Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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/A few minutes before Rodi saw Dale.../

"That is done as well... What else can I do till tomorrow?" Dale mumbled to himself as he walked on the stone roads of the village

'It's almost nighttime, and it may be a good time for me to talk with some of the other villagers to see what they have to share.'

'But I doubt I will be able to do so since most of them will just rush home to eat dinner and sleep.'

'Daily life in Resko is pretty harsh had hectic…'

"I could even call it day and log off since I already talked with most of the Elders in the village, and I got quite a few promising rewards in the process…"

Dale started to remember what he did in the past few hours...

'After convincing the alchemist, I went to a secluded shack in the village and talked with Jyter.'

'Jyter is an old miner, very old in fact, around his mid 80's. But he looks younger because... I guess when you get stronger your body aging slows down a bit?'

'I should've asked why...'

'In any case, he knows a lot about the surrounding environment, so I learned quite a bit about its composition and how it used to be in the past.'

'For example, I learned that Resko doesn't have that many iron mines, so it had to import most of it from the outside, but it does have quite a few big mines of basic minerals such as coal and copper.'

'In fact, true to its name, Resko means Diverse or something along those lines.'

'It had many mines of different materials all across its territory, although only a few of them actually had their contents exported, and even then it was only a portion of what the mine produced.'

'Although most of the mines were thoroughly explored over the centuries and are now left with little to nothing.'

"But the biggest clue I got from that was the fact that some mines may be in a state where they can be harvested, or at least, support a small population like the current one."

'Many mines are like that, when it reaches a point where the value you get from mining isn't making ends meet, the investors just stop and the operation stops regardless of what's left.'

'Of course, I am not an economist, so the case may not have been that entirely, but in the end, it's true those mines may still have something useful left.'

"And as expected, I got a quest from prying into this matter:"

[Mineral Chain part 1

Resko is in dire need of materials, especially Iron for the confection of tools and weapons.

Requirements:

Locate the old mines and see if there is anything to harvest! 0/?

Rewards will be based on the final quantity of iron available to the village.

*Jyter remembers the location of 1 Major Iron mine and 2 Minor iron mines that were exhausted prior to Resko's fall. Their locations have been marked on your map.

]

Dale checked his map and let out a depressed sigh.

"The problem is that these mines are located opposite to the forest in the South… This means that they are in the desert."

'Speaking of that, there isn't much information about the desert itself, only that it always existed there, but in the past few decades, the desert grew at an unbelievable speed.'

"Jyter told me that when he was smaller. The desert couldn't even be seen from where we are right now, kind of hard to believe but I imagine there is something unnatural about it."

'Not like I know what the average speed of desertification is…'

"Following my visit to him, I went to visit the remaining members of the Elder council, Ophelia, Adamante, and Barme."

'Ophelia used to be the best hunter in the village several decades ago but she had to retire after a serious injury to her fingers and arms, making her unable to pull her bow anymore.'

'However, she still helps by sewing and treating leather and other materials provided by monsters.'

'Similar to Tina, she is a kind old lady, but she seems more... Calmer than her.'

'She taught me a bit about monsters but my day was limited and I will have to visit her some other time.'

'This may be the reason why no Quest was triggered...'

"I can still learn a lot from her and I'll definitely go back there in my spare time, the more I know about what I will be facing out there the better."

'Although I didn't manage to get a Quest from her, I did manage to get two from the other two remaining members of the Elder council.'

'Barme is the old blacksmith, and he was extremely curious about my armor. So it was pretty straightforward. I went there and we talked, he loved the design of my armor and hinted at the possibility of a Quest…'

'So I tried my best to trigger it, and I did it.'

'Pretty much, Barme is like Yumi, someone from a line of workers, but his' is a bit longer than hers.'

'From his great great great grandfather to his father, they were all smiths. However, this came to an end with him, not because he wanted to but because he couldn't continue it.'

'What was he supposed to hammer? Air? There are no materials for him to work and experiment with, the little they have is turned into nails or other things the village needs.'

'So I gave him something to work for, my armor and the materials I bought from the market.'

'This reignited his dead spirit as he immediately took to the forge, giving me this Quest:'

[Blood and Iron

The old smith of Resko's motivation has been reignited.

But that is but an illusion since his materials will eventually end.

Requirements:

Secure a supply line of materials for the old smith so he can work to his heart's content! 0/?

*The final reward will be based on the quantity and quality of the given materials.

]

"Pretty much, a freebie." Dale said with a smile

'As long as I finish the first of the two quests, the second one will be pretty much completed.'

'One Quest is about securing metals, the other is about checking if there are metals somewhere, they complement each other.'

'However, what I want is the best possible reward, and to do that, I'll have to seek out the best possible Ores available…'

'I even thought about buying a massive quantity of good Iron from the market using the gold from Resko, but I don't think the Quest will be completed this easily…'

'Nevertheless, I'll buy a lot later, not right now since the players are still getting the hang of the game and there shouldn't be a lot of it in the market right now.'

'Even if the price is low, I'm sure that in the future there will be a small window where the value and quantity will be balanced before the price spikes.'

'I'm sure such resources are going to be in high demand, I just need to strike before then.'

'I do have the money to buy everything, but I can't expend it all into one thing this easily.'

"Lastly… That woman…"

'Adamante… She is kind of an All-rounder in terms of crafting… It's just that she is too damn good at everything she does.'

'Her specialty lies in processing creatures… AKA, butchering animals. She took the place of Ophelia since the latter can't really handle everything alone.'

'She also does a lot more and can even do wood and Ironwork to some extent.'

'Just by this, you can see she is a rather capable old lady… But her personality is God awful… She isn't really terrible to be around but...'

'Oh God, she is annoying to listen to...'

'Prideful… Extremely prideful. And petty, she is very very petty as well...'

'If you make a joke she will nitpick at you, if she does a joke and you don't laugh she will also nitpick at you… At the very least, she can be rather professional from time to time.'

'But there is a reason for that, and it was told to me by the other Elders.'

'She lost her family long ago, and she has become grumpy due to remorse and grief. So it may be harsh to shoo her aside.'

'So at the very least, I won't lash out at her even when she is so annoying.'

'Not to say that I may get hurt in the process… These old people aren't here to play around.'

"The Quest she gave me was also pretty straightforward, and it came right on time since I am about to go to the forest."

[Material gathering 1 (Repeatable)

Adamante has requested several unique materials from within the forest so she can improve her current crafts.

Requirements:

Gather the following materials:

Alagull Lizard body 0/10

Blue-Green Mare body 0/15

Dark Oak Bark 0/30

…

Snake-Fish body 0/1 /Optional/

*The final reward will be based on the quantity and quality of the given materials.

]

'Well, I don't know how much 30 tree barks are, but I guess this is based on how they are organized in my inventory space.'

'But still… No matter how much I think about it, that is a lot of creatures for me to kill…'

'On the good side, I don't have to butcher them… I don't have anything against blood and such a minor level of gore since I played my fair share of brutal games, but I do feel uncomfortable when I am forced to kill such creatures just for the sake of it…'

'Especially when they do nothing to you at all... Well...'

'Perhaps I am just weak.'

Shaking his head in denial, Dale continued walking on the street.

He was walking towards the only member of the Elder council he had yet to have a personal talk with if you exclude the Village head that is currently outside on the farms.

Tina Eino, the retired warrior.

After spending so much time with all of the elders, he came to understand what she represented.

She was the third strongest in this entire village, beaten only by the Testros, and surprisingly enough, the village head.

In short, she had a lot of things to teach Dale, and seeing how kind she is most of the time, Dale was happy to visit her…

"Um! Mr. Dale, can I talk with you for a moment?"

"?"

Dale turned around and saw Rodi running towards him with a smile on his face and determination burning in his eyes.

"..."

'It happened faster than I thought…'

Dale immediately understood what this was likely about.

'He was bound to get tired of doing all of those terrible quests, so as a player, he has started to seek Quests to improve his gameplay…'

'Originally, I would just shoot him down, but that seems too brutal.'

'I can make use of him instead of just strangling him from the beginning.'

'It may be akin to raising a tiger, but if I do this properly...'

'Fine, let's see what he wants.'

Dale smiled slightly, but from Rodi's perspective, the text above his head was still Yellow, meaning that Dale was still very much wary of him.

Crying silent tears, Rodi approached him…

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Notes

I wanted to have these loose ends cut so we could possibly start going outside by the next chapter.

I can see that this story is rather slow, and if you want, I could try and make it faster, although I don't know how I can give it a try.

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