A haze of static and clouds filling the edges of his vision.

A girl in flaming attire stood heroically in front of him standing against an impending meteor.

The girl turned her face slightly but static covered her face.

Rember &*#$ no matter how this ends… I’ll always… Love... 

…

Opening his eyes Urist stared at the cave ceiling lost in thought. 

Another dream. Another day. Another morning.

To avoid the pain, he let the dream go allowing it to scattered away by static and clouds. He lay there for a moment longer, before getting up and doing his morning stretches. After his light stretch, he headed to the back of the cave. 

I wonder who’ll the new arrivals be this time?

Under the illuminated room, Urist got a good look at the two absent-minded dwarfs sporting some interesting clothes.

One a female wearing a blue robe that wielded a staff stick and the other a frail-looking male that wore a white lab coat. 

Studying them in more detail Urist saw that she had a cute face. Which complimented her pretty blue eyes and her blue long hair that had been tied into the shape of a braided beard. It looked quite strange but with her features, she somehow pulled it off.

The male had salt and pepper that contrasted his youthful appearance. Under his glasses, he had beady little black eyes.

From what he had gathered at a glance one was a mage and the other a scientist of some sort. An odd combination to appear at the same time, although he couldn't complain.

Stepping into the room the two took notice at the sound and seemed to come to life. 

This made Urist wonder if the two didn’t come to life until he made move inside the room.

I should experiment on this later. For now, I should introduce myself and asked them for their names.

“Hello and welcome. My name is Urist and I’m sort of the leader of the place. Could I know what your guy's names are? And what you did before coming here?”

The cute mage pondered in deep thought over Urist question. "Where is this place? I remember I was… I was? I can’t remember. I can’t even remember my name.”

Hearing the mages response the scientist nodded in agreement. “Indeed I can’t think of what I was just doing. How did I get here.”

“Well, I don’t know really why you’ll here besides the crystal summoning you. My group came eight days before you but we don’t really know much of why we are here. Currently what I know is...”

Urist then explains all that he knew to the two dwarfs that listened attentively. When he finished the two more or less calmed down and began by answering his first questions. 

“My name is Qrtia, and I’m a water mage! Although I’m just an appearance, I have confidence in my magic!"

"I’m Baikm, a Metallurgist. Although I lack much experience in the field I know the basics. I’ll be in your care Boss."

Despite his shifty appearance, Baikm seemed quite amiable to Urist. He quickly got to know them, finding out what they could do and whatever they could remember before coming here.

It turned out that Qrtia knew only three water spells being, water shot, drain, and water shield. Other than some scattered memories she didn’t really remember much other then her magic.  

While Baikm knew how to mix copper and tin to make brass, he knew nothing of Iron but was willing to learn. Other then remembering working with his master at a young age. He felt like he was missing years of knowledge that felt so close but so far away.

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When the confusion had been cleared up, Urist had asked if could Qrtia work on draining bricks and got a yes. For Baikm he'd help out Yri in the farms whenever they weren't gathering ore. Although he frowned at the thought at being a farmer when Urist showed him the basic map on the ore deposits he calmed down.

Finished integrating the new dwarfs Urist decided to do a deep study of the map he just showed Baikm. Despite it being a basic map it showed a great deal of the terrain of the surrounding area.

He gathered that there was indeed a sea south of them that was a day's walk to reach. If they had a direct pathway to the sea it would take much less time.

To the west, there was the large river he already knew about. What he didn’t know was that an hour away, the forest opened up into a large plain. Moving his gaze north, he saw that to the mountain range gave way to an expansive forest.  Looking to the east as he predicted, the chain of mountains stretched off the map.

What made him raise an eyebrow was that he didn’t notice the map having color-coded areas. On the bottom of the map, there was a color-coded that had the name of materials and although he learned where the materials were, he didn’t know the amount they had.

He also read that one of the mountains nearby held a deposit of Oxygen Light Crystals. From their name he could gather that these crystals could expel both oxygen and light.

Such a resource lit a fire in Urist thinking. Perhaps they could make the mountain a natural fortress without needing air vents? 

I guess we’ll make a trip later to see what we can find. It’s a shame that I couldn’t find any of these crystals on the market.

He changed his plans slightly to include an expedition for the crystals for a later date. For now, he decided to keep studying the map and imprint the knowledge into his mind. As he studied the map more, he learned that there weren't only mineral deposits listed. It listed the types of plants and animals in the area, although in vague detail. Still, with this information, Urist wondered what a tier 2 Land map could offer.

After thoroughly reading the map, Urist exited the cave and started gathering the items needed for his planned expedition. 

For such an expedition we’ll need buckets and a few shovels and picks. Our best bet will be head to the area we went to previously and gather the copper and tin material. I guess we can use bamboo poles to string up the buckets to carry more. And the final items we’ll need will be some bronze machetes to clearing the path.

Wanting to set out as fast as possible Urist gathered the team together. Of the fourteen dwarfs, five would be heading out as the gathering team. After talking it over the members were decided to be Urist, Rat, Uroa, Elrish, and Baikm.

Urist planned on only having four team members, but with Baikm having the Metallurgist job it would be a waste not to bring him.

After everyone packed their gear it was decided that Urist and Rat would be clearing the way. With Elrish and Baikm taking up the flank in case of an ambush coming from behind. Uroa’s job was to be the eyes to watch out for poison plants, food items, and if needed a medical personal.

I guess the amount of time we’ll need to clear our way to the deposit will be around three hours. If we don’t mess around, we’ll be at the sight by 1 P.M. at the earliest and 2 P.M at the lastest. Before we head out I should check on a few things such as if the froth flotation device has been set up correctly.

He had to spend a fair chunk of points on it and thankfully Urmom followed his directions to the letter and there were no problems.  He went over to Qrtia and silently checked up on her progress to see her draining the bricks.

Looking at how dry they were, they would be able to fire the bricks straight away. Currently, she was resting as she reached her limit of draining 20 bricks. Urist seeing this was quite curious about mana and asked her how she regained it.

"I just need to rest a bit and I'll be able to drain more bricks boss. Don't worry when you come back I'll have a pile of bricks ready!"

Her cheery attitude made Urist smile. He left after that and got everyone ready to leave. With a smile, Urist took lead raising his fist to the sky, "Let's go and gather some metal."

The dwarfs behind him mimicked him in response and gave him an excited response,  ““““Ohhhhhhhh!””””