The Fourth Calamity: Starting with Dungeon Slimes

"So can anyone tell me what exactly happened here?"

The place where Aisa was imprisoned was now bustling with noise and filled with smoke.

Several players were responsible for serving tea and water.

The remaining players then sat around the table, playing mahjong and cards, having a great time.

This goes beyond just being outrageous.

Jiang Chen felt completely numb.

"So you promised to brew dragon meat, but it turned out like this?"

This place has been completely transformed into a card and chess room.

Jiang Chen's lips twitched involuntarily.

"So I just want to ask, can you please not be so outrageous?"

"What are you guys doing?"

At this moment, Lilith, who had come with Jiang Chen, was also completely stunned by the scene before her.

Lilith originally wanted to come with Jiang Chen to see the stupid dragon make a fool of itself.

Who could have imagined that this would be the scene before their eyes?

"No wonder I've been seeing these 'pata' running this way a lot lately."

"And there were several of them at once, and they were all shouting that they were going to have a good fight today."

Jiang Chen had not expected what was happening before his eyes.

Jiang Chen was particularly speechless when he saw Aisa sitting at the card table, muttering to herself.

"Alright, now I don't even need to teach them, they've already gone astray."

Jiang Chen's tone was full of helplessness.

"So what are you doing?"

Taking a deep breath, Jiang Chen stepped forward.

Upon seeing Jiang Chen arrive, the previously noisy crowd immediately fell silent.

"Chief, what brings you here? Want to play a couple of rounds? It's a lot of fun."

Upon seeing Jiang Chen arrive, one of the players greeted him and then turned his attention back to the card table.

Jiang Chen, who was already speechless with frustration, turned his gaze to Athena's table not far away.

At this moment, Athena is arguing with several players.

"Damn it, you cheated! You guys definitely cheated!" Asya glared angrily at the group of cats and said viciously.

Upon hearing what Athena said, one of the players stepped forward.

"As the saying goes, you have to catch a thief red-handed to catch him. You accuse us of cheating, do you have any evidence?"

As soon as he finished speaking, many players who hadn't yet sat down at the table and were watching from the sidelines immediately gathered around, quickly forming a small group.

"Without evidence, do you think I would dare accuse you of cheating without proof?"

As she spoke, Athena waved her small hand.

The next moment, a blinding white light shone.

Even though it's daytime, the intense light is still dazzling.

Then Jiang Chen noticed that the several Pata next to Ai Shiya had their originally dark bodies illuminated by this light.

Through one of the thudded bodies, Jiang Chen saw the card that was sitting on it below.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Chen felt his brows furrow.

Athena, on the other hand, had a completely different reaction.

"Hmph! Now what excuses do you have left!"

"Catch the thief red-handed, I've got you."

"Therefore, we must follow the rules of the underworld!"

Seeing that he had been caught, the player was not afraid.

"I guess I'm just unlucky this time. So what if it's three cuts and six holes? Bring it on!"

This player showed no fear whatsoever.

Then the player had several holes in his body.

However, the player didn't care at all, after all, the slime's regenerative ability was no joke.

.......

"Cough cough cough!"

Jiang Chen coughed a few times on purpose.

"Huh? Chief, what brings you here?"

Why am I here? Why do you think I'm here? If I hadn't come, you would have turned this place into a casino.

I took a deep breath and calmed myself down.

"So, can anyone tell me what's going on here?"

Upon hearing this, a player jumped over.

"Chief, didn't you tell us to find a way to make Athena obey?"

Hearing this, Jiang Chen rolled his eyes, somewhat speechless.

"So this is your method? Didn't I tell you to use that hawk-training method before?"

"Chief, the method you mentioned before didn't work. Our method is incredibly effective."

As if worried that Jiang Chen wouldn't believe him, the player cleared his throat.

"Brothers, those with IOUs, come over here."

"An IOU?"

Jiang Chen was puzzled by this.

However, the next moment, more than 20 players jumped over to Jiang Chen's side.

Then they all pulled out their IOUs and looked at Athena.

"Give me my money back!"

.......

Not long after...

The treehouse where Jiang Chen is.

Jiang Chen was writing furiously at the table, while Aisya was arguing with him.

"Let me tell you, what you're saying is absolutely impossible. My appearance fee as a mighty dragon is never cheap. You're offering me 100 gold coins for helping you with a single match? You're trying to fob me off like a beggar."

"I think 100 gold coins is too much. You're just a young dragon right now. If you said you were a fully grown dragon, I wouldn't have a problem giving you more, but given your current condition, I can't give you any more."

"Aren't baby dragons dragons too? Baby dragons have fighting power too, okay? Not to mention anything else, even the whole bunch of Pata under your command combined might not be a match for me."

Jiang Chen completely ignored this.

"In short, a maximum of 100 is the most that can be achieved."

"And all those other miscellaneous fees you mentioned are completely unreasonable, and I would never pay them."

"You have two choices now. The first is to pay me an appearance fee for each battle, or to serve me indefinitely and I'll pay you a monthly salary. There is no third option."

Upon hearing this, Athena's expression changed repeatedly.

"How much will you pay me each month?"

"500 gold coins".

"Only five hundred?" Asya immediately objected.

"Me, a mighty dragon, and you only offer me this little bit of money?"

"I'm telling you, it's absolutely impossible for 3000 gold coins to be missing!"

"Three thousand?" Jiang Chen said, his gaze falling on the IOU on the table.

"You wish! You think you can just use this to cover your losses? You really think I'm a sucker?"

"Hmph! This is all your fault. You robbed my house. Otherwise, how could I be without gold coins?"

"Let me reiterate this solemnly: what I did was collect spoils of war. The victor is king, the loser is villain. What, you, a mighty dragon, can't accept defeat?"

"No matter what you say, I won't do it for less than 2000!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Chen pondered for a moment, "I'll give you 1000 at most, otherwise we'll charge you per session. If we charge you per session, you probably won't even earn a few hundred gold coins a month."

Seeing that Jiang Cheng was absolutely unwilling to raise the price, Aisya glared at him angrily.

He finally nodded.

"One thousand it is, but you have to pay me a year's salary in advance!"

"What the hell?!"

Jiang Chen was dumbfounded.

"No way, what are you thinking? We haven't even done any work yet, and you're asking me to pay you a year's salary in advance? How can you be so shameless?"

"I don't care, you have to pay a year's salary in advance, otherwise I won't help you."

Hearing what Athena said, Jiang Chen couldn't help but facepalm.

"Okay, I can pay you in gold coins, but I have one condition."

"What are the conditions?" Athena asked warily.

"We need to sign another contract. This contract will mainly explain your job duties and that you must follow my instructions; otherwise, there's no point in discussing it."

Hearing what Jiang Chen said, although Athena looked very conflicted, she finally nodded and agreed to the request.

Honestly, if Jiang Chen hadn't found some magical equipment and mithril materials while searching her savings, he would absolutely not have agreed.

Issuing too many gold coins in a short period of time can easily cause inflation.

The fragile economic system it has built cannot withstand such turmoil.

As a result, the two parties reached a cooperation agreement.

As soon as Aisa stepped out of the tree hole, she saw a group of Pata had gathered around her, staring at her expectantly.

"Hmph! Mere pat! I, Aesya, am a great dragon, how could I possibly do something like not paying back what I owe!"

As she spoke, Athena paid off all the gold coins she owed in one go.

This made the players who received the gold coins ecstatic.

"This money is really easy to make."

"He's both bad at the game and loves to play, which is exactly what I like."

"Looks like she's going over there again. Let's go, guys."

"I just saw the NPC give her a lot of money. We're going to make a fortune this time."

.......

Watching Athena and the players leave, Jiang Chen felt a headache coming on.

"This means there's going to be another problem child."

The only saving grace was that it was, after all, a dragon, and unlike Moses, it wasn't completely uncontrollable, which added to their fighting strength.

Pulling his thoughts back, Jiang Chen couldn't help but start thinking about something else.

"Am I really that bad?"

As he spoke, Jiang Chen's gaze fell on the counter not far away.

Various magical equipment were neatly arranged at the back.

Some of it was leftover from before, and some was obtained by plundering Athena's secret stash.

Compared to before, there are now significantly more items displayed in the stores.

Besides the standard equipment, there are also many raw materials.

The dragon's treasure vault always contains a wide variety of items, some are spoils of war, some are looted, and in short, all sorts of random things.

Besides their beloved gold coins, dragons also love many shiny things, and of course, they also like to collect some precious materials.

It was for this reason that Jiang Chen's personal savings were expanded.

"The problem is that I really can't figure it out. I have all kinds of magical equipment and materials that players can spend gold coins on."

"In addition, players are also doing business, so gold coins are constantly circulating, and many players are in a state of not having enough money."

"Most importantly, I also strictly controlled the amount of gold coins issued."

"But why is inflation still so severe?"

Jiang Chen really couldn't figure out what the reason was.

After a long while, he could only sigh helplessly.

"As expected, this economic system is not one I can easily manage."

Upon closer reflection, Jiang Chen seemed to have found a reasonable explanation for those who studied finance before his transmigration.

This isn't his problem; it's because the system itself is extremely complex, and any tiny variable can affect the final outcome.

"Let's just hold on for as long as we can for now."

"Once we leave the dungeon and have more trading partners, this situation should improve."

Jiang Chen could only console himself with this thought.

During this period, the players seemed very relaxed, with nothing to do, but Jiang Chen knew very well that his side was now in a state of preparation for battle.

Jiang Chen is now waiting for the amateur welders to manufacture more weapons.

"These technical players are still not enough."

"One part is responsible for the construction of the air fortress, and another part is used to make some conventional weapons for combat."

"Tech enthusiasts are still a bit overwhelmed."

Jiang Chen was quite helpless about this.

Looking at my level, I realized I was still 5 levels away from reaching the maximum level.

The monsters on this current dungeon floor are definitely not enough to support my level 5 advancement. To advance, I need to go to the next floor.

Otherwise, if Jiang Shen could evolve again, and his fourth calamity talent would be enhanced, increasing the maximum number of summoned players, then I wouldn't be facing this situation of not having enough manpower now.

But there's nothing we can do about it, especially at this level where the experience required to level up is enormous.

.......

However, while Jiang Chen was still worrying about the economic system and hierarchy,

At this moment, on the battlefield between the Nightmare Clan and the Succubus Clan.

The cheers were deafening, like a tidal wave.

Watching the succubuses slink away, the Nightmare Clan and the Dark Elf Clan won the war.

"We finally won, but our losses this time were also considerable."

The chieftain of the Nightmare Clan was a warhorse engulfed in red flames and covered in silver armor.

Beside it stood the chieftain of the Dark Elf race.

"This war has taken several of our races by surprise."

"I never expected the succubus race to be so insane," came the voice of the dark elf chieftain.

"Yes." The Nightmare Clan Chief sighed. "And even more troublesome things are yet to come. After this incident, I think the Succubus Clan should also know that we know about the artifact."

"Actually, as the war progressed and escalated, when both sides mobilized large numbers of troops, they probably already guessed it."

As he spoke, the Dark Elf chieftain frowned.

"At this point, instead of retreating, they chose to let the conflict escalate further."

"This behavior is very abnormal, because the Dragon Cave Dungeon is our territory. If the succubi aren't stupid, they should know very well that on our territory, they will not only suffer great losses, but also have nothing to do with wishful thinking if they want to defeat us."

"But they still chose to continue fighting us, and things are probably not as simple as they seem on the surface."

Upon hearing what the Dark Elf chieftain said, the Nightmare chieftain beside him nodded in agreement.

"It's obvious that there are things we don't know about this."

"They want to enter the dungeon. I reckon there's something more important than the artifacts."

"To be precise, there must be something more important inside than the artifact, otherwise it wouldn't be worth them paying such a huge price."

Upon hearing this, the Dark Elf chieftain nodded thoughtfully.

"I remember the intelligence mentioned that not long ago, the succubus guard captain went in and never came out again."

"I also know this information. It seems that he probably died in the dungeon. But it's not right to make such a fuss over the body of a guard captain."

At this point, the two clan leaders paused, and then they thought of a possibility.

"Unless it's this guard team, and the captain has something more precious than the artifact."

It's important to know that both sides have deployed their top-tier combat forces in this battle, and even the chieftains of several races have participated.

Although several races are at odds, it is actually very rare for such a large-scale conflict to occur.

"I can't think of anything more precious than a divine artifact, but that doesn't stop us from obtaining it."

"In short, we need to speed up our exploration. The succubus clan will definitely not give up so easily. We must get what we want before they fight us again." As he spoke, the dark elf chieftain looked at the nightmare clan chieftain.

"Which level have we explored so far?"

"During this period, our exploration team has been accelerating its progress at all costs."

"There's a special team behind us responsible for clearing the way and creating a barely passable path."

"With the two of us working together, we can safely reach the 58th floor."

"It won't be long before we're able to get to the 59th floor."

Upon hearing this, the Dark Elf chieftain nodded.

"Although the war outside has caused us heavy losses, it has at least bought us some time."

"I'm quite curious about what it is that would make the succubi go to such lengths and go to such lengths."

"I'm curious too," the Nightmare Clan Chief added. "According to the intelligence from the front lines, we should be able to reach the 60th floor in just a few days."

"The answer will be revealed in due time."

For the two of them, as long as they can get to the 60th floor, that group of Pata is not a problem.

As for the group of giant dragons behind Pata, they were somewhat troublesome, but if it were a single giant dragon, they still had a way to handle it.

In their eyes, the only real threat was that giant dragon.

What use is a dragon no matter how powerful it is? Faced with their overwhelming army, the dragon cannot hold out for long.

Although many of their people will surely die, the losses will be worthwhile if they can obtain what the succubus race has paid so high prices for, as well as the artifacts and the dragon's treasure.

.......

Jiang Chen was naturally unaware of the situation regarding the Succubus and Nightmare races.

At this moment, Jiang Chen was making final preparations for challenging the Guardians, just like always.

"Currently, more than 30 mortars have been built."

"Based on this principle, the combined power of magic and other techniques can be enormous."

At this moment, Jiang Chen is sorting out his current assets.

"For now, the players' respawn point will be located here in the tree hole. We'll move it there once the Sky Whale is built."

"So now the biggest problem is how to get there as quickly as possible after the players respawn."

Because of the long distance, if a battle were to break out on such a long front, Jiang Chen's side would face immense pressure.

Compared to the players who have been slacking off lately, Jiang Chen has been working incredibly hard to prepare for this challenge against the Guardians.

Jiang Chen considered everything from the most basic material supply to the transportation of personnel after the war.

"This is a troublesome matter."

"We've already arranged for some players to repair the road over the past two days. With the help of magic, the road repair speed is quite fast."

"By using earth magic to harden the land to the level of a road, subsequent supplies should be delivered faster."

"We've prepared plenty of safe houses, so even if the Guardians use a large-scale area-of-effect attack, there won't be a situation where everyone is wiped out."

However, just as Jiang Chen was pondering this matter, a huge figure suddenly flew towards them from a distance.

Without even thinking, Jiang Chen knew who had come.

Ever since Athena arrived here, Moses has been coming over to him from time to time.

"It seems that Moses can be put to good use."

"You always like to follow Athena around like this, it would be a shame if you didn't put in some effort later."

Jiang Chen harbored deep resentment towards Moses during this period.

Not only has Moses been coming to my side every day lately, but what's most infuriating is that he's also giving Asya gold coins.

This made Jiang Chen so angry he wanted to grind his teeth.

A few days ago, Aiseya took a lot of gold coins from me, and after returning some of them, she went back to playing with the players.

The result speaks for itself.

Anyway, I lost it all very quickly.

Then, for reasons unknown, Moses gave Asya gold coins.

Upon seeing Moses flying in, Jiang Chen knew without a doubt that this guy had gone home to get gold coins to deliver to Athena.

If he hadn't repeatedly told Moses that he could only take a maximum of 100 gold coins per day, he probably would have emptied his entire fortune.

"Damn it, I didn't expect it to be a licking dragon."

What's most infuriating is that although he said he could only take a maximum of 100, Moses would secretly take a lot more each time.

This makes the fragile economic system that Jiang Chen had worked so hard to build even more fragile.

"Damn it!"

Especially during this period, Lilith also followed suit and learned from her.

The most outrageous thing is that Lilith also has quite a few gold coins.

So, after dealing with these two suckers, Jiang Chen felt like his head was about to explode.

Jiang Chen had thought that the magical equipment he had managed to acquire would last him at least a month or two, but it had almost been bought up by players in just a few days.

"Damn it, if this keeps up, where am I supposed to get more magical equipment for you guys?"

Jiang Chen knew very well that once he sold all the equipment he had, he would truly be facing an economic collapse.

"It's numb!"

Originally, Jiang Chen planned to prepare for a while longer.

It was because of the antics of these two brilliant strategists that we were forced to begin our war against the Guardians ahead of schedule.

When internal pressure becomes too great, the simplest and most effective way to alleviate the enormous economic pressure is to expand externally.