To other soldiers, this group of eerie undead had peculiar tastes, spouted nonsense, and always seemed to enjoy thankless tasks; and now, remarkably, they were even happy about building houses.
As they watched, some were naked except for heavy armor on their lower bodies; or they wore only helmets and gloves, with their upper bodies still exposed; or just long boots... The soldiers unanimously agreed in their hearts: The undead were scarier for their behavior than for their inability to die.
Especially when they heard them say things like "overweight limit" which were completely incomprehensible, it felt even more bizarre.
Of course, the strangest thing was their cheering "because we can build houses."
Only Lind thought the undead's cheer was perfectly normal.
The people in this world would never understand how much fun it could be for players to build houses in a game.
Players were a very magical breed; the more extreme the situation and the harsher the environment, the more they loved to build houses. In survival games with post-apocalyptic themes, if there was a homestead system, there would definitely be some wildly imaginative houses built.
Even for the famous worker maiden, a group of players remained impervious to reason, focused solely on building houses.
Lind even thought that if he allowed it, the players might recreate the City of Gold Goliath right next to the Star Dragon Ridge outpost.
But thinking of some terrible consequences, Lind immediately went over and said to the four undead, "I'm going to take you to delineate the area; don't build the houses higher than two stories."
If there were no restrictions, who knew what twisted things they would build.
"Oh, there are limits," sighed Dragon Scale Sword.
The other two felt the same; they had had quite a few ideas before, but now they had to build houses honestly.
After determining the area, Lind stressed repeatedly that this would be the central resting place for the undead.
He didn't arrange any beds. Although he didn't know how players rested, if they were tired, they could just log off; who would be foolish enough to stay in the game to sleep and risk getting their gear looted?
There was ample unused space at the Star Dragon Ridge outpost, enough for a couple hundred houses, but none of the lords exiled here over the years had the inclination to develop it. Everyone racked their brains to find connections and relationships to leave.
It wasn't until Lind came over that the Ring of Magic broke, and there was no more food to eat, let alone construction and housing.
Perhaps after a while, once security and the food problem were resolved, Lind could consider letting players build houses on a large scale here, as a form of recycling waste.
"What are we using to build the house?" The four people gathered together.
Loves White Silk was the most excited; he already had an idea for his second video, titled "White Silk Teaches You How to Build Houses in Magic World."
Black Tortoise Shield said, "Stone? I see lots of rubble within the territory."
Moon Slash Blade said, "How about we sneakily dismantle an NPC's house?"
Loves White Silk quickly shook his head, "No! Right now, our relationship with Star Dragon Ridge should be friendly. We can build houses and buy equipment. Until we find a new place, we absolutely cannot provoke a conflict with them."
His words won the agreement of the other three.
It wasn't that they felt a sense of belonging to Star Dragon Ridge; they just didn't want to fall out with NPCs.
If given the chance in the future, they really wouldn't mind assassinating 10 people including Lind and stripping them of their equipment.
"Then let's start with wood and rubble for now, just build something rough. According to the Lord, the world becomes very dangerous at night."
"Really? I wandered around at night before and didn't feel any danger."
"I guess it's a hidden storyline. Maybe the monsters at night are bugged, and their stats aren't developed properly. We'll find out by trying it out at night later."
The four of them eagerly started collecting stones and wood, preparing to build their houses.
Yes, their lord had provided nothing but a randomly drawn piece of land.
"Damn, that's too realistic, huh? You can't just throw wood down and have a house pop up instantly?"
"What were you thinking? This game strictly follows the rules of the real world; you can't be lazy. Start with the foundation!"
"Loves White Silk bro, did you study civil engineering?"
"How could you tell?"
"It's right up your alley!"
"We need to go out to the Withered Wood Forest and fetch some good timber. I remember the [Weapon Shop] sells axes. Wanna go buy one together?"
"I still have some money left."
Under the astonished gazes of the soldiers, the four of them bought axes and left the Star Dragon Outpost.
Helping the Lord build a house without charging any fees, not seeking any rewards, and even buying axes at their own expense—these Undead are too scary!
Lind merely reminded the soldiers to keep an eye on things, to prevent the Undead from overstepping, and that as long as they followed his rules, there wouldn't be any problems for the time being.
The remaining soldiers gathered to skin wolves, trim meat, and debone.
They didn't allow the Undead to do it, fearing that the Undead would waste food, and right now food was of paramount importance.
The inedible parts, like the innards, were piled up to be buried in the vegetable gardens later, bringing a sliver of nourishment to the nearly lifeless soil.
At night, everyone went to sleep. Somebody among the four Undead logged off and then came back on a bit later. Luckily, they didn't choose to wander about at night. As Lind knew, night belonged to Calamity, with numerous monsters roving about. Players might kill one or two, but that would also attract countless enemies. It was better to be cautious before one had sufficient defense.
Players could resurrect infinitely, but he couldn't.
The next day, after Lind woke up and finished his wolf meat soup, he geared up with Reed, Leo, and Riff, and set out with the prepared wolf hides on their backs.
About the players, one could do a rough monitoring through the official website, since that guy 'Loves White Silk' was still shooting videos. If the other party planned any big moves, they certainly wouldn't give up the chance to capitalize on the video's popularity.
I have inside information!
After leaving the Star Dragon Outpost, they continued along the road until midday, walking from the grey, murky morning.
An open area appeared on the ground.
Finally, they saw a river up ahead.
But Lind's face didn't show much excitement. Water is the source of life, and vagrants often lurk near streams since it's easier to gather food there than anywhere else.
Similarly, it's also where calamity creatures are most likely to appear because it's their hunting ground as well.
"My lord, there are hoof prints!" Reed exclaimed.
Lind immediately went over to inspect them.
These hoof prints? They were more like elephant tracks! The hoof prints were as big as a head, but the shape of the horseshoe was unmistakable.
"Move quickly!" Lind said seriously.
From what he remembered, most Calamities wouldn't fear daylight, but they just resisted moving during it, having different habits than humans.
If they were unfortunate enough to encounter a Calamity creature that was part of the "Day Enduring Party," the four of them might not handle it.
Thankfully, the rest of the trip went smoothly. They stopped by the side of the road for a rest, nibbled on some prepared dry, cold jerky, drank water to replenish their strength, and then they just kept on hurrying along... until dusk when they finally saw the outline of Prey Town.