After giving the units orders to move to the next regions, I figured I should check on the second of two regions that they discovered. The one to the south. Seeing as how part of the new region looked like it had more ash fields tiles and that the rest of the tiles next to it looked pretty… volcanic, I assumed it was another volcanic region.

And it was.

But the ash fields aside, we discovered a few new types of biomes belonging to the volcanic region. The first one was a scorched forest.

“I’m going to guess that a scorched forest won’t be any good for wood, but should be good for charcoal,” I said.

Enna nodded. “Probably. But that’s good! We will need a fuel source once we get to forging. Then again… we already have a lake of lava right next to us which is probably going to be better…”

“Reminds me of another game I played. You controlled a band of dwarves embarking to found a new fortress. I always liked to create my fortresses inside of volcanos since you could create forges that use lava, saving you from having to acquire other types of fuel.”

“You will basically be able to do the same thing here! Not only will you have to choose what materials to make items out of, but, in the case of forging, you will also have to choose a fuel source. Both the material and fuel used contribute to the item’s final stats. Then once we have leaders, they will also contribute to it if they are specialized in crafting skills.”

“Interesting. If that’s the case, let me make a wild guess here. It’ll be possible to get leaders who also specialize in training new military units?”

“Right! There will be many different specialization options for leaders. They could specialize in all of the basic stats, but also military, crafting, questing—”

“Questing?”

She nodded again. She really liked to nod, apparently. “We haven’t received any quests yet, but there will be quests we can send our units on. For example, we might learn of a dungeon with a rare item inside, and we will be able to send a unit to go and explore the dungeon on a quest!”

“How in-depth is that?”

“There may be a few small battles you have to manage, but that will be it. There will also be quests for general exploration, diplomacy, and so on.”

“Got it. Thanks.”

I never got tired of seeing Enna smile every time I thanked her.

Back to the map. The larger, wine-colored terrain next to the scorched forest in particular.

I had to admit that I was a little disappointed seeing a repeat of a special feature, so I looked at the other wasteland tile that had a feature and hoped for something unique.

It was pretty useless, but at least it was unique.

That left me with one more terrain type to check out. The pink-ish area surrounded by the wasteland.

The stats weren’t impressive, but maybe there’d be something to do with it later similar to the arctic region. I was also interested in seeing what ruby sand looked like. Sounded like a beautiful sight, even if sand was annoying due to how coarse it was and getting everywhere.

So, with both of the new regions checked out, it felt like we were locked in for prioritizing food. Sure, there were some good areas for production, but it felt like we had great options for food both to our north and south. At the very least, our options for labor couldn’t compete with our options for food.

But that was alright. The faster we could grow our population, the more buildings we could construct to exploit the terrain for labor.

With that dealt with, I stood up, stretched, and walked over to the tent’s entrance. Everybody else was already hard at work, and my headache wasn’t nearly as bad as it was the last couple of days, so it was time to help out the others until our units made it to the new regions.

The weather was clearer than it was the previous days, too. That made me curious about something.

“With me, Enna,” I said.

“Right behind you!” Enna replied, jumping up to follow me.

Now, while there might not have been anything really worth calling a hill or mountain aside from the volcano, the terrain wasn’t literally completely flat. There were a few mounds and dips here and there. One such mound was where I led Enna to as I figured it would give a good view southward.

With a slight elevation and clear weather, we got to see exactly what I was hoping to see.

The ocean.

With a sandy beach in the distance and a vast ocean beyond it, I heard Enna gasp at my side as she looked on at the beautiful sight of nature before us.

I was always told that those most satisfied with life were those who could appreciate nature’s natural beauty. I was glad Enna could appreciate it with me.

“Ever see a sight like this in Hell?” I asked.

Enna adjusted her glasses and shook her head. “Never. Hell doesn’t have oceans of water like this.”

“We’ll have to go swimming in it sometime.”

“I… I have no idea how to swim.”

“Guess I’ll have to teach you then.”

Enna’s cheeks grew a shade of red as she looked away from me, but still kept the ocean within her sight. “I—I would like that.”

I wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her against me, causing her to squeak before looking around a bit more.

The ocean and beach weren’t the only visible terrains around us. The obsidian barrier was visible as was the beginning of the arctic region. The new grassy area to the north wasn’t visible from where we stood, but I could see across the lava lake to the new volcanic region. Well, some of it.

And of course, the region’s grand volcano was visible, towering higher than all else around it with smoke spewing from its top and an endless supply of lava flowing into the lake below via three rivers of the molten liquid.

“Cl-Clay!” Enna shouted. “Look!”

I turned my head to look where she was pointing and didn’t need to put any amount of effort into finding what caught her interest.

To the south was a stretch of ocean that looked considerably darker than the waters around it, giving it an ominous look, and I could only assume that was meant to be the leviathan hunting grounds. That wasn’t what earned our attention, though. What caught our attention was what else was in that water.

Or rather, what was coming out of it.

What appeared to be some sort of whale beyond any reasonable size breached the ocean’s surface and partially jumped into the air above. Going by how massive its body looked even from a distance, it was probably as large if not larger than the Empire State Building. I could tell that it wasn’t just any normal whale, too, but it was too far away to get a good look at its unique features other than the extra fins on its sides. In addition to that, it either didn’t have enough speed to fully jump out of the water or was just too large to, so we didn’t even get to see its entire body.

But we did get to see the waves it caused after bellyflopping back onto the ocean’s surface with what was probably tens of thousands of tons worth of weight. The waves didn’t last for long, but they would have capsized any vessel nearby if there were any.

On one hand, I was worried about ever sailing through that region. Anything that didn’t get crushed by a giant leviathan could instead be swallowed or capsized by one.

On the other hand…

I imagined creating a beach resort that advertised leviathan watching from the shore.

Nature was beautiful and something that we had to take care of.

But there was nothing more American than profiting off of it at the same time. Just, in moderation with proper regulations to prevent exploitation that damages the environment. The country named after America was always horrible at the whole moderation thing. But a true American would appreciate nature and pay for some hotdogs while doing so. Like the Scandinavians and Japanese. Always heard they are the best tourists a country could ask for. They know how to respect nature, as true Americans would.

It really said something when the people of other countries were more American than actual citizens of the United States of America.

That’s why immigration is so important. So we can bring the best people from all around the world into our country.

Once the game got to the point where we were dealing with other factions, both major and minor, turning our group into the biggest, proudest melting pot to ever exist was my goal. A faction that embraces the best of all its different peoples.

But that required actually meeting other factions in the first place. Wasn’t so sure when that would be happening.

And we were going to need those beach resorts if we wanted help in attracting their people to join us instead.