Chapter Ten: The Desert Village

“I have to go now. Protect the village!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
At the main gate of the village wall, a young man with a golden crown addressed a row of iron-clad warriors before him.
He was Mo Fangyuan. It had been three weeks since his arrival in this world, and everything had progressed steadily. The dark dungeon below had remained quiet, and no monsters had appeared from the north.
The Kingdom of Blocks had developed rapidly, and the people’s spirits were renewed.
“While I’m away, don’t patrol the unlit fields at night—only stick to the areas illuminated by torches…”
The previous week, after Mo Fangyuan had surrounded the village with torches, he would take one or two guards out each night to hunt monsters and build their strength.
These well-lined-up guards were the result of his efforts.
He wouldn’t call them formidable, but they were enough to fend off monsters.
He’d always wondered why intelligent human guards would lose to brainless, instinct-driven creatures.
Only after personally training them did he understand.
These so-called guards were simply villagers with combat roles, but they lacked any experience or technique—like conscripts forced onto a chaotic battlefield.
Moreover, just as light in the darkness attracts monsters, the way these guards fought was much the same as before: charging or fleeing at the first sign of a monster, attacking blindly.
This wasn’t just the Kingdom of Blocks—most village guards were no different.
Being a guard was dangerous; they had to battle monsters almost every night and died quickly.
Many perished before passing on their knowledge, or only managed to teach a little before dying.
New guards, not knowing how to fight monsters, could only flail wildly, which made their mortality rate even higher…
This vicious cycle weakened the fighting strength of the human guards further and further…
With ample supplies, Mo Fangyuan left the Kingdom of Blocks and headed north.
His destination was a village in the northern desert.
He had chosen the desert because those villages were usually built along small rivers at the edge of the sands, making them easier to find.
He also had his own reasons. After waiting nearly a month, Mo Fangyuan judged that the northern faction didn’t plan to move south for now. He could take the initiative and scout out the north to make plans for the future.
“If only I had a horse…”
The Kingdom of Blocks wasn’t that far from the northern desert, but it wasn’t close either.
It would take some time for Mo Fangyuan to reach it on foot.
He had been walking for half a day and was now some distance from his kingdom’s borders.
Consulting his map, Mo Fangyuan estimated his location.
“I’m not far from the great lake. It’ll be dark soon—I’ll rest there for the night…”
The plain was vast, connecting many terrains; the Kingdom of Blocks lay in its southeast, near the edge of the Black Forest.
Though Mo Fangyuan could have spent the night hunting monsters,
he knew this wasn’t his own territory. Monsters could appear at any time; it was dangerous. He still had a long journey ahead and needed to conserve his strength.
The lake was large but shallow—just what Mo Fangyuan wanted.
This wasn’t a game; the trick of “digging three down and filling one in” didn’t work here—one careless night and he’d really be buried.
So, he chose to sleep on a small boat out on the lake.
He picked a shallow spot, safe from drowned creatures and far enough from land that land monsters couldn’t reach him.
“Hmm, it’s a bit hard…”

Lying uncomfortably in the boat, Mo Fangyuan began to miss the big bed in his castle.
“Roar! Roar…”
“Crack…”
“Tear…”
Monsters howled, but Mo Fangyuan gradually drifted off to sleep.
The sun rose in the east.
He hadn’t slept well—the boat was hard, and the monsters were noisy…
But at least he’d recovered some energy.
After dealing with a few monsters lurking in the water to avoid sunlight, Mo Fangyuan resumed his journey.
The desert was a place of scarcity and frequent natural disasters.
If it weren’t for the fact that only a few types of monsters appeared at night, and in small numbers, no one would settle here.
“They must be desperate!”
Stepping into the desert, Mo Fangyuan was soon drenched in sweat under the blazing sun.
“How do people manage to live here long-term?”
Following the small river marked on his map, Mo Fangyuan searched as he went.
He passed many ruins—some long weathered, some reduced to little more than scattered sand and stone…
Perhaps the people who had once lived there had also struggled and fought for a future.
But in the end, they too met their doom.
The further he went, the stranger it seemed—the ruins grew fresher, and signs of fighting more apparent.
Upon entering a relatively intact village, Mo Fangyuan was shocked by the sight before him.
Dozens of villagers and free men lay piled like a mound in the central square, with a black skull banner thrust into the top—a jarring, chilling sight.
Mo Fangyuan had never seen such a scene and stood frozen in disbelief.
Coming to his senses, he began to tremble all over.
It wasn’t fear, but shock and hatred.
“Damn it! You monsters…”
Mo Fangyuan left the village and quickened his pace toward another village marked on his map.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
He arrived.
The village was silent—clearly, a massacre had taken place.
“The blood is still fresh…”
That meant the damned monsters had only just left!
Why? Why were monsters so intent on slaughtering the Block People?
Taking a deep breath, Mo Fangyuan resolved to follow the tracks not yet covered by wind and sand—to hunt down these loathsome monsters.
For the Block People, and to appease his own conscience.
“No… Monsters… I’ll fight you to the end…”
“Aaah! Aaaah!”
“Child, run!”
Shouts, screams…

Cresting a small sand dune, Mo Fangyuan knew he had arrived.
He saw a small village, engulfed in towering flames, with screams echoing endlessly—a living hell on earth…
“Those who are not of our kind must be exterminated—the ancestors did not deceive me!”
Rage burned in his chest, ready to consume him.
This time, Mo Fangyuan hesitated not at all. He took out the nation’s treasure—the Strength II Potion—and drank it in one gulp.
The Kingdom of Blocks had only three such potions; only one was Strength II, and the method to brew more was yet undiscovered. These were true treasures of the nation.
But Mo Fangyuan felt that as long as he could destroy these monsters, it was worth it!
A surge of power spread from his stomach to his limbs, deep red particles swirling around him.
The potion’s effect would last only half an hour, and Mo Fangyuan knew he had to act quickly.
“Monsters…”
The effect was brief—he had to finish this fast.
The village wasn’t large; it was easy to scout.
The perpetrators matched the description given by the two refugees who had once come to the Kingdom of Blocks—Skeleton Knights.
They wore iron armor, wielded swords or bows, rode spiders, and bore black skull banners.
“Unforgivable crimes! Heaven itself cannot tolerate this! They must be destroyed!”
Anticipating a possible battle before leaving his kingdom, Mo Fangyuan had brought seven iron axes with him.
He hefted one and hurled it with all his might at a Skeleton Knight at the village entrance.
The iron axe’s seven points of damage, plus Mo Fangyuan’s 1.4 strength boost, doubled by the potion’s effect—16.8 attack power!
The Spider Knight was struck with such force that it was ripped from its mount.
“Die, monster!”
The spider, now freed from the Skeleton Knight’s control, wandered aimlessly—only to meet the next flying axe.
Mo Fangyuan beheaded the incapacitated Skeleton Knight, retrieved the fallen axes, and moved toward another disturbance.
The Skeleton Knights, when grouped, made Mo Fangyuan wary; but scattered throughout the village as they hunted survivors, they were easy prey.
He didn’t fear them one-on-one.
One by one, the Skeleton Knights fell.
In all, there were seven in the village, and Mo Fangyuan destroyed them all.
“Our homes are gone, our loved ones are dead… What do we do now?”
Those who survived weren’t relieved, but instead filled with despair. Without the village’s protection, how could they survive?
“It’s all gone! Everything!”
Some Block People broke down in tears.
“One, two, three, four… eight—just eight left!”
Mo Fangyuan roared inwardly. Of the village’s twenty-three people, only eight remained! These were all tools… new citizens for the Kingdom of Blocks, its new lifeblood!
Damn these monsters!