The morning after the elf scout vanished into the trees, Deadhollow woke up to the sound of hammers and the hiss of venom.
Kai stood on the newly built watchtower, arms crossed, eyes scanning the horizon.
The Evil Drake coiled lazily in the air above the square, its wings casting a long shadow over the villagers who still stared at it with a mix of fear and awe.
Level 30.
Evil Drake unlocked.
Iron Legion scouts three days away.
And now… something new was stirring inside the system.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
Summoning Milestone Reached!
New Summons Unlocked: • Evil Worker (Weak Evil Labor Unit – 10 can be summoned at once)
• Evil Scout (Weak Evil Recon Unit – invisible in shadows, reports every 30 minutes) Cooldown: 24 hours | Mana Cost: Low
A thin smile tugged at Kai's lips.
Finally.
Time to stop fighting like a barbarian and start building like the engineer I used to be.
He remembered the old world in flashes.
Back in his old world he was just kaito — a civil engineer who designed bridges and high-rises that no one appreciated.
Parents died in a car crash when he was sixteen.
No relatives wanted the "quiet, weird kid".
Boss used to call him "useless dreamer".
The only place he felt like a god was inside the game.
Level 9999.
He had built floating cities, unbreakable fortresses, and entire empires using knowledge no medieval mind could understand.
And now… he was going to do it again.
But this time, no one would ever call him useless.
"Finn,"
Kai called without turning.
"Gather every able body.
We're not waiting for the Iron Legion to knock.
We're turning this village into something they'll never forget."
Finn nodded, but Kai noticed the tiny black thread still flickering deep in his loyalty pulse.
Kai's eyes lingered on Finn for half a second longer than usual.
The black thread was still there, thin as a hair, but pulsing.
Finn noticed the stare and forced a smile.
"Something wrong, my lord?"
"Nothing,"
Kai lied.
"Just making sure my tools stay sharp."
As Finn turned to leave, he added quietly,
"By the way… I should tell you.
The villagers made me captain of Deadhollow after Valthor died.
I never mentioned it because I wasn't sure you'd trust a captain's son.
" Kai filed the information away without a word.
Kai summoned his first batch of ten Evil Workers right in the center of the square.
They rose from the ground like silent, hunched figures made of black-veined muscle and glowing green eyes.
No wings, no drama — just raw labor power.
A few villagers stepped back in fear.
Someone whispered,
"They… they look like demons."
Old Man Renn scratched his beard.
"Demons or not, if these things can work this hard, I'll treat them like my own sons too."
Kai didn't smile. He just said,
"They are tools. Good tools."
The Evil Workers moved like machines.
By noon the moat was half dug.
By evening the walls had grown another layer, now reinforced with venom-infused stone that hissed whenever rain touched it.
Kai drew a rough plan on the ground with a stick.
"Mix the black-veined stone with sand and my venom in 4:2:1 ratio.It will act like reinforced concrete — harder than any castle wall in the fifteen kingdoms.And here… we'll add a simple pulley system using ropes and logs. Ten men can lift stones that used to need fifty."
The Evil Workers followed his instructions perfectly.
For the first time the villagers saw their lord not just as a fighter, but as someone who thought like the gods of old.
Old Man Renn watched the pulley system rise with wide eyes.
The retired captain of the Human Kingdom's 7th Legion had been sentenced to this forgotten village ten years ago — punishment for refusing to burn a town full of innocents during a border war.
He had saved hundreds of lives that day and lost everything.
Now, seeing Kai's mind at work, he muttered under his breath,
"Lad, if these Evil Workers could even cook chickens, I'd call you a god."
Kai didn't stop there. He spent the entire day walking the site, spitting precise jets of black venom into the stone mixture, turning ordinary rock into something that could rot armor on contact.
The hidden spike pits, the raised archer platforms, the basic aqueduct that could flood the moat in seconds, and the secret escape tunnel north — everything took shape with terrifying speed.
At midnight the Minor Loyalty Watchtower screamed.
[ALERT: Ironreach Scouting Party detected – 12 riders,
2 miles out. Approaching fast.]
Kai's eyes narrowed.
Three days early.
They must have pushed hard.
He didn't panic.
He had planned for this.
"Evil Scouts — go."
Six invisible Evil Scouts melted into the darkness.
Ten minutes later the reports flooded in:
• Enemy leader: Level 28 Iron Knight.
• They carry fire arrows and siege ladders.
• They plan to burn the outer farms and test the walls tonight.
Kai smiled coldly.
"Finn, take twenty men and the Evil Drake.
Hit them from the side while they're focused on the gate.
I'll give them a welcome they won't forget."
The battle was short and brutal.
The Evil Drake's corrosive mist turned three riders into screaming torches.
Their iron armor melted like wax.
Finn's venom-coated spear punched straight through an Iron Knight's chest plate, the black venom hissing as it ate through flesh and bone.
One scout tried to blow a horn for retreat — an Evil Scout appeared behind him and slit his throat before the sound could escape.
The rest died before they even reached the new moat.
When the last rider fell, Kai walked out to the battlefield himself.
He knelt beside the dead knight and pulled a blood-stained map from his pouch.
It showed Deadhollow circled in red with notes: "Anomaly confirmed.
evil demon at Level 30.
Eliminate before he reaches 50."
Kai crushed the map.
[BATTLE COMPLETE – 12 kills]
Level: 30 → 32
Souls +940
Bonus : Ironreach Scouting Map Acquired (Shows nearby enemy outposts)
[SYSTEM ALERT]
Evil Worker efficiency increased by 15% after first real use.
Back in the square, the villagers were cheering — tired, scared, but cheering.
For the first time they weren't just surviving.
They were winning.
Kai stood on the wall again, the Evil Drake landing behind him with a heavy thud.
The ten Evil Workers were still digging the moat under torchlight, never stopping.
Kai looked at the burning horizon where the last Ironreach scout had fallen.
Fifteen kingdoms.
Seven of them already knew his name.
The venom's whisper returned, almost amused: They are still tools… but empires are built by tools. He clenched his fist.
"Level 32 today.
One day… Level 9999 again.
And this time no one will stop me."
Status Window
Name: Kai Ren
Level: 32
Title: Lord of Deadhollow
Souls: 9,050
Resources: High Active
Summons: 23 (New: 10 Evil Workers + 6 Evil Scouts)
Skills: Black Venom Spit (Active) | Venom Control (Active)