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

Let's rewind a bit. The story takes place during Lillie's journey through the Deepwood Passage as she enters the world of Dark Souls.

The aftershocks of a fierce battle had not yet dissipated; the blood-stained blade was still dripping with the monster's filthy fluid. Lillie steadied herself against the sword, gritting her teeth and encouraging herself: "Hold on. I've survived much tougher times than this. These monsters are nothing to worry about."

The physical exhaustion from constantly being on edge and having to give your all in every strike is far less agonizing than the mental strain of fighting an enemy determined to kill you.

But she held on, her jaw clenched so tightly she refused to give in an inch.

When I close my eyes, all I see is the image of a once peaceful tribe being massacred.

The enemy launched a surprise attack, she fled in panic, and her comrades, teachers, and close friends fell and died before her eyes.

The nightmares that haunt her every night are all caused by her lack of power.

That's why she craved power like a madwoman, and she couldn't afford to waste this hard-won opportunity to gain it.

The mask concealed Lin Miao's expression, and no one could see that he was quietly watching the girl not far away.

"I can do it! I can do it!"

Lillie, who had just slain the last monster, was repeating the words over and over in a trembling voice, as if she were making an unshakable vow to herself.

Perhaps touched by her desperate determination, Lin Miao ultimately did not stop, but turned and continued walking forward. Their destination, the clearing in the woods, was now within reach.

"We will definitely gain even greater power!"

In this dark forest whose name is unknown, Lillie battles against a hideous, nameless monster, her only guide being a figure that seems to know everything.

She had experienced such trials many times, and He always rewarded those who proved their worth.

Lillie firmly believed this, and no matter what lay ahead, she would follow Lin Miao step by step.

As Lillie stepped into the forest clearing, amidst what should have been a clueless tutorial, she suddenly caught sight of a figure: "A human?!"

But Lin Miao seemed to know all this all along, and without stopping, she slowly walked towards that person.

It was a knight, riddled with arrows, leaning against a tree trunk, barely clinging to life.

The knight looked up at the two approaching figures, as if he had been waiting for them for a long time, and said in a hoarse voice, "Another bunch of pathetic bastards have come to their deaths for money... Take my advice, don't go to the villages and castles ahead. Those who occupy those places are no ordinary bandits."

This was the first time she had encountered a living person with whom she could communicate normally since she passed through the portal and entered this other world, and Lillie shuddered violently.

Lin Miao, standing to the side, was unimpressed. This dying knight was just a pre-set NPC in the game, and what he was saying at the moment was just a set line.

"Should I... should I say something to him in response..." Lillie gripped the sword in her hand tightly, her fingertips stiffening, momentarily at a loss.

The knight struggled to lift his eyelids, looking up at the two who had approached first. But Lin Miao, who stood like a mountain, simply looked down at him silently, his fingertips twitching slightly as if he were operating some interface that no one else could see.

An eerie silence spread through the forest, and Lillie grew increasingly flustered, her gaze shifting furtively between the two of them.

Seeing that the knight seemed to be waiting for a reply, she moved her lips slightly, as if she was about to break the silence herself.

"Those are monsters you can't communicate with. If you insist on going, I can't stop you." The knight suddenly chuckled and nodded slightly, his expression as if he had already gotten the answer he wanted from Lin Miao's silence. "Anyway, I'm about to die, so I'll leave a final gift for the fools who follow me."

As soon as he finished speaking, he reached into his robes, pulled out a glass bottle, and handed it over—it was the most basic prop in this world, the Element Bottle.

Lin Miao reached out and took the medicine bottle, then turned and left without pausing.

To him, the dying knight's warning and the item in his hand were nothing more than the predetermined process in the game, without any surprises and not worth lingering over.

Lillie was taken aback by his almost indifferent attitude, and looked back and forth helplessly between the dying knight and Lin Miao's back.

At that moment, the knight suddenly glanced at Lillie, who was standing still, and said, "You'd better be prepared too."

When Lillie saw the knight staring straight into her eyes, her hair stood on end and her pupils suddenly contracted.

"Who exactly are you? Is this place...?" She suddenly steadied herself and tried to ask, but before she could finish speaking, the knight opened his eyes and stopped breathing.

Lillie sighed softly, reached out and closed his unclosed eyes, then picked up her sword and quickly chased after Lin Miao's departing figure.

"Give it to me? What exactly is this?"

Lin Miao didn't reply, but instead shoved the elemental bottle she had just received into her hand without any further explanation.

Lillie held the glass bottle filled with clear orange liquid, looking at it with a puzzled expression.

Lin Miao couldn't give her a detailed explanation. Even if they could communicate without any problems, he couldn't be sure what kind of effect this potion, which was part of the game system, would have on her, a living person from another world.

However, in the world he was familiar with, this potion used to restore a character's health did indeed have an immediate restorative effect on the physical strength and injuries of ordinary people.

"I have no choice but to take a gamble. That lord wouldn't give me poison, this thing must be able to help me."

Lillie quickly made up her mind, uncorked the bottle, tilted her head back, and drank the liquid in one gulp.

This was her unwavering commitment; based on the trust built up through fighting side by side, she was even willing to stake her life and body on this mysterious figure.

"Hmm... the power is surging up!"

The physical strength that was almost exhausted and the sore and tense muscles are now recovering rapidly at a speed that can be seen with the naked eye.

Lillie opened her eyes wide in shock, feeling her body suddenly become lighter.

At this moment, she proved through her own experience that the items in Dark Souls were equally effective against her.

"Alright! Let's go!"

Lin Miao naturally noticed her recovery, and as he took another step, Lillie immediately drew her sword and followed.

The enemies that surged out again from the forest ahead were still the wraith soldiers with distorted faces.

As if she had grown accustomed to this endless battle, this time, Lillie took the lead, brandishing her sword and charging towards the monsters.

The ghosts she fought were no longer the programs with fixed attack patterns found in games.

Their moves are completely unpredictable, their attacks are wild and arbitrary, but Lillie is also growing rapidly in the face of life and death battles.

With each encounter with a wandering spirit, her sword grew sharper, each strike precisely aimed at the enemy's vital points.

There is no such thing as a health bar in this world. Not only does Lillie not have one, but so do the wandering spirits that have been mutated because of her existence.

Unlike the game's mechanics where players can retaliate even after taking multiple hits, these monsters are always killed with a single blow by Lillie's sword.

……

"And then what? Did you go to that castle?"

"Yes. To be precise, it's the village below the castle, which has long since been reduced to ruins."

As Lillie recounted her ordeal to Attila, a bitter smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she recalled the scene.

After breaking through the strongholds along the way and replenishing their stamina time and time again with the elemental bottles, Lillie followed Lin Miao and fought her way out of the encirclement, heading towards their predetermined goal.

When they finally traversed the dark forest path and arrived at the dilapidated village outside the castle, Lin Miao announced the end of the day's mission, allowing the exhausted Lillie to return and rest.

Before parting, he gave her her reward: one of the basic combat techniques of this world, Power Strike.

"In the first world, we obtained things we never dared to dream of before: food, livestock, building materials, and precious ironware. This second world should be able to give us this kind of power."

"This is an opportunity. As long as you can prove your worth, you can get things you could never have imagined before."

Attila had already seen this through when he first entered the first world.

Now, having personally experienced the second world, Lillie completely agrees with this statement.

She finally realized what a tremendous opportunity had befallen them, this group of exiles.

"If we keep increasing our strength like this, maybe... we really can get revenge on those guys."

Attila's jaw snapped shut, his mind reeling from the sudden utterance of the word "revenge."

Their targets of revenge were the enemy tribes who had massacred their peaceful villages and committed arson, murder, and looting. Not long ago, they had exhausted all their strength just to survive; revenge was merely a distant and unattainable dream.

But now, the situation is different.

They, who once struggled to even have enough to eat, now not only have ample resources but also the capacity to pursue more things.

Now that we have the time and resources, revenge becomes something we must do.

It wasn't just Lillie; every member of their race who had been robbed of their home, family, and everything else felt the same way.

Attila slowly shook his head, his voice as deep as iron: "It's not that simple, Lillie. Strength alone is not enough. We have too few people. To stop those who expand their power by annexing tribes and forcibly enslaving others, we need more allies."

"Father, those people have enslaved the defeated and forcibly taken women from the tribes as concubines to strengthen themselves, which has long aroused the hatred of countless people. There are many tribes like ours that have been ostracized and harmed. As long as we accept them, we can strengthen our power."

"Lillie, you're right. But now is not the time to talk about this."

Attila sighed heavily at his daughter's words. His heart, too, burned with a fierce rage.

But as the head of the clan, he had to prioritize protecting the lives of the surviving members of his clan over all other emotions.

Bearing this responsibility, he absolutely could not reveal his whereabouts at this time and gamble with the fate of his entire clan.

◆◆◆

Lillie's Troubles: Blood Revenge

Lillie craves revenge. She desires retribution against the enemy tribe that murdered her mother, friends, teacher, and companions, and for this, she yearns for greater power.

"Um……"

Having just finished the tutorial, Lin Miao closed Dark Souls and sent Lillie back to the village.

He opened Minecraft and was about to sort through the villagers' belongings and collect extra items when two lines of text suddenly appeared on the screen, causing him to fall into deep thought.

Looking at Attila and Lillie standing opposite each other on the screen, their expressions serious, Lin Miao could roughly guess what they were talking about.

Upon closer reflection, these people who suddenly appeared on my computer all had their own stories.

After all, these people who fled here with their meager belongings didn't seem to have encountered anything good.

The same applies to those plunderers who, from time to time, mark their attacks as "foreign invasions" and suddenly rush in to burn, kill, and loot.

This world, which he had never truly understood, was a bloody place where the strong preyed on the weak and life-or-death struggles were the norm.

"I'm starting to care about it for some reason."

Lin Miao was not in a relaxed mood either.

To him, all these sudden changes were like an unexpected accident.

But the process of taking care of these people, watching them grow, and accomplishing one thing after another with them gave him a joy he had never imagined, and made him willingly invest so much time and energy.

They can still work together to advance the game, achieve milestones, and fight off invading enemies, but if this continues, once these people have enough power and resources, they might demand more from him.

For Lin Miao, that was a heavy burden.

Once he exerts influence on these people, whom he still doesn't truly understand, enough to change their fate, he must bear the corresponding responsibility.

Wanting to enjoy the happiness of companionship but unwilling to bear the responsibilities that come with it. This thought is selfish, but it is also human nature.

"There's no point in thinking about this now. Yeah, they barely managed to get through the tutorial and are still struggling to survive."

More and more random thoughts kept popping up, so Lin Miao shook her head and forcibly shook these thoughts out of her mind.

Ultimately, one must have enough time and energy to even consider all the worries and anxieties.

Now, all the residents, including Lillie, have exhausted all their strength just by running forward with all their might.

He played the game alone for a while, watching the tiny figures moving in the dim light on the screen, before quickly getting up from the computer and lying down on the bed.

A full day of intense gaming had kept his nerves on edge. Now that he relaxed, an overwhelming sense of fatigue instantly engulfed him.