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Five hundred Deluxe Edition consoles and two hundred forty thousand Elite Edition consoles.
All sold at half their original price, with the military providing labor and materials.
"There's one more thing." The order price was settled, and Seraphina moved on to the next topic.
"Wait a moment, Ms. Azuregaze." Caelan's vigilance spiked. "Didn't you just say there were only two things?"
"The two things just now were official business," Seraphina said calmly. "What we're discussing now is personal."
Caelan relaxed slightly. "What personal matter? Yours or someone else's?"
Seraphina thought for a moment. "It's probably my superiors'."
Your superiors. Earl Moonwind. The Legion Commander.
Isn't that still official business?
Caelan said helplessly, "Alright, tell me. What is it?"
"My superiors are very interested in your 'portable' console, which has become quite famous recently. They know you don't plan to sell it publicly, so they hope you can privately sell some to them."
Caelan raised an eyebrow. "These big shots also like playing games?"
A rare trace of helplessness appeared on Seraphina's face. She nodded. "They do like it quite a bit."
Understandable, Caelan thought. Entertainment activities are still too scarce in this world.
He considered for a moment, then hesitated. "This item is called a 'handheld console.' Due to its small size, it requires more of my time and effort, so regarding the price..."
"One hundred gold coins each," Seraphina said.
Caelan blinked.
"Deal!"
See, everyone heard it. The fat sheep jumped onto the chopping block themselves and wouldn't get off. It's not my fault.
The final order was for one hundred handheld consoles.
My goodness. These military big shots are really rich.
Next, they discussed the purchase of "point cards"—game coins. Caelan thought about the price, deciding to sell them at half price. Half-selling, half-gifting.
He'd already made a fortune from this official order anyway.
Everything was settled. Seraphina was about to leave.
Caelan quickly stopped her. "Uh, Sister Seraphina, don't be in such a hurry to leave."
She paused. "What is it?"
Caelan looked embarrassed. "Well... I've never seen an Elf in my life. Could you take me to visit the Elf Race's territory sometime?"
This was genuinely true.
The Elf Race generally did not live in current Human territory. They found the air too... murky was how they described it. Caelan's understanding was that the mana density—or perhaps oxygen content—was relatively low compared to their homeland. They felt uncomfortable after staying too long.
Coupled with the barrier set up by the Goddess of Life on the border, although humans and the Elf Race were allies, actual communication between them was rare.
In the entire Human world, only the Moonwatch Empire had a decent relationship with the Elves, and that was thanks entirely to the Holy Emperor.
In the early days of the nation's founding, the Holy Emperor had led a large group of druids to the Elf territories to learn improved agricultural techniques. The resulting crop improvements didn't just cause the Human population to explode—other races on the continent benefited greatly too. Wars caused by food shortages weren't 100% eliminated, but they were reduced by at least 99%.
The benefits of that larger population base were evident now. The number of top-tier powerhouses had increased several times over. Previously, the entire world had been in a state of passive defense against invasions from the Otherworld. Now, after "only" a few thousand years, the Human Race was fully capable of counterattacking some other planes.
For this reason, no matter who it was, when speaking of Caelan—this fellow countryman of the Holy Emperor—at least on the surface, they spoke with respect.
Seraphina had no authority to agree to Caelan's request. But she said she would talk to her superiors and try to secure it for him.
Caelan had nothing more to say about this. He could only quietly await the result.
After seeing Seraphina off, Caelan returned to his room and lay down.
He opened his mind palace and immediately saw someone mention him in the group named "King of Fighters Adventure Group."
Cassius: @Caelan: Caelan, our Adventure Group just leveled up to Level Three!
Quinn: Congratulations, congratulations!
Camille: You boys did well! How long has it been? Much faster than when I leveled up back then.
Nicole: It's all thanks to Caelan.
Victor: @Caelan: Many people are asking me about the handheld console. Do you want to consider making money from this?
There were now seven people in the group. Besides the five members of the Adventure Group, there were also Camille and Quinn—two "outsiders."
Camille had been invited to join by unanimous agreement from the beginning. She was once an avid Adventurer and had traveled many places on the continent, possessing much relevant experience to share.
As for Quinn, after the rescue operation, Caelan had invited her to join with the consent of the others. After being trapped, Quinn's relationship with the Adventure Group members had quickly improved. Everyone was willing to accept her as a friend, and they especially enjoyed discussing game-related matters with her.
When it came to exploring game-related topics, among everyone in the group, besides Caelan—the tight-lipped creator—Quinn probably had the deepest understanding of the games.
Caelan: @Cassius: This is indeed good news! When you all return, I'll treat everyone to a good meal to celebrate. If Quinn also returns, bring your team members along.
Caelan: @Victor: Bro has long passed the age of coveting these worldly possessions 😏
Cassius: We are currently searching for traces of the Swift Weasel in Southwood, not sure when we'll be back.
Victor: You're just BS-ing.
Quinn: Okay!
That day, with the help of the handheld console, Quinn had been able to communicate with the outside world—especially with Caelan.
With his mind palace's abilities, Caelan could instantly pinpoint their exact location. The rest was easy: find the experts sent by the Ironstone City Lord, along with the Adventurer's Guild experts, locate the trapped Adventurers, and then...
Excavate.
It was that simple and crude.
During the rescue, the magic array's self-protection mechanism activated, erupting several more times. But it didn't have much effect in front of prepared experts. Finally, the array was destroyed, and the trapped Adventurers were collectively rescued.
Afterward, upon mission settlement, the King of Fighters Adventure Group received over seven hundred gold coins and ninety-two points as a reward—instantly leveling up two Ranks to Rank Two, just 8 points short of Rank Three.
After these many days of additional missions, they'd finally accumulated 100 points today, leveling up to a Level Three Adventure Group.
As for the practical use of leveling up an Adventure Group, Caelan didn't pay much attention. It probably just allowed them to take on higher-ranked, more rewarding quests. Not only was Caelan unconcerned, but the other members of the Adventure Group didn't care much either.
But no matter what, leveling up was always something that made people happy.
Cassius: Good heavens, I just checked—you released five new games in one go!
Camille: What! New games!!! Are there new characters in Street Fighter?
Caelan: No.
Priscilla: The newly released games don't have a Soaring Dragon background.
Victor: Aren't Red Fortress and Dragonspire New Century both from your Soaring Dragon? I was wondering why you didn't make more games with a Moonwatch Empire background.
Nicole: That's right, Caelan. Why don't you release more games set in Moonwatch? I often see people from your country complaining about this on the Forum... Currently, it seems only the protagonist of Elemental Contra is from Moonwatch, and the story takes place in the Land of Chaos.
Caelan: The games are all made by someone from the Moonwatch Empire. Isn't that enough? 😤
Quinn: @Caelan: Don't release games so fast! Consider us poor people... I still owe you a large sum of money 😭
Caelan: No rush, no rush. It's fine to pay slowly.
Victor: I don't have enough game coins. Recharge 1 gold coin for me. I'll pay you back when I return.
Camille: Recharge one gold coin for me too.
Cassius: Seconded.
Nicole: Seconded.
Priscilla: Seconded.
Quinn: Then I'll second it too. Many debts don't weigh one down...
Caelan: ...