Mark finally felt rested. Five days had passed since he returned from exploring the west and spending three crazy days in the murder kitchen. He had needed all five to catch up on what he missed during five days away. He still could not figure out that math.
He had reviewed all the outposts. Like Forest’s Rest, they had all been completed and were all now level 3 outposts. It had been a busy day at each, making sure that everyone and everything were inspected and the crews were officially released to head south to start on the new village location.
During those days, there had been much discussion on the current state of the zone. It was still overloaded, but now not just people but also many resources were running short. Mark brought up again his management interface.
[Regional Management — Forest Region]
Controlled Influence: 87%Connected Settlements: 5
Population Overview
Forest’s Rest: 19 Residents, 11 Temporary VisitorsCave Camp: 30 Residents, 27 Temporary VisitorsEastwatch: 40 Residents, 32 Temporary VisitorsCrossroads: 30 Residents, 15 Temporary VisitorsWayrest: 42 Residents, 18 Temporary Visitors
Unknown: 35
Regional Population Total: 299Un-Housed Population: 138
Average Regional Level: 8
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The totals overwhelmed Mark. When they had designed all the outposts, their plan was to be able to exceed the projected housing need. With the five outposts and the longhouses, inns, and cabins built, they could house 161. But they had 299 and he was sure if he just waited ten minutes and refreshed it, the total would hit 300 as it had been climbing each day.
He looked over the profession totals. He was happy to see that they had four people with the Miner class and twelve Forge- or Furnace-related classes, and they even had a few management-type classes, which surprised him. All of the rest of the classes could be broken into types, but the fact that the average regional level was 8 meant, as a whole, their levels were rising.
The one thing that did alarm him was that it now listed a critical food issue. They had overused the local resources; fish were getting harder to find, and there were fewer animals in the forest. They needed to stop harvesting so much; they might completely wipe them out if things did not change soon.
Mark’s hope was that they could get at least 150 people, or half the population, to move south. That would leave this area with a number of people it could support. Since all the construction workers, road builders, and most of the stone workers would be heading south, that would take a good chunk of the population with them. With this, he knew that his new location would need to support a few hundred people if this forest were to survive.
Mark finally headed to the Forgeworks to check in. He had been avoiding this for the last five days as he really had to get the other things done. But he was told they had exciting news to share. When he went to Cave Camp, a large discussion was going on. Mark came up behind them and just listened in.
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One of the men said, “Our team just finished the profession instance. We went with a group that consisted of workers from the Forgeworks. No one in the group had classes when we left, but we came back with three Miner classes, one Furnace Worker class, and one Ore Processing class. We actually learned how to mine, and we got five high-grade mining picks and a mining guide in the process.”
The group explained how they separated ore from stone and used timber to support a mine. They had learned the work, but none of them knew how to locate a promising place to begin.
They were arguing back and forth on which side of the mountain they were going to try first. Some wanted to mine right next to the cave, as it was close and convenient. Others wanted on the other side of the stream at Eastwatch. Mark decided he was going to bring up the regional management interface and see if it would have anything that might help them find a good spot.
He was about to click the button when he got a new system message.
[Regional Resource Survey Updated]
Survey Completion Threshold Reached.
New Resource Information Available.
Potential Iron Deposit Identified.
Estimated Yield: Moderate to High
Location Added to Regional Map.
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Well, that sure was helpful. Mark brought up his map to look at where it had identified the deposit.
Directly north of Forest’s Rest in the Northern Ridge Mountains, he now saw a mining symbol (⚒) indicating where the mine should be. If you started at Eastwatch and followed the mountain ridge going east, it was almost in the center of the zone. Not close, but not any farther away than most of the current outposts from each other.
As he was distracted, the group’s argument was turning into a fight as some wanted them to forget about it and just get back to their work on the Forgeworks, and others really wanted them to find ore. Mark finally cleared his throat, which made everyone notice him for the first time and turn around.
Mark said, “I have just received a system notification that a resource node has been identified. The indication is that it’s a potential iron deposit with a moderate to high yield. We do need the iron. My suggestion is that the three who received the mining class and up to ten more people should follow me, and see what we find.”
That started another argument because more than twenty people wanted to go. John came over, selected eight men, and spoke.
John said, “You guys are the ones I feel are best suited to this, and the rest of you have been sitting around yacking so long that we’re falling behind schedule. Get back to work.”
He then came over and whispered to Mark and let him know that they were actually ahead on the Forgeworks and were ready to start smelting ore and that they already had someone trying to get the Smithing class who was a day or two from getting his class selections for it.
Mark then led the group northeast toward the mine location. It was a long and hard hike to the area, as there were no current trails there, but he was sure before the day was over, someone would be surveying the route and finding the best place to build a road from the Forgeworks to the mine.
When they finally got to where the map said it was, it was, well, not exciting; it was a wall of rock. Looking far above, they could see the peaks of the mountain, but it looked exactly the same as the rest of the mountain range.
Mark sat down as the group argued over the exact spot and who got to swing the pick first. Mark found it amusing, and since he really still needed a break, he sat there and just watched them work. He figured this far from Forest’s Rest, no one could find him and make him feel like he had to solve or create a new problem.
It was three hours later before they found the first ore. They were all excited and brought it over to show him. It was about the size of his thumbnail and was really more rock than metal. But it was enough to excite them and egg them on. Way later in the evening, someone woke him up and suggested that he head home as the rocks he was sleeping on did not look so comfortable.
As he walked home, he could not decide if he had solved or created a problem today. But regardless, he felt much more rested than any day over the last week.