Copper Age

Gripping onto the rope he installed last time around, Keith started climbed down towards the darkness of the hollow. This time, however, he was not just going there for an exploration trip. He needed some of the ores he spotted so he could be making more refined tools.

Thankfully, he did remember the general shape of the grotto and easily came back to where he stopped exploring. Before going on another trip, Keith made sure he was equipped with several torches and flints.

After trying to make a rudimentary pickaxe using strings to attach as sturdy rock on top of a stick, Keith got a bit disappointed and his gamer knowledge got turned around. The fact was, such a tool would easily fall apart after a few swings because the strings would eventually untie themselves from the pickaxe.

Thus, Keith decided that he would be using the rock directly for the time being.

'This part is a bit more colorful than usual.' He finally noticed. 'I should try and excavate around here first.'

With the sound of his flint resonating on the rock as his only distraction, Keith spent the next few hours trying to extrude most of the vein from the wall. Using his torch to illuminate the pieces of rock he broke apart, Keith noticed some pretty greenish colors here and there mixed up with a lot of orange.

'Looks like I found some copper, these parts seems to have oxidized over quite a bit of time.' He used his knowledge to determine what he was facing right now. Though, he did not even know that a few days ago. The reason he was able to distinguish copper from other ores was only because he searched some images of real-life ores online.

While he was preparing his meals in real-life, he could not help but satisfy his curiosity by searching for the ores he came across. Though, Keith realized he needed to speed things up a bit. The next day, he would have to attend to his university courses and would not be able to play Project Overworld for several hours. This did remind him that Amber should be visiting him today and that he did not even prepare any tools for her.

'Shit, I should go back to my base immediately! I don't want her to discover that I was mining some ores in the depths of my cave.' He hurried himself up to the dim light of his base. Hiding his newly gathered materials in the darkest spots of his grotto, Keith went out and recovered some of the plants he has been drying up on top of a nearby hill.

Using the next few hours to prepare some tools for the coming of this member of the New Dawn guild, he managed to craft two more spears on top of the one he already made the day before.

'Actually, I should just give it to her as well. She'll be more than happy to have three weapons for her team and it'll give me a bit more time to rest.' Keith decided.

He did finish a bit ahead of the schedule and decided to continue with the weapon crafting to replace his old spear. Spotting Amber climing down the hill a few minutes later, he decided to hide his current project and welcome her properly.

- "Hi!" He said, holding the three spears in one hand and waving with the other.

Amber smiled at his intention after realizing he was waiting for her near the river and greeted him in turn.

- "Oh, hey! How have you been since yesterday?"

- "Quite well, I must say... Here, take this!" He replied while handing the spears to her.

- "Oh, that's so nice of you. I did not really specify the number of tools we needed but three spears should be helping us a lot! I came with a few more resources for you, it's the same as the other day. Stone, wood and some other plants. Do you have any preferences regarding the supplies? I would actually try and get a hold on what you'd prefer."

- "Well, I really need food as of now. It's quite inconvenient for me to walk a few miles to find something to eat. As for the materials themselves, wood and plants are fine, but I don't think I'd need any more stone." He said while pointing at his cave.

- "Yeah, I can understand that. Okay, I think that's everything I came here for today. By the way, as it's a bit compelling for me to come here every in-game day, we've decided to repel my comings by another day. We'll only get to see each other every fourty-eight hours in total. However it may vary according to my schedule, so just drop whatever you crafted for us at the entrance of your cave. I'll do the same for the resources.

'Great, that suits me a lot.' Keith realized.

- "Understood. I'll see you later, then." He waved her off.

- "Yeah, see you!" She replied before going back to her own base.

Keith really needed to secure his base. Now that Amber and her guild knew where he was located, they could easily monitor his stocks and pressure him regarding the tools he should be making. He did not quite have enough to secure his own base yet, but he could try and hide his important resources to another place.

For now, putting his ores in the depths of his base should suffice but what if they discovered he would not be connected round the clock during the week?

After making sure Amber did not hide in the distance, Keith went hunting first. He needed to restock his food supplies, since she did not bring any to him. On his way to the forest, he actively searched for a place where he could be hiding his treasures.

Apart from a few other caves which could easily be discovered by any player exploring the area, Keith could not find anything relevant. In the end, he decided that he would be burying his important resources under a large rock. Thus, Keith dug for a couple of minutes and hid a large portion of the copper ores he dug up today.

Back from his small food expedition, Keith realized it was already late into the evening. 'Looks like I should be disconnecting from the game now.'

For the same reason he decided to hide his treasures, Keith decided to leave his body inside another cave before blocking the entrance with a few rocks. He could not be certain about the illusion he managed to create, but this should suffice for now. Even if some New Dawn members came across the area, they would certainly not think about exploring this cave since his base was in another one.

'Well, let's go to sleep and come back here tomorrow after my classes.' Keith decided before pushing the disconnect button.

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- "Why are you bothering? Just decide on a place where you would be meeting halfway from each of our base and do your trades here." Alan did not quite understand why Amber forced herself to do the whole ride to the Keith's cave every day.

- "Yeah, you may be right. I didn't think about it since I was the one who came up with the treaty. However, I should be able to check his stocks of materials every now and then so I don't think it is a bad idea going there directly."

- "Hmmm, okay. Don't force yourself, though. If he doesn't want to cooperate, we'll just capture him and destroy his base so he may work for us directly. If he's a smart guy, he'll understand the position he's in."

Amber nodded her head as an answer. If they wanted to carry out their project, they would certainly need every bit of help they could put their hands on, even if they had to use force in obtaining said help.