Episode 85 – Encroachers (5)
‘What on earth is wallpaper replacement?’
More than anything else, the ability to replace desktop files caught my attention.
My desktop now had an open, beautiful meadow in the background, and the residents actually lived there.
Even when I flipped through the screen, there were only a few glimpses of other grasslands connected to the grassland, or rivers and forests. Maybe it’s natural. Because now my desktop has become a whole world.
So, changing your wallpaper means changing the world, and no matter how many things I’ve seen, I don’t think this is possible.
‘What happens to the residents?’
I was hesitant as to whether any problem might arise with the residents. They still don’t know exactly about my existence, but the bond we have built is becoming stronger.
I was just finally building the system and getting it in place, but I was afraid that it might go wrong. If things go wrong, I am in danger, but the residents are more definitely in danger.
“But if we don’t continue to improve…”
I frowned and sighed softly. What I am trying to convince myself of is the most absolute rule that we must not be complacent with reality.
From the moment we first met the residents, we have continued to develop, making sacrifices and paying prices to survive and become stronger against our enemies.
It may be scary. You may feel anxious. But the moment we don’t overcome it, both I and they will be killed by the enemies.
Everything we have achieved now was the result of that courage.
“—?”
“–.”
In my conflicted eyes, I saw a group of residents having dinner under the almost setting sun. Smoke from cooking rice rising from all directions.
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Varun designated the food harvested in the game world as everyone’s property and placed it in a warehouse to strictly manage it. There seemed to be no complaints from others about the act. Since there was a lot of food to begin with, Varun always distributed food generously.
Those who were laughing and chatting over the abundance of food coexisted with those who were holding ancestral rites in a reverent and heavy atmosphere to honor the soldiers who had been sacrificed in the previous battle.
‘If you are not prepared to lose something, you cannot gain it.’
As a new employee who grew up normally and lived an ordinary life, I actually didn’t have much experience. I have never lost something or risked my life to protect it.
But after seeing them, my thoughts changed a lot. When I thought that their lives depended on my choice, I couldn’t help but change.
They are small strangers who suddenly came to my desktop one day. People who can certainly be called uncivilized barbarians in some respects.
But they were by no means stupid. They were excellent people who also taught me.
[Activate desktop folder]
Finally, I made a decision. I used up the points I had been collecting to activate a program.
‘What on earth is this?’
I looked at the folder occupied by the master program. Previously, it was simply a folder for storing image or video files that could be used as wallpaper.
It was still the same now. These were unfamiliar to me, who rarely paid attention to things like the desktop, but in the end, the basic fact of saving multiple files was the same.
If you simply look at their appearance, they are just files containing natural scenery.
[Entry to Dwarf Kingdom (pollution): 1000P]
[Elf Village Entrance: 1500P]
…
“uh?”
However, when I moved the mouse and checked the names of the files, my eyes widened in surprise. It was clearly an image file that looked like an ordinary forest, but the name of the file was unusual.
It may be an overreaction to be surprised just by this strange name, but the situation was such that it couldn’t be taken lightly.
‘Now that I think about it, I think I’ve seen you before.’
And the name Dwarf brought to mind something I had forgotten. In the past, I used a file converter to gather some villager items and turn them into titanium ingots in the game to make a titanium pickaxe.
It seemed that among the items belonging to the residents that had to be forcibly conscripted at that time, there were items with the name Dwarf. At the time, I was preoccupied with other things and passed it over without thinking about it.
“Are you really a dwarf?”
I was dumbfounded and muttered in a daze.
The dwarves I know are a fictional race that only appears in creative works, but even if I say they exist in the other world, I can’t refute that. They are generally depicted as being short in stature and with a strong body, but I am not sure if they will appear that way there as well.
‘pollution.’
Moreover, it is not just the possibility that a different race called dwarves will appear.
I was very concerned about the part that said (contamination) in the file name.
I saw a place with that (contaminated) sign recently. The very place where bugs had created a nest and were producing numerous glitches.
It was an ordinary plain, but it was turned into a polluted area by bugs that harmed the locals and took over, so it is obvious that the same would be true in that place where dwarves live.
‘If I activate that desktop, will I be able to send residents there?’
I suddenly realized the purpose of this program.
Replacing your desktop means changing your space.
This way, you can dispatch residents to the places where bugs are believed to have nested and attack them. They were saying that we, who had been able to fight back as they attacked until now, could fight back.
[This area cannot be replaced]
After making a decision, I paid the points and tried to replace the file, but a notification popped up saying that it was not possible in areas with villages.
Immediately, just in case, I turned the screen to the other side and tried it.
[Do you want to replace the file?]
When I turned the screen from the village where residents were crowded together to the plains next door, a message appeared that said it was possible.
***
“Everyone, never fall asleep and be completely alert. Our enemies are not marauders or demonic beasts. “I believe everyone understands well.”
Late at night. Raoul, who became the guard captain in charge of the village’s security today, suppressed a yawn and consoled the soldiers who would stand guard at night.
Armed, they spread out to every corner of the village and were tasked with keeping watch with their eyes turned on to see if any enemies might arrive.
As the size of the village grew and the number of people living there increased, the number of areas to be on guard increased even more.
However, the soldiers did not give in and escalated the tension. Just before now, there was a battle with bugs approaching. I didn’t even want to imagine them attacking me while I was sleeping.
“It’s good because I don’t have to worry about food, I can learn to read, and I don’t have to do hard work, but I’m scared that I don’t know when those monsters will come.”
“It’s not an ordinary animal…”
Two soldiers who stood guard together spent time talking to each other.
They are ordinary soldiers, and their main occupation is hunting or leather processing.
As a tribe from the grasslands, they were good at riding horses, marching well, and shooting arrows well, so they were actually excellent elite soldiers, but they were not good enough to fight head-on with terrible monsters made of killing machines.
How many hours have you spent like that? Before we knew it, dawn had arrived.
Their shift was over and it was time to go to bed. It was also time for residents who had fallen into a deep sleep to wake up and go to work.
“…What is that?”
Then one of them yawned and noticed something.
It was shimmering in the distance, making the space tremble as if a haze was rising. It was similar to, but different from, the gateways connected to games that had appeared in the center of the village.
“I have to report.”
They reported this to their superiors. Of course, the news reached the ears of Varun, who just happened to wake up.
“I guess I should look into it. “This is God’s will.”
Soon, Varun, standing in front of the shimmering crack, explained to those who came with him that this was God’s will. There was no need to prove it. It was actually his will that picked them up with the mouse and brought them here.
“Get armed. Riena, you too.”
Varun thoroughly armed his warriors and soldiers. They intuited that beyond the shimmer of this space, there was something that the guardian spirit they believed in and followed was trying to show them.
In fact, as soon as he woke up, he changed the desktop folder and was now manipulating the mouse to arm the residents and send them to the opposite screen.
“Everyone is ready.”
As a result, the village’s elite soldiers, including Riena, finished arming themselves and gathered at the location.
Both warriors and ordinary soldiers are armed with weapons and armor made from mutant by-products. They were literally the most elite troops of the Arin tribe.
When their armament seems weak, he repeatedly uses the mouse to send them back.
Even Varun looked nervous because he had never prepared this thoroughly before.
“Let’s go. “To see what’s out there.”
Varun, wearing a helmet made from the skull of a subadult drake, personally led them through a space where the water undulated as if it had stood vertically.
‘A strange feeling. But what about this place?’
Riena, who was in the lead along with Varun, also passed through the shimmering curtain. She frowned at the strange feeling and was amazed to see the scenery transformed into a completely different place.
“What on earth is this place? Oh no, how did we all get here in the first place?”
Others were equally surprised. They were startled and looked around as the plain north of the village suddenly changed into another space.
“ah! “This place can’t be!”
Meanwhile, someone found out where this place was. The soldier, who was from a small tribe from the north, noticed that the place was similar to where they had once lived.
“This is the northern land?”
“Woah, I’m not sure. However, the trees and grass are all things I saw when I lived in the north.”
Varun muttered while looking at the dense forest spread out in front of him with a bewildered expression. Aside from having moved a fairly long distance in one go, it still seemed like an ordinary natural environment with no problems.
“Hey, over there! It’s the enemy! “They are black monsters!”
However, this strangely quiet and eerie atmosphere did not last long.
A soldier scouting the surroundings found something rustling in the forest and shouted in horror.
“Shoot your bow!”
Gritting his teeth, Varun urgently gave instructions when he saw a large number of ants rushing towards them through the forest.
Ants with large black shells were rushing towards them with their particularly developed jaws flashing.