Gamers of the Underworld

“Pom.”

NotWearingPants placed a rock on the rock wall.

Then he stood behind a wall that was as tall as his waist and shouted at BurningChestHair, “How is it? Did you capture it clearly?”

“Yes, the screenshots are done.”

BurningChestHair gave an OK gesture and said, “Hemp Rope Technology’s new version of the Bladder Bomb is powerful. Though the power of a single bomb is diminished, he can now mass-produce them.”

“It’s time-consuming. The train emits a lot of feces, but only a few Bladder Bombs can be made. The feces is still inferior to the Magical Beast’s feces from the Instance Dungeon. The older version was made in two days, and the power was impressive. Too bad it’s no longer produced.”

NotWearingPants followed BurningChestHair to go to other places to take screenshots.

He was preparing materials for publishing his Strategy Guide post. The game had just updated a huge amount of content. Besides the PVP in the Gladiator Arena, only the Guild registration was available. The Guilds formed by the veteran gamers weren’t approved. However, the Guilds of the Second Beta latecomers were approved, and they were engaged in the Guild war.

NotWearingPants searched the entire official website, but he couldn’t find any channel for complaints. There were no telephone numbers, mailboxes, or addresses.

For PVE, a new area was set up, and it was called Marsh Inkspewer Town.

From the scale, it looked more like a village.

NotWearingPants and BurningChestHair chatted while they took screenshots of other locations.

In this area, about 400 to 500 gamers were doing their assigned missions.

Most of the missions were assigned by Bru to build a defensive wall around the Marsh Inkspewer Town, as well as a semi-permanent outpost stronghold.

A small portion of the gamers didn’t receive the missions. They merely wanted to build their own things.

While the gamers were hard at work, a sharp Marsh Inkspewer, Salted Fish, watched the Goblins.

Though Marsh Inkspewers weren’t very intelligent, Salted Fish was the exception. As a leader, he had an extremely high intellect, which was about 0.8 times that of a Goblin. Hence, he was able to master the Underworld common language.

When he encountered the three Goblins, things appeared normal. But on the second day, when the Devil Lord brought thousands of Goblins to his swamp, things became weird.

When they arrived, the gamers stuck their heads into his home. Then they shouted that there were things underneath and started digging the holes with their shields!

Though they stopped their actions and the kind Devil Lord also explained, a huge Black Dragon appeared, and the Goblins chased after him.

Wait, why did the Goblins dare to chase after the Dragon?

When Salted Fish was pondering over this question, the Devil Lord had brought along his signed strategic collaborative contract, which stated that Eternal Kingdom would provide the Marsh Inkspewers with protection. In addition, Eternal Kingdom would trade items that the Marsh Inkspewers required and needed and the killed Large Lizards in exchange for skinned products and their Darting Birds.

Salted Fish agreed to the agreement quickly because of the Black Dragon’s threat. If the Devil Lord hadn’t provided protection, his tribe would have been wiped out by the Dragon!

Besides, the Devil Lord’s terms weren’t draconian. In fact, Salted Fish thought they had benefited.

The large swamp was almost entirely occupied by the numerous Large Lizards, while his tribe was struggling to survive in the small swamp. If Eternal Kingdom was able to provide their required resources, Salted Fish was more than happy to trade skinned products and Darting Birds.

After sealing the contract, the Devil left, but not before giving a speech. Salted Fish summarized the speech into three words—work extremely hard.

The Goblins started to work immediately. They looked for available materials nearby and started building the defensive wall for the town.

Initially, they stuck to the perimeter of the town to build the wall. At the halfway point, a group of Goblins called for a meeting.

After their meeting, they used rocks to plan a second outer wall, which was four to five times the size of the town. And now, someone started using rocks to outline the third outer wall…

Salted Fish couldn’t understand the Goblins’ behavior. Were they using the rocks to indicate their sphere of power? What was the use of such a large boundary?

Occasionally, some Goblins would intrude into the living space of the Marsh Inkspewers without any warning. Under the alarmed gazes of other Marsh Inkspewers, the Goblins would stand at the hole entrance in a daze before shouting, “Gosh, I can’t dig! D*mn! Why did they have to deduct Reputation Points for intruding into their homes?”

Salted Fish observed the Goblins’ behavior and thought hard. What were they doing? When were they going to destroy the Large Lizards? What about the Black Dragon?

What about the three Darting Birds that I loaned to the three Goblins?

…

“Pa ta, pa ta, pa ta…”

Sherlock sat in front of the computer as he focused on the screen and typed furiously on the keyboard. His typing speed was now 60 words per minute. This was the result of his daily practice.

At his side, there was a 1.5-meter small Black Dragon who was carrying a cup of bloody chrysanthemum tea over.

“Thin tea.”

“A little hot. Let it cool first,” Sherlock said without turning his head. He took a sip and passed the tea back.

Eggface extended his claws and took the tea, placing it on the table. He wobbled his rounded body and sat in a chair opposite Sherlock.

Eggface gazed intently at Sherlock and looked dazed. He felt bored as the Dungeon Core Main Hall was filled with “Pa ta” sounds. He asked, “What am I doing here?”

“You’re working. You’re now my secretary.” Sherlock continued typing and said, “And, call me Lord Sherlock or Dungeon Lord.”

“I can call you Seven Sins Originator, Karmic Fire Terminator, Judgement Tongue, Hades…” Sherlock interrupted Eggface before he could finish speaking.

“No.”

“… Hades Ruler, okay,” Eggface said in a soft voice.

There were a few seconds of silence before Eggface said, “Wait, I remember. Aren’t you called Sherlock?”

“That’s my name for a different job.” Sherlock crossed his arms and looked seriously at Eggface as he said, “Why don’t you keep quiet for a few hours? It’s time for you to practice discipline. You don’t wish to finish your sentence here and become a lawless brat who will be beaten to death by your parents, do you?”

“Discipline? Hei! I’m the Ultimate Dark Dragon, the Chaos Song of Praise, Disorderly…”

Before Eggface finished speaking, Sherlock said to Bru, “Let the Goblins call Brainiac over. I’ll hand over the Black Dragon to him.”

Ten minutes later.

“We’re going to do research again? What about the strange Houndhead Man potion?”

Brainiac looked at the excited Eggface and bowed to Sherlock. He made Eggface invisible and brought Eggface silently out of the Dungeon Core Main Hall.

Sherlock looked at the quiet Dungeon Core Main Hall and remained silent for two seconds. He then focused his attention on the screen and checked the contents of his work.

[“Dungeon: Eternal Kingdom” Update Log Version 0.19]

“‘Dungeon: Eternal Kingdom’ Version 0.19 Official Update:

Added new PVP gameplay, Guild War: Already added Guild War gameplay. The Guild registration fee is 5 silver coins. More PVP gameplay, such as individual and organization, will be implemented later.

Added new Weekly Missions, For Lord Sherlock: Once a gamer logs in, a new Weekly Mission, For Lord Sherlock, will be available automatically based on the Reputation Level and Weapon Level.

1: Carried bricks for 24/24 hours

2: Completed 3/3 Daily Missions

3: Submitted 5/5 materials

4: Complimented Lord Sherlock 1/1

5: Completed the Instance Dungeon, “Specter College: Training Grounds” 1/1

6: To be added later

If the Weapon Level isn’t at the required level, item 6 will be canceled.

Amended the Instance Dungeon, “Specter College: Training Grounds” related gameplay:

1: Death incurred in the Instance Dungeon will not have a Reputation Points penalty. Application to gain entry into the Instance Dungeon will incur Reputation Points to prevent abuse of the Instance Dungeon and prevent wastage of server resources.

2: Added a new difficulty mode. If the team has less than four Goblins, the Instance Dungeon’s mode will be set to difficult.

You will encounter double the number of BOSSES.

3: To offset the price inflation in Eternal Kingdom, the Reputation Points and coins rewarded for the Instance Dungeon will be increased.

Added new Stronghold, Marsh Inkspewer Town: A Marsh Inkspewer tribe was located in a small swamp outside the Dungeon. We have obtained permission to build an outpost. The gamers will be constructing the Stronghold.

Added new Series Mission, Assist Marsh Inkspewers: These Marsh Inkspewers are weak and needed our help. Gamers will receive various missions to help them.

Added new Reputation, Marsh Inkspewers: The Marsh Inkspewers have many good things. Gamers may obtain materials and hunt Large Lizards to exchange for the goods. All hostile actions towards the Marsh Inkspewers will prohibit the gamer from exchanging for any of the Marsh Inkspewers’ goods.

The following is the list of items:

1: Swamp Frog Backpack. Sturdy and durable, though it will occasionally bloat. (Attributes vary according to actual product)

2: Darting Birds stirrups and reins.

3: Large Lizard Skin shoes. Waterproof and stylish.

4: Necklace made from Marsh Inkspewer’s teeth calculus. The necklace provides a Mana bonus to the user.

5: Dried salted fish. Not sure whether you can eat it.

6: Ride, Darting Birds (Precious Item, hard to obtain)

Added new BUG, Prohibited from entry and digging: Gamers are no longer able to dig or enter the holes of the Marsh Inkspewers. Don’t try your luck.

A wild card. I will add if I think of a BUG or new content.”