tower has a 20% chance to flee instead of engaging again.

⬩ Guardian Bell: Upon detecting a threat, the tower automatically rings its bell. Different bell patterns indicate different threats:

• One long ring → Unknown movement detected

• Two short rings → Beast detected

• Three short rings → Multiple intruders detected

• Continuous ringing → Settlement breached

⬩ Directional Warning: The tower subtly shifts and rings toward the direction of danger, allowing residents to determine where enemies are approaching from.

⬩ Settlement Registry: New residents, pets, recruited units automatically get registered.

Active Skills:

⬩ Last Witness: The tower records the appearance and direction of the detected threat and automatically hands over crucial data such as the number of intruders, direction of approach, threat assessment, and time passed since detection to the owner.

xxx

Adrian thought he had gotten used to the epic-grade structures having broken abilities. However, this wasn’t like them. It was helpful, especially at night, but it wasn’t ’broken’.

The only thing that surprised him was the automation. They were living in a primitive world, yet somehow he had access to an autonomous structure?

"Wait, why am I questioning it? The fire pit is more or less automated as well, and so is the crafting table. Compared to the tower, they are way too op!"

As soon as he said that, a notification popped up.

[The tower cannot distinguish between friend and foe, only residents and non-residents. The tower would alert the tribe and mark any non-resident spotted regardless of whether it is human or not.]

Adrian thought for a moment and nodded. It wasn’t that big of a deal. After all, it shouldn’t be a problem as long as the tower gets ’trained’ quickly. It would be annoying if it kept alerting them every time an animal came into its range.

"No matter what, this tower would be an asset to the tribe! I can put it right in the middle of the camp to cover the entire settlement."

Adrian took out the purple [Sentinel Tower] card and walked to the middle of the settlement. He chose a good spot where it could overlook the forest and protect the entire settlement.

The card glowed brightly before shattering into purple light. The earth rumbled as a massive structure began rising from the spot. In a couple of seconds, the imposing tower greeted the settlement it was bound to protect. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

The shadow of the tall tower stretched across the ground and fell directly over the women who were training with their spears.

Mika was the first to notice. She stopped mid-instruction and looked up with wide eyes. The other women also froze, staring at the giant structure that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"What... is that?" she whispered, gripping her spear tightly.

"Male! Something appeared inside the settlement!" Amika yelled, hurrying past the longhouse to see Adrian was standing under the strange structure.

He didn’t need to explain what it was. The moment the women saw him, they knew he had blessed them with another gift, and that was enough for them.

[Tribe’s favorability towards you has increased.]

[Current favorability: 129/150 points]

[Current Standing: Honored Member]

"Off you go now," Adrian said, shooing them off. "Keep practicing with your spears. No need to stop training for every little thing."

***

Author’s note: I’m including a map of the settlement: here. Please view it in the paragraph comment section or you can join the discord server to check it. Thanks!