Clean up completed.

Blood Rock is now eligible for complete system integration.

Does the lord of Blood Rock wish to integrate the stronghold fully with the system?

Nathan didn't even need to read the notification twice; what else was there to dissect in the missive?

"I accept, I approve, I confirm, I-"

Commencing Stronghold integration… stronghold fully integrated.

Blood Rock Grade F.

This stronghold does not meet the minimum requirements to qualify for a higher grade.

Grade F Buildings can now be purchased from the system stronghold shop.

Nathan stared at the screen in triumph. He'd successfully found a way to integrate Blood Rock into the system. More like the system seemed to have found Blood Rock instead, but he didn't really care about details like that.

I'm in.

There would definitely be a huge advantage when it came to having the system helping him build than him doing it himself. Heck, Nathan didn't even know how to build anything. He'd taken a carpentry class in middle school, but it didn't cover anything advanced like building a freaking house, and now Nathan didn't have to do it himself. Rereading the information, he confirmed that his thoughts had aligned with his new reality: the system had just informed him that he could purchase buildings, and Nathan was aching to find out what exactly that meant.

"Uhmm, shop."

Nathan's eyes widened as a list of buildings appeared on the screen, with a video depicting the type of building in the middle of the list, and a price tag at the extreme end of each row. He scanned through the list, which seemed inexhaustible, his eyes going from building to building.

There were buildings like forges, houses, taverns, med bays, and other buildings—all were rudimentary looking. There were a couple of higher-grade buildings, but the prices attached to those were in the millions. Nathan couldn't even fathom how he was supposed to get a million gold coins right about now.

With a sigh, Nathan returned to what he could actually purchase, which turned out to be only two buildings. His coin was either not up to the amount needed to purchase other buildings. or the grade of his stronghold wasn't enough. Either way, only two buildings weren't grayed out.

The two buildings were a cabin and a med bay, both looking bare and quite rudimentary from the video assigned to them. The cabin didn't have any furniture in it, just two rooms, a bathroom, and nothing else. The med bay had a single cot in it and what looked suspiciously like a first aid kit, just without the red cross.

Decisions.

The cabin would cost him about 17,360 Ra'ahal coins, while the med bay would cost him 15,530 coins. Either purchase would solve his where-to-sleep problem right now, but Nathan needed to think long-term. Yes, the med bay was cheaper than the cabin, but what other advantages did it have?

A cot he could sleep on and whatever was in the box to treat his wounds. The cabin, on the other hand, looked like it was fit for living. Yes, it was currently empty, but he could make a sort of kitchen in one room and use the other as his sleeping area. Plus, the video showed a bathroom. Nathan had no idea if the system would grant him access to water or not, but he'd prefer to do his business in private. Luckily for him, he hadn't had to do any of the two recently. With all the running about and fighting he'd been doing, his body had probably forgotten to remind him to take out the waste.

The two options were certainly good, but right about now, Nathan would rather take the cabin, cot or no cot. There was no telling what exactly the box in the med bay contained, and Nathan wasn't about to waste a huge chunk of his coin to find out. That meant the cabin was going to be his first purchase, and with his mind set, he willed his intentions to the system.

The building could not be purchased due to insufficient coins in Blood Rock's account.

Blood Rock Ra'hal coins: 0

Coins needed to purchase building: 17,360.

Sufficient coin detected in Blood Rock's lord Nathan Orion's personal account.

Would you like to fund this purchase from your personal account?

Nathan hurriedly unpacked the information that the system was tossing his way. Apparently, he'd been correct in his earlier assessment that his personal coins weren't linked directly to Blood Rock's. The confirmation of that feeling gave him pause, while it relaxed him somewhat, it also brought with it questions of his own.

According to the system, he was supposed to buy skill books and skill upgrade tomes from merchants—merchants whom he hadn't crossed paths with since the start of this… apocalypse. Would purchasing the building leave him with less to empower himself with more firepower when he did cross paths with a merchant? And if so, was he really benefiting from being a lord?

Stolen novel; please report.

Splitting already limited resources seemed like the fastest way to ruin, especially since Nathan had no idea how expensive skill books were. Making the potential purchase of a cabin either a good deal or an extremely foolish one.

A growl tore through the air, snapping Nathan out of his thoughts. The sound had come from afar, and glancing at the sky, he noted that purple now dominated the sky. It was nighttime now, and with that knowledge came the clarity that Nathan needed. He couldn't be hoarding coins for an encounter that he didn't know when to expect.

It was quite simple really: he had a cabin he could get now or a skill he could get later in the future—if he managed to survive the monsters that roamed the forest and the elements. The weather had been getting colder the closer they got to winter. The night before the apocalypse, he'd estimated that he had about 5 days before the new season set in. As it was, three out of the four days had been spent, leaving him with only two to get ready. It really wasn't a choice right about now; the decision was clear.

"I approve funding from my personal account."

Coins were deducted successfully. Choose a site for placement of the building.

Nathan saw a red square roughly the size of a small cabin a few feet from where he stood, and moving his eyes, the red square followed him.

Cool.

That would definitely come in handy. Nathan scanned around the clearing, trying to determine the best placement site. His eyes roved around, the red square in tow. Eventually, Nathan settled on placing the cabin at the center of the stronghold. The reason was that any monster that wanted to attack him would have to scale over a wall and run towards the cabin without any cover to shield its approach, making it visible to him.

With his mind made up, Nathan willed his decision to the system, and it responded just using a notification. The site that Nathan chose was suddenly dug through, foundations being laid, and a cabin was erected before his very eyes. Materials appeared from thin air to complete the building.

Neat.

It really was. There was no debris or wood dust as expected from the activities that had just taken place in front of Nathan. Instead, there was a clean porch with the door into the cabin open. From where he stood outside, he could see the fireplace crackling as a fire was already lit there, lighting up the cabin, which in turn had light seeping out into the open clearing.

Rolling his shoulders, Nathan went up the three steps to the porch. It didn't creak, which was a sign of good craftsmanship if his carpentry teacher's words were anything to go by. Warmth already met him outside from the open door, but the feeling only got stronger when he stepped in and closed the door.

Out of common sense, Nathan stared at the fireplace with a dubious look. A fireplace in a wooden cabin didn't seem too wise. But the more he looked, the more his worries started to fade away. The wood that surrounded the fireplace sported etches on them, signs and symbols that he couldn't understand. The etches gave him the feeling that they made the wood surrounding the fireplace fireproof, which made Nathan's head ache at the thought. Turning away to avoid burning up from the questions, he glanced at the rest of his immediate room.

"Room" was more of a stretch. Nathan would have termed it the receiving area for guests—you know, the place you'd watch movies at, not necessarily sleep in. The place was bare, with no rugs or anything. Well, there was a curtain for the two windows on opposite sides, but apart from that, the place was… meh.

Already done with the receiving area, Nathan decided to go into one of the two places in the apartment that had a door. One would probably be the bedroom, and the other the restroom.

So, two bedrooms.

Nathan chuckled at the thought as he opened the door and stepped into the room. It turned out to be the bedroom, just without the bed or anything like that. It was without any furnishing, but Nathan wouldn't complain. The room was slightly less warm than the first one, as it didn't have a fireplace of its own, but at least it was warmer than outside, which was a good sign.

Stepping out of the room, he went through the second door. It was the restroom. No shower for Nathan, but a bucket and a toilet at one edge. A faucet was on one side, and Nathan crossed his fingers in hope as he turned on the faucet. Pristine water fell to the floor, going towards a drain that Nathan hadn't noticed earlier.

Nice.

With his living arrangements figured out, Nathan set himself to analyzing his recent fights. Sitting in front of the fireplace, Nathan gazed into the crackling flames as his mind wandered. His first flashback involved the imps. The way that he'd been lucky enough to encounter either battle-mad or egotistical Master imps was something that had saved his life. Their reluctance to go for a swift kill when they had the chance was the only thing that had saved him from certain death.

Then there was the one whom the Master imps had sought help from: the system had named him Demon Lord Taloth. A being capable of shackling him with a 20% debuff while not even being physically present. The thought of the scale of such an attack sent a shiver through Nathan's spine.

He hadn't really thought about it back then, but if the Demon Lord was the Master of the Master Imps, would it come for his head as retribution? More importantly, if the outpost had belonged to the Demon Lord before, would it have gotten a notification from the system when Nathan converted it to a stronghold—his stronghold, Blood Rock?

Nathan wasn't sure, but he might have just made himself an enemy—an enemy that he couldn't even quantify the magnitude of its strength. Maybe he was just overthinking it. The Demon Lord probably had tons of outposts scattered around Earth. The loss of one probably wouldn't even bother it at all.

Yes, that made way more sense. Nathan had just been deceiving himself, thinking himself more important than he was. The Demon Lord probably didn't even know someone like him existed.

Secure in the knowledge that he was afraid for no reason, Nathan made his way to the bare bedroom. He was more mentally tired than physically, and a good night's sleep would cure him of his tiredness.

With everything in order, Nathan dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes, eager to go to sleep. His mind was grateful for the chance to shut off for once; the constant adrenaline had messed up his brain waves. Within moments, Nathan had fallen asleep.