From the Valley to Eric's fortress, the straight-line distance was about 50 leagues—roughly 240 kilometers.
With Eric riding full tilt, pushing both himself and his mount day and night without rest, it didn't take long to close the distance. He'd left the Valley at dawn, and by the time the sun began to dip the following day, he was already approaching the outskirts of his territory.
Technically speaking, if he'd taken a direct route with zero distractions, Eric could've made the trip in a single day.
But that was a fantasy. The real world wasn't a loading screen.
For starters, his path was anything but straight—he'd taken more detours than a drunk pigeon. And then there were the constant annoyances: trees in the way, boulders blocking the trail, the occasional pit, and even the odd wandering orc squad popping out of nowhere like bad side quests.
All of it added up.
"If only I had a max-speed horse," Eric muttered under his breath.
In MC terms, a maxed-out horse could hit 20 meters per second. If he had one of those beauties, he could gallop to the Valley for breakfast and be back by lunchtime—easy.
The steed he currently rode wasn't terrible, but it wasn't breaking any land-speed records either.
Still, there was no rush. A top-tier horse was only a matter of time. Even without using speed potions or enhancements, selectively breeding fast horses would eventually yield results. One generation at a time—good genes always rose to the top.
As he approached the castle, the rhythmic clip-clop of hooves began to fade. Eric pulled to a stop at the main gate. But before he could even dismount, his nose crinkled.
"…What is that smell?"
It was… sharp. Foul. A mix of blood and rotting meat.
And then he noticed it: the small iron side-gate, usually locked tight, hanging wide open.
And lying just outside it—
"An orc?"
Eric's expression darkened. He dismounted in an instant and rushed to the gate. With a sharp kick, he shoved aside the corpse slumped there and stepped through.
"...Damn."
The sight made his stomach clench.
Bodies. Everywhere.
Orc corpses, warg corpses, limbs—some charred, some crushed. The stone floor inside the walls was slick with drying blood. It was immediately clear what had happened.
Eric broke into a run, heading straight for the livestock pens.
Thankfully nothing was missing.
"Idiots. You really thought attacking my home was a good idea?"
A quick count gave him a rough estimate. Over two hundred corpses, orcs and wargs combined, were scattered around the courtyard like grotesque confetti. There were so many bodies it was hard to find a place to step.
And it wasn't just the ground—several unlucky orcs had been smashed onto the towers, their broken forms still hanging from the parapets like grim decorations.
"So that's where the reputation boost came from," Eric said dryly, opening his status screen.
Reputation with Misty Mountains Orc Tribe: -344 (Sworn Enemy)
Yeah. That tracked.
A loud clunk drew his attention. A few of his iron golems were limping past, their once-pristine bodies now crisscrossed with fractures.
So he hadn't come through this entirely unscathed.
Eric bent down, picking up a few iron ingots and a crushed red flower that had fallen during the chaos. He shook his head, then planted the flower near the gate in a small patch of grass.
Even golems had health bars—and they'd bled for him.
Twenty iron golems holding off over a hundred mounted attackers? That was the kind of kill ratio that'd make most generals weep with envy. If the orcs had been better trained, or had even the faintest idea of formation tactics, maybe things would've turned out differently.
But clearly, they hadn't. Eric could practically imagine it—his golems charging in, and the orcs scattering like bowling pins.
Still, this was his domain. It required upkeep.
He spent the next few hours breaking down warg corpses into bone fertilizer and dragging orc bodies into a heap for burning. He washed the bloodstains off the courtyard with several buckets of water—over and over—until the reek of death was finally gone.
Only then did he allow himself to check on the real animals, the ones without MC stats. Especially his two horses.
"You're still kicking, huh?" he murmured, patting one of them on the neck.
Both horses were in good health. He'd made sure to leave enough food and water before heading out, and they hadn't gone hungry while he was away.
After checking the walls, patching up the worst of the damage with spare iron, and giving his golems some minor repairs, Eric stepped back and surveyed his stronghold.
It was starting to feel… small.
All the spare land from the last expansion had already been filled with farmland and pastures. And now, if he wanted to build an industrial zone? He had nowhere to put it.
"Guess it's time to expand again."
And just like that, he got to work.
Eric emptied his inventory into storage, then hauled out a mountain of building supplies. Brick by brick, he tore down the outer walls and began expanding outward. The work took over a week. This time, the project was huge—he extended the perimeter walls by more than double, adding several meters in height for good measure.
By the end, his little domain had ballooned to multiple times its former size.
The cost? Every single cobblestone he'd mined in the past two months. His once-full warehouse was now empty. In fact, he hadn't had enough—part of the new wall had to be built thinner than planned. He made a mental note to go mining soon and fill the gaps properly.
Looking at it now, Eric realized his "private estate" was more like a budding city.
Towering walls, over twenty meters tall, stretched hundreds of meters in either direction. No small raiding party was going to mess with this place now.
Most of the flat land in this small valley was now enclosed. One more major expansion and he'd have to terraform the nearby cliffs.
"Phew."
Eric exhaled and opened up a new zone inside the walls—this would be his future industrial district.
Forges, furnaces, alloy smelters, anvils, workbenches…
It was a modest start. Right now, the industrial zone was more of an empty backyard with ambition. But something was missing.
Eric frowned.
"I could really use one of those massive blackened-brick forges…"
The new alloy crafting module he'd unlocked recently was nice, sure—but he missed the Tinker's Forge mod. That was a work of art. Maybe he hadn't met the conditions to unlock it yet.
No point dwelling on it.
He got right back to work, loading iron and coal into the alloy furnace. Experience particles shimmered around him, gently rising into the smelter like fireflies.
Before long, gleaming bars of Elven Steel began sliding out of the furnace.
Eric grinned.
It was time to upgrade.
He immediately crafted a full set of Elven Steel armor. When he equipped it, his defense bar gained a full extra segment compared to regular iron gear.
Still far from diamond-level, but not bad.
Considering it only required basic materials—just iron and coal—it was a solid mid-tier option.
The armor design resembled standard iron armor, but the details were finer, and the color had shifted into a sleek, silvery-gray. It wasn't the ornate, leaf-etched plate that elven soldiers wore in fantasy illustrations, but it was functional—and sharp.
As for weapons?
He didn't bother. His current sword had +9 attack and was basically Excalibur by comparison. But tools—those were worth upgrading. Elven Steel tools had better durability and a slight increase in mining speed.
"If only I could enchant them…"
Eric had thought this before. Many times.
But building an enchanting table was still out of reach.
Sure, diamond and obsidian were hard to find, but at least they existed in this world. What really stumped him was the blaze rod—for brewing stands and enchanting alike.
Where was he supposed to get one of those?
Unless… unless there was a Nether in this world.
Could he connect to it?
Was that kind of dimensional travel even possible here?
Eric narrowed his eyes.
"One day," he murmured. "I'm going to find out."