When Ludin groggily woke up, he was immediately bombarded by a deafening voice in his ears.
[When you hear this message, you and everyone else in the world have been transported to the Lord's World.]
[Everyone has been restored to full health.]
[You possess an initial territory, five barbarians at your command, and some basic beginner supplies.]
[Survive, and good luck! The first wave of monsters will spawn in 24 hours.]
Ludin was utterly confused after hearing this. "What's going on? Wasn't I just playing a game at home after work?"
Just moments ago, he had been sitting in front of his computer, playing a newly released strategy game. He had been ruthlessly defeated ten times in a row by the AI and was desperate to win one game back.
But Ludin never expected that, just as he clicked "start," a sudden dizziness overwhelmed him, and he lost consciousness. When he opened his eyes again, he was in this strange new world.
"What does 'Lord's World' mean?" But he quickly snapped out of it and started observing his surroundings.
In front of him stood a small wooden house, and in front of the house, five muscular, primitive men were lined up.
"Is this all that's left of my territory?" Ludin whispered to himself. The next moment, a screen appeared in front of him.
[Personal Info] [Warehouse] [Chat Channel] [Build]
There were several options on the screen, just like a game menu.
Ludin instinctively clicked on "Personal Info."
[Ludin]
[Level: Level 1 Lord]
[Age: 23]
[Buildings: Initial Lord's Wooden House]
[Units: Barbarians]
[Builder Limit: 5]
[Energy Stones: 0]
...
Ludin thought for a moment and then opened his "Warehouse." Inside, he found: 10 loaves of bread, 500 wood, 500 stone, and a single "Unique Talent Card."
"Looks like some basic starting materials... Wait a minute. Huh? What's this Unique Talent Card?" Ludin's gaze shifted calmly, but he froze when he reached the last item.
He focused, and the Unique Talent Card appeared in his hand.
It was a golden card, floating above his palm.
[Ding! The Unique Talent Card will randomly grant you a unique talent. Would you like to draw?]
Ludin's eyes lit up. "Is this a newbie bonus?"
Just as he was about to activate the card, he suddenly stopped. Instead of acting impulsively, he noticed the next feature: the Chat Channel.
"There's a chat channel here, I should probably check out what others are saying first," Ludin said to himself as he clicked on the channel.
[World Chat Channel]
[Oh my god, where is this place? Who's playing a prank on me?]
[To the person behind this, no matter who you are, let me out now, or I'll sue you without mercy!]
[You idiots, didn't you hear the announcement? We've been transported to the Lord's World!]
[Is everyone's starting point the same? I only have a crappy little wooden house and five barbarians, I don't even know what to do first!]
[Yeah, it's the same here. I've already had my barbarians start building the first barracks. Hahaha!]
[Early game is the most important. I've played lots of strategy sandbox games in my past life. Developing fast is key.]
[I can't believe it. I've been disabled for twenty years, and now I've stood up again in this game. My name is Edri, and I'm going to become the king of this world!]
…
Ludin's gaze moved constantly through the chat channel, noticing that many players were still confused and disoriented.
However, a small number of players had already figured things out and were beginning to develop their territories.
But what caught Ludin's attention the most was the mention of the Unique Talent Card.
The world chat channel was flooded with dozens of messages every second, but after watching for a while, Ludin noticed that no one had mentioned the Unique Talent Card!
"Does that mean... the talent card is something only I have?" Ludin swallowed hard, feeling an overwhelming surge of excitement.
He quickly turned his focus back to the card, his breathing quickening.
"Alright, let's draw!" He chose to activate it. The next moment, the card cracked open, emitting a burst of light.
[Congratulations! You have gained the talent: Master Builder.]
[All your subjects' construction speed has increased by 10 times!]
…
"Master Builder?" Ludin's eyes flashed with excitement as he decided to test it out.
Coincidentally, the last function was [Build].
He opened the building page and saw two available structures.
[Barracks: Requires 50 wood, 100 stone, build time: 3 hours.]
[Arrow Tower: Requires 100 wood, 50 stone, build time: 30 minutes.]
Other than these two, the interface was empty.
Ludin guessed that since he was still a level 1 novice lord, only these two buildings were available to him at the moment.
"Then let's use this to test things out," Ludin ordered the five barbarians. "Build me a barracks, now!"
Upon receiving the command, the five barbarians immediately sprang into action.
Materials appeared in the air around them automatically. With their strong arms, they grabbed rough logs and hoisted heavy stones onto their shoulders, making their way toward the spot Ludin had designated.
At the same time, a translucent clock appeared, displaying a countdown.
[Barracks: Construction time: 3 hours]
[Time remaining: 2:59:59]
The clock showed a construction time of three hours, but Ludin quickly realized something unusual.
The barbarians' movements, which had seemed slow and unremarkable at first, suddenly became much faster once they began construction. It was as if they had been infused with some kind of magical energy. Their speed was astonishing!
Each barbarian seemed to be moving like a whirlwind, their arms blurring with such speed that after every swing, afterimages appeared. The logs and stones seemed to be controlled by magic, quickly assembling and stacking themselves.
As for the countdown, it was speeding up at an extraordinary rate, as though someone had pressed the fast-forward button. Every time Ludin counted a second in his mind, ten seconds passed on the timer.
"Shit, it really is ten times faster! Is this what being a Master Builder means?" Ludin's eyes widened, his expression filled with excitement.
So, the original three-hour construction time now only took 18 minutes to complete?
While every other player would be stuck waiting for construction to finish, he had a ten-fold speed boost! Wasn't this the perfect head start?
Ludin was ecstatic, already imagining himself building a city and stepping over all the other players. His future seemed bright!
But just as he was lost in his thoughts, the group of barbarians suddenly stopped, all of them turning to face Ludin while patting their stomachs.
Ludin froze. "Wait, are you... asking for food?"
"Grroooaaar~"
The barbarians' stomachs all growled in perfect unison. It wasn't that they didn't want to work; it was that they physically couldn't continue without food.
Ludin rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Seriously? The game hasn't even started properly, and already I need to feed them?" He opened his warehouse, but after taking a look, his face fell.
There were only 10 loaves of bread.
"This is bad... I'm out of resources," Ludin muttered. He had no choice but to give each barbarian one loaf of bread. The barbarians hungrily devoured the food, and soon enough, their strength was restored, their faces brightening a bit.
But once they finished eating, their eyes once again turned to Ludin.
"Don't look at me, there's no more food," Ludin sighed helplessly. The game had only provided him with ten loaves of bread to begin with. If they ate it all now, he'd have nothing left to feed them later, and they'd be hungry again by nightfall.
Fortunately, after hearing that, the five barbarians didn't ask for more. With their stomachs only half full, they got back to work, sweating as they continued their labor.
Ludin decided to take advantage of their work time to do a quick survey of the area around his territory. "While they're building the barracks, I might as well familiarize myself with the terrain."
It didn't take long for Ludin to realize that his territory was located on an island. Not far from the wooden house, there was a beach, and beyond that, the vast expanse of the ocean stretched endlessly.
Looking inland, he saw that both he and his small wooden house were situated on a desolate patch of land. But after walking only about three hundred meters, he came upon a patch of dense vegetation and jungle.
"From the steel jungle of the city back to an island vacation life," Ludin thought, trying to comfort himself.
He gazed at the sea. "With the Master Builder talent, being a lord might not be so bad after all."
The next moment, he opened his warehouse to check the consumption of materials.
The barracks required 50 units of wood and 100 units of stone. This meant that with his current stock, he still had 450 units of wood and 400 units of stone left.
"Hmm, wood and stone can be gathered on the island, but food..." Ludin's eyes narrowed. He now only had 5 loaves of bread left.
Even if each barbarian ate one loaf per meal, and assuming no new food was found, they'd run out of food after the next meal. That was without considering himself or the possibility of recruiting new soldiers!
"It looks like the urgent issue is food," Ludin thought to himself. Just then, a sharp, high-pitched sound suddenly broke through the air!
"Aroo!"
A piercing wolf howl sliced through the air, shattering the quiet around him!