Ch.285I will complete the request. That’s what a request is, after all. (nods)

# Wide Area Survey Activities

Wide area survey activities. As the name suggests, it’s work that involves surveying large areas of terrain to expand maps. Unlike dungeon exploration, which heavily depends on luck, this provides a stable source of income and license contribution points.

The living radius of pioneers centered around barrier towers expands within a walking distance of about 4-5 days, based on the time one can survive in the black mana.

In other words, the primary purpose of wide area survey activities is to find suitable locations for new outposts within a 4-5 day walking distance from existing bases.

Additionally, information about dungeons, water sources, various resource deposits, and natural habitats discovered during this process can also be valuable sources of income.

These wide area survey activities require fast transportation, sufficient combat abilities, specialized surveying techniques, and map-making skills.

Based on the data collected, a verification team from the New Continent Pioneer Headquarters conducts verification work, and compensation is provided if the accuracy is deemed satisfactory.

Of course, areas already revealed by others are excluded from compensation unless significant changes have occurred, and re-surveying such areas doesn’t fall under the category of “wide area survey activities.”

In other words, wide area survey activities are allowed only once for the same area—comparable to “lifting the fog of war” in gaming terms.

“So, it’s no exaggeration to say that wide area survey activities are the perfect job for us, given our overwhelming mobility compared to other adventurers.”

“That makes sense. With Ancestor and the camping wagon, we could travel hundreds of kilometers away.”

“Plus, having Aquila makes terrain reconnaissance simple, right? We can just draw maps while looking down from above.”

We travel by wagon pulled by Ancestor to places others wouldn’t dare go, then quickly and accurately create maps through aerial reconnaissance using Aquila.

Or perhaps we could have Aquila carry a camera to take aerial photographs.

“At this rate, our party might monopolize all the wide area survey requests that come to the Adventurers’ Guild!”

“That’s not impossible, but I wouldn’t recommend it. There’s an upper limit to the rewards one person can receive for wide area survey activities in a year. If we continue surveying without considering that, the Pioneer Headquarters might be happy, but we’d be taking away other adventurers’ income sources and could become resented.”

“Why is there an upper limit? Terrain surveying of Grantis must be one of the most important activities for pioneers.”

“There was a period when deaths increased dramatically as people pushed themselves too far for wide area surveys. Moreover, as competition intensifies, the demand for illegal items like counterfeit barrier towers also increases.”

It seems the saying “safety regulations are written in blood” applies in Grantis as well.

Indeed, if competition for wide area surveys becomes unnecessarily fierce, more people would try to survey unexplored areas using counterfeit barrier towers or pushing their physical limits.

Rather than driving valuable adventurers to their deaths, they chose to set reward limits to prevent overheated competition.

“Besides, surveying extremely distant areas extensively isn’t efficient either. Wide area survey results are only recognized after verification by the verification team. If we fully utilize Ancestor’s abilities to travel around, it might take years before a verification team is dispatched!”

“What if we bring those people with us in our wagon?”

“The verification team maintains neutrality by never accompanying any adventurers, including the surveyors themselves. This prevents bribery or intimidation during the verification process.”

That makes sense.

Someone could bring the verification team to a place they could never return from on their own, then threaten to abandon them unless they approve shoddy survey results.

When you think about it, civil service life in Grantis might be much wilder than one would expect.

“This time, let’s go about 10km west from here, then use that as the northeast vertex to survey a square area with 50km sides. That should be sufficient achievement for our first wide area survey activity.”

“OK. Let’s finish quickly and return to Moon Lake to check if Calliope is safe.”

Having decided on our survey objective, we immediately headed west by wagon.

It seems the area between Wellord Mine and the dungeon emergence site has already been surveyed by some adventurers after the recent overflow, but beyond the dungeon site remains unexplored.

If we discover new dungeons or ancient ruins during our survey, we plan to prioritize investigating those.

By the way, we dispelled the Orc body transformation spell at daybreak by destroying the voodoo doll.

Of course, even though we confiscated the gun and curse needle, we can’t let our guard down while traveling with Gentleman. But maintaining the transformation state had too many drawbacks—Jessica’s thirst and Mina’s inability to handle Aquila.

I was also concerned about Seti’s increasingly unsettling gaze toward my younger self.

The wide area survey activity using Aquila could be described in one phrase: smooth sailing.

Phyllis provided support from the ground since some areas might be hidden by terrain or trees, but basically, the effect of aerial reconnaissance was so tremendous that Mina could almost complete the request alone.

During this, I had a good idea and sent Aquila with a camera to attempt aerial photography.

However, it was a complete failure—the resulting photos were out of focus and severely shaken, making them unrecognizable.

In hindsight, it was an unreasonable attempt to have a flying eagle hold a camera and take photos without looking through the viewfinder.

Still, Mina seems to have gotten some hint from that attempt and started considering whether she could add camera functionality to Aquila’s eyes, which maintain relatively stable vision during flight.

Of course, results won’t come in a day or two, so we’ll have to use that function for wide area surveys next time.

Our party’s first wide area survey activity was steadily achieving results amid various happenings.

~ ~ ~ Inside the Prisoners’ Stone House ~ ~ ~

While Will’s group was focusing on their wide area survey activities.

Gentleman, confined in the Stone House, was wandering around inside the mansion.

He wasn’t looking for a way to escape but was simply restless with no way to calm his anxious mind.

“Sigh…”

Having completed his fifth tour of the mansion, Gentleman perched awkwardly on a sofa in the reception room and let out a long sigh.

Unlike when it was set up in the dungeon, many pieces of furniture and fixtures had disappeared, making it look empty, but thanks to the miniatures Mina had created to pass the time, most spaces had regained a fairly impressive appearance.

Of course, only the appearance was impressive—with no tools or books to alleviate boredom, it was an extremely dull space for a prisoner.

But Gentleman didn’t even have the peace of mind to feel such “boredom” right now.

“This is a disaster… what am I going to do…”

If he had known it would come to this, Gentleman thought, he wouldn’t have begged for another chance.

In fact, when his plan using the Blackheart Gang fell through, Gentleman was in a position where he was no longer allowed to go “outside.”

Third Eye society wasn’t generous enough to give another chance to someone who failed to fulfill their mission.

Moreover, he had committed the blunder of breaking the mask, causing enormous damage to his clan, so his remaining life should rightfully have been spent waiting for death in a prison where not even sunlight entered.

There were two reasons why this principle was broken and he was given another chance:

First, he was born with a rare talent even within the Third Eye clan, and second, the mask he had worn previously was considered of little value within the clan.

In contrast, the mask he wore this time was a precious treasure, ranking among the top ten.

His talent was nothing more than a slightly pretty roadside pebble compared to the value of this mask.

Even at the cost of his life, he must return this mask to his clan, and for that reason, he must value his life all the more.

If he were to die now, this mask would either be sold on the market by adventurers or become a research subject in scholars’ hands.

For these reasons, he had responded to Will’s group’s surrender recommendation and answered their demand for Third Eye clan information with “give me time to think,” showing the possibility of negotiation.

But how much information would he need to provide for them to release him?

No, was there even a guarantee they would release him if he provided information?

The more he thought about it, the more gloomy conclusions filled his mind.

‘If I make one wrong move, I’ll lose the information, my life, and the mask. I must avoid that at all costs.’

Life, information, mask.

If he couldn’t save all three, was there at least a way to safely return the mask?

After racking his brain, Gentleman finally came up with a brilliant idea.

“This is it…!”

Though somewhat risky, if successful, it could reverse the situation in one stroke.

Even in the worst case, he could at least safely return the mask to his clan.

Only after gaining this confidence could Gentleman finally lean back on the sofa and rest comfortably.