As the second day of PandaVerse Festival came to an end, the Pandarens finally knew this rate was not as easy as its predecessors. All the other activities were still ongoing but the Pandarens who participated in the raid were knocked off their feet.
Many took the opportunity to get out of the raid instance to enjoy the simple joys in life as well as the many service instances that the Dungeon Supplier store had to offer. Food was without a doubt the main attraction for most of them as everyone was famished when they logged off from the raids whether voluntarily or through death.
But one thing was for sure, they all knew the battles were going to be even harder than ever. Even though there were already Demon Rat Elites fighting at the front gates of the base camp, they had a feeling that this was not the end.
However, many were relieved that the stolen Gunndam Aegis was ultimately destroyed after the base camp went up. General Gnawbones initially tried to withdraw the Supa Robo away from the battlefield but it exploded as it was returning back to him. The internal timer which the System had placed had finally activated, causing the controlled robot a reactor engine meltdown. It did help to destroy a portion of the rats that were gathering close to the Pillar Base Camp, allowing Deng Long to earn some ‘extra’ points even though he was out of the raid. (It was not substantial but extra raid points were better than nothing.)
Now with this kind of raid difficulty, the Pandarens finally realised the need to be well prepared. The redemption store that was on any Main Store Island was always packed with cultivators when the Pandarens came out of the raid instance.
They previously thought that those temporary inscriptions, potions, quick repair hammers and even quick food rations were nonsensical to be placed in a point redemption store. But now they understood the implication of those items in the store especially now that they were filled with raid points under their belt.
A majority knew that consumables would be a costly but essential component of the fight they had to partake in to ensure that they survive the raid as long as possible while accumulating raid points. However, a lot of them were new to Jin’s dungeons and cheapskates, thinking that the dungeon supplier was merely going to rip them off their raid points and ultimately money by putting those consumables in the redemption store.
However, after checking the raid themselves, they finally knew that the raid points to consumable exchange were a necessary ‘evil’ created by Jin since those potions would cost real life money outside the redemption store.
Many believed that Jin purposely used those consumables in the redemption store as a raid point sink so that people would not be able to abuse the redemption store rewards. He also made sure that only a certain amount of consumables could be purchased to limit the players’ greed. (And also made sure that those items were bound to the customers themselves.) And to make it more unreasonable, the Dungeon Supplier purposely used poorer quality or lower grade potions as the majority of redeemable consumable rewards. This was not to upset the money making opportunity his store was getting while ensuring that the cultivators had enough ‘compensation’ for their raid points.
Not only that, Jin had decided to add a few items that were in the Hidden Gem Night Market as part of the mystery redemption draw. This was to spice things up in the raid as well as give the cultivators another segment of random reward generation. Nonetheless, it was rigged to the System’s favour as part of the plan to deplete the customers’ raid points. (though it also made sure that good prizes were given out once in a while and announced it to the public so that it seemed as if they were getting a good deal out of it.)
Yet, even with the aid of the redemption store and the recovery of territory by the Pandarens who managed to get back after the major setback, the cultivators no doubt felt a bit of dread, especially seeing how the battlefield had been split into two portions. One at the Pillar Base Camp while the other was a teleportation crystal at the Third Layer of the Inner Wall. There was no base camp at the Third Layer Inner Wall and the Alligator Spartans were the only ones protecting it now that even Xiong Da had returned to the store island to rest.
And because of his accomplishment along with the ‘debt’ he had from Jin, the Pandawans were given special treatment when they were either out of the Recovery Instance or logging from the raid instance. Jin had sent a notification to their phones stating that a combined high executive suite was provided to them in one of his hotel chains.
Most of them were delighted that they did not have to return to Xiong Da’s apartment even though it was just a fifteen minute walk away from Jin’s Tree Mall. Even though his apartment was more than spacious for all of them, why would they reject a luxurious suite that was situated right in the store?
To be honest, Xiong Da even considered negotiating with Jin about whether he could buy an apartment or have a hotel room permanently under his name. However, that Boss was always preoccupied with him and could not stay for much idle chit chat.
However, that seemed to change when everyone had finally settled down at the main hall of the high executive suite talking about any possible strategies that they could use to push forward. When Jin was the one at their door after it rang, the Pandawans were happy to see him, although it did feel like he was not here just to pay them a visit.
“Still, having a face to face with the developer of the raid instance would prove to be a boon that many would not have.” Xiong Da said as he welcomed Boss Jin into the room, hoping he and the other Pandawans could have a glimpse of the next stage of the battle.
