Zyrus had made 12 divisions with the 2000 beasts. The beasts tamed by Aiden were mutated animals from the first ring, and thus, they weren’t unfamiliar with the concept of living in a pack.

  They didn’t need complex command structures like intelligent species. As long as their leader was stronger than them, they didn’t mind following anyone. Zyrus more than met that criteria.

  As for the rats and specter scorpions, Zyrus told them to kill all the insects on the island after they were done on the beach. It was free experience for them afterall.

  Last but not the least, Zyrus had summoned Elsid and assigned him to act as a commander. He didn't plan to lead anyone in battle for the time being.

  ‘I’m not pushing my work on others; I’m training them for the future.’

  And while this logic was slightly flawed, Zyrus didn’t plan to stay idle either. It wasn’t an easy feat to bring nearly 10,000 players on the ocean.

  “Let’s fly up.”

  “Hmm.. my hooves are getting stiff anyway, let’s go!”

  Zyrus didn’t ask why Franken’s hooves were stiff and more importantly, why flying would help with that.

  “Look for an empty spot.”

  “Don’t you have better eyesight than me?”

  “I’m reading.”

  “…”

  Franken gave up on retorting and looked for a barren hill. Thousands of trees were cut down thanks to the players' efforts. It wasn’t a surprising feat considering the scale of the island, but that was after ignoring the innate suppression of the higher ring. Zyrus still remembered that it had taken him and other players close to a week before they got accustomed to the environment.

  It was for this reason that Zyrus attacked the monsters first. Although the players had only leveled up once, they were no longer suppressed by the island. Gaining a level above 20 meant that the system had improved their league of existence to survive on the island.

  The suppression didn’t really vanish. They were still unable to use their superhuman strength. Fortunately, wide-scale deforestation wasn’t that difficult.

  “Not too shabby of a place.”

  “Hmm… a bit small, but we can ask players to expand,” Zyrus replied as he looked away from Oroszlan’s journal. All around them was sparse thicket that should provide some decent materials.

  Zyrus sent Franken to call others while he calculated the number of logs and other materials he’d need to build the most important thing: Ships.

  He was by no means an expert shipbuilder; however, it wasn’t an issue with the help of mana. He was sure that over time the ships built by him wouldn’t be inferior to anyone else. Far from it.

  ‘Might as well go all out since it’ll be the first and last time I’m doing this.’

  Zyrus slit his wrist and dropped his blood on the logs. The players under his command would increase by a tenfold once he started recruiting from the first ring. At that time, he could employ experienced players to handle all the crafts and construction projects. But before he did that, Zyrus wanted to tell the leaders under his command about the truth of the sanctuary.

  A truth that he guessed in his past life. A truth that was confirmed after he received the shard from the cube.

  *Rustle*

  Footsteps of approaching players jolted him awake from his thoughts. Looking at them made him realize that now wasn’t the time to go in that direction.

  ‘Whatever, I’ll deal with it after reaching the next island,’

  Zyrus ordered them to call most of the ogres, trolls, and mages along with a few players of each profession. He also tasked another group with clearing the nearby area.

  The construction would be a hassle with the large number of materials involved, but it wasn’t a big deal with the flag’s storage function.

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  “Bring over the corpses,” Zyrus told Stephen who was acting as his aide. Since Ria, Kyle, and others were busy with their own work, Zyrus had decided to appoint Stephen as a manager. He knew that the youth wasn’t impressive on the battlefield, but his sharp mind was remarkable in management tasks.

  “Got it. We’ll be back in an hour.”

  Quite a lot of iguanas and bats had fallen in the last battle. Normally, their corpses would scatter into motes of light after some time passed. There was no way to preserve them in inventory or the flag’s storage.

  It was a different case if you dismembered their corpses. As long as their skin, bones, and blood were separated, they wouldn’t scatter in the air. In case of high-rank or special monsters it was also possible that their body parts would be recognized as different ‘Items’.

  There were many such hidden rules and functions in the sanctuary. Zyrus had a natural advantage in this regard, as in a way, he was 1000 years ahead of them.

  He looked at the pile of materials around him and did some calculations. In the end, he decided to build one warship, three galleons, and about fifty Viking longships.

  All three were famous in history. While humans had developed many high-tech ships in the last thousand years, Zyrus didn’t know anything about the topic. Heck, he didn’t know much about the old ships apart from their shape and materials used to build them. His knowledge was barely enough to create some wooden ships. Afterall, there was a limit to how much limited mana could do.

  While waiting for the players to arrive, Zyrus cut down the large logs into different shapes and sizes.

  Keel, plank, masts, risings, flooring… just the main parts numbered a dozen. Adding the small sections the three ships needed around a hundred wooden parts.

  ‘Maybe I should create a claw skill as well.’

  Every part of a Sylvarix was made for combat. His razor-sharp nails could cut down anything with precision. By the time the players arrived after an hour, they were greeted by the sight of hundreds of wooden parts organized in piles.

  “Rogues, assassins, and mages, stand over this side,” Without wasting any more time, Zyrus started giving out the orders.

  “Yes, Your Majesty,”

  Zyrus then pointed at the group of trolls and ogres and ordered them to collect wood according to the size of the pieces. There were many tall and short trees scattered throughout the center of the island. With trolls’ affinity towards the nature and ogres’ herculean strength, it was a task most suitable for them.

  “Archers, while it is inefficient, use your arrows to pierce holes in every part. Swordsmen are to cut down the logs and as for the spearmen, they are to deal with slicing the wood and working on the edges.”

  While many players were confused about his orders, no one dared to object his arrangement. In just a dozen minutes all of the players were busy doing their respective tasks.

  The players had an intelligence of at least 1 in the first ring. Now, each and every one of them had at least some upgrades in that area. They were anything but stupid. Some like humans had it easy while others like rats and beasts found it difficult. Still, anyone who wielded mana had enough brainpower to handle a few simple tasks.

  “Shield warriors, select an empty area and spread the bones on the ground. Make groups of 100 and fight against 12 beast divisions until the bones turn into dust. Repeat until all the bones on this island are turned into powder.”

  “…”

  “…”

  “Yes, Your Majesty,” A somewhat forced shout rang from the group of shield warriors. Their task was a bit heavy-handed compared to others. Then again, their class needed them to be heavy handed.

  “Good, now follow me,” Zyrus called over the group of dagger users and mages towards the bloody logs.

  Or rather, bloody logs which were cut into different parts of the ship. Zyrus didn’t bother to explain anything and started drawing on the logs in an unhurried manner.

  Magic had its own language, though it was similar to electrical circuits.

  ‘This much should be doable for them,’

  Just like a newbie couldn’t understand nanocircuits in a day, the players couldn’t draw complex runes either. The simple runes drawn by Zyrus were similar to a switchboard’s circuit diagram in terms of difficulty.

  “Can you draw it now?”

  “Yes, Your Majesty,”

  “Remember it, it’s a rune for gathering mana.”

  Water repelling, Adhesiveness, Weight reduction, Healing, Speed, Strength… Zyrus drew numerous runes on different parts. They were at most a foot in length, yet leaving the players sweating after their ‘lesson’ came to an end. It was apparent just how many runes they’ll have to draw for all ships.

  At last, Zyrus taught the mages about how to fuse their mana into monsters’ blood. Their task was just as arduous as each piece of wood had to be fused with the monster’s blood.

  “Stephen, you’re in charge of managing the players. Make sure they rotate between fighting beasts and shipbuilding. Also, stop anyone who’s being a smartass; they are to follow the exact steps I told them to. If they have any ideas then tell them to contact me, but under no circumstances are they allowed to halt progress.”

  “Understood,”

  Stephen bowed in response and promptly left the area. The players might not understand the motives behind these tasks, but they would realize its benefits in a not far off future.

  ‘Phew… now I can read in peace,’

  Zyrus sat under a lush tree and took out Oroszlan’s journal. The sky was clear with patches of clouds floating by. The sunlight wasn't too intense either, so the weather was quite perfect for a reading session.

  “Look who’s lazing around.”

  “Did you wait till now to say this?”

  “Just stating the facts,” Franken shrugged while also lying beneath the sole standing tree.

  Thus, while thousands of players put their blood, sweat, and tears into building ships and conquering the island, a Sylvarix and a Reindeer did their research on various topics.

  Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. Zyrus went once in a while to assemble the finished pieces and distributed the materials he brought from the shop.

  Apart from papyrus plants and cursed iron nails that he used himself, the rest such as sails, ropes, tar, and metal wares were used by players in construction. The working efficiency of the players was nothing to scoff at.

  Exactly four months and sixteen days after Zyrus arrived on the Pisces archipelago, his fleet stood ready on the southern beach.