God's Trial

After Artemise and the hooded group formally introduced each other, they collected their work tools from the camp and headed into the misty forest. 

"We came pretty late, huh? All the coldwood trees on the outskirts are taken. It looks like we will have to venture deeper," said the hooded group leader by the name of Ricardo.

"Fortunately, the air here is quite good. Although we originally moved to New Capital for the fresher air, the air here is still better than back in Durham."

"Right."

The nearby coldwood trees had all been claimed by other groups, even if there were many coldwood trees with no one working on them. 

Hired laborers were permitted to set up work zones covering the same number of coldwood trees as the maximum number of members in their groups.

As Ricardo's hooded group ventured deeper into the forest, they spotted a few large groups with more than thirty members.