Monster Island: Building a Kingdom in the Endless Sea

Vio glanced at Viola, thinking to himself, "What did Viola get?" He then turned his attention back to his raft. Viola was already wearing a tattered brown cloak, holding a short iron sword in her hand.

"Vio, open your chest. There's clothing inside," Viola said, her gaze purposefully avoiding Vio's bare torso.

"Chest? Where?"

Vio's eyes landed on a chest at the rear of his raft. The raft was brown, reinforced with large nails at each corner. Its lid was made of wood, bordered with iron frames.

As he approached the chest, a blue panel suddenly appeared before him.

[ Base Storage ]

The default storage for your Base, expandable as your Base levels up. Current slots: 20, with each slot capable of holding 99 items.

Slots: 1/20

Contents: (Beginner's Chest x1)

Note:

(1) [ Base Storage ] has 20 slots. Each slot can hold up to 99 items, allowing for a total storage capacity of 1,980 items.

The storage interface looked like something straight out of a video game. Vio quickly figured out how it worked and tapped on the Beginner's Chest icon in the first slot. A description appeared:

(Beginner's Chest) A starting aid for newcomers. Use it wisely.

1. Tattered Cloak x1

2. Short Iron Sword x1

3. Basic Production Building x1

4. Basic Base Tower x1

[ Open ] [ Withdraw ]

Note:

(1) [ Open ] Opens the chest directly within the status panel. [ Withdraw ] Extracts the chest into a tangible item on the raft.

Seeing the item list, Vio didn't hesitate to select [ Open ]. In an instant, the chest opened, and its contents were transferred to four slots in the Base Storage. He inspected the first item: the short iron sword.

(Short Iron Sword - White)

Level: 1

Rarity: 3

Base Damage: 5.6

Attribute: STR + 1.26

Skill: (Direct Slash)

Durability: 100

[ Withdraw ]

"It seems this system won't make things easy," Vio thought, his eyes lingering on the sword's rarity and the word White in its name. These details hinted at the challenges ahead for growing stronger.

He examined the sword's stats further and tapped on the skill description:

(Direct Slash) Each slash deals an additional 10% damage.

Damage: 29.6

Cooldown: 10 seconds

"A basic sword," Vio muttered after checking the details. He then moved on to the next item: the tattered cloak.

(Tattered Cloak - White)

Level: 1

Rarity: 2

Armor: 4.2 (base armor of the cloak)

Attribute: RES + 0.86

Skill: (Tough Fibers)

Durability: 100

[ Withdraw ]

(Tough Fibers)

When activated, increases armor by 8%.

Armor: 19.9 (armor when the skill is activated)

Cooldown: 10 seconds

Without hesitation, Vio selected [ Withdraw ]. The brown tattered cloak appeared in his hand.

"I hope this cloak doesn't scratch my skin," he muttered as he put it on. Though it felt a bit rough, Vio didn't mind. He reopened the Base Storage panel to check the remaining two items.

(Basic Production Building)

Draw to obtain a Basic Production Building.

[ Draw ]

(Basic Base Tower)

Draw to obtain a Basic Base Tower.

[ Draw ]

Vio immediately pressed [ Draw ] for each item. A gacha-style animation played, with dazzling white light filling the panel. The results appeared soon after:

[ Successfully drew (Basic Production Building): Obtained (Flour Mill) ]

[ Successfully drew (Basic Base Tower): Obtained (Archer Tower) ]

Curious, Vio examined the details of each blueprint:

(Flour Mill) A building that processes wheat into flour.

Wheat : 0 (Insert wheat to begin processing)

Production Speed : 1 wheat/hour

Flour : 0

Durability : 100

[ Withdraw ]

(Archer Tower) A tower that attacks enemies within a 20-meter radius.

Mana Crystal Consumption: 1 Mana Crystal/100 arrows

Fire Rate: 1 arrow/2 seconds

Demage : 10

Durability: 100

[ Withdraw ]

"Useful for survival," Vio thought. The mill ensured food production, while the tower offered protection. However, his eyes lingered on the mana crystal requirement for the tower.

"Mana crystals? Those are usually dropped by monsters… but I haven't encountered anything besides the Orca earlier."

Quickly, Vio withdrew both buildings, entered construction mode, and chose spots on the raft to place them. The Flour Mill was positioned at the center of the raft, while the Archer Tower stood at the rear.

"All done," Vio muttered, surveying his now-busy raft. It was gradually filling up with items: the Base Core, Wooden Paddle, Base Storage, Flour Mill, Archer Tower, and the massive Orca floating mid-air, moving as if swimming in water.

"Vio, what's the tier of the shark beside you?"

Hearing Viola's voice, Vio turned to see a majestic white wolf standing proudly next to her.

"A wolf?" Vio exclaimed in awe. The wolf beside Viola was clearly no ordinary creature.

Returning to Viola's question, Vio grinned. "Elite tier, and by the way, that's not a shark—it's an Orca." His tone was confident, though partially teasing.

"Impossible. Be serious," Viola replied, her tone annoyed. How could an Orca only two meters long be an Elite-tier beast?

"Elite tier. Why would I lie?" Vio insisted, unwilling to reveal too much before fully understanding this world's mechanics. Staying cautious was his priority.

Vio always adhered to his motto: Loving others is natural, but loving yourself comes first.

"I got a Thunder Wolf, Rare tier," Viola admitted with a resigned tone. In her mind, Vio was secretive yet surprisingly capable.

"Rare tier? That's incredible," Vio said, feigning amazement. His reaction nearly convinced Viola.

Ignoring his expression, Viola added, "Let's be allies. My name is Selena Frostbane."

"Allies? Wait, I don't even know my own name," Vio replied, scratching his head. He remembered the notification panel might show his status.

As he thought of his status, the panel appeared as if responding to his thoughts.

[ Status Panel ]

Name: [Enter Name, cannot be changed later]

HP: 1,520.8

Attributes: STR 4.85, INT 0, SPD 2.15, RES 3.49

Armor: 6.02

Speed: 5.54

[ Beast (1/1): Orca - King of the Seas - Legendary ]

[ Market ]

[ Chat ]

Note:

(1) [ HP ] is derived from 20% of the beast's attributes.

(2) [ Attributes ] combine 20% of the beast's attributes and equipment bonuses.

(3) [ Armor, Speed ] are derived from equipment stats.

(4) Equipment Attributes: (Weapons/Gloves - STR), (Clothes/Helmets - RES), (Boots/Pants - SPD).

"Good thing there are notes," Vio thought. He was almost shocked to see his INT stat at zero. It was clear that his attributes heavily relied on his equipment and the Orca's stats.

Ignoring the basic explanations, Vio's eyes landed on the name field. "Well, at least you're more civilized than I expected," he muttered, as if addressing the system. He would never accept if his name was randomly generated as #user123 or #kolermk.

"But what name should I pick?" Vio mused, rubbing his chin. One thing was certain—he didn't want to use his real name. 

"God of Slaughter?" 

"Galaxy?" 

"Angel of Death?"

Several names crossed his mind, but he shook his head at each one. All of them felt too generic and overused

"Earth?" he muttered thoughtfully. He imagined becoming so powerful that everyone across the seas would know and worship his name. Wouldn't it be amazing if the name "Earth" echoed far and wide?

"Perfect, I'll go with Earth," Vio decided confidently. 

[Congratulations, your name has been successfully changed to "EARTH."] 

Checking the status panel again, he saw his name had indeed been updated to "Earth." His attention then shifted to the Beast feature. 

[Beast (1/1)] You can control up to 1 beast at the moment. To summon your beast, think of it in your mind. 

[1] (Ocean King Orca - Legendary) Active 

"Summon?" Vio muttered under his breath. "Can I recall this Orca?" he wondered, glancing briefly at the massive creature nearby. He tried imagining the Orca disappearing back into his body. 

"Gone," Vio murmured in amazement. The two-meter-long Orca he'd acquired earlier had vanished. 

"Good, this makes things much easier," he thought. It would have been exhausting if the Orca followed him everywhere. 

Next, Vio inspected the Market feature. 

[Market] 

Status: Basic Shop 

Slots: 0/3 

Items: - 

Storage: - 

Shop Listings: 

- Wave Strike: (Sea Coconut - Deer Meat), (Longsword - 2 Mana Crystals) 

- Strongest Dragon: (Wave Fruit - Wooden Staff), 

... 

[Sell] 

"This many already?" Vio remarked, scrolling through the Market listings. "It's only been 30 minutes since the transfer." 

After browsing the Market, Vio turned to the final feature: Chat. 

[Regional Chat] 

Region : #2709 

Status : Basic Member (1 message/hour) 

Cost : 1 (N+1 Mana Crystals) 

Friends: - 

[Search] [Write Message] 

(Bowo): All Indonesian citizens, gather now! If you see any rescue teams, follow them and cooperate. Add me as a friend first. 

...

(Antony): To all Australians, if you spot rescue teams, join them and form alliances. 

...

(Rajes): Citizens of India, unite! Together, we are unbeatable. 

...

(Doni Salman): Abigail, are you there? It's me, Doni. Please add me as a friend if you see this message. 

...

(William): Is there an American president here? I don't see many Americans around. Where should I go? 

...

(Bai Qi): Anyone with Elite beasts, join the Mighty Dragon alliance. 

...

"President Bowo is here?" Vio thought in surprise. He hadn't expected to be in the same region as President Bowo. Even the presidents of Australia and India were present. 

"They're moving fast," he mused. "And this chat system is terrible," he added with a grimace. He hadn't expected that sending messages would require Mana Crystals. In the games he usually played, messaging systems were typically free and unlimited. 

Vio searched for Viola's name using the search function. Typing in "Selena Frostbane," her name appeared on the screen. 

"Done, accept my friend request," Vio said, glancing at Viola. 

"Earth? What kind of lame name is that?" Viola teased with a playful smirk. 

"You'll understand when the time comes," Vio replied nonchalantly. He wasn't interested in prolonging the discussion—there was nothing he could prove right now. 

"Alright, you've probably seen the regional chat. What's your next plan?" Vio asked curiously. The best course of action he could think of was teaming up with Viola. Besides being classmates, her wolf was quite rare. 

Viola gave Vio a puzzled look. "Since when did this guy become so decisive?" she thought. At school, Vio always avoided offering opinions. He preferred following the group's decisions from the sidelines. 

"Are you suggesting we form an alliance?" Viola asked directly. She wasn't foolish either. Going solo in this situation was a death sentence.