Accidental Healer-Chapter 33- The interface

After chatting with Nick and Alex a bit more I figure I should probably find Jared and share the new changes to the territory. Of the whole group, only Nick and Alex had been given new spirit weapons.

Would that continue to be a growing theme? How common were they? I now had two items, my cloak and Tranquility. If that was the case what would be the point of crafting anything? These were questions for another day though, no point dwelling on it now.

Jared hadn’t even bothered watching the raid. I find him speaking with a small group of people, completely unfazed by whether we succeeded or not.

“So as your skills grow, you can increase both the growth time and yield of crops?” Jared cradled his elbow with one hand, his other hand pressed against his cheek as he considered the problem. “Let’s try to monitor this closely. Food is a big priority right now, I think people are tired of meat.”

I interrupt, placing my hand on Jared’s shoulder. “Hey, Jared. We finished the last raid, and I unlocked a bunch of new features for the territory. I wanted to go over them with you and whoever else should be involved.”

Jared nods. “That’s great.” He raised a finger to the group, signaling for a moment’s patience. “Let me quickly wrap up here and gather a few people. Meet at your shelter?”

Minutes later, Jared, myself, and two others are sitting around my table while Mischief lounges in the corner. He’s getting massive now—easily eight feet long. His color is shifting, with hints of orange replacing his usual muted yellow.

The five of us have to squeeze into the small sitting room. The table is rough, not polished but solid with four three legged stools surrounding it.

Jared starts. “Alright, Layton, let’s start with the biggest question—what did we unlock?”

I recount the notifications in full. Jared and the others listen, eyes locked onto me.

Jared nods. “Alright, the first thing we should probably do is activate the Universal Interface and explore our options.”

I agree, standing up. “Yeah, let’s get that set up. It’s about the size of a whiteboard—I’ll place it on the empty wall here.”

I open my inventory and will the Interface into existence.

POP.

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A six-foot by six-foot glass screen materializes against the wall, hovering just slightly above the surface. Words scroll across it.

Welcome, Layton! Congratulations on claiming your first territory. Tutorial has been skipped. Before accessing features, you must name your faction.

I smack my forehead. Freaking system.

Jared glances at me. “Why did it skip the tutorial?”

I sigh. “Because the system and I have an inside joke.”

He just stares at me. “...What?”

“It’s not a big deal,” I say with a shrug. “I just got a little antsy when the induction happened and skipped everything. Now it’s a permanent feature for me. It’s gotten me into trouble a few times, but overall, it’s not that bad.” I wave a hand dismissively. “Can we get back to naming the faction?”

I get some incredulous looks—some of them definitely judging me.

“Okay… we can talk about that later.” Jared clears his throat. “As far as a faction name goes, we’ve actually been calling ourselves something for a while now. I think most of us would agree to it—if you do.”

I raise a brow. “Alright. What is it?”

“Okay, but keep in mind that people really like it before you shoot it down.” Jared waits for me to nod suspiciously before continuing. “We’ve been calling ourselves Layton Mischief… you know, like a play on the word ‘latent’?”

I pause, thinking it over. Latent—dormant potential waiting to awaken. Add in the obvious nod to Mischief, and… yeah, I actually kind of love it.

“That’s solid,” I admit. “Let’s go with it.”

You have chosen to be known to the universe as ‘Layton Mischief.’

You may now use the interface.

A number of screens populate on the interface:

Shop: Buy and sell items.Create Objectives: Assign objectives to faction members.Faction Requests: Create or accept requests from other factions.Jared’s eyes flicker to the Interface, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the table. I can see the gears turning, already calculating how to use this to secure our people’s future. That’s Jared for you. Always five steps ahead.

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I scan the options. “Looks like we have three main fields for now—Shop, Objectives, and Requests.”

Jared frowns. “Three? I only have access to the Shop prompt. That must be because you’re the faction leader.”

That would make sense. On a whim, I navigate through the interface. It’s wide enough that Damon, Jared and myself can all mess around with the screen at the same time. We each have separate windows open as we toy with the system screens. After a brief search I find the screen that I am looking for and assign Jared as my Steward.

“Hey Jared, I just assigned you to be the Steward of the faction, but I think you have to accept it manually. Check your status.”

Jared blinks in surprise. “Layton, I’m honored, but are you sure you want to assign a Steward so early?”

I can’t help but chuckle. “What’s so funny?” he asks.

Shaking my head, I grin. “I’m just not used to hearing ‘are you sure?’ Most of my decisions get locked in the second I make them. And yeah, I’m sure. You’ve already been doing the job—you might as well have the title.”

Jared checks his interface. “Alright. I accepted it. Let’s see… yeah, I have full access to Objectives and Requests now.”

“Perfect. Let’s take a look at what we’re working with.”

We spend the next few hours exploring the Shop menu, scanning through the available items. Our meeting is accompanied by the sounds of construction outside the small cabin. Occasionally a loud BANG that rattles the door on its hinges accompanied by muffled shouts of “NO Alex, it needs to go here!”

The last raid has barely ended and Alex is already back to playing pack mule moving logs for construction. His strength makes him an exceptional pack mule.

Through the noise I toggle through the interface screens. I had high hopes—maybe legendary weapons, top-tier armor, or even some rare skills. What I found instead? Tools, blueprints, and crafting materials.

Not useless—just not what I expected.

The shop is clearly geared toward infrastructure, offering things like smithing hammers, construction plans, and even farming equipment. There is a section titled skill books, I make a mental note to review later.

There’s also an option to sell items, though the system warns that its prices aren’t as good as bartering with other factions could be. Out of curiosity, I test it—selling off stacks of hundreds of monster meats… for a total of 100 Universal Bronze Coins.

I exhale. “Well, no offense, but… does anyone else feel like the shop is kinda anticlimactic?”

I glance at Jared, Damon, and Jessica, expecting agreement. Instead, Damon looks at me like I just kicked his dog.

“What are you, crazy?” Damon says, borderline offended. “This is the best thing I could’ve hoped for.” He continues thumbs through more of the store. His eyes wide with excitement. “The last three weeks, I’ve felt almost completely useless.”

I blink. “Huh? How could you feel useless? You’ve been building like crazy. What you and the others have done is nothing short of remarkable.” I gesture toward the cabin we are all sitting in. “I mean, look at this place! Walls, cabins, fields—you all built a freaking town from nothing.”

Damon lets out a rough exhale, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, but… it didn’t feel like I was progressing. I watched you guys fight, get stronger, level up—meanwhile, I was just hammering logs together. It felt like I was stuck.”

Jessica nods. “Most of us felt that way. Imagine if you fighters had nothing to fight. What would you even do?” She gestures at the interface. “But now? Damon actually has something to work toward. His craft will grow, just like your combat skills.”

I sit with that for a moment, then nod. “Alright. That’s a fair point.”

Damon grins. “Damn right it is.”

I shake my head, laughing. “Then I guess it’s time we make the most of what we’ve got. Damon, can you walk me through how your leveling works?”

Damon leans forward. “It’s pretty straightforward. The more time I spend smithing, the more I level. Higher-quality materials and better tools improve my gains. I also get bonuses for making higher-tier gear. So far, I’ve only gotten experience from basic weapon maintenance, but I haven’t had the right setup to push my skills further.”

His explanation makes sense. I start seeing the bigger picture.

If we want stronger fighters, we need better equipment. If we want better equipment, we need a proper smithy.

And if we want a proper smithy…

I open the Objectives menu.

Create Objectives: Assign objectives to faction members.

Completing objectives grants bonus experience and allows leaders to assign custom rewards.Interesting. I can create specific tasks for faction members, complete with rewards. Even better—I can set objectives by class. It even shows me the items in my inventory, I choose the items I had in mind.

I test it out, pulling up Damon’s profile. After a few tweaks, I finalize my first faction objective.

“Damon, can you check your status real quick?”

Damon pauses, then his eyes widen. “I’ve got a new optional objective: Construct a building to start your forge. And there’s a reward attached—Uncommon Blacksmithing Set and 1,000 UBCs. Plus… huh, a two-week experience boost?”

That last part surprises me. I didn’t assign an XP boost—seems like the system automatically adds one. Would it do that everytime? Jared would have to play around and see how the rules worked.

I grin. “Well, that worked out perfectly. That blacksmithing set’s yours as soon as you build your forge.”

Damon stares at the objective, then looks up at me. “Layton… I don’t know how to thank you. This means everything.”

I wave him off. “No need to thank me. I just want to see what you can do.”

Damon springs out of his chair. “I’ll get started right now!” And with that, he’s gone—already planning his next steps.

Jessica smirks. “I can’t wait to get my own objective soon. Looked like there was some interesting harvesting equipment in the store.” She winks, then heads off too.

I turn back to Jared. “You’ve been looking through the interface, right?”

Jared nods. “Yeah. And now that I have Steward access, I can manage objectives too.”

I grin. “Good. Because I’ve got a lot more to throw your way.”