He thought he'd have to wait a while before seeing if it would work. After all, he wouldn't be building this at the mouth of the cave where the expansion modules were placed.

Unexpectedly, after about an hour of waiting, he received some good news.

[Successful Transaction Complete! +250 Hearth Points!]

[Successful Transaction Complete! +250 Hearth Points!]

[Successful Transaction Complete! +250 Hearth Points!]

[...]

There must've been a few customers who had checked out! It still wasn't enough to buy many expansions, but it reminded him that he only needed to wait a bit to get the points that he needed.

He remembered that there was indeed another big batch that should be ending soon, though they'd be checking out in the next morning.

Now that he thought of it, it felt silly to not think about it early on. Then again, who'd be able to think about all these details from the get-go?

He had barely even read anything from the system, only taking a look when absolutely necessary.

Anyway, the others were still resting and recovering. They'd be stuck here for a while.

He stood up and killed a hoovensore amidst the fortified level monsters (there were a lot more toughened-level monsters), and then hooked the carcass in.

Leez, who was the least busy, went to help out and together they took the carcass apart for its meat. They then threw the rest of the carcass out to keep the monsters occupied for a bit.

All this time, they had been consistently reducing his defense points, but they had also been attacking each other a bit. Some of the bloody clothes they threw out were Durgan's, a peak toughened fighter, so his fresh blood was plenty attractive to them.

There were fortified monsters there, so they started attacking the unlucky beast where the fabric landed, and like this they killed a few toughened-level monsters rather effortlessly.

They stayed in the mouth of the cave, however, and Finn was the vanguard for most part, so while they felt there were oddities, they did not yet think there was an actual barrier protecting them. They just assumed that Finn poured the rest of his beast repellants to slow down the attacks and made them a bit more manageable.

They fortunately did not lack food because of this, and he still had some bread and crackers left in his space, so they could rest well for the next few hours. They also got quite a number of cores, and Finn happily earned about two dozen toughened level cores, though it was because the others gave some to him as well.

The rest of the carcass was used to block the entrance as well. Like this, they managed to take a proper rest until dawn the next day.

At that time, Finn was woken up by continuous check out notifications.

[Successful Transaction Complete! +500 Hearth Points!]

[Successful Transaction Complete! +500 Hearth Points!]

[...]

This batch had been staying for a while so they naturally gave him more points.

He looked at his status.

[Status]

Name: Finnick Altheus Solthar

Race: Human

Physical State: Toughened Tier 1

Energy State: Dormant

VITALS

HP: 678/1000

Mana: 695/1000

Stamina: 668/1000

Wallet: 2075 Gold

Hearth Points: 5582 Points

Active Skills: [Ingredient Scan] [Dish Analysis] [Heated Arc] [Farming] [Assesment] [Feather Step] [Sticky Soil] [Tracker][Blade of Fire] [Thunder Clash] [Stone Guard]

Passive Skill: [Blade Proficiency - Growth Type (Lv 3)] [Monster Instinct]

[Strong Stomach] [Improved Palate] [Foraging] [Fire Resistance] Preserver's Touch]

With this, he could buy 5 new modules, at least to reach one of the ores inside the caves.

[Built! Barrier Expansion. -100 Gold, -1000 Hearth Points]

[Built! Barrier Expansion. -100 Gold, -1000 Hearth Points]

[...]

He stared at the rocks for a while, and the girls didn't bother him for a while.

Finn thought about the logistics of things. To make this a viable mine without feeling like he was oppressing anyone, he had to make this place liveable somehow.

He looked at the [Build Mode] and wondered if he could build anything. Sadly, the buildings themselves were not duplicable unless explicitly stated and he doubted they'd fit in this small space either.

Did everything have to be done manually? That'd be really difficult.

The cave was an enclosed cave with a few holes that (with the exemption of the entrance) no human could fit in. In terms of the open space, it was only as big as a standard elementary classroom.

If they were to make it into a proper mine, they'd have to expand this, which would happen naturally as they dug.

They would probably build houses manually, which would need Tumble's help. Air circulation should be fine as long as the mouth and the current holes are maintained.

He planned these things in his head, and then wondered who he could actually get to dig these things? Who would be willing to go to Level 2 to dig stuff?

Would he even have the resources to keep it sustainable? His own inn still had a lot of improvements left to do. Would he be willing to stretch himself thin for a resource he wasn't even sure he could use? Who's to say this was really iron, anyway?

"Finn?"

He flinched, looking at the people who were staring at him in concern. "What is it? Do you need anything?"

"You're thinking of deep things while staring at the wall," Marcus said in jest. "You're not trying to make a hole by staring at it right?"

Finn sighed, looking melancholic. "It'd be great if I can."

"..."

Finn studied the place and went to look at the [Build] tab again.

[Delivery Room]

[Information: Secured Chamber housing a teleportation array linked to pre-determined locations. Innkeeper can set two locations maximum. Maximum distance: 100 kilometers

Note: Usage cost charged Separately.

Size: 2 meters x 2 meters

Cost: 1000 Gold, 10000 Hearth Points per set]

He also needed several thousands more to build enough expansion modules to fill the cave as well. Not to mention, he had to set up the 'main' delivery room in the Inn first as well.

Sigh.

Expanding territory is such a cumbersome thing.

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