Blacksmith vs. the System

As I drifted closer, I started to be able to capture more details. Soon, I came to an expanded tree plantation, with almost a hundred saplings in place, though the growth of the new ones was much lower. Those changes were based on my orders, yet, the progress was surprising.

Then, there were the ones I didn\'t order. The first thing that surprised me was the number of people in the camp. When I left, there were exactly fifty-five people there. But, as I approached, I could easily count a hundred, with more out of my view.

Most of the new additions were Farmers. The number of hunters and reserve forces was leveraged as fifty. And, with all of them committed to the hunt, their hunting efficiency was high. A few people were running into the deep, only to return with two or three monsters chasing them, their movement too fluid for them to not have Dexterity.

Once the monsters they brought along drifted into the range, the crossbowmen took them down.

The extra runners weren\'t the only additions. Outside the second wall, there was a second team of farmers, growing an orchard of fruit trees, with smaller plants like tomatoes spread in between. Outside all, there were twenty guards defending the encampment.

While I took in the changes, Harold approached. He silently gestured to the cart, and the workers rushed forward to take and empty the cart. "An excellent haul for an hour of work, sir. Almost half of ours," he said.

An obvious way of underlining his success, but I could see that he was tense. The reason was obvious, the development of the outpost was outside my orders, and he was afraid that I would disapprove. "Good work," I said, removing that fear. "How are the contingency plans coming along?"

He paused. "T-they are in development, sir," he said. As he said that, he glanced at the extra guards that were standing around, implying that the security was not in doubt.

"It\'s good that you prioritized the development, but don\'t do that at the expense of security. Once you finish the second wall, start drilling the emergency plans. I want to see something impressive when it\'s time to change shifts."

"I will do that, sir," Harold replied.

"I like people that show initiative. Work for me well, and you won\'t be disappointed. Just make sure to protect anyone that works for us, and don\'t shortchange them for their efforts," I said.

"Yes, sir," he said. His desire to argue against the second part was apparent, but he kept his mouth shut. I had a feeling that my reputation for needless generosity was proving useful.

With that done, I didn\'t say the farm that was growing food. It was working well, and considering the constant consumption of the farmers to raise the dungeon trees, having a local source of food was a good idea. Especially since we would soon have hundreds of farmers around.

"Continue the operation. I want to check the tree plantation," I said even as I walked toward there.

"Sir," farmers called, treating me like royalty. It annoyed me, but considering the alternative was dealing with constant assassination attempts, I decided to keep quiet. I ignored them even as I checked the base, wondering if I should raise the trees to their maximum height.

Having the ability to see more than fifty yards would have made the challenge of running the farm easier. However, it would also require a lot of alchemical boosters, which I currently lacked. And, for the moment, it was better if people didn\'t realize the benefits of the water from the fourth floor mixed with the giant insect shells.

At least, not until I could move my forging base to the fifth floor.

I said nothing even as I used my own fertilizer to quickly trigger the growth of the trees on the plantation. It consumed half of the water, but provided enough trees to sustainably support a thousand crossbowmen I envisioned as long as farmers continued to tend to them.

Farmers watched my performance, split between fascination and jealousy. I wanted to talk with them, but I was afraid that talking too much would reveal some of my secrets. "Continue," I said with a gesture instead and went back to Harold.

"I need a better cart, something I can work with pedals," I said. "Though, make sure that it stays simple, I need to be able to fix it," I said.

"Yes, sir. I\'ll work on it immediately," he said.

"Not you. You have a more important task. Delegate it to someone else," I reminded him. "Actually, delegate it to three different people, and let each of them bring one. A good way to pick trusted workers, right?"

"You are wise, sir," he said. It was a bit excessive, considering I just wanted an excuse to have three different designs I could examine for my own eventual take. I could have done it myself, but it would be a loss not to use resources when available.

"Good. They don\'t have to be perfect, just make sure I can move on it faster," I said.

With that, I once again left the growing outpost behind, thinking about my next step.

Moving to the fifth floor.

Asking for the designs I could work with pedals was a part of it. After all, if it could work with pedals, it could work with a steam engine powering it, meaning I could bring most of my base, including the metal paneling, at once. I could maybe even uproot a few trees if I could properly put it in place.

Combined with some kind of rail I could lay on its path and collect once the cart passed, such a model seemed to be viable for a one-time move.

Ambitious, but achievable. All I needed was to find the dungeon gate leading to the next floor, which wasn\'t exactly easy, especially alone. The dungeon mist had reduced the visual range to twenty yards, and the fourth floor was huge. I didn\'t know the exact size, but considering the third floor was somewhere between thirty and forty miles from one end to another while the first floor was merely ten miles, even my most conservative guess was around fifty miles, and eighty miles was not out of the question.

"And, can I travel to it repeatedly even if I discovered it," I thought even as I considered the possibilities. The first three floors had unique cliffs, rocks, and other features that could be used to navigate, but the fourth floor was not like that.

It was difficult to separate one pile of wet dirt from another, and even worse, it was not exactly stable. Unfortunately, the only method I currently had in mind would increase the chance of discovery much further. I needed to decide which was more important in the short term: Discovering the fifth floor, or keeping my forge hidden on the fourth floor longer.

"The fifth floor," I decided even as I once again moved deeper into the fourth floor, using the mana separator, once again using it to trigger a monster wave, this time using Breeze Spear to get used to it in combat … while, of course, not using the perk I had received.

The increased number meant that the dead monsters were piling up larger and larger. However, as much as the prospect of getting an Epic skill was exciting, it wasn\'t my priority. My plan was simpler. I knew that, once the previous floors were filled with monsters, some of them started to spill to higher floors.

Four times, I repeated the trick, going in around my base in a circle, but all those attempts failed.

Either there weren\'t any different types of monsters on the fifth floor, or I was too far away from the gate leading down. Since my experiment already showed the existence of other types of monsters, I was more inclined to believe it was the latter.

Though, either way, it needed to be tested. I needed to get deeper into the dungeon. And, the fastest, most secure way was to create a path of trees going deeper into the dungeon.

While that was a viable path, it had two disadvantages. If someone stumbled upon its existence, it would lead them right to my base, but it could be handled by leaving some gaps and false trails. It would still be a risk, but considering the other guilds were yet to send their main forces, the time was the safest for it.

Once they took note of the money my guild was making, they would inevitably send more forces, and some of them would inevitably explore the dungeon. As long as they were willing to spend money, corrosion could be defeated.

By using sufficiently strong equipment, if nothing else. The corrosion effect was strong, but it lost its effectiveness against better equipment.

I needed to discover the fifth floor before that happened. Whether to move my base deeper, or just to visit and level up further — hopefully — was to be seen.

However, that brought me to the second problem. Currently, I had only one method of traversing the dungeon. Creating a line of trees that was miles long. And, it would be a slow and laborious process…

"Unless, of course, I decided to upgrade my skills," I said as I looked at the three identical skill stones, their glow more intense than all the Rare ones. Epic skills, and while I currently couldn\'t see which skill they were, considering the drop rate, they were certainly Nurture.

And, I just needed to push my current Rare variant to its limit before I could explore its abilities.

"It\'s experimentation time," I said to myself.