Dalton stood there completely stunned, watching Marcus finish what looked like a game of building blocks.
Even though the construction process had seemed almost playful, like watching a kid stack toy blocks. When he tested one of the walls, throwing his most powerful punch, it didn't even leave a scratch.
But that wasn't the strangest part. Even if the buildings did take damage somehow, as long as the attacks weren't continuous, the damage would repair itself. It was like the structures had some kind of healing factor built in.
The whole complex was ridiculously sturdy, tougher than any fortress he'd ever seen.
And across the entire area, Marcus had installed glowstone and magma blocks that provided constant warmth. The ground temperature was perfectly regulated, no snow would ever accumulate here, no matter how harsh the winter got.
Combined with the orderly rows of cherry blossom trees, the faint pink against the white snow was kind of breathtaking. Even with their blocky appearance, they created something beautiful.
"Oh, Dalton, I installed a second backup system underground," Marcus said, leading him toward the school cafeteria and then down into a hidden tunnel system.
"Down here we've got wheat, pumpkins, watermelons, and several fruit trees. Like I mentioned before, these fruit trees only drop fruit when you break the leaves, not the trunk. Below that, I've stocked emergency supplies in various chests."
He pointed to an iron helmet displayed in an item frame on the wall.
"This is iron armor. Just slap it on your body and it'll give you iron-man level defense, though there's a durability limit, it'll break down eventually with use."
He gestured to the next display. "This is an iron sword, your basic melee weapon. Over here are tools: shovels, hoes, pickaxes. You saw how effective they are up top. And these are seeds for replanting. If something ever destroys the surface crops, you can start over down here."
Marcus walked Dalton through the entire underground shelter system, explaining each component and backup plan he'd built into the design.
Finally, they reached the lowest level of the complex.
"This is a Nether Portal," Marcus explained, gesturing toward the obsidian frame filled with swirling purple light. "The destination is an empty world, nothing but open space. If someday an unbeatable crisis happens up here, you can walk straight through and be safe."
He pointed to a chest nearby. "But to prevent enemies from following you, you'll need to use the water buckets in that chest to destroy the portal's light curtain once you're through. That way, they can't chase after you. I'll check on that place regularly to make sure you're okay."
The moment he finished explaining the portal, something incredible happened. Countless experience orbs suddenly erupted from Dalton's body, flooding toward Marcus in a golden stream.
Marcus stared in shock, not at the amount of experience, but at the timing. He'd done so many things today without triggering any experience gain, but just mentioning the portal had generated this massive windfall.
Could it mean that in the future, this portal would play a crucial role in some destiny-changing event? Something that would alter the course of history on Drum Island?
He didn't dwell on it too much. After all, that was the future's problem. He'd figure it out when the time came.
The experience boost pushed him to Level 49, just one step away from the milestone of Level 50.
"Well, I should probably get some rest. I've been working for over a day straight," he said, waving goodbye as he prepared to return to the ship via the Nether Portal.
Along the way, he dismantled the zombified piglin farm he'd built earlier. It wasn't really needed anymore, and the space would be better used for other projects.
Just as Marcus was about to step into the portal, Dalton's voice rang out behind him.
"Thank you for everything you've done! I will never forget your kindness!"
Marcus smiled and waved back. "I hope you'll be a good king. By the way, has your new nation decided on a name yet?"
"Yes! We're calling it Neverwinter!"
"..." Marcus froze for a moment, then chuckled and shook his head. "Well, that's certainly ambitious. I hope you can live up to that name."
He disappeared into the purple swirl of the Nether Portal.
Dalton silently left the underground level, closing the trapdoor behind him and piling various objects on top to camouflage the entrance.
"I will fulfill your vision," he said quietly to himself. "A nation without class distinctions."
---
Meanwhile, Marcus found himself back at the bedrock layer of the Nether. He used his chain-mining ability to dismantle the zombified piglin farm with a single command, and the entire structure disappeared in seconds.
The thing had cost him over an hour to build, but it wasn't completely useless, it had provided over 100 million EMC.
Looking at the Nether Portal, he began considering his long-term plans.
Originally, he'd thought about using this place as a prison. But the bedrock layer was actually better suited for constructing a Nether transport network. Since he didn't need to worry about distance calculations here, he could potentially create a true global teleportation system if he wanted to.
This portal currently connected to Drum Island, and Drum Island's portal led back here. A perfect two-way link.
He quickly built a decent-looking wooden house next to the portal, then placed a sign on the ground that read "Drum Island" in clear block letters.
After some consideration, he decided to pave the floor with stone slabs to prevent monster spawning and make the area safer for potential refugees.
Soon, a path made of stone slabs stretched out in front of the portal, leading to other areas he might develop later.
Thinking about the possibility that refugees might actually need to use this place someday, he decided to build a larger shelter nearby. It didn't need to be fancy, functional was good enough.
After all, he had a limited number of blocks available, and without better mods installed, he needed to make do with what he had.
Within an hour, he'd constructed a thousand-square-meter building. It was basic but solid.
"Damn, I forgot about monster spawning," he muttered, quickly modifying the structure by adding stone slabs to the roof and other flat surfaces.
"Hmm, still feels a bit off. Let me adjust this..."
After several more tweaks and modifications, he was finally satisfied with the result.
"Good enough for government work," he said, stepping back to admire the completed refugee shelter.
Still, seeing a lone building sitting bare in the middle of the Nether felt awkward. The place needed more decoration.
Marcus clapped his hands together. "Time to get some quartz! I think piglins trade quartz... or maybe not. Whatever, I'll just mine some myself."
He quickly set up another portal, stepped through to return to his ship, then immediately went back to the Soul Sand Valley where he'd been mining before.
He dug into the ground, but when he looked up, his blood ran cold.
Countless zombified piglins were swarming across the hillsides in every direction.
"Holy shit... there's way too many of them now."
The sight was so overwhelming it triggered his trypophobia. They covered every visible surface.
Still, he forced himself to endure the disturbing sight and dug out a piece of quartz from the edge of a quartz vein. But as he stepped onto the soul sand to make his escape, he glanced back at the horde.
"Is it my imagination, or are they moving toward me?"
Looking into the distance, he realized the zombified piglins really were shifting in his direction.
But as he watched more carefully, he noticed something strange: not a single zombified piglin crossed onto the soul sand, no matter how crowded they became at the border.
Curious about this behavior, he walked to the edge of the soul sand area.
The zombified piglins showed no hostility toward him, they just stood there, swaying mindlessly.
On an impulse, he reached out and grabbed one of them.
The zombified piglin's body immediately began sinking into the soul sand, swallowed bit by bit until it completely disappeared beneath the surface.
"Soul sand has a sinking effect... wasn't that from some really old version of Minecraft?"
He dug down where the zombified piglin had vanished, but found no trace of it. Had it sunk deeper than he expected?
He kept digging, going more than ten blocks deep, but still found no sign of the zombified piglin.
Only one possibility remained: the zombified piglin had been completely devoured by the soul sand itself.
The thought sent chills down his spine.
He refilled the pit, but placed a wooden plank two blocks below the surface as a marker. He wanted to test whether the sinking was just happening too fast to see, or if the zombified piglin were actually being consumed.
Finding another mindless zombified piglin wandering near the border, he grabbed it and pulled it onto the soul sand.
Just like before, it sank without resistance into the gray sand until it vanished completely.
When it disappeared, he carefully dug away the soul sand layer by layer, tracking exactly where the zombified piglin should have gone.
Nothing.
He kept digging downward until he uncovered the wooden plank he'd placed as a marker.