"This won't do. We need something else," I muttered, staring at the progress bar that barely budged past 93%. The base construction had stalled, and no amount of wishing was going to make that bar reach 100% anytime soon. I needed a plan, and I needed it fast.
The rest of the camp looked like it was about to fall apart at the seams. The walls( or what I call the questionable looking fence?) were half-finished, the huts weren't nearly as structurally sound as I'd hoped, and Boulder still insisted on adding a giant statement rock to the center of the camp that nobody could agree on whether it was a brilliant design choice or a serious safety hazard.
I glanced at the progress bar again, willing it to move. It didn't. Dang it, I need to do something about this.(●__●)
"Alright, time to scout for new materials," I said decisively, clapping my hands together. "Something stronger. Something that doesn't break when you look at it wrong." Sounds impossible with all this chaos in camp already
(´･_･`)
Grumpy, who had been pacing back and forth with his usual scowl, immediately perked up. "You sure you're not just giving up? I mean, from what I can see, we're practically done. There's a watchtower the lizardmen built, new huts for the ogres, goblin, lizardmen, imps and the others to live in! That's already better than before!"
"Grumpy," I said, narrowing my eyes at him. "This base will crumble under the weight of its own stupidity if we don't fix it. And, stronger threats might show up one day, we need something to protect us if it happens. That's why we need better materials." It's true, while I may not have been here for long, I know that there are still bigger fishes in the sea, after all, that's how my company even went bankrupt back then, but we can talk about that later.
"You're the boss, so let's go find your *magic materials*." Grumpy's tone was dripping with sarcasm, but I could tell he was ready to move. He was always ready to complain about something, but he was surprisingly efficient when it mattered, I guess he's what you'd call a tsundere(￣ω￣)
I turned to the rest of the group, mentally calculating who would be useful for the job. "Alright, I'll take Grumpy, Tink, and Boulder with me. We'll find some materials in the forest and so make sure this place doesn't fall apart while I'm gone."
Tink, who had been absent-mindedly fiddling with a set of mechanical gears, looked up with his usual wild-eyed enthusiasm. "New materials? Oh, this is gonna be great! I've got some new inventions that might—"
"No explosions this time, Tink," I said, cutting him off before he could get any ideas.
"Just a few little ones?" Tink's eyes sparkled with mischief.
"No," I said firmly. "Not unless you want to be exploded by your own inventions." Which, jesus christ, stop doing so.ಠ_ಠ
Boulder, on the other hand, was already eyeing a nearby rock. He wasn't exactly excited about going on an adventure, but I could tell he was itching to smash something. If anything, Boulder was good at solving problems with brute force, and we needed that energy right now.
"Alright, you guys stay here and make sure Scarface doesn't lose it with the others," I said, looking at Gorn, the goblin leader, who had been lurking behind one of the unfinished walls. "Gorn, you're in charge with helping Scarface lead while I'm gone. We don't want him to lose his mind over the stupidity of the villagers."
Gorn's eyes widened, and he nodded quickly, giving a mock salute. "Understood, Boss. I'll make sure Scarface doesn't... go insane from their antics."
"Good," I said, giving Gorn a quick, but skeptical look. "I don't wanna have to come back and see you all being slaughtered."
I turned to face the others. "Let's go. The sooner we get these new materials, the sooner we can finish this place before it all falls apart."
As we walked toward the edge of the camp, I glanced back one last time to see Scarface overseeing the imps, ogres, and lizardmen and trying to organize a construction project that looked more like a game of "who can break something first." If they were lucky, Scarface would keep his cool. If not... well, I'll let future me deal with it later.
ヘ(￣ω￣ヘ)
---
We moved quickly through the forest, with Grumpy muttering to himself about how much he hated this kind of scavenger hunt, even though he's been the one who's been really keeping an eye out for materials, a tsundere, I tell you.
Tink was practically bouncing on his heels, talking about gadgets and traps, and Boulder was looking at every rock like it had personally offended him. I didn't mind the odd mix of moods—it kept me grounded. But the truth was, I needed something better than what we had if we were going to finish this base.
There's only so much a fence like wall can do, if anything it would be great if we could have something more sturdy, to atleast make a wall, with a watchtower there, we'd be able to atleast, protect the base better.
After a few hours of walking and occasional bursts of grumpy commentary from Grumpy, we found what we were looking for, in the northeast side of the camp: a dense area of trees, some of which had bark so tough, I was certain it could withstand a direct hit from Boulder's fists. That was a good sign.
And from what the system just said, I can say we found some good logs.
ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ
[System Message]
Aurene Log
- Very sturdy, has a special hidden use, can only be found in ??? Teritory.
That's very promising, although why the ??? though? Is it because we haven't met them yet?
"Alright," I said, surveying the trees. "This looks promising. Grumpy, find us some more of that tough wood. Tink, I'm counting on you to figure out how to make it more useful. Boulder, go find me some rocks. Big ones. The bigger, the better."
Tink immediately began pulling out a small device that looked like a mix between a magnifying glass and a grenade. "I'll need to calibrate it to these trees to see if we can—"
"No explosions!" I reminded him sharply.
"Right, right," Tink said, looking disappointed but quickly going back to his work. What is wrong with this guy and explosions?!
Boulder, as expected, stomped off in search of rocks, while Grumpy started cutting into the nearest tree with a combination of efficiency and disgruntlement.
"Hey, Boss," Grumpy called out after a while, "You sure this is wood? It's tougher than a rock!"
"That's exactly what we need," I said. "We can reinforce the base with this. We'll just need to get it back and make sure we can use it without it breaking everything."
After a few more hours of collecting materials, it was clear that we were going to have to haul these new resources back to camp. I wasn't thrilled about the thought of carrying giant pieces of wood and boulders through the forest, but it was the only way to make sure the base would actually stand.
---
By the time we returned to camp, I was exhausted, and the others weren't much better off. We had a pile of new materials, sure, but the work wasn't over. Scarface, however, seemed to be holding it together, though I could see the vein on his forehead twitching as the ogres tried to lift a boulder three times their size while arguing over how best to do it. I gave him a thumbs-up from a distance.
"Scarface!" I called. "We're back with new materials. How's everything holding up?"
Scarface shot me a look that could have killed a lesser being, but he simply nodded curtly. "We're managing... for now."
"Good. Don't let them drive you insane," I warned again. "I mean it."
Scarface rolled his eyes but didn't respond. He was too busy making sure the imps didn't accidentally set fire to the base, the lizardmen didn't eat the new rocks, and the ogres didn't decide it would be a good idea to throw one of the goblins into the sky.
---
By the end of the day, the new materials were already being used to reinforce the base. The tough wood was holding up well, and the rocks were surprisingly easy to carve with Tink's latest invention. He calls it "Boulder's tool" as for why, I think it's because of Boulder's increasing annoyance with how the rocks ain't doing what he wants, he got hit by Boulder because of that though(^_^)
The progress bar finally jumped from 93% to a solid 95%, which was something to be proud of, even if we weren't done yet.
I looked at my team—Boulder, Grumpy, Tink—and Scarface, who was still trying to manage the chaos. "Alright," I said, rubbing my hands together. "We're making progress. Let's keep it going."
And as we all settled down for the night, I couldn't help but think—maybe, just maybe, this insane bunch of idiots might actually finish the job. If they didn't burn everything to the ground first.