Due to the tight restrictions on "beta test accounts" and the reluctance to transition to open public testing, there were currently only three and a half "tycoons" among the player community.
Qin Guan, the now popular content creator who was now earning quite a bit and could spend money in the game, accounted for the half. The other three were small business owner Brother Lahong and the two other bosses now calling for a "group purchase" in the teaming area—they had been the ones who had won the Orb of Deception auction previously.
The so-called "group purchase" referred to the boss only providing funds during the process of teaming up for instance runs, monopolizing a certain item or resource produced in the instance dungeon, or even having a complete monopoly.
The Inner Demon instance didn't drop items; the only rewards for clearing it were the enchantment chances for equipment. When these two whales wanted to make a group purchase, it meant monopolizing these rewards.
The enchantment chances obtained by hired hands couldn't be transferred, but they could help enchant other people's equipment. In other words, the boss paid the workers to carry them through the instance to gain enchantment attempts for their own equipment.
From the perspective of an ordinary player, this was truly throwing money, but from the perspective of whale players, it was being cost-effective. After all, wealthy people might be lazy or foolish, but they seldom fail to calculate. Both of them were well aware that it would be difficult for them to clear the instance without hiring powerful workers.
Yang Ying, who was now gaming semi-professionally and earned some money from playing OtherWorld, and the poor college student Tang Jia approached the two tycoons. Recognizing immediately, the eyes of the two bosses lit up and they greeted, "Sis Ying, Stuffed Gummy, are you guys willing to carry us? If a 9+2 formation doesn't work, we can do 10+1. Orange Cat and I can do separate group purchases."
This was where the relationship between bosses and workers in a game differed from reality. Paying bosses in games were usually more accommodating than the ones they were looking to hire.
Yang Ying and Tang Jia had originally come to inquire about making some money through part-time work. Upon hearing this, they had a little discussion, and Tang Jia said, "You two wait, I'll ask Qingyue's opinion."
On hearing that they could even hire Unceasing Entropy, the two bosses nodded eagerly. "Good, good, good!"
Tang Jia took off to find Unceasing Entropy and came back with her a little while later…
"It's indeed difficult to handle a 9+2 formation right now, but we can try a 10+1 formation," said Unceasing Entropy. "However, I can't promise to sell you all the enchantment chances. If our teammates want to enchant their equipment themselves, their attempts won't be for sale. Are you okay with that?"
It was difficult to determine whether 2100 RMB for a total of 11 enchantment attempts was a good deal without prior market reference. Players who were willing to earn spare cash would be pleased with the opportunity to earn 2100 RMB by completing a dungeon run. However, for players who weren't interested in making money, it would seem like a loss.
Clearly, the two bosses had been prepared for some bargaining. After a brief discussion, the boss with ID "There's An Orange Cat" nodded and said, "Alright, let's do this. After completing the instance, those willing to sell enchantment attempts will receive red envelopes on the spot. Those unwilling can decline. How does that sound?"
"That works." Unceasing Entropy nodded and turned to Yang Ying. "Sis Ying, form a team. Let's take Boss Orange Cat through the instance first."
Most of Yang Ying's companions were aware of her real-life situation. Her father had left, her mother was unemployed, and her younger brother, who refused to study, had run away from home. She used to work a job that barely paid 4000 RMB a month, struggling to make ends meet. After resigning from her job, she played semi-professionally and managed to earn some money.
If the weekend event could become a stable source of income, it wouldn't just improve Yang Ying's financial situation. Zheng Qingyue and Tang Jia could also earn some extra living expenses. Their families weren't very well-off, especially Tang Jia. If it weren't for the game currency she sold, she would have had to tighten her belt in the second half of the month after buying the two helmets.
Having Yang Ying as team leader wasn't a decision made solely out of sympathy. Yang Ying, with stable online hours and her cheerful and friendly disposition, had more connections than the others. Yang Ying happily gathered her acquaintances, quickly assembling a team of willing workers.
She didn't disappoint Unceasing Entropy's expectations, inviting not only Jia Luo, who often played with them, but also brought players like Fallen Mulberry Leaves from Qin Guan's side and Study Obsessed from Brother Lahong's.
In the previous week, many people died upon entering the instance when the weekend event resumed. Having been cursed at on the forums through the week, the damned devs seemed to have had enough and made some improvements—though the dungeon was still horrendous, at least the instance was no longer that difficult. Out of every five attempts, now at least four wouldn't be an instant wipe upon entering.
The enchantment chances obtained after clearing the instance might not necessarily result in desirable enchantments for a particular piece of equipment. After clearing the instance, Lord Yang (projection) would appear in the dungeon. By talking to Lord Yang, players chose which equipment to use their enchant chance on, and players could choose one of the three random effect options that popped out.
This should have been a point of criticism, but players didn't complain because all randomly generated enchantments were still useful attributes. It was unlike other games that gave out useless attributes that forced players to spend to reroll them.
On the first night of their collaboration, each of the two bosses funded two full completion runs, enchanted all their equipment, and agreed to continue next week—if the enchantments obtained this time weren't satisfactory or if they acquired new equipment, they would have to come back.
After successfully clearing Hal's Inner Demon instance four times, there was still a little over an hour of in-game time until dawn. Yang Ying was preparing to lead the team to try and challenge Tuttle's Inner Demon Instance—the team formed to earn money was exceptionally skilled, and disbanding such a high-caliber team with time to spare would be a waste.
Before Yang Ying could speak to her teammates about attempting the new instance, a bony claw rested on her shoulder. When she turned her head, she was met with an up-close skull right before her face.
Ou Huang had somehow approached silently and, gazing at Yang Ying firmly, said, "I would also like to buy a run."
All ten of the hired hands, including Yang Ying, were stunned.
"Boss Ou Huang needs a dungeon run?!" Jia Luo was visibly shocked.
Ou Huang didn't say anything and just stared at team leader Yang Ying.
As formidable as he might be, it was impossible for him to complete the instance solo. Instead of trying to join a party and spending time adjusting, it made more sense for him to join an existing team as the boss.
"Why waste time when there's money to be made? Let's continue!" Tang Jia waved her bony claw enthusiastically.
Yang Ying couldn't help chuckling. She added Ou Huang to the team while saying, "Exactly! Everyone, focus up. Let's not embarrass ourselves in front of Boss Ou Huang. Let's make this run flawless!"
With that said, she didn't forget to remind Tang Jia, "Don't get carried away with your earnings. Buy fewer traditional Chinese costumes, or else we'll have to hear you complain about being broke every other day in the second half of the month."
Tang Jia felt a little guilty hearing this and muttered hoarsely, "Got it, Sis Ying…"
———
The detailed strategy for Hal's Inner Demon instance, a collaboration between the Blossoming Strokes and Unceasing Entropy, had already been posted on the forum. Besides covering the details on how to deal with the monsters, Blossoming Strokes had also provided position diagrams, movement routes, and the vulnerable spots of the monsters when attacked.
Even such a detailed guide… didn't mean that all player teams could smoothly clear the instance.
The reason was simple: when ordinary players formed teams, it was impossible to exclude burdens among their friends. In a team of eleven players, there would inevitably be one or two players dragging the team down.
Unceasing Entropy had been straightforward; a 9+2 formation was risky, and even a 10+1 formation was mediocre. For ordinary players, who were already at a disadvantage compared to the first-tier players (limited player group), adding one or two underperformers meant whether the run was successful was entirely up to fate.
In contrast, for a hired team with the aim of earning money, players whose own level was insufficient to join would be declined; most online gamers had functioning brains, and entering an instance to freeload while getting paid wasn't acceptable.
While Yang Ying's team flawlessly completed the dungeon run, another team at the Hal Inner Demon Instance team formation area experienced a disastrous wipe…
As Yang Ying's team emerged from the instance, several players rushed toward her.
"Sis Ying, is your team still accepting jobs? I want to purchase a run too!"
"Me too, me too!"
"It's… it's almost daybreak. There's no time left." Yang Ying didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"It's alright, let's book you for next weekend. We were here first, so can you give us priority?" Players willing to spend money approached enthusiastically.
With money to be earned, Yang Ying had no reason to turn them away. She immediately exchanged WeChat numbers with these potential bosses.
"Awesome." A fixed team, which had been wiped several times, successfully completed the instance just as the event was about to end. Seeing Yang Ying's team surrounded by players eager to fork out money, this bunch stood there, watching with complex expressions.
"Should we start bringing bosses on runs starting next week?" a member asked the rest of his party with gleaming eyes.
For the Hal Inner Demon instance, the biggest fear teams had was making mistakes and losing team members. Every player would be extremely cautious to preserve their own lives to avoid being instakilled.
By maintaining a low mistake rate for about 10 minutes without losing any members, the team had to focus on attacking the two appendages protruding from the monster's chest, after which the monster would essentially be a free kill.
However, the requirement of a 10-minute time frame with little mistakes was challenging for most player teams. This game was a full immersive panoramic experience, and the pressure and tension of monster battles were entirely different from traditional PC or console games. It was a real test on the players' mental resilience.
Another team member, dissatisfied with a burden in their team who constantly died at the beginning of each battle, was exasperated. "With our current team strength, we'll just be making fools of ourselves if we invite a boss in. We at least need to avoid deaths at the start before considering that."
"Yeah. We are already struggling, and losing a member makes our damage output even more lacking. It would be good if we had one extra warrior. Why did we kick Mulberry back then?" chimed in another disgruntled teammate.
The team captain, already displeased that the warrior player, Fallen Mulberry Leaves, had been stolen away by Give Me Medicine to play with Blossoming Strokes and the others, retorted irritably, "Is there any point in bringing this up now? Back then, wasn't it you guys complaining that warriors only had burst damage and lacked sustained damage output and demanded that I replace Mulberry?"
The players of this fixed team all fell silent.
The warrior class skills, Sword Storm and Blade Dance, could deal a large amount of damage in a short time. However, these two skills had relatively long cooldowns and lacked sustained damage output compared to the quick cooldown, high damage output skills of the wanderers, such as Thrust and Backstab.
Well, the real reason was that Sword Storm and Blade Dance were powerful skill runes that controlled the overall movements of the player's skeleton character. They consumed a large amount of mental capacity, resulting in long cooldowns.
On the other hand, Thrust and Backstab were efficient skill runes that only controlled the arm movements and striking angles of the player's skeleton character, consuming less mental capacity and resulting in shorter cooldowns.
Players didn't have the concept of mental energy and, from a gaming perspective, only considered the practicality of skills.
The wild monster models in this game were all rather large. Once the correct strategy had been determined, knight players' four skills could effectively restrict a monster's movements, allowing for safe stationary output.
In this sort of situation, the sustained damage output advantage that wanderer players had far exceeded that of warriors.
Because of their friendship, the team hadn't mentioned kicking Fallen Mulberry Leaves when she had initially advanced to warrior. However, after two days of teaming up to fight monsters, the team found it increasingly intolerable. Whether they were clearing the Spider Cave or Poisonous Marshlands, Mulberry's total damage output was only two-thirds of a wanderer player.
Efficiency in monster clearing affected everyone's gains, and this was the real income that could be converted into RMB. When it came to money, would anyone tolerate having such a deadweight in the team when the rewards were split equally?
When Mulberry was kicked and replaced with a wanderer player they had gotten to know during the first expedition quest, nobody had even spoken up for Mulberry.
In the instance dungeon where safe stationary output was impossible, everyone had to be mindful of their positioning and seize opportunities for damage output. The importance of warrior players skyrocketed in such situations. However, their team's warrior player now belonged elsewhere and no longer farmed mobs or cleared instances with them.
"Forget it," sighed a veteran team member. "We can't bring bosses on dungeon runs. Let's go back and farm monsters. Once the game opens up, we can recruit new people and see how it goes."
The team leader didn't say anything more and led the team to farm monsters.
As daybreak arrived in-game, the weekend Inner Demon instance dungeon event officially ended. Players in Hal's Inner Demon instance team formation area logged out, while others got busy farming monsters and doing quests.
In Weisshem, Wagner got up before dawn.
The accommodation provided by Black Mage Yang was nice and even better than his home in Indahl. However, Wagner had quite a restless night.
On one hand, he was worried about the fate of his family, concerned about his wife and child waiting for him at home. On the other hand, the magic in this mansion was too active, causing him to have nightmares whenever he closed his eyes.
Magic was toxic, and an upright knight like Wagner would never touch meditation that could potentially expose him to the toxicity of magic. Unfortunately, there was a black mage on the other side of the wall frequently mediating and seemingly unafraid of losing control. This was tormenting for Wagner.
Having no interest in worrying about whether others would lose control, Wagner got out of bed, put on the wooden slippers that were in the room, and after a simple wash at the well in the yard as instructed by Yang the night before, he began doing his assigned tasks…
As he mechanically washed and scrubbed in the yard, the street outside gradually became lively. Even through the courtyard walls, the sounds of people could be heard—couples arguing early in the morning, children crying, and street vendors hawking their wares.
Wagner couldn't help but sigh.
He only had a few years left before retirement. If nothing unexpected happened and he could smoothly receive his retirement pension, Wagner originally planned to sell the house in Indahl and move with his wife to a smaller town.
The cost of living in Indahl was too high, and moving to a small town would allow them to save on gas and other living expenses, enabling them to continue supporting their children's education in an Indahl private school.
Only children whose parents had sufficient status could attend the Royal Academy or the Academy for Nobles. Wagner couldn't afford the high tuition fees for advanced academies, whereas the worker's school had a subpar level of education. Thus, for people like Wagner, who held a certain social status and mid-level income, sending their children to a private school was the best choice.
These so-called private schools were somewhat similar to supplementary classes in China. These schools, often established by intellectuals, only enrolled a few dozen students. They charged fees higher than those of worker's schools but lower than private academies and provided their students with a home-schooling style of tutoring—competition to become a tutor for nobles was fierce, and those who failed to secure a position or lacked connections to enter advanced academies often chose to open private schools.
As for the Royal Academy and Academy for Nobles, ordinary intellectuals wouldn't get a whiff. Without a sufficient enough status, they wouldn't even be able to lift their heads in front of students there.
Weisshem also had private schools, but their standards weren't high. Here, they just taught children to read and do basic arithmetic, enabling them to have a slight competitive edge in finding jobs at the age of 15 or 16 over those who couldn't even recognize their own names.
As a foreigner, Wagner knew that achieving better success within this generation in the Rhine Kingdom was challenging. He could only pin his hopes on the next. He didn't even care much about whether his family's knight title would be stripped. Getting his full retirement pension that would guarantee his children's tuition fees was all he asked for.
But now… his spiritual support was wavering.
Lost in his wandering thoughts, Wagner mechanically cleaned the sofa covers and curtains that Yang had instructed him to wash. Only when it was time to hang them out did Wagner snap out of his daze. That was when he noticed the quality of the fabrics used for these sofa covers and curtains.
"This is… undead cloth? Undead cloth better than the ones that appeared in Indahl?"
Wagner touched the thick, tightly woven, and superbly dyed fabric and couldn't help silently criticizing the Nightmare Butcher's extravagance—even the clothes worn by Adra III weren't made of such fine high-quality material, yet this excellent fabric was used for sofa covers and curtains!
Wagner could recognize good stuff, and he had been spot-on. Naturally, Yang Qiu couldn't use stuff that was too shabby in the place where he would be staying. These were new fall season items on Taobao, the hot-selling products that stood up to the test of hundreds of millions of Chinese people. The material, dyeing, and design were impeccable as well as classy in a low-key and gorgeous way.
Wagner couldn't help feeling a little disheartened when he made a mental calculation on how much of the tuition fees these curtains and sofa covers could cover for his child…
While Wagner's face was twitching just thinking about it, the guy who inexplicably stayed up all night instead of sleeping, Yang, pushed open the hall window and called out, "Wagner, got to 101 on the main street in the town and bring us three sets of breakfast."
Wagner subconsciously pointed at himself in surprise.
"Yes, you go." Yang placed a stack of copper coins on the windowsill. "Ask the staff there to get you three standard meals and make sure Lowell's portion isn't too spicy."
Wagner felt a bit disheartened once again. He didn't know whether to be delighted Yang was giving him freedom of movement, even allowing him to go out alone, or to be annoyed by this fellow's nonchalance that Wagner might try to escape.
Wagner wouldn't be foolish enough to attempt escaping. Spellcasters that built a Mage Tower could control an entire territory. Even without building a Mage Tower, Yang, a high-level black mage who had roamed the continent for centuries, would have no problem controlling Weisshem.
If Wagner managed to escape Weisshem, the only possibility was that Black Mage Yang had done something to him and was allowing him to leave.
Wagner silently picked up the copper coins and went out alone. Walking along the alley for a short distance, he soon saw the street sign of Main Street.
Yesterday, he had passed through this street when he was tied up and dragged into town on horseback. At that time, he noticed that many buildings on this street were undergoing renovations. Now, as he walked along the street and observed, many buildings were indeed cordoned off with wooden boards. Many male and female town residents were busy within the barricades, removing some smashed bricks and debris and pushing them away with hand carts.
Wagner hadn't been to Weisshem before, so he didn't really have much sentiment about the famous red-light district being completely transformed. He casually glanced around and then followed the street numbers hanging on the walls of the buildings, searching for the specified unit 101 as Yang instructed.
A few steps further… Wagner suddenly stopped, turned his head to the left, and stared in astonishment.
On the opposite side of the street was a building undergoing renovation, but the ones entering and leaving were not townspeople but undead?!
Wagner's mouth hung open involuntarily.
Some parts of the attire on these undead looked very family to Wagner. Bracers and shin guards issued by the city defense force were worn by the undead. A skeleton pushing a handcart filled with construction debris, mingling with the townspeople and delivering things outside, had a helmet on its head that conspicuously displayed the Bartalis family coat of arms—also the emblem of the Indahl city defense force.
Without a doubt, these undead were the same ones that attacked them yesterday, stripping and capturing them along with their horses.
Wagner clutches his head. It felt like his worldview was shattering.
These undead not only obeyed Yang's commands and fought for Rex but also worked for Rex just like the townsfolk?!
Wagner wondered if his previous understanding of these dark creatures had been completely wrong.
Was all the news reported in papers a lie?!