His unit has stats and attributes, not to mention equipment. With years of playing game under his belt, Erik had a good idea of what each stat and attribute entitled. While not unheard of in RTS, unit having stats and attributes brought far more depth and complexity than he’d liked.

“If this unit have stats then the other units should have them too,” Erik commented and decided to give an order to William. It was strange the unit had personalized name. He could edit its name, but William was easy enough to remember.

William moved as Erik commanded through simple gestures, walking from one corner of the tile to the next and doubled back. The Headquarter at the centre of the tile took a good chunk of available space, but Erik sure he could fit several Barracks in the remaining space. Sadly, one building per tile was the rule.

“He can’t leave the tile,” Erik made a note when he tried to get William to move beyond the glowing border of the tile. William collided with an invisible barrier and stopped.

“I can’t go there, my Lord,” William called out, looking puzzled.

“That’s too bad. I thought I have the option to explore the surrounding tiles,” Erik said and dismissed one of his theories. Initially, he had believed the darkness surrounded the tile was something akin to the “Fog of War”. Whatever the fog was obscuring would be revealed when meets the William’s line of sight. It was not the case.

Erik examined the list of commands he could issue to William. He could have William stands guard, patrols, moves, attacks – the standard command found in many RTS. There were also options not found in standard RTS.

“There is no forest nearby, my Lord,” William called out when Erik tried to issue ‘forests’.

“Interesting,” Erik noted before noticing an exclamation mark appeared above William’s head. It just appeared. “What is that?”

[An exclamation mark]

Erik rolled his eyes. “I know it’s an exclamation mark, Dell. I’m not blind. Why is it there?”

[Your unit requires your attention. It could be several things – an idea, a request, a discovery]

“That’s better,” Erik said and reached out to select William. His physical body didn’t exist in his inner realm, so the gesture was only in his mind.

“My Lord, I think I can find something in the tall grass over there,” William suggested and pointed at the grassy patch north west of the Headquarter.

“Now that is interesting,” Erik stated as new options appeared on the list of commands. Gathers was not there a moment ago. It appeared as soon as his unit suggested it. He immediately issued the command and watched his only worker headed to the tall grass and entered it. It then strolled back and forth with a timer appeared above its head. The timer was counting down, very slowly.

Like usual, Erik could wait out the timer, which would be hours of boredom or return to the outside world to speed things up or sleep. This wouldn’t even be a choice if he had more tiles, buildings and units to manage. Since his body hadn’t recovered enough, sleep was the only option.

“Wake me up when something comes up,” Erik said and snoozed. He didn’t even try to sleep. He just fell asleep after the declaration. It was as easy as flipping on a switch.

[Something comes up]

Erik opened his eyes as blue glow filled the edges of his vision. He gave a yawn and turned towards the only tile he had to check up on William. The older man was still strolling back and forth in the tall grass, but now there was an exclamation mark.

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“I found a couple of snakes (+2 food) and a few branches (+1 wood), my Lord,” William stated when he was selected. Erik immediately brought up the Headquarter menu and found he now had 1 wood and a total of 11 foods.

“Wait, shouldn’t be 12? I had 10 before,” Erik said.

[A day had passed]

“What? Are you serious?” Erik uttered. “I just wasted a day sleeping?”

[I am always serious. It was not a waste. Your body recovered sufficiently, and you collected some resources]

Erik twitched his eye before letting his annoyance slid. There was no point of upsetting with Dell. He should have been more specific when requesting its help. At least he learned a couple of new things since last time he was awake. He could really sleep forever if he wanted to and tall grass is a shitty way to gain resource. There was a net gain of 1 wood and 1 food, but at a cost of 1 whole day! That was not a good exchange!

“Dell. Is there a faster way to gather resources? At this rate, I will be dead by the time I get a base up and running,” Erik said.

There was a moment of silence. Dell was thinking.

[You could claim resources in the outside world]

“I could?” Erik blinked and slapped himself for the obviousness. “Of course, I could. How else would I fight the others? That’s not a question!”

[…]

“This is a question. How do I send my unit into the outside world?”

[By creating a waypoint for your unit to use]

“Dell, I’m like a newbie so treat me like one. How do I create a waypoint?” Erik asked.

[You can create a waypoint by selecting an area and issuing the command “Create Waypoint”. You can only create one waypoint per Headquarter. The action can only be done in the outside world]

“I see,” Erik said and rubbed his non-existence chin. He paid attention to William, who was gathering whatever he could find in the tall grass. He left William there for now.

– Real Time Reality –

Erik coughed as the cold air filled his lungs. Blurry ceiling slowly refocused and sharpened. He raised his charcoal hand towards his eyes and examined his fingers. The skin was badly charred to the point of cracking. He balled his hand into a tight fist, fissuring the damaged layer. Newly formed skin could be seen between the cracks. At least his enhanced healing worked as advertised.

“Thank God,” Erik said and pulled himself upright. The plastic cover slid off his chest and let him see the walking horror he had become. His heart skipped several beats.

“Goddamn it! Lance, you bastard! You turn me into a fucking freak!”

[Do not exert yourself. The damage is extensive, but you will recover in time]

“Yeah, but I will always remember this,” Erik snorted. He then pulled himself off the table and onto his two feet. He gripped the table to stop himself from falling over. He panted and scanned the room in detail. There were many tables arranged in rows. Aside of a few, each table was occupied with a plastic cover over the occupant.

Erik approached the adjacent table and rolled up one before rage and fury swirled in his eyes. It was a child, about 8 to 10 years of age. Unlike him, the child wasn’t coming back from being burned alive, and the expression the child had would haunted him for the rest of his life.

“Are they all…” Erik uttered and hastily removed the plastic cover from the next table and the next table. Rows after rows of burnt body. The table shook under his fist. “Damn it! What have you done Lance? How could you kill so many people?”

[Absorb their essence]

“What?”

[Absorb their essence]

Erik looked up and found the bodies were glowing eerily. Green ethereal mist was evaporating from their body. He blinked several times to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.

[It seems that the one called Lance did not take in their essence. He might not bother with such a tiny amount, but any bit helps in the long run. Absorb their essence and strengthen yourself. This many should be more than enough]

“Essence… is that their soul?”

[Does it matter, Erik? With your current power level, you cannot hope to defeat Lance and stop his rampage]

Erik shook his head as the green mist from the body in the table before him entered his nostril. His eyes glowed faintly as he felt stronger – even if slightly.

“Must I become a monster to kill a monster?” Erik questioned and drawled in a deep breathe. The abyss within him churned as his eyes glowed eerie green for a moment. He looked forwards and noted the ethereal mists were all converging towards him. Like a void, he sucked them all up and felt himself swirled with power.

[Congratulation. You have gained another tile!]

“Yeah… but at what price?” Erik muttered and fisted his hands. He bowed at the numerous corpses laid out before him. “I will pay this debt one day, I swear it. The ones who did this to you will pay for it with their life. They all will.”

Erik then looked to side, and with a thought, the space distorted and cracked. It shattered like glass, revealing a swirling purple mist beyond. Soon, a man in his early thirties stepped out of it and gave him a sincere bow.

“What is your command, my Lord?”