I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 721 - 721 720. Second Loop Speedrun_1

Chapter 721: 720. Second Loop Speedrun_1 Chapter 721: 720. Second Loop Speedrun_1 In that moment, Lu Ban’s gaze pierced through the clouds as if he saw the Ancient Overlord upon the moon.

He was firmly bound there, his crimson blood soaking the lunar soil, dyeing half of the moon blood-red.

That blood traversed the vacuum of space, dripping onto this planet, becoming the fertile soil that nourished the Demonic Beasts, and even the mere gaze of the Ancient Overlord could lead to Pollution and Mutation.

Whether he could become a node for the Magic Network, Lu Ban was uncertain.

But he knew that what needed to be done now was to quickly establish a proper defense system, gather more players, and resolve the issues with the Magic Network.

He first sought out the players.

In the crude town square, having just survived a small-scale invasion by Demonic Beasts, the players felt as if they had narrowly escaped disaster. Although most of them had died in the attack, with some running back for their corpses twice, the sensation of being torn apart, gnawed on, and stabbed by the insects still lingered in their minds.

In the Foreign Domain, normally, the mere sight of a fellow kind’s corpse would cause one to lose a point or two of Sanity; being killed by Demonic Beasts likely reduced even more. Of course, generally speaking, once dead, such matters of Sanity lost their significance, but players were different.

Players could experience death endlessly and learn combat techniques and patterns from it, discerning the patterns of the Demonic Beasts.

With the ability to resurrect after death, sometimes humans could achieve absurd feats beyond imagination. Players driven by curiosity would try every means to see what lay beyond a cliff, dying hundreds of times just to jump across, or endure being slaughtered by a BOSS for over ten hours, only to curse “FNNDP” after finally defeating it. They would research shortcuts, traps, class-skipping methods, all in pursuit of a speedrun.

There are many videos online of second playthrough speedruns, replaying a game and getting through it much faster than before.

“Fellow players,”

Lu Ban spoke.

“We have just experienced an attack by Demonic Beasts, with heavy losses. According to the Mages’ observations, a more extensive Demonic Tide will arrive in six months. By that time, if we can’t establish an effective defense line, we are very likely to be completely devoured by the Demonic Tide.”

Hearing Lu Ban’s words, the players looked at each other.

Recalling the recent ordeal, they all felt that Lu Ban made a lot of sense.

The Demonic Tide must be the main event in this game, and this game’s events seem to truly change the scenery and terrain.

In some games, no matter what major events happen in the storyline, the game’s scenery remains unchanged; even when it’s nearly Doomsday, the game still has the player find cats and dogs, deliver letters, and build houses.

In others, the destruction of the environment isn’t complete; buckets can be knocked over and shattered, but no matter how much one hacks at a wall, it remains unscathed, and even the small animals in the scene remain lively and bouncing around after being slashed.

In [Cage], however, everything in the map is destructible.

The Black Forest can be set on fire, and those flowerbed creatures don’t revive or respawn once killed. Players have reason to believe that if NPCs are killed by Demonic Beasts, they definitely won’t revive either.

To many players, such irrevocable losses, with no possibility of respawning or revival, are precious.

In some games, if one accidentally kills an NPC, not only will the whole village hunt you down, but it might also lead to a dead save: either you can’t buy things anymore, weapon upgrades become impossible, or you end up severing plot clues, preventing the story from progressing.

So, players themselves can die infinitely, but NPCs, with only one life, are all the more precious.

No one knows which NPC might hide clues to a side quest. If an NPC dies before its secrets are discovered, it’s a huge loss.

At the same time, if the map here is destroyed, everything the players have worked hard to build would be wiped out. As a pioneer settlement for the beta-testing players, Sunset Town has become more than just a remote little town in the Night Country.

“In light of this, I plan to build a tower for observing the movements of the Black Forest, and to construct defensive fortifications around the town. I hope everyone will actively participate. I will provide generous rewards.”

Lu Ban said.

First, we need to establish the Gray Tower.

Moreover, we have to protect this remote little town from the invasion of demonic beasts. Players can be resurrected upon death, but the townspeople cannot.

As for the trenches and defensive fortifications, it’s time to take some initiative.

Upon hearing Lu Ban’s words, the players all became excited.

“Holy shit, is this the start of the next phase of the story?”

“Are we really going to start building houses? Are there any spells to speed up construction?”

“Yeah, three farmers can speed up building a house, except we’re the farmers.”

“In this era of building towers, are we going to build the Gray Tower?”

“Is there any way to unlock the tech tree for cannons? I really want to blow the hell out of them.”

“The second phase has started. I remember in a game I used to play, there was a world task where all the server’s players gathered materials together to progress. When the tower is complete, Lu Ban will probably have to give a speech.”

“Building houses is my forte; I’m an old Civilization player. Let’s start with some wonders.”

Seeing the players all eager to try, Lu Ban was pleased.

He then brought over some worn-out farming tools and inscribed texts on them, one by one.

[Can turn dirt into concrete, use with caution.]

[Can easily lift stones far beyond the weight limit!]

[A fully automatic chisel that grants mastery of the most sophisticated carving techniques as soon as it is picked up.]

[The fortresses built with it are impregnable.]

He turned these farming tools into extraordinary items and distributed them as rewards to the players.

Old Eggplant also received a shovel.

When he picked up the shovel, for some reason, he instinctively knew how to use it, as if in his past life he had been a weathered shovel, his very bones in the shape of one.

Old Eggplant plunged the shovel into the ground and quickly scooped up a mound of mud.

He saw the soft, mushy mud start to thicken and solidify upon contact with water, just like the concrete in the real world.

“How outrageous is that?”

Old Eggplant thought our magic was incredible.

Initially, Old Eggplant had thought that if the houses were made of mud, they would simply collapse when the swarms of insects attacked, offering no resistance against a demonic tide, let alone building any high towers, but now, with this shovel, anything was possible. No matter how bizarre the architecture, no matter how complex the structure, just leave it to the players, and they’ll get it done in minutes.

But before he could indulge in further fantasies, he heard the players on the other side of the field starting to argue.