Chapter 74.2: Spineless Players
On Earth, it was October 27, a Sunday, half past midnight.
In-game, at Desolate Outpost, it was night as well. However, unlike the oppressive atmosphere of Exile Town, there were no sudden ambushes by hostile monsters, and one could hear the noises of activity from NPCs within the various tents.
As Blossoming Strokes' team stepped off the teleportation point, they noticed Unceasing Entropy's small team gathered near the zombie general's tent, accepting a quest.
"Hey… Qingyue, you guys are here too." Blossoming Strokes waved with a forced smile.
"Yeah." Unceasing Entropy also seemed slightly sheepish. "Uh… while the double warrior leg-severing strategy was effective, our overall damage output was slightly lacking. My healing wasn't enough as well… So, I'm here to grind more materials first and see if I can get some equipment that boosts healing effects. What about you guys? Any progress?"
Blossoming Strokes chuckled awkwardly. "Heheh…"
Fortunately, game characters didn't have facial features; otherwise, she would have had trouble controlling her expression…
Knowing that his friend was in an extremely frustrated mood, Qin Guan stepped in. "I heard from Xiao Zhou that there's a particularly lucrative quest here at Desolate Outpost. Want to do it together?"
Xiao Zhou, whom Qin Guan was speaking about, was Eight At Once, who ran a gold farming studio. Quite a number of players from Unceasing Entropy's team bought currency from them.
Hearing Qin Guan's suggestion, Unceasing Entropy asked, "Which quest? Is it suitable for many to do together?"
"Most definitely." Qin Guan walked over to a bulletin board and pointed at the topmost quest. "It's this one, a lumbering quest. You have to cut down trees at the specified logging point outside the outpost, process the felled trees by removing branches, and then you can turn them in. The quest rewards not only include prestige and coins but also materials. It offers a rather high value for the effort, and it's even more profitable than grinding in Poisonous Marshland."
Unceasing Entropy's group had originally been contemplating doing a gathering quest in Poisonous Marshland and planned to do it while grinding monsters to increase their earnings during this period. They hadn't noticed the other quests in Poisonous Marshland, and all looked up with interest when the "lumbering quest" was mentioned.
Unceasing Entropy, however, for some reason, felt an odd sense of familiarity when she heard the words "lumbering quest"…
The two groups accepted the quests, and as they enthusiastically set out on their activities, Brother Lahong's side and their ardent supporters also emerged from the teleportation point.
The three factions stood off in a moment of mutual scrutiny.
"Ah, haha, you guys are here too," Brother Lahong gave an awkward laugh.
"Yeah, yeah," Qin Guan and Ji Tang responded equally awkwardly as well.
These players of different factions, who usually exchanged sarcastic remarks whenever they crossed paths, engaged in some awkward small talk, and all accepted the lumbering quest…
There was no other choice. Multiple party wipes had inevitably led to equipment losses. Although players were doing their best to preserve their valuable gear, the frequent loss of steel knives was depleting their funds…
Yang Qiu, who hadn't yet returned to Earth to slack off, was still observing the players' situation from the Exile Town's Town Hall.
He couldn't help clicking his tongue, "Tsk…"
They've all given up… Could the instance difficulty be too high? Yang Qiu set down his recently crafted equipment and stroked his chin. That can't be possible. There shouldn't be any issues with the difficulty I set. More like these guys are spineless!
But if they are already overwhelmed by Hal's little inner demon, they would hardly stand a chance against Rex's… Fine, I should give them some more combat power.
Yang Qiu carefully put away the rune-embedded equipment he had prepared to sell in the Undead Merchant Association as a currency sink. He adjusted his attire, then stepped outside.
Half an hour later, in Exile Town, which was now rather devoid of players, the combat class instructors—Hal, Finley, Jerome, and Rex—were all summoned.
"Class… quests?" Hal, who was rubbing his eyes sleepily, sobered up after hearing Yang Qiu's request.
"Yes." Yang Qiu explained, "As you've all seen, our undead friends have chosen combat professions under the guidance of you guys. However, they lack ambition and are content to swarm and attack low-level, low-intelligence monsters. Without the desire to challenge stronger opponents, this attitude for the first batch of undead required to blaze a trail for the revival of the undead race is simply unbecoming."
One fundamental reason for this was that players' average Potential stagnated once it reached around 55 points, whereby the imprint matrix was unable to support features like real-time text and voice chat, friend lists, and so on for them.
Yet, players remained blissfully unaware that this was their issue. Instead, they kept pestering the developers via the forum—this manner of shifting the blame was truly deplorable.
As for the second fundamental reason, it was closely tied to the development of Taranthan.
"Director Lu" had thrown a tempting offer of production lines toward Yang Qiu, and while he didn't take it up, Yang Qiu was still rather interested in low-tech enterprises that Taranthan could get involved in.
That was also the reason he covertly set up a lumbering quest at Desolate Outpost. Yang Qiu's pockets weren't exactly bursting with money (RMB), and with no intention of accepting Director Lu's offer, which was akin to an explosive coated in sugar, he decided to find his own solution.
Taranthan had coal. There was a coal mine located less than 10 kilometers away from Exile Town, set up by pioneers when they chose to settle here a long time ago.
With a bit of drilling and refining equipment, a small-town level factory could be established, and that would relieve Yang Qiu from the headache of sustaining the locals under his employ.
Empowering the locals to be self-sufficient, attracting more natives, and maintaining this virtuous cycle so Taranthan could truly prosper. All of it was a matter of time.
But all of this hinged on… whether players' monster farming activities could clear the safety hazards around the locals' dwellings.
Exile Town was protected by its location in a valley. Desolate Outpost, however, resounded with the roars of monsters every night. Why else had Yang Qiu been so carefree toward just leaving those sixty-odd local thugs here? Besides being fed at Desolate Outpost (instant noodles and regular cooking quests from the zombie general), these individuals were also hesitant to venture too far from where the zombie general stood guard.
It was worth noting that there wasn't a boss rat obstructing the exit of Desolate Outpost, so players could explore the entire map freely. However, players still concentrated on farming the Poisonous Marshland. The primary reason for this was that the swamp, protected by the natural barrier of the toxic mist, was comparatively safer and less likely to attract higher-level monsters.
While Yang Qiu didn't need players to be his vanguard, he did need them to act as a safety barrier for the locals in Taranthan.
He himself spent countless hours honing his mental powers day and night, striving to break through to the level of Archmage, so players ought to put in some effort too!
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