A Village Appeared on My Desktop

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Chapter 36 – The Miracle of the Outskirts (6)

‘Building a castle wall? Me, am I really going to do that?’

In the world of Dark Blood, the magnificent stone castle that Balun saw was not as grand as it sounded. He merely suggested building a wall around the village with stacked stones to make it harder for anyone to simply cross over.

However, Morin, upon hearing that suggestion, was unable to sleep that night, overwhelmed by excitement. The thought of being able to create a castle—something he thought he would only hear about in stories—was simply a dream come true.

“In that case, we’ll need a lot of stones.”

“That’s not a problem. We have tons of stones piled up from mining.”

“First, let’s prepare the materials.”

So, at dawn the next day, while his companions headed to the gate to farm resources in the game world, Morin began his own task.

Morin told Kun, the miner, that he needed a lot of stones and started by moving the stockpiled stone blocks to the village.

Using the trait of a Transporter, the stones mined quickly changed into small cubic blocks. Morin was able to scoop these lighter stone blocks into leather bags, allowing him to transport dozens at a time.

‘I’ll need even more.’

After dumping the stone blocks he carried into a tent that would serve as a warehouse, Morin wiped the sweat trickling down his chin. Since storing them didn’t take up much space at all, Morin repeated this action several times to fill the warehouse with stone blocks from the game world.

Of course, the real work was just beginning. Carrying them was fine, but installing the transported blocks into reality was going to be a monumental task.

“Installing even five at a time is tough? Well, considering it’s those gigantic stones, I guess it makes sense.”

“That person stacked countless stones without showing any sign of struggle, but I can’t do that.”

Upon hearing his companions’ surprised exclamations regarding the limited number of stone blocks he could install in a day due to stamina constraints, Morin could only chuckle bitterly and shake his head.

In the game world, he watched someone stack endless blocks without any limitations, but reality was different. For Morin, who had acquired a similar capability, it was simply astonishing.

‘But if I take my time, it should be doable. If there’s a castle wall… the village will be safe. I must do whatever it takes to protect this place, even if it’s tough.’

Determined, Morin began his task slowly. Having fled his village from raiders, he was the kind of person who would do anything to protect it if he had the power.

“Looks like someone is building something.”

Naturally, Morin’s activities couldn’t go unnoticed by Balun, who returned home after work.

*

‘I realized when building a watchtower…’

I had set up my meal in front of the computer and stared blankly at the enlarged wallpaper while eating.

On the screen, other villagers were busy with their tasks, while some were bustling around at the village’s edge.

The Transporter trait allowed villagers to bring game items into reality. The residents were already using that trait to create something in their village.

So, it was reasonable to think that building a castle wall for their protection was something they could certainly achieve.

‘It’s definitely slow.’

Transporter Morin was busy constructing a makeshift castle wall at the marked spot at the village’s edge, accompanied by a few helpers.

However, unlike the game characters who could build gigantic walls made of numerous blocks in mere hours, Morin, bearing the penalty of reality, could only install two or three blocks in succession before slumping down to recover his stamina.

He might have started from early morning, but the wall comprised of blocks that he installed up to his height had only reached about six layers—roughly six meters tall.

“—.”

It was clear to everyone that he was struggling, and as he got back up, the onlookers looked at him with concern.

His helpers were merely marking spots or bringing him the blocks he had pre-emptively moved; that was the extent of their assistance.

After all, no one had shown signs of having the Transporter trait yet.

‘I can’t really help with anything either.’

Having finished my meal, I checked on the two games that were running concurrently.

The first had Balun, Riena, and Shura battling against unending monsters after clearing Chapter 1, while the other was full of other tribe members diligently farming resources.

If only I could use my gaming character to construct buildings in their village! But only they could move between the game and reality.

‘Today, I should just gather materials.’

I had to clear Chapter 2 with Riena, but I decided to postpone it for a day. It seemed best to hurry with the castle wall construction for the safety of the village, which was exposed to numerous threats.

Right now, I had no way to assist Morin, but I could at least create materials beyond just simple stone blocks—glass blocks, stair-shaped blocks, or half-sized stone blocks.

I logged into the first game and moved my character. Of course, the second game window showed Riena and her party, along with the busily squirming villagers in enlarged wallpaper.

Running multiple games simultaneously felt a bit like a factory, but I didn’t care much.

“—!”

“—…”

As I logged into the game, my character appeared out of nowhere, and several villagers working nearby were surprised and greeted me with bows.

I had felt burdened by their reaction in the past, but I had come to accept it now, knowing they saw my character’s abilities as remarkable.

To respond to their greeting, I repeated sitting and standing a few times before starting my tasks. It wasn’t anything extravagant—just producing resources that the villagers had pre-mined or directly collecting the lacking resources in the field. I was simply playing a game.

– Done work? What are you doing?

– Gaming.

When my friend asked what I was actually doing, I replied “gaming.” It wasn’t an outright lie since my hobby was gaming, and my friend, who knew that, reacted accordingly. He was also complaining about working overtime.

‘I’m all set to keep going, but nothing’s coming out.’

Before I knew it, night had fallen. In the game, several day-night cycles had already passed. I had filled my inventory with various resources to use, but I gave up on finding rare minerals I had been searching for.

It appeared that minerals beyond iron ore wouldn’t be easily given.

“—…–!”

Soon, I returned to the bomb shelter with the gate and dumped the items I brought back, causing Morin to show a perplexed expression.

Was he happy to obtain several usable resources, or was he sad about having to work tirelessly going forward?

‘Maybe new villagers will arrive? Or I need a way to upgrade Morin’s abilities.’

Seeing him like that, it was only natural to have such thoughts. The population needed to increase for more people with talents to appear, thus increasing efficiency.

Currently, even Morin, the Transporter, had joined late from being a vagabond.

As the Chieftain leading the village, Balun had freed captured individuals, motivated by similar thoughts regarding their growth, and now I found myself having similar ideas.

[Glitch level 3 activated]

“Oh no.”

But even though I called for villagers, nobody came, and instead, an unfriendly message popped up. It was the culprit of many problems and those mysterious monster types appearing after a long absence.

‘They don’t look that strong, though.’

I wondered where they had appeared, and it seemed they came from a forest near the village. Although they were level 3, they were ultimately just tentacled worm-like creatures. Overall, they seemed to resemble caterpillars.

The village residents hadn’t noticed them yet, so I returned, bringing Balun, who was having a late dinner, forward with my mouse.

“—!? –!”

Caught mid-chew, Balun was startled and flailed his limbs in shock, but the appearance of the monster in front of him changed his expression completely.

Confirming his reaction, I set him back down in the village and watched the residents’ responses.

“—!”

As a glitch could appear at any time or place and from anywhere, the residents panicked. Especially those who had previous experiences fighting bugs.

Those who had recently joined and were seeing glitches for the first time were flustered and agitated, contrasting sharply with the experienced ones.

Of course, I was also tense. After all, glitches or bugs were my primary enemies that could directly harm me in reality.

‘I wonder if I can take them out easily with a gun.’

As I watched the residents rush in to battle the glitches, I began to speculate what would happen if those monsters came crawling out into reality.

Right now, it was just me, but eventually, when more users appeared, if they failed to defend against them, that would mean those monsters could come into our world.

Glitches could be taken down even with arrows or spears shot by ordinary villagers. Riena’s skill, wielded with a glint in her eyes, could tear through their bodies in an instant.

However, bugs that had evolved from glitches would only be significantly harmed by the strikes of Riena, a superhuman who could replicate skills from the game.

That was the only way to deal with monsters when they appeared in reality. If, by any chance, the army couldn’t handle them, who would step up to fight?

“…”

I stared blankly at my hands. In the past, as a reward for villagers defeating bugs, I had acquired the trait of Riena, a strong warrior.

Thanks to that, my once scrawny body had grown a bit sturdier. Fatigue accumulated much less, and my strength had improved. If I continued nurturing connections with the villagers, I would eventually gain even more.

But even if I became stronger through that, could I really fight the monsters like Riena or the villagers?

‘I’ll think about it later.’

I shook my head and forced those thoughts away. That wasn’t the pressing concern right now.

My current task was to hunt the appearing glitches and empower those residents celebrating their victory.