Chapter 28: Hardcore

The Iron Black Pot extended his hand and rhythmically patted Wangzai Little Buns on the shoulder, "Since you can’t change it, you need to work harder. You can work harder at bricklaying and outperform others.""Who knows, you might just catch Mage Fang Ka’s eye and boost your favorability a bit? And if you put in twice as much effort as other players, won’t you be able to make up for lost time?"

Wangzai Little Buns glanced at a spot not far away.

A player laid bricks and spread mortar in one swift motion. His arm moved again, leaving behind an afterimage, and before you knew it, another brick was already in place...

"I feel like I’m about to get overwhelmed," Wangzai Little Buns said, despairing.

The Iron Black Pot tilted his head to the side, "Oh? Is Mage Fang Ka coming over?"

In an instant, Wangzai Little Buns’ arm also left an afterimage, quickly laying down a brick. Read full story at novel•fire.net

Simultaneously, his gaze followed the Iron Black Pot’s line of sight, but he didn’t see Fang Ka. "Hey? Where’s Mage Fang Ka? Iron Black Pot, why did you trick me?"

The Iron Black Pot shrugged, "See, isn’t this good? Just work hard, don’t overthink it. The more negative points you get, the less reward you’ll earn. If Mage Fang Ka sees it, who knows, your favorability might drop again."

"Have you forgotten what happened last time when your favorability went down? You had to put in three times as much effort as others just to get the same rewards."

"And that was a special situation where your favorability was raised again. What if it’s harder to increase favorability next time?"

Hearing the Iron Black Pot’s words, Wangzai Little Buns finally snapped back to reality and started competing with other players.

At this time, Fang Ka was sitting cross-legged on the bed on the first floor of the Ancient Castle, attempting to break through the advancement level of a Mage Apprentice.

Through his efforts during this period, his Spiritual Power and Magic Power had already reached the entry-level limit of a Mage Apprentice, and now he could attempt a breakthrough.

Once he breaks through to the advancement level, his Magic Power and Spiritual Power will undergo a small qualitative change.

He could then recruit more players, harvest more potential from the newcomers.

Accompanied by a buzz of Magic Power, Fang Ka slowly opened his eyes.

After carefully sensing, he roughly concluded.

With his current Spiritual Power, he could bring in 35 more players.

In other words, his present Spiritual Power could accommodate Soul Master-Servant Contracts for 60 Undead Skeletons.

"Not bad, now I can proceed with a major update."

Fang Ka pondered for a while, then began to walk outside.

First, he went to check near the Divine Hall.

He found that it looked like the players had finished firing the bricks and were busy building the Divine Hall, completely ignoring the Ancient Castle side.

He nodded in satisfaction, then headed back to the Ancient Castle.

He needed to haul out thirty-five corpses from the underground chamber to transform them into Undead Skeletons—something he didn’t want the players to detect.

Now that these players were clearly too busy, not likely to rush towards the Ancient Castle, he could rest assured.

All the way back to the Ancient Castle, he entered the underground chamber through a hidden entrance beside the castle and dragged the corpses out one by one.

After dragging out thirty-five bodies, Fang Ka closed the entrance again and began casting magic to transform these corpses into Undead Skeletons.

Soon, thirty-five brand new Undead Skeletons stood before him.

Fang Ka sent out a new announcement he’d already sketched out.

"In this major update without server downtime, we have refined the biological chain system, launched the mineral system, opened the weapon system, pre-opened the weapon enchantment system, and expanded beta test slots to 60 people."

In fact, Fang Ka himself didn’t know if there were any minerals on the island or what kind of minerals there might be.

He wrote about the mineral system in the announcement to stimulate the players’ initiative, energizing them to explore for minerals.

To thoroughly investigate if there really were mineral resources on this island.

If there are, that would be ideal; the players could engage in mining and smelting.

If there are iron ores, all the better, players could eventually smelt their own steel.

Then Fang Ka could choose to make public the crafting methods for Morsun Steel and Galan Steel, letting them forge their own weapons, charging a fee for enchanting them.

Furthermore, he could issue tasks for players to forge Morsun Steel or Galan Steel weapons.

Or directly buy up the Morsun Steel and Galan Steel weapons made by players, collect these weapons at a low price, enchant them, and sell them as enchanted weapons at a high price—a classic low-buy, high-sell strategy...

Of course, this scenario will depend on the players’ actual economic conditions in the future; he needs to maintain a certain balance.

As a qualified schemer, he must masterfully maintain the balance.

He couldn’t let the players’ economy fall too low, hindering their development over the long term, but neither should the economy exceed the provision of resources.

These are all part of Fang Ka’s plan.

Of course, if there aren’t any minerals, it doesn’t actually matter.

Anyway, these players are currently only active on this island, and to them, perhaps this island is just a Newbie Village.

Isn’t it normal for a Newbie Village to lack mineral resources?

Just draw a big pancake for them, let them anticipate the opening of the next map, they are easy to please anyway.

Soon, the players building the Divine Hall saw the announcement pop-up.

These players, after reading the announcement, couldn’t help feeling a bit surprised.

Grandpa Qian of Bone-Touching looked at Mr. Zhou beside him and then asked, "My goodness, if this game doesn’t update it’s fine, but when it does, it really gives you a fright."

"They opened up so many slots, more players this time than all the players combined now."

"And this mineral system, Xiao Zhou, what do you think it’s all about?"

Mr. Zhou showed a thoughtful expression and contemplated for a while before raising his head to speak, "Mr. Qian, you should know, right? The game introduction says it’s focused on realism!"

"And since we’ve entered the game, we’ve noticed that all aspects of the game are sliding toward realism."

"Though it might be a bit grindy, it’s genuinely fun!"

"If I’m not mistaken, then this so-called mineral system and weapon system is likely realistic as well."

"Look at what we’re doing now."

Hearing Mr. Zhou’s words, Grandpa Qian of Bone-Touching instinctively replied, "We’re building a house, aren’t we? That’s a rhetorical question, isn’t it?"

Mr. Zhou reached out, patted Grandpa Qian’s shoulder, and then said meaningfully, "The game opened the building system, so we’re building houses."

"Moreover, if my guess is correct, all the buildings on this desolate island will have to be completely constructed by us players."

"In which case, the mineral system and weapon system are likely the same," he said.

Grandpa Qian of Bone-Touching couldn’t help but be slightly surprised, "Wow, is it really that hardcore?"