The chill of the Yukon air bit at Evan's cheeks as he trudged down toward the riverbank, guided by the memory of what he'd seen from the helicopter just days earlier. The landscape here was undisturbed untouched snow nestled atop black rock, while the slow-moving river, half-iced over, whispered promises from its depths.
Evan crouched beside the water, running his gloved hand through the gravel at the edge of the flow. He could feel it something under the surface. His system pulsed to life, and a holographic display overlaid his vision, revealing a dense cluster of gold veins hidden beneath the riverbed.
"Bingo," he muttered.
He opened the system's interface and activated the Terramorphic Shift function one of its stranger but most useful tools. With a flick of thought and a small deduction of stored energy points, the gold-bearing veins beneath the surface began to subtly shift. The land groaned softly, imperceptible to the human ear, but Evan watched in awe as glowing gold threads bent and crawled beneath the surface, redirecting themselves toward his previously claimed parcel just upriver.
"Better under my feet than under theirs," he said, smirking.
Over the next few days, Evan played the part of the observant newcomer at the annual land auction. Miners, investors, and local opportunists gathered in the rustic community hall, excitement and desperation thick in the air.
Evan didn't bid once.
He leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, sipping coffee and watching as unsuspecting bidders paid inflated prices for plots he already knew were dry and worthless. His system had mapped them thoroughly.
"That one just bought three acres of dirt and dreams," he thought as one man celebrated his purchase with a whoop. "Enjoy digging up disappointment."
After the auction, Evan slipped away unnoticed and returned to his newly enriched claim. The snow had been cleared by a hired crew, and the first deliveries from the system were already waiting.
He stood atop a snowy ridge, watching as large excavators trundled into place like mechanical beasts. Generators and water pumps were set up beside makeshift stations. The noise of engines cracked the air like thunder as wash plants and trommels began assembling.
Sluice boxes lined the base of the slope near the water's edge, gleaming in the weak sunlight, while gold concentrators sat under tarps waiting for first use. Towering mining trucks and rugged loaders filled out the fleet, their sheer size making Evan feel like the foreman of a small army.
"Now we're in business," he said, arms folded, breath fogging in the cold air.
Still, machinery was only part of the plan.
That afternoon, he headed to the local Miners' Association, tucked into a sturdy log building that smelled of old wood, coffee, and coal dust. He met with Foreman Carter, a square-jawed, sharp-eyed man who'd worked Yukon claims for over thirty years.
"Looking to hire?" Carter asked, sizing Evan up.
"Not just hire," Evan replied, sliding a folder across the desk. Inside were specs, schedules, and pay rates. "I want the best team you've got. I've got the gear. I've got the land. Now I need the people who can make gold rain."
Carter grunted. "You're serious."
"Dead serious."
Carter scanned the papers, his brow arching higher with each line. "This operation's bigger than anything I've seen in a decade. You running a company or a kingdom?"
"Why not both?" Evan grinned.
By nightfall, ten seasoned miners were signed, and more would follow.
The Yukon might have buried its gold beneath frost and rock, but Evan had the tools to uncover it and the ambition to take it further than anyone before him.
He looked out over his frozen kingdom, machines humming in the distance, and felt a thrill rise in his chest.
This was just the beginning.