"Although Sagittarius managed to overcome it, his server's greatest fleet was damaged by more than thirty percent," Friend Zhang analyzed. He himself followed game news and saw the reporters' coverage, getting shocked that five submarines could destroy nearly half the fleet.
The bride shook her head. "I don't know what the game company was thinking, coming up with such a frightening event, causing players to lose hope like this."
"But on the other hand, it encourages everyone to unite," Tangmo offered another perspective.
Friend Zhang laughed, agreeing with Tangmo's opinion. "The thing that can enhance human unity the most is a life-threatening situation. In this event, the ones who lose the most are the big city lords, guild leaders, and all clubs who will lose cities, items, or guild headquarters if they are defeated. What Tangmo said might really come true. Their lives are in the game, and although they won't die in real life, they will lose everything... Cooperation might be possible."
Phakin smiled as he looked at his colony-building partner. "I didn't know you played MGC so much that you understood it this deeply."
Zhang waved his hand. "When you come back to the world, you have to follow trends."
Then they stopped discussing the topic and handed over a card, saying that they were getting married in Hong Kong.
"If analyzed superficially, it might seem that everyone must unite to help eliminate this large group of AIs. However, there is a group of people looking at personal benefits arising during this conflict.
The group is the one CEO Butter mentioned to boast to the Dwarf King, aiming to target the key players of the metropolitan lords.
Even though everyone is watching the live broadcast of the event's opening ceremony, these people diligently keep whispering to the Dwarf King continuously.
"Latest news, Your Majesty! Sagittarius, the city lord who defeated one of your commanders, has organized an auction of your belongings at a border town within his territory, sire!"
The Dwarf King roared like a wild beast, 'This is too humiliating!' It seems the AI design team has embedded a strong sense of dignity into him.
This player hopes so as well,
hoping the Dwarf King, unable to lose face, will lead his troops to attack!"
Phakin didn't analyze the situation superficially like his friend or Tangmo. While driving his luxury car back to the condo, he casually said,
"It's better to be cautious." He engaged the auto-driving system and set the route for the car to drive back to the condo itself. Then he called Mina.
"Mina, open the map of Seven Lakes City." Mina's voice came from the car speakers, projecting a two-dimensional image in front of the driver's seat.
Phakin, holding his chin, looked at the open space capable of holding millions of people at the border of Seven Lakes City, and couldn't help muttering, 'It's really perilous.' A space that can accommodate a million soldiers... Then he smiled and said, "But it can also be profitable.'"
Unfortunately, during this time, the soon-to-be bride and groom were busy preparing for the wedding, so they couldn't attend this bustling auction.
Melon-chan accepted friend requests from the couple since receiving the invitation card, but she was surprised that a man named Phakin, who was a groomsman and familiar to her, was mysteriously refusing to exchange IDs or accept any friend requests.
Now she has returned to the city of Seven Lakes because she is one of the players who managed to gather new items.
This is a moneymaking opportunity for her.
Items that have never existed before can certainly be auctioned off at high prices.
Melon-chan looked at the [Thunder gloves] [Dwarf helmet] in her dimensional bag. If these two items sell for more than 300 gold coins, she would take her parents to the Maldives!
Melon-chan walked with a joyful heart toward the newly built auction house funded by the Chandra City administration. In front of the auction house, there were two captured golem statues holding welcome signs, effectively attracting customers.
The unique characteristic of Dwarf items is their metal-colored surfaces outlined with glowing green light. Therefore, this specially constructed auction house is painted entirely with this color, making the golems at the entrance blend seamlessly with the themed auction house."
Melon-chan opened her mouth in awe at the size of the auction house that had been built so quickly. She followed what Sagittarius had arranged with all the players and walked into the auction office.
But dream of taking her parents to the Maldives was shattered when she saw [Thunder gloves] [Dwarf helmet] stacked in over ten sets that she had planned to sell!
How could she forget that if she could collect it, other players could too?
"At least I can probably get enough money to afford a fancy meal," Melon-chan consoled herself, walking dejectedly out of the auction office after handing over the items to the office.
Not far from there, in the lounge of the auction house.
There are five people sitting in a circle on a round table. Behind them, a man and a woman stand with their hands neatly clasped, ready to serve each of their masters.
Guhai Wubian was the first to speak, saying, "On my end, everything is ready... but it'll be a bit tough on young Sagittarius for a while."
Sagittarius thanked him and said, "The game wants an extremely exciting event scene. They should thank us, that's for sure. This next scene has to be extremely thrilling. The game should reward us with good resources for this battle."
Mewku Mewku, next to Sagittarius, laughed and said, "You'd even speak to the GM who's secretly watching us, ha-ha!"
Sagittarius raised his playful eyebrows and looked up at the ceiling, teasingly asking, "Are you watching, ha-ha?"
Winter Solstice took a sip of wine and said, "Sagittarius's strategy is like bait with a thorn; it must be bitten. If the dwarves don't take the bait, that would be surprising."
Guinevere 28, the ruler of Camelot, who was sitting with her chin rested on her hand and eyes closed, opened her eyes and speculated, "If the dwarf AI is smart enough, after their defeat this time, they will wage a theft war against us first." Then she changed the subject, turned to Sagittarius and asked, "After sending your blacksmith to dismantle the submarines, golems, tanks that are not part of the equipped items, did you find out if we really need the metal called Mithril-Erith to create imitation weapons?"
Sagittarius pointed to everyone's AI assistant and stated, "I have already given all the information to Mina. There's nothing hidden. The metal ore seen with the blacksmith's skill in the game interface must be mined from the underground world. Otherwise, why open a new area? But the problem is that we also need to use it now. Otherwise, we will be at a disadvantage compared to the opposing side. There is no other way. We will have to let the blacksmith use the forging skill to melt down items containing that greenish metal into ore blocks, and then create weapons suitable for human size and shape."
Guinevere 28 pouted immediately. "After all, this is a game. Copying weapons a bit requires following the programmed design, no modifications allowed."
Winter Solstice said, "Besides wearable items that can resize according to the player's character proportions, golems or tanks have their control room designed for dwarves. Modifications are not allowed by the program. It's really regrettable. We will have to create anew."
"At least the blacksmith can still make it,"
Guhai Wubian said determinedly. "If the dwarves truly fill the area by the millions, then we will have enough materials to develop technology just like theirs to fight them."
Mewku Mewku chuckled lightly. "It's as if we're certain to win."
Guhai Wubian gave a confident look to Sagittarius. "That depends on whether Sagi can hold them off until the four of us arrive with the army."
As for the person Sagittarius mentioned, he didn't listen to the details of the discussions of the five great lords, but he was in a hurry.
"Back up!"
Even though he didn't know what would happen in the city of Seven Lakes, after "eavesdropping" on the initial conversations of the five persons,
it was definitely going to be a mess!
Therefore, in addition to backing up the data, the backup processing system also had to be moved in preparation.
If players experienced lag or stuttering characters because the server couldn't process in time, MGC Online would surely be disgraced.
Not to mention, the game communications team was currently leading hundreds of employees to the city of Seven Lakes to prepare for a live broadcast.
He didn't have time to explore whether there would be any valuable item drops as Sagittarius requested."
This auction was considered one of the largest in the history of MGC Online.
Items from the new area, which no one has ever had before, are sure to attract attention.
No matter the guild or club, even the city lord players in this server are flocking to Seven Lakes city without cessation. Shops on both sides that were closed are now fully leased by famous real-world brands, opening stores to welcome auction attendees.
Sagittarius' method can seriously stimulate the city's economy.
When Melon-chan walked out of the auction house, she saw this scene. As the auction drew nearer, the crowd grew thicker.
Then, a default-faced man in common market attire approached and greeted her.
"Hello, Ms. Melon"
"'Huh?' Just as she was about to ask if they knew each other and how he knew she was Melon when she had set her appearance to default like him, the man sent a party request.
A request with that name!
Melon-chan quickly accepted it and used the party member function to check the other's secondary profession again to be sure. Once she saw it clearly, she forced a smile and asked, 'How did you know I was here?'
Sagittarius pointed back at the auction house. 'Didn't you just announce your name?' Everyone there was his staff. How could they not report to their boss that Melon-chan had arrived?
'That quick!?' Melon-chan mumbled. She then turned back to meet his eyes and asked, 'So, may I know what important business you have with me?'
Sagittarius laughed and then said, 'Every time I've met you, only good things have happened. So, I thought I'd take advantage of your luck once more today.'"
"Huh??" Melon-chan was once again perplexed. Why would this wealthy man need her luck? This auction surely guarantees him both money and fame. It was she who needed the luck.
If the two items didn't fetch enough silver coins at the auction, then she would just have to take her parents to eat at the corner of the alley.
As for Sagittarius, he desperately needed luck. In fact, this event was a large bait for the five lords to join forces. He was the bait, while the other four encircled the area packed with millions of people outside the city, turning it into a killing field. However, with millions of dwarves, if he couldn't keep them under control, he would be the one to face trouble. This was because this city was his territory.
Luck provided assurance, even though the plan was meticulously laid out, and the five lords met and divided responsibilities clearly.
And luck did favor him after he met Melon-chan.
Someone in a fully cloaked outfit approached from behind, while Sagittarius's ten bodyguards who were disguised and walking from a distance didn't notice at all."
A deep-voiced young woman spoke up, "You are very brave to lure all the dwarves here."
Sagittarius and Melon-chan could easily recognize this voice, and the one who was happiest had to be the Lord of the City.
Sagittarius turned around with sparkling eyes, quickly grabbing the hand of Trainee Valkyrie Kara, shaking it fervently. "Nice to meet you!"
Trainee Valkyrie Kara said, "While I was searching for Loki on Midgard, I discovered that the race of dwarves from Svartalfheim had emerged from the ground to attack the human cities... So I went down to investigate Svartalfheim and found that Loki was inciting the Dwarf Emperor! The Emperor then sent the iron-mining dwarves up to explore the human world."
Sagittarius was stunned by these words.
How could he forget? The Empire of Dwarf was indeed an "Empire," not a Kingdom with a King as a ruler. This meant that even though the players had razed the old city of sirius to the ground, the dwarf land still had its true ruler, which was the Dwarf Emperor. This meant that if they truly wanted to end this event, they would have to find a way to make peace with the Dwarf Emperor first!