Gamers of the Underworld

The three Hamsters gathered and looked at the approaching Sherlock.

Sherlock walked to their location, knelt down, and put both his hands on the ground, transferring Mana to the Rune.

White brilliance pulsated before it reached its peak. The ground with the Rune disintegrated.

The Rune location was like a pile of bricks that was continuously shrinking. Finally, a vertically descending semi-circle tunnel appeared.

Sherlock stood at the entrance, bent down, and looked into the darkness of the tunnel.

The three Hamsters turned their heads to look at the tunnel and spoke.

“What is this? Why is the tunnel going vertically down?”

“I don’t know. This is the first time I have seen such a thing in an Ancient Ruins.”

“I feel something ominous inside.”

Sherlock looked at them and asked, “What do you intend to do?”

The three Hamsters said simultaneously, “Report your whereabouts!”

“Pom, pom, pom.”

Sherlock knocked on the back of their heads using his knuckles.

“Who am I?”

“Where do I come from?”

“Mealtime?”

The three Hamsters looked dazed.

Sherlock ignored the dazed Hamsters. He looked into the tunnel and muttered to himself, “Interesting.”

…

“Little Fairy! Can you teach me to cultivate herbal plants today? Or concoct some healing salves for me!”

A Goblin with Armor, a Helmet, Plate Leggings, Metal Shoes, a Kite Shield, a Small Hammer, and Metal Finger Glove shouted as he dashed into the flowerbed. He was Peasant.

“Ke—Pui!”

A stream of saliva was spat out from the flowerbed and landed on Peasant’s Helmet.

Little Fairy sat cross-legged on a bed made of soil and rhizomes. It was hard to imagine how she could spit that far with such a tiny frame.

“Devils! I curse all of you! Devils!”

After cursing loudly, she shrunk her body.

The dusty-faced Goblin, Raintea, was at the side eating Spider Meat with clay. She looked at Little Fairy and watch the dirty-faced Peasant leave.

She finished the Spider Meat with clay quickly and drank groundwater from a stone bowl by the side.

Behind Raintea were three rows of plants, flowers, and grass. There were also other unknown and distorted stuff.

They were all sprouts.

They were seeds and plants gathered painstakingly by other gamers and sold to Raintea for bronze coins.

After conquering the Houndhead Men’s Lair, they brought back large amounts of seeds that were sold to Raintea, as they had no use for them.

The gamers had appraised Raintea’s cultivation at the Dungeon Core to see if they could be sold, used as raw materials, or made into healing salves.

They were appraised as either thrash or seasonings to be used in Mufasa’s kitchen.

The gamers weren’t interested in cultivating plants with Raintea, as the life connoisseur profession wasn’t designated in the game. Little Fairy, who would be the future Agriculture Trainer, was still spitting saliva at everyone.

To the gamers, the entire Underworld needed rescuing more than the plants!

The game was updated about ten days ago, and the Beta Testing was carried out for two months. The gamers went to the discussion forum to encourage the game producers to update with new game content.

A few Goblins shouted in the Teleport Portal Main Hall.

“Gosh! The game producers updated content secretly again!”

“What kind of a Mana formation was that?”

The other gamers gathered quickly at the Teleport Portal Main Hall after hearing the shouts.

The gathering of Goblins emitted buzzing and chatting noises.

“What the heck? Secret updates again?”

“Could it be superficial?”

“Who is going to test it?”

“I will try. There is no effect?”

“It must have been done by Sherlie last night. I was carrying bricks last night when I saw Sherlie going in and out of the Teleport Portal a few times.”

“Impossible. Plots at midnight? Look at Sherlie’s appearance, would he create such graffiti?”

“I don’t think our Dungeon Lord is that immature?”

As the gamers were gathered and chatting at the Teleport Portal Main Hall, Sherlock was at his computer, editing an announcement for new updates.

“Lord Sherlock, you spent all the money on Rune materials to create the Rune Teleport Formation. Though you solved the problem of teleporting to the Ancient Ruins, there are restrictions on Rune Mana Formation. The main one is that one unit of Magical Items can’t be teleported using the Rune Teleport Formation,” Bru couldn’t help saying.

“How will you retrieve the treasure from the Ancient Ruins? Aren’t the Magical Items the most valuable? If you can’t retrieve them and the Winterfell fellows obtain access to the Ruins, are you going to share the treasure with them?”

“Share? I have done so much. Of course I’m not sharing.” Sherlock shook his head and said, “This is to facilitate the transportation of workers to the Ruins.”

“Lord Sherlock intends to let the gamers enter the Ancient Ruins? As your loyal servant, I have to remind you that with the chaotic and reckless behavior of the gamers, if the traps are triggered and troubles caused, the gamers will only treat it as a game. Lord Sherlock is unable to punish them or force them.”

“Why do I have to punish them or force them? I love them deeply, as though they are my lovers. Look at how cute the gamers are. Even in the most dangerous situation, they can chat jovially. Because of them, I have sufficient Magic Stones to purchase the Rune Mana Formation materials,” Sherlock spread his hands and said earnestly.

“If I create missions, add rewards, think of some awesome Plots, and create heroic images of themselves for them, they will be willing to challenge the Ancient Ruins and even the Angels of the Heavenly Kingdom! It’s reasonable if I let them be my movers for the Ancient Ruins.

“As for triggering the traps or creating unnecessary trouble, if I venture alone, I can avoid them. If the Goblins go into the Ruins, they will at most be killed. They are too weak, so the possibility of triggering traps, alerting the monsters, and creating problems are low.”

Bru quickly asked, “Are you saying that there are monsters in the Ruins? If you entered, you would alert them?”

“You can say that. This is the best option for me and the gamers in order to retrieve the treasure safely from the Ruins. The gamers can increase their gaming experience and be happy developing my Dungeon. This is a win-win situation.”

Sherlock immediately said, “The restriction of teleporting Magical Items via the Rune Mana Formation can be solved with Magic Stones.”

“As Lord Sherlock has already thought of the issues, I will not object. Why did Lord Sherlock not choose to build a Teleport Portal? Wouldn’t the price be lower?” Bru asked.

“The price might be lower, but the Teleport Portal would be easily detected. I can’t build a Teleport Portal, professional workers are required. Besides, there are other uses for the Rune Mana Formation.”

Sherlock said, “In the Ancient Ruins, I am building a Revival Point for the gamers. The revival criteria in the Dungeon is to be within the radiation radius of the Dungeon Core. No matter how I upgrade the Dungeon Core, it’s not possible to extend the radiation radius to cover the Ancient Ruins. Only the Rune Mana Formation can do that. At times, old, inconvenient, and expensive technology can be more effective than new technology.”

“I see. Lord Sherlock is more meticulous.”

Bru had no other queries.

After Sherlock completed writing the contents of the update, he stood up and stretched himself.

“Good, it’s time for a Plot Animation and the beginning of a new Plot.”