The Fourth Calamity: Starting with Dungeon Slimes

Chapter 176 The War Is About to Begin

For the next period of time, both sides were making intensive preparations.

On the 50th floor of the underground city.

Dark elf and succubus squads are gathering, and a large number of troops have been mobilized here. However, due to the teleportation system, the cost of transporting supplies and other resources will be very high.

This slowed down their regrouping time, but it also gave the players more time.

In reality, this war was very unprofitable for both races. First of all, with so many people, the daily food and drink costs were enormous. The dungeon was not a war zone, so the resources stored here were simply not enough.

Considering that the war will continue for some time and that people will still need to eat and drink, it will be necessary to transport a large amount of various supplies in. This will lead to a problem: the cost will skyrocket.

A single meal, including food and transportation costs, could cost as much as 1 to 2 gold coins. This means that normal daily expenses could amount to 50,000 to 60,000 gold coins.

In addition, there are a series of issues such as resource allocation in the later stages. All things considered, the economic pressure every day is very high.

Of course, to ensure everything goes smoothly, the necessary investments must be made. Therefore, including equipment and other miscellaneous items, the cost per soldier during this period has reached 50-80 gold coins.

This means that this battle will cost nearly a million gold coins.

These gold coins would be a respectable number in the human empire, but they would be a different story among races like the Dark Elves and Succubi.

First of all, it is definitely more difficult for them to obtain gold coins than for humans. Under normal circumstances, they can only rely on some local specialties to trade with human merchants. Human merchants usually drive down prices as much as possible in order to earn more profits.

Therefore, their specialty products are sold at very low prices. However, this is unavoidable, as human merchants are their only channel for distribution.

Although they had considered cooperating with humans to transport supplies, after several attempts, they discovered that it was not as simple as they had imagined, with the first problem being the wear and tear on the vehicles and horses along the way.

Transportation in this world is not as simple as you might imagine. It's not enough to just bring your supplies over; you also have to consider the costs involved. Even if the Dream Demons can act as horses to carry things, the problem is that the Dream Demon Orbs also have to be consumed.

If you factor in all these things, including all the costs of buying and selling, it's actually less profitable than having a merchant come and buy them.

This doesn't even take into account the possibility of encountering robbers or thieves; if the goods are stolen, the losses would be even more severe.

For this reason, it is extremely difficult for these races to trade with humans. Although merchants like to drive down prices wildly, there is one thing they have to admit.

That means that although the merchants are pushing the price down very hard, they are also taking on the risks along with them.

Over time, the trading model changed to trading directly with merchants. Sometimes, if you needed certain equipment, you could ask the merchants to bring it over.

However, these are the things they actually spend their money on.

Smuggling these weapons is naturally very profitable, but also very risky. The human empire certainly does not want its weapons to fall into the hands of other races and be used to strengthen them.

However, most races lack the ability to craft equipment, especially in large quantities, which created a market for it.

This time, in order to attack these slimes, they equipped their soldiers with better equipment, in order to ensure that they could defeat these slimes in one battle.

After dealing with these slimes, this equipment will still need to be used in subsequent wars with other races. In short, it's not a bad deal, since you'll need to buy these war reserves no matter what; it's just a matter of when.

In fact, preparing these equipment took the longest time in the entire process of material allocation.

After all, these equipment merchants don't transport large quantities each time. They contacted many merchants at the same time to gather so many materials in a short period of time.

Even so, they have been preparing for quite a long time so far.

Since learning about their news, players have been making preparations in advance.

The players learned of this news even before they arrived.

They also prepared for so long, so the players were also quite well prepared during this time.

First, let's talk about the mechs on the players' side.

The mechs have basically entered the mass production stage, and many players have gathered all the materials they had collected before.

Then the materials were used to build mechs, but most of them had already been sold, so they had to waste money buying them back at high prices. In short, the price of materials kept rising during this period.

This allowed players who had stockpiled materials to make a small profit.

With the addition of these new features, players' strength will naturally be elevated to several levels once again.

Of course, compared to the mechs, the amateur welders are the ones who actually make the money.

At this moment, after learning that the enemy had almost gathered and was ready to send troops, a large number of players gathered around the amateur welder and his group.

Looking at the huge sign in front of the factory, which listed various types of equipment, the players were discussing it animatedly.

"Then it will be a group battle. In a group battle, it's not really useful for output. The most important thing is to maximize survivability. I think a set of defensive equipment would be pretty good."

"A C-grade defensive suit provides a 100% defense bonus to the mech, while a B-grade suit can provide up to 120%."

Of course, if you have the money, you can go for the top-of-the-line S-Class, which can reach 200%.

"Even an A-grade upgrade is only 150%, so the S-grade upgrade is really significant. However, the price has also increased several times over. If you only consider the price, it's definitely not worth it."

"Grade A is priced at 500 gold coins, while Grade S has jumped to 2000. These prices are obviously outrageous; it's a huge loss."

"The 200% improvement isn't just on paper; you'll feel the difference when you actually play it. Even a 10% or 20% increase feels significantly different."

The players gathered at the factory gate, discussing the matter animatedly.

The discussions mostly revolve around how to best combine equipment to maximize cost-effectiveness, how to choose the right gear, and other similar topics.

The area in front of the amateur welders' factory was bustling with activity for a time.

Everyone has a different understanding of equipment, and their choices will naturally differ. However, for most players, it's impossible to pursue the ultimate. Although all mechs are manufactured in the same factory, the attributes of the mechs produced by the different materials you choose will vary greatly. Previously, players divided these mechs into several categories.

First, there are some low-level mechs, mainly obtained by capturing junk magical items from soldiers. These mechs have the worst attributes, but they are also the ones players capture the most.

Next comes the intermediate level. Mechs of this level are usually forged from captured magical items, and their base attributes are one to two times that of the original.

Then there are advanced mechs. Advanced mechs are usually made from some decent magical items captured, along with special alloys purchased from amateur welders. The attributes of these mechs are naturally higher than the previous two levels, and most importantly, they have the highest cost-effectiveness.

Although the overall price is significantly higher than the previous ones, the attribute improvements are undeniable, reaching up to 300%. Therefore, considering the price, the cost-effectiveness is simply maximized.

Finally, there's the top-tier mech. The attributes of this level of mech are more than twice that of the advanced level. They usually use extremely rare high-level magical items. These magical items are very difficult to obtain. Basically, only those who are like battlefield commanders can find them, or some soldiers have a few treasured ones.

In short, this material is the least available, and initially its main purpose was for collection. Many players who acquired this valuable item did not sell it as junk, but kept it for collection.

They never expected that this collection would have such a use.

For them, this is naturally a good thing. In addition, some wealthy people pursue these extreme attributes, which has led to a high premium for these items. Some players have estimated that the cost of such a top-tier set, including equipment, is at least 3000.

While the improvement compared to other ordinary applications is still quite impressive, the increase in cost is also quite impressive.

However, for the wealthy, none of this matters. Being able to wear a cool and high-performance mecha suit, even if it costs a bit more, is not unacceptable.

And so, the players discussed and began configuring their equipment, while numerous guides appeared on the forums. These guides naturally revolved around how to best equip characters for this battle, with the most viewed being a combination of the lowest-level mech with a mid-level defensive set. This combination was currently considered the most cost-effective, offering the highest overall stats while being the cheapest to build, naturally gaining popularity among many players.

Meanwhile, on the salted fish's side...

Salty Fish and his team members were all ready for battle. They were discussing their next move.

"So, Salty Fish, are you sure this is really okay?"

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"Pairing a mid-level mech with top-tier equipment feels a bit off to me."

Hearing his teammates' concerns, Salty Fish simply waved his hand.

"What's wrong with this? This plan is something I researched for a long time. Although the plan on the forum does have some credibility, in my eyes it's only feasible. There's nothing else to it. Do you really think that pairing it with medium-quality equipment is cost-effective? If this strategy hadn't been written out, then it would indeed be very cost-effective."

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"But now that the strategy guide has been written, look how happily those amateur welders have been raising prices these past few days. To put it bluntly, the current situation is that people see that medium-quality products are selling well, so they've started to raise prices on the spot. The markup is ridiculously high. And you, on top of that, are following suit. What used to be a 100-gold-coin job has now turned into at least 200. At this point, I feel that the cost-effectiveness isn't so high anymore."

"In short, listen to me, my plan is absolutely flawless. First of all, the equipment has been upgraded to extremely high stats in all aspects. Secondly, and most importantly, the overall cost of this set of stats is much lower than those that focus on maximizing the limits."

"However, the effect it can achieve is roughly equivalent to that of high-level mech configurations and high-level equipment."

As he spoke, Salty Fish was extremely confident. He had thought about this plan for a long time and it was the most effective, yet the most cost-efficient.

However, while Salty Fish and his group were still discussing, many other players had already started loading various supplies into the trucks.

Soon, trucks carrying supplies for their respective squads began heading towards other levels of the dungeon.

Seeing this, Salty Fish and his friends didn't hesitate. They immediately called over the player in charge of transportation and began making arrangements.

Before long, accompanied by the roar of engines, Salty Fish and his team set off.

Of course, after Salty Fish and his team set off, quite a few other teams also left ahead of time.

As more and more player squads headed towards the battlefield, the area had now entered a true state of war.

While the players were setting off, the situation was similar for the Dark Elf and Nightmare teams. Both races were almost fully prepared and were advancing towards the level the players were guarding.

Meanwhile, those who arrived at the front lines on both sides had already begun to set up spies in their respective directions to gather information about the situation on the other side.

The atmosphere in the entire area gradually became tense.

Both races knew very well that the battle would begin soon.

Therefore, everyone is making various preparations for the battle, and in order to ensure that everything goes smoothly, every detail is arranged in an orderly manner.

So, as time went by, two days quickly passed. During these two days, the situation on both sides was basically the same, with both sides making various preparations.

At the same time, the relevant intelligence was also transmitted to their respective races.

They were trying to gather as much information as possible about the other side—how many people they had, their general configuration, and their situation.

Meanwhile, on the players' side...

"Good news, everyone. Thanks to the help of Old Six's team, we are indeed gathering information faster than the other side. We have now basically determined the enemy's approximate configuration and deployment. So I have decided to launch an attack tonight under the cover of darkness."

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