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

"Allen, you're back! Did you find out where the clan leader went?"

Uso, a farmer who was leisurely working in the fields, was overjoyed to see Allen returning from an outside village.

Allen was terrified after witnessing Attila being suddenly pulled into the sky and disappear. He went to the village to inquire about Attila's situation and has just returned.

"Don't worry too much, it seems the clan leader has been summoned away by that person."

When Allen explained that Attila's disappearance was caused by a summoning, everyone nearby breathed a sigh of relief.

"I don't know what happened, but why didn't they bring the clan chief back with them?"

"I'm afraid... the clan chief will never be able to come here again."

"Is this for real!?"

However, when Uso, who looked relieved, asked why he hadn't traveled with Attila, Allen shook his head with a wry smile.

This news is quite shocking to the people who have adapted to life in this area under Attila's rule.

"The clan leader wanted to come, but the Rift refused him. Now he is deeply troubled and even wonders if that great one dislikes him."

"How...how is that possible! The clan chief has always been loyal to that person."

Having been completely excluded from the configuration list, Attila could no longer enter this blocky world.

The unsuspecting villagers trembled, fearing they had angered the transcendent being who ruled this world.

"Quick, look over there!"

"Ugh!"

At that very moment, that being suddenly appeared right in front of them.

Although similar in height, it is a strange life form whose entire body is composed of sharp, angular blocks.

In an instant, everyone present cowered and looked at each other in disbelief. The face, pieced together from square pixels, had facial features, but it was completely devoid of any emotion or expression.

"W-What happened?"

Even more unsettling was Lin Miao's unsteady gait as she walked toward the warehouse block in front of the stone house.

This warehouse block, capable of storing a large number of items, is an object that only he can control in the entire world.

Lin Miao opened the warehouse and quickly put on the iron armor that had been stored inside.

Not only that, but they also scattered the armor they took out of the box all over the ground.

With Chief Attila absent, the villagers who came to greet him stopped what they were doing, and the tension soared.

"Quickly, quickly, get armed! Move fast!"

When Lin Miao stared at them with his characteristic dead fish eyes and waved his arms repeatedly at the armor piled on the ground, the panicked villagers immediately dropped what they were doing and hurriedly put on their armor and weapons.

"What exactly do you want us to do?"

Seeing that the eight villagers on the scene were fully armed, Lin Miao nodded in satisfaction, repeatedly squatted and stood up like a robot to signal to follow, and then walked towards a certain place.

"It's clearly a battle. But without the clan leader to lead us, can we manage on our own?"

"Don't dampen our spirits. It's not just the few of us going. At least we're more than capable of dealing with those skeletons."

Lin Miao repeatedly pressed the jump button and hopped ahead, with the villagers chasing closely behind on horseback.

They had experience chasing and eliminating skeletons that fled after an attack. Furthermore, they had also experienced numerous conflicts with monsters during resource gathering.

Although they were indeed uneasy, the villagers were at least somewhat comforted by his presence.

"The chieftain said that the great one has a favorable impression of us, and that He only does things that are beneficial to us, so this must be something that will also be helpful to us."

Allen, the oldest miner among the villagers, gripped his spear tightly, having made up his mind.

Thanks to Attila's earlier explanation of His intentions. Whether in battle or resource gathering, He always did what was beneficial to the villagers, never for personal gain. Allen understood this.

"Quick, look over there! What is that?"

As they continued moving, in this sandbox game where time passed faster than in the outside world, they spotted something in the distance near dusk and stared in astonishment.

That is one of the wild bosses in the game, and also a kind of nest inhabited by enemies that drop core items containing special energy when they die.

◆◆◆

Monster essence.

In her search for something that could unlock the villagers' hidden potential, Lin Miao asked Doubao for a solution, only to be met with an unexpected reply. She thought to herself, "Maybe this will work."

It is the item that boss monsters in the game have a chance to drop in their lair—Monster Essence.

In this sandbox game where there is no clear objective and all you need to do is enjoy freedom, monsters are both one of the biggest threats to players and one of the goals to achieve various accomplishments.

Monster essence is pure energy that can artificially generate such monsters. The item obtained by defeating the necromancer in the cave, which awakened Attila's mage traits, is also of the same type.

If we get our hands on this and use it, maybe it can awaken the villagers' latent potential? To test this idea, Lin Miao immediately logged into the game.

"Soloing monster nests is still a bit of a stretch."

The decision was made to bring the villagers along because Lin Miao's current condition made it difficult for her to conquer the nest alone.

Monsters in the wild can be repeatedly resurrected and challenged, but nests have the effect of restoring monster HP, so it is impossible to infinitely deplete their HP by resurrecting using low-damage weapons.

To deal with the BOSS monsters and the surrounding mobs, armor and weapons made from minerals superior to iron are needed. However, the problem is that even with the current large-scale mining development, these high-grade minerals are still difficult to obtain.

This is clearly the result of a system adjustment, aimed at preventing large quantities of game materials such as gold or lapis lazuli from flowing into the hands of residents.

The goal is clearly to train guardians to prevent vulnerabilities, so it's hard to understand why such restrictions are set up.

Of course, it's also possible that these aren't artificial restrictions, but rather adjustments made out of necessity.

Fortunately, the residents seemed to fully understand his intention to call for a joint battle. They hurriedly equipped themselves with armor and weapons and quickly rode their horses to gather in front of Lin Miao.

They hadn't done anything intimidating or threatening, yet they were overly attentive to our expressions... However, if Lin Miao were to zoom in on the character's face made up of blocks, she would inevitably look away, which is understandable.

"Our combat strength is sufficient."

Lin Miao, who led the way, witnessed all of their fighting stances.

This includes not only here, but also when fighting against rival tribes elsewhere.

Although they awaken traits unrelated to combat, such as miners or farmers, they are essentially grassland warriors who can fight.

It might be a stretch to deal with monsters that inhabit underground or special terrains, but it's more than enough to handle those weak monsters in the wild.

"Just to catch these things..."

About twenty minutes into the real time, after running non-stop, they finally spotted a worthy prey.

At the same time, the grassland-like plains suddenly disappeared, and the desert covered with sand blocks instantly replaced the surrounding environment.

Lin Miao sighed as he looked at the enemy that appeared in the distance. Ratmen—giant rat monsters that walk on two legs, honestly, they were trash that he couldn't even be bothered to look at in the game.

Previously, you wouldn't get any good equipment; as long as you had one high-level item, you could easily crush enemies. But now the situation is different.

From this moment on, Lin Miao had to start a war with these guys.

"Understood."

Lin Miao made a few feints with his longsword toward the enemy, and the villagers who followed seemed to understand, all tensing up and grabbing their weapons.

"Of course, there's no need to force a cavalry charge."

Seeing their expressions of resignation, Lin Miao nodded as she controlled her character and put the sword back into her inventory.

Then, to everyone's astonishment, he took out a large number of stone bricks that he had prepared beforehand.

"We can fight, but the enemy consists of hordes of armed monsters. If any residents are injured or killed, the losses will be enormous."

Enemies that come into contact with residents will materialize into monsters, and their HP and damage calculations will disappear. Lin Miao is planning to quickly build a safe place for them to fight.

"?"

The villagers, who seemed poised to charge at any moment, hesitated and stopped when they saw Lin Miao's actions. But when they saw Lin Miao carrying the stone bricks and charging forward, they hurriedly chased after him.