3 New Dawn

'Shit, another player! Should I kill her?' Keith pondered after realizing someone was drinking in the river he established next to. She did not seem that dangerous because she was unarmed, but Keith did not want other players discover his base this early into the game.

'I should get some information first. What if she brought some of her friends alongside her?' He concluded. He thus started walking towards the intruder while strengthening the grip he had on his weapon.

Amber stood perfectly still while examining this strange man. She felt like she was in front of a lion, ready to pounce at her at any moment. That was why, she forced herself to keep calm and show a friendly behaviour.

For now, he did not seem to have decided on killing her, but she was ready to flee if she needed to anyways. As he was getting closer, Amber finally noticed the spear the man held in his right hand.

'This seems like a good weapon...' She realized. This man already started crafting weapons even though he spent so much time crossing the landscape to find a suitable place. 'He must be a cunning player.' She meditated.

The New Dawn guild also built some weapons at first, but they had reasons to do so. They stayed around the spawn area for several hours and had to defend themselves against hordes of bare-handed players. Though, the closer this guy got to her, the more details she could get out of his weapon. It seemed like a really well hand-crafted tool, much more lethal than she had even possessed.

It was a sturdy 4-foot-tall spear, with a flint as its tip. Some ropes were twining around the handle, making sure the head of the weapon would be well tied to it. Members of New Dawn could have accomplished such a feet, but they decided not to waste time making complicated weapons and insteadv focused on sharpening the end of some long sticks.

- "Hello, I'm Amber!" She introduced herself. She wanted to appear as friendly as possible so she may get out of this unharmed. "Did you make this all by yourself?" Amber asked while pointing at the spear.

The man followed her gaze and simply answered with a nod. 'Am I being treated like a child who found some knife to play with?' He thought for himself before focusing back on the invader.

- "Erm... I'm from the New Dawn guild, a group of around thirty players. We're going to establish in the area. Would you mind joining us?"

'Guild? What nonsense is she spewing about?' Keith could not help but think. 'Thirty players, though? I may have to relocated myself somewhere else.'

- "Not interested." He simply replied. The woman in front of him did not even have a weapon, so there was no way she could be killing him right now. There was not reason for him to accept her conditions as he could be leaving the area if she ever wanted to bring some of her friends to chase him down.

'He didn't even hesitate before giving me his answer...' Amber lamented.

- "May I insist on the offer? We could be providing you lots of resources as well protection from other players, isn't it a great deal for you?"

'Well, she wouldn't be making this proposition if she wasn't going to make some benefits too.' Keith started losing patience.

- "Yeah sure, I could be benefitting from the whole guild's stache and not have to worry about collecting resources anymore. However, what if I was to collect some rare resources for myself? They would all end up being shared away to the guild's vault, right? Moreover, splitting tasks seems like a total waste of time to me. We don't even know each other and the overall synergy of thirty foreigner people would be pretty garbage. No way you could ever be managing this much players into working on large-scale projects when their only goal is to have fun in some games they just discovered! There are a lot of reasons for me to despise groups, it's just too random to be worth the effort! As for your protection..." Keith took a small break to make up his mind before explaining : "You and your guild should be the first ones establishing around here, so there doesn't seem to be any danger as of now."

Keith then turned around with the intention of going to the nearby forest and collect some more resources. 

Amber was dumbfounded. How could he reject her offer just like that?

- "Wait, what if we set up a treaty?" She insisted.

Upon hearing those words, Keith's interest was piqued.

- "What kind of treaty?"

- "Some sort of a commercial treaty. We could be providing you with resources while you would be crafting tools for us in return. You wouldn't be engaged into working onto the same projects as us, but you would be getting free resources every day. As for us, we'd be getting some good gear as a result. It's a win-win situation!" She tried her best to depict this treaty in a good light.

'Well, this doesn't seem too bad...' Keith thought. 'I may not be in a position to negotiate to begin with.' He just found a promising land where he had access to most of the resources that were essential to him. If he refused to work for their guild now, he would most likely have to search for another area to establish onto and lose a few hours of progress. In fact, having the New Dawn guild and its supposedly total of thirty members to protect him was a good prospect, all things considered.

- "Seems like a good idea. However, I'd like to discuss the terms of the contract, so not to be surprised with orders of a hundred tools per day. Should I meet up with your Guild master or something?" He inquired.

'Woah, he turned tables so fast!' Amber exclaimed in her mind, surprised. Because of his little speech earlier, she thought he would not be interested in this last-second offer too.

- "No, nothing of that sort yet." She replied. "I'll just tell everyone that you are working with us. I'll come up with a contract another time and we'll be discussing the terms then."

'Great!' Keith thought. 'This means I'll have a few days of rest before my help would be required by the New Dawn guild.'

- "Okay then, see you around." He waved her goodbye.

On that note, Keith continued towards the forest, leaving Amber alone and perplexed.

'It sure is an interesting character.' She thought before going back in turn. On her way back, she fell in her thoughts and did not even realize she made it all the way to their camp until Alan interrupted her reasoning.

- "Hey Amber, did you find anything interesting over in the direction?"

She did not answer immediately, trying to make some order her mind beforehand.

- "I found an interesting player who was established around a river. I asked him if he would be working for us and agreed on it."

- "Working for us? Does that mean he would be joining our guild?" Alan inquired.

- "No, nothing like that. He stated that he didn't want to be joining any guild, but he will be crafting some tools and weapons for us in exchange of some resources."

_______________

After returning to his base, Keith took out one of the sturdiest flint he could find around his stocks and prepared for a cave expedition.

His first goal would be tin. This metal could be found near surface and had a low melting temperature, perfect for the purpose of reinforcing his future tools. He may even be building his first pickaxe thanks to this particular resource.

Keith decided against exploring the rest of his cave before he got his hands on more plants so he could be making torches. Now that he had gathered everything he needed, it was time to go and investigate the depths of his new base.

That was why Keith was preparing for a deep cave exploration. Taking a torch in one hand, his flint in the other, he started sinking into the darkness of the hollow.

At first, he did not come across anything relevent. A few stalactites and stalagmites here and there, but nothing much more interesting. This place was actually quite beautiful, no doubt people in real life would be fighting over such a cave to establish guided tours of the area. The more he progressed, the more the air felt heavy while the walls became denser. Actually, he spotted interesting patterns in these surfaces and could not help be be intrigued.

'Looks like there should be some interesting minerals in there. I should try and excavate around the area after exploring some more.' Keith meditated before pushing further into the grotto.

While Keith was looking all around the walls in hope of spotting anything interesting, he did not notice a large precipice that was waiting for him. His left foot suddenly got swallowed inside the hole, and his heartbeat quickened as he tried looking for a solution.

Fortunately, at the last second, he managed to grab the edge of a rock and secured himself alongside his his makeshift pickaxe. However, his only light source dropped to the bottom of the pit and he became as blind as a mole.

Not even getting a moment to breeze, his torch seemed to have lit up some substance as everything in his vicinity went up in large blue flames.

'Sulfur! Such a great discovery!' Keith rhapsodized while being consumed alive.