Golden Experience

Chapter 184: “Lonely as I thought”

“Master, what should we do about that?”

“The town is in ruins, and the number of customers has decreased. That thing called Burgundy, the Skeletal Ghidorah might be the cause. It might also include giant undead creatures.”

“We brought them back, but they are too large, causing a part of the town to collapse. We chose the square in front of the lord’s mansion as the [Summoning] location to prevent such incidents, but our estimation was off. Tore Forest had other giant magical creatures and trees, so we couldn’t accurately assess their sizes.”

“In other words, it’s not Blanc’s fault.”

“If the buildings are broken, we can fix them. Humanity has progressed through such improvements. It’s called ‘scrap and build’. However, it’s troublesome that the number of visitors is decreasing. Even if we fix the town, we need experience points.”

“The destroyed buildings are already being rebuilt, avoiding Burgundy and making the square even larger. Some of the lower-ranked vampire residents have acquired production skills such as [Construction] and [Stonework] to contribute to this effort. However, it’s still in the experimental stage, and more people are needed to speed up the process.”

“To do that, we need experience points. Obtaining production skills requires a certain level of DEX, but those from the zombie background generally have low dexterity.”

“If I had known, I should have postponed my own enhancement and left more experience points.”

“No, Blanc-sama, improving your strength is the top priority. We may fall, but Blanc-sama cannot fall. Moreover, I heard that you had quite a bit of experience points left. The more important question is why it disappeared.”

Everyone here, including Weiss, is a servant of someone other than Blanc. Even if they die, they will resurrect. Blanc, as a player, is the same, but her respawn has a 3-hour cooldown. Initially, I didn’t think much about it, but I’m not horrified by the idea of leaving the city unattended for three hours.

Incidentally, the experience that was left behind is a necessary expense because it is for what Azalea and her colleagues call “that thing” that has gone missing.

“That’s true. But what’s done is done, and Erntal will have to be run as a ?5 dungeon from now on. As for income, there should still be a small amount collected from Altriva and other newbies…”

“Blanc-sama, it’s difficult to say, but in Altriva and Verdesud, players rarely die nowadays. That income is close to zero.”

Weiss cannot receive experience points from Blanc, and he probably cannot see how much income there is. Nevertheless, his ability to analyze this is a testament to his excellence.

“I see. Well, even if you’re a beginner, you won’t get killed by zombies forever, and new players can get support by joining someone’s party. Well, that makes sense.”

I don’t mind giving beginners experience for what’s ahead, but it’s no fun to get nothing in return.

In addition, it’s not good that grown-up beginners are not likely to challenge Erntal. They probably won’t say ‘?1 is not enough. Let’s go for ?5!’.

“Then let’s adjust either Altriva or Verdesud to ?3. That way, there will be a gradual progression from ?1, ?3, to ?5, and the number of customers may increase even more!”

“That would be good. What specifically would you do?”

A simple solution would be to move the lower-class vampires to Altriva, next to Erntal, for example, and move all the zombies there to Erntal. But that would make Erntal less defensible. Rare has told me that the zombies are no obstacle against the higher-ranked players. In effect, it would be just Burgundy and the giant undead.

At present, they seem like sufficient forces, but there’s no absolute certainty in this world. Considering the size of their bodies, accurately attacking small players might be difficult. Moreover, if they engage in combat, there might be significant damage to the city due to the size difference. All attacks from them would likely be area attacks, causing unavoidable damage to buildings.

“I wonder if we should turn all the zombies in Altriva into lower-class vampires…”

“At the moment, that seems to be the most reasonable. Please rest assured. Before Lord Deas and Queen Beetle left, they left several MP potions. If we have Azalea and others give those to Blanc-sama while using [Healing], Blanc-sama can continue giving blood all night without collapsing.”

“Tough. Oh, vampire… well.”

Just recently, I almost died from blood loss. Vampires are usually feared as beings that wander seeking blood, but it might be because they are always lacking blood.

After spending two days, all residents of Altriva were turned into lower-class vampires. It was easier than last time, given the smaller population compared to Erntal. I had hoped that becoming a Viscount would make me a more powerful entity, but nothing changed. I wonder what would happen if Count-senpai gave blood to the zombies in his home castle. Asking might be good.

After that, intending to keep the difficulty at ?1, I also created a few lower-ranked vampires in Verdesud. Not as bosses, but to provide moderate tension for beginner players. It’s not good for players to feel invincible. This is Blanc’s kindness. In return, we receive a small amount of experience points.

“It’s tough not being able to know the difficulty changes in real-time. Let’s see…”

???

????Old Hiers – Erntal [Dungeon Specific?

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621: MentaList

We need to close this thread and start a new one.

622: Cramp

No, no, no, no! Why did that suddenly appear! What’s going on?

623: Healthyunpeelable

Did something happen?

624: Wayne

A giant bone dragon-like creature appeared in Erntal. It has three heads, and just approaching it causes damage.

625: Nameless Elf

That’s dangerous. Not only melee jobs but also magic attack jobs can’t get close enough. I think bows could reach at that range, but bone types are resistant to arrows… Well, before that, we don’t have bows.

626: Gi1gamesh

I almost died without directly engaging in combat. The bone dragon stands out, but there were also inconspicuous large creatures like Flesh Golems.

627: MentaList

I haven’t seen any red lizard-like skeletons lately, and that bone dragon is born from gathering red skeletons, right?

628: Nameless Elf

The Flesh Golem (tentative) was probably originally a zombie, and something happened, like merging multiple undead creatures. By the way, the disaster in the capital was absent recently.

629: Gi1gamesh

Come to think of it, that’s right. Does that mean the disaster used Erntal’s undead for such experiments? It should do that in the capital…

630: MentaList

If it had done it in the capital, it would have been a disaster. Besides, the calamity seemed to like the cityscape of the capital, so they wouldn’t create something this big there, right?

631: Nameless Elf

Coming to Erntal for a change of pace, and this happens… In that case, paradoxically, the capital might be more stable.

632: Cramp

Maybe. If the calamity returns, it will probably go back to ?5, but there’s no guarantee it will necessarily lead to a battle with the disaster.

633: Wayne

The capital started at ?5, soon lost the calamity, and settled down to ?4. Erntal might follow suit. Let’s observe a little longer.

634: Healthyunpeelable

But doesn’t that mean the bone dragon will wander away from the dungeon? If an enemy with widespread slip damage roams around, it could lead to a massacre.

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675: Nameless Elf

It’s different from Wayne-kun’s prediction, but it seems stable.

676: Wayne

That’s right. It’s good that unnecessary damage didn’t spread.

677: Cramp

Well, beginners who were in Altriva at this timing are in trouble. But Verdesud isn’t that far either.

678: MentaList

In conclusion, the difficulty levels for this area are: ?1 – Verdesud, ?3 – Altriva, ?5 – Erental, ?3-4? – La Colinne

679: Healthyunpeelable

Including the ?4 in the capital beyond that, this area seems quite manageable. It might attract more people.

680: Nameless Elf

With NPC-constructed towns increasing, it would be nice if they made a teleportation portal there, even if it’s just for domestic use in Hiers.

681: Cramp

Let’s make a request to the admins. Maybe a limited teleportation service, even more limited, to create stone monuments in temporary waystations.

682: Gi1gamesh

Maybe there could be some conditions to unlock it, like when the NPC town is recognized by a certain number of people.

???

“What foolish expression are you putting on now?”

“Hyoa!”

When Blanc, returned to consciousness from the Forum, she found herself face to face with Count de Habiland, who had appeared out of nowhere. It seems the Count had arrived with [Summon] targeting Weiss.

The Count had never come to Blanc before, so there must be some business for him to visit now.

“I haven’t seen you for a while. Well, while checking on Weiss, I thought I’d drop by for a bit.”

“Oh! I’m sorry; I had some things to do. It must have been lonely, huh?”

“Not for that reason! But the timing was just right. What’s that outside? Judging by how obedient it is, it’s probably your familiar or something, but it’s an undead I’ve never seen. …It is an undead, right?”

“Yes, it’s an undead! It’s just that—”

Blanc briefly explained the circumstances that led to the birth of Burgundy. Since she had already conveyed his acquaintance with the Demon Lord Rare, the explanation was relatively easy.

“Using Spartoi for such things… But the secrets of alchemy, huh. It’s like the old Spirit Lord.”

Speaking of the Spirit Lord, he was undoubtedly an old acquaintance of the Count. Although they didn’t seem to be particularly close, considering the Count, he probably had few friends. It could be assumed that the Count had valued him as one of the few acquaintances.

“Was the Spirit Lord good at Alchemy?”

Not only alchemy, but he had mastered all sorts of production skills. Some of his works should have remained to this day. Your friend, the Demon Lord, would probably know. In the royal family of the human nation, there should be artifacts left by the Spirit Lord without exception.”

He seems to have been an extraordinary man to leave that cursed item as a relic. No wonder he’s favored by the Count.

But it means that Rare must have already known about it, so there is no need to say anything.

“But to see two completely different species working together to create such a powerful undead creature is something I would never have thought possible. It is something I would never have thought of. I suppose that is your unique strength.”

From the Count’s way of speaking, it didn’t seem like he limited “you guys” to Rare and Blanc. It seemed to refer to a broader category, but he didn’t disclose what that was.

“Oh, by the way. Now that I think about it, Rare-chan and the others wanted Lizardmen. Are there any around here? Even if they’re not Lizardmen, anything lizard-like will do, right?”

“There are still few in number, but the settlement in that underground lake where you created Spartoi should be in the process of reconstruction. As long as you don’t destroy the underground lake itself, feel free to do as you please. And about lizard types, I’m not sure if they’re considered lizards, but in the river that flows from the underground lake where you descended when you came to the surface, there should be monster types like newts.”

“Newts?”

“…Creatures resembling salamanders.”

“…Salamanders?”

“You don’t know anything! Ask the Demon Lord!”

After finishing a fruit tart and milk tea, the Count left. He seemed to have liked it, and he would come to eat occasionally from now on. Additional orders for Lyra would be necessary.

*

<Oh, I see. So, you knew about the Spirit Lord. Oh, and the Count mentioned the location of newts? Or newt-like monsters! Lizardmen have increased a bit, but their numbers are still low.>

<Newt? Newt… You mean newts? There are such things?>* (T/N: the first 2 times she just says “newt” as if mimicking the sound, the third time she says ???, which is the Japanese word for “newt”)

<That’s what was said? I’m not entirely sure.>

<Does that include those ones? Well, I guess they’re similar. Right, salamanders huh… That’s not exactly a lizard, or even a reptile, it’s an amphibian, but I wonder if that’s okay.>

Speaking of amphibians, frogs are famous.

Even if the Count was senile, he probably wouldn’t mistake frogs for lizards. It might not be the same as reality, and in the game, Salamanders might be considered lizards.

“By the way, Blanc, did you see the system message?”

“I haven’t seen it!”

“I thought so. You should take a look. It was an announcement for the next event. Well, whether you participate or not, it doesn’t matter.”

“Oh, really! I’ll take a look. Thanks!”