Chapter Fifteen: Discovery
Tiberius was standing at the foot of Redstone Hill, a small mountain that rose to about three hundred meters above sea level northeast of Wildbank. It got its name from the unusual maroon colored rocks that were prominent all over the side of it, rising above its rocky base. Ray’s heart was beating fast from his anxiousness; Tiberius had messaged him about twenty minutes ago telling him to come urgently, and he had no idea what to expect. By nature, he immediately assumed the worst, but when he saw Tiberius standing and in no apparent harm, he eased up.
Ray Black (getting out of his motor): What in the world is goin’ on, Tiberius? You scared the crap out of me.
Tiberius Driver (excited): Come here, cowboy. See these red rocks?
Ray Black: Yeah, they’re kind of hard to miss.
Tiberius Driver(smiling): Its Starium, cowboy.
Ray Black (shocked): What?
Tiberius Driver: Starium. My reader is off the charts. It’s all over the mountain, right underneath the red rocks, and most probably beneath it, too.
Ray Black (still processing the information): Wow. You sure about this?
Tiberius Driver (nodding): Positive. I’ve been trying to crack away at the red rocks all day, and I broke through about an hour ago. Took a sample out of the rocks underneath it, polished it up, and there it is.
Tiberius handed the small Starium ore to Ray, cleaned up and gleaming. The ore was one of the most sought after resources in all of Haven, but that was not what he was thinking about. Recently, Tiberius had made the AA-One; a motor machine that was equipped with missile launchers, heavy artillery gatling guns, and most importantly, armored by Starium that was bought from a trader who had come into town. The metal might be light, but it was the strongest metal found on the planet, almost impenetrable against conventional weapons and guns. The AA-One was Wildbank’s strongest defense, something that was sorely needed now that the Haven Republic had apparently branded the town as an outlaw refuge. Sooner or later, someone was going to come and take the town away from its people, and the AA-One was going to be what stopped them. One of them, however, was not going to do much.
Tiberius had been searching high and low for traders who had access to the ore, but had no luck. It was by pure chance he had stumbled across his find; he was at Redstone Hill studying if it was feasible to mount a transmitter to catch satellite feeds at the top of it when his laser ore finder started blinking and beeping wildly. He had inspected the red stones at first, but nothing came of it, so he figured whatever ore the finer was blinking at, had to be underneath it.
Now came the hard part; making sure they were in full control of mountain and the precious metal it possessed. Both men knew what had to be done; Redstone Hill had to be defended at all costs.
The Bank of Wildbank, looking south. It was immediately a success, with people even coming from neighboring towns to become clients.
Ray Foods latest venture - a vineyard to the northwest of town.
An overview of Wildbank, looking north.
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