Bai Yi remained calm despite being yelled at. He sensed the fluctuations of the undead in the expansive workshop and smiled at the group of respectful mages. "Thank you for your hard work. Please take a rest."
The fifty mages bowed slightly before turning to leave, their expressions filled with respect.
The City Lord's Mansion spanned one kilometer in length and five hundred meters in width. In addition to the existing underground treasure vault, a square area of five hundred meters on each side had been hollowed out to create Oshi's studio.
Thanks to magic, digging underground was not particularly difficult, but stabilizing such a vast open space presented a significant challenge. Therefore, these mages had not only excavated but also cast spells to ensure the ground of the City Lord's Mansion remained intact and did not collapse.
Once Heidinger completed the soul potion in half a month, he would also be needed to set up formations here—such as wards to prevent prying eyes, enhance defenses, and establish restricted areas within the capital.
With these thoughts in mind, Bai Yi headed toward a reception room at the entrance of the City Lord's Mansion. He began renovating the space to install item transmission devices, allowing him to send items without needing to traverse the underground passage. This would significantly enhance convenience.
Bai Yi believed that the workshop director, positioned at a mid-gold level, could not only serve him but also assist the alchemists in the Armament Department with essential preparatory work.
After installing the equipment, Bai Yi walked toward his laboratory, satisfaction blooming within him. Having a girlfriend meant he had separated his laboratory from his bedroom, although his bed remained in the lab. Sometimes, the life of an alchemist meant falling asleep immediately after a long day; crafting equipment and potions drained mental energy, leaving even legendary alchemists feeling exhausted.
After sending messages to the Quartermaster Department and the Finance Department, Bai Yi began preparations to arrange the laboratory for optimal efficiency after the move.
Of course, he didn't forget to respond to Diane's messages. Their relationship had heated up quickly; both were young and eager to reconnect after their recent separation.
Meanwhile, the war outside came to an end under the heavy snow, which gradually began to settle.
The Scarlet Kingdom had failed to breach the players' defenses. Despite sending reinforcements and strong men to attack, the relentless flow of helicopters continued to deliver troops, maintaining a delicate balance between player deaths and reinforcements.
Even when player deaths were minimal, their numbers steadily increased. The current resurrection rules dictated that the more players died, the longer their resurrection time would take.
Players from outside Dongwu City, as well as those within, continued to resurrect online. Three channels were employed to rapidly increase troop numbers across four battlefields. In this massacre, Han Buna of the Scarlet Kingdom abandoned the idea of recording and transforming the legion, opting instead to unilaterally destroy the teleportation array.
At the end of the conflict, after the players surrounded and eliminated the last monster, the mission was deemed complete. Almost all players emerged from the war with significant rewards.
Even during the cleanup, both participants and newly arrived players gathered substantial equipment. If they had enough storage space, they would have left no corpses behind.
Demacia surveyed the high viewer count in the live broadcast room and smiled genuinely. "Honestly, I've never fought such a grueling battle. Those monsters were impressive."
Barrage: [That's right, you were a kilometer away from the monsters the whole time. So tiring!]
Demacia replied confidently, "Without my command, how could we have won? I'm exhausted!"
Barrage: [Sure, you just shouted "charge forward." Your music isn't as good as other anchors, and you snatched a lot of equipment. I'm so tired.]
Demacia raised his head, somewhat defensively. "I contributed too, okay? Do you even know what the summoning system is? Maxing it out is my proudest achievement!"
With a long sigh of relief, he added, "But the war is over. Even though I didn't get the boss, I've already thought about my next live broadcast."
Demacia declared proudly, "I'm now level 25; it's time to play in the Legion Arena!"
Barrage: [You? In the Legion Arena? Xiao Mo will be terrified. Er Shu will roast you!]
Demacia frowned, feeling slightly offended. "What's wrong with netizens these days? Can't we have any fun?" He felt frustrated. "Damn, I don't know why I'm so unlucky. It's fine to draw a coward, but this broken bat is useless!"
With a dissatisfied squeak, the bat stood two meters tall, flapping its wings to appear larger. Its wingspan nearly reached three meters, looking quite intimidating.
Demacia glanced at it and said, "What? You don't accept it? Want to fight your summoner? I'll let you win with one hand!"
Squeak, squeak, squeak.
The bat's eyes were filled with fighting spirit as it flapped its wings and raised its rat-like head, looking at Demacia provocatively.
Feeling a # sign appear on his forehead, Demacia pushed aside the equipment on the ground, stood up, and got into position.
Bang bang bang.
The live broadcast room erupted in laughter as Demacia prepared to fight yet again, prompting a barrage of comments. New viewers, unfamiliar with the ongoing antics, were informed about the bat by seasoned watchers.
[Name: Two Rats.]
Race: Rat
Level: 13
Personal Attributes: Strength 10, Agility 60, Endurance 8, Intelligence 8, Spirit 30, Charm 13, Luck 18
Skills: None
Rank: Lower Bronze
Expertise: Gold Hunting: Extremely sensitive to treasures; can sense their presence from afar.
Introduction: Bats from a distant world, not harbingers of bad luck but messengers of good fortune. Wherever they are, treasures abound, though their luck often leads to misfortune.
Barrage: [6.] ×n
"Look, you lost again. Don't resist! Every time I fight with you, I feel so strong!" Demacia taunted, holding his summon down with a mix of grief and anger.
Squeak, squeak, squeak.
The lucky rat, who showed bravery towards Demacia but was timid around everyone else, remained silent for a moment.
Amid the laughter in the comments, Demacia reluctantly displayed the prompt on his panel to the audience.
"At least Xiao Mo's toxins are growing, right?"
Slurp~
As soon as he finished speaking, a massive tongue licked his robe, and another prompt sounded.
[You are attacked by your summons and become slightly poisoned, losing 1% of your health per second.]
He watched as the Piranha Plant desperately attempted to bite his shoulder, but its size proved too cumbersome.
Glancing back at the lucky rat, who was only brave toward himself but timid toward others, Demacia felt the weight of the moment.
As the barrage flooded with laughter and questions, he selectively addressed inquiries after the effects of Demacia's antics had settled.
"When will Xiao Mo evolve?"
"This isn't Pokémon! It's called growing up. This thing is already a teenager. Just feed it for a few more months, and it'll be almost there. Oh, it's all tears. Without those temporary summoning skills, this profession is practically useless."
"Should we set up a stall next?"
"70% of the players in Dongwu City participated in this war. Everyone has enough equipment, so of course they'll sell it to NPCs. They're very willing to accept it."
"Gold coins? Oh no, I have to feed these two. I'm genuinely worried they'll starve to death if I run out of money."
Boo-boo-boo.
"Uh, I wasn't talking about you, Xiao Mo. Don't cry; that big bat is your friend. Don't be scared."
As the chat continued, the popularity of the live broadcast began to wane. Noticing several other streams closing, Demacia smiled and remarked, "Very good, these two are hungry again. See you next time; I need to go buy food."
With that, he turned off the broadcast and unsummoned Xiao Mo. It still couldn't handle strangers, so to avoid frightening it, he decided to return it to the Wood Spirit Realm.
As he packed up, a private message from Dudu lit up. It was from his friend Higanbana, the operations master who had tracked down Night Rose with him during the internal testing phase.
Higanbana Blooms: [I heard you and Bai Yi have a high affinity?]
Demacia: [Of course! I'm not bragging. Among all the players, except for that guy in the Guards, I have the highest favorability.]
Higanbana Blooms: [Picture.]
[Name: Mysterious Invitation.]
Attribute: Special mission
Mission Description: A special force activates the mysterious town, reviving the mysteries within. The memory of the dead evil people has exposed its location to Dongwu City.
The weird will invade Dongwu City in the future. Please go to the mysterious town to prevent this disaster from occurring.
Mission Difficulty: Hell
Mission Rewards: Attribute points +10, Skill points +10, Special profession × 1, Gold coins +300
Failure Penalty: None
Introduction: Mystery, darkness, monsters under conflicting rules—perhaps you have been targeted?
Demacia: [What the hell? When did this happen? Have you informed the guards?]
Higanbana Blooms: [The guard is busy and hasn't replied yet.]
Demacia: [Uh, why did you tell Bai Yi? This is obviously a dungeon, right? Why not go check it out first?]
Higanbana Blooms: [Picture, picture, picture.]
[You entered the special copy of the mysterious town and died.]
[You entered the special copy of the mysterious town and died.]
[You enter.]
[Level of blooming of the other shore flower: 10.]
Demacia: [I died twelve times, but don't panic. This game allows you to inform NPCs about everything, and using their power is indeed effective, but we can't rely on them entirely, right?]
[Wait for me to find someone to go with you. I don't believe a group of high-level players can't conquer a dungeon.]
Higanbana Blooms: [Resurrection time: 11 hours and 56 minutes.]
Demacia: [Hold on, I'll find the guards right away! Brother Huakai, please trust me this once!]
Higanbana Blooms: [Hurry up.]
Demacia: [Oh, don't panic; I'll be there soon.]
Excitement filled his eyes as he gathered his belongings and shouted, "Second Rat! Second Uncle! Oh my god, I should have known better than to give it that name!"
He grunted and waited for the big bat to fly over before mounting it and soaring toward the Guard Brigade.
This time, players had to tackle the dungeon first. If they couldn't defeat it, then the NPCs would have to join the fray!
While Demacia was engaged in discussion, the Legion had already commenced cleanup operations on the battlefield. The reasoning was simple: if corpses remained piled up for too long, plagues would ensue.
Players could not sell unprocessed corpses as materials, leading to an overflow of biological materials in Dongwu City.
Most of these would flow into the Armament Department, where many components for flesh and blood transformations could be derived from them. Corpses could also be repurposed into various medicines.
It was fortunate that many players lacked storage space; otherwise, they would have taken everything.
As December came to a close, the month was marked by both tranquility and tension. Traces of the Ancient God Kingdom's activities had been discovered in the four major border towns and numerous secondary locations.
The entire Federation sprang into action, with all cities preparing for war, and the players' military merit system was nearly ready amid this tense atmosphere.
Dongwu City would go online first, triggering a network-wide mobilization of player forces.
In the four border towns, player numbers swelled to 700,000 within a month, with Dongwu City boasting the highest count at 800,000.
Including players, Dongwu City's population had nearly reached six million—an astonishing figure, especially considering the capital held only four million.
Dongwu City had become the largest city.
Simultaneously, the 20,000 transformed soldiers of the Transformation Legion had completed their transformations, and the Mechanical Legion's ranks had swelled to 8,000.
With a growing population came a rise in alchemists, which would greatly benefit the city's development.
After a month-long absence, Treasurer Sabo finally returned to Tobu Castle, announcing that it could accommodate as many people as needed. The number of schools in Tobu City was on the rise, and Sabo had effectively established it as his own city.
Various buildings underwent renovations, and new technologies flowed into the Armament Department. Nearly a thousand alchemists and numerous apprentices contributed to the burgeoning prosperity of Dongwu City's inner city.
Finally, Bai Yi completed the last exoskeleton device.
[You have created an exoskeleton mechanical device. Experience points +480, Additional Experience points +480.]
[You have upgraded to level 57.]
[You have created an exoskeleton mechanical device. Experience +450, Additional Experience +450.]
[You have upgraded to level 58.]
After glancing at the panel, Bai Yi emerged from his focused state and casually checked the player forum, momentarily stunned.
Could it be the mysterious town?