Gamers of the Underworld

Sherlock brought his Goblins back to Eternal Kingdom.

The gamers who weren’t brought back were disintegrated using Mana. Because they couldn’t wait for their corpses to revive, they recreated their characters.

There was no penalty for death in a special mission.

When Sherlock returned to the Dungeon, he discovered a strange thing.

Little Fairy was squatting with Raintea and discussing something. The veteran and novice gamers surrounded them at a distance of twenty meters and listened to their conversation intently.

The strangest thing was at the Blacksmith Shop. The novice gamers and tens of veteran gamers knelt down around the Blacksmith Shop to beg.

“Blacksmith! I want to learn Blacksmithing!”

“Let me be a Blacksmith! I can be 996!”

A novice gamer called MagicalBeastManWith4CarpKings shouted the loudest, “Blacksmith! I know what Eternal Kingdom looks like at 4am! Let me learn Blacksmithing!”

“This fellow is watching the scenery at 4am. He doesn’t look diligent! Choose me! I’m carrying bricks at 4am!”

Simba threw his hammer out of the Blacksmith Shop.

“Whoever shouts again, I’ll teach him a good lesson!”

The area outside the Blacksmith Shop became deathly quiet.

The Blacksmith Shop was filled with tens of good-looking Goblins.

Sherlock thought for a while before he returned to the Dungeon Lord Main Hall and browsed the forum.

He found a popular post by a novice gamer, WaterOrchid—[Whether you can learn Blacksmithing with your looks. Studying the aesthetic values of the NPCs.]

The post was about Simba recruiting good-looking Goblins as his apprentices. Raintea was also good looking. There was a criterion for learning life skills, which was that the Goblin must be good looking.

The conclusion was, that whether the molded face was good looking affected the chances of learning life skills.

Sherlock rubbed his face and asked Bru, “What’s going on?”

“Let me check the data…”

Twenty minutes later.

“So that’s how it is…” Sherlock sipped his cup of bloody chrysanthemum tea and thought for a while before saying, “Where did they obtain their Mana? Training one’s magical power is not an easy feat. Without Mana, there’s no way to harvest the plants quickly or activate the magic furnace. Do they expect to plant for a few months or create equipment for tens of days like in the otherworld?”

“With regards to these issues, Lord Sherlock, please take a look,” Bru said as an image appeared above the Dungeon Core.

Under the guidance of Little Fairy, Raintea extended both her hands, which were accumulating white Mana. The gamer was fondling a sprout, and she smiled contentedly. She didn’t look tired from using Mana.

Sherlock narrowed his eyes and said, “That’s my Mana? The Goblins that I summoned can use my Mana?”

“Yes, they can, Lord Sherlock.” Bru explained, “They were created using your Mana. Using the explanation of the Surface World, you used Mana to create them, so you’re their God. They worship you, love you, and are loyal to you. They are closely related to you and can use your power.”

“According to what I know, if the believer is devout enough, he can obtain the Holy Lord’s power after worshiping him. The more devout the believer, the greater the power. That was the power of the Sacred Light. Mana requires long periods of training for manifestation, but this occurrence is like a mutated Mana and is similar to the power of Sacred Light. Their powers are not trained but obtained from you.”

“As for the quantity of Mana, it depends on their races. Every race’s magical tolerance varies. I feel that this is an important research topic that can be studied by Brainiac.”

Sherlock tried to organize his thoughts.

“Simply said, I’m their stored Mana pool. When they feel like using Mana, they’ll learn to feel Mana before opening the tap. And it’ll be an accessible flow once it’s opened?”

Sherlock massaged his face as he inhaled deeply and asked, “How long can I live?”

“L-Lord Sherlock?” Bru was shocked.

“Though 2,100 gamers aren’t considered many, what if all of them learn to feel Mana and use it like tap water every second and every minute? Even if I’m a superior Devil, do you think I can survive the month?” Sherlock looked haggard and muttered to himself, “There are many computer games that I’ll like to play.”

“Lord Sherlock… this joke isn’t funny…” Bru was a bit tongue-tied. Then he said, “Lord Sherlock cut off the Mana pool from all the gamers with the exception of Raintea just now.”

“In consideration for my safety, I have to close my tap permanently.” Sherlock looked as though he was going to die just now, but he laughed heartily.

“This is a pleasant surprise. Every Devil is able to create life using Mana. I don’t think anyone will want to use normal creatures.”

“But Lord Sherlock, it’s not a good solution to disable the gamers’ Mana channel permanently. Most of the gamers would like to learn Mana. Aren’t you going to let them experience it?”

“Of course, I’ll let them have a taste. This is a very good way to make them do hard labor!” Sherlock waved his hand as though he was drawing a blueprint.

“New system: Mana. A Goblin can use 100 units of Mana daily until it’s exhausted. On the second day, they can use Reputation Points to buy a small blue potion to recover 10 units of Mana. How’s that? I can think of ways to make them work diligently.”

“Lord Sherlock, you’re an excellent strategist!” Bru said excitedly.

“For the detailed plan, I have to see the posts on the forum. Frankly speaking, I’m still not sure of the gamers’ preferences. Let me create a post to ask.”

Sherlock accessed his computer and created a post on the forum.

[Post for soliciting feedback on magical related profession]

“Hello, gamers and friends!

The Second Beta Test was warmly received by gamers. The development team has decided to release a new system, Mana. Hence, we are soliciting feedback from gamers. I will explain the current settings used by the development team…”

Sherlock sat in front of the computer and tapped furiously on the keyboard.

…

Sherlock was planning to make the gamers work harder and create new gameplay.

At Ancient Ruins No. 85, which was the Ancestral Ruins to the gamers, tens of Goblins were scavenging the ruins using their bare hands.

There were the words LeatherBear, btkangren, TakingJujubePills, and PeleWang above the heads of the Goblins.

“Load them onto the small pushcart and push it back to exchange everything for rewards. Chairman btkangren said that a bronze coin is equivalent to two Renminbi. That’s twice the price of the market!” TakingJujubePills shouted to the working gamers.

“Thank you, Boss!”

“Thank you, Chairman!”

“We’ll work hard to make the Chairman poor!”

“Are there YY activities tonight? Is LeatherBear gal singing?”

“What singing! I sang the song ‘Hate Beyond Death’ last night. I almost died, so I’m not singing.”

The few gamers chatted merrily as they cleared the rubble in the ruins.

In the Ancestral Ruins, there was a lot of debris and hidden stuff which could be exchanged for Reputation Points and game currency at the Dungeon Core.

Currently, the most important things in the game were Reputation Points and game currency, as they were used for almost everything.

The gamers could obtain both by searching for treasures in the Ancestral Ruins.

With the appearance of 2,000 novice gamers, the search for the treasures in the Ancient Ruins accelerated. The gamers went deep into the ruins to search for treasures. What about the floor and furniture?

Those that could be carried were all transported out. The items couldn’t be disposed of as they liked. Items that were labeled as trash, such as rocks, metal scraps, and heavily damaged furniture, were thrown at the garbage center at the entrance of the Dungeon Lord Main Hall.

Items like candle holders, good furniture, nice floor tiles, and wall bricks were kept by the gamers. Those with organizations placed the items in an empty cave at the Living Quarters to indicate their occupation.

Those without caves would find a convenient location to store the items. Nobody would steal the items in Eternal Kingdom.

Previously, a gamer was caught stealing from an NPC, and his account was terminated.

Nobody tried stealing other gamers’ equipment since it would be disastrous if their account was terminated.

To be able to play “Dungeon: Eternal Kingdom” was a blessing from a previous life!

As the gamers were searching for treasures, someone found something amiss and shouted, “Wait, there’s a huge basement door!”

Everybody gathered to take a look. Indeed, there was a huge basement door.

It was dark, and nothing could be seen.

Someone charged inside and shouted, “Waaaa—!”

His voice reverberated inside.

After that, there was a sound.

“Roar—!”

A loud bellow came from the basement. A huge claw bashed through the floor and captured a few gamers.

The pupils of a huge beast peered through the bashed hole, and the area surrounding the eyeballs was full of scales.

“Who dares to awaken the Helling Dragon?” the creature with the large eyeballs said.