Zareth stared at the text before deciding to hold off on claiming the reward. Stabilizing the territory came first, surviving came first.
He would check it out after stabilizing and better understanding his territory.
Looking over at the buildings under construction, there was only a few seconds left.
‘Let’s check this out first.’
[Ding!]
[Construction Complete]
[Ding!]
[Construction Complete]
Two loud notifications sounded right after each other as he stared at the swiftly dissipating fog.
“Really?”
He muttered to no one, whatever expectations he had were crushed to ashes the moment he laid eyes on the buildings.
The Lord’s Shelter was… sad.
A black stone stool beneath a sagging leather roof, held up by four brittle sticks, something a child might throw together and call a fort, if that child hated comfort.
‘That’s underwhelming…’
Suppressing his sigh, he checked the system screen.
[Lords Shelter]
[Rank: Ordinary]
[Upgrade Requirements]
[10 Wood, 10 Stone, 1 Stone Core]
[Functions]
[Lord’s Rest - Enhances the lord’s recovery speed by 5% while within the territory.]
‘Simple and easy to understand, but how is materials measured? It just says 10?’
[Units represent standardized resource measurements]
Hearing the answer made him speechless, he didn’t get an answer at all.
At least not what he was looking for, the only way to find out is to gather some.
‘Great help you were.’
Scoffing at the system he moved his eyes over to the tiny cup on a black stone pedestal.
Looking at the small altar, it looks like it might break if someone touches it.
With cracks running all along and pieces chipped away from corners, it fully matched the shelter in his opinion.
Suppressing a sigh, he checked its information.
[Blood Altar]
[Rank: Ordinary]
[Upgrade Requirements]
[10 Wood, 10 Stone, 1 Stone Cores, Lord’s Shelter – Stone ★]
[Functions]
[Can summon 2 subjects by offering a blood sacrifice]
[Notes]
[Max summoned rank equivalent to building rank]
[Summon Reset – Resets at dusk each day.]
[Summoned Subjects – Primarily aligned with the Lord’s race and affinity, but variations may occur]
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
[Higher quality blood increases the chance of summoning stronger subjects]
Reading it all thoroughly so he could understand everything, he found it increasingly interesting.
It also lit a fire in his heart, being able to have followers and someday build an army.
Deciding to make the summons right away, he walked up to the dilapidated altar before hesitating a small second staring at the palm of his hand.
Using his sharp nails, he slashed it and poured the sparkling dark red blood, filling the cup.
[Summoning Subjects]
The blood started fizzling and whirling around before a small crack appeared in the ground just a bit away from him.
Taking a fast step back, the crack increased in size before it became wide enough to fit a person.
Zareth froze at the sound.
A faint, wet scraping echoed from the crack, before he could react, a hand lurched up gripping the edge, rotten flesh hanging loosely with bone peeking through gaps.
The stench hit him like a wave.
He knew what it was before the rest followed.
A corpse, twisted and decayed, dragged itself into view. Greenish skin stretched over bulging black veins, chunks of flesh missing, eyes sunken and clouded. Rags clung to its withered frame, barely a reminder it was once human.
A zombie.
Before he could gather his thoughts, another hand clawed its way up. A second one was coming.
‘It’s weird.’
Zareth thought he would expect himself to be completely appalled and maybe wretch at the appearance and smell of them, but nothing of sort happened.
In his past life he would probably have fainted already, though he can’t compare his weak human self to what he is now.
And now, it weirdly felt familiar to him, like something you smell at home.
Taking in appearance of them, they stood quietly waiting for some sort of command.
[Zombie]
[Race: Lesser Undead]
[Power: Ordinary]
[Potential: Stone ★]
[Profession: None]
[Loyalty: 100 (Dead Loyal)]
[Notes] [?]
[Zombie]
[Race: Lesser Undead]
[Power: Ordinary]
[Potential: Ordinary]
[Profession: None]
[Loyalty: 100 (Dead Loyal)]
[Notes] [?]
‘Potential?’
[Max power the subject can achieve]
‘It really doesn’t like to waste its breath.’
Snickering to himself he thought of that interesting mechanic.
‘So not everyone can achieve great things.’
Then something hit him, he quickly checked his stats.
[Zareth (Set Title)]
[Race: Vampire (Noble)] [?]
[Power: Stone ★]
[Territory: Crimson Keep] [?]
[Lord Talent: Bloodforged Empire] [?]
Just as he remembered, there is no potential in his stats.
Before his thoughts could drift any further, the all considerate system showed up again.
[Lords have unlimited potential]
At least he got a real answer this time, and it was a pleasant surprise.
‘In my last life, I could never become anything, and here I can become everything!’
he smiled then looked at his name.
‘Set title?’
A sudden idea popped into his head, and he quickly decided on his title.
‘Set title to Lord of The Crimson Throne.’
Something unique and fitting to him, he though.
‘Though, I only have a shitty stool right now…’
[Title Set]
Going back to the zombies, he told them to wait there as he turned around and scanned his territory.
There were a few trees here and there within the small barrier and the same with rocks, so in all honesty, there was nothing stopping him from gathering a few materials within safety.
Though life never works as expected.
‘How am I or them supposed to fucking gather it?’
Cursing at the realization, he glanced at the zombies' empty hands
‘No axes, no pickaxes, no gathering equipment.’
‘What am I supposed to do now then?’
This time, something interesting happened, the system told him something without him asking for it.
[Check the other tabs]
‘huh?’
‘What other tabs?’
Going back to his stats, he found three extra tabs.
There is no way he would have missed them, or maybe he had.
[Forum]
[Trade]
[Event]
Two of the tabs were interactable but the event tab was greyed out, but what he found most interesting was the forum tab.
Opening it he was assaulted by text scrolling by faster than his eyes could catch up.
Thinking about it stopping, it did so, and he could read a bunch of the text.
[Miraeth – Lord of The Whispering Vale: How are we supposed to survive here! It’s impossible!]
[Avelis – Lady of Sunfire Haven: I’m a Rothchild, whoever can get me home will get everything I have!]
[Kaelith – Lord of the Ebon Crest: Anyone know of any way home! I’m scared!]
[Eryndel – Lady of the Twilight Glade: Oh shut up! If we knew, we wouldn’t be here still!]
Looking at all the messages Zareth understood something.
He wasn’t the only one here, from the looks of it, these people were also from earth.
Though he differed from most of them in one specific way.
‘Why would I want to go home?’
While they all clung to the past, desperate to return, he felt nothing.
No longing, no sadness, only hunger.
This world offered him everything he had never been, power, potential, freedom.
Home? Why would he ever want to go back?
He had no desire to go home at all, and this thought furthered his acceptance of the new him.
A Noble Vampire with crazy strong ambition.
Finding nothing interesting there, he moved onto the trading tab.
[Seller: Kragmire – Warden of the Ashen Depths]
[Offer: 10 Units of wood]
[Seeking: Food]
[Notes: I’m starving, please help!]
[Seller: Varnok – Lord of Ironhowl Bastion]
[Offer: 20 Units of Stone]
[Seeking: 10 Units of Wood]
[Notes: Willing to negotiate. Urgent need.]
Skimming through the trade tab, he found tons of different postings, some begging for food, others looking to have a steady stream of resources.
‘I can get equipment here!’
Feeling ecstatic that his problem was resolved a new thought hit him.
‘What do I trade with…’
Looking around, he has nothing from what he can see, so he decided to try something out.
He looked at the zombies and gave them an order.
“Go grab all the stones you can carry from within the barrier and bring them to the Lord’ Shelter.”
Watching his undead stumble into motion, he could only hope it would work, because if it didn’t, survival might be near impossible.