Strategy game? Then I'll have to control you properly.

When they finally defeated the powerful enemy and captured the last lair, the exhausted Mista returned to the fortress with his weary and wounded soldiers, and in a daze, he told everyone his thoughts.

"Although we have successfully captured the enemy's lair this time, I believe we cannot stop here. We must eradicate their foundation as soon as possible."

"That's right, the speed at which those guys are getting stronger is simply terrifying," one of the warriors chimed in.

None of the soldiers, who had just fought the Zerg, objected.

Because they had personally experienced the speed at which those monsters evolved.

"Although we are constantly getting stronger with that person's help, to be honest, I have no confidence. Not only me, but the other soldiers are the same. Apart from a few elites, just resisting is already the limit," a soldier said with difficulty.

This heartfelt confession made Mista unable to blame them for being cowardly.

Although the number of available equipment and awakened individuals is increasing as the game and program expand.

Even with continuous training and experience accumulation, only a few people can ultimately achieve a breakthrough.

Because not only the characteristics themselves, but also the process of cultivating those characteristics requires talent.

To fill the gap, one must absorb souls to forcibly increase experience and proficiency.

But souls are much more valuable than the monster essences that can be obtained in the game.

"I understand what you mean, but given our current situation, we must buy ourselves some time to rest." The document containing these opinions was sent to Attila, who was in the west, in the lands once ruled by Theodore.

Attila sighed and shook his head; this was out of practical considerations.

"We're not at the point where we can launch a proactive attack on the Black Monster's lair. Besides, we need to be on guard here. Luke, the great patriarch who controls the North, the West, and the Central Plains, is proclaiming himself the Chosen King of the Grasslands and is marching here," Attila said.

"But Father. If we let them go unchecked, those guys will definitely come back. We should wipe them out now!" Lillie said.

"Lillie, sometimes taking a step back can open up a whole new world. That's why we were able to meet that lord far from home." Attila looked at Lillie, who had delivered Mista's letter, and sighed regretfully.

Now bearing the heavy responsibility of saving tens of thousands of lives, Attila has secretly vowed never to let personal feelings cloud his judgment.

"Trust in that great man, and wait patiently. He will surely show us a new path," Attila said.

Since the topic of faith in God had been brought up, she couldn't go against that statement.

Because she had already decided to dedicate everything to her guardian deity.

"Indeed, launching a counterattack immediately is too hasty. We need to reorganize." Lin Miao was busy looking around at the multiple connected monitors, observing the residents, interpreting their troubles, and collecting information, making a similar judgment to Attila.

"They say it's a rectification, but there's no time to rest at all." Lin Miao moved the mouse quickly.

After capturing the lair, he built defensive towers on the riverbank he had seized to prevent the enemy from crossing the river, and was now proceeding according to his established procedures.

This is a process he created to take care of the residents scattered across various games and desktops.

The first game to log in was Minecraft, which was responsible for supplying resources to tribes.

The crops harvested in the game alone are no longer enough to feed all the tribe members.

Those who have awakened their farmer instincts are cultivating fields and watering them outside the game, using their own strength to grow crops.

Farming with game bonuses doesn't require the hard work of plowing, weeding, and waiting a year like real farmers do.

Crops touched by someone with the characteristics of a farmer will grow rapidly as long as they are turned over with a hoe and planted.

Under these circumstances, Lin Miao took on the difficult tasks on behalf of the residents.

The harvested crops are packed into backpacks and organized, or necessary facilities such as automatic irrigation systems and canals are built.

"Oh, so that's how it can be finished..." Lin Miao also built various buildings as reference samples for the residents who had awakened as architects.

To outsiders, he was more enthusiastic about games than anyone else.

But in reality, his every move was a powerful example that greatly benefited the residents.

In fact, the buildings he imitated by watching online videos are being constructed one by one in villages or fortresses by architects and movers.

Starting with simple box-shaped houses, proper buildings gradually emerged.

"Reclaim more land! Rice shouldn't be grown here, other crops should be planted!" Lin Miao directly instructed the residents to plant more medicinal herbs.

Farmers no longer only grow food crops.

Areas have emerged specifically for planting locally collected fruit seeds and herb seeds obtained through monster hunters.

"My...my body..." a farmer exclaimed in surprise.

"Stop wasting your energy resisting, quickly get to the point. That sir said to plant more medicinal herbs!" another farmer said.

The potions made from these herbs are like life-giving water for the residents who need to fight the enemy, and they are also of great benefit to Lin Miao in reality.

"That's about enough here. Next up are the hunters." Lin Miao looked around at the warriors who were automatically hunting monsters and collecting equipment, and started the second game.

Monster Hunter is where you can obtain the equipment and various items needed to arm your residents.

The hunters in the game use cities as their base to hunt, and are responsible for collecting Zerg byproducts to sell or buy equipment.

Most hunters are now quite skilled, and training for newcomers is progressing rapidly.

Unbeknownst to them, the city dwellers had already begun to refer to this group of outsiders as the "Legendary Hunters."

"Heh, I guessed it... but this is too exaggerated." Lin Miao muttered to herself.

"A new city! The scenery here is quite different," Thorfinn exclaimed excitedly.

Under these circumstances, Lin Miao was particularly concerned about the first generation of hunters, Thorfinn and Dulin.

The two had just left the city where they were originally staying and were heading to a new town.

"Let these two gain experience here, and then buy up the high-end equipment sold locally and send it back to the village." Lin Miao planned to send his two most elite hunters to improve the team's level and purchase more equipment.

Although the existing equipment is sufficient, considering that the Zerg are constantly getting stronger, the residents must also be equipped with better weapons, which is the conclusion he came to.

"Although there are still many methods available, considering the future, these alone seem insufficient..." Lin Miao closed the Monster Hunter window, looked at the more than one hundred defense towers and newly constructed facilities, and sighed softly.

Game development is not yet fully complete.

There are still many new games waiting to be activated.

This means it can keep up with the evolutionary speed of faulty components.

But one day it will reach its limit.

He had to think about what would happen next.

"Expansion is indeed necessary." Lin Miao bit her lip, examining the surge in the number of desktop images.

This includes not only the grassland area, which is not yet half-explored, but also the royal city that Paul is exploring below.

Looking at the long-term war against the malfunctioning entities, he believed it was necessary to integrate the forces of this vast land into one.

"However, this matter cannot be decided by me alone; it requires a wise judgment from those inside." Lin Miao leaned back in her chair, watching Paul gradually approach the capital.

No one knows whether the bombshell intelligence Paul brought will bring benefits through wise choices or cause new chaos through foolish ones.

◆◆◆

"Are you really alright? You're about to meet with important court officials. Take a short rest before you set off," Renault advised.

"There's no time for that. Right now, people are dying over there. If the line is breached, those horrible monsters will swarm in." Paul's attitude was unusually firm.

Despite his haggard appearance, his eyes were brighter than ever.

Renault could only move his lips, unable to stop Paul from walking away quickly.

He was struggling with whether or not to reveal the storm that had erupted when he announced the brief message Paul had given him in advance to the court.

He had originally intended to tell Paul the truth and dissuade him, but hesitated the moment he saw the look in the other man's eyes.

In that brief moment of hesitation, Paul had already begun walking toward the palace.

"Do you really have a letter written in their chief's own handwriting? How can you prove it? Let me make this clear, those ministers in the court won't believe you easily," Renault asked, catching up with Paul.

"I am the evidence. I witnessed everything firsthand! Don't worry too much, I brought the evidence with me. Of course, if those stupid old men still don't believe me after seeing the evidence, then I have nothing to say." Paul carefully took out a letter from his pocket.

The tightly sealed paper was printed with heraldry, the totem of the guardian necklace that Attila had bestowed upon him.

"Damn it, what's going to happen..." Reno closed his eyes tightly and quickened his pace to catch up with Paul's back.

Actually, I didn't dare tell Paul that the atmosphere at court was worse than I had imagined.

Not only were they skeptical of Paul's words, but most ministers also completely disregarded his painstaking warnings about the Zerg threat.

"If they really do have some magical herbs and equipment, it's worth verifying."

"Since the barbarians have offered their allegiance, we have no reason to refuse, right?"

Even officials with slightly better attitudes only focused on the utility of the Zerg, completely ignoring the existence of the Zerg and the necessity of cross-border collaborative defense.

Some even mistakenly believed that the Chinese had come to submit, after all, how could a mere barbarian tribe be worthy of sitting on equal footing with them? That's utterly absurd.

"Although I expected it, there's a limit to stupidity."

Looking at this scene, Paul felt despair.

It was one thing for the ministers to look down on China, but their nonchalant attitude towards the threat of the Zerg only made him sigh.

"Silence. Let's assume that what Lord Paul says is true, and take a look at the documents they have presented." The king's words quelled the commotion.

Taking advantage of the silence, Paul solemnly presented Attila's handwritten letter, which he carried with him.

The king began to read the handwritten letter he had received.

The problem begins here, because the script used by Aurora is different from theirs.

Although Paul recorded the translation at Attila's request, his body trembled slightly.

"How dare these mere barbarians write their own national script?!"

"This is utterly absurd!"

Sure enough, the ministers immediately seized on this point and made a big fuss about it.

Paul's temples throbbed, and he tightly closed his eyes.

He once held the same idea, but now those words are completely unimportant.

It doesn't matter what kind of language they use to package it; the content is what matters.

Those formalities are luxuries that can only be indulged in when one is well-fed and clothed.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty. Their script is sacred. It was given directly by their guardian deity, and they will never easily give it up," Paul argued vehemently.

"Heh, intermediate mage. What's so special about the random gods worshipped by the barbarians on the border?" A priest with a white beard reaching his chest stepped forward.

He came from the kingdom's most powerful religious order, the religious organization that could train priests and sacred beasts.

"Of course it's possible. But I saw it with my own eyes. That being might be a guardian deity, or it might just be a mere monster, but in any case, it was indeed using magic to protect them. Don't talk to me about divinity; I know better than anyone what divinity is!" Paul used these words to shut down the priest's rebuttal, preventing him from continuing the argument.

Unfortunately, the priest was not the only one who wanted to tear Paul apart.

"What's so great about fighting those deformed monsters? Is that something to be so arrogant about?"

"If you don't want to fight monsters, why not just continue wandering like before?"

The prejudices ingrained in their minds are difficult to eradicate.

Although he was semi-forced to participate in the war, Paul's personal experience made him realize the danger of the Zerg early on, and he also understood the significance of the Clarion fighting against them.

So every time he hears such remarks, he raises his voice to refute them.

The atmosphere in the imperial court naturally became increasingly tense.

Even after Paul produced the evidence he had brought back, the situation did not improve.

"That's enough. You've all overlooked one point: this problem is actually very easy to solve."

The one sentence that quelled the dispute was that of the king who remained silent and repeatedly read the letter.

No matter how much the crowd argued, he never looked up.

"Your Majesty, I hope you can make a wise decision at this moment." Paul looked at that inscrutable, youthful face and swallowed hard.

It was precisely because of the instability of the empire that the young king decided to send them to the north, deliberately to win over and gather the forces of the steppe for future plans.

Paul believed that this young king, who had quickly taken control of the court, possessed extraordinary foresight.

The king said, "The letter ultimately aims to establish friendly relations with us. As long as they are not raiders, we have no reason to refuse them, regardless of who they are or what they do. After all, there are quite a few barbarians who have submitted to us."

"That's true, but..." one minister hesitated, then stopped himself from speaking.

"If we want to obtain more credible and sufficient evidence than Paul's testimony, the best course of action is to formally send envoys," the King said.

The topic of the envoys stirred up the ministers.

Although it is a standard practice, this makes the selection of candidates a crucial issue.

"You've had a tough time, Secretary Paul. It's a miracle you're back alive. I heard that most of your colleagues also survived and stayed in the area; at least we've weathered the worst of the situation."

After the meeting, the King summoned Paul to the palace courtyard alone.

"You flatter me, Your Majesty," Paul said.

Paul was already prepared and was deeply adjusting his breathing.

Paul continued, "Please allow me to go as His Highness's messenger. They originally thought the time was not right, but thanks to my strong advocacy, the message can be delivered in this way."

The king smiled and asked, "It seems you prefer your homeland now?"

Paul hurriedly tried to explain, "No, that's not how it is..."

"I understand. You consider those monsters, known as the Black Beasts, extremely dangerous, and that's all you see," the king said.

Paul was flustered, but he just chuckled, though his joke was sharp.

The king asked, "That is why I do not believe you are lying. So please tell me, in the land ruled by the great patriarch Attila, is there truly no one starving?"

While others listened to Paul's testimony with prejudice, the king saw something else entirely.

As Paul enthusiastically described the local customs and life, the king exclaimed in admiration, "Though we must fight terrible monsters, are the corrupt nobles who oppress the people and the devastating drought any better than those monsters?"

"Your Highness..." Paul looked at him in surprise.

"Wouldn't it be better if we could borrow their strength and fight together as you suggested? But even if I thought so, reality might not be so kind. Things never go according to plan. Getting these stubborn elements to act will require much more effort," the king casually revealed his thoughts.

Although he wasn't sure if it was the truth, Paul could sense that, unlike the other ministers, the king thought in a similar way to him.

"The mission has become crucial," Paul thought to himself.

In any case, this means there is a glimmer of hope.

Paul was prepared to sacrifice himself to complete the mission.