Erik slipped in and out of consciousness. From the glimpse he managed to catch, he was rescued and brought to a nearby hospital via helicopter. The doctors and nurses operated on him and bandaged him up. He had third-degree burns over 90% of his body, and yet, he was still breathing. This was all thanked to his new-found power. His inner realm prevented his soul from passing on. And if his soul remained trapped inside his body, he cannot die in the normal sense.

“I’m not sure how to feel about this….” Erik commented when his consciousness was brought back into the abyss. Darkness enveloped him once more. With his body in such horrid condition, staying awake was an impossible task. The pain was too much for him to handle. Morphine drips didn’t help at all, and the attending doctor was about to put him in an induced coma to help with the healing.

[Your physical body is too damage to sustain your consciousness]

“Yeah, I got that,” Erik said and thought of numerous ways he could be rendered “dead” despite the welcoming side effect of his power. Beheading would probably do him in. There was no way for him to recover from that. Being shredded into pieces was another.

Erik knew he wasn’t invincible – far from it. But if his body remained wholly intact and functional, he would able to basically resurrect himself. Otherwise, he would have to wait until his body ‘naturally’ heal or someone comes along and patches him up. Speaking of which. “By the way, what were you saying about my healing ability? Is that another side effect?”

[Due to awakening, your body gained several accelerated physical attributes, including enhanced healing. This is natural. If your body is not damaged beyond repair, you will recover with sufficient time]

“Is everyone the same?” Erik questioned. That would explain how Luke managed to man-handled George like he was a child.

[Yes]

“Am I still human?”

[…]

“…”

There was an awkward moment of silence. The voice was thinking.

[Define human]

“Never mind,” Erik said with a sigh. He didn’t want to start a lengthy debate about what constitutes as a human. He hoped he was still human – or something resembled humanity in a sense. It was bad enough to be burned alive, he didn’t want to become something out of a nightmare.

Luke looked like Luke in appearance, but that was all. His personality had changed completely from what Erik recalled. Aside from trying to stab a teacher and getting expelled, Luke had kept to himself most of the time and barely speak to anyone. Erik wondered if Lance is going to be the same? Will all his classmates going to be monsters, killing people without a second thought?

Erik let out another sigh. Putting those thoughts away, he turned his attention to the Headquarter. It was the only building he managed to build with the single tile he had. With its existence, the amount of materials remaining in his “stockpile” were shown. There was 100 golds and 200 stones and irons each left. The HQ costed 300 units of golds, 400 units of woods, 200 units of stones and 200 units of irons.

“How much is one unit of woods?” Erik asked.

[1 unit]

“Of course it is. That was very helpful,” Erik snorted and opened up the HQ menu. There was only a couple of options available – recruit and demolish. Demolish was self-explanatory. Recruit on the other hand allowed him to get his first unit: Worker. They costed 30 golds each with 1 gold upkeep per day.

There was such a thing as upkeep. Erik equated them to real-world wages. If he didn’t have enough gold to pay the workers, they would quit their job.

With the amount of resources available, Erik could recruit 3 workers off the bat and keep them in his service for 3 days at most. He could dismiss the worker once recruited, but the recruitment cost (30 gold) would be lost. There was no reimbursement whatsoever besides unit slots. A worker cost 1 unit slot and 1 food each day.

“What is the purpose of food if I have to pay their upkeep?” Erik asked.

[Food keeps your units in top condition. Without foods, they will not have the strength to complete their designated task]

“Alright… I guess that make sense but why is there a +10 next to food?” Erik asked. He didn’t have a tile to build let alone a food production facility.

[Grassland tiles automatically provide +10 foods each once utilized. A food producing structure will also gain additional productivity if built on Grassland tile]

“I see,” Erik took in the information. That meant he wasted a grassland tile for a Headquarter. If he wanted maximum efficiency, he would need to move the HQ to another tile later. Land was also a form of resource and should utilized correctly.

“Moving buildings around going to cost me a lot of resources – and time,” Erik sighed. Time was also a resource. Building any structure required time. He sighed again and returned his attention to the recruitment window. “Recruiting probably requires time as well. Should I recruit one?”

Erik held off the thought. If he was stuck in a coma, it was unwise to recruit any unit. He wouldn’t be able to do anything with the worker while continuously loses one gold every day.

“Say… Al,” Erik began.

[Al?]

“Artificial Intelligent,” Erik said. He should give the voice a name. It was easier to hold conversation that way.

[My intelligent is not artificial]

“Dell then,” Erik corrected. He didn’t want to start pointless debate. Any easy to say name was fine by him. “Say Dell, what would happen if I was put into a coma?”

[It would be equivalent to sleeping]

“So basically, I can’t do shit when I’m in a coma,” Erik muttered. He didn’t have time to waste in a coma. His body would heal regardless he was in one or not. “That’s no good. Is there any way out of this?”

[I can sever the tether to your physical body]

“You can?”

[You will die]

“Any options that doesn’t involve me from dying?”

[Wait out the coma]

“Tsk… you’re no help,” Erik muttered. He floated around the abyss for a moment. “Can you reattach the tether once it severed?”

[Yes]

“How long can I stay… alive if the tether is severed?”

[10 minutes]

“10 minutes. Plenty of time. Alright, can you do this then…”

– Real Time Reality –

“He has stop breathing, doctor,” the nurses notified. The doctor went to check his patient’s body to confirm what he had feared. He shook his head afterwards.

“It’s a miracle he was able to stay this long. Please record the time,” the doctor said and wrote down his analysis on the patient’s log. The patient’s name remained blank. They didn’t know his name but from his body weight and size, he was just a teenager. The forest fire had claimed yet another victim, and there would be many more once this day is over.

– Real Time Reality –

[It is done. They have taken you to the morgue]

“Cool,” Erik said as the feeling of dread faded away. “This must be what it feels like to be a ghost.”

[A ghost is a soul without a tether to the physical world. In a sense, it is what you were a minute ago]

“Right,” Erik muttered and put that knowledge away. A sheepish smile plastered on his face. “I can’t wait to see the mortician’s face when I’m up and about.”

Erik dropped the smile and returned to the recruitment window. He had more important task than pranking people. He used 30 golds to recruit a worker. The bell in the headquarter chimed and its front door opened. Inside was a swirling purple mist. A man in his thirties emerged from the mist and exited the building. The door closed behind him.

“Some kind of summoning?” Erik pondered and examined the man. He only had a pair of blue pants on. “Hello?”

The man remained unresponsive. He simply looked straight ahead – at nothing. A window appeared when Erik touched the man.

“What will you have me do, my Lord?” the man said as if he had been selected. A crystal appeared above his head, hovering and glowing blue. A circle appeared beneath his feet.

“Oh? This is interesting,” Erik said and touched the man again. The crystal flickered.

“Do you need me for something?” the man asked. He looked around before returning to the stance he had initially and staring into the abyss.

“Just like a RTS,” Erik said with a grin and tried to illicit a response repeatedly.

“Just point me in the right direction, my Lord.”

“Is there some work need to be done?”

“What need to be build?”

“Work, work, work… when will I get pay?”

“Stop touching me there! I don’t swing that way!”

Erik froze at the last response. “I didn’t expect that. Are they real?”

[They are AI, artificial intelligence]

Erik rolled his eyes and looked at the window appeared next to the man. “Seriously? How am I not surprise?”

Name: William Strongarm [Edit]

Gender: Male

Age: 32

Class: Peasant

Profession: Worker

Heath Point (HP): 80/80

Stamina Point (SP): 50/50

Mana Point (MP): 0/0

Strength: 10

Constitution: 9

Resistance: 8

Dexterity: 8

Charisma: 11

Wisdom: 5

Perception: 9

Luck: 8

Equipment: Bandana (head), Leather Legging (lower-body), Copper Ring (Right hand middle-finger)