Simon always kept paper, pen, and ink ready, though he rarely used them. He was accustomed to recording everything in his quest log, which could save images and data and was easy to write in, so much so that the papyrus and quill he had bought remained untouched.
Simon pulled up a wooden chair, sat at the stone table, carefully composed his thoughts, and began to write.
"Hello,"
"I'm glad you maintained the proper vigilance…"
Writing to this point, Simon suddenly thought of a problem: how would he send this letter?
The recipient was unknown, and Simon didn't expect real-world couriers to be like the divine beings in the game, capable of delivering mail to any strange place.
However, Kalia had mentioned an old place in her letter, which must be the Nord ruin southeast of the Tundra. He could write the letter, leave it there, and perhaps the Thieves would send someone to retrieve it. It wouldn't matter if the letter couldn't be sent, but he feared it might be read by outsiders.
After figuring out the problem, Simon decided to make the content of his letter more cryptic.
"…The beast doesn't need to be suppressed; you only need to grow with it. Once you understand what is right and what is wrong, its power will be yours to command."
"There's no need to trouble yourself with supplies; I've already handled it."
"I'm pleased to see you progressing smoothly on your path. Enough idle talk; we shall meet again if fate allows."
There was no signature.
Simon scraped off the wax seals from Kalia's letter, melted them down, and recast them, aiming for a minimalist look. He even used the original envelope.
He planned to complete the task of exploring the surroundings while he was out.
There were only a few worthwhile places to explore in the entire Tundra region. Currently, Simon had only one place left to visit: the shipwreck ruins in the northeast.
Simon first went to the Nord ruin, placed the letter on a stone table, and weighted it down with a rock. Before leaving, he even dismantled the back door and took it with him; these were good materials that shouldn't be wasted.
Simon also noted down a miscellaneous quest.
[Misc]: Clear out all the ruins southeast of the Tundra when you have time.
Next, he would head north, aiming to finish exploring the entire Tundra today.
In the afternoon, he arrived at the muddy flats near the shipwreck ruins, observing from a distance.
This was a wooden warship that, like many vessels, had not survived the wrath of the Sea of Ghosts. However, it hadn't sunk to the bottom but had instead run aground on a series of small islands surrounded by seawater. This location wasn't far from Simon's usual route, but he had never been interested in visiting it.
The entire hull had broken into two sections, and the mast was only a few feet long. As Simon swam to the islands, he was immediately greeted enthusiastically by several bandits. On closer inspection, they were three Nords, two males and one female.
Their leader charged forward with his shield without a word, only to have Simon rip the shield from his grasp with one hand, swat away his longsword with the other, and finally strike him with a shock spell, leaving him trembling on the ground, barely clinging to life.
In reality, mages have overwhelming power against warriors.
People in games don't feel pain; they can keep fighting as long as their health bar is present. This isn't the case in reality; being hit by a spell means enduring immediate and intense pain, and the body can convulse and suffocate from the unbearable agony. Without shields and magic resistance, charging a mage is a death sentence.
Simon used shock spells to take down the remaining two archers from a distance. The following process was familiar: soul extraction, followed by conversion into Undead. Simon completed this step in the Pure Land, and the number of Human Undead now reached seven.
The shipwreck ruins held nothing special—just a half-rotted wooden ship. The remaining supplies inside were waterlogged and unusable. The three unfortunate bandits, using this ship as their base, had salvaged some goods, which were dried and neatly stacked on the ground. Simon inspected them: some shrunken leather, a stack of old steel swords, and a dozen rusted, perforated iron armors—nothing good.
Additionally, the bandits' possessions included three fur bedrolls, several wooden barrels of vegetables (tomatoes and cabbage), and four pots, one shovel, and one spoon.
Simon explored the shipwreck for a while, but there wasn't much to see. It was completely broken, stuck in the mud, with the lower deck submerged in seawater and silt. The various cabins were dilapidated, empty, and the wooden planks were moldy with fungi and moss. Some planks near the water even had barnacles, which Simon collected, intending to make a pot of seafood chowder back home.
At this point, the Tundra region was largely explored. Next, he could follow the ocean current south, entering the Eastmarch Hold, whose capital was Windhelm, a great city full of history and legends.
Simon currently had no further needs or desire for exploration. He returned to the Wolf Pack Resting Place. Now, a Dead Spirit Monitor was planted on the hillside above the stone shelter, its flames burning brightly, providing a clear view of the surrounding hundreds of miles, including the miners and even a portion of the Nord ruins. A considerable area of the towering mountains was also visible.
The Sheep Undead often gave false reports, causing Number One to spend all its days by the Dead Spirit Monitor.
Simon intended to continue building the Pure Land and practicing martial arts.
Due to his practice of the Lion's Visage Iron Head Skill, he was now essentially bald, with only a half-circle of mane left on his face. Later, he even shaved off these whiskers and hair. A fine Troll, he now bore little resemblance to others of his kind.
Aside from his slightly ugly face, long arms, three eyes, full-body tattoos, a patch of golden scalp, and bone spurs on his shoulders and the sides of his head, he was truly no different from an ordinary person…
After carefully examining his appearance, Simon sadly realized that his Troll self was now neither like a Troll nor like a human.
The Iron Head Skill was almost perfected. Simon planned to practice another martial art, the Thirteen Grand Protectors' Horizontal Training Skill. This martial art cultivated inner strength from the outside in, and currently, it only had the effect of strengthening the body.
The day was quickly passing. In the evening, Simon indeed drank seafood chowder as planned. It was a rare clear day in Rain's Hand, with stars filling the night sky. Masser and Secunda shone brightly, reflecting off each other. The Troll sat on the hillside, gazing at the sky, surrounded by an unextinguished torch and drifting ghosts.
He woke early the next day, practiced martial arts, and then continued building the Pure Land.
The salt fields were almost planned. They were less than an acre in total, with two ponds whose bottoms were paved with stones to isolate them from the ice. He would make another trip to the sea to collect some seawater, and then it would be up to the sun in the Pure Land's sky.
That was the Fire Elemental. Upon Simon's command, it projected a scorching golden light beam into the ponds, and soon, mist was rising.
The efficiency was very high!
Simon highly valued the three new Human Undead. He took time to teach them spells, and they would soon become excellent laborers.
Everything was orderly, everything was orderly. The Troll was very satisfied with his current life.
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