How many years has it been? Since I woke up here?
I can't remember anymore.
I dragged my tired body under the sunlight, taking advantage of the small mercy granted to me by this short daytime.
It has been a long time now, since I first established a foothold in this world, trying to remain positive and trying to find a way home.
Yet, this world has a way of crushing that hope.
What is the use of building a home? When there is nothing waiting for me there, what is the purpose of mining as deep as I can, searching for Diamonds, when there is no point in fighting the monsters and becoming stronger with each monster slain?
What is the purpose of my still moving forward? When death itself no longer has any meaning to me?
As the sun slowly set behind me, signifying the end of my peaceful travel as the long night would soon begin, I heard the noise of villagers from nearby.
Curious. I did not know there was a village nearby. Did I veer off my path somewhere?
Letting the new stimulus get to me, I wandered towards the noise aimlessly.
While the Villagers of this world look similar to humans, just like I do, their intelligence is somewhat below average, even compared to regular humans. Not to mention that they lack some of the main emotions required to progress as a society.
No. That was wrong. They do have emotions with them, such as greed, curiosity, and ambition. However, those emotions are buried deep within them and overshadowed by their contentment, so that they are forever stuck in a medieval society.
Shaking my head to get rid of those thoughts, I continued towards the light of the torches that I could already see.
What is the use of thinking about these Villagers? It's not like I am going to uplift them or anything.
I simply don't have the motivation to do so, not after everything.
Soon, I walked into the villaige, makign the Villaigers who were scrambling to return to their homes as the night was approaching pause and stare at me with surprise.
An understandable reaction. Given what I've managed to find out after so many years, based on the many excavations I carried out in the Desert Pyramids and Jungle Pyramids, it would be quite a shock for these Villaigers to see someone belonging to the Builder race after so many eons.
Ignoring all their stares, I continued walking towards the local Cartographer, intending to find a map of the area and see if he had something interesting with him that I could buy.
However, all my plans went down the drain as my instincts screamed at me to move.
Obeying them, I rolled back, just in time to avoid a regular arrow that struck just a foot in front of where I was standing before.
Tracing the trajectory, I felt my jaw drop.
With auburn hair flowing gently in the wind and piercing green eyes staring at me with caution, it was a beautiful woman wearing a green dress and brown pants that shot at the ground in front of me.
It was clearly a warning to make me stop, but right now, I couldn't care less about any of that as my heart thumped in my chest. I knew that my regular eyes must have morphed into their original state, that of blue squares, because I saw the same happen with the woman whose beautiful green eyes turned into green squares.
I could see her tremble slightly as her instincts went haywire, just like mine did at the sight of her. My body recognized a fellow Builder race just like her body recognized me.
With hope blooming within my cold, dead heart, I could not help but ask the first question that came to my mind.
"....Hello? A-Are you, by any chance, also from Earth?"
The way her body went still at those words and her eyes widened was answer enough.
For the first time in many years, I laughed with happiness instead of madness.
For I had finally found someone like me.
I was no longer alone in this damned world. I had a clue to get out of here.
On that day, my life changed forever.
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Alex was having a rather enjoyable time building.
Placing block after block of solid Acacia wood to build a rather simple-looking house, Alex hummed to herself as she worked.
While using this type of wood would not do anything for stealth, she could not care less about that right now.
After all, there was something about Acacia that drew her to it. Not to mention that it was her husband's most favourite building material. So she decided to use it, if only to soothe his nerves, which would be high-strung without any doubt after everything that happened recently.
"Hm. Maybe I should make an underground floor for the Furnaces and other stuff? No. This will only be a temporary shelter, so there is no point in establishing a mine in this place. Just a bed for the two of us, a functioning bathroom, kitchen, and a watchtower should do."
Given their biology as the Builder race, they no longer had any base needs such as restrooms, thanks to their biology perfectly utilizing everything that they ate, making it so that they had no waste to expel from their body. However, Alex and her husband still liked to have a shower in their house since it felt good and relieved stress.
With a plan in place, she divided the open space within the wooden shell, building the shower, the kitchen, a bedroom, and a staircase that would lead to a vertical tower that would stretch beyond the canopy of the forest to give them visibility. All of it was done in a matter of a mere hour.
However, just as she was done with the construction and was giving the house an appraising gaze, her senses picked up a disturbance close by.
On instinct, her Netherite armor formed around her as her sword appeared in her hand, and good thing too, since a wolf-like creature lunged out of the dark woods, aiming straight for her.
Without much effort, she made a diagonal slash at the creature, cleanly bisecting it from the waist. However, she did not have the time to recover as howls rang out across the clearing, making her frown.
With a thought, four Iron blocks appeared in her hands, allowing her to place them in a T-shape before placing a Carved Pumpkin on the top.
With the preparation ready, Alex channeled her eldritch energies into her creation, shaping the energies and creating a basic program with her thoughts as the base for how the creation would work.
All of this happened in only a couple of seconds, enough time for several wolf-like creatures to jump out of the woods and surround her.
But these beasts were already too late, as Alex was already done with what she was doing.
The moment she willed the last bit of the magical programming into existence, the blocks morphed, taking on a humanoid shape that towered over Alex and even the beasts.
Its red eyes glared down at the beasts that shared a similar eye color, while its body started to quickly move towards the monsters, clanking all the way as the dense iron it was made from rubbed against each other with its every movement.
Despite its size, the Iron Golem was anything but slow as it caught one of the beasts that was trying to lunge for Alex by the neck and easily snapped it, killing the creature instantly.
The other three beasts did not take kindly to this, as they now make the Iron Golem the priority target, surrounding it.
Which proved to be another mistake as Alex brought out her enchanted bow and a few arrows.
Her inhuman strength allowed her to pull on the bow made with ridiculously powerful wood and enchanted with the power of Fire, releasing three Arrows at once that found their mark in the torsos of the three beasts.
Instantly, they caught fire and howled in pain as the arrows dug deep into their bodies. But they would not be able to roar in pain any longer as the Iron Golem ruthlessly crushed their skulls beneath its feet.
As the beasts fell dead, Alex watched with interest as their bodies disintegrated into black smoke and drifted off with the wind, disappearing into the atmosphere. Not unlike what happened to creatures back in the Overworld when they were killed, with the only difference being that those creatures dispersed into pure energy and dropped parts of themselves after their death, while these beasts did not leave anything behind.
"Interesting. Looks like we are not in a peaceful world as we hoped."
Alex sighed at that thought and got back to building, letting the Iron Golem wander around for a bit.
"Steve will not like this."
With the thought of her husband's reaction when he finds out about this attack, she could not help but give a fond smile.
"Well. I guess we will just have to do what we always do. Watch each other's back till the end of the road."
With that happy thought, she got back to working on the interiors of the house, trying to make it more homely, even if it would be a temporary home.
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Author notes: Read 10 chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/Tiranus2