Chương 82: CHAPTER 80 — Forgeworks Progress

Mark woke up thinking about all the things going on that needed to be considered. He could not get out of his mind the migration pressure going on. Many people moving in and all the issues it was causing. There was not enough housing for all those coming; food might soon be a concern. He thought over the eventual issues when the expansion south really opens up. That will solve some of the pressure here but add more there. Then he thought about the locked regional options. What will that change?

How can he get those unlocked? And finally, how is the true progress going on the Forgeworks? That one will have to be top priority today; it's been five days since he last got a progress report. Before doing anything else, though, he wanted to look at his class progress.

[Frontier Steward — Apprentice Rank] Advancement Requirements: • Maintain 3 functioning outposts (4 / 3) COMPLETE • Establish an active regional trade network (1 / 1) COMPLETE • Coordinate 3 successful regional operations (2 / 3) Rootmaw Hunt and Southern Survey Expedition • Support a population of 50+ across connected settlements (147 / 50) COMPLETE • Develop 5 specialized professions within settlements (5 / 5) COMPLETE Builder, Cook, Herbalist, Miner, and Scout • Expand controlled territory influence to 3 connected regions (2 / 3) Northern Forest Region and Southern Wheat Plains • Construct a permanent regional infrastructure project Forgeworks: (8% / 100%) Potential Advancement: Journeyman Frontier Steward He was making good progress.

He found it interesting that the hardest of them all was the regional infrastructure project that he was not directly participating in other than using the contribution points and items that the local settlements had made, which were not his anyway, but he just had control over.

He needed to get another connected region, and he planned to go west sometime soon and talk to Lakeside and survey the area there, similar to how he did the southern zone, but rather than control and build it, he would share advice from what they had found worked well here and in the south. With that done, he went and ate breakfast. The tables were full, so he took a plate to go and ate it while walking to Cave Camp.

He had arranged a meeting with John, who was in charge of the Forgeworks project, along with the group who were interested in metal works and were reviewing the book he left them on Basic Metal Forming Principles. On the way there he ran into Cora; she was working with a crew expanding the trail in the current area, which was getting clogged up with too many people at the same time. She flagged down Mark.

"Mark, the trails are out of control. We need to find a way to improve them. Someone needs to take charge and come up with a plan." Mark replied.

"Yes, the place is growing faster than the trails can handle. I have been thinking about this for the last week, and I agree. If you could, I would like you to take the lead on this. This is important; don't do all the work, but find the correct people and make a committee to come up with plans then we can review and get tasks created and get the right help."

"But Mark, I don't know where to start." Mark opened his inventory and pulled out a book and handed it to her. Trail Surveying and Route Planning was one of the books he received as part of the Rotmaw Alpha fight. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. She looked at the book and flipped through a few pages. Then told him she would go right now and read the whole thing and figure out a plan and get together a group.

Mark gave her rights on the Wayrest outpost, where she was now living, to create and manage system tasks to accomplish the plan she was going to make. Mark then continued on to Cave Camp. Again, the camp had even more people. Tents were everywhere; construction projects were underway; there were foundations on six structures, a few long houses, what must be a crafting hall, and a camp kitchen like the one Dale had. One had to be a storage location, and he was not sure about the other.

And that was not even counting the Forgeworks, which was a little ways south of the actual outpost center, but that building foundation was about six times the size of any of the other buildings, but he knew that because he placed it down from the village but with room to grow. Mark walked to the Forgeworks construction site; as busy as it was, it looked organized. There were piles of wood, charcoal storage, an ore sorting yard, clay processing pits, and many other things he could not quite identify.

The meeting started just after he arrived. John ran it and went through the items on his list first up were areas ahead of schedule. They included charcoal production, stone gathering, lumber cutting, and clay harvesting. Then he went through the areas; behind labor shortages was the biggest, followed by ore-processing knowledge, tool shortages, and logistics. The biggest concern on their list was the furnace design; none of them really had a clue what they were doing.

They knew how to build the parts but did not know how the full process worked together. Each of the 10 assigned members of the project went over the area they were in charge of and the list of tasks they were ahead and behind on. Biggest on the list were professions they currently did not have but were trying to cultivate. Smelters, charcoal burners, ore sorters, furnace workers, and miners, and eventually, if all that worked, they would need some smiths.

They talked over how the book Mark had given them was where a lot of the practical knowledge came from, but they realized if they worked on the high-priority items on the list of tasks the system gave, they were slowly developing skills and classes in the area they needed. They went through all the task highlights about the 4, 000 pounds of stone that had been delivered and 1, 200 pounds of charcoal produced. There was water, drying racks, and construction items that had been done.

Even with all the work accomplished, they were only at 8% complete. Mark then addressed the worker shortage and explained how there were 147 people in the area and more were coming every day. He offered incentives that could be used for recruiting new people to the workforce; they included free food and housing if they worked on the highly in-demand tasks and bonuses in contribution if they gained skills or classes in areas of most need.

They continued for a couple hours going through all their needs and wants and put out ideas to get the people they needed. Mark during the meeting received a system message. [Regional Infrastructure Activity Increased] Specialized labor activity recognized. Future profession evolution chances increased within active project zones. Mark shared the message with the group, which excited many of them, as they were looking for evolutions of classes that they no longer wanted and classes that the area now needed.

When the meeting wrapped up, Mark headed back to Forest's Rest. He took the long way and passed through Crossroads and was amazed at some of the completed buildings. He stepped into the Inn and the building was built, and were now working on fixtures and staffing for it. One of the longhouses was complete as well as the fire pit / gathering area. He even noticed that the inn had a well dug despite its short distance to the stream so that their guests would not have to go far for water and drawing of baths.

When he finally got to Forest's Rest, it was dinner time it had been a long day, and Mark needed food and a place to sit down and think. When he rounded the corner on the path, he saw a line of almost 20 people waiting for food. Dale's food was so popular that people came from the other outposts to eat there for some of their meals. Dale had joked that he was going to have to double the price of food, and Mark was beginning to agree.

Mark went over to the back door of the cooking house, skipping the line and going to talk to Dale.

"Hey Dale, we need to talk for a minute." Dale replied.

"Can't talk now, it's the dinner rush."

"It will be quick." Dale made his way through the other bodies in the room, helping with the cooking, and came to see what Mark wanted. When he got there, Mark handed him the last of the books he got from the Rootmaw Alpha fight. Advanced Food Preservation Methods. As Mark handed him the book, Dale just shook his head.

"You have been holding out on me, Mark; that could come in handy." With that, he turned around and headed back to cooking. Mark then grabbed a plate of food and went to his A-frame to go eat. The region was growing faster than one person could guide it anymore.