"Now I know what it means to be well-prepared..."
Five minutes later, looking at the wooden planks and stones piled up in the open space in the middle of the Upperstream Village, [ Zhongde ] sighed helplessly, while [ Great Wei Boxing Champion ] beside him showed an expression of "just as expected".
At the same time, a semi-transparent task prompt box appeared in their field of vision:
[Task: Repair the Village]
Description: Under the corruption of the Demonic Tide, the villagers' physical condition has generally declined. The Upperstream Village, located beside the stream, has not been repaired for a long time. The benevolent Bishop Ed Adrian promised these poor people that he could hire Soul Returner to do the work. Please help them repair the leaky houses and the collapsed walls.
Rewards: +10 Trust Points for the villager you help, +1 Tree Seed (non-currency) for each villager you help.
Well, when everyone thought the production team was going to pull off something big, they didn't. Isn't that a kind of surprise in itself?
Thinking about it carefully, for this kind of immersive game, helping NPCs with chores is actually the simplest way to increase their trust level.
Meanwhile, the villagers from the nearby Upperstream Village looked on with great anticipation, feeling almost no guilt about troubling others.
This is partly because Kaping takes on the role of the "first to stick his neck out," so even if the other party gets angry, they won't come looking for him first; and partly because they will be paid for this work.
[ The Great Wei Boxing Champion ] shrugged. He wasn't opposed to this kind of old-fashioned mission; he was just curious about the mission process.
Given that this is a highly realistic game, the building and repair process must not be a simple loading screen. It's unclear how the game will present this content; will it really require hammering in nail by nail?
The two accepted the mission and, guided by Kaping, began repairing their first roof.
As expected, the task really required them to cut the planks and repair them bit by bit. Because the two lacked relevant experience, there was a risk of having to redo the work. Fortunately, the nails and other tools and materials were provided by the villagers, and the two only needed to contribute their labor.
Under the scorching sun and after arduous work, sweat quickly began to bead on their bodies.
But perhaps because of the foreign soul, when using this body, not only is the pain and fatigue reduced, but even the discomfort of being covered in sweat is not as severe as in the other world.
Thus, in the eyes of the villagers, who were generally in poor physical condition and unable to perform heavy labor, the two Elite Warrior from the Holy See were nothing more than two nuclear-powered donkeys.
Although no one said it aloud, they were all taken aback, because in their memory, the Tree Worship Church was not such an organization at all.
While the priests of the Tree Worship Church would provide them with the most basic protection, they would also ruthlessly collect taxes, and occasionally use punishment to establish their authority when the saplings on the villagers' bodies failed to produce seeds due to lack of nutrition.
To put it bluntly, in the eyes of the Tree Worship Church, they can no longer be called human beings. These villagers, who have been cruelly implanted with tree saplings, are essentially just livestock raised by the Tree Worship Church.
As for the meager protection... since they're all livestock, providing basic protection is inevitable.
After the two men managed to repair the roof that belonged to Kaping, the villagers found that the expected scene of drawing swords and shouting had not occurred, and they finally believed the new bishop's instructions from the previous night.
After a simple test revealed that there was no leak, the villagers became enthusiastic and began to invite the two men to prioritize repairing their own roofs.
Kaping quickly assumed the role of village chief, maintaining basic order and arranging everyone on the rooftops according to a certain pattern to prevent further misbehavior.
As for those two players?
If we were to name a player's strength, their ability to quickly immerse themselves in the role would certainly be one of them.
They can be as fanatical as the Chosen of Khorne in battle, but they can also quickly switch roles to start basic farming and construction.
The two of them have now completely embraced the latter's persona. If these villagers knew that just two days ago these Elite Warrior had joined forces to kill a Rat King, probably none of them would believe it.
"Hey buddy, do you know what my major was in college?"
[ Zhongde ] nudged his companion's arm and asked.
[ The Great Wei Boxing Champion ] looked at his companion who had just been engrossed in repairing the roof:
"What?"
"Civil Engineering."
[ Zhongde ] chuckled self-deprecatingly, and [ Great Wei Boxing Champion ] laughed along:
"Then you really came to the right place."
Carrying tools and materials, on his way to the next rooftop, [ Great Wei Boxing Champion ], who was very interested in game settings and encyclopedia editing, also planned to take the opportunity to ask Kaping about some game settings.
The NPCs in this game are like passersby in those fragmented narrative games; they rarely speak unless you actively ask them.
But once you ask them, their answers always contain a lot of incredible information.
After pondering for a moment, and considering his current identity as an " Elite Warrior of the Tree Worship Church," [ Great Wei Boxing Champion ] thought of a question that was entirely related to his identity:
"Village Chief Kaping, how long has your village been under the protection of the Great Tree Worship Church?"
Kaping turned to look at the sincere-looking young soldier and couldn't help but ponder the answer to this question.
It wasn't surprising that the other party would ask such a question. Back when Kaping was very small, so small that merchants would come to the Upperstream Village to sell their goods, he had heard a rumor that the Tree Worship Church was constantly expanding and incorporating all the villages it discovered, growing stronger like a real tree.
Now it seems this wasn't just a rumor, so he thought of his father and grandfather's appearance and replied:
"It's been almost a hundred years. My grandfather said the Demonic Tide broke out when he was ten years old... The scene at that time was like the world was about to be destroyed... In the beginning, because Baron Tuer was still alive, the Tree Worship Church only came here to preach and plant trees. Later, the baron died, and this area completely belonged to them."
Kaping, in a calm and steady voice characteristic of the elderly, began to recount the stories he had heard as a child:
"Grandpa said there was a wild mage in the Upperstream Village back then, who would tinker with bottles and jars in his little wooden hut every day. But after the Demonic Tide broke out, he merged with that hut and turned into a terrifying monster..."
Kaping doesn't remember much of what happened after that, and he can only vaguely cover up many parts.
When the group arrived at the second house awaiting repair, Kaping's story came to an end. As if to conceal the embarrassment of its unfinished state, he scratched his graying hair and concluded:
Anyway... we're all still alive, aren't we?