Chapter 24: Building Card

Two hours...

Su You did the math and felt that should be enough time. So, dragging along her pile of supplies and the materials needed to build the Heartfire, she headed to the spot she’d already picked out—a patch of fertile soil near a water source, with dense berry bushes and fiber plants growing not far away.

Once she’d settled on the location, Su You didn’t hesitate. She took out the Lord’s Token from her backpack.

This was her first time seeing the item in person.

The token was palm-sized, engraved with the words “Lord’s Token,” and the back was etched with intricate patterns she couldn’t decipher. It felt oddly light in her hand, making her wonder if it was just a piece of foam.

With the token in hand, Su You found “Heartfire” in the construction menu.

Earlier, she’d used up a piece of stone to make a shovel for setting traps to kill the Fire Demon boss. Luckily, among the loot dropped by the boss, there were some stone fragments—just enough to synthesize a piece of stone for building the Heartfire.

A familiar phantom outline appeared before her. Su You carefully placed the Heartfire right in the center.

[Consume Plank x5, Stone x5, Flame Stone x1 to build Heartfire?]

...

[Constructing Heartfire. Estimated time: 10 seconds.]

Ten seconds later, as the flames ignited, the Lord’s Token in Su You’s other hand flickered, as if it might vanish at any moment.

[Heartfire detected nearby. Create territory?]

This wasn’t Su You’s first time establishing a territory, but for some reason, while the first time had filled her with nothing but excitement and joy, this second time, along with those same feelings, she also felt a hint of nervousness.

She took several deep breaths before finally selecting [Yes].

The moment she made her choice, the Heartfire suddenly erupted in a burst of fireworks-like flames. Su You wasn’t startled; instead, she found herself drawn closer to the Heartfire.

[Congratulations, A1-16, on successfully joining the Digital World. Territory established.]

[As thanks for your efforts in joining the Digital World, the Execution System will grant you a reward.]

Before Su You could fully process these messages, three familiar buildings appeared before her.

Each building was different, but they all seemed to be “printed” on card-like objects.

“So this is... the reward?”

Although Su You had only been in this Digital World for less than two days, she’d already noticed that, while the world’s template was Sunset Continent, a lot of things were actually different.

Most of these differences were in the game’s processes; the actual data and stats were exactly the same as before.

For example, where once you could create a territory with just a Heartfire, now you also needed a Lord’s Token... or the new feature where killing a boss lets you claim a reward at the quest hall—something she’d never heard of before.

These were all process changes, part of the game’s flow.

But things like monster attributes and weaknesses, or the materials needed for crafting buildings and items—those were all exactly as she remembered.

To Su You, it felt as if... Sunset Continent was indeed a game, but only just a game.

Now, this Digital World she was in was Sunset Continent 2.0—a modified “game” designed to help them integrate more easily.

Whatever the truth was, it wasn’t something Su You needed to worry about right now.

She glanced at the three building cards and the three-minute countdown timer above them, her mind racing as she considered which card to choose as her reward.

[Tavern Card]: Use to instantly build a Tavern within your territory for free (no materials required).

[Post Station Card]: Use to instantly build a Post Station within your territory for free (no materials required).

[Statue Card]: Use to instantly build a Statue within your territory for free (no materials required). (Note: Statue’s identity is random and cannot be chosen.)

After reading the descriptions, Su You understood.

If she was right, this was the Execution System’s way of helping Lord players.

All three buildings were extremely useful—there wasn’t a single useless option.

More importantly, these buildings all required materials that were hard to gather in the early game.

With these cards, she could get one building for free. If she chose wisely, it would not only speed up her territory’s development, but also provide extra security.

Each building had its own function: recruitment, trade, and blessings.

The Tavern allowed you to recruit NPCs. While you could still recruit NPCs without a Tavern, the difference was that Tavern-recruited NPCs always came with certain skills or special identities.

Without a Tavern, a Lord could only set up a bulletin board near the Heartfire after creating a territory. Once the board was up, wandering NPCs would start to appear nearby.

These wandering NPCs might choose to join your territory, but most of them were just ordinary people with no skills.

Unless Su You provided them with skill books, or had skilled NPCs to take them as apprentices, or triggered a rare event where an NPC learned skills on their own... otherwise, at best, they could only do basic labor like chopping wood, mining, farming, or gathering surface resources (twigs, leaves, etc).

The Post Station was for trade. Once a territory had a Post Station, merchants would occasionally visit to trade with the player.

There were many types of merchants—not just by what they sold (food, materials, equipment, etc.), but also by race.

Sunset Continent wasn’t just humans, monsters, and ordinary plants and animals. There were other races, like goblins, dwarves, elves, and more.

Merchants of different races sold different things.

For example, goblin merchants mostly sold weapons and equipment, and if you built up enough favor with them, you might even be able to buy some rather dangerous items.

Elven merchants loved plants, so most of what they sold were various plants they’d grown themselves."

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