A Grave Site

The expedition's greatest hurdle—reaching the center—was over.

From here on, what we had to do was clear.

First, we had to build sturdy ramparts here and fortify the base.

Then we had to secure a safe road running straight from the center to the outskirts.

Only then could the merchants, architects, engineers, and other members of the follow-up party arrive safely.

Well, I wasn't too worried about opening up a safe road.

Hadn't we already been clearing the path and setting up palisades here and there as we advanced? All we had to do was send in manpower to expand them, and it would be finished in no time.

The most important thing was 'mining magic stones.'

I sketched out a blueprint in my head.

Using this central area as our base, we would conduct magic-stone drilling and purification simultaneously while gradually expanding our territory...