---Third POV---
Bard was a magic swordsman who unexpectedly rose to prominence after discovering his magical talent among the ranks of displaced refugees. Although his talent wasn't extraordinary enough to get him into the church or the Warriors Guild, having grown accustomed to hardship, he cared little for the so-called dignity.
After encountering a terrifying necromancer and members of The Watchers who defied all the legends he'd heard, as well as the mysterious opportunities faintly hinted at in the town, he firmly decided to stay. For him, training and adventuring were merely means to make a living, and to live better.
Now that Honeyvale met this requirement, leaving was out of the question. The first thing he did after deciding to settle down was to secure a house of his own. He chose the highest-paying job as an iron miner for this very reason.
His grin grew wider.
He glanced around to ensure the others were busy with their own affairs, then leaned closer to Cobb on the other side of the counter and whispered, "No one else knows this yet, so I'm telling you in advance. Because of the growing population in town, the lord has decided to expand Honeyvale's territory, adding three more residential areas. The land in the new districts is dirt cheap. With my new job, I'll have saved enough to buy a plot of land in just a week."
Cobb's eyes widened in surprise. It wasn't that he didn't trust Bard's news.
"So cheap?"
"Of course! You wouldn't believe how big the new territory is." Bard raised his eyebrows smugly. "The lord is a being who stands against the gods themselves. Expanding a bit of land is nothing. If he wanted, the entire Great Oak Forest could be his domain. Of course, the land is cheap."
Cobb's mouth twitched. Two weeks ago, Bard had been a devout follower of the God of War. Now, he used the Battle of the Fallen Gods as a résumé for the necromancer lord.
People sure were fickle…
The doubts in his heart about the land expansion quickly faded. Just as Bard said, while the reason the necromancer had come to play lord in the Great Oak Forest remained unclear, judging by his ever-expanding record of sins, expanding territory really was a trivial matter for him.
"So, what's your new job?"
"Ironworker!" Bard replied quickly. "Speaking of which, it was those bigwigs who introduced me to the job…"
Because of the benefits involved, high-intensity, high-pay locations like mines, quarries, and lumberyards were extremely popular among players. As one of the few NPCs working in such places, he naturally became familiar with the players.
Recently, the industrial zone had added several new factories, including a mineral processing plant divided into a smelting facility, a mineral separation plant, and a crushing mill. The smelting plant required workers to monitor the furnace for long periods, a job most players found too boring. Bard, looking for a new job, happened to meet a player desperate for labor. The two struck a deal, and he successfully switched jobs.
Cobb listened with great interest. "These bigwigs sure have some innovative ideas."
"Don't they?" Bard exaggeratedly looked out the window. "I can't even believe that today's bustling town is the same place as the ruins we arrived at."
---Viktor's POV---
In less than 20 days, the town's infrastructure had not only been completed but was racing toward increasingly complex and novel developments. I had to admit, I was rather proud of the progress.
I turned my attention away from the conversation to check my divine power reserves.
[Divine Power: 34,595]
"It's time." I exhaled deeply.
As my players leveled up, their daily average contribution of divine power had reached 4 points. Although some divine power was consumed due to new players leveling up, the overall trend was growth. Finally, I had the courage to open the game console I had barely dared to look at since its functionality upgrade.
---
[Game Development Features:]
[Realistic Data Display – Sanity: Costs 50,000,000 Divine Power]
[...]
[Realistic Data Upgrade – Appraisal: Costs 40,000 Divine Power]
[Realistic Data Upgrade – Health Points: Costs 15,000 Divine Power]
[Realistic Data Upgrade – Constitution: Costs 15,000 Divine Power]
[Realistic Data Upgrade – Attack Power: Costs 15,000 Divine Power]
[Realistic Data Upgrade – Defense Power: Costs 10,000 Divine Power]
[Realistic Data Upgrade – Mana: Costs 5,000 Divine Power]
[Game Panel Data Upgrade—Elemental Affinity:
Water Elemental Affinity: Costs 10,000 Divine Power
Fire Elemental Affinity: Costs 10,000 Divine Power
Earth Elemental Affinity: Costs 10,000 Divine Power
Wind Elemental Affinity: Costs 10,000 Divine Power
Customization: Unlimited Divine Power]
[...]
---
Most functions had dropped in price by more than half since I last checked. However, I frowned at the topmost SAN value option.
"Why has the price gone up?"
Previously, SAN value realism required 10 million divine power. Now, it had increased to 50 million. Could it be that the growing player base and their interactions with the SAN value deduction algorithm had blurred my players' definition of SAN?
The thought was fleeting, and I didn't dwell on the system's SAN value pricing. As long as my players weren't subjected to brainwashing or mental control, my current SAN calculation program sufficed.
I continued reviewing other features. The Appraisal feature had dropped the most in price, from 100,000 to 40,000 divine power, almost affordable for me. Unfortunately, after introducing the simplified Encyclopedia Collection Appraisal feature, my need for the full Appraisal function had significantly diminished.
Spending divine power on truly impactful upgrades was the priority.
"Why is the Mana feature so cheap?"
I was astonished to see the 5,000-divine-power price tag for Mana in a sea of upgrades costing tens of thousands. Curious, I checked its description: not only could it monitor my own mana in real time, but it also allowed me to view the mana of others I came into contact with.
A highly functional upgrade at an unbeatable price!
"In that case, I'll buy it!"
With a wave of my hand, I spent 5,000 divine power on the Mana feature. Running out of mana triggered the Mana Exhaustion debuff. Even with pain thresholds as a safeguard, many of my new players suffered the effects several times before figuring out their mana consumption limits.
With real-time mana display, this problem would drastically improve, plus, it made analyzing opponents much easier.
Next, I purchased the Health Points feature. Combined with pain thresholds, it made player experimentation even more convenient.
[Divine Power Value: 14,595]
Watching my divine power drain away like water, I couldn't help but sigh. Less than two months ago, I had been a pauper with barely 100 divine power to my name. Now, I could spend over 10,000 divine power on upgrades with a single click.
There was no denying it: my players brought divine power, err, wealth, at an incredible pace.
Staring at my remaining 14,595 divine power, I muttered, "If only I had another 405..."
I was particularly interested in the Constitution feature, which could detect my players' unique physiques and provide explanations for certain endurance and bonus attributes, a high-value upgrade.
This was because the additional attributes of Constitution were related to basic attributes. I had to first get a basic attribute to increase the utilization rate of my Constitution feature...
[Divine Power Increased: 501]
"?"
I blurted out immediately, "If I could get another hundred thousand, no, a billion divine power, that'd be great!"
Screech.
The room fell into dead silence. The system, which had been making some noise earlier, went completely silent.
I waited for follow-ups, but nothing came. Extremely disappointed, I muttered, "Would have been nice…"
Perhaps I should look into magic related to that? The playful thought quickly flashed through my mind.
First, I used the divine power I had gathered to purchase the functionality for real-world transformation of the Constitution feature. Then, I set up three functions on a timer, combined with the news of 400 new players, and placed everything in the announcements section. I just had to wait for the next "update" to publish it on schedule.
Then, I began investigating where this unexpected 500-plus divine power came from.
It wasn't during the usual divinepower refresh period at night, so where did this sudden windfall come from?
Tracking the source of the divine power, I was surprised as I read it out loud. "The official forum?"
Only internal beta testers who had entered Aeltia could conveniently convert likes into divine power. Had the enthusiasm of cloud players reached a certain threshold, allowing me to detect it?
"No, that should also happen at night."
After a brief moment of surprise, I quickly regained my composure. "There must be a special event trigger."
Divine power refreshed every night at midnight, as it was part of the system's base code. This divine power didn't seem to be part of the daily accumulation but instead came from a sudden burst.
For example: Previously, when I defeated a terror beast, some players experienced intense emotions within a short period, like "This game is amazing!" Such emotions wouldn't wait for the daily statistics but would immediately be fed back to me.
So where did the intense enthusiasm of the cloud players come from this time?
I followed the trail down the forum and successfully found a post marked with a trending [HOT] tag.
[First Week Nary Town Intelligence Sharing!]
The post showed that it was published three hours ago and already had over 8,000 comments below it. Even with the official forum's ongoing rise in popularity, these numbers were still shocking, easily a record for forum posts so far.
A knowing look flashed across my eyes.
"It's you."
It seemed that in the past week, the 50 players who had ventured out were starting to produce results...
I immediately clicked on the post.
The amount of information in the comments quickly made me understand the source of the 501 divine power.
---
[Sigh, died again. But at least I found the intel the OP wanted, so it was worth it. Only after leaving the starter village did I realize that the devs under the gods are playing a massive chess game. The level of detail in the new map and town structure compared to Honeyvale Town is like comparing a pixelated image to 4K ultra-high definition! The OP spent two days just wandering around and burning through most of their money before starting any real work. Due to Nary Town's overly complex social structure, even the previous guides by Gaeman didn't cover everything. A single misstep could easily trigger game over, wasting all the revival materials painstakingly accumulated earlier.]
[So, the OP decided to create a prestigious VIP post where those willing to share intel can exchange information! As usual, 20 forum cpons to access the comments section!]
[Side note: OP is only earning some hard-earned coins, and they'll verify all the intel shared in the comments to ensure its authenticity and avoid mischief from trolls.]
Forum coins were a forum currency I created in response to player feedback, using a classic cash-to-coin exchange rate of 1:10. Players could use them to add fancy backgrounds and decorations to their posts or, like the OP, create paid posts. As the site's founder, I skipped the payment and unlocked the comments directly.
[Besides spending the first day traveling, I spent six days mapping out all of Nary Town: (TotalMap.jpg) (MapUnlockAchievement.jpg)]
[In addition to Gaeman's previously summarized key points, I discovered two magic item shops (coordinates.jpg). Take what you need.]
Below that was the OP confirming: [Both magic item shop coordinates verified.]
Since maps weren't classified as photos of Aeltia, they could be uploaded to the forum. Having visual evidence made it easier for cloud players and those still in Honeyvale Town to imagine the scene.
The comments were a mix of praise and banter:
[OP!]
[So that's why the hole west of Fire Tongs Street was marked as a shortcut, it was you!]
[Whoa, so many dense buildings, is this really just a town?]
[The roads inside are narrow, so the actual space feels smaller than the map suggests.]
[But it's still a large town with about 5,000 people, right?]
[Yeah, but 80% of them are in the outer zone, see that oddly round area above?]
I watched as cloud players enthusiastically discussed the map. Based on the terrain and the functions of the marked shops, they could imagine a crowded medieval border town.
Other players with new map exploration slots weren't to be outdone and joined the conversation:
[Since someone started, I'll add my two cents.]
[I also visited the two magic item shops and found that spatial magic items were generally expensive but highly sought after.]
[They resist curses from other gods but not magic items inscribed with similar power runes, very peculiar.]
This commenter seemed to enjoy delving into the game's lore more than Nary Town's local features. He even called for others to switch to blacksmithing and sell magic items for a fortune.
[Suspected blacksmith ad!]
[FYI: Smaller, more discreet spatial magic items are priced even higher despite being the same size!]
[Sounds great! Invisible glasses, anyone?]
I watched the topic keep veering off course until someone couldn't hold back:
[Forget magic items, doesn't anyone care about Edgar's fate?]
[Nope, next.]
[Ahem, as Viktor's close buddy♂, I did go looking for him…]
[And?]
[Didn't find him.]
A flood of question marks followed:
[?]
[That's it?]
[You messing with us?]
The commenter defended himself, saying he really tried. He even got hunted down by the local gang NeverShowOff had mentioned and lost two lives. After sneaking around in disguise, he could only find clues others had already discovered, no new findings at all.