As the button was clicked, the snow wolf corpse disintegrated into light. A hologram appeared showing the loot he obtained.
[Snow wolf's skin * 1]
(Can be used for sewing warm clothes.)
[Fresh Snow Wolf's Meat * 25]
(Each piece of meat is 1 kg. 1 piece of meat = 5 food)
[Snow wolf's Bones * 20]
(Sturdy bones that are useful for making weapons or food.)
[Snow Wolf's Sharp Fangs * 2]
(Sharp fangs can be used for making tips of arrows or blades of spears.)
"Nice!" Lan Sol was happy with the loot, which was quite a lot.
The meat solved the food problem for five of them for at least a month, given no more individuals joined the territory, which is highly unrealistic.
The bones and fangs are very useful for creating weapons. Especially the bones, which can be cooked into soup! Warm soup in the cold, what else would you need?
The fur is very useful for creating warm clothes, so traveling long distances would be easier and more comfortable. Not to mention, he could finally feel warmth in his skin and stop shivering.
After decomposing all the corpses, he looked at them with a bright smile.
"Everything is perfect. Now I just need to store them." Nodding in satisfaction, he placed them inside his inventory, which contained 64 slots. That was a lot of storage.
Gong Er ignored his lord's mumbling. Despite being a great person, his lord was weird. He would mumble something all the time, as if he was whispering to someone.
Looking at the meat, Gong Er's eyes sparkled.
"Meat!!" He nearly jumped for joy.
Meat was an extremely rare food, as it was very expensive. Commoners like him, who had no herd, couldn't eat meat unless it was at least a special occasion.
Not to mention, the poorer a person is, the harder it is for them to eat meat.
"Maybe... I can taste meat..." Gong Er immediately shook his head. "No, this is the lord's meat. I shouldn't think about it." As a native of the world, meat was very valuable, and lords only granted it to those they favored.
And it hadn't even been a day since he started working for the lord, so it's highly unrealistic that the lord would grant them meat.
With a longing expression, he followed Lan Sol and parted ways to gather resources.
On his way, he encountered the squad, who were doing their work.
He nodded and gave them a thumbs-up as approval before heading to the base.
Reaching the base, he looked around and planned his work.
Lan Sol's first task in hand was to upgrade the Arctic Men's hut.
Currently, the number of people was too low. It would be a pain in the ass to do the upgrading by himself.
As a veteran of the game, he would mostly go outside the territory for leveling up, gathering men, and collecting resources, while the people in the territory would be responsible for upgrades, collection of basic resources, and so on.
"I should hurry for my ideal territory!" Motivated by his thoughts, he took the hammer and beat the wood.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The rhythmic sound of the hammer hitting the wood was melodious.
The simple hut was upgraded to contain a second floor. It was simple and plain-looking but bigger.
[Do you wish to summon the Arctic Men? Summoning the Arctic Men will consume 5 food per man.]
[Population +5]
From the door, five individuals exited. Three were men, but the two individuals were female.
Like before, these five Arctic Men also lined up in a row and shouted, "We greet our Lord! We, inferior Arctic Men, will serve you wholeheartedly!"
"Right, right."
[Name]: Argar
[Level]: 1 (0/100)
[Loyalty]: 85
[Click here to see the full attribute.]
[Name]: Siana
[Level]: 1 (0/100)
[Loyalty]: 90
[Click here to see the full attribute.]
…
Like their fellow Arctic Men, they had weird western names. But the names this time sounded more normal, so he didn't bother naming them. However, since they didn't have any surname, he gave them one.
"From now on, your surname is Gong. Your name is your name, but you should use the surname Gong from now on."
"Yes, Lord!"
Lan Sol was satisfied. Arctic Men are dependent on their lord, so they have high loyalty from the start.
"You all go and collect as many materials as you can until night. It's your task for today."
"Ok!" No questions asked, the men hurriedly went to do their work.
[2 hours and 48 minutes remaining before nighttime.]
Clink! Clink! Clink!
[+10 stones]
[+10 wood]
[+10 stones]
…
The five people also appeared and saw the group of five people as well as the upgraded Arctic Men's Hut.
"Lord!" The five of them rushed toward him.
"Oh, you guys, these are the newest members of this territory. Cooperate with each other."
"Yes!" Both sides shouted at the same time.
"Now go to your work." Saying that, Lan Sol opened the building interface.
[Name]: Crafting Bench
[Level]: 1
[Type]: Utility
[Effect]: Create Basic Weapons, Equipment, and Items
[Materials Required for Building]: 20 wood, 15 stones
[PS]: Can't afford a blacksmith shop, lack of talented blacksmiths, start with something simple and basic.
"Let's create weapons. A mage without a weapon is like a soldier without a gun."
[Do you wish to build a 'Crafting Bench'? It will take 20 wood, 15 stones, and 30 minutes to craft it.]
[Two people can work on crafting this table, reducing the time to 15 minutes.]
He would have gladly asked someone if he had another hammer. While basic resources for four people were given to him, who was alone, the hammer and ticket were only given to one.
Taking the hammer in hand, he began banging the spot.
The rhythmic sound of hammering was pleasant but repetitive. After hearing it for a while, it became quite annoying.
The ten workers went to do their work. Even the girls, who looked thin, were extremely strong—maybe not as much as the guys, but they carried stones and wood easily.
The clinking sounds, which were very addictive unlike the banging noise, kept ringing in his head.
Resources sped up. However, another massive issue soon came to the surface: all the resources within a 100-meter radius were transported.
By the time the crafting table was completed, the efficiency of the workers was reduced by nearly 90%.
No workers dared to venture out more than 100 meters from the territory.
Cold wasn't the only issue; they were weak and had no weapons, so they could become prime targets for monsters.
Hence, they all just tried to gather as much as they could within the 100-meter radius, which reduced their gathering speed by 100%.
But the resources accumulated were a lot. The double effects were very useful.
"First, let's create hammers and stop gathering resources for a while. It's time to build infrastructure."
[Name]: Construction Hammer
[Level]: 1
[Type]: Utility
[Effect]: Construct infrastructure and buildings.
[Materials Required for Building]: 1 wood, 2 stones
[PS]: Need more helping hands, give each one of them a hammer and boom, faster construction speed.
And it only takes a minute to craft, which was very fast.
Ten minutes later…
Ten ordinary hammers were scattered on the ground. After finishing the crafting, he called the Arctic Men.
"Here, ten of you, begin working on the construction." He immediately checked the various buildings that needed to be built.
[Name]: Saw Mill
[Level]: 1
[Type]: Building
[Effect]: Process wood, double wood from a single log
[Materials Required for Building]: 50 wood, 100 stones
[PS]: Want to get rich? Start with deforestation.
[Name]: Blacksmith Shop
[Level]: 1
[Type]: Building
[Effect]: Create simple to complex weapons, equipment, and items.
[Materials Required for Building]: 100 wood, 200 stones
[PS]: Lord, you don't want your soldiers to fight with enemies using simple weapons, right?
[Name]: Canteen
[Level]: 1
[Type]: Building
[Effect]: Cook delicious food
[Materials Required for Building]: 50 wood, 150 stones
[PS]: No cooked, hot, steaming food equals no morale.
[Tailor Shop]
…
There were four buildings that were necessary, as building them first would make things easier for the future.
After clicking the button to construct, blue light flashed around the ground.
"Hammer the blue spots. That's your job. Construction time." The construction of the four buildings was given to eight workers, two workers each per building.
As for the two women, they were given the job of upgrading the campfire as much as possible.
Then, he distributed the white bread to all the workers—five whole loaves per person, as a single loaf shouldn't fill them.
"After the canteen is built, food management will be easier." He didn't want to personally distribute food every day.
Lan Sol returned to the crafting bench.
Then he crafted some weapons.
With the bones he acquired, they were perfect for creating weapons.
The sharp fangs were used for creating spears. Eight fangs created eight spears, as the fangs were long and sharp.
The stone was sharpened to create axes and pickaxes.
He spent a long time crafting ten axes and pickaxes.
He didn't use the bones, as they could be used for making soup.
He also crafted utensils for cooking food. There were plates, bowls, and spoons made of stone.
They didn't look beautiful appearance-wise, but they were neat and didn't look dirty.
"It's better than nothing." Lan Sol looked around to find Arctic Workers still working hard.
The campfire was upgraded by two levels, turning from a campfire to a bonfire.
The max-level campfire was already huge, providing warmth around 80 meters, but the initial bonfire size covered 20 meters, and it provided heat to 100 meters.
The temperature was warmer than before, and it finally didn't feel cold. Of course, it wasn't hot either, but it wasn't chilly.
"Lord, we have no resources, so we can't upgrade the campfire." The girl named Siana said.
"It's okay. You did good. Do any of you girls know how to cook?" He asked.
"Yes, lord. We used to cook when we were at our homeland," Siana replied, beaming with confidence.
"Here, cook meat and bone soup for everyone."
"This…" Siana's eyes widened. "L-Lord, so you… really want me to cook meat for everyone?" She stuttered.
"Yes. You can do it, right?"
"Of course!" She patted her chest as her breath turned heavy.
Meat! There was so much meat, and everyone could have some!
The white bread they ate was already very good, but meat…
[Due to your kindness and generosity, Gong Siana's loyalty towards you has increased! Loyalty increased by 8!]
[Due to your kindness and generosity, Gong Rina's loyalty towards you has increased! Loyalty increased by 8!]
…
The canteen was built very quickly. All the buildings, except for one, were done constructing. The fastest took forty-five minutes, and the longest was an hour and a half.
The blacksmith shop was huge and nearly completed. Two workers were working very hard.
Lan Sol nodded in satisfaction and entered the canteen. The floor was wooden, however, the walls were made of stone.
The building was constructed very neatly. It wasn't exquisite or beautiful, but it was just nice.
There was a kitchen countertop at the end of the room. The room was properly separated into two by a stone wall, with a door carved in the middle.
The first area was the dining room, while the second room was the cooking room, a.k.a the kitchen.
Lan Sol went to the kitchen, placing all the necessary utensils around. There were cabinets and even drawers.
While there weren't any spices, it wouldn't be bad to eat some bland food once in a while, especially when it's hot in this excruciatingly cold area.
"All done. Now you ladies, cook something." Well, there was only water to cook, but the two girls looked so excited as if they were going to work in the world's most expensive kitchen.
The stove was obviously wood-fueled. Below the stove, there was a cabinet made of hard stone where wood could be placed.
By burning the wood, the fire would seep out of small holes that were big enough to let the heat out but small enough not to burn any utensils.
The ladies grabbed snow, placed it in a pot, and boiled it.
There was no water source nearby, but snow was also a major source of water in this world, which was filled with nothing but snow.
While it may not be that healthy, boiled water is healthier than snow. Who would complain?
The meat was cut into pieces and boiled. It was done with such precision and focus that it looked as if they were in a life-and-death battle.
The girls didn't even blink for a second until their eyes turned red.
For ten minutes, they boiled the meat with some techniques.
Only meat wasn't enough, so the remaining bread was used.
While the meat was being cooked, Lan Sol crafted chairs and a table.
The remaining Arctic Men entered the room, finishing their chores.
They had collected as many resources as possible, and by the end of the day, only a thousand stones and wood were left. It wasn't that much, especially since every big structure required more than 100 stones and wood.
Wood was also a major source of fuel for the bonfire, so it couldn't be depleted.
"I am so hungry."
"I can finally eat meat. I am so excited. Long live the lord."
"Lord is great! The Lord is so generous!"
The Arctic Men were so excited they chanted Lan Sol's name and praised him thoroughly.
The loyalty of every Arctic man increased by 5-10 points, and most of them were closer to reaching max loyalty.
The bowl was filled with chunks of meat and hot water. The majority was meat, with a little water… for taste, it seemed.
Lan Sol took a bite and found it was kind of delicious.
"Not bad," he said.
"Thank God. We are very happy that you liked our cooking," Siana replied with a smile.
The cooking was delicious. The meat was chewy, and the fat in the meat worked as oil.
While it didn't have much taste, it was impressive how delicious they cooked the meat with just water.
The chewy texture and each bite was so satisfying. As he bit into the meat, it had no taste, but its texture was enough to compensate.
If only it had spices, Lan Sol believed this would have been the most delicious food he'd ever had.
He bit into the white bread. He was of average build—neither thin nor fat, not to mention he wasn't as tall as the Arctic Men nor as muscular.
So, he ate less than the others. While the Arctic Men ate two to three bowls of meat with three loaves of bread at minimum, Lan Sol only ate one bowl of meat and one loaf of bread.
After dinner, every worker went to their hut to rest. Lan Sol returned to his hut too.
Each Arctic Man was very motivated to work. If it weren't for Lan Sol, they might have gone to work at night.
"It was a fulfilling day." He wasn't stuck in his room. It was fun.
Playing games, reading novels, and such were fun too, but this was more thrilling.
Especially the fight with the wolf. That was so satisfying.
"I want to reach level 10 by the end of this week.." He made that goal.
He just had to work harder.
"It's cool." Fighting monsters, getting powerful, and developing a strong territory with strong men… That was a dream many men might have. Maybe there are women with these kinds of dreams too, who knows.
But for Lan Sol, this wasn't a dream, but his goal.
"It will be fun." He couldn't wait for the next day.
But the whole day of work took a toll on his body, and he was exhausted, so he slept like a baby.
And as the night deepened, the bonfire produced a crackling sound, generating intense heat.
All over the world, campfires burned in many places.
The small campfire looked so insignificant in front of the whole world, but 8 billion of them appeared all over the continent.
As the first day for Lan Sol ended, many others were coming to this world, whose first day would just begin.