Having finished off most of what was in the first region. I turned my attention north. Where far better loot and death awaited me. While it would be far more challenging than the starting areas, the loot was worth the effort.

The trip was not a short one to make. The goal was to make it to the iron mines. Where I needed some ore to be able to make huge upgrades. Along the way, I burned most of the villages that crossed me. I, however, could not loot as I'd like. I’d need as much inventory as possible to bring back what I was after.

It also became quite clear I'd need a second base. Perhaps even just giving up my lower region base altogether. This new region I was starting to explore had a lot of stuff I'd need. The best way to get it all was just living there.

Along the way, it became quite clear once I entered into a certain mountain passage that I could no longer just take one very fight. I’d have to be a bit more mindful of who and what I tried to stab in the back. A lot of stuff, even if it would be the smart move to just run and hope I find somewhere to hide.

It was now time for me to go play a very deadly game of going into the Iron Mine. I did not know it at the time, but this place has a couple of bosses inside. Along with a lot of stuff that can and will grind my bones into dust.

Before I even got into the mine, I was already on the run. I ran into one of the many bosses, and it was skull and red to me. I knew I would stand zero chance if they noticed me. Everything in the area seemed to hate the boss as well. Even those who were willing to stay in huts ended up getting arrows in the back from the boss itself.

As the boss went on a killing spree of the locals, and was moving further and further away from the entrance into the iron mine. I had a feeling it would be now or never. I made a mad dash for it and slipped inside. That first boss was going to be the least of my troubles.

For one thing, every so often, the place would erupt with green lava. It only took me getting hit by it once to never want to make that mistake again. Often, there were enough warnings and some signs of where it was going to erupt and land. That if I did not get greedy. Being greedy was almost the name of the game at this place.

Everywhere I looked, there was iron to mine. It was quite hard not to mine every single iron node I could find. There came a point where my inventory was full. I even dumped a few things on the ground to open up more space.

After a while, however, it became apparent that the iron mine was far too high a level for me to stay as long as I'd like. I kept running into things that I could almost not kill or that stood no chance. I also ran into other bosses as well. Thankfully, I had a bit of a path cleared where I was able to escape.

It also became apparent that my base was not set up for such a large influx of materials. I filled up the furnaces I had with iron. Wishing I had a few more furnaces to help speed up the process. These really did take forever to smelt. Thankfully, I had brought back so much I'd have extras for days, but sadly not weeks.

The issue was not enough space, as always. I also was not sure how much longer I'd be staying at this one spot. This, as a result, kept me not wanting to keep expanding the castle out and having larger rooms. I’d also have to rearrange a few rooms to expand others. The whole thing was starting to become a bit of a mess.

I want to see if I can find another way to resolve my lack of space. I ended up adding a second story to my castle. I moved my throne up there alone with a mist brazier to protect me from the sun during the day.

It kind of felt like the old days again, of moving around the bone-powered mist brazier. I slowly went around adding further walls and thinking about how I'd work out the space. Then, during the nights, I'd go out and farm some local areas once again.

I felt this might solve my issue of expanding and not having to redo everything on the first floor. I ran into an issue at one point with not liking where I placed the stairs. So, I built a second set in a much better location. I ended up having to remove a lot of the side of my castle before I was able to take out the first set of stairs. The whole thing ended up being way too much work for just not liking where I had the stairs.

At least in that amount of time, a decent chunk of iron had finished smelting. I could now make a new weapon and start looking at making other improvements as well. Such as getting some new tools that would be far more efficient at farming higher-tier materials. Having iron tools would also enable me to farm things that copper simply could not.

You would think the first thing I'd upgrade would be the sword. I, however, went with the iron mace. I ended up testing out the mace a little bit on some of the bosses that took a little more effort than I wanted to make. It was starting to grow on me a bit.

Final Thoughts

I ended up going out and testing out the rewards I acquired for making it to the iron mine and somehow surviving to make it back. I could tell there was a decent jump in power on my end. I also felt the next time I'd go into that iron mine, it would not be so bad.

Overall, this is quite a successful and impactful adventure. I’d slowly make some upgrades to iron as I could. Some of it, I still lacked the proper resources to do so. Others would require me to take down some other bosses to unlock the crafting recipes needed. At least for now, I've taken that much-needed step into the iron age.

Information

Screenshots were taken, and content was written by @Enjar about V Rising (Tracking link that takes you to the game's Steam page. I receive no commissions on sales. It’s simply a request to be used by the game publisher).

Disclosure: A review copy of the game was received for free.