Kayan was silent for a few seconds as he looked at Vesh, and then nodded.
"It makes sense. But I have a condition."
"What?"
"Don't treat me like a kid."
Vesh chuckled. "Sure."
Kayan nodded. "Alright, so who do I have to kill and how much will I get?"
"Calm down." Vesh wryly smiled. "First, we have to explore our surroundings and secure our necessities. As you can see, we have nothing here."
…
Vesh and Kayan went to Arga first. He had made a big stack of wood blocks, which Vesh stored in his Inventory.
Afterward, the trio went to Rovina, who had stacked stone blocks in the southern part where there were boulders.
Gathering the gang, Vesh headed further south, leaving his territory to explore.
"The priority is getting food and a water source," Vesh muttered.
"I can hear a water source," Arga said. "There's a flowing river straight up if my ears aren't deceiving me."
"A river? That's awesome."
The group continued for four hundred meters as they left the thick woods, and there it was.
A clean flowing river!
[Congratulations. You have completed the main quest and acquired the rewards.]
'Great.'
"Alright, everyone. We'll take a small break here. I am going to use this stone to awaken my talent." Vesh took out the Awakening Stone from his Inventory.
"That looks interesting." Rovina blinked. "Such strange magical power."
Arga nodded. "It's mysterious. I can't identify its attributes."
"Whatever. Just do it fast." Kayan began walking towards the river. "I'm going to bathe in the river."
Vesh looked at the small stone and frowned at the detail he got. "It looks like I'll have to eat this."
"Then eat it." Arga laughed. "Don't worry. Given its arcane feel, it might just melt in your mouth."
"Indeed." Rovina nodded.
"Alright." With that, Vesh put the awakening stone in his mouth.
Just as he put it in his mouth, a mix of cool and hot sensations spread as the stone literally melted into some kind of energy that entered his body swiftly.
A second later, the paradoxical sensation coursed through his body, but there wasn't any pain.
Only a strange comfort that lasted for three seconds before disappearing.
[Congratulations. You have awakened a talent—King's Rule | SSS-rank | Potential: 1✧/100✧]
[King's Rule reacts to your will and resolve about a task and creates a rule that enforces the completion of the task. The efficiency and accuracy of the task completiondepends on the Rule's Difficulty Rating and the potential of the talent.]
'Eh?' Vesh was surprised. Because he was used to living by making rules in his life and following them to live optimally, due to the setbacks his body and situation brought.
That was how he survived!
And now, he just got a talent like this.
[New Main Quest triggered.]
[You have acquired a Blueprint—Stone Walls]
[Main Quest: Securing Territory]
—Build a border wall around your territory.
—Secure some food and water.
—Basic Blueprint Set.
[Builder Mode has been unlocked. Upon activating Builder Mode, you can see your territory with birds' eye view and place constructs of blueprints you have. If you don't have enough materials for the constructs, you can place spectral constructs that can automatically become physical once you have enough materials in your Inventory or within your territory.]
Vesh blinked. His status had an additional tab.
— Builder Mode —
[Blueprints]
'Let's finish this first. I'll test my talent after that.'
Vesh activated the Builder Mode.
[You can only activate Builder Mode within your territory.]
Vesh stood up. "Alright, folks. It seems we will need to cut down more trees and stones. You two can start that again since we have to build walls around our territory."
"Alright."
"As for Kayan, I'll send him on a hunt for food and scouting."
Rovina and Arga began working while Vesh went to Kayan, who was bathing in the river.
"Kayan, if there are fish in the river, grab them and throw them outside."
Kayan turned around and waved his hand.
In the next second, ten big fish pierced by bloody threads flew out of the water and landed behind Vesh.
"More?" Kayan asked.
Vesh chuckled. "Nah, these ten are enough for now. Next, can you scout a couple of kilometres around the territory and give me a report on everything you find? Don't go too far, and if you find some people, immediately return and inform me instead of fighting them."
"Fine."
…
Vesh went back to the territory and started the Builder Mode.
In the next moment, he was watching everything from above.
His territory was considered a 150 by 150 meters empty square in the middle of the woods.
To the south was a river that flowed from west to east. He could see hills and mountains in the west and north, and a thin forest in the east.
'So the optimal exploration directions are east and south for now.'
In the west and north, there were hills and mountains.
Only the east and south had more ground and thin forest, a relatively easy direction to explore for now.
But before exploring there, Vesh began putting up the walls.
A stone wall was 5 meters wide and 10 meters tall. One wall required 10 blocks of stone and 10 blocks of wood.
The trees were quite tall and big, so a single tree provided 50 to 100 wood blocks based on its size.
The boulders were relatively bigger, so one could easily provide a few hundred stone blocks.
Vesh began putting up the walls. He had a few hundred wood blocks and stone blocks already, so the walls materialised solidly at first, but once he was out of resources, the walls became ethereal, semi-transparent.
But he still finished bordering his territory by putting all around, except for one wall's worth of space in each of the four cardinal directions to put gates there.
All three objectives of the new main quest were completed.
The water was secured as they found the river.
Food was secured as they got fish from the river.
And walls were built around the territory.
[Congratulations. You have completed the main quest and acquired the Basic Blueprint Set.]
Vesh checked his Inventory and saw the Blueprints he just got.
[Watch Tower]
[Ballista]
[Sawmill]
[Grinder]
'Interesting.' Vesh blinked and checked out the details of these blueprints.
[Watch Tower]
-Rank: D
-Cost: 100 Plank, 100 Stone Bricks.
[Ballista]
-Rank: D
-Cost: 20 Plank, 20 Stone Bricks.
-Bolt Cost: 1 Stone Brick.
'I guess I'll get Plank and Stone Bricks from Sawmill and Grinder.'
[Sawmill]
[Rank: D]
[Job: 2 people.]
[Cost: 100 Wood Blocks, 100 Stone Blocks]
[Available production: 1]
—Plank
[Grinder]
[Rank: D]
[Job: 2 people]
[Cost: 100 Wood Blocks, 100 Stone Blocks]
[Available Production: 1]
—Stone Bricks.
'So I need people to run these…well, that makes sense, but that means for more stuff in the future, I'll need more people.'
Vesh wondered if he was going to summon them, or if people would arrive here like nomads or those who were migrating.
But for now, he needed a lot of Wood Blocks and Stone Blocks to finish all the constructions.
Unfortunately, he only had one Woodcutting Axe and one Pickaxe, so only Arga and Rovina could farm these materials.
After constructing four spectral Watch Towers, putting Ballistas in each of them, and placing one Sawmill and one Grinder at corner in the territory, Vesh took out a box from his Inventory.
[D-rank Weapon Choice Box]
Wind Sword. Earth Halberd. Flame Spear.
Vesh was a bit disappointed at only three options, but he chose the wind sword without hesitation.
Arga was proficient in sword, so he could learn from him.
'With this King's Rule, I should be able to learn it fast, right?'
Vesh decided to try it.
'King's Rule. I will gain beginner mastery of the sword by training.'
[King's Rule Created]
[Difficulty Rating: B]
Vesh suddenly found his body turning stiff.
Then his hand moved as the Wind Sword appeared in his hand from the inventory.
Swoosh!
He swung the sword vertically.
'What the…' Vesh blinked, surprised.
He couldn't control his own body anymore. It was moving on its own!
'Wait, so I won't stop until I gain beginner mastery?'
He began moving automatically, his steps stiff at first, but they became fluid soon as he kept up with his body and focused on the movements.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Twenty minutes.
By now, Vesh was wet with sweat, and his body was aching.
During these twenty minutes, Arga and Rovina also cut many trees and boulders.
Ten minutes later, they cut enough to materialise all spectral constructs.
The walls all around were built, and the four Watch Towers stood solidly.
The duo went back to the territory's centre and watched Vesh curiously.
Vesh was dead tired and filled with pain by now, and he was having difficulty breathing, but since he couldn't stop his body, he tried to adjust his pace and breathing according to the sword and body movement to continue.
"Why aren't you stopping if you are like that?" Rovina frowned.
"These foundational movements are quite flawless." Arga caressed his beard while nodding at Almond's sword training. "Where did you learn them?"
Vesh shook his head twice before he looked away from them and focused on the training.
Sweat dripped all over, and his body visibly trembled, but the training didn't stop.
"It looks like he can't stop." Arga blinked.
Vesh nodded.
[King's Rule Potential +4✧]
As Vesh heard the notification, his movement shifted.
Agra and Rovina soon noticed.
Arga blinked twice. "His moves just became sharper, stabler, and he is doing a step higher routine of swordplay. Interesting moves…"
"I can learn from this." Using the woodcutting axe, he began imitating Vesh's movements.
A minute passed, and Vesh felt like he was going to die anytime now.
This new routine was harsher!
His body should have collapsed, and he could feel bone damage at several locations, but despite the pain, the darn body flawlessly kept its routine!
And it just hurt more!
His vision was already blurry, his consciousness shaking.
'Fuck…am I going to…die?'
'No.'
'Fuck no!'
Vesh's eyes cleared.
'I refuse to let go of this new life!'
A life where he could become healthier and stronger!
A life where he could meet with people and build a family of his own!
A life full of wonders and adventures in a mysterious world!
'I will not let go of this!'
Vesh forced himself to focus through the pain as he followed through the routine.
And just as he finished one routine, a melodious sound rang.
[Congratulations. You have learned a talent—Swordsman | D-rank | Potential: 1✧/5✧]
[King's Rule executed.]
Vesh froze.
And then fell on the floor like a wet noodle, sweating and trembling with pain.
Vesh forced a smile at the duo. "Help."