Each person – settler – produced a unit of gold per unit of food they consumed. Erik didn’t bother to question the logic behind the rate of exchange since one unit of gold (5 ounces) could buy hundreds unit of food with some money left over.

“I’m rich!” Erik called out and pondered what was the exchange rate of gold. It should be around 1k per ounce. “I’m super rich!”

[…]

“Right,” Erik chuckled. He turned his attention to the window and tried to upgrade the shelter. The squares it occupied flashed red, but nothing changed otherwise. He attempted again while keeping his eyes on the grid. 3x3 square grid flashed instead of 2x2 square grid the shelter occupied. “Ah, you got to be shitting me!”

The wooden shelters were placed next to each other, tightly packed. It was not possible to upgrade them without demolishing some.

“I need to put some thought into this,” Erik muttered and selected the Headquarter. He needed to see how much resources he had left. The stockpile window was brought up.

Unit: 1/10

Population: 14/14

Gold: 38/1000 (+13)

Wood: 11/1000 (+0)

Stone: 191/1000 (+0)

Iron: 199/1000 (+0)

Food: 8/1000 (-7)

Erik quickly scanned through the numbers and pondered if they were correct. Astrid Silvermoon was his only unit. To keep her around, he had to pay 1 gold upkeep and 1 food for sustenance. Since he’d recruited 2 Workers, paid for William’s upkeep and gave a block to SS, he should have 38 unit of gold lefts. The math checked out.

“Why I only have plus 13? Don’t have 14 settlers?” Erik asked and realized it accounted for upkeep as well. The negative food was a concern. “What happens if I run out of food?”

[People will abandon your settlement. Your unit will starve, and so will you]

“Me?” Erik muttered. “Why would I starve?”

[Your physical body is in the inner realm and will consume 1 food for sustenance. The one who can turn invisible also consume 1 food for sustenance. The only one who doesn’t need food is me.]

“Is that so… 1 for me, 1 for SS, 1 for Astrid, 14 for Settlers. I get 20 for Grassland tiles… that should be plus 3,” Erik said and looked at the number in bracket. It was negative 7, implying the Settlement built on Grassland didn’t yield food bonuses. “Well, that sucks. At least give me some bonuses!”

Even without the bonuses, Settlement allowed him to convert his food into gold, which was more difficult to obtain than food. He brought up Astrid window and scanned the surrounding once more to see if any Shadows lurking in the darkness.

“This is too risky,” Erik told himself and selected the Headquarter. With 30 golds disappearing from his stockpile, the heavy wooden doors opened and spat out a huge man from the swirling mist. His name was Leon Hammerhand.

“What is your demand of this lowly peasant, great Lord?” Leon asked and straightened his posture with his chest puffed out. He then looked around the area. An exclamation mark hovered above his head when he was done.

“Where is SS hiding?” Erik remarked while clicking onto the exclamation mark and keeping an eye on the Settlement and its inhabitants. He also paid some attention of the masses of people still standing in the abyss, waiting to be settled and sheltered. “I need to gather more woods for housings and raid a supermarket for food.”

This was more to his liking. Erik was used to doing so many things all at the same time in game. In a normal gameplay, he could be building his home base and its defences, gathering resource, scouting ahead and preparing to expand, and sieging other players. And without his physical body, he would never get exhausted.

“I’ve sense something nearby, but my eyes are telling me there is nothing there,” Leon said. “Should I try and hit it?”

“No!” Erik called out. He took note that his units could sense SS, and so could Dell. “Just repeat what I say.”

“SS, you don’t need to hide. There is nothing dangerous here,” Leon announced. “I have the power to create people and use them as my avatars. Since they are my creation, they will not hurt you just like your illusions won’t try and frighten me.”

It took a bit more convincing for SS to drop her invisibility. She was hiding behind the Headquarter, looking at the Settlement with envious eyes. There were a couple of kids there, chasing each other and giggling. They seemed to be carefree and not remembered how they died.

“Do you want to go over there and play?” Leon asked. SS shook her head. “Don’t be scare. They will not hurt you.”

SS shook her head and looked at the unmoving body on the ground. Erik followed her gaze and told himself to steal a bed as soon as possible.

“I won’t go anywhere, I promise,” Leon said and pointed at the sky. “I’m still here, watching over you even if you cannot see me.”

SS looked at the sky and blinked. Instead of the endless abyss, she saw a real sky with fluffy clouds. It was an illusion created by the tile. Erik saw the same illusion before his body expired and ejected his consciousness.

“Are you God?” SS asked. Her hands were fidgeting.

“No. I’m not God. I’m just like you. My power just works differently than yours,” Leon repeated what Erik said. He gave some thought to her power. It wasn’t exactly invisibility since when invisibility had the power to create illusions. He would examine her power in-depth soon, but for now, it was not on his list of priority.

SS brightened up a little. “Big brother, can I really stay here?”

“Yes,” Leon said and turned towards the Settlement. “It is not much right now, but in time, there will be many people with many buildings with many things to do.” His eyes returned to SS. “You can use your power here, but no more scaring people okay?”

SS nodded.

“That’s a good girl,” Leon said. “Please try and make some friends. It’s more fun playing than playing by yourself.”

SS nodded and noticed the heavy door of the massive building opened. Swirling purple mists could be found inside. “Are you leaving?”

“Only my avatar is,” Leon said. “I have things for him to do. If you need me, just called out my name and I will listen, SS.”

“It’s Sophia Stone,” Sophia muttered.

“Nice to meet you Sophia Stone,” Leon said as Erik smiled. “I’m Erik Summers.”

Leon left the inner world afterwards and met up with Astrid in the outer world. Erik was going to let Leon head into town in search for resources while leaving Astrid at the hospital for safety, but after thinking it through, it was better for the both to hunt for resources. Two people scouting was better than one. As for his own body, it was better to leave it in the hospital. He would be just one of many sleeping people in the hallway.

When Leon left, SS sneaked around the Settlement area without turning invisible. The adults paid her no mind and went on with whatever they were doing. Most of them were wandering the area aimlessly, but some were heading to the Headquarter. They headed up the staircase, disappeared and came back with a pile of logs or foods to take back home. The stockpile didn’t change when that happened. It was just for show.

“Are they even real?” Erik questioned while checking Astrid’s and Leon’s screen. Each were heading in separate direction to cover more grounds. Astrid reached the edge of the town while Leon found a convenience store. Erik had Astrid turned back and tried another road since the woods was a bad idea at night, especially with the heavy rain. She also lacked the tool needed to chop down trees.

Leon on the other hand, kicked his way through the front door of the convenience store. 3HP drifted away from his body when that happened. The alarm didn’t go off thanked to the total blackout. The man then pulled himself through the broken door and scanned the inside of the store. It was dark – the only light was coming from the sky in the form of lightnings.

“I wonder if a unit can use a flashlight,” Erik muttered and had Leon searched for a flashlight in the dark. While he did that, Erik checked up on Astrid again. She passed a lumberyard, causing his eyes to light up.

“Stop Astrid,” Erik ordered and selected the lumberyard on the screen. A list of options appeared, but ‘Scavenge’ was not on the list. In fact, none of the usual options was on the list. “Ah fuck, forgot the waypoint.”

Scavenge was possible when a waypoint manifested. Astrid immediately went to work and dragged a log into the waypoint. Erik had half-expected a log to come out of the HQ and flatten some of the settlers as they climbed up the staircase, but that didn’t happen, thankfully. The salvaged log went straight into the stockpile, increasing his woods supply by 5.

“5 woods per log,” Erik commented and zoomed out to see how many there are. There were plenty, which brought a happy smile to his face. He should have more than enough to build housings for the settlers before they disappear. By the third log, the smile died and turned to frown. An exclamation mark appeared above Astrid as she stopped working, prompting him to check.

“This one is tired,” Astrid called out. Her stamina point (SP) was at 0. It would take some time for her to recover.

“Take a rest,” Erik ordered and closed the waypoint. He spent 20 woods to build another wooden shelter, allowing 2 more settlers in. He watched them emerged from the abyss and headed towards their new dwelling. Nearby, Sophia was spying on the kids. She was too shy to join them, and they, being simulated, didn’t invite her over.

Erik sighed and turned his attention to Leon. The man also had a question mark above his head. Erik had a look what he wanted.

「How do I use this contraption?」 – Leon Hammerhand. He was referring to the flashlight.

“Try pressing the switch,” Erik suggested and watched the unit fiddling with the flashlight. When he got it working, the ring beneath his feet glowed with a small inscription. Erik narrowed his eyes and zoomed in to see the text.

“Gained 1 Wisdom!” – the text stated.

“So that’s how,” Erik commented and had a look of Leon’s stats and attributes.

Name: Leon Hammerhand [Edit]

Gender: Male

Age: 27

Class: Peasant

Profession: Worker

Heath Point (HP): 87/100

Stamina Point (SP): 55/60

Mana Point (MP): 0/0

Strength: 14

Constitution: 10

Resistance: 8

Dexterity: 10

Charisma: 5

Wisdom: 3

Perception: 9

Luck: 3

Equipment: Linen shirt (upper-body), Linen Legging (lower-body), Iron bracelet (right-wrist)

Leon’s wisdom did go up by 1. He was still dumb though. It explained why he used his legs to break into the store while a rock nearby would do just fine.

“Huh? When did he lose 10HP?” Erik questioned. While he could multitask, he didn’t pay attention to every small detail happening on the screens and in his inner world.

[He hit himself with the device to see if it works]

Erik face-palmed. To lose 10HP, Leon didn’t even hesitate. “His luck is pretty shit.”

Luck in game was an adjustment factor for critical hit and loot drop. Since loot didn’t exists as there were no monster to be hunted, it must relate to critical hit. Leon’s strength was above average, luck didn’t matter as much. At least, that was what Erik thought. He was wrong.

5HP drifted away from Leon as the shelves fell on him in his tumbling in the dark. Despite having a flashlight, he didn’t use it to see where he was going. He had it around his waist, pointing upwards at the ceiling.

Erik sweat-dropped. “Alright, this guy is a hazard to himself and everyone around him.”