Chapter 460: You Might Make a Small Profit, But I Definitely Won’t Lose

By Monday of the second week of the Shadow of the Swamp event, the situation around the battlefield had undergone new changes.

Although NPCs wouldn’t directly participate in the attack during this operation, Governor Murphy clearly wouldn’t want to see his warriors charge into the swamp “empty-handed,” so the NPCs quickly provided necessary assistance to the warriors in the swamp through their actual actions.

Benevolent Giant Shark Uncle: 【Brothers, the reputation equipment from supporting forces has been implemented this morning!

The camp in the outer area of Fort Crimea has updated with Northern-style masterwork forged swords, all quality military equipment from the Winter Wolf Legion. They look impressive, have practical attributes, and even include Thorn Clan’s standard assassination punch blades and smoke bombs.

They have a wide selection and aren’t expensive. The only requirements are that you must raise your Fort Crimea reputation to Honored, and this batch of weapons has quantity limits, once they’re sold out, that’s it! So brothers who need them, speak up quickly, we can do ‘purchasing agent’ service!

Just give a little tip and errand fee.】

A post appeared on the forum, immediately attracting the attention of players who were already participating in the swamp campaign.

North Forest Dog’s Paddle: 【Post it! Post it! Let us see what the attributes are like. We’re following Brother Mao on the western front, can’t get over there right away.

But we definitely need to update our equipment.

The Clan Guard set’s armor effect is still great, but the ‘blood absorption’ affix on the vampires’ standard weapons is completely useless against undead, can’t utilize the advantage at all.】

Benevolent Giant Shark Uncle: 【Wait, I’ll take a photo for you.

The weapon affixes here mostly have 【Slow】 and 【Freeze】 effects. Looks like the Northerners are really good at playing with ice. By the way, these kinds of affixes should be good against undead, right?】

MoeHaha: 【Avalon Acolyte camp has also updated support equipment! The equipment here has 【Growth】 and 【Self-healing】 affixes, and some items marked as 【Items of Faith】 have ‘Nature’s Condemnation’ effect, dealing double damage against enemies of nature.

This should be more suitable for dealing with undead, right?】

Lumina Yanghen: 【Moe, stop trying to sell to them here, you’re just a newbie yourself, don’t mislead others. Avalon Church’s high-level equipment all has faith requirements, vampires can’t use them at all.

However, they’ve stocked up on supplies here, the undead slayer sword oils and nature summoning scrolls made by witch hunter alchemists are good stuff that everyone can use.

Anyone who needs them, give a shout, we can also do purchasing agent service.

I’ll collect the orders later and let Brother Meow go buy them. He’s an Oak Knight and has a preacher identity, can get 20% off. Getting them at that price is already profitable! We’re all brothers here, just give a small tip for the errand.】

Invincible Tyrannosaurus Cheche: 【666! Get me 20 sets! I want to drink the sword oil like tea.】

One Punch to Destroy the Galaxy: 【Little Lumina, get 10 sets for our team, let Great Sion come pick them up later, he runs fast. Also, Giant Shark, get us 5 sets of Northern weapons.

We need greatswords, battle axes, war bows, short swords, daggers, and defensive knife-shields.

By the way, @Invincible Tyrannosaurus Cheche, hasn’t your western front support force spawned support equipment?】

Invincible Tyrannosaurus Cheche: 【Yes, several gunsmiths appeared in the Goldflower Vanguard camp, they’re selling standard firearms. But I don’t play with guns, this Countess Sharon handcrafted demon-hunting revolver I have is good enough.】

Spicy Gugu Chicken: 【Don’t listen to Cheche’s nonsense, the Goldflower Vanguard’s firearms here are actually very good to use. I’ll post pictures for you, brothers who need them type 1, I can also do purchasing agent service.

Our Beast Team’s reputation here has probably reached Honored, 10% off when buying things.

If you want my recommendation, I strongly recommend their dwarf trench gun here. High power, easy to use, simple structure, can clear a whole area even without precise targeting. The only issue is having to pay extra for combustion gold bullets.

Additionally, the Vanguard provides other explosives.

Although the quality standard and destructive power might not be better than what we make ourselves, they’re cheaper and have sufficient quantity. Good news for brothers who like to blow things up.】

Sword Saint Ashina: 【Get me one of each, and help me order 10,000 combustion gold bullets, I see their price here is much cheaper than buying from Lady Tris.

Need to stock up while we can.

@What Color is Loyalty, Brother Loyalty, you guys have been saying you’re tinkering with making guns. Everyone’s in the swamp now, urgently needing fire support. How come you heartless folks haven’t brought out any useful powerful stuff yet?

The fear of insufficient firepower is intensifying now, urgently need something with power to save the situation. If you really can’t make anything, at least make more of your Iron Fist for the brothers.

That thing is powerful, when encountering clustered skeleton armies, one shot solves all troubles.】

What Color is Loyalty: 【Tsk tsk tsk, kids say the darndest things, what do you mean we can’t produce anything? We’re already speeding up production of our ‘secret weapon’!

One week at most!

Just wait patiently for one more week, watch us pull off something big, guarantee you’ll be able to push straight to Plague Town.】

Gentle and Elegant Lady Aqua: 【That’s what you said, Brother Loyalty. You’ve already thrown down the gauntlet, don’t blame everyone for laughing if you can’t deliver on time.】

What Color is Loyalty: 【Sunglasses cool guy.jpg, just wait and see, my brothers and I will show you with actual results what it means that technology is the primary productive force.

Done bragging with you all, I’m going to check on the processing progress.】

The forum then turned into a “purchasing agent special” for the following period. Because the three battle lines didn’t interfere with each other, players were scattered across three regions and couldn’t run back and forth.

But the weapons and equipment updated by the three support forces were clearly specifically distributed for swamp warfare, so the three sides had to communicate and share resources to ensure everyone could be armed to the teeth in the shortest time.

However, buying equipment has always been about money talks. For veteran players, spending their saved money to buy a few guns and swords wasn’t a big problem, but those brothers who entered the game weekly were short on funds, letting “Angel Lender” Little Ashina boost her presence again significantly.

She had opened a separate thread very early on specifically for “armament loans” to new players entering the game, recording each person’s name in the thread and agreeing on repayment dates with them.

She thought the thread would exist for one week at most, but the game was already in its fourth month, and that thread was still there and getting longer.

However, loans always come with interest. If one were black-hearted and used some “legal” means, it would be enough to ensure new players would have to work for Little Ashina for a long time. But the wealthy little rich girl obviously didn’t care about such small profits, her interest rate for everyone was only 3%, with a one-month repayment period.

If they still couldn’t repay by then, they just had to tell Little Ashina, and she would give them another month’s extension.

It could be said she was completely just playing around, making Old Huo and his four secretaries look quite frustrated.

What a great business this could be!

With just a little operation, it could guarantee a stable and long-term source of income, but Little Ashina would rather spend time collecting gold coins on the forum than use her brain to make money.

Obviously, her pursuit of fun far outweighed her emphasis on profit.

Of course, there was another possibility, Little Ashina was using this method to enjoy a “sense of achievement.” Given her personal state, this spiritual satisfaction from helping others was clearly higher than the pitiful profits she could make from this method.

It’s said that Little Ashina was trying to convince her parents to fill out applications too, but this kind of game was obviously still a bit too “ahead of its time” for middle-aged couples.

Her parents had many important things to do, so this persuasion would probably need to continue for some time.

At this moment, in the rear camp of the western front of the Foul Swamp, Colonel Frayzer was standing in his tent looking outward.

The stalls set up by several Pioneer Army gunsmiths in the camp were already crowded with people. Murphy’s warriors were still queuing and shouting about something, creating a bustling atmosphere full of life that was completely out of place with the battlefield.

And the number of weapons they were purchasing was clearly exceeding their own needs, making the colonel realize these folks were probably getting some for their brothers on other battle lines.

“Unity!”

The colonel thought to himself:

“Although I had already witnessed these people’s unity when attacking the Blood Vulture Halls before, now I seem to have gained more understanding of their group ideology. Beyond their valor and fearlessness, they clearly possess other admirable qualities, especially this indescribable mindset.”

Frayzer then turned his gaze to the resting soldiers in the camp. The guard duty at the seven forward outposts was done in rotation, with quite high combat intensity. His vanguard soldiers showed fatigue and resistance to the swamp environment during their three-day rotation breaks.

That laziness and resistance formed a stark contrast with the warriors’ enthusiasm. It seemed that for them, fighting in this damned swamp was like an armed picnic, filled with some kind of fun that professional soldiers couldn’t understand.

“What a strange bunch of people.”

The colonel pursed his lips, deciding to observe these folks up close.

So he straightened his clothes and walked out of the tent, but before he could take a few steps, he heard someone in the queuing crowd ahead scream:

“High-level NPC has spawned! It’s Colonel Frayzer, Miss Becky’s fiance, and also Regent Miriam’s rumored boyfriend! Wow, a big scumbag two-timing two women! Quick! Where’s the FFF Brigade! Get the fire oil, burn him to death.”

“Whoosh”

Colonel Frayzer’s face immediately darkened.

Although he didn’t understand what these folks meant by “NPC,” which he guessed was mountain folk slang for everyone except themselves, he understood the latter half.

He clearly had no relationship with Miriam, and Becky’s attitude toward him now was also very poor.

He wasn’t two-timing at all!

On the contrary, he now had nowhere to set foot in the river of love, almost drowning.

Of course, those folks joking about burning him to death were definitely just kidding, because a few seconds later, Frayzer was surrounded by a group of players, who were asking him in a cacophony if he needed their help with anything.

Their bizarre enthusiasm and the way they looked at him made Frayzer feel like he was a “delicious pastry” surrounded by a group of hungry gourmets waiting to share and eat.

He recalled the training on “how to deal with mountain folk” he received from the administration office when leaving Crimson Citadel, so he gripped his computation bead, coughed once, and said:

“My soldiers are extremely fatigued from intense combat. They perhaps need some entertainment to relax during their rest periods. If you could find some amusements that don’t affect combat operations for my soldiers, I would be very satisfied with your help.

Of course, I will provide necessary rewards.

Additionally, my father’s birthday is approaching, and I’ve been hesitating about what kind of gift to give him. I hope you can provide me with some rare items to choose from.

My father particularly likes ancient weapons and some collections with exotic styles.”

“Wow, the colonel gave two quests at once, so generous!”

As the computation bead updated Frayzer’s requests to the players’ hands, these folks immediately scattered contentedly to do the quests.

Their straightforward attitude left the colonel somewhat at a loss.

What, are you all this practical?

Just run off after accepting quests?

At least say a few pleasantries for appearance’s sake.

He was full of complaints as he walked around the camp. When he returned to his tent, he saw that someone had already set up tables by the military camp and placed some small square blocks, boisterously inviting soldiers on break to come play.

The colonel knew this was an entertainment called “mahjong.”

He had seen this thing before with Major Ron at the Treasure Bay casino. It was a simple yet addictive strategy game, quite good for entertainment.

And when he habitually started writing today’s diary, several players ran over with “collections” obtained from who knows where.

The colonel stared dumbfounded at the five ancient rusted weapons placed before his eyes. He completely couldn’t understand how these folks’ efficiency could be so high.

Don’t you need time to find things?

One or two would be fine, but these past few days, whenever he issued quests to find antiques, there would be many warriors quickly returning with items that completely met his requirements.

What’s going on with these Transian mountain folk?

At this time, several players surrounding the colonel were still waiting for him to give them rewards.

Hehe, fortunately Ah Yuen had previously organized the “House Carpe Reputation Guide” post, letting everyone know what items would be needed for several random quests that Colonel Frayzer would issue. Now there were people specifically collecting ancient weapons in the swamp to exchange with others for grinding the colonel’s reputation.

The Foul Swamp might lack many things, but these “ancient items” that remained here from the four Black Plagues were quite abundant.

Not to mention the colonel needing to select exquisite collections for his father, even if Count Leon wanted to get a complete ancient soldier’s remains, the players could gather it for him.

Isn’t it just about finding ancient battlefields in the swamp and digging?

Very simple.

Frayzer blinked his eyes.

He suddenly realized he should also find some entertainment for himself in this boring swamp life, so he gave several players a generous reward as usual.

While they were counting the reward money, the colonel suddenly coughed a few times and said:

“Besides being a soldier, I am also a writer. I am collecting materials to record the entire process of this swamp war. I heard those gnoll warlocks carry some marks and texts related to their race. I know this is dangerous, but I also believe Transian warriors can always fulfill my needs.

Therefore, I want to entrust this important task to you.”

“Damn! A new quest we haven’t seen before, this must be a special quest that only triggers after reaching a certain favorability with the colonel, quick, accept it.”

“Ruthless Horseshoe Crab” who was surrounding Frayzer shouted to his brothers, and they excitedly accepted the quest and ran out to post new information on the forum.

This scene all fell into the colonel’s eyes, making Frayzer grin.

He lowered his head and wrote in his diary:

“The Transian mountain folk clearly possess simple enthusiasm. Perhaps their traditions make them never refuse any request made by those they consider friends. Even for the most difficult work, they will invest 100% enthusiasm into it.”

Meanwhile, in the command room of Fort Crimea, General Baldwin of the Winter Wolf who was stationed here listened to his aide’s report with a frustrated expression.

He put down the cigar in his hand, blew out a smoke ring and said:

“Those weird Transians really cleaned all the rooms in the fortress according to our requirements and even cleared out a group of ghouls hiding in the sewers? Are they crazy?

How could they complete such an obviously provocative request so well? Where did Governor Murphy find this bunch of treasures?”

“Yes, general, Transians cannot be measured by common sense.”

The helpless aide said softly:

“They’re still asking our quartermaster for more work, perhaps wanting to gain our favor, but Fort Crimea has strict military discipline, we really don’t have much work we can give them.”

“Who says there isn’t?”

The Winter Wolf general sneered, standing up and saying:

“Murphy requested us to sell part of our military equipment to his soldiers at cost price. Although given Lady Shani’s orders we can hardly refuse this request, it doesn’t mean we’ve become friends with the Transians.

If they want to continue getting military supplies from us at low prices, they need to demonstrate their value!

If they’re happy to take on work, then give them the weapon maintenance tasks that soldiers need to do and part of the complex castle maintenance work too.

If necessary, even cleaning toilets can be given to them.

But you need to watch them carefully, don’t let them have contact with the armed blood servants in the castle.

Perhaps this is a probe from Murphy!

The 10,000 armed blood servants in Fort Crimea are really a big hidden danger, we can’t assimilate them nor trust them. Ah, that overly successful persuasion by the Thorn Clan back then really left me with a difficult mess to deal with!

Perhaps it’s time we think of some way to resolve this troublesome hidden danger before the Black Plague really breaks out.”