Malphegor
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MoP: Ch. 32
🕑 Added 2025-01-18 23:16:46 +0000 UTC---Logan's POV---
I sighed and patted ProGamer_Daddy on the shoulder.
"Take another careful look at the task description."
He opened the game panel and read the task description aloud.
"Construct a temporary residence for the lord that satisfies him?"
"The key lies in the word satisfies," I explained.
I pulled out the map of Honeyvale Town given to us by Edgar. More specifically, it was the reconstruction map of the town.
"See? The houses for the two NPCs are not only assigned to specific areas, but their exact dimensions are also specified. If we want to submit the task, at the very least, we have to fully build out the designated areas!"
The scope of the project was far beyond building a small cabin for one person.
ProGamer_Daddy's jaw dropped. Each task area was huge, like a whole apartment complex squeezed into one space.
"You've got to be kidding me. Even temporary residences are this picky?"
"Well, how else could building a house earn 3,000 experience points?" I shrugged helplessly.
And constructing the houses didn't even include gathering the raw materials.
If we could complete these two tasks, each of us would level up at least twice!
Garble stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"Not that picky, honestly. To prepare for the task, I specifically asked them about their requirements."
"Viktor is injured and spends most of his time near the church. His house mainly needs to serve as a venue for hosting guests."
"Edgar wants to regain his strength, so he needs a big enough training area. As for his residence, a single-person wooden hut will do, but he'll need a fence around it."
I smacked my palm in realization.
"You can directly ask NPCs about their needs? Why didn't I think of that?"
I was too used to games where NPC requirements were always spelled out in the task panel. This level of intelligence in Chronicles of Aeltia completely slipped my mind.
"Garble, are you an immersive player?"
"Sort of... halfway," he replied after a moment. "I used to enjoy action-packed combat, but now I want to take my time and savor things."
ProGamer_Daddy frowned as he counted the wood we had brought back.
"Even with the requirements clarified, we're still short on wood."
A guest-worthy residence for the lord and a fully enclosed fence for the training ground required a significant amount of lumber.
And freshly cut wood couldn't be used right away.
I sighed helplessly. "So, all we can do is push ourselves harder and do as much as we can."
To avoid being stuck on long-term tasks, we had been relying on small daily rewards for extra experience these past few days.
We decided to clean up the task areas in advance to earn some quick rewards from daily tasks.
And so, another busy afternoon passed.
The two task areas near the church were cleaned up thoroughly.
The weeds and debris we cleared were piled into a towering two-meter-tall garbage heap.
Edgar was quite satisfied with the results of our hard work. He generously handed out our task rewards, including tangible magicoins.
Earlier at noon, when we rushed to eat, we exchanged our task progress just for some sweetfruits, so we didn't get to see the magicoins.
Now, I watched as Garble held up a brownish-yellow skeletal coin with a face value of 100 and squinted at the setting sun through it.
No matter the angle, the coin's surface reflected a fractured chain symbol.
I walked over and chuckled.
"Still staring at it? That's all our wealth right there—don't lose it!"
Magicoins were even harder to earn than experience.
Some tasks required completing multiple steps just to earn a single magicoins.
For tasks like chopping wood, the ratio was five experience points to one magicoins.
After a full day of chopping trees, pulling weeds, and collecting garbage, we had barely managed to earn 100 coins.
Since the only items available for purchase in the game right now were food and clothing, we didn't have immediate use for them.
So, we exchanged the small coins with Edgar for a lighter 100-value coin, which one person carried for safekeeping.
I watched as Garble carefully stashed the coin away.
"I just think it's amazing that the in-game currency has an anti-counterfeiting system," he commented.
My expression turned thoughtful. "You're right. Does that mean we could theoretically make counterfeit coins that NPCs wouldn't notice?"
Uh-oh.
This game was too free and dangerously tempting!
I tossed a sweetfruit over to Garble. "Let's talk about that later—time to eat!"
He caught the fruit with ease, sighed, and remarked as he looked at it.
"More eating… and I'll have to eat again after logging off later."
"Why are you and ProGamer_Daddy both complaining about sweetfruit now?" I laughed.
I, on the other hand, was quite satisfied with this food, which took just a few bites to eliminate hunger.
It was practically a godsend for people like me who didn't enjoy cooking or eating.
I looked around and asked curiously.
"By the way, where's ProGamer_Daddy? Is he hiding because he doesn't want to eat?"
"He thinks our tree-chopping efficiency is too low and wants to build a chainsaw," Garble replied.
Although the Thornleaf Blade was versatile, it was far from specialized. If we could create a chainsaw, our efficiency would increase four or five times.
"Now? Isn't the timing a bit tight?" I frowned.
Our technology level was still primitive.
Creating an industrial-era chainsaw out of the blue in six days was impossible and would only delay our current tasks.
Garble thought for a moment. "He said he didn't need a motor. A hand-cranked chainsaw would still be faster than chopping with Thornleaf Blades. And the required materials are simple. He plans to use his meal breaks and downtime to get it done."
My jaw dropped in surprise.
"A chainsaw without a motor? Only he could come up with that!"
Still, if we could pull it off, the benefits would be huge.
"Where is he? I'll go help him!" I offered eagerly.
"No idea. He said he wasn't sure what materials he needed, so he just went wandering," Garble replied, biting into his sweetfruit.
He then shared ProGamer_Daddy's earlier theory with me.
The hardness of Thornleaf Blade was excellent, so ProGamer_Daddy planned to process it into interchangeable cutting blades for the chainsaw.
The only thing missing was gears and chains. Ideally, they'd make these parts out of iron or alloy, but without the means to do so, they had to look for suitable plant substitutes.
I felt a wave of exasperation. "So it's still just a theory?"
All that excitement for nothing!
Garble shrugged. "If we could find an iron deposit, I could smelt some, but that's a big if."
Just then, we heard ProGamer_Daddy shouting from a distance.
"Hey! Look what I found!"
I looked up to see him running toward us, his head covered in tangled green vines, looking like a green-haired ghost.
The sight nearly made me choke on my sweetfruit.
"Who's there, you demon spirit?!"
Garble pulled the dark green vines off ProGamer_Daddy's head and asked curiously, "Aren't these the vines I used earlier to haul logs? Can they really be used as chainsaw chains?"
I had to admit the tenacity of the vine was impressive.
No wonder he had used it as a rope, left it at the edge of the town, and planned to use it again tomorrow.
But surely, the functionality of a chain couldn't be replaced by a vine, right?
"Did you drop this? That's fantastic!" ProGamer_Daddy's face lit up with joy. "Garble, do you remember where you found this vine?"
I couldn't help but interject, my expression a mix of disbelief and amusement.
"Wait a minute. Are you really planning to use this... as a biological chainsaw?"
"Hmm? A biological chainsaw?"
It took him two seconds to grasp the meaning, and he decisively shook his head.
"Chains need to pair with gears. Where would you find mechanical parts growing out of the ground? What I found is something else entirely!"
"What do you mean by something else?" I asked, but he was already buried head-first in the pile of vines, rummaging around.
It took a while, but finally, dripping with sweat, he found his target—its roots.
"Now this," he said triumphantly, holding up a particularly thick section, "is what I'm talking about!"
A vine tough enough to withstand the friction of hundreds of pounds naturally had an impressive root system.
Garble didn't bother dealing with it. He simply took a section of the vine root and left, with some dirt still clinging to it.
It was this bit of dirt, carried by him as he wandered around the edge of the town, that ProGamer_Daddy regarded as a treasure.
"What do you all see?" ProGamer_Daddy held up the root expectantly.
Garble leaned in to inspect the vine's root system. He was the one who had found it.
"If there was something special about it," he mused aloud, "I should have noticed by now, right?"
After a moment of scrutiny, he tentatively ventured, "It's... greener than an average vine?"
I tested the hardness of the dirt. "It's really as hard as stone. No wonder it stayed stuck to the root and didn't fall off. I bet it wasn't easy for you to cut it off."
"Wrong! Completely wrong!" ProGamer_Daddy wore an expression of pained disappointment. "You've only seen the surface, not the essence!"
"The essence?" I raised an eyebrow. "What essence?"
He held the vine root up to the sunset. The root immediately reflected a faint metallic sheen.
"Watch carefully," he instructed, turning it slowly. "Metallic luster, dense and solid soil, and tiny metal particles within..."
He sniffed and exhaled with admiration.
"This is the scent of iron ore!"
"Iron ore?!" Garble and I spoke in unison.
"No way," Garble said, breaking off a chunk of dirt attached to the root and sniffing it. His eyes widened. "Holy... it really does smell metallic!"
ProGamer_Daddy smirked proudly. "Right? The place where you found this vine—wasn't the vegetation there incredibly lush?"
"Now that you mention it..." Garble nodded firmly, scratching his chin. "It was unusually thick compared to the rest of the area."
Though the vegetation in the Great Oak Forest was already abundant, the area around Honeyvale Town, now an abandoned settlement, had only begun to sprout wild grass in recent years.
"That's it! The higher mineral content near iron ore can sometimes promote vegetation growth!"
I stared at ProGamer_Daddy in shock, seeing him in a new light. "What the heck! You know how to identify ore veins? What other surprises are you hiding?"
"Hehe!" He scratched his head shyly. "I did a bit of research online last night."
"Research?" I pressed.
"Well," he explained, "I've tinkered with similar things before, but making a chainsaw isn't something you just wing, you know? Had to look up how to find iron ore and smelt it first."
"And you actually found some?" I couldn't hide my amazement. "Talk about beginner's luck!"
Garble's expression suddenly turned serious. "Hold on a second, though. About that location..."
"What's wrong?" ProGamer_Daddy asked.
"I still remember where I found the vine. It's near the river, though a bit far from town, and the area might not be safe," Garble explained, his voice growing concerned.
"How far are we talking about?" I asked.
"Remember that worm we ran into?" Garble grimaced. "Even further than that."
"You went that far alone?" ProGamer_Daddy gasped. "That's incredibly dangerous!"
"I know, I know," Garble raised his hands defensively. "I only went because the vine was so long. Pure luck nothing happened."
"But if we're going to mine iron ore..." I trailed off.
"The noise would attract everything within miles," Garble finished my thought. "And we barely escaped one worm last time."
"Also, smelting iron requires a container that can withstand high temperatures," I added, trying to be practical.
"Huh? I thought we could start mining right away!" ProGamer_Daddy looked disappointed, slumping halfway. "At this rate, how many years until I get my chainsaw?"
My eyes suddenly lit up with an idea. "Wait... we can't mine it ourselves, but someone else can!"
"You mean..." He caught on, his enthusiasm returning. "Viktor and the others?"
"Exactly!" Garble nodded vigorously. "If our faction suddenly gains a new resource, the faction leader needs to know about it!"
As if summoned by our conversation, Viktor and Luminaris, appeared in the distance.
"Talk about perfect timing!" I whispered excitedly.
"Lord Viktor—!" The three of us shouted and rushed over, bombarding him and the light orb with a flurry of excited words.
---Viktor's POV---
My mind was spinning from the three players' cacophony.
"One at a time!" I commanded, raising a hand for silence. "Start from the beginning."
After much effort, I managed to extract the key information from their chatter.
"You're saying... you discovered an iron ore vein near Honeyvale?!"
I didn't have ears as an undead, so it wasn't like I misheard.
"Are you absolutely certain?"
How could there be an iron ore vein near the town?
Though abandoned now, it had once been a bustling settlement.
If there really was iron ore, it couldn't have gone undiscovered. The mineral veins in Aeltia weren't ordinary; they often held treasures.
What's more, there was a mana node nearby!
This was too significant to ignore. Without hesitation, I ordered, "Show me the location!"
At the same time, I instructed Luminaris to call Edgar over.
If the area was too dangerous, we'd need a reliable fighter.
Edgar arrived swiftly upon hearing about the potential iron ore discovery.
Our group followed the river near the town, marching toward the spot.
Within a kilometer of Honeyvale Town, my array kept the area secure.
Garble led us to the place, right at the edge of the protective array.
Just thirty steps forward, and we would enter a hunting zone for magical creatures. This area was also close to the unpredictable Duskwind River.
The fact that he had safely wandered there without incident was pure luck.
The destination he pointed out had vegetation so thick it resembled a natural green fortress of vines and plants.
I glanced at the sediment-stained riverbank not far away.
Taking out a black magic wand, I inserted it into the moist riverbed. The wand's surface glimmered faintly with gold.
After five seconds, I pulled it out. The wand's base had grown noticeably thicker, coated in black particles.
Edgar asked, "What's that?"
"Iron sand." I examined the nearby vegetation. "It's confirmed, there's an iron ore vein here!"
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