The Fourth Calamity: Starting with Dungeon Slimes

Chapter 139 Development Team

After a series of auctions, several valuable areas were quickly sold off.

Just as they had expected, those who bought these items were mostly new players who had just entered the game.

Of course, the current in-game currency ratio, while not as high as when the game first launched, is still quite good.

New players who can participate in auctions and also sign up to pay gold coins for development are basically all pay-to-win players.

Otherwise, the total cost would amount to several thousand, and even though it's shared by several people, each person would still have to pay at least several hundred.

These costs are naturally unaffordable for free-to-play players.

Jiang Chen was also very satisfied with the players' performance.

"In that case, these resource-rich areas will basically be given priority for development."

"And most importantly, besides these places, there are other places that may not have been discovered yet, which will also be discovered soon."

"Because quite a few players are making money today, and now that selling information has been confirmed as a viable strategy, they will definitely continue to do it, which is exactly the effect I want."

At least in Jiang Chen's eyes.

He would prefer to see players develop all walks of life.

In the past, the situation here was, in Jiang Chen's words, too simplistic.

For example, if a certain industry is profitable, then basically everyone will flock to it.

After this lucrative industry disappeared, these players quickly entered a period of inactivity.

For Jiang Chen, various development methods were naturally not feasible.

Of course, he could understand why the players did this. After all, the costs were there, and to put it bluntly, if they took a stable route, they would have gold coins coming in every day. If they went to develop a new industry, they might waste a lot of time and not only invest a lot, but they might not even make any money.

In that case, innovation will almost certainly fall behind.

"The reason might also be the decrease in players."

"Currently, I still have too few players."

"A few hundred players like this are not enough. It seems we need to find a way to advance to the next stage as soon as possible. We don't need to worry about experience."

"First, there's the development period."

"Players will definitely kill a lot of monsters, and the experience from killing monsters, even if it can't get me to max level, will definitely be enough for the later battles against the Nightmare Clan and the Dark Elf Clan."

As for the other materials used for the upgrade...

"7

Thinking about this, Jiang Chen couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

"Although I was lucky enough to get my hands on the materials for this stage, the only core materials I know of for the next stage are currently available from the succubus race."

"This thing is not easy to get. If we want to get the one that the succubus has, there are only two ways. The first way is to fight our way out."

"Then we can bring the succubus race under our control, and then we can get this thing in a perfectly logical way. This is undoubtedly a huge undertaking."

The plan was extremely difficult to execute, and he knew very well that if they left the dungeon, his group of Pata would be no match for any race.

Currently, the dungeon is inconvenient due to its location, making it difficult to transport supplies and access the area. As a result, the number of enemies here is always controllable. However, once they leave the dungeon, their numbers become uncontrollable.

"So the only relatively reliable way I can use right now is to send an elite squad over there and steal this thing out."

"But this elite team also needs to leave the dungeon. The easiest way is to leave through the teleportation array on the 50th floor."

While thinking about this, Jiang Chen also started to figure out how to take down the 50th floor.

"That might not be so easy; after all, the 50th floor is their stronghold."

"The number of troops over there is definitely not small. Although the number of players has doubled compared to before, it is still not enough."

Thinking about this, Jiang Chen couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

It's obvious that this is not an easy task, but that doesn't mean we should just give up.

Jiang Chen also had a plan for himself. The first one was that when he left the dungeon, the number of players on his side should be at least four figures.

In fact, Jiang Chen felt that even this quantity was probably not enough.

After all, the tribes outside have a considerable number of troops. If a conflict were to break out, they would not send as many as the underground city, which might only send one or two thousand people. Instead, they would likely send tens of thousands of troops.

If you don't have enough players on your side, you can easily be wiped out.

Moreover, once the players' resurrection pool is moved out, there will truly be no way out for our side. If we are completely overwhelmed, we will be finished.

The players' resurrection pool is currently positioned at level 60 without much issue; even if they wanted to attack, it wouldn't be that easy.

They also set up their main base here. There are many defensive fortifications, so they have nothing to fear. Even if they were to actually break through, don't forget about the earth dragons.

With this setup, it's practically impossible for the other side to easily take over this place unless they prepare one or two months in advance.

"One or two months in advance" refers to continuously sending troops in ahead of time to bring the troop strength here to a certain scale.

However, if there is such a large-scale operation, no matter how bad Jiang Chen's side is, they will still be able to receive the news, and then they can sabotage their plans in advance.

Therefore, for Jiang Chen, the 60th floor is the best protective shield.

Once we leave here, all sorts of risks will follow.

This is why Jiang Chen is working on the Sky Whale Project.

Get this weapon of war out there, and then put the players' resurrection pool in it.

First of all, this thing itself has a strong deterrent effect.

If he were to actually attack them, he would have to weigh the consequences of his actions. In addition, the high mobility of this device would allow it to escape immediately in case of special circumstances.

Only in this way could Jiang Chen feel a little more at ease.

While he was still thinking this, players began to come and pay gold coins to register.

Meanwhile, Athena and Lilith took on the role of accountants.

The entire dragon, Athena, is covered in hemp.

Watching these people line up and eagerly hand over their gold coins, Athena couldn't help but begin to doubt whether the knowledge she had previously acquired was correct.

The reason for this suspicion is quite simple: what's happening now is just too outrageous.

Athena was very curious.

First of all, those two underground levels are areas that the Pata have not yet developed.

Moreover, this is an underground city, which is full of dangers. Developing new areas naturally results in a very high mortality rate.

This is Athena's understanding.

In fact, Athena's understanding of this dungeon is completely correct; that's just how dungeons are.

But here's the problem: Athena just can't understand why they're developing these dangerous areas. In essence, it's like they're expanding the territory for their tribe.

Normally, the lords would offer generous bounties, and then these Pata would use an adventurer-like approach to go to these dangerous places.

This is a perfectly normal phenomenon.

But what is the truth?

They went on an adventure to such a dangerous place, but not only did Jiang Chen not pay the group of Pata, they also had to pay Jiang Chen the fee before they could go on the adventure.

Athena couldn't understand the logic behind this at all.

If you say that these people are just ordinary people who were fooled and did such stupid things, then that understanding is quite normal.

The problem is that Aiseya, who has been in contact with these Pata for so long, knows very well that these Pata are no ordinary Pata. Their intelligence is so high that it can even rival her own.

Especially when playing cards, all sorts of cheating methods emerge endlessly, and there are many cheating methods that even I don't understand now.

However, this group of shrewd Pata risked their lives to expand their territory, only to end up spending their own money.

So what exactly happened? What was the reason? Why did they do this?

The most outrageous thing is that, looking at all these excited pats, Athena really couldn't understand what was so exciting about this.

Her gaze fell on the succubus who was at odds with her, and she found that the creature was very calm, which puzzled Athena even more.

Lilith remained calm, of course.

Although Lilith was also a little shocked when she first heard about this, she had spent so much time with these Pata, so it was actually quite normal for such an outrageous thing to happen to the Pata.

Looking at Athena's constantly changing expressions, Lilith was somewhat disdainful.

What an ignorant fool.

Lilith gave Athena a silent look of disdain before continuing with her work.

And so, time flew by.

The areas explored by the intelligence team were quickly registered.

After registering their development areas, these players happily left and started recruiting.

At this moment, one of the teams, consisting of five people, was visible.

The leader was a player with the ID "Jumping Dragon".

Jumping Dragon is a newcomer to the game who recently joined, but he strongly disagrees with calling himself a newbie.

From the moment the first batch of players entered the game, Jumping Dragon has been following the game closely on the official website.

He had read all the guides from those veteran beta testers, and he knew very well what major events had happened in the game so far, as well as the strategies veteran players used to make money.

It's no exaggeration to say that, aside from not having entered the game before, he knows everything about it. If you put him together with the first batch of veteran players and only discuss these things, no one would be able to tell that he just entered the game this time.

In fact, there are quite a few players in similar situations to him.

At that moment, Jumping Dragon arrived at the market with several of his teammates.

As soon as they arrived at the market, Jumping Dragon saw that there were already quite a few players there.

There are also a lot of stalls here.

It's obvious to everyone that the reason why so many new players have come recently is that these veteran players are putting away items they no longer need.

After all, it's useless for veteran players, but it's a treasure for new players.

Clearly, these stalls are not what Jumping Dragon cares about. Even if he really wanted to buy equipment, Jumping Dragon would only go to factories run by amateur welders.

The main advantage is that these places offer guaranteed quality and transparent pricing, unlike these stalls where experienced customers will simply mark up prices if you don't understand market prices.

Jumping Dragon came here, naturally to recruit workers.

"First, there's the Bloodthirsty Lizard Clan. We need at least ten humanoid Bloodthirsty Lizards, and then the ordinary lizard-shaped ones as scouts. Their advantage lies in their ability to move very quickly in complex terrain and their strong adaptability to harsh environments."

They were analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of different lizard races.

The number of jumping dragons was quickly determined.

"Eight humanoid bloodthirsty lizards are enough, mainly for transporting goods and providing basic security. We can have more ordinary lizard spies, around 15 on hand."

"Because the area we were exploring was the 56th floor, a rocky area, these lizards' powerful climbing ability came in very handy. In addition, their skin, which can change color at any time, is also a great form of camouflage, allowing them to detect their surroundings more quickly and react in time."

"The lizard-shaped Bloodthirsty Lizard costs 30 silver coins per day to rent, while the human-shaped one costs 40 silver coins."

"Because it involves crossing underground cities, the work location is too far away, so the cost has increased accordingly."

"The cost of accidental death compensation is also a considerable sum. Forget it, to be on the safe side, I'll just spend some money to buy some accident insurance. That way, even if something really happens, I won't lose much."

With the Bloodthirsty Lizards chosen, the next tasks were the Skeleton Soldiers responsible for hauling the loads and the Dire Wolves for security.

"The cost of a demon wolf isn't cheap, but it's not much. With demon wolves, what's needed most is their sense of smell and perception."

"This thing is mainly suitable for reconnaissance units like the Bloodlust Lizard to work together."

"Preparing two should be about right."

"We need more small skeletons; we'll need at least fifty or sixty of these."

"The rental fee for the little skeletons is a bit cheaper, only 10 silver coins per day."

"They are also the main laborers hauling ore from the mines."

As they talked, Jumping Dragon and his friends quickly finalized the arrangements. After finishing all that, they went to the amateur welder's factory to buy some mining equipment.

Whether it's heavy trucks responsible for transporting ore, or excavators and loaders responsible for digging, these things are indispensable.

That's why developing this place requires at least mid-level spenders to even consider it.

The initial preparations alone cost a considerable amount of money.