Project Overworld

'Finally done...' Keith thought while looking at the iron door he just finished.

It took him nearly a week in total to complete this project. However now, a 10-feet-tall iron wall stood in front of him, with a similarly sturdy door in the middle.

He finally felt somewhat of a sensation of security. Never, since the game launched, did he feel so relieved about completing something.

He obviously had a plenty of work left to do with his base, especially moving his machinery inside the cave and thinking of a way to accommodate water into it without having a breach of security in the base.

Nonetheless, feeling a lot more secure, Keith dove into the renovation of his entire base. He needed more space to accomplish his various projects.

However, he only had a few pickaxes to dig the walls of the cave and it would require weeks to enlarge the base to the size he needed.

After pondering for some time, he thought that a drill could help him fasten the process.

Unfortunately, he did not have any idea on how to make a drill. Moreover, if he made it too simple it would deteriorate quickly resulting in it being utterly useless.

Hence, prior to forging the item itself, he took an entire day designing it on paper before being satisfied with his plans.

In the meantime, he continued making various equipment for New Dawn.

Shields, swords, armors... they even entrusted him to work on a defensive construction : a ballista.

However, this much work couldn't be more meaningless to him.

It merely took him one to two hours a day to work on their requests.

Obviously, it was only because he made sure to appear more exhausted and overwhelmed than he actually was.

All in all, his cooperation with the guild was more fructuous than he initially expected. Moreover, while New Dawn was occupying this territory, he didn't have to fear that another guild would invade his base.

'I wonder what is happening on their side. It seems as if they were preparing for war.'

He couldn't help but wonder what those equipment he made would be used for.

"Split in teams of around 5 people at most. Everyone take a pickaxe, a torch and start investigating all the surrounding caves."

Since Alan got the idea of developing firearms, the entire guild was on turmoil.

He had gathered most of his guild members who weren't on scout duty and tasked them with finding gunpowder.

Unfortunately, even several hours after plundering every single caves in their territory, they had yet to find any drop of gunpowder.

Moreover, they only managed to find a few rare ressources such as copper and silver ores.

'It makes you wonder how did that Keith manage to find this much iron.'

Alan also entrusted Amber with the thorough investigation of Keith's base and with a few more requests concerning defensive weapons that Keith could build for them.

He became more and more anxious with the days passing by, as the reports made by the scout teams became more and more perplexing.

It was just a matter of time before the Pioneers started eyeing on their territory as well.

Keith had yet to develop batteries so the drill design he made was a bit inconvenient for transportation.

The drill in itself would be more than two square meters in size, with various cables of energy connected to it.

Thus, he also had to design a cart that could move the drill around as well as tilting it in different direction, for more convenience during the drilling process.

As for energy, Keith had yet to translocate the generator to his base.

Hence, during the next two hours or so, he tried his best to move it to the cave piece by piece without breaking anything.

Assembling the generator back took him another full hour, but now all of his precious contraptions were safe and still in his base.

At this moment, Amber made her appearance before the cave and he had no choice but to go and welcome her.

- "How may I help you?" He said, going straight to the point.

- "Hello Keith, may I trouble you again with a few requests?"

- "Sure, you need more weapons or something?"

- "Well, that's a part of it, yeah. In any case, have you come across some gunpowder?"

'Gunpowder? Don't tell me they heard me firing with my rifle the other day?'

He couldn't think of any other reason why she would ask him this question, and he grew anxious.

However, she explained herself after seeing his perplexed face :

- "The giant guild Pioneers is expanding its territory quickly and they are getting closer to our base every day. We would really need better weapons, thus Alan got the idea of making firearms such as canons and rifles."

- "Making firearms, huh?" He said while feigning an interested behavior. "I did come across a few gunpowder pockets here and there. I don't know if that would be enough to fire more than a few hundred shots, though."

Keith didn't want New Dawn to lose against the Pioneers because of the treaty he made with Amber. If another guild replaced New Dawn over this territory, his safety would be at risk.

Thus, he wanted to provide them with rifles so they would be able to defend this territory.

However, he lied concerning the quantity of gunpowder he was in possession of. In fact, he could easily supply hundreds of rifle for over tens shots without running out of gunpowder.

As for iron, he was coming across new veins every time he dove into the depths of the cave, so he wasn't concerned about running out of this resource.

Amber widened her eyes with excitement.

- "Is that true?! Can I trouble you with making a few dozens of rifles and five canons then?"

- "Sure, when do you want them finished?"

- "Is it possible for a week from now on? If that's impossible, deliver to us what you did manage to craft at that time and make the leftovers for a few days later."

- "Okay, no problems here, I'll have them prepared."

After their conversation came to an end, Keith returned inside his base and started working on the drill. After all, he had time to meet the requirements Amber entrusted him with.

He could craft over twenty rifles and the five canons in just three of four days, hence he wasn't in a hurry.

The renovation of his base was the real priority to him.