Early morning, the second day.
A group of people started entering the limited-time dungeon event early.
First, they sent out scouts to ensure there were no crows guarding the waterways outside before unlocking the copper stone suppression, and started venturing out one by one.
Because the tunnel was easy to target, the ironworkers had become quite adept at eliminating small groups of crows inside it with a single volley.
Quickly, they reclaimed the tunnel network, each returning to their own defense towers.
Outside, the sun shone brightly.
Through the shooting holes, crows were sparsely perched on the ground and rooftops.
It seemed most of them had started to forage outside and were not here.
And the Crow King was also absent, now regarded as no more than a powerful, mindless elite monster, lacking leadership and management skills.
"Let's get to work."
The towers began their operations once more.
There were no surprises; crows were rapidly shot down.
Even half an hour later, the intelligence-reducing boss was led into one of the defense towers again.
Due to the upgraded weapons, from shotguns to cannons, it was taken down by a powerful enhanced Copper Bow, with a dozen [Swift] barrage shots.
Ning Zheng, who had stayed up practicing new spells last night, originally wanted to get up early and lend a hand in taking down the Crow King for some Meat Field, but the ironworkers had managed it themselves:
"They seemed unreliable, but unexpectedly competent? I'll just ask them for the Crow King's corpse directly."
He was a bit disoriented, feeling as if he were dreaming.
Happiness came too quickly.
It was clearly a formidable enemy, yet he won lying down?
These people had no intention of using Meat Field, yet they were strangely obsessed with defeating the Crow King.
Only by defeating it could they achieve absolute success.
At eleven-thirty in the morning.
The sun was high, and after the Crow King was subdued, the crows finally took fright, flying away collectively into the misty mountains.
"Is it over?"
In front of the small iron-net shooting window of the arrow tower, Su Yuniang wiped the mud-sweat off her forehead.
Jiucai Rong shook his head, looking towards the sky, "It's not over, war only pauses, never ends. When the flocks find a second leader, they will return."
Indeed, they somewhat regretted killing the Crow King so quickly, scaring them away immediately.
Otherwise, in the afternoon, they might have managed to take down several hundred more and stockpile supplies.
These crows are exceedingly cowardly!
Now having missed this opportunity, there likely won't be any material sources anymore.
After all, they couldn't get out, and apart from the ones flying over them delivering takeout, there was no place to fight monsters.
The neighbors were also pitifully few, making it impossible to earn Gold Coins.
"Everyone, the first manor defense battle was a complete success!"
Jiucai Rong called out from above, "Start sorting the spoils of war, collect what you hunted within your tower! Don't take what isn't marked in your circle range."
After ensuring the crows wouldn't return for a counterattack, they began to clean the battlefield, clearing bodies and bloodstains.
Working from noon until afternoon, they gradually cleaned up the corpses.
The bloodstains on the ground were easier to handle; just turn the soil and flatten it again.
This made some ironworkers begin to reflect that their manor should start laying floor tiles.
Building a civilized society starts with you and me.
Several people began to discuss having Jiucai Rong issue a kiln task for floor tiles, using the large furnace in the smithy suitably.
Others talked about preparing to open a farmland for growing vegetables.
After all, Money Child was vegetarian and ate earth, vegetables were part of its diet.
Now that they've cleared monsters, obtained materials, wouldn't it be delightful to start farming and construction? A happy manor life is coming soon!
...
Meanwhile, in the midst of celebrating the joy of great victory.
In the smithy, Daojiu looked at Dizzy in confusion, "These weapons, did you craft them?"
"I made them." Dizzy replied.
"You mean, you exploited a bug, stayed online without sleep, and kept forging all night?" Daojiu quickly asked, "You didn't steal anything, right?"
After all, you are the only one who was here late at night.
During daytime hours, ironworkers hardly have any chance to steal.
Because not only there is a [Fair Scale] for entry and exit weighing, even what you eat is detected.
Plus, there are 900 viewers switching between different ironworker perspectives, supervising you while watching the game.
It's not that you don't want to steal, but you simply can't!
"I didn't steal, can you help calculate how much the Magical Artifacts I made are worth?" Dizzy looked a bit hopeful.
Daojiu looked over, "Hmm, the quality isn't high, but you have seven, each counts for three Magic Coins, 21 Magic Coins... Are you hoping to earn enough to resurrect the other three?"
"Yes." Dizzy nodded.
"You guys are truly good brothers."
Daojiu remarked sympathetically:
"I can help, originally planning to sort out the crow corpses hunted within your defense towers, then calculate your team's earnings, but now I can advance thirty Magic Coins to revive your three teammates ahead of time."
"Good." Dizzy took the coins.
Magic Coins are easy to produce, and they have created quite a few in recent days.
Because the manor had specialized molds for Magic Coins, melting Money Child's fingernails, and pouring them into molds for cooling, they could obtain Magic Coins.
According to them, Money Child's racial Divine Techniques are:
[Metal Qi Gathering]like divine techniques.
Magical Artifacts require Demon Beast materials.
Magic Coins are also a kind of Magical Artifact, so they naturally require Demon Beast materials...
The manifestation of Money Child's talent is used to cast Magic Coins, creating them with miniaturized Qi Gathering Array inscriptions, allowing Magic Coins to have rechargeable forms.
The molds for Magic Coins themselves are high-class Magical Treasures, one of Sword Casting Manor's most valuable assets.
After all, it wasn't possible for these ironworkers' crude craftsmanship to create such densely inscribed Spirit Gathering Arrays as those on Magic Coins.
Actually, the coinage production line was purchased at a high price by Demon Men from the Court.
Most of their savings were invested in this, but now Ning Zheng benefited from it.
Magic Coins have anti-counterfeit features.
Privately making Magic Coins was illegal unless you bought the official exclusive Coinage Treasure!
And after purchasing their treasure, you'd be given a [Coinage Permit], officially registering your manor, entitling you to create circulating currency.
At this time.
Dizzy received thirty Magic Coins.
[Do you want to resurrect Blind, Puffy Eyes, Swollen Eyes?]
[Yes!]
...
In a certain spot on the mountainside of Sword Casting Mountain.
There were two large flesh-vats hidden by Ning Zheng here.
One of the vats contained Demon Man flesh, its limbs still alive and moving energetically, unbeknownst to how long they could persist.
And the other vat also contained flesh, precisely that of a high Realm Money Child.
Daily Money Children were divided and cultivated from these fleshes, previously preserved by the Demon Men to maintain the quantity of Money Children in the manor.
However, these flesh pieces had little vitality left, withered and shriveled, unable to divide many more times.
There was no fear of them being stolen.
After all, the mountain was surrounded by Spirit Manor, barring outsiders from entering.
The mountain was shrouded in Fog Array, making it impossible for ironworkers to leave its confines.
At this time, amidst the throbbing flesh, three brand new Money Children crawled out of the vat, like puppets, making their way up the manor, along the mountain paths through the woods, arriving at the manor's gate.
Ai injected consciousness into them.
Crack!
Suddenly, the three opened their eyes, gasping, sweeping their gaze around, finding themselves at the manor's gate.
This was exactly the location from where they initially logged into the game.
"Are we revived? Which kind soul resurrected us?" The three were taken aback.
Soon enough, they saw Dizzy, saying in front of them, "It was me who resurrected you."
The three: "???"
Why is Dizzy here? Wasn't he dead with us?
How did resurrecting us happen?
Could it be there are two Dizzys?
Puffy Eyes sent a message to Dizzy, only to be told it wasn't him:
"You're insane, I haven't logged in yet, hurry up and spend to revive me!"
Instantly, the three stared blankly at the Dizzy before them, a chilling thought abruptly arose: "Ghost... Dizzy's corpse has spawned a ghost, no, it's Embers."
"Embers! When people die, the light extinguishes, it's merely that occasionally embers remain! Before their eyes were last night's embers, post-Dizzy's demise!"