"Let me ask again, are you sure?"
"I'm sure! Even if it means death!" Jiucai Rong pinched his flesh with his fingers, looking determinedly at the sky in the distance from the manor.
Ning Zheng couldn't persuade him at all.
He didn't expect them to be so determined, willing to risk everything to engage in a frantic battle of one hundred people against tens of thousands of demon beasts.
But he didn't want to mock anyone with dreams.
In Ning Zheng's view, they could have just taken life easy, come to eat, drink, and have fun, enjoy good food, play games, sing songs, sculpt some clay, forge some iron, and simply enjoy life at the "inn," but now they're willing to risk it all for the development of their "inn."
Knowing there are tigers in the mountains, yet insisting on going to the tiger mountain, they are determined to develop an improbable magical artifact business in the manor, striving for a future, and forcibly creating a forging assembly line!
What kind of spirit is this?
Very childish, very ignorant, but also very great!
He was somewhat moved by their youthful vigor.
Ning Zheng was moved for a full three seconds, and then decided:
They can be brave, but he's going to secretly run away, although before he flees, kind Ning Zheng still gave them a brief introduction to the information about the crows to improve their odds.
After all, they need to take down most of the crows to have a chance to draw out their leader...
He considered them as bait.
Soon, a somewhat confused Jiucai Rong seemed to understand.
"So that's how it is, no wonder we can't provoke them; crows will attack in flocks, holding grudges persistently, once provoked, won't stop until one side is gone?"
He slightly frowned, contemplating its meaning, "Then we probably need to build fortresses, tower defense games, using spears and crossbows, hiding inside to attack, and set house traps to lure them in to kill."
"The blacksmith shop indeed needs to be housed for protection!"
"After all, it's our manufacturing core, and if it's open-air, we can't possibly withstand the crow attacks while forging, to make up for war losses."
The gameplay of this first dungeon storyline is quite interesting.
Trigger-based main storyline - Crow Disaster!
Having them forge, farm, pre-build tower defenses, strategize, then trigger the beast wave, beginning to tackle waves of crows, lest they eat our brains.
This tower defense precisely tests their current blacksmithing level.
Indeed, everything revolves around the blacksmith shop.
The main line is set very cleverly.
After triggering the main storyline event "Crow Disaster", they'll likely have to live indoors, underground, in fortresses for quite a while, with hordes of beasts outside, leaving means death!
This requires ample preparation of war resources beforehand.
Of course, there's no need to stress too much about food; they can hide underground, eat dirt, fight a tunnel war, back and forth.
As long as their tower defense facilities are set up well, they will have the home-field advantage.
Jiucai Rong plans to organize the blacksmithing in the afternoon, prepare various equipment, and begin mass mobilization to continue building houses.
Ning Zheng patted his shoulder, "I'm old, I can't mess with crows, young man, the future is yours, the old man is retiring at noon for a life of ease, occasionally coming up the mountain for a look."
He paused, laying the groundwork, "The Manor Master is at a critical point in his seclusion and can't be seen or come out. If one day a young man with a bow and arrow suddenly appears, that's our Manor Master."
Being in seclusion is an excellent excuse.
I might be in seclusion for a month or even ten years; this time span is normal for high-tier cultivators, right?
"Are you officially retiring? You've only taught me for two and a half days?"
Jiucai Rong felt excited but also a bit reluctant.
Spending these days together, this old steward was kind and lovable.
Appearing vividly before everyone, bringing warmth.
The behind-the-scenes planners of other games, when playing a game, try all sorts of ways to disgust you, exploit you, squeeze you, the capitalists among capitalists.
Those wretched planners exploit and deduct players' resources and money, making him feel the same even in reality.
No comparison, no harm.
Such a good old steward, how could he retire like this?
"From now on, the manor's data and files are entrusted to you." Ning Zheng took out the key to the steward's room and said, "Those books are quite precious, make sure they don't get stolen."
"Yes." Jiucai Rong felt the heavy responsibility laid upon him, guarding some of the guild's blacksmiths, starting with himself.
Ning Zheng declined their reluctant farewells, went down the mountain, and even locked a door for the manor on the way.
Soon, Jiucai Rong, Su Yuniang, and others discussed a bit and customized a development plan.
Jiucai Rong took out a huge notice board filled with dense writing and stuck it at the entrance of the manor, instantly drawing a large crowd to watch.
Wooden Notice Board:
[Official Announcement: The ongoing "Sword Casting Competition" will soon undergo a major update, the 0.1 version update log is as follows.]
[The main storyline DLC: Crow Disaster, will be launched. The game will enter this DLC in a trigger mode, and once the crow's hate value is triggered, a big event: the Crow Beast Tide Attack on the Manor will occur.]
[I believe most blacksmiths have been tolerating them for quite some time, right? Blacksmiths, please prepare your defenses in advance.]
[1. This update adds new emergency forging tasks: like "Blacksmith Shop Protection Construction," "Tunnel Building," "Bow and Crossbow Forging," "Spike Board Mass Construction"... a total of thirty-seven time-limited tasks.]
[2. Added a new war suggestion submission box: players with trap-making experience and proficiency in designing tower defenses are encouraged to submit their genius schematics and combat plans. If adopted, the Manor Steward Committee will reward magic coins.]
[3. Added a new temporary team mode: during the event, teams are allowed to build private fortresses and tower defenses in public areas, but the manor will take 60% of the hunted crow materials. The remaining materials are for the personal gains of the teams, so strive to hunt monsters.Appendix 1. Please mark your name on the tower defense building and draw a circle within your tower defense's range to distinguish each one's spoils, avoiding disputes over spoils.Appendix 2. After the manor war ends, all kinds of illegal buildings, like tower defenses, turrets, traps, will be dismantled, and tunnels filled up.Appendix 3. The final right of explanation belongs to the Manor Management Committee.]
...
The notice board was densely filled with the version announcement.
???
The players crowded around to watch, instantly speechless.
They began to discuss heatedly, pointing and gesturing.
[Daojiu]: "I really want to complain, Jiucai Rong can even act like an official planner, issuing game update announcements in the manor, acting so convincing, could he be a genius?"
[Puffy Eyes]: "Damn, is it that exciting, Crow Disaster? You guys are so wicked, planning to provoke crows and call it a main storyline, it's quite ceremonial... I'm a casual life player who resists this event! I'm too scared of incurring the wrath of Crow Lords! Daily carb bombs... Wuwuwu~"
Before everyone could continue chatting, they saw Jiucai Rong stepping out again, taking out the second official announcement, and placing it beside.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
Is this guy addicted?
The second notice read:
[This major update also optimizes the following matters.]
[1. Slight adjustment to the magic coin rewards of various daily tasks in the manor to prevent inflation, optimize commodity circulation, and open a new building: Trading Post, welcoming players to pay money to set up stalls.]
[2. Fixed minor bugs.]
[3. Optimized several known issues.]
[4. Added a new profession - Enchanter, coming soon, stay tuned.]
[5. Detected some extremely malicious thieving behavior in the game, and now a mutual reporting reward mechanism is added. The reporting process is to throw opinions box, and a "Fair Scale" is set up at the blacksmith shop, mining area, smelting room, checking upon entry and exit.]
...
[Medical Fairy]: "He's shameless! Heartless! Unreasonable! Wuwuwu, without thieving, opening treasure chests, how can we play the game?"
[Food God]: "Angry! You, a player, how can you even fix minor bugs?"
[Shao Chaikun]: "Wuwuwu, old steward, I miss you, please come back quickly, save this world."
This hundred people were tearful, all already going crazy.
Chattering turned into a market riot.
Jiucai Rong was simply inhuman.
All were having a spirited discussion about the "Crow Disaster" DLC, some rushing off to do urgent time-limited tasks.
Some started shouting in the crowd for team setup, preparing to build DIY fortresses, loudly yelling, "Brothers, I've spent ten years setting traps in My World, been waiting since 2007 for today! If you're brothers, come join my team!"