Sup dudes! Ya boy is finally back with a 100% NEW chapter. I highly recommend re-reading chapter 1-3 as there have been some important additions that have to do with plot development. I really hope you guys will like them!

If any of you guys want to make some cover art for this story don't hesitate! I will gladly put some up and credit yall.

Thank you guys for all the support enjoy~

It was now a few hours after the battle. Jaune, following the skirmish, opted to deconstruct the two stone walls he had used as chokepoints. To his glee, he was refunded the materials that were used in their construction, showing a slight bit of displeasure over the fact that his gold wasn't returned as well.

He had decided to throw 315 gold towards recruiting 25 Scavs to scour the bloody battlefield, as well as clear it of the countless bodies that littered it. Really, the smell was absolutely horrific, even now Jaune shuddered at the memory of the stench first invading his nostrils.

To his great pleasure, in the span of roughly an hour the small group managed to bring quite the bounty back to Homebase. Over 2.5k [Gold], 300 bronze axes, 250 stone clubs and 120 sets of rawhide armor, as well as a few assorted trinkets. Most impressive of them being the half a dozen large dust crystals currently laying in front of him, two fire, one gravity, and three lightning. All seemed to buzz with a hidden energy.

Ragnar stood to his left, bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet like an excited child. From observing the large mans behavior the past few hours Jaune was left with the conclusion that Ragnar was simply a six year old prone to violent bouts of rage trapped in the body of a hulking 6'6 Barbarian Warlord.

He was still wasn't sure how he felt about that particular fact.

Jaune was broken away from his thoughts by the booming voice of the aforementioned warrior echoing through the room.

"Aha! Ragnar knew the little chief would find the pretty stones, Ragnar did not know his own men carried them into battle!"

Jaune winced in pain, Ragnar's voice had the endearing effect of nearly blowing out anyone's eardrums who stood close to him indoors. Something that he had experienced far more times then he would've liked this far in their budding friendship. Jaune decided to get straight to the point with his new champion.

"OK. Ragnar...So earlier today you said something about a 'funny man' who had told you and your clan that we had in our possession tools to get these shiny rocks or dust crystals, as us civilized folk call them," He paused, checking to make sure the towering man was listening before he followed up. "Can you tell me more about this man? Do you know where he might be?"

Ragnar looked back at him, face scrunched in deep thought. With a head that large, it probably took longer to retrieve memories than it did for the average human.

The manchild's face suddenly lit up before he began speaking again. "Ahhh... Yes. Funny man had a strange wrapping he wore around his entire body that had a bowl that covered his upper face from us, he was quite short, about your height war Chief."

"Okayy.. so he wore a hood and was as short as me... Very helpful Ragnar." Jaune rolled his eyes at the man.

"He also said he came from the land that lay behind the Rainbow Mountains, but wouldn't answer our questions on how he managed to pass through them."

Jaune smiled at that tidbit of knowledge.

"Now THAT is interesting. Looks like my big oaf of a friend CAN give good information."

"That's good enough Ragnar if anything else comes to mind make sure you let me know. How about you go take some of your men on a patrol or something while I fix things up here at home?"

Not even bothering to say anything, Ragnar let out a girly squeal and ran out of Homebase. It seemed that the strange barbarian really enjoyed patroling for whatever reason. Not that Jaune would ever ask why, anything that kept the towering man happy and not crushing in people skulls was good in his books.

Jaune sat in silence, unsure as to what his next move would be. Luckily, the Game seemed to acknowledge his loss of direction by bringing up a new screen for him to gawk at.

[QUESTS]

(Activities that give you a reward upon completion, the more actions needed to complete a quest, the more/ greater awards it will give you)

{Quests are separated into two categories. Side quests, which are optional and Main quests. Which are non-negotiables that must be completed if you want to get anywhere}

We have decided to start you off with an easy one. Enjoy!

The pop up dissolved before being replaced with a new one.

DING DING DING DING

!NEW QUEST ISSUED!

{Morning Wood}

objectives:

1. Recruit Lumberjacks

2. Create your first Lumber Camp

Rewards:

500 [GOLD]

1,000 [WOOD]

ACCEPT?

[YES] [NO]

Jaune tapped the yes button after scanning over the objectives and rewards. Getting free stuff for doing something he was already planning on doing? Yes please.

He stumbled out of his safe haven, passing the Chosen Longaxe men that guarded the sole entrance of it as they saluted him. Jaunes eyes roved over all the empty space he would have to work with once he decided to start raising more structures in the near future. About 50 meters to his right stood a few hundred tents that served as temporary homes for his warriors until he could arrange for some proper housing to be built.

They had fought extremely well earlier, despite experiencing some losses they had come out victorious and seemingly more experienced. He watched as those who weren't on patrol sat around campfires, telling what must've been stories and jokes to one another. A liberty Jaune felt like they had more than earned.

Once he was done admiring his Military forces Jaune made his way towards the first of two gates he'd have to pass through in order to leave his not yet officially established city. After returning dozens of salutes from his patroling warriors and gate operators he finally stepped foot into the world outside of his pair of walls.

Jaune took a deep breath and checked to make sure his blade and sheath/shield combo were firmly attached to his hip before he began to make his way towards the woods that would serve as the residence of his lumberjacks.

Upon reaching the tree line Juane threw open his recruitment tab and selected the Lumberjack unit. Smiling at the helpful addition of a slider that made it convenient to purchase the exact number of units he wanted, as opposed to before when he would have to click the button for every unit he wanted.

Looks like the Game really was looking after him.

Shaking his head Jaune slid the arrow to 30 before clicking [Recruit]- Squinting while trying to shield his eyes as they came under assault from the bright light that was caused by 30 burly bearded men wielding wood axes forming out of light blue pixels.

Once Jaune regained his vision he was greeted with a ding that signaled the completion of one of the required objectives. Remembering the next and last requirement he swiftly ordered his newly purchased lumberjacks to begin the harvesting of wood from the nearby trees.

Jaune walked among them for roughly 30 minutes as the sun above them began to set. The forest was soon filled with the symphony of 30 axe heads slamming into thick tree trunks, with the occasional sound of a tree or two smashing into the forest floor interspaced between.

Every time a tree was felled, the log would be stripped of its leaves by some unseen force before rocketing itself at Jaune, instead of smashing into him and breaking every bone in his frail twelve-year-old body, it would disintegrate into a shower of blue pixels that would be absorbed into his body.

After observing his amount of wood rise with each log he was also able to come to the conclusion that the amount of wood he was given was directly proportional to the size of the tree cut down, however useful that information would prove.

Something that he learned that DID prove useful was that if he strayed away from his harvesters the trees they cut down would stay wherever they fell instead of flying towards him and getting absorbed into his body, Although once he got within the proper distance(about forty meters or so) they would behave as they would normally and attempt to skewer him before they were ultimately absorbed into his body and added to his growing wood reserves.

His mind getting back to the task at hand, he opened up his structure tab before finding the building labeled as "Lumber Camp". Jaune selected it, causing a more detailed picture and description of it to take up the top right quarter of his vision.

Scanning over it he had to admit he liked what he saw, the Lumber Camp would allow his lumberjacks to sleep safely in the same forest that they would be spending their day cutting down. The camp was composed of three large log cabins arranged in the shape of a U, with enough space made in the middle for benches and a fire for cooking whatever they wanted. Along the Outer walls of the cabins were areas designated as zones to drop off wood that would later be picked up and carried to the city at the end of the day by the same men who had cut it down.

All in all, it was a pretty nice setup, one that he hoped his hardworking harvesters would enjoy coming back to after a long day's work.

Jaune made sure to double check the amount of wood he had in order to make sure he would actually be able to construct the camp before pressing the build button and allowing the familiar gridded map to once again take up his vision. He picked an area a little ways into the forest and once he was happy with the placement he tapped the button labeled [Begin Construction] Not at all alarmed as logs and other building materials rocketed past his head on route to their new home.

While his lumberjacks continued to cut down trees he selected an assortment of three dozen Peasant spearmen and Barbarian Axemen to protect their new home. Most of the warriors would take up residence with the Loggers during the night, while the others would stand guard outside of the cabins to keep those sleeping within safe.

Jaune tweaked their orders around so that during the day the majority of guards would be stationed around the lumberjacks, keeping them safe from wild animals as well as anything else that would be desperate enough to try its metal against the ripped axe-wielding men. Finally, at the end of the day, they were ordered to assist and escort the harvesters from the logging camp to the city proper to deposit whatever wood they cut that day as well as pick up any supplies they may need prior to heading back to camp(hopefully) before nightfall.

After he finished sending out the last command to his selected guards he looked up through the canopy created by the trees surrounding him, the sun had almost completely set now, washing the entire forest in a dark haze. Jaune decided that it was probably time to have his lumberjacks resign to their newly constructed homes.

At his command they finished up whatever tree they were chopping down and made their way to the camp, Jaune kept pace with them until the party of guards he had created for them came into sight.

Juane took that as his cue to retreat back home for some much-needed rest. Now watching from a distance as the lumberjacks filed into their new cabins before being followed by the majority of the Gaurd detail sent to protect them. The rest of the Guards began to fan out around the camp, preparing to stand watch for the night.

He smiled at another job well done just as he was greeted with a popup signaling the completion of the final objective, and with it, the quest itself. He really appreciated the 1k [WOOD]. Which brought up his total to a modest 3,543 that he hoped would prove most useful in the coming days.

By the time Jaune got back through the gates and to Homebase, the sun was completely replaced with the shattered moon above, which shined with just enough light to allow him to navigate his way through the halls of his new home without bumping into anything.

Once he finally reached his room he removed everything from his body sans his underwear and dropped down into his bed with a loud sigh.

He hoped everyone back at home was doing ok, Ice Princess too. He wished he could find a way to let them know his alright.

Jaunes thoughts of home quickly ceased as he fell into a deep slumber, his first day of wielding the powers given to him by whatever being sought to screw with him finally over.

Jaune awoke suddenly. Mind racing.

He knew it was too greedy to hope that he would wake up in his own bed back home.

He was disappointed nevertheless when his eyes were greeted with a boring wooden wall instead of the superhero posters he was accustomed to waking up to.

Grunting, Jaune threw his legs over his new bed. Taking a moment to wipe the sleep from his eyes before slipping his clothes from the day before on and making his way outside, nearly being blinded by the morning light upon opening the door to the outside world.

The moment he regained his vision he was greeted with an alert that made his heart drop.

{!WARNING!}

[YOUR TROOPS ARE NOW STARVING DUE TO A LACK OF FOOD, INCREASE FOOD PRODUCTION OR DEPAWN ENOUGH UNITS TO STOP THIS EFFECT- NOTICE: UNITS THAT ARE DESPAWNED WILL CEASE TO EXIST, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RESPAWN THEM. IF THE FOOD SHORTAGE IS NOT SOLVED YOUR TROOPS WILL START STARVING AND TURN ON YOU BY THE END OF THE DAY.]

CURRENT FOOD: -236

FOOD REQUIRED PER DAY: 483

FOOD INCOME PER DAY: 100

TIME LEFT BEFORE END OF DAY [15:59:59]

The notification disappeared as soon as Jaune finished reading it. He quickly began to panic, unsure as to what he could do to remedy the newly formed problem before him, luckily Gamers Mind activated and clamped down on his mind, allowing him to think things out.

He started off by throwing open the unit management screen and selecting the scavs that he used the day before to loot the dead. If he had remembered correctly they had a secondary function as foragers, which he would utilize to the fullest for the time being. Without even thinking he selected all of them and sent them out into the surrounding forest in search of fruits, vegetables, berries and the like.

He quickly checked to see if he'd fixed the issue, only to be met with despair.

FOOD INCOME PER DAY: 320

FOOD REQUIRED PER DAY: 483

He still didn't have enough food to make the cut, even worse, he had spawned the maximum amount of Scavs and Game Hunters that he could at tier 1. Jaunes morale took yet another hit upon discovering he wouldn't even be able to collect enough resources to upgrade to tier 2 before the day was out. Meaning he somehow had to find another source of food production or despawn some of his uni-...

"That doesn't sound too bad actually, food consumption is .3 per unit each day, the difference is production vs consumption I'm at right now is 163... that's around... ehhh roughly 480 units or something. It'll hurt to lose them but I can spawn new ones later when I have a stable food source." Jaune concluded in his head while recalling all of his warrior units (besides the ones escorting his harvesters) back to the city.

He made sure that once they arrived they would form up into columns so the selection and despawning process would be made quicker and more efficiently than just running around and despawning the first 489 units he ran into.

It annoyed him greatly that he was required to be within two meters of the unit he wished to despawn, but at the end of the day, there wasn't much he could do about the strange requirement except deal with it.

A half-hour later Jaune stood before his Legion of over 1,400 soldiers, flanking him were his two Champions, both of whom stood in silence with unreadable expressions painted across their faces. It was weird thinking about how in about an hour only around 900 would still be standing. He found solace in the fact that the men who stood before him weren't real, that they were only created by him to eventually die on the battlefield anyway.

At least now Jaune could say he saving 400 of them from a gruesome death, instead, they would simply cease to exist the second he pressed the required button.

Jaune had to do this. If he didn't he'd end up losing all that he had worked to create so far. As well as his life, most likely.

His legs started moving on their own, bringing him towards the first of many units he would end up erasing before the day was out.

A simple clubman without any outstanding features. His face was blank of emotion like all of the others, which would make things a lot easier for Jaune in the end.

He reached forward and tapped the man on the forehead, causing a unit card to pop up displaying things like his name and stats. Jaune ignored everything except for the red box at the bottom right that read [Despawn unit] His finger hovered above it as he hesitated.

"I won't be able to respawn this exact dude again, or any of the others I erase... Sure ill be able to buy more of their unit type, but they won't be the same ones in front of me..."

He contemplated his decision further

"I have to do this... Remember, they AREN'T real people. Just simple minded constructs created by some cosmic power to serve my needs. If it means getting rid of a few hundred mindless drones to ensure that I can keep things moving then its a sacrifice ill have to make. It'll take too long to find another way. Efficiency over empathy."

With his mind finally made up, Jaune reached forth and erased the first of the needed 464.

One down. 463 to go.

For the next forty-five minutes, the entire city was silent except for the rhythmic sound of bodies bursting into showers of blue pixels.

Almost an hour after he erased his first unit he was staring down the last one that he needed to despawn. Just to make sure it was necessary he glanced over to the resource counter he had been periodically checking for the past 45 minutes.

FOOD INCOME PER DAY: 320

FOOD CONSUMPTION PER DAY: 320.3

Jaune sighed, glad to finally get this mess over. For real, his arm was killing him. Who knew raising and lowering your arm a couple hundred times in an hour would leave it feeling like this?

Wincing in discomfort he tapped the final man on the head. A peasant slinger this time. Once the unit card came up Jaune had to stop himself from instinctually pressing the despawn button, this was the last one, may as well show him a little more courtesy.

His eyes roved over the unit card. The man's name was Johnathan Oliver, and he had amassed quite the number of kills during Jaunes first(and only) battle, he was in good health and high morale, despite being forced to stand still as his comrades were dissolved into nothingness just yards away from him.

After finishing admiring Oliver he pressed the button that would remove him from Remnant.

Nothing happened.

Jaune, confused, reached out to tap the man on the forehead once again, but before he could make contact, the man moved.

Oliver collapsed to the ground screaming in pain, body convulsing. The man began crying for help

"OH OUM WHERE AM I?! GAHHH THIS HURTS SO FUCKING BAD PLEASE, SOMEONE! HELP ME"

Jonathan's head cracked back into the ground painfully as he continued

"PLEASE! I WANT TO SEE MY WIFE AND DAUGHTER! AHHHH WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME!"

The moment his pain and terror-filled brown eyes made contact with Jaunes dazed and confused eyes, he shattered into a shower of blue pixels, ending his suffering.

For Jaune... His suffering was about to begin.

Jaune Arcs mind exploded with the thoughts and memories of hundreds of people. He saw entire lives pass before his eyes, first loves, first breakup, marriages, wars, and eventually, death. He felt every emotion known to man crash against his soul. Love, hate, greed, fear, euphoria, happiness, to name a few. Jaune himself began to wither in pain on the floor.

His mind practically tore itself in two trying to sort the vast amounts of information it was being force fed. He had never felt anything akin to the type of pain he was currently experiencing.

What hurt a lot more, however, was the knowledge of where this sudden influx of memories was coming from.

He was observing the lives of the 900 "Mindless drones" who weren't even supposed to be "Real People."

Now, he had come to the painful realization that they were in fact real people.

Or used to be, at least.

As the pain began to subside, and the passing memories lessened, Jaune was left, back to the dirt, staring at the blue sky, thinking back to the hundreds of real people he just erased from existence because it would be faster than finding an alternate solution.

Upon realizing what he had done, Jaune did the only thing he could. He cried. Hard.

"Oh my Oum...What have I done?"

Were the last words to pass through Jaunes mind before he lost consciousness. Jaune was too shocked at what he had done to catch the last notification that had popped up before slipping into a deep sleep.

It read:

ERROR ERROR

A GLITCH HAS OCCURRED IN THE GAME.

MEMORY_ HAS STOPPED WORKING

SENTINENCE_ HAS STOPPED WORKING

THE GAME IS UNDERGOING A SHUTDOWN TO PATCH THESE ERRORS.

CHAPTER END!

Well! That does it for the FIRST chapter back! Hope you guys like it ! drop a review for ya old man would ya? Sorry if there's a lot of grammar errors, I'm gonna go back through it when I'm not exhausted and check over it. Love yall! PEACE!