Lu Yu had plans to build a territory with Matai, but to be honest, he was just a cook, not an architect or anything. Building a house was out of the question; at most, they could find a more comfortable cave to settle in.
Unexpectedly, fortune favored the sleepyhead with a pillow. Lu Yu had completely forgiven the task of acquiring favorability through intimacy with the game panel.
He stared at the lines on the panel, reading them repeatedly.
The next day.
While everyone was having breakfast, Lu Yu stood up and cleared his throat twice.
Matai people set down their meat and looked up at him in unison.
Lu Yu spoke loudly, “I have two things to tell everyone.”
“The first thing is, after the King killed the wolf king, I gained a new ability as a witch. As long as we have meat, we can produce healing Pills. From now on, as long as we avoid fatal wounds, we won’t die from untreated injuries.”
Matai people cheered, “Awoo!”
After they finished cheering, Lu Yu brought up today’s main event.
“And the other thing,” Lu Yu paused for a moment, then excitedly continued, “From now on, as long as we gather some wood, stone, and soil, I can build a village for us!”
After speaking, Lu Yu raised his chin, waiting for another round of cheers, but after a while, he didn’t hear any response, feeling somewhat puzzled.
Could it be that Matai preferred living in caves? What’s so good about caves anyway? They’re damp, dark, and lack personal space.
“Witch,” Shan Pu scratched his head, puzzled, “What’s a village?”
Lu Yu suddenly realized that they didn’t understand the term “village.”
After thinking for a moment, he explained, “It means a tribe, where everyone can live in houses made of wood.”
Matai’ eyes lit up.
“A tribe?!”
“We don’t have to live in caves anymore?”
“We Matai used to have a tribe too.”
“I didn’t expect the witch can build wooden houses, that’s amazing!”
Facing the admiring gaze of Matai, who thought “our witch is capable of everything,” Lu Yu felt a little embarrassed. In fact, it was all thanks to the cheat system; he was just a middleman.
Lu Yu scratched his head and looked at Tai Lie, who was sitting in the first place, and suggested, “King, I think we can split up and work. Some people can go hunting, and some can gather wood and other materials.”
Tai Lie nodded in agreement.
After assigning tasks, Lu Yu didn’t join the hunting team but instead acted with the material collection team because he needed to figure out the standards for the wood, stone, and soil that the panel required.
After several experiments, it was determined that the stones needed to be roughly cubic with a side length of about 40 centimeters. Of course, it wasn’t so strict; approximately was sufficient. The soil needed to be about as much as one could hold in both hands, wet, and free of rocks and gravel.
Finally, there was the more troublesome wood. Trees that were too thin wouldn’t work, and they didn’t have saws to cut them. Fortunately, Matai were strong as oxen and could forcibly pull up trees and break them with their palms, turning them into roughly one-meter-long, 15-centimeter-thick pieces of wood.
To protect the environment, Lu Yu also buried the tree roots back into the ground.
It was also because of the tree-cutting incident that Lu Yu learned that Lei Shui had exceptionally strong hands, almost like someone who had practiced Iron Palm.
…Matai people were indeed a group of talented individuals.
Once these materials were collected, they would be retrieved and converted into numbers on the panel after being searched by the game panel.
All Matai were busy, even the little ones actively helped find stones and dig soil.
After five or six days of hard work, they finally gathered all the materials.
With excitement in his heart, Lu Yu searched for the last piece of stone.
The information on the panel began to change.
[Wood 200/200 Completed]
[Stone 100/100 Completed]
[Clay 100/100 Completed]
[Exchange for a Basic Village Successful, please choose a suitable location for placement]
Seeing the words “suitable location,” Lu Yu thought for a moment, then turned to ask Tai Lie, “King, where do you think we should build our village?”
Tai Lie remained silent.
Lu Yu thought he was carefully considering it.
But Xia Cao knew that the King was clueless about such matters and didn’t want to admit to the witch that he didn’t understand, so he remained silent. She smiled and took over the conversation, “I remember there’s a place past that mountain, with a small river nearby, and because the nearby mountains are steep, there aren’t many large wild beasts. Do you think it’s suitable?”
It sounded good.
Lu Yu said it was completely fine.
After packing up, Lu Yu and Matai set off together towards their new dwelling.
After crossing a mountain, they arrived at the place Xia Cao mentioned.
The place was surrounded by mountains and rivers, with a tranquil environment. Although hunting large wild beasts might require going a bit further, it was not a problem for Matai who had inexhaustible stamina.
The decision was made. Lu Yu opened the panel and focused on the “place village” marker for a few seconds.
A holographic image of a small village appeared in the empty grassland in front of him.
Lu Yu selected “confirm.”
A second later, he blinked.
A complete small village had appeared out of thin air in front of him, as if it had always been there.
Matai people cheered loudly; they had never seen such a good place to live. Even when they were a tribe of thousands before, their dwellings were nothing more than makeshift shelters made of wood and leaves, more like huts.
“We have a tribe now!”
“It’s a village, you idiot!”
Lu Yu took a deep breath and exclaimed, “Let’s go in!”
Matai responded eagerly, “Okay!”
Outside the small village, there was a circle of low fences. Inside, twelve small wooden houses were arranged in a scattered manner. The houses looked simple but sturdy.
Tai Lie instructed everyone to split up and inspect the houses since one small house couldn’t accommodate so many people.
Lu Yu, Tai Lie, and Shan Pu chose one small house and walked in.
The small houses had doors and windows, but they were empty inside, lacking furniture.
Lu Yu was prepared for this; after all, it was a low-level village, so having a place to stay was already good enough.
The structure of the house was simple, with a hall at the entrance and two small rooms on each side, totaling four rooms.
In each small room, there was a low wooden bed against the wall, enough for two people to sleep on.
Lu Yu was very happy; he finally didn’t have to sleep on the ground anymore. Even when sleeping in caves, he could feel bugs crawling on him even if he laid leaves down.
After inspecting the houses, they began to allocate them.
The principle of allocation was that families would live together in one house, and if someone didn’t have family, they would share a house with someone else.
“Which house do you want to live in, Witch?” Xia Cao asked with a smile, then quickly added, “It’s better for the Witch to live with someone else. Although there seem to be no wild beasts nearby, we can’t rule out the possibility of one accidentally entering. It’s safer to live together.”
“Okay,” Lu Yu agreed.
Matai people became excited and actively recommended themselves.
“Come live with me!”
“Witch, come live with me! I can protect you!”
“You go away! Your feet stink! Witch, come live with me, mine don’t…”
“You go away too! You snore! I…”
It was too enthusiastic.
Lu Yu felt a warmth in his heart and didn’t know how to respond. “Um…”
Xia Cao glanced at the silent and slightly gloomy-faced King, then smiled and suggested to Lu Yu, “Witch, why don’t you live with the King? The King doesn’t have stinky feet or snore, and he can protect you the best.”
Lu Yu: …
He hesitated, not because of anything else, but because Tai Lie was, after all, the Matai King. Previously, there were no conditions, but now that there were, it seemed appropriate to let the King live alone in a house.
“I…”
“Let’s do it this way,” Tai Lie interrupted abruptly.
Lu Yu turned to him, surprised.
Tai Lie’s expression was indifferent. “You are the Witch.”
Actually, it wasn’t because of this. He wanted to live with Lu Yu and couldn’t stand seeing him live with someone else. But he couldn’t say that, so he found this chance.
Lu Yu suddenly understood!
Yes, he was the Witch.
He had already indirectly asked Matai about what a Witch was.
Indeed, as a Witch, it was reasonable to live with the King and be protected by him.
Lu Yu no longer hesitated and agreed, since he didn’t know who else to live with.
The middle wooden house in the small village was inhabited by Tai Lie and Lu Yu, of course, with two rooms.
Matai gradually adapted to life in this small village.
Matai responsible for hunting found suitable hunting grounds.
They even divided into several groups, taking turns operating in different areas.
That day, Shan Pu and a few others successfully hunted down a large wild boar and happily carried it back to the village.
Behind a nearby big tree, a thin, black-eyed man in animal-skin pants was watching them intently…
The Yi tribe.
The thin man knelt on the ground and respectfully reported, “Leader, I have investigated it thoroughly.”
A faint voice came from the shadows, “How is it?”
“This tribe is located in the Dim Wind Valley, with very few people, only sixty or seventy.”
“What about their combat capability?”
“Completely nothing at all,” the thin man sneered disdainfully. “I observed for three days and found that only a few of them go out hunting. Although they seem to be strong, I believe that’s their only entire tribe’s combat strength.”
The person in the shadows was satisfied. “Very good. Prepare for a few days. For such a small tribe, we can just raid and kill them directly.”
“Yes.”
Shan Pu carried the wild boar back to the village.
A Matai man walked up to him and patted his shoulder. “Haha, thank you, Shan Pu.”
Shan Pu snorted and shook off his arm. “We didn’t go hunting all the way to the farthest place for nothing. Make sure to share the Witch’s cook meat with us tonight.”
“Okay, okay…”