The endless, untamed ocean stretched into eternity.
Offshore, on a desolate patch of land, the tide crashed against the jagged rocks.
“I…
came in second again?” Staring at her placement in the global standings, Hanna Raelene felt her delicate frame tremble with sheer disbelief.
She had pushed herself past every limit to reach the second tier.
She’d taken the ultimate risk by venturing far offshore, hunting vicious sea monsters in a desperate, blood-soaked sprint.
She had given everything.
And finally, she had managed to surpass Reed Newt.
Or so she thought.
Not long after she’d seized the top spot, Reed Newt snatched it right back.
In one terrifying stroke, he slaughtered over twenty sea monsters, leaving her in the dust once more.
“He definitely hit the second level!” Hanna Raelene gritted her silver teeth, a bitter rage simmering beneath her pride.
Yet, as the bitter defeat settled in, an unrelenting competitive fire flared up within her chest.
As a second-rank holder, I will not yield to anyone!
She took a long, stabilizing breath and turned her gaze toward the distant, uncharted horizons.
A dangerous resolve took root in her mind.
The shallow coastal waters were practically cleared of sea monsters.
If she truly wanted to surpass Reed Newt, she had no choice; she had to seek fortune in the jaws of death, venture into the deep sea, and hunt the larger packs.
Of course, the deep waters promised unfathomable peril.
Ancient beasts and bloodthirsty behemoths lurked beneath the waves.
A single misstep meant a gruesome death.
But the rewards, the explosive accumulation of survival points and raw power, were beyond anything the shallow coasts could ever offer!
Without another second of hesitation, she stepped onto a flat piece of driftwood, focused her mind, and propelled the makeshift vessel out toward the boundless ocean.
Her misty, solitary silhouette gradually dissolved into the thick maritime fog.
Meanwhile, on another island, dust kicked up across a massive, noisy construction site.
“Dusk is falling!
Wrap it up, hit the showers, and come get your food!” Reed Newt banged a metal gong and yelled out toward his non-human workforce, pushing a heavy wooden cart before him.
Without electric lighting or modern bulbs, night work on the island was far too dangerous.
Sitting atop his cart was a heap of golden, crispy barbecue prepared from freshly slaughtered sea monsters.
The rich, savory aroma drifted across the entire clearing, thick enough to make anyone lightheaded.
“Squeak!
Squeak!” The moment the busy monkeys heard the noise, sheer ecstasy erupted through the ranks.
Screaming and chatter echoed across the site as tools were dropped right where they stood.
The animals rushed toward the cart, surrounding Reed Newt in a desperate circle, staring helplessly at the sizzling meat with saliva dripping onto the dirt.
“Alright, take your portions,” Reed Newt chuckled, grinning as he handed out the roasted meat to the eager horde one by one.
“Finish up, rest well, and tomorrow we mount the two main city gates.
That’ll mark the official completion of Phase One of the project!”
Under his careful domestication, the five-hundred-strong monkey crew had learned to follow orders implicitly, their wild, aggressive instincts thoroughly tempered.
Not a single one dared to snatch food out of turn.
Besides, the feast in front of them wasn’t ordinary meat.
Reed Newt had redeemed the [Grandmaster Primitive Cooking Skill] from the system store specifically to process the monster carcasses, extracting maximum flavor and nutritional energy.
For five hundred monkeys to maintain such an exhausting, high-intensity construction schedule day after day, this nutrient-dense meat was their primary fuel.
Two hours later, the feast was over.
The monkeys patted their swollen bellies, lounging comfortably on the grass with expressions of pure bliss.
The soul-crushing fatigue of a hard day’s labor seemed to wash away instantly.
“This meat…
” It’s genuinely magical,” Reed Newt muttered under his breath, watching them relax.
“Could this world really operate on entirely different natural laws than Earth?”
In his memory, Earth’s oceans had never harbored three-meter-tall apex predators.
Yet here he was, stranded on a mysterious island in an uncharted realm.
His access to information was severely constrained, and world exploration was out of the question until he could build ships capable of riding out violent oceanic tempests.
But that level of naval engineering belonged to the upper tiers of Neolithic Era technology, and his current bank of survival points was far too bare to afford such blueprints.
“Step by step.
Giant city first,” Reed Newt murmured, shaking his head to clear the distraction. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Building a fortified stronghold was the absolute top priority.
With high defensive walls, he could comfortably repel attacks from roaming wild beasts and roaming sea monsters, granting himself the precious safety and time needed to expand.
“Alright, break’s over!
Up on your feet…
time to help me move!” He clapped his hands, issuing a sharp command to the lazy workforce.
The monkeys didn’t dare ignore him.
They scrambled up and followed Reed Newt obediently back to his temporary timber cabin.
The small wooden structure, built with meticulous mortise and tenon joints, was systematically dismantled on the spot, its lumber repurposed, and every piece of hand-crafted furniture carried straight into the newly erected giant city.
Although the main gates were still unmounted, the four massive stone perimeter walls were fully raised.
Cautious by nature, Reed Newt decided it was safer to move into the fortress early rather than risk staying in an exposed clearing.
Later that night, deep in slumber within the giant city, Reed Newt was abruptly shaken awake by a frantic chorus of high-pitched shrieks.
He opened his eyes to find several monkey guards surrounding him, their faces pale with terror as they pointed frantically toward the open gateway leading outside the walls.
“What’s wrong?” Reed Newt rubbed his groggy eyes, his mind still heavy with sleep.
He had worked himself to the bone over the past few days, constantly monitoring the build and forging every single iron tool used by his worker monkeys.
“ROAAAR,” Suddenly, a thunderous, blood-chilling roar echoed from the darkness, violently blasting away the last remnants of his sleepiness.
“A sea monster!” Reed Newt’s pupils shrank to pinpricks, a cold shudder running straight down his spine.
Judging by the sheer volume of the sound, the beast was terrifyingly close, just beyond the perimeter.
Thank goodness I posted scouts around the exterior before turning in, he thought, his heart pounding against his ribs.
Otherwise, we would’ve been slaughtered in our sleep.
Grabbing a burning torch and gripping his weapon tightly, he took a deep breath and bolted straight for the wall’s watchtower.
Standing atop the ramparts, he cast his light into the gloom below and froze, horrified by the sight that unfolded before him.
Barely two hundred meters past the unfinished gateway, the jungle was alive with movement.
Dense, packed shadows pressed against one another, and hundreds of glowing, bloodthirsty red eyes flickered through the dark foliage like a field of malicious embers.
“How…
why are there so many?” Reed Newt swallowed hard, feeling a cold sensation crawl across his scalp.
“Didn’t I just wipe out an entire horde earlier today?!”