Chapter 22: A Dog’s Plan!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The twenty gars who had gone out on the expedition arrived at the Dungeon entrance. They brought back eight dead Underground Spiders which were dragged using ropes.
Sherlock had not expected them to bring back eight Spiders within a few hours.
Besides the Spiders, there were four gars’ corpses and so injured gars. They had gone through tough fights.
The gars working in the Dungeon saw the victorious expedition group co back with loot and surrounded the victors as they asked excitedly about their experience.
NotWearingPants narrated their combat scenes enthusiastically. They didn’t have casualties in their first two skirmishes. But in the third encounter, there were too many Spiders. After four gars were killed and many were injured, they managed to repel the Spiders. With the casualties, they did not stay at the Spiders’ Lair entrance. Once the Spiders retreated, they imdiately returned with their loot and their comrades’ corpses. The dead gars would be revived since creating new characters would void their previous Reputation Points. They were not willing to give up their hard-earned Reputation.
While the gars were celebrating, Sherlock treated the wounded and healed the corpses. He saw the gars dissect the Spiders and concentrate on the stomach. But, they were not going for the at. Previously, they had witnessed Arthur obtaining a strange tal ball from the Spider’s stomach and appraising it. The gars wanted to obtain special items from the monsters and unlock hidden plots.
Perhaps other Spiders had similar items in their bodies?
Even if there were no hidden items, the Spider’s parts could be exchanged for Reputation points and rewards! Sherlock had decided on the prices for the Spider’s parts. For example, ten kilograms of Spider at could be exchanged for ten Reputation Points and ten bronze coins. The Spider Leg could be used for food and making weapons. It could be exchanged for ten Reputation Points and ten bronze coins. Spider Silk was an important raw material for many items and could be used to improve weapons. A ball of Spider Silk could be exchanged for a hundred Reputation Points and a hundred bronze coins. The production of Spider Silk was limited and the quantity depended on luck.
After collecting the loot from the gars, Sherlock could produce additional food. He could also give Simba the Spider Leg and silk to produce high quality weapons and equipnt. Then, he could sell them back to the gars. In order to obtain better equipnt, the gars would have to complete more missions or hunt for more Spiders to gain more money and Reputation Points. Their actions supported the positive developntal cycle of the Dungeon.
The gars dissected the eight Spiders quickly. The Spider Legs and the at were arranged neatly by the side, but the Spider Silk was in low quantity.
Sherlock could sll the stench of the Spiders from a distance. The gars were not affected by the sll as they squird excitedly into the Spider’s stomach to see if they could find any treasure.
They searched for half a day but did not find any treasure. At most, they found remnants of the Spiders’ als. It was not like they could find treasure every ti.
Sherlock observed the gars taking stock of their loot. He thought they were going to approach him to exchange the loot for rewards, but the gars instead held an internal auction for their own expedition mbers.
“Spider Leg, starting price is twenty bronze coins per piece!”
NotWearingPants was the auctioneer. The mbers of the third expedition started bidding and pushed the price to twice the starting price. Arthur bought five pieces with his bid of forty bronze coins per piece. Other rich gars like BurningChestHair, Sakuranomiya Cat Demon and Sylvanas bought the rest of the Spider Legs at high prices.
The Spiders at was sold at lower prices. The last item was the Spider Silk. As the quantity was not sufficient to make a ball, the starting price was eighty bronze coins, and the bid price was quickly pushed to three hundred bronze coins. In the end, Arthur bought the Spider Silk.
The other gars witnessed the Dungeon’s first loot auction and lanted, “My God, the price of a bronze coin is now at least ten to twenty Renminbi. They were that generous, but it’s still hard for us to cope. I have to work harder and join the Golden Group 1 !”
“It’s not easy to get into the Golden Group. Are you able to fight the Underground Spiders for two hours without injury? I’m unable to do that.”
“I must train more!”
“Hurry up, carry more bricks and earn more money. I earned my kid’s school fees just by carrying bricks.”
“Don’t ntion it. After the ga goes into open Beta, I intend to quit my job to be a professional gar. After playing for a few hours, the bronze coins that I earned are worth much more than what I earn in my day job!”
“You can forget about it. In the Beta Testing, the number of gars is small, so the bronze coins are expensive. Once hundreds of gars co onboard, the work rate will skyrocket. Would the bronze coins be expensive? They will definitely beco cheaper and cheaper. Earn more while it is still in closed Beta!”
“Yes, this is the reason...”
Sherlock could not figure out what was going on as the gars discussed among themselves. What situation was this? What were the gars doing? Were they... making comrcial transactions?
Though he had seen the gars trade their bronze coins before, he had not been bothered. The gars had been helping a small number of them to raise enough money to buy weapons and equipnt in their expedition to the Spiders’ Lair. He had not considered that as part of a larger system of comrce. But now, Sherlock was witnessing their trading and auction! After the auction, the twenty gars of the expedition split the earnings of the auction equally.
The gars who had bought the Spiders’ at ca to look for Sherlock to claim bronze coins and rewards. Sherlock could understand their intentions, but he could not figure out those gars who had bought the Spiders’ legs and silk at high prices. Did they know the uses of those items?
Sherlock intended to use those materials to improve the equipnt and then sell them back to the gars at high prices. Then, he could collect back the tal coins and create a shortage of coins to make the gars work harder.
Sherlock decided to ask Bru about their strange behavior. “Bru, do you know why the gars bypassed my intention of collecting the Spiders’ legs and silk? Instead, they auctioned those items.”
“They are probably stockpiling them. Simba told them that the items can be used to improve equipnt. They have great desires for improving their equipnt,” Bru explained.
Sherlock frowned.
“Those gars intend to bypass , stockpile the materials and then improve their equipnt all by themselves?”
“That’s correct. This works even better. Let them trade the materials. When they decide to improve their equipnt, they have to find Simba. As long as you fix the prices with Simba, you will still collect back the tal coins. In the last few days, I have co up with another plan to exhaust their tal coins faster,” Bru said. “How about giving the equipnt an improvent level?”
“Improvent level?” Sherlock was hesitant.
Bru explained, “After improving equipnt, the panel will show a ‘ 1’ or ‘ 2′. We can also decide on the number of Spider Legs and silk for each improvent. Once Simba improves the equipnt to a certain level, he can destroy the equipnt and claim that the improvent failed. The higher the improvent level, the greater the chance of equipnt damage. Once the equipnt is damaged, new equipnt will be needed and a new cycle of improvent will begin. We’ll earn tal coins more quickly this way than just selling equipnt. We can also add another equipnt improvent reward like an equipnt improvent voucher that can improve the efficiency of the equipnt! Furthermore, we can even collect the broken equipnt and make new ones out of them before selling them back to the gars!”
Sherlock agreed that Bru’s thod was brilliant. It would exhaust the gars’ coins rapidly. In addition, the Diamond Seam material would not be wasted if they collected the damaged equipnt.
Sherlock accepted Bru’s suggestion and shouted for Simba to discuss the details in the Dungeon Core Main Hall.
Sherlock explained the details to Simba and requested him to place a new signboard that read “Equipnt Improvent” at the Blacksmith Shop entrance. He also indicated the price and the increasing amount of Spider Legs and silk required for each improvent. The probability of failure would also increase correspondingly. Of course, it was also dependent on Simba and the gars’ mood.
Simba could not understand why the Dungeon Lord would make the equipnt improvent that complicated, but he was the boss, so Simba had to follow his instructions. Simba hung up the new signboard at the Blacksmith Shop entrance. Using Spider Silk and legs, there were only five improvents available. The probability of damage started after three levels of improvent. From the fourth improvent onwards, there was an incrental chance of equipnt damage.
A nearby gar discovered the new signboard and bolted like a wild dog to the other gars who were splitting the money. He shouted, “Whoa! A dog’s plan for equipnt improvent!”
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