Chapter Forty-Three: Preparation

After learning the information about the epic-level creature, Li Shan didn’t hesitate for a moment—he immediately ordered his underlings to lead him to the site where the creature had been discovered.

It was a vast expanse of swamp, gray-green in hue. From the muddy water, bubbles would occasionally rise and burst, releasing wisps of miasma that shrouded the swamp in a perpetual veil of fog, making it impossible to see its entirety at a glance.

At the front of the group was a Warrior Pyramid. Upon reaching the swamp’s edge, it stopped and looked around, as if its instinctive sense of danger had alerted it to the peril lurking ahead, refusing to go any closer. The other underlings behaved the same way—no matter how he tried to direct them to follow, as soon as they entered the swamp, they would immediately break formation and stop following him.

“Old Demon, just charge in!”
“What’s there to fear? Worst case, you die.”
“Ha! Gaining intelligence really makes a difference. Before, they’d have followed Old Demon blindly to their deaths.”

Reading the barrage of comments, Li Shan’s mouth twitched—what did they mean, following him to their deaths? That was outright slander!

“Brothers, I’m only here to confirm whether there really is an epic creature in this place,” he explained. “We’re just having a look from a distance, nothing dangerous, definitely not a suicide mission.”

After reassuring himself, he cautiously entered the swamp to scout around. Finding that his movement wasn’t much hindered within, he dismissed his companions and pressed on alone, wading deeper into the marsh with uneven steps.

Thanks to his unique physiology, he didn’t have to worry about sinking into the mire. He had only recently emerged from the water, and his aquatic genes had yet to degrade, so navigating the terrain posed no great challenge.

As he ventured further, Li Shan encountered many native creatures, some of them highly aggressive. Fortunately, his innate danger sense proved useful—whenever a threat approached, his vision would tinge red, allowing him to avoid trouble in advance. Though the talent didn’t always activate, it had saved him from plenty of difficulties.

Before long, he reached the heart of the swamp. Here, the ratio of mud was much lower than at the edges, giving the illusion that he stood at the brink of a deep pool rather than a marsh.

Li Shan stopped immediately, unwilling to go any farther. His entire field of vision had turned crimson—a clear sign that something terrifying lurked close by.

“Brothers, looks like we’ve found the right place. There definitely is an epic creature here.” He looked around to memorize the location, then prepared to retreat.

“Old Demon, you’re already at the door and you’re not going in for a look?”
“Too timid! A real man would charge forward!”
“Go on, just check it out!”

Li Shan’s mouth twitched again at the chorus of egging-on from the viewers. Clearly, spectators just wanted to see a spectacle.

“Fine, I’ll go in for a look—just one look!” he declared. “I don’t want to die, though.”

Taking a deep breath, he leaped straight into the deep pool ahead.

[You have died]
[Excessive curiosity will be the death of the cat]

Everything went black. When his vision returned, Li Shan found himself back in the tribe. He glanced down—he seemed to inhabit the body of a Warrior now.

“So at this stage, dying doesn’t mean total annihilation. The other use for Warriors is clear now—they serve as an extra life.”

With this realization, Li Shan heaved a sigh of relief. He admitted he’d been impulsive—those over-the-top demands from viewers could have been ignored.

He glanced at the chat and noticed the audience was no longer focused on his resurrection, but rather discussing the epic creature he’d glimpsed in the swamp.

“Covered in mud head to toe—could it be a Grimer?”
“Of course it’s not a Grimer!”
“That thing looked nothing like an ordinary creature.”
“Do such creatures exist in real life?”
“Absolutely, there are even stranger things—go check out Episode 1339 of the Cosmic Creatures series, it’ll blow your mind.”
“Old Demon’s still alive? Damn, I was hoping he’d experience the joys of the game a bit longer.”
???

Thanks a lot for that, Li Shan thought, too exasperated to complain.

Thinking for a moment, he addressed the viewers, “Though we’ve found the epic creature, due to geography and our current strength, we have no way of dealing with it for now. I estimate we’ll need at least two more stages before we’re ready.”

He paused, as if struck by inspiration. “Watch me—such a trivial epic creature, I’ll suppress it with a flip of my hand.”

The chat erupted.

“Old Demon’s getting cocky!”
“Bet he’s got some dirty trick up his sleeve!”

Li Shan ignored the comments, instead rallying dozens of underlings and heading back to the swamp. Upon arrival, he directed them to start digging.

At this, the viewers finally caught on to his plan: he intended to drain the swamp and trap the epic creature in the mud.

“Unbelievable!”
“What is Old Demon thinking? With that handful of people, it’d take decades to drain the whole swamp!”
“Bro, it’s a game—just click and it’s done.”
“Old Demon: I can’t beat you one-on-one, not even with a group, but I’ll wear you down with endless generations of my kin. Bet you didn’t see that coming, heh heh heh.”
“He’s got that real villain energy.”

Ignoring the banter, Li Shan assigned tasks to his underlings, then returned to the tribe. This time, he began crafting more complex tools from stone. Although the swamp’s soft earth could be dug by hand, tools would surely speed up the work.

Once the digging implements were ready, Li Shan also fashioned weapons and fire, and set the idle Pyramids to building walls around the mountaintop. Earlier, he’d been warned about other tribes. Though there was no current conflict, he sensed that tribal clashes were inevitable, so it was wise to prepare early.

Having organized everything for this stage, Li Shan decisively advanced to the next. The Pyramids followed his orders swiftly—population soared, and the defensive wall around the tribe rose quickly.

He shifted his focus back to the swamp. A canal, following his earlier instructions, lengthened rapidly. With the growing population, the pace of construction only increased. As the project progressed, the swamp’s dirty waters gradually revealed the mud beneath, whose rich soil spurred rampant plant growth.

Upon discovering this, the Pyramids began fertilizing their crops with the swamp mud. After a few failed attempts, they mastered the method, and their harvests flourished.

By the time the screen froze, the Pyramids, sustained by abundant food, had boosted their numbers to a staggering hundred thousand. At the same time, the swamp had been fully drained, exposing a massive pit at its center.