He had only seven days of safety; seven days in this virtual world that felt more real than it had any right to be. Seven days to win… or perish.
The system had made it brutally clear: if he lost control of his territory before that time was up, he would be permanently deleted from the game—forever.
Shaun didn't have the luxury of failure, not after he had staked his last hope for his mother's treatment on this very game. So he had to get stronger, fast.
As he raised his head, a small icon in the corner of his vision caught his eye: [Regional Channel].
He hesitated for a moment, then opened it with a tense curiosity.
A window burst open before him, crammed with a flood of messages scrolling by at a frantic pace, the text sometimes blurring together from the sheer volume. Most of them were in a state of confusion and panic, trading childish questions, half-baked advice, and curses.
[Damn it! A Level 3 Grey Wolf attacked me! How am I supposed to fight it with a broken wooden axe?!]
[Hahaha! Man up! I've already killed three. Just don't stand in its way when it lunges!]
The replies came in like a storm.
[Anyone got iron? I need 5 units to build a barracks!]
[Guys, my squad is starving! Is there any food besides berries? This system is cursed!]
[Has anyone noticed time moves faster here?! I'm sure we've lived ten hours in a single hour!]
[Can we team up? Or does the system forbid it? Someone said nearby villages can form temporary alliances!]
[Crap, something's moving near my territory... Could it be the nocturnal monsters?!]
Shaun smirked, his eyes scanning the messages. He wasn't really interested in their chatter, but something caught his attention amidst the noise—the words they repeated unconsciously: Time… time… it's moving too fast… it's not normal…
He narrowed his eyes and whispered to himself, his voice barely audible, "If time is compressed like this… does that mean seven days in the game is only seven hours in the real world?" He let out a soft chuckle, running a hand through his hair. "Fantastic… or terrifying. Depends on who exploits it first."
At that moment, a sharp notification chimed in his ear, accompanied by a golden flash in the center of his screen.
[Global Announcement: The first Level 8 territory has been established in the northern region!]
He froze for a moment. Level 8? This quickly?
Someone out there was moving with incredible speed—and unnatural efficiency.
Shaun quickly opened the details window. A faint marker indicated the new territory's location on the edge of the map, far to the north, near a domain of white, icy plains.
"Damn…" he muttered slowly.
He felt a pang of jealousy, but it wasn't anger so much as a challenge. He slowly closed the channel, then turned his gaze back to his humble village, where the small peasant, Leet, was still diligently chopping wood.
"No time for pointless talk," he said under his breath. "Chatter doesn't build kingdoms."
He wasn't the type to scream in the chat. He was the type to cause the screaming later.
"Come to think of it…" Shaun muttered, tapping his chin slowly as he watched the small peasant work with an unnatural fervor. "I haven't even checked my own status window, let alone Leet's."
He raised his hand before his face and thought, just like in the old games he used to play, perhaps there was a voice command?
"Display status," he said softly.
Instantly, a translucent interface shimmered into existence before him, like a pane of glass floating in the air, glittering with blue threads as if woven from starlight. The data began to flow, letter by letter:
[Player Name: Shaun Evander]
[Title: New Lord – Novice Rank]
[Level: 1]
[Class: Unspecified]
[Talent: The Hollow Council]
[Location: Territory 204 – Eastern Forest's Edge]
[Current Resources: Wood (17/100), Stone (3/100), Food (8/100)]
[Magical Energy: 100/100]
[Health: 100/100]
[Personal Attributes]
Strength: 0.8
Intelligence: 1.1
Endurance: 0.9
Agility: 1.1
Vitality: 1.0
Luck: —
He furrowed his brow. "This is… pathetic."
But what truly worried him wasn't the low numbers; it was the empty space next to 'Luck'—there was no value. Not a zero, not a symbol, just a silent void.
"A system bug?" he wondered aloud, then added without thinking, "Display follower status: Leet."
The interface responded immediately. A smaller window appeared next to the first, showing a miniature model of the small peasant holding his wooden axe.
[Name: Leet]
[Type: Human Follower]
[Level: 1]
[Classification: Essential Hero]
[Profession: Novice Farmer]
[Loyalty: 97%]
[Daily Production Capacity: +20 Food / +10 Wood / +150 Magical Energy]
[Status: Motivated – Stable]
[System Comment: This follower is highly essential, aggregated from the territory's core essence. In the event of his death, the village's durability will decrease by 50%.]
Shaun stared at the screen in disbelief, letting out a short laugh that died in his throat, caught somewhere between sarcasm and panic.
"An Essential Hero? The village durability drops by fifty percent if he dies? Are you kidding me... Damn it."
He ran a finger over the glowing text, revealing a small note at the bottom in barely visible grey font:
[Alert: Every Lord has only one chance to summon a unique hero who will accompany them for life.]
"Huh? A unique hero?!"
His heart leaped in his chest for a moment. He whipped his head around to look at Leet, who at that very moment was swinging his tiny wooden axe, trying to chop a log three times his size. Wood chips flew in every direction before the boy fell flat on his face a second later.
"…Oh, for god's sake."
Shaun put a hand over his face, trying to process the digital tragedy that had befallen him.
"Every other lord summons a legendary hero—a warrior, a mage, a dragonslayer, a holy knight… And me? I get a peasant."
He let out a short, hollow laugh as he whispered to himself, "It seems Luck has officially decided to make a mockery of me."
[Note: The peasant 'Leet' is considered a low-grade hero (E-Rank). Please protect him well.]
Shaun raised his eyebrows, a look of wry disgust on his face. "Fantastic. An E-Rank hero... A very encouraging start for a Lord who wants to save his mother and earn a million dollars."
He then added, looking over at Leet, who had started planting berries in the wrong type of soil, "Leet, if you could plant me some luck instead of berries, I might actually start to believe you're a hero."
Little did he know, that was something that would one day come to pass.