Preparing to Act

Regional Channel, current population: 539.

"Anyone near the Withered Forest? I made a huge discovery! This is a chance to get rich in one go!"

Colin perked up when he saw the message. He was almost certain the place the person was talking about was the foot of Crow Mountain, where he'd gone yesterday.

However, Colin didn't reply. He decided to watch quietly for now.

After the person spoke, someone in the Chat Channel quickly chimed in: "I know that forest. I saw it yesterday, but I was afraid there'd be trouble, so I didn't go in. What did you find?"

"No wonder those Aberrations stopped chasing me when I ran in there. I didn't realize there was a boss inside," someone said, still shaken.

Colin skimmed the messages. There were probably more than twenty people who had either approached or entered that forest.

That suggested, to some extent, that these people weren't far from him.

"Looks like a region probably isn't very big. What about outside the region?"

Colin wondered curiously. Then he saw the person who'd started the discussion speak again.

"Look at these! [Condensing Light Stone] [Sunlight Mushroom] Yesterday, I took a risk and went into the forest. I found an open-pit mine that had collapsed. There was a pile of these things inside, but I only had time to bring a little back before monsters showed up."

Colin had already seen Condensing Light Stone. Curious, he tapped on Sunlight Mushroom to take a look: white mushrooms that glowed faintly, growing together in clusters like thin needles.

Note: Eating it can dispel fear in your heart and improve your attributes to some extent. It contains a small amount of toxins, and eating too much will lead to adverse effects.

[Hint: You seem to be able to hear the mushroom making a sound too faint for human ears to notice: Praise the Sun!]

[Consuming more than three servings in a day will make you praise the sun involuntarily. Consuming more than five servings in a day will temporarily turn you into an idiot who can only praise the sun. Consuming more than ten servings in a day will turn you into a glowing idiot who praises the sun.]

This stuff was a little dangerous. Colin shuddered, sensing something sinister about it.

At that moment, the people in the Regional Channel immediately got excited when they saw the two items.

Then he saw the person continue: "I'm planning to form a team now. We'll meet up in the morning, explore in the afternoon, and divvy up the spoils at night—ah, I mean, split the rewards."

"I'm interested, but how do we meet up? That forest looks pretty big."

"I'll mark a path along the perimeter. Just follow the marks when you see them. I'll wait outside until around noon."

"Buddy, how much health do you have to be able to wait that long?"

"No, you might have misunderstood. There's no Gray Fog in the mining area, so I can wait there as long as I want."

"Friendly reminder: there's a huge monster in the forest. I saw it yesterday. Its footprints were bigger than me lying down."

"Besides, how do we know you won't trick us? This is such a good deal. I don't believe anyone would be kind enough to share it."

"Fine, there are some monsters in the mine, and I can't handle them alone. With a few more people, we might have a chance.

"As for that giant monster you mentioned, I know about it too. It's pretty dumb. If you stay in the mining area for a while, it'll leave on its own. I don't know where it goes, but we can use this opportunity to escape the forest."

"Brothers, I have a feeling there's something in the mine that can permanently drive away the Gray Fog. You don't want to spend your whole lives carrying a Hurricane Lamp and worrying about your blood running out every day, do you?"

"And the key thing is this Condensing Light Stone. You can use it to enchant weapons. It's definitely useful."

"Also, if you can't even travel far, don't come out and get in the way."

"..."

This person was lying. Colin was certain of that as he read the messages.

If things were really as easy as he claimed, the person who saw that corpse yesterday wouldn't have been waiting there in despair for death.

But Colin wasn't sure why the person was lying.

The Lord-level monster really would give up on its current prey if it couldn't kill them and a more promising target appeared.

So Colin wondered if the person, like him, was hoping to use everyone else's arrival as a chance to escape.

"Could be worth a try. Starting at noon?"

"Count me in!"

"I'm not going. Just a warning: there are all kinds of schemes in the Gray Fog these days. Be careful."

The people in the Regional Channel had already started organizing.

Colin looked through the messages and ultimately decided not to go. He knew exactly how terrifying that Lord-level Aberration was.

Until he had a way to kill it, Colin probably wouldn't head that way.

An operation like that was too unpredictable. To put it bluntly, it was treating his life as if it didn't matter.

With the hints he had, Colin didn't need to take such a risk.

As Colin watched the Regional Channel, he searched the Trade Market as well. In the end, though, he found nothing worth buying or selling, and could only shake his head.

It was time to act.

"Number One, here's one hundred milliliters of blood. Your job is to collect as much water as you can. Remember, boil it until it becomes Level 3 Water before storing it. If you find any ore, especially Iron Ore, mine it first and bring it back to put in the warehouse."

A Level 2 Territory had a warehouse with a storage space much like an Inventory, capable of holding a huge amount of supplies.

Servants also had an Inventory of their own, but it was very small, with only one slot. There was also a weight limit, so they could only carry about ten kilograms.

As for finding their way around, Colin wasn't worried for now. His starting location was pretty good: it only took a few minutes to reach the river.

With careful record-keeping and other precautions, it shouldn't be hard to remember a route that short.

"Oh, and if you run into danger and feel you can't handle it, run away immediately. Don't try to fight back. Staying alive comes first. As long as you make it back to the territory, you should generally be fine."

"Yes, Lord!" Number One nodded.

After finishing his instructions, Colin looked at the group Number Two had assembled. He'd given them a quick drill, and although they still couldn't line up neatly, they were doing much better.

A neat formation didn't necessarily mean a group was good at fighting.

But a group of soldiers that couldn't even line up properly couldn't be expected to accomplish much.

"Mm, time to eat! We'll set out fifteen minutes after we finish!"

As he spoke, Colin took out more than a dozen loaves of Black Bread and a few pieces of Mildly Rotten Meat in front of everyone.

He'd wanted to buy some fresh meat from the market, but unfortunately, people now knew how important food was. As a result, they were selling all sorts of things—just not meat.

After more than half an hour of frantic trading, the price of water had finally dropped.

"I explored all day yesterday and didn't see a single animal track. I wonder if the Priest killed them all," Colin muttered softly. Then, under the eager stares of his subordinates, he put all the ingredients on the Synthesis Table.

"Time to eat!" Colin said with a smile. He didn't want to keep them waiting any longer.