《Ultimate Gamer System: Factory Must Grow! [LitRPG||Kingdom Building]》 Chapter 1: Execution by exile "Prisoner one, step out of the carriage!" The guard''s voice was perfectly flat, monotone. For Theo, this was both the best and the worst day of his life, depending on the angle from which he looked at it. But for his guard? It was just another day on the job. ''Well then, off I go.'' Having no better choice, Theo took a breath and rose up from the cold bench stuck to the side of the prison coach before following the guard''s orders and jumping down at the unmaintained, beaten path. The heavy, metal chains rattled, their weight pulling him down to the ground. The guard, Theo''s lone companion on the road to oblivion, was armed like some sort of high knight, with full plate armor protecting his flesh, a fully encased helm hiding his identity, and a long halberd suggesting what fate awaited those who tried to disobey his orders. Here, at the edge of the land of men, there were only two ways one could go. Back the way the carriage came from, which was where this guard would soon follow¡­ or down the narrow, winding path leading to the massive, ancient gate that separating the civilized land from the outlands. "For the crimes of shaming the duke''s family, breaching the betrothal protocol, and fratricide, you are hereby stripped of your titles, claims, and rights and are to be executed by exile into the outlands for a period of three months," the guard recited in a monotone voice. "If by divine grace you will survive your banishment, your execution order will be revoked, and your name shall be reinstated to your family registry." Theo tried not to laugh out loud. ''So that''s why I''m here,'' Theo thought, almost caving in to his instincts and rolling his eyes. This sure was one interesting way of learning what crimes his past self commited for Theo to find himself in the prisoner''s coach, driven all the way over to where the civilization''s reach neared its end. When he first came to be, he was already stuck in this cold, destitue prison coach, with neither its driver nor the fully armed guard bothering to answer any of his questions. In fact, by ordering him out and then listing his crimes, the guard finally revealed he wasn''t actually a mute! "Do you pledge an oath before the gods that once freed of those chains, you shall follow the path of fate?" the guard asked, finally acknowledging Theo''s presence by something as simple as asking him a question. "I do." Hoping to get this over with as soon as possible, Theo replied with a nod of his head. For a moment, the guard measured him with his eyes hidden behind the visor of his helmet before lifting one of his hands from the handle of his halberd and then opening his palm over the chains locking Theo''s wrists together. "Upon my authority, I command thee, open." For a moment, the guard''s glove shone with a faint light, only for Theo''s chains to suddenly click¡­ and then slide off his wrists, their lock no longer keeping them in place. By the time Theo merely managed to move to massage his pained wrists, the guard had already reaffirmed his hold over his halberd and leaned its blade towards Theo''s chest, nudging him onto the path leading towards a gate so massive, it could easily rival the great river dams he used to tour back in his original life. "The stone hanging off your chest shall vibrantly shine once your term concludes. If you survive until then, its light shall guide you back through the divine gate. Should you perish, its twin will break, bringing the news of your demise to your family, who shall offer incense upon your empty grave." With that, the guard spoke all that he wanted, now resorting to just nudging Theo''s chest away, as if to shoo him out of the lands inhabited by humans.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "That''s so?" Theo muttered before rolling his eyes and moving down the path, away from the guard, away from the people¡­ and towards the unknown of his fate. Or, if he were to include the flashing message window in the corner of his eyes, towards the one and only hope he had for this weird reincarnation of his. [Mission: To Start Within The End] [Goal: Reach the Outlands where no human can hope to remain] That was it. Not a shred of information about what this mission was for, what the purpose of it was, or the potential reward. Just the name and the goal for him to achieve. "As if throwing me into a prison coach and then dropping me into execution grounds wasn''t bad enough of a start to my reincarnated life, huh?" Theo muttered to himself. The last two days were enough for him to come to terms with this newfound reality of his. Enough to accept that what awaited beyond this overwhelmingly massive gate was most likely an end to this short-lived reincarnation of his. ''Is it because I can''t even remember how I died? Or the very fact that I can say for sure that I did, that made it so easy for me to accept it?'' Theo thought as he walked down the path, nearing the massive gate with every step he made. Yet, instead of growing more and more anxious as he approached what was likely his doom, Theo actually couldn''t help but get strangely excited. After all, what else did he have to look forward to if not what hid behind this mission notification window? Before long, Theo found himself beyond this mountain-sized gate that stood guard at the entrance of an equally massive valley, with nothing but a narrow, dark tunnel piercing through it. And, having nothing better to do at that point, he took a deep breath and stepped right into the maw of this darkness, eager to find out what waited for him on the other side¡ªbe it some sort of cheat power or something as simple as a quick death. ''I really hope that if it''s death, it won''t be painful,'' Theo thought as he continued ahead through the darkness. ''Who knows, if I''m really going to die, maybe I will reincarnate again?'' In the end, the gate''s tunnel was nowhere near as deep as the gate was high. And in what felt like just a quick stroll, Theo suddenly emerged on the other side, with nothing but a massive, primordial forest in front of him. ''That''s it?'' Theo raised his eyebrow, not really sure whether to be surprised or disappointed. After two whole days of waiting in silence and discomfort and then learning of his vile crimes, he kind of expected more from what was supposed to be his execution ground! ''Oh right, the system!'' Shaking his head, Theo focused on the message window, only to realize that¡­ it didn''t change at all. Then, as he looked down, he quickly found the reason for it. He stepped out from the darkness of the tunnel into the light of the day on its other side¡­ but he still stood on a paved approach to the gate. Yet, as he turned around¡­ "Wait, what the hell¡­?" The other end of the tunnel was now nowhere to be seen, replaced with the uniform texture of the massive wall stretching up as high into the air as the sides of the ravine itself. "Maybe that''s what this necklace is for?" Theo spoke to himself, raising his hand to the crystal the guard talked about, the one piece of equipment he was left with besides his clothes. He then shook his head and lowered his hand. "Whatever, it''s going to be three months until I will have to worry about it. And for now¡­" Theo gulped his saliva down before clenching his hands into fists while saying a prayer in his head. ''Please, please, please, let it be some sort of a good cheat! Judging from how that guard called this place, I really need one hell of a golden finger to somehow survive now!'' Closing his eyes and gathering all his hopes¡­ Theo took a step and walked off the paved approach to the wall, only to step down on the soft grass of the clearing that spread for quite some distance between the massive wall and the forest itself. [Mission: To Start Within The End - Completed] XXX Rewards: - 100 ability points - Ultimate Crafting System - Basic Player Status - Basic Player Ability Shop XXX XXX Player: Theo (Theodore Evilbane) Status: Player (Banished Prince) Level: 1 Abilities: N/A XXX The initial message window flashed and then vanished out of existence, leaving Theo with nothing but two new floating windows with text and a strange feeling in his right hand. A feeling that compelled him to mindlessly move forth, cross the open plain, and then reach his hand out over a small stone sitting at the periphery of the forest, some distance away from the nearest trees. [Mining - Progress: 3%] [Mining - Progress: 17%] [Mining - Progress: 49%] [Mining - Progress: 81%] [Mining - Completed!] A progress bar appeared before Theo''s eyes, filling up in a matter of just a few seconds¡­ only for the stone to shine with the very same light as the guard''s glove just a few moments ago¡­ before vanishing out of existence, as if it was nothing but a mere illusion that had now cleared out. [Mined: Small Stone] [Adding to dimensional pocket: 1x Stone] [Installation of the Ultimate Crafting System completed!] [New mission!] [Mission: Survive the banishment and return as the one spared by Gods] [Goal: Don''t die] [Time Limit: 3 months] [System Message: Good luck] Chapter 2: Testing the limits of the system "That''s¡­" Theo stared at the system prompts floating before his eyes, not sure how he was supposed to even comment on those. Yet, prompted by the feeling, he moved towards the nearest tree and then reached out towards it¡­ Only for absolutely nothing to happen. ''Well, that doesn''t tell me much, but¡­'' Theo pressed his lips together. ''If I start slamming my bare hands into it only for a cube of wood to be removed from its trunk while the rest of the tree will just¡­ float mid-air, I won''t get struck down by the almighty Copyrightous, will I??'' Eager to check the extent of his system, Theo closed his fist and took a deep breath, before slamming it into the tree''s trunk. [Logging: 3%] "Auch!" Not even the new system prompt popping up before his eyes could win over the stinging pain of slamming his knuckle into solid, hard wood and bruising his skin against the sharp ridges of its bark. Still¡­ "So it''s possible, huh?" Theo muttered to himself, torn between exaltation and despair. ''Well, this is real life. It''s kind of obvious my hand would hurt if I did that. The question for now is, however,'' Theo''s face darkened a little, ''do I have to just grit my teeth and do it, or is there another way to go about it?'' For now, Theo learned an important lesson. There was a difference between just reaching out with his hand to harvest something, a process that appeared to only cost time, and actively trying to gather some sort of resource¡ªeven if he was to do it through something as stupid as trying to beat the shit out of that poor tree. ''Maybe it has something to do with the size of what I''m trying to pick up?'' Noting down the observation for later, Theo temporarily retreated away from the forest''s edge. "They wouldn''t call this place an execution ground if it''s just about surviving in the wilderness," he muttered to himself, strategically turning his back to the massive wall so that he could keep his eyes on the forest¡ªjust in case. ''And my mission would likely be something else than just¡­ surviving the period of my banishment.'' "Oh, on that note¡­" Eager to raise his odds of survival even higher, Theo stretched his hand out towards the ground and¡­ willed for something to happen. Yet, just like it was with the tree, this clearly wasn''t enough. ''Maybe if I¡­'' Before he could even fully form the thought, Theo closed his fist and fell down on his knee only to punch the ground with it. ''Still nothing¡­'' Puzzled by the lack of consistency, Theo squinted his eyes.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. "Maybe I need to make the actions a bit¡­ clearer?" he muttered as he opened up his hand and then brought it back to the ground again, as if to shovel the grass and dirt below it away. [Digging: 7%] Finally, the progress bar appeared! "Heck yeah!" Forgetting about the potential dangers of the nearby forest, Theo failed to control his voice as he exclaimed in jubilation, only to quickly cover his mouth and cast a sweeping glance ahead. Thankfully, save for the treetops dancing on the slight winds, the forest didn''t move. And while that couldn''t be a proof there were no monsters creeping up its edge¡­ as it was something Theo had no control over, he decided to simply not waste his time worrying about it. Yet, this quick check on the forest came at a cost. For with the action now broken, the progress bar vanished, leaving Theo with nothing but a handful of grass and dirt stuck on his hand. "Well," he muttered, making sure to lower his voice to a safe level of a mere whisper, "let''s take care of my safety first." With a clear goal in his mind, Theo shoveled with his hand at the ground, summoning the progress bar once again. And just like expected¡­ the former progress vanished. [Digging: 7%] [Digging: 14%] [Digging: 21%] ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ [Digging: 91%] [Digging: 98%] [Digging: Completed!] Poof! Just as Theo came to expect, a cube of roughly half of a meter long side suddenly vanished out of existence, only to reappear in the form of yet another system window. [Dug out: 1 block of earth] Theo raised up from the hole he just dug out and shook his hand to let it rest after the slight exertion. ''Just how much of a lazy bum was this body in the past, for something so simple to already tire me out, even if only a bit?'' he despaired, only to shake his head, grit his teeth¡­ and then get back to digging. He excavated one block down the already existing hole only to then drop down and repeat the process again. [Dug out: 1 block of earth] "Woah!" Knowing what was supposed to happen, Theo braced himself for the sudden loss of footing¡­ but even prior knowledge didn''t stop his body from panicking when the ground literally popped out of existence right below his feet! Yet, rather than despairing, Theo grabbed at the ground around him¡­ and started to climb. In theory, he could just dig a staircase out for himself for an easy way out of the hole, but doing so would defeat the purpose of his plan. Only when he finally managed to climb to the point where he could comfortably sit down on the hole''s edge did Theo breathe a sigh of relief. ''Now, if something were to try to jump me, I can just drop down and¡­'' Realizing the one flaw of his plan, Theo searched through all the system prompts for the one crucial element of his system that he didn''t inspect yet. No matter how hard he searched though, the pop-up window for his inventory simply wasn''t there! "Just where the hell is it¡­?" he asked himself, clenching his fists as frustration started to settle in his heart¡­ Only for the very window he was looking for to appear out of nowhere, listing out all the items stored in his inventory in a clear and extremely familiar array of various images decorated with a simple number in their bottom-right corner. ''One stone and three blocks of earth,'' Theo thought, confirming the details of his inventory before focusing on the latter¡­ And by doing so, invoking yet another change to his vision. This time, however, it wasn''t a system notification window. No, this time, an overlay suddenly covered his vision, adding up a transparent, bluish cube that followed wherever he looked. Only when he brought it over to his hole, eager to ensure he could close it off at will, did the color of the projection change from blue to red. "Right, I can''t place it if I''m in the way, huh?" Theo thought, only to dismiss the whole overlay with but a thought and then lean back as he looked up to the clear, blue sky, leaving nothing but his inventory. ''Now, what am I supposed to do next?'' he thought, weighing all sorts of different ideas that popped up in his head. Clearly, this wasn''t just the direct clone of the system Theo knew from the world''s most famous block game, not with the progress bars, not with how he could pick up smaller objects by simply fanning his head over them for a few seconds. His abilities, whatever they were, were different¡­ and yet still familiar enough for him to understand how they worked by raw instincts, raw gut. That, however, left him in quite the pickle. "No matter what, the next step would be to get some wood, huh?" Theo muttered to himself as he raised his eyes up to the trees ahead. "The question is, do I yolo it?" he muttered, gritting his teeth as he realized that with each passing second, he was starting to like his current circumstances more and more. "Or do I try to be as careful as realistically possible?" Chapter 3: First craft On one hand, Theo could proceed carefully, biding his time to slowly approach the forest from the one direction the monsters were unlikely to attack him from - the underground. On the other end of the spectrum, he could focus on speed as opposed to safety. This would allow him to gather the materials he knew he needed before the beasts - that were quite likely to lurk within the woods - could get a chance to get a jump on him. In the end, however, Theo decided to follow neither of those paths. ''Why settle for one thing when I can get the most out of both?'' he thought, as he crawled through the short grass of the open field for a bit. Roughly five meters away from the hole he left behind him, Theo stopped before digging his hand into the ground. [Dug out: 1 block of earth] [Dug out: 1 block of earth] With two cubes of earth now transferred from the real world into his inventory, Theo slid into the hole only to then repeat the process once again. And so, he shoveled at the ground with his hand, patiently waiting for the progress bar of his digging action to reach completion. [Dug out: 1 block of earth] ''And now, let''s do it all over again!'' The safe approach of just digging a hole and then taking his time to dig his way over to the forest came with quite the obvious cost - time. Time that Theo could afford if this was all but a game. Regretfully, in real life, there was no hunger or thirst bar that he could more-or-less ignore. And with how unearthing a single block of earth required him to shovel at the ground fifteen times, he could only progress at a rate of a single block of ground every ten seconds or so. With how each of those blocks would be only half a meter long, he needed to make the potential tunnel at least two blocks high to somewhat comfortably move through it, and then how there were roughly thirty meters between his current spot and the edge of the forest¡­ ''That counts up to a total of a hundred and twenty blocks,'' Theo thought as he climbed up from the hole he just made, took a look around to ensure there were no threats in his immediate proximity, and then fully climbed out¡­ Only to hug the ground again before crawling another five meters towards the forest and then repeating the whole process from scratch. ''Digging all that dirt would take me twenty minutes,'' Theo concluded, using it as a justification for his revised strategy. ''And that''s discounting all the risks of actually pushing my hands so far, when I still need them to gather other resources once I actually get to the forest!'' With each passing second and every move he made, Theo''s reserve of energy would continue to drain. And with that in mind, digging up such a tunnel, even with these weird abilities of his, was simply not worth the effort. That didn''t mean he was willing to compromise on his safety, though. ''It''s already a long stretch for me to assume I can just reincarnate again,'' Theo thought as he stopped his crawl and started to dig another hole. ''And even if I actually could do so, who is there to say I would get abilities that have as much potential as what I have right now?''If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. This train of thought was what pushed Theo to devise his current strategy, of digging a hole he could safely seal every five meters. In this way, in case some monster jumped to attack him, he would never be further than just a few steps away from a perfect hiding place! Bit by bit, Theo progressed along the plain, steadily approaching the front of the woods. Yet, before he could even reach the nearest of the trees¡­ ''Wait, what if I can actually use those too?'' he thought, staring at the one thing he didn''t really pay much attention to when he first approached the tree. It was nothing more than a slightly thicker bush made up of small, wooden sticks covered in a plethora of leaves and even some small, grape-sized berries. ''In that block game, it would be either a berry bush or just a part of the foliage,'' Theo thought, lying flat on the ground, only to then squint his eyes. ''But I don''t think one could pick up small stones directly from the ground in that game too. And that means¡­'' Theo squinted his eyes as he made a silent prayer before rising up to his knees and sneaking up on all fours towards the bush. Once near, he reached out and¡­ ''Yes!'' [Gathering: 11%] [Gathering: 22%] ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ [Gathering: 99%] [Gathering: Completed] [Gathered: 3 sticks, 1 berry, 1 foliage] ''Hell yeah!'' Screaming out in his mind with joy, Theo instantly turned around and sprinted back to his nearest hole, happily diving in only to quickly whip out his system and seal its opening with one of the twenty-one blocks of dirt he gathered on the approach. ''Now that I have some sticks, I should be able to get my hands on some tools, right?'' he thought, taking the lesson from his recent experiences and just willing for the crafting window to appear. This time, Theo had no doubts in his guess. After all, he could still see ''ultimate crafting system'' written in bold at the top of the very first window that appeared before his eyes whenever he could be bothered to summon it! Yet, what happened next exceeded even the modest expectations Theo had for it, given how massive of a blessing his system was already shaping to be. Because not only a familiar window with a three-by-three grid appeared before his eyes, it also had a much more important element stuck to its side! ''A recipe book?! Are you kidding me?!'' To not scream out in jubilation took all of Theo''s wits. After all, he was merely hiding from the monsters, rather than leisurely enjoying himself in a properly secured bunker. Right now, staying on the low-key of things was his best bet at staying alive. The existence of this recipe book meant a lot more than just having the ability to store recipes Theo already knew. A fact easily proven by how Theo didn''t actually know any of those, yet the book still came with a list of the tools he so wanted to craft - a list that contained literally every item he thought about within the limits of what he expected to be able to craft! ''Now we are cooking,'' barely able to contain his excitement, Theo quickly arranged two sticks, one above the other, before topping the whole recipe with the small stone he gathered when he first discovered how to use the system. And just like that, the whole crafting window before his eyes flashed, with a new element now appearing to the side - a picture that Theo simply couldn''t fail to recognize. [To complete a craft, simply will for it to happen] Before Theo could even try to figure out how to complete the whole crafting process, the system notification appeared before his eyes. ''Wait, isn''t this kind of advice¡­ kind of random? And why is it only now that it appears, instead of clueing me in on what stuff I can gather before?'' he thought¡­ Only to end up dismissing the whole topic as he happily willed for the process to conclude, only for a simple, wooden shovel to materialize itself out of thin air and fall right into Theo''s lap. ''I know this makes no sense, be it by the logic of my original life or even by the rules of the blocks game¡­'' the young man thought, only to shrug his shoulders and silently laugh out. ''But whether it makes sense or not, I''m the last person willing to complain about it!'' Chapter 4: Finally, proper tools! ''Now, just to stay as careful as possible¡­'' Theo peeked his head out of the hole, taking a quick yet detailed look at the surroundings. Just like he didn''t know the actual past of his body, he didn''t know why getting exiled to this place was considered an execution. And, judging by the severity of the crime he was sentenced for, an actual, sure-fire method of execution. ''By all means, this three-month period of banishment is designed to be the last slap in the criminal''s face. A fool''s hope only added to make them struggle until the end, huh?'' Theo took a shallow breath before pulling himself out of his hole and then slowly creeping forward. Now that he had confirmed the bare basics of his system, it was time to actually put it to good use. For while the stone shovel allowed him to cut the digging process from fifteen ticks of hand-based digging to just two swings of the tool¡ªeach netting 54% of the progress¡ªand even save his hands the mounting wear of digging bare-handed¡­ Stockpiling blocks of dirt was the least of Theo''s worries, for it wouldn''t allow him to progress in any way or form. ''What I need right now is enough wood to get all the other tools, some weapons, and¡­ or wait!'' Right as Theo reached out to the next bush and extended his hand to gather it, he realized yet another discrepancy between the block game he remembered and the reality of his system. ''Since when does the personal crafting window give out a three-by-three grid?'' he thought. On one hand, it was nice to be able to skip this otherwise extremely early step, for he could craft appropriate tools before actually gathering the materials in a proper way. On the other hand, however¡­ ''The further the reality of my system strays from what I know, the more likely it is that this place¡­ No, this world,'' Theo threw a glance over the plain behind him and then the forest sprawling out in front of him, ''it is more and more likely to have quite a lot of surprises for me down the line, isn''t it?'' [Gathering: 11%] > [Gathering: Completed] [Gathered: 2 sticks, 1 foliage] ''Hmm?'' Theo''s eyebrows rose a bit as he looked at the system prompt. ''Is the loot random, or was the first result better because I gathered this kind of bush for the very first time?''Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Eager to test out his theory and learn just a little bit more about this not-so-familiar system of his, Theo hugged the ground again before crawling over to another bush. [Gathering: 11%] > [Gathering: Completed] [Gathered: 2 sticks, 1 berry, 1 foliage] ''Just one more¡­'' [Gathering: 11%] > [Gathering: Completed] [Gathered: 1 stick, 2 berries, 1 foliage] While the deeper parts of the dense forest appeared to be quite dense with massive, overgrown trees, its edge was still a quite bountiful source of materials for Theo to partake in. Yet, as his stock of sticks grew to a satisfactory level, he now turned his attention to something that was much harder to spot while he crawled as low over the ground as he could. ''Well, there''s no reward if there''s no risk, huh?'' In the end, it was all about balancing the risk of being attacked by something and the cost of time that came with his attempts to reduce said risk. And with each passing second, his need for food and water would continue to grow more and more dire. ''The fact that I feel okayish right now doesn''t mean things are going to stay this way for long.'' Gritting his teeth, Theo took another breath, armed himself with his shovel¡­ and then stood up, no longer facing the forest ahead like a worm, by wiggling on his stomach, but head-on¡ªlike a human should. ''Nothing is trying to jump me right away, huh?'' Theo thought, as he stood in place, right by his hole, ready to ditch the moment he spotted even the slightest hint of movement. Yet, no matter how long he put himself on a silver platter for any and all predators possibly lurking out there in the woods¡­ Nothing came out to attack him. "Was I overly cautious?" Theo muttered to himself, before finally breathing out and then casting a sweeping glance over the nearby foliage. Surely enough, this bet quickly paid off. For while the low grass perfectly hid the stones from his eyes while he crawled, now that he stood up¡ªthey were out there, all free for him to just approach and grab. And what was even better, they weren''t even all that deeper into the forest than the bushes he was harvesting thus far! ''Now, just don''t get greedy. All you need is six small stones for an axe and a pick. With the first, you can get a lot of wood just by felling some trees, while with the former, I should be able to just dig out and mine as much stone as my heart would desire!'' With a clear objective in mind, Theo lowered himself down to a squat¡ªjust for the sake of increasing his odds of survival¡ªbefore slowly creeping towards the nearest stone. Then, everything went as usual. He extended his hand over it, only for the "mining" prompt to appear, quickly fill up, and then be replaced with a looting prompt. [Mining - Completed!] [Mined: Small Stone] [Mined: Small Stone] ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ [Mined: Small Stone] ''That should do it,'' Theo thought, finally breathing a sigh of relief as the number of small stones in his inventory now was marked with "x6." Knowing how his system worked, Theo wasted no time and quickly arranged the sticks and stones in the familiar fashion, quickly turning them into the two most essential tools for early progress in any blocky or survival game. [Stone Pick Crafted!] [Stone Axe Crafted!] Ping! [Congratulations!] [The host has advanced to level 2!] [You''ve gained 5 ability points!] [You''ve unlocked 1 subroutine slot for the Ultimate Crafting System!] [Please check the system for more information!] ''Wait, what?''