"First heater."
He glanced at the two items in the building menu:
- Simple Fireplace
- Cooking Stove
One would heat up the room, while the other would cook. Both were essential—one would provide warmth, and the other would allow him to cook, as surviving only on bread, even cold bread, didn't sound fun.
[Name]: Simple Fireplace
[Level]: 1
[Type]: Utility
[Effect]: +10~20℃ within a radius of 10 meters
[Materials Required for Building]: 25 Stones
[PS]: Without this, you can't fall asleep.
---
[Name]: Cooking Stove
[Level]: 1
[Type]: Utility
[Effect]: Cooking, steaming, and warming food
[Materials Required for Building]: 15 Stones
[PS]: Want to turn raw meat into a feast or make hot soup to lift your spirits? The Cooking Stove makes every meal a morale boost!
However, he didn't have any stones at the moment.
[Stones: 0]
But it didn't take long for his stone reserves to increase.
Clink! Clink!
[+10 stones]
[+10 stones]
[+20 stones]
…
[+10 wood]
[+20 wood]
[+20 wood]
…
His resources increased rapidly. Lan Sol didn't start construction right away. He checked the lord's room.
It was a single-room building. It wasn't big; there was nothing but a simple wooden bed with a leaf quilt placed neatly in the corner.
Lan Sol sat on the bed and felt the hardness of the wood.
"Sitting here for a long time is bad for my ass." The hardness was infuriating, and it would pain anyone's ass in a matter of seconds.
And sleeping? That would mean back pain in every form.
"Hah. What a life. From a soft, comfy bed to a wooden bed. What a transition." Lan Sol mumbled and sighed but didn't lose the smile on his face.
For the more enjoyable moments in the future, he could endure this much suffering.
Lan Sol got up after a minute of rest and glanced at his resources.
[Wood: 310]
[Stone: 230]
The resources were 2 to 3 times greater than the amount he had initially. And they had gathered this much in just a few minutes!
While there were tons of logs and stones scattered all over the base, it would have taken at least a while to gather this much, right?
However, these Arctic men were so strong. Each must have carried two or three logs at a time, or more, and 2 to 3 stones at once.
Lan Sol couldn't even lift a single stone properly.
Noticing the difference in strength between them only increased his desire to level up faster.
"I want to go out and hunt monsters. That sounds so cool." However, he didn't, as going out without preparation was the same as jumping from a 30-story building hoping not to die.
So he endured the desire and began hitting the blue spots.
Bang! Thud! Thud!
A chimney was built on top of the lord's hut, and a decent fireplace was constructed. Planks burned neatly and warmed the room.
[Current Temperature: -25℃]
While it was still cold, it wasn't as bad as before.
"Without warm clothes, no matter how hot the area is, it's not useful. Heat is lost faster than it's gained." Lan Sol mumbled while healing his palm and began banging on the ground to create a simple stove.
A stove was created, but for now, there was nothing to cook.
Also, the efficiency of the Arctic Men was decreasing as the resources near the base had depleted.
Now, it was taking twice as long to gather the resources as they had to walk for a minute or two.
Without an axe, it was unrealistic to cut down trees, and there weren't many logs lying around the area.
Also, venturing too far was dangerous, as there was a chance of being attacked by monsters.
[Wood: 1520]
[Stone: 1800]
In comparison to the wood, the amount of stone was much greater as larger stones were carried by two Arctic Men working together, which boosted the gathering speed since large stone amounts to two or three times greater than smaller stone, the one Lan Sol carried earlier.
However, even the stones were getting scarcer.
The 20 meters around the base were completely cleared. The snow was smooth and beautiful.
"Let's upgrade the campfire." It was his job again, as the hard manual labor was left to those burly men.
[Do you wish to upgrade the 'Campfire'? It will take 80 stones and 25 seconds to upgrade it.]
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
8 minutes later…
[Name]: Campfire
[Level]: 10
[Type]: Structure
[Effect]: +50~70°C for 20 wood/10 minutes, within a radius of 100 meters
[Materials Required for Upgrading]: 5000 Stones
[PS]: The next upgrade will completely change the campfire into a Fire Pit, advancing to a larger and more efficient fireplace.
The campfire had turned huge. It was made of rocks piled around and wood stacked high.
Now it took more than 20 wood to burn per 10 minutes—2 woods per minute.
Its size was huge, and even two elephants wouldn't be enough to cover the entire campfire.
Its firepower was also great.
The temperature increased significantly, and it felt better.
The temperature still wasn't stable. There were large fluctuations, and its radius was just too small.
"Lord! Lord! Help… Help me!!!"
As he was contemplating what to do next, a shout startled him.
"What the hell?" He turned to see a bloody mess.
"Is it Gong Er?" The face resembled Gong Er, the man he had just seen about fifteen minutes ago.
But now he was bleeding from his head, chest, and legs.
It was amazing he even managed to get here while losing that much blood. A normal person would have ended up in a coma by now.
"Help…" He fell on the snow, bleeding heavily.
"..." Lan Sol was speechless.
I just summoned you fifteen minutes ago, and you're already in danger…
"I really forgot this game was not forgiving." He had forgotten due to his recent achievements, but he had died more than ten thousand times in the virtual game just by stepping out of the territory without preparation in a matter of minutes.
No matter the state you're in, you should expect the unexpected from this game.
Avalanche, snowstorm, sneak attacks from monsters…
When you're not aware, something could happen unexpectedly.
The most infuriating part is when some random strong enemy attacks while you're away and destroys the territory you've worked on for hundreds of hours.
And if that happens during war… You should just die and restart because it's humiliating when you're about to win, but due to some rare random occurrence, you lose.
And due to the NPCs being so real, you could hear them mocking your luck and questioning your fate, which just adds salt to the injury.
"What am I doing? I should be saving him." Momentarily lost in thought, he was awakened by the dying groan of the man in the snow.
He walked to the man and cast 'Ice Healing.' For any mage, it took 5 seconds of chanting and a full minute of cooldown for this healing spell.
But for him, he spammed the healing spell multiple times until he nearly emptied his mana.
[+10 HP]
[+10 HP]
[+10 HP]
Notifications filled his vision, which he ignored.
"Phew." He sighed as he poked the wounds of Gong Er. The wounds stitched naturally, and he felt awe.
Green light filled his body, pouring vitality into the nearly lifeless body.
"Ah." Gong Er opened his eyes and exclaimed. "I'm not dead!" His eyes widened as he looked at Lan Sol.
His eyes were nearly tearing up as he knelt and shouted repeatedly. "Thank you, lord! Thank you, lord, for saving me! You are mighty! You are great!"
"Stop it." Lan Sol's face twitched, feeling cool. No, the wind blew and chilled his face.
He closed his eyes and felt energy slowly filling him.
It was all thanks to the Lord's Hut.
[Name]: Territory Lord's Hut
[Level]: 1
[Effect]: Restores 1 MP and 1 HP per second within the radius of the territory, only for the lord
[Materials Required for Upgrade]:
Stone x100, Wood x50
[+1 MP]
[+1 MP]
…
The notification overwhelmed his vision, but thankfully there was an ignore option that completely hides the notifications you want.
"What happened? How did you end up in this state?" he asked curiously.
"This…" Gong Er scratched his head. "I was collecting wood, but the wood within 100 meters was already collected. So I went a bit farther. However, as soon as I stepped into the forest, I was attacked by a wolf. Fortunately, I was quick-witted and ran. But the wolf caught up, and we ended up fighting. I barely managed to land a hit on the wolf and throw it away. That gave me a chance to run. I barely managed to get here. If it wasn't for you, lord… I would have…"
His eyes sparkled with respect and reverence, and the way he looked at Lan Sol was as if he was looking at a god who had brought him back to life from the brink of death.
[Gong Er's loyalty to you has increased by 10 points…]
[Name]: Gong Er
[Race]: Arctic Men
[Level]: Level 1 (20/100)
[Class]: None
[Health]: 100
[Mana]: 0
[Strength]: 8
[Agility]: 5
[Spirit]: 0
[Constitution]: 10
[Skills]: None
[Current Status]: Cold
[Hunger]: 54
[Loyalty]: 99
[Trait]: Adaptive Resilience, Diligent Worker
'99 loyalty, what the heck… I just started! It's not even been a full day, and one man's loyalty is already near full.'
"By the way, I'm craving some meat." Lan Sol thought meat and bread would go nicely, rather than just plain bread.
"Lead me to the wolf." His mana was full anyway, so he might as well have some fun.
As long as it wasn't too far from the territory, he would be safe.
"Yes!" Gong Er straightened his back and walked.
At the edge of the territory, it was just a couple of meters away from the radius of the territory.
However, as soon as he left the territory, the cold made him shiver.
"Hiss…" He was wearing thin clothes, and in this excruciating cold, it was no different from being naked.
It was hard to keep composure. He just wanted to return to the territory, but he endured the cold.
Right at that moment, three wolves jumped at the two of them.
"Frost Ball!" Lan Sol's reflexes were fast, and he cast the spell instantly.
A ball of thick ice floated in mid-air and zoomed toward the nearest wolf. Two more thick ice balls attacked the other two wolves.
"Howwwl!" The balls shattered on impact, sending the wolves flying.
They let out painful howls as they crashed to the ground.
[-25 HP]
[-25 HP]
[-25 HP]
Three holographic words floated above the wolves' heads.
[Name]: Snow Wolf
[Race]: Beast
[Level]: Level 1
[Health]: 75/100
[Attack Power]: 8~10
[Strength]: 10
[Agility]: 8
[Spirit]: 3
[Constitution]: 4
[Skills]: Sharp Bite, Pounce
[Current Status]: Slightly Injured
[Racial Talent]: If 10 or more snow wolves participate in a battle, the racial talent will be activated, increasing snow wolf speed by 30% and attack power by 15%.
[Note]: A common wolf found in the forest. Very fierce, loves to hunt, has impressive reflexes, fast speed, and is very strong.
The three wolves stood instantly and surrounded Lan Sol and Gong Er.
"Grrrrrr!" The wolves looked fierce but cautious, as they didn't attack right away.
Lan Sol looked at them and simply took out a ticket. The class equipment ticket was torn, and bright light flashed.
The bright light intimidated the snow wolves, and they took a step back.
A simple yet beautiful-looking ring embedded with a blue gem fell into his palm.
[Name]: Beginner Mage Ring
[Type]: Accessory
[Quality]: Rare
[Requirement]: Frost Mage (Level 1 or above)
[Effect]: Increase mana by 10 points and recover 5 MP per minute.
[Do you want to equip the item 'Beginner Mage Ring'?]
"Yes." His mana increased by 10 points, reaching 60 from 50.
He had used three spells instantly, which cost him 15 MP, but now his MP was at 45.
The wolves attacked.
"Lord!" Shouting, Gong Er jumped and punched the nearest wolf while taking the damage from the second one.
[-6 HP]
[-10 HP]
The wolf was only slightly injured, while Gong Er fell to the ground, bleeding from the injury.
[-1 HP]
The notification from Gong Er's injury annoyed Lan Sol. Without even glancing at him, he fired the Frost Ball three times.
Bang!
The balls shattered. The three attacks landed at the same time.
[-25 HP]
[-25 HP]
[-25 HP]
"Howwllll!!!" Howling loudly, the snow wolves fell and died.
The other two wolves gritted their sharp teeth and showed their protruding fangs.
[Successfully killed the snow wolf (LV. 1). Gained 30 EXP!]
The EXP notification brought a smile to Lan Sol's face as he glanced at the two wolves.
He had been planning on hitting all three of them at once, but Gong Er's sudden attack had interrupted him. However, he had managed to kill one, so it wasn't that bad.
Being a mage isn't fun. It's dangerous, as a single hit from the two wolves would be much more dangerous, given his lower constitution and weaker bones compared to the Arctic Men.
A single hit might even break his bones. He couldn't rely on game mechanics like in virtual games, where he would only take damage but no real bleeding or fractures.
"Gong Er, you take the one wolf while I deal with the other one." Since the Arctic man was planning on being a meat shield, why not use him efficiently?
"Yes." Struggling to stand, Gong Er somehow stood and stared at the wolves, whose attention was on Lan Sol.
The snow wolves were hesitant to attack, seeing how powerful he was. However, their pride got the best of them, and they launched their attack.
They circled and jumped at the same time.
Gong Er caught one wolf's tail and threw it.
[-5 HP]
The wolf collided with a tree and whimpered softly.
However, the remaining wolf didn't get away unscathed.
Shatter!
The frost ball shattered. Like before, he shot the frost ball spell three times. Without chanting time, the three balls spawned in a matter of milliseconds.
And as a hardcore player, while his body may not be fast, his reflexes were impressive. As a player who had speed-run many hard games, he had learned to register attacks at world record speed. In speed running, even milliseconds matter, and a single miss could reduce the time by a whole second.
Hence, he was fast.
The spell caused 75 HP of damage and plummeted the wolf's health bar.
The snow wolf fell to the ground.
[Successfully killed the snow wolf (LV. 1). Gained 30 EXP!]
The remaining wolf felt the threat as its two brethren succumbed to the power of the attacks.
It tried to run, but Gong Er ran and grabbed the snow wolf.
"Grrr!" The snow wolf struggled and bit Gong Er's hands, but he didn't let go, enduring the pain.
Swoosh!
The frost ball zoomed and hit the snow wolf.
The impact was fierce, throwing both the wolf and the human rolling on the ground.
Before the wolf could react, two more frost balls hit it and killed it.
[Successfully killed the snow wolf (LV. 1). Gained 30 EXP!]
"Phew." Lan Sol sat on the ground, breathing. "I feel so energy-less," he muttered as his mana was 0.
While it didn't harm him, his body felt weak, as if every ounce of energy had been sucked out of him.
[+5 MP]
The increase in MP from the ring gave him energy. He stood and walked toward Gong Er.
"Why did you do such reckless things? I was enough to deal with them," he sighed, scolding Gong Er.
"Like, really, you have no weapon. If you had one, I would have given you instructions to attack. But weaponless, against wolves that are strong and fierce, you've got guts." He complimented him too.
"But don't do anything without my instructions in battle. It's more reckless and may also hinder me." He scolded him for his reckless actions, not the one he instructed.
"Yes. Sorry, Lord." Gong Er lowered his head and apologized.
"It's okay. It's not like any of us died. Let me patch you up."
The healing spell only required 5 MP for casting, so it was done instantly.
[+10 HP]
The wound was light, so it healed up, restoring the 10 HP.
There was still some HP missing, but it wouldn't threaten his life, so Lan Sol didn't care.
"Next time, don't step into the forest. Even going near is dangerous. Understand?"
"Yes, Lord. But if I see you in danger, my lord, I will do my best to help and save you."
"Says the one who nearly died once, got injured, and is useless."
"Haha…" Gong Er laughed at Lan Sol's words and didn't take them to heart.
From today, his life belongs to the lord, who is kind, worried about his subjects, and helps them.
Or else, why would he come to the dangerous forest?
The lord is weaker than him, and there's no need for him to hunt the wolves.
"Lord is great," he murmured.
"Did you say anything?" Lan Sol asked as he squatted near the snow wolf's corpse.
"Nothing. Can I help with anything?"
"Just look out for monsters."
"Yes!" Gong Er said enthusiastically.
[Due to your kindness and generosity, Gong Er's loyalty towards you has increased! Loyalty increased by 1!]
[Max loyalty reached! Earned title, 'Eternal Slave'!]
[Eternal Slave: Slave of your loyalty. Obey every order and may even sacrifice his life for you. No effects, no charm, no illusion, and no persuasion can affect his loyalty towards you. He will starve but try to feed you, get injured trying to save you, and die protecting you. He will be your slave for eternity.]
'What the hell? Maximum loyalty? Why? What did I do?' Lan Sol never understood humans.
Whether in a game or real life, he couldn't understand
people's emotions. Hence, he's an introvert who rarely interacts with others. He's not socially awkward or bad at communication, just hates communicating at all, as he can't understand other people. He never fit into any groups, and his friends are in single digits, all online.
[Snow Wolf (Corpse) [Decomposable]]
"Time to harvest some necessary resources." He clicked the button and began harvesting the materials from the corpse.