Chapter 550: The Gamers' New Ideas
The gamers of Eternal Kingdom were focused on this mission.
No matter whether the gamers were passionate about Instance Dungeons, PK, or were just life connoisseur gamers, and regardless of whether the gamers were Guild members of unaffiliated gamers, they proceeded towards the farm as indicated in the Mission Description.
First of all, they had to enter Winterfell.
...
"I have done the research. The fastest route is to enter the Teleport Portal of Winterfell to another Merchant Alliance Dungeon called Dark Fortress. Then we have to rent a Beetlemon to journey for two days."
On the main street of Winterfell, Peasant spoke to Arthur as he held a map.
It was supposed to be a competitive mission, but it had become a Faction Mission. Whoever completed the mission first would get the rewards. Hence, all of the gamers were in a hurry to complete the mission.
"Peasant is efficient. You managed to find out the information in such a short period of time."
BurningChestHair patted Peasant's shoulder gratefully. Peasant said shyly, "Don't compliment me. This mission is famous, so I managed to find information just by asking."
Peasant took out a so-called urgent version of the "Winterfell Daily Digest" and looked at it.
"Hades' Devil King Mammon invaded a farm? The chivalrous Lord Sherlock of Eternal Kingdom is helping!"
The headline was eye-catching, and the newspapers were all sold out.
"How much does it cost to rent a Beetlemon?" NotWearingPants asked, more concerned about the costs.
"I checked the prices at the Venice Beetlemon Rental. It depends on the capacity, breed, and appearance. We don't need a classy one. We'll just rent a functional one for a week at about 400 Magic Stones."
Peasant replied quickly since he had done the research.
Arthur asked, "What's the seating capacity?"
Peasant was taken aback, but he quickly replied, "I didn't ask, but the size is similar to the ones in Eternal Kingdom. I think the seating capacity is about 100."
"Only 100? Then it's not useful..."
NotWearingPants said with exasperation, "This mission is going to be very difficult since the enemy is the Seventh Devil King, Mammon. Though we haven't seen him before, his reputation is like Lord Sherlock's. With a hundred of us, I don't think we can defeat him."
"Then I'm at my wits' end..."
BurningChestHair was vexed, while Sylvanas frowned and pondered. The other gamers of the Pioneer Alliance also started thinking, but they didn't have any good solutions. The journey from Venice to the mission location was going to take two days, and the return journey would take another two days. It wasn't practical for a Beetlemon to transport the Guild members. Who had the time to wait for a Beetlemon?
What about renting a few Beetlemons? A Beetlemon would cost 400 Magic Stones a week, and 1,000 members would require ten Beetlemons. That would cost 4,000 Magic Stones as the initial layout. And who knew if there would be additional costs later on?
Leasing a territory, employing the required NPCs, and the construction of the buildings would only cost 100,000 Magic Stones. There was a Teleport Portal connecting to Eternal Kingdom. If this mission was going to cost that much when it might not even be successful, then it would be better to lease the territory from Lord Sherlock after accumulating money for a month.
Everyone discovered that all of the solutions for the mission weren't feasible. Only Arthur said, "Let's try to construct a Teleport Portal over there. If it's possible, we only need to send the NPC workers over to the farm before constructing a connecting Teleport Portal back to Eternal Kingdom. The problem will be solved."
"This idea is good, but it's not cheap to construct a Teleport Portal. It'll cost a few thousand Magic Stones," Peasant said in exasperation.
Since Winterfell was opened to the gamers, they had been exploring the Dungeon. Many gamers were also working in Winterfell, so they were very familiar with the shops and merchandise. For example, at the Mana Construction Market, a Teleport Portal would cost 9999 Magic Stones with a 1% discount.
The cost shocked the gamers. The gamers who wanted to construct a Teleport Portal at their wilderness Stronghold in order to connect it to their Guild in Eternal Kingdom abandoned the idea after they got to know the cost.
It might look easy for Lord Sherlock to construct Teleport Portals, but to the gamers, it wasn't a small sum.
"We can't afford a Teleport Portal. I only have 100 Magic Stones with me. If we sell everything at auction, we can get 2,000 Magic Stones and nothing more," BurningChestHair said. Sylvanas' situation was similar to BurningChestHair's.
Magic Stones couldn't be purchased with gold coins or the currency of the real world. There were no official channels for topping up an account. Only the gamers who participated in the Closed Beta Testing had two or three Magic Stones. In addition, a lot of missions and official services required Magic Stones. The gamers who worked in the factories only earned a Magic Stone for three days of work. Most of the time, the gamers would use up the Magic Stones in the game. It was as though the game had purposely used up their Magic Stone savings.
Common gamers were able to save gold coins but not Magic Stones. Even if the gamers wanted to purchase Magic Stones, there weren't many Magic Stones available for sale.
The new gamers didn't even have enough bronze coins.
"We can cooperate with the other Guilds and accumulate 10,000 Magic Stones," Arthur said firmly.
"I'll contact the other Guilds."
"If you contact the other Guilds, it won't be a problem. But I have a problem."
NotWearingPants asked, "How do we ensure that the Teleport Portal is connected to Eternal Kingdom?"
Everyone looked at each other.
...
Eggface walked out from the prison with his bed, bloody chrysanthemum tea, and notebook computer.
He had completed his prison warden duty. Who was the next prison warden? Phoenix or Polio? Eggface didn't care. He wanted to return to the Dungeon Lord Main Hall quickly and enjoy his cup of bloody chrysanthemum tea before sleeping and playing computer games... No, he should drink his bloody chrysanthemum tea and play computer games before sleeping.
Eggface returned to the Dungeon Lord Main Hall and placed all the items down. Then he drank a cup of bloody chrysanthemum tea before sitting in front of his computer. Before he activated any games, an interface appeared:
[Welcome back, Employee No. 5, Eggface. Now is the time for performing customer service.]
While Eggface was in a daze, a chat window appeared.
[Peasant: Greetings, customer service lady, I want to ask a question. I'm from the Eternal Kingdom Faction. I want to build a Teleport Portal that is connected to Eternal Kingdom. How can I do that?]
Eggface was infuriated that his gaming plans were wrecked, almost wanting to kill the person who asked the question. Eggface typed furiously on the keyboard.
[Customer Service Eggface: Why don't you ask the mystical Lord Sherlock?]
...
"You intend to construct a Teleport Portal at the farm and connect it to Eternal Kingdom?"
Sherlock frowned as he looked at the gamers. They had never stopped coming up with ideas that created trouble or were about to create trouble.
"Hmm, it's not impossible, but the fees are high."
Sherlock pondered and said, "For 1,000 Magic Stones, I'll help you connect the Teleport Portal."