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

Even though Attila was equally shocked, he first reached out and pressed down on the trembling old man, Paru, and comforted him:

"Calm down, that lord has his reasons for doing this."

He gently patted the old man's back to help him catch his breath, while glancing in the direction Lin Miao had left, his eyes filled with lingering confusion.

Lin Miao, who was being watched by the two, had already picked up the titanium alloy pickaxe that she had just finished making on the workbench, turned around and strode away.

Using her unique, bouncy footwork, Lin Miao disappeared into the distance at the edge of the village in the blink of an eye.

"Alright, now let's talk about what exactly happened."

Attila helped Paru sit down on the stone bench and asked the reason in a calm tone.

"I... I was just doing my job..."

Having finally calmed his breathing, Palu quickly lowered his head and recounted his ordeal in detail.

From the moment the bracelet on her wrist suddenly turned into a metal ingot, to being brought to this open space by some unknown force, to Lin Miao taking the metal ingot and forging it into a pickaxe on the workbench, Paru recounted the entire process in great detail.

Although the villagers who had gathered around couldn't immediately figure out Lin Miao's purpose in forging this special pickaxe, after sorting out the whole story, they finally understood that the series of illogical changes they had just witnessed were all caused by Lin Miao in order to forge this pickaxe.

Following the flow of events, Attila softly inquired, "Speaking of which, what exactly is that bracelet? That esteemed person would specifically retrieve it to forge a pickaxe must mean it's no ordinary object. Could it be some kind of rare treasure?"

"That bracelet... I actually found it by chance, on the northern lands we passed through before we migrated here," Paru quickly replied, telling Attila about the bracelet's origin.

Before the tribe migrated to this land and settled there, they briefly stopped near the Black Forest in the north.

In search of food, Paru followed his companions deep into the forest and unexpectedly found a metal fragment lying among the decaying leaves—the very bracelet. At that time, none of them knew that this seemingly ordinary bracelet was called the Dwarf Bracelet.

"Chief, as you know, that place is a remote frontier that even grassland tribes are unwilling to set foot in, and it is deserted. But the bracelet I found is of exceptionally good quality, without a single rust mark. You can tell at a glance that it is not something that an ordinary craftsman could make." Paru lowered his head and told him all the details he knew.

"This is a strange story, but that's all we know for now. Don't be too discouraged." Attila nodded slowly after listening, comforting the old man who had lost his treasure. "That great man has his own plans. He took this bracelet for a reason. Before long, he will surely give back this power to the entire tribe for our sake."

Attila, a priest in the tribe who claimed to be able to communicate with the gods, promised on the spot that he would give Paru extra compensation to make up for his losses.

Attila was secretly certain that the great man had indeed made arrangements long ago.

His prediction came true without the slightest error.

That evening, when Attila returned to the settlement with the villagers who had finished hunting and gathering, they found a large group of residents gathered in the western corner of the village, surrounded by stone houses and farmland, discussing the facility that Lin Miao was working on with a titanium alloy pickaxe.

"That man suddenly came over carrying a pickaxe and started digging in this corner without saying a word."

"That speed was absolutely astonishing! In the blink of an eye, they dug a pit more than a meter deep!"

The farmers, who were busy sowing, harvesting, and storing crops in the fields, rushed over to Attila when he returned, describing to him what they had just witnessed.

The entrance to the pit is currently blocked by round stones, so no one can see what's inside. But everyone is certain that Lin Miao is digging and building something underground.

Attila and all the villagers present were absolutely certain that, just as He had built stone houses and defensive walls for them before, this project must also be for the protection of the entire tribe.

Not long ago, Lin Miao, who was still digging underground to find high-level monster spawn points, sent Attila, Rose, and Lillie, who had completed their clearing mission, out of the underground.

Back on the ground, Attila immediately urged Roschel and Lillie to remove their armor and rest. Given the ever-present threat of battle, they, as the core fighting force of the tribe, needed to maintain peak condition at all times.

"Take advantage of the fact that there's nothing to do now and conserve your energy to rest. Lillie, you should also get a good night's sleep before that person summons you," Attila said to her daughter.

"Father should rest too," Lillie replied.

"Compared to chasing monsters all over the underground, patrolling the village is nothing," Attila said with a wave of his hand and a smile.

As he pondered this, he slowly strolled along the village wall.

As the chief of the entire tribe, helping new members adapt to life here is his inescapable responsibility.

Fortunately, the newlyweds adapted very smoothly without any problems.

With ample food and abundant resources, as long as these grassland tribes are provided with what they have been lacking for years, the loyalty of these new members will never waver.

Attila thought to himself, "It seems that from now on, I won't have to send my people out to hunt and gather resources so often."

His gaze swept across every corner of the village, and the scene before him was vastly different from what he remembered when he first migrated here.

This difference is not merely an external change resulting from the movers being able to place blocks freely, leading to the rapid emergence of defensive walls, large warehouses, and communal stone houses; it is more of a change etched into the very bones of every member of the tribe.

Before being exiled to this land and meeting Lin Miao, the daily lives of most people in the tribe consisted only of searching for and storing food. Even if they neglected to forage for food for just one day, the elderly and children in the tribe would go hungry.

But now, everything is completely different.

Almost all food gathering and resource acquisition can be completed in that fast-paced game world, leaving the tribespeople in the real village with a lot more free time.

Besides taking care of the livestock they brought back from the game world and managing the farmland in the village, this extra time is gradually changing their lifestyle.

"Chieftain! Urgent message!"

"Um?"

A sharp shout suddenly came from the air. Attila looked up abruptly and saw several scouts being lifted by an invisible force, flying rapidly from a distance like puppets.

This was the early warning system that the tribe had built after deploying its surplus manpower to patrol the surrounding area. At this moment, the faces of these scouts were filled with panic.

Attila's heart sank instantly. He knew all too well that besides those elusive malfunctions, there were far too many hidden enemies on this land.

◆◆◆

"Ugh, so boring."

Lin Miao slumped in his chair, unable to resist yawning. He couldn't even remember how long he had been frantically digging since getting the titanium alloy pickaxe. After the novelty wore off, all that remained was tedium; he was digging the earth almost mechanically, driven by inertia.

The reason he quickly lost interest in this long-established popular sandbox game was because he never really liked this kind of pure mining gameplay.

"Found it!"

Lin Miao's eyes lit up instantly.

A game is just a game, and no matter how boring the process is, there will always be positive feedback.

He dug downwards in a stepped fashion, exploring deep underground, until he finally encountered those black blocks with an absurdly high hardness.

These special blocks, called Subterranean Rock, form the underground world in the game and are the most convenient and efficient place to farm monster essence. The sounds of monsters roaring and moving around on the other side of the wall could already be clearly heard through the headphones.

Lin Miao put away the iron pickaxe in his hand and raised the newly made titanium alloy pickaxe.

The reason he went to great lengths to obtain a pickaxe of titanium grade or higher was so that he could successfully excavate this kind of hard underground rock.

"Just dig it open and then seal it up." Lin Miao muttered to himself, controlling his character to dig out several pieces of underground rock, clearing a small entrance that could only be passed by one person. Then he used ordinary stones to seal up the surrounding gaps tightly.

He had already planned to have Attila bring the villagers in tomorrow to farm monster essence and quickly increase their strength.

"Hmm~"

Lin Miao exited the game, stretched lazily, and was about to get up from her chair. Her stomach was growling loudly; it was time to get something to eat.

But just then, a red pop-up window announcing an external intrusion suddenly appeared in the center of his desktop.

"?!"

Lin Miao, who had just lifted his buttocks, instantly sat back down in the chair. His drowsiness and laziness vanished in an instant. He quickly moved closer to the screen, his fingertips flying across the mouse.

He quickly scanned the alarm information; the village itself was unharmed. The intrusion had occurred to the southwest, a short distance from the village, within the area patrolled by Attila's daily scouts.

"Which small tribe is it?" Lin Miao wondered to himself, his fingers constantly switching between the shared screens of the scouts, and soon he saw the source of the alarm.

Several unfamiliar figures were seen confronting his friendly reconnaissance soldiers at a considerable distance.

At first, Lin Miao thought they were members of a small grassland tribe like the Mista tribe.

However, this conjecture was quickly and completely shattered.

The strangers who were talking to the scouts had their avatars marked with a red border indicating hostility, instead of the neutral white border.

The system triggered an external intrusion alert because this group of people had trespassed into an area that the scouts had previously marked as tribal territory.

Lin Miao immediately moved the mouse over and opened the information panel of the leader.

【Oru (The Raider)】

【Characteristic: Martial Arts】

The information panel clearly displays the hostile label "Raiders".

Lin Miao's fingertip unconsciously moved towards the desktop shredder icon.

The reason he didn't immediately smash it down was simply because the group was still talking to the scouts, and he wanted to hear what they had to say first.

But an unexpected event occurred in the next second.

The group of strangers suddenly drew their weapons and charged at the scouts, roaring.

Lin Miao was startled and almost reflexively moved the mouse, controlling the giant hammer to swing it down hard.

From Lin Miao's perspective, it was nothing more than the mouse dragging the hammer icon, which then slammed onto the corresponding spot on the desktop with a thud.

From the perspective of those on the ground, however, it appeared as a semi-transparent giant hammer made of an unknown material, suddenly falling from the sky with a devastating force, and crashing heavily onto the earth.

The few raiders at the forefront didn't even have time to scream before they were slammed into the ground by the blow, instantly falling silent amidst the rising dust.

"I have to tell Attila right away," Lin Miao thought to herself.

After suppressing the charging enemy with a single blow, he immediately used the mouse to pick up the scouts, whose eyes were still wide open and whose faces were still in shock, and instantly teleported them back to the village.

Just as Lin Miao had predicted, even while the scouts were still suspended in mid-air, as soon as they saw Attila arrive, they immediately began to shout and gesticulate wildly as they reported what they had just seen and heard.

Lin Miao couldn't hear exactly what they were shouting, but looking at the expressions of shock and solemnity gradually spreading across the faces of the scouts and Attila, he could guess that their conversation with the group of raiders was no ordinary test.

Lin Miao suddenly remembered that Li Sushang had mentioned to him before that the residents in her area were facing a crisis of invasion by foreign forces.

Their crisis has never come solely from those elusive invading entities; countless enemies lurk in this unknown outside world as well.

Before this, the external threats they encountered were nothing more than minor, harmless frictions. Their real concern was always the corrosive entity.

"It seems we're finally about to face a direct conflict with external forces. This world is indeed much more cruel than I imagined," Lin Miao murmured to herself, leaning back in her chair.

The tribe members were growing stronger and their sphere of influence was slowly expanding. This day was bound to come sooner or later, but it came much earlier than he had expected.

Is this enough?

Lin Miao stared at the giant hammer icon on the screen, which followed the mouse movement, and fell into deep thought.

This giant hammer is indeed the only cheat-like ability he currently possesses to interfere with the real world, but it is not invincible.

Continuous use requires a long charging time, and its power is insufficient to completely stop a large number of enemies swarming in.

Even if he was unwilling to admit it, if a large number of enemies went berserk and ignored the threat of the giant hammer, and charged toward the village, all he could do was trust the villagers.

"They should be able to fight."

Looking at the bustling, brightly lit village on the screen, Lin Miao's lips curled into a faint smile.

Even if his special ability, "Heavenly Hammer," can't solve everything, it doesn't matter.

This magical village, a mix of stone houses built by the villagers themselves and blocky structures transplanted from the game world, is no longer the small, struggling tribe it once was. Every villager living here is no longer an ordinary person.

Through their bond with him, they gained equipment, skills, and traits, growing stronger step by step. They were warriors who had once fought side by side against the terrifying monsters known as the "Corruptors," and they will continue to fight alongside him in the future.

Lin Miao was absolutely certain that these villagers, who were now countless times richer and more powerful than when they first arrived, would never be defeated by any enemy again.