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MoP: Ch. 83
🕑 Added 2025-03-20 18:21:11 +0000 UTC---Third POV---
[Main Quest Update.]
The attack plan has been divided into several smaller missions:
[Main Quest 1: There's a Shortcut Here!
The dangers in the Great Oak Forest go far beyond goblins. We can't afford to waste too much time on the way to support the battlefield.
Right now, a teleportation array can solve many of our problems.
Lord Viktor happens to have the materials needed to create a teleportation array and has already done the initial preparations.
What we urgently need now is someone to transport these materials near the goblin nest, arrange them according to the blueprint, and infuse them with magic to create a brand-new teleportation array!]
[Main Quest 2: Defend the Gate of Teleportation!
There's only one set of teleportation array materials. To ensure the teleportation array can operate safely and continuously, we must set up defensive facilities around it and establish a support point nearby.]
[Main Quest 3: …]
---
The series of tasks included logistics, guerrilla tactics, poison attacks, and other plans—all thoughtfully considered. Among them, establishing the teleportation array was undoubtedly the highest priority.
The goblins had just suffered heavy losses, and it was nighttime, making it the perfect time to secretly set up the teleportation array.
NeverShowOff discussed with the others and unanimously decided to take on Task 1.
Players were quick to decide, and Viktor handed over the materials decisively.
This simplified teleportation array had already been 90% processed by Viktor. All that was left to do was follow the blueprint and set it up. If even this couldn't be completed, they'd just have to accept being ridiculed by other players.
After packing up the materials, NeverShowOff didn't rush to set out. Instead, he gave a meaningful glance.
"Uh… Lord…"
"You want explosives?" Viktor understood instantly.
Players really couldn't resist stirring up trouble no matter what. He couldn't afford for their antics to drop the daily online count below 20!
Despite these thoughts, Viktor still handed out five bombs that ProGamer_Daddy had just delivered today.
As long as the players could achieve a kill ratio of 1:2 or 1:3, it wouldn't be a total loss even if they died. Plus, it was a good opportunity to test the power of the new explosives.
The players, afraid he would change his mind, set out immediately after receiving the bombs.
"Remember to protect the teleportation array!" Viktor reminded them as they departed.
The players shouted back from a distance:
"Don't worry!"
"We'll build it in a place no one will ever find!"
---
As dawn broke, three bursts of firelight lit up near the goblin nest.
An ancient ruin let out a mournful groan in the explosion before collapsing with a thunderous crash. Nearly one-third of the outer circular ruin was destroyed.
The teleportation array, set up beside the church, emitted a bright white light.
A charred figure carrying two equally burnt bodies stumbled out of the array and fell to the ground.
"Cough, cough, why does this thing consume so much magic?"
Hedgehog struggled to climb up from the array, his vision blurred from magic depletion.
Fortunately, the corpses were obvious enough targets. He picked up the two blackened lumps and vaguely identified the church's direction, running for his life.
"Make way, make way! This is a matter of life and death!"
Any slower, and there would be three corpses on the ground.
He dashed past, looking like a piece of overcooked meat with a burnt shadow trailing behind and a strong smell of scorched flesh.
The scene startled a new player who had just logged in.
"What the heck, a ghost!"
After dragging the lucky corpses back to the array to convert them into resurrection materials, Hedgehog himself peacefully lay on a mortuary slab.
With the help of other players, he also became resurrection material and went back to spectating on the forums.
"Finally free from magic depletion!"
At the last moment before being boxed up, he sighed in relief. The state of blurred vision, sluggish movements, and mild but unshakable itching and pain was finally over.
Outside the Flesh Rebirth array, GameLord420 blinked in confusion.
"Do all you veteran players behave like this?"
Dying just to bring your own corpse back to convert into materials? Wouldn't she often see all sorts of bodies in the church from now on?
Terrifying.
"Actually… this just started happening in the last few days."
MemeKnight closed the coffin lid with a complicated expression.
Hearing the "sizzling" sound of flesh dissolving inside, he led his girlfriend away. Considering that situations like this self-sacrificing behavior would become more frequent, he began to explain as they walked:
"The church has too many functions. Other than learning new skills, it's better to avoid hanging around here. I took on a big quest recently, so I can't guide newbies. Be careful and remember the leveling guide, okay?"
He gave his girlfriend a concerned look.
"Yes, you've said it a dozen times already!"
GameLord420 curiously observed everything along the way.
Although she had spent an entire day exploring after gaining access yesterday, how could anyone get tired of such a super-realistic game with a touch of fantasy in just one day?
"Oh, right!" She suddenly remembered. "Isn't the logout point in the church?"
"The game recently added a player apartment. It's 10 magicoins a day or 200 for a month. Just stay there."
The player logout point in the church had undergone significant changes over the past few days.
What used to be a communal sleeping area had been replaced with neatly arranged coffin-like boxes, separated by gender.
Currently, there were so few female players in the game that you could count them on one hand, leaving the logout point spacious.
MemeKnight hadn't mentioned this yesterday.
But considering the upcoming battles, the church would likely be covered in a bloody scent for a long time.
It was better to move out.
"I happen to have a one-month residency voucher. You can take it and find one of the players working at the apartment."
"Wow!"
GameLord420 rested her chin in her hands, her eyes filled with admiration.
She was about to say something when her expression turned puzzled.
"You only started two days before me. How do you have so much in-game money?"
She had mined for half a day yesterday and only earned 40 magicoins. Half of it was gone because she couldn't resist buying a player-made potato snack.
MemeKnight had been with her the whole time and wasn't much more efficient.
Even after four in-game days, he shouldn't have accumulated 150 magicoins!
"Hehe!" MemeKnight gave a mysterious smile. "Don't underestimate your boyfriend's finances! This residency voucher was a game reward. It didn't cost me a dime!"
He proudly displayed his game interface.
"Look! Two thousand magicoins!"
GameLord420's eyes widened even further.
"You're cheating?"
That kind of money could buy land in the game!
MemeKnight's face darkened.
"Can't you think better of me?"
He hadn't told her earlier that he discovered the limited-sale potatoes in the game store. He just wanted to bask in his online crush's admiration.
Why wasn't this playing out as he'd imagined?
Though after explaining, he still received the praise he had been hoping for.
---
As they chatted, they finally found Viktor at ProGamer_Daddy's weapons factory.
"Lord!" MemeKnight waved and shouted from afar.
"Before Hedgehog died, he asked me to pass along a message to you!"
---Viktor's POV---
I was already accustomed to players joking around anytime and anywhere, so I asked with a straight face, "What are you talking about?"
"The new bombs have problems!" After stopping, MemeKnight repeated Hedgehog's words verbatim.
They had brought five bombs, but only three exploded. One failed to detonate entirely. Another had a longer reaction time than expected, giving the goblins an opportunity to seize and destroy it.
To be honest, as I listened, I couldn't imagine how a bomb about to explode could be destroyed.
But it was clear that against primitive goblins, explosives weren't a perfect solution.
I rested my chin in thought.
The first batch of players who conducted a night raid had succeeded and specifically posted a strategy guide on the forum.
NeverShowOff was also a seasoned gaming blogger. This should rule out the possibility that the mission's failure was just an excuse to shift blame.
With this in mind, I turned my attention to the player next to me, ProGamer_Daddy.
He shrugged helplessly. "What can I do? Under these conditions, we're lucky the gunpowder works at all. Delayed explosions or premature ones aren't a big deal. An 80% success rate is already very high!"
MemeKnight chimed in as a reminder, "That last dud might not even have been a bomb."
"In my heart, it already exploded!" ProGamer_Daddy's expression was serious and resolute.
"..."
I massaged my temples, feeling a headache coming on.
"Alright, we'll need to address the bomb success rate."
Now our demand for gunpowder had increased significantly.
"I'll rearrange the manpower later. The offensive will pause for now. Let's prioritize mass-producing more explosives."
Without explosives, players couldn't gain much ground against the goblins in close combat.
ProGamer_Daddy's face lit up with excitement. "There's such a great opportunity?"
He had been worried about the dwindling number of players willing to work for him!
I nodded. "Given the wartime circumstances, I'll issue an additional bonus for all employees."
A bonus that wouldn't cost ProGamer_Daddy a dime, of course. With the promise of extra pay, players would naturally flock to take on missions.
Besides this, I also needed to transport another batch of ore from the two mines we'd previously discovered.
The crude extraction process meant a high material loss rate. The consumption of raw materials was alarmingly fast. At this point, a pile of ore residue was nearly forming a mountain south of Honeyvale Town!
After confirming there were no other immediate issues to address, I turned to the two players who had delivered the report.
"Thank you for providing the information. As for your reward…"
I glanced at them expressionlessly. Players these days were getting increasingly blatant about grinding for rewards. Even a simple task like delivering a message required two people to do it.
Did I have "rich and gullible" written on my forehead?
Considering how hard it would be to carve such words into my skull, I dismissed the thought and divided the standard courier task reward between the two players.
"Here are your rewards. Please accept them."
Since the rewards were just virtual currencies like experience points and magicoins that didn't require immediate exchange, I only needed to tweak some code to distribute them.
After receiving their rewards, MemeKnight noticed that they differed slightly from what the forum guide suggested.
Realizing his little scheme had been exposed, he quickly dragged GameLord420 away with him.
Once everything was settled, I returned to my usual sunbathing spot beside the church. I planned to use the magic nodes there to quickly recharge myself.
After replenishing about 80% of my depleted magic, I would head out to transport sulfur ore.
However, it wasn't long before Alyanne approached me, her face full of worry.
"Something terrible has happened! The three captives we rescued earlier are trying to commit suicide!"
"Captives?" I sat up in my recliner and thought for a moment before recalling.
Oh—
She meant the three girls the players had brought back from the goblin nest two days ago. Due to the expansion of monsters' territory on the Aeltia continent, the lands of various races had shrunk.
Inevitably, some unlucky individuals were abandoned in monster-occupied territories, kept as food reserves.
To justify their reluctance to send troops for rescues, the upper echelons coined a euphemism: "the lost."
The places where gods couldn't see were called the "Lost Lands."
The "lost" were those abandoned by the gods. Those forsaken by the gods were destined to die in the mouths of monsters, requiring no rescue.
As for "the fallen," they were a subset of the lost.
Specifically, it referred to women who fell into the hands of goblins.
My brows furrowed.
"Didn't I say to keep them away from anything sharp?"
"They haven't touched anything sharp. I even removed the pits from their fruit, but now they're refusing to eat!"
Alyanne clenched her hands tightly, her face full of worry.
"I've tried everything, but except for the first night when their food intake decreased slightly, they haven't eaten anything since!"
That meant they'd been fasting for nearly two days.
This was no small issue.
I immediately folded up my recliner, my expression serious.
"Take me to them!"
---
The room where the three girls were housed was located next to the mission point. Since there were no barriers set up, I arrived just in time to see a few players peeking through the window, eagerly watching.
Their enthusiasm was such that one might mistake them for visitors admiring rare animals.
"Wow—are these the NPCs the old players brought back?"
"They look so young. Are they minors?"
"I doubt they're even 16."
"Look at the scars on their bodies… Goblins are such beasts!"
"No wonder NeverShowOff could lure a big goblin with just a decoy doll. They're truly lustful!"
"It's so tragic…"
I stopped not far away, my expression complicated.
I was once again grateful I hadn't enabled a language translation feature for the players.
If the captives could understand these comments, it would feel like a dagger to their hearts.
"Ahem!" I cleared my throat heavily.
The players peering through the windows turned around in unison and quickly dispersed.
"Run, it's Viktor!"
"He's gonna accuse us of harassing the NPCs again!"
"I don't want to be fined!"
The area instantly fell silent.
Alyanne looked on with admiration. "They really listen to you."
My expression turned indescribable.
"… That's why I say, language barriers can be a good thing."
I casually changed the topic. "Let's go check on them."
Creak—
The wooden door opened and closed again. For a brief moment, sunlight filled every dark corner of the room.
The three girls glanced toward the door before lapsing back into silence.
After entering, I didn't rush to take action. Instead, I surveyed the room's layout. Because it was connected to the mission point, the room was quite spacious.
It could easily accommodate ten people, let alone three.
But the girls had each withdrawn into a corner, leaving the center of the room completely empty.
The only furnishings were blankets, pillows, and mattresses Alyanne had prepared. Yet they were all piled in the center of the room, showing no signs of use.
"Looks like they have severe psychological issues…" I murmured to myself.
Comments
lohan seibert raimundo
Obrigado pelo capítulo
