Qiu Yue teleported back to the Dungeon Maker, where she was greeted by the sight of Jin who just stared at her through squinted eyes. Next to him was Gold who had hastily returned from his trip to the Eastern Region with bags of soil and fertiliser and the Scholar was sharing Jin's expression when looking at Qiu Yue.
"Am I that pretty that you all have to stare at me with such ferocious looking eyes as if you will devour me the moment I made a move forward?" Qiu Yue cracked a small joke and Meomi just sighed.
"What were you thinking to abandon the Southerners just like that?!" Gold questioned the Red Panda Cultivator, making Jin focus his attention towards him.
"Interesting, I thought your first reaction would be something more like, 'Let's go find where that Nine Oceans Phoenix has been pooping! I want all that fertiliser for myself!' " Jin's impression of the Scholar lightened the mood.
"Well, my heart is stirring and it would be a lie if I told you I don't want that miracle dung, but-"
"But just like Jin here, you care about the people of your world first and foremost. Don't worry I still have plans to help them. However, I want to do it in a way that will guarantee that we can keep the Phoenix all to ourselves." Qiu Yue interrupted and they all could see Gold's eyes practically scream 'WANT!!!'. This was the first time the Werejackal Leader had desired something so badly and coincidentally it would be for the betterment of Jin's agriculture ecosystem in the future.
Since the Phoenix equalled unlimited high quality shit all year round, it would have most likely been put on the System's to-capture eventually, but since the one flying towards the Southern Capital had a variant mutation, it meant its value was far greater than an ordinary one. For all they knew this one's poop could have the potential to be superior to the fertiliser Jin had gotten before as part of the System Rewards.
The Panda Cultivator was not the kind of guy who would travel around different worlds specifically to catch a monster unless the System put out a mission for him. So far there had not been a specific need for it, but if they had to protect the Southerners, they might as well be getting the Phoenix out of it.
"Fine, but was it really necessary to outright refuse them in such a manner? We could have used their help in capturing it." Gold argued as he placed all the soil and fertiliser bags down and swiped any possible dirt and dust from his body.
The System assisted him with a cleansing magical spell so that Gold would not dirty the Dungeon Maker interior. (Otherwise, that would be even more of a waste of resources cleaning the place up.)
"Perhaps, but our plan might have us clash with them. Besides that Phoenix is not the only one coming up to trash the Southern Capital. I had to return since we would not be able to deal with its company without reeinforcements." Qiu Yue informed him and the System pulled up a bird's eye view imagery of the Southern Capital courtesy of the Orc Pilots who were currently flying the C-130 overhead. After which, pictures of the incoming Nine Oceans Phoenix popped out on the Dungeon Maker's console.
"Hahah… this feels like another major déjà vu…" Jin muttered under his breath as he saw what Qiu Yue had meant. There was a giant flock of winged monsters coming towards the Southern Capital and the Nine Oceans Phoenix appeared to be their ringleader. The odd thing was that their group looked as if their 'creator' had basically taken some land animals and slapped some wings on top of them.
Among the variety of monsters, there were Winged Bears, Winged Elk, Winged Lions and even Winged Worms with lots of sharp and pointy teeth. Surrounding them there were smaller animals which the C130 imagery caught such as Winged Monkeys, Winged Racoons and even Winged Mutated Humans.
"Oh… that's really bad. Instead of a land attack, the Southerners are facing an unprecedented series of flying monsters. And judging from their current fortifications, their defences are rather primitive when it comes to monsters with wings." Gold shared his knowledge about the South.
Jin placed his hand on his chin and started to ponder on what to do. "Hmm… I see. Correct me if I'm wrong, but our air strike force should, unfortunately, be our weakest link, correct? Let's get Wyrstriker here for his opinion."
"Also, I have to apologise. Initially, I thought you left because you were just a natural in tsundere-ing people." Jin bowed his head but his comment made Qiu Yue pout.
"Tsundere-ing people? Only you could come up with such a term, Jin… As your tactician, it's a given that I know the composition of our forces! If it had been a simple monster horde, I wouldn't have left, but stayed and negotiated for more in the first place. I would have upped the stakes just enough so they would have to agree, but end up regretting having promised us that much while we cleared the threat effortlessly." Qiu Yue clarified.
"Master, you called?" Wyrstriker answered the summon and Jin was happy to conveniently excuse himself by giving the goblin leader a short debrief on the new situation.
"Oh… This is indeed a problem. While our aerial forces have significantly improved after the Pandapolis Defence, especially thanks to the addition of Marquis Forneus and his Dragon Devils, this might still be too much for us. We do not have enough anti-air defences against all of them. Even if we did, this is not an isolated dungeon where we can push them into one corner and annihilate them. They have the oceans and mountains to flee to when they feel threatened and we don't have the manpower to chase after all of them." Wyrstriker gave his analysis.
"I'm relieved you did not say that we did not have the strength and capability to chase them." Jin chuckled a little and Wyrstrike scoffed.
"Of course! My Goblin Wyvern Knights have been utilising our best technology that Ayse had created to date! It's impossible for us to fail to catch any monster at our speed! In fact, General Forneus had to bow down in front of Ayse when he requested his dragons to be outfitted with the same technology as us! However, the designs had to be modified and testing is currently underway to ensure that the dragons can handle the drag and inertia force." Wyrstriker informed Jin.
Wyrstriker still vividly remembered how he and his wyvern had to get used to such a boost in speed, making both the pilot and rider vomit because they could not handle the G force. Fortunately, it had not taken long for him and his team to get accustomed and afterwards the natural instinct of the wyvern was able to make adjustments that no plane would be able to. That included emergency stopping and swift turns.
Engineer Rei was in charge of collating all the data and it was his responsibility to check if he could use it to convert it into an AI data core for the golems too. (However, that project was a low priority and would only be completed at some point in the future.)
"Any ideas on how to make up for it, Big Boss? I have a few things in mind, yet not a concrete plan on how to solve the overall problem. By the way, Meomi did bring up an interesting possibility during our exchange with the Southern Stars." Qiu Yue mentioned the prospect of the Southerners having abducted the Pheonix' child.
"That would certainly explain why such a creature would fly towards them and with an army no less. Since the Southerners do not have any arid land to farm properly, a tamed Seven Oceans Phoenix, or in this case, the offspring of that Nine Oceans Phoenix would be something they would definitely try to get their hands on. Who knows with all the magical properties it's said to have, they could perhaps finally create their own farmlands." Jin theorised.
This possibility was another reason why Qiu Yue had not offered to outright help the Southerners, since she would be abetting the Southern Stars' kidnapping of the Phoenix's child.
"That sounds quite plausible. Did you happen to sense any minor changes in expressions or body language on Leopardo or his underlings when you've asked them about it?" Jin addressed Meomi who unfortunately could not fully remember.
"System shall help you."
Some consoles immediately appeared in front of the group. They activated and various screens replayed Meomi's point of view of what happened mere minutes ago, allowing the System to use its terrifying analysis. From the few twitches in their facial expressions to unconscious movement of their feets and hands, it was able to pinpoint a few black cloaks who seemed to have some knowledge or understanding towards Meomi's sudden outburst.
"This is amazing…" Jin exclaimed as he was still in awe when he saw the System strike out many of the various cloaked men who appeared to be blissfully unaware about such a reality as it eliminated all but a select few.
"Of course, the body language shows more truth than words could ever portray. It's a matter of discerning." The System stated and further narrowed the suspect to two. "However, this method of prediction does have its flaws, yet the probability that they have some deeper understanding of the particular matter is at 96.74%."
"Are we gonna bag them? And then at the same time try our best to help them?" Meomi asked, but Qiu Yue had something even more sinister in mind.
"How about instead of releasing it we just capture the child of the Phoenix for ourselves and use it to bait the Nine Oceans Phoenix? That way we could probably easily divert them away from the Southern Capital and it should be easier to control the Phoenix if we can tame its child." Qiu Yue suggested and the rest were shocked by her methodology.
"It's logical enough, although it really is quite ruthless. In fact, will it make us any better than them if we act in such a way?" Jin wondered which made Qiu Yue shake her head and shrug her shoulders.
"We are planning to make it submit to the System, right? Unless we can convince it to willingly do so, we might have to kill the Nine Oceans Phoenix first. It would be easier to slay its chick who could try to reason with its parent to willingly submit, thus sparing us from a difficult fight. Either way we would be able to allow parent and child to live together without any worries, right?" Qiu Yue argued and Jin was forced to admit she was right.
"You know better than anyone that we aren't running a charity here. There is always the chance that the Nine Oceans Phoenix' poop won't be able to act as a good fertiliser since it's a variant. Getting its child will double our chances of getting something good out of this whole episode, although we can always use the parent for its fighting capabilities. In the best case scenario, we will end up with two sources of fertiliser. That way we could potentially even sell off some excess on the Black Market."
"As much as I hate it, what Qiu Yue says makes sense." Gold sighed as he continued to look at the constant imagery from the C130's live feed.
"However all these assumptions are under the condition that the Southerners have actually captured it and it's still alive. Even if we find its child, the chances of its parent just agreeing to submit are considerably low. I don't think we will be able to avoid a fight to be honest. Our aerial troops are not sufficient against that horde. The Southerners may be able to hold it for a short time, but we do not know the full fighting potential of the Nine Oceans Phoenix, especially if it's fighting to protect its young. Even if Jin and the System could manipulate the Spirit of the Land, given their names the skies might be outside of their jurisdiction entirely."
"Scholar Gold is correct." The System confirmed that line of thought. Meanwhile, Jin who had been thinking overdrive suddenly had an epiphany which could help them.
"System, remember you kept pestering me about that monster fusion function?" Jin queried and the System acknowledged the function's presence.
"However, System understands that User does not wish to use it?"
"Is it possible to alter it and just make a temporary fusion? You know a sort of strengthening similar to the cards we use to equip our people?" Jin queried yet the System and the people around him could not make heads or tails to his line of questioning. "The Dragon Devils need bigger air boosters but we need to make them, right? I was thinking about expediting the process by putting a few air boosters together, add a few sludge crystals or sludge liquid and fuse all of them."
"Does User wish to augment the monsters by fusing them with non sentient objects? The monster fusion function is primarily meant for fusing two sentient monsters together, yet the proposed concept would not be too far fetched and the System can give it a try. Given that User wishes for the end result to become a form of temporary augmentation, the sludge crystals used to power the fusion should not be too many. In fact, one sludge crystal or a vial of the sludge liquid should be able to power twenty over temporary augmentations. However, do note that those items will be destroyed in the process once the augmentation period passes."
The System recomputed its calculations and tweaked the function for Jin's idea to be plausible. After all, as an almighty super entity wasn't it the System's job to create miracles like that?
"How long is the augmentation period?" Jin asked, hoping it would not be something absurdly small like five minutes, but something ranging multiple hours at least, in case the fight will end up prolonged.
"Given the power of the sludge, at least a week. That is assuming the monster does not die before that. Any resurrection will return them to their former state." The System reported and it seemed there was hope.
"Alright, we shall hold an emergency war council meeting, this time with all the aerial squadrons as well as any monsters who can fly, including our dear Mr Derpy. We don't have time to dilly dally." Jin ordered and immediately a request to convene in the Indoor Stadium Instance for the briefing was sent to the various monsters.
————–
Jin stood at the podium and started to address his minions as if he was a professor holding a lecture. "Sorry for the impromptu call, but we have an(other) urgent situation on our hands." The dungeon supplier briefed everyone about Qiu Yue's visit to the Southern Capital and started to explain the rationale of this sudden mission that they had to go through.
Although the primary objective was capturing the Phoenixes to increase their farming and combat prospects, all of the minions knew that Jin was interfering because he wanted to protect as many people in the Southern Capital as possible.
On the surface, Jin did so to gain as much extra reinforcements as possible for the fight against the Demon Rats, yet it was not like he was overly reliant on the Southerners. Without his weaponry the Southern Region's warriors would be unable to beat most of his monsters, unless they were at a grunt level like the zombies. According to the System they were also less valuable than his world's cultivators who would be causing some havoc once he started his Grand Operation.
In essence, Jin was not cruel enough to turn a blind eye to the Southerner's plight. Otherwise he could just force teleport the Nine Oceans Phoenix into a dungeon instance and fight it with all his minion's might, not caring for the level of destruction the flying monster horde would cause to the Southern Capital.
"Thus, we are going to a batch experiment of fusion augmentation with the Lord Forneus and his Devil Dragons to see how effective the fusion is. If the experiment fails, we will compensate you." Jin announced but he could hear the minions chuckle away.
"You can compensate us by simply bringing us back to life to fight again!" Forneus called out as he was excited for the aerial combat already. While it would not be the same as having a rematch with Wyrstriker, they had already thought of a system to compete against each other, by counting their kills (individually and with their groups).
'If that is successful, it could help in making our own Gunndams. Perhaps we could just strengthen our golems to achieve such a result. That would also mean more mobility for us, especially the monsters.' Rei thought to himself as he listened in on the briefing. He had not realised how busy the days could be assisting the dungeon supplier. Suddenly being dragged in and out of meetings disrupting his daily routine appeared to be the norm under Jin.
"First of all, we need more time to prepare our defensive operation. Ayse, Keyrin, I need both of you to stall their aerial force with your lightning strikes. Go wild." Jin instructed them. The Head Researcher took off her coat and started cracking her knuckles while Keyrin nodded in acknowledgement.
"I believe this warrants some overtime pay! Don't worry our research team accepts your sludge, be it in crystal or liquid form! Gold may have his miracle dung from that Phoenix but to us researchers your sludge is just as miraculous. It's the goddamn holy grail! Or you could increase our budget to compensate them from leading me away from work." Ayse smiled before teleporting away.
"From what I saw, your team will probably be glad to get a break from your bossy ways," Jin mumbled to himself before, but decided to humour her request. It was not like he lacked the sludge.
He shifted his gaze upwards to the ceiling of the indoor stadium. "Spiky, I'd like you to also accompany them to the Southern Capital for me. If some of those flying monsters manage to outmanoeuvre the lightning strikes and come too close to the capital you could catch them in your web."
"Mousefolks, please get those automated climbing gear from the Research Team's Armoury and protect Spiky while slaughtering those winged monsters. Show them how deadly being small and flightless can be. Pippy, if you can, go with Meomi to inform the Southerners that we will reinforce their borders so that they won't interfere or attack you."
"Ooohh! You mean those automated gear like the 'Attack of the Giants' Manga Peppers showed us?! I thought it was just gossip talk when Peppers boasted that the Weapons Research Team was doing it for fun." Pippy asked and Jin nodded his head and the Mousefolk brothers were extremely excited.
"Yes, Master! We will follow your orders!" Pippy added as he called upon his brother and a few older Mousefolks to get the gear ready first.
"HMmmmmMmMMmm." Spiky, the Altered Transforming Spider hounded with joy that he finally got to be deployed in a real battle. Its first major appearance was supposed to be during the Pandapolis Raid when it stayed on standby to protect the Iron Fortress housing the Dungeon Core. But no one went that close to it and even with the threat of the mass teleportation, Spiky was not called for the fight.
"Spiky said he is delighted that he could finally be of use." Weslie translated for Jin since he had no idea what Spiky had said. "He also said not to worry, his web can be used as support for the Mousefolks as he can selectively insert magic in his web to make it sticky."
"Nice. Okay but I need you to do something else too." Jin later elaborated to Spiky while the rest were listening in. Spiky was once even more joyous for being further involved in his new master's plan since his powers could be put to good use. The plan Jin had shared with it, would challenge him to transform into something vastly more complicated than he would usually do. Even Weslie was awed at the scale of Jin's thinking.
"Qiu Yue. Do you still have those artillery and sentry guns blueprints?" Jin took a breather and drank some water.
"Aye aye, Boss. With that kind of deployment in mind, I cannot disappoint you, can I?" Qiu Yue chuckled as she too teleported away back to her room to prepare her Sub System for the fight.
"Finally, Narris, Tinda. I heard from Drex himself that you two are the stealthiest and erm…most discreet amongst you Dark Elves. He told me that your abilities improved further ever since your help during the Salamander Keep mission." Jin was about to compliment them more but Narris stopped him in his tracks.
"Tell us our targets and we will get to it." Narris requested since both of them were supposed to be training for the Demopolis Police Raids before they got plucked out of the intensive training programme by Drex to meet Jin's demands.
As Jin told them their part in his plans, the two listened closely, but they were a little uncomfortable since they were missing out on Kraft's training regime. They might be the best at the moment, but if they did not participate in the latest iteration of Hell Training by their foxy de facto leader, they would be easily replaced.
However, Tinda took this break from the programme as a welcoming experience. There were certain things that she would like to try before heading back into the programme and this was the best opportunity to do so, especially when it came to extracting information.
"Alright. Find those two dark cloaks. We only have limited information on them. Get them to reveal the location of the Nine Ocean Phoenix's chick and retrieve it. With the incoming monsters, the heaviest defence should be focused around the caged Phoenix and the threat of its parent. You may take anything from the Research Team Armoury even the automated climbing gear. There are human sized ones aside from the ones we made for the Mousefolks." Jin replied and the both instantly disappeared from where they were sitting as if they were an illusion all along.
"Alright, I've covered the important stuff. Wyrstiker, deploy as soon as your platoon gets ready to go. Forneus, please bring your entire company of dragons into the Dungeon Maker. The System has already enlarged it enough for all of your men to squeeze in and receive the augmentation under a controlled environment. In the meantime, prep the rest of your Dragonlites for battle." Jin instructed and the entire group started to leave. Eventually, he was left with only Mr Derpy and Duke Wolte who were sitting eagerly in their seats looking at him with 'teary' eyes that he had overlooked them… again…
"Oh stop it you two. I have a super duper perfect part for the both of you to play." Jin smirked as he checked his phone for a moment to make sure he had the materials ready.
——
After Jin talked to Derpy and Wolte, he opened a portal in order to return to his Dungeon Maker. However, before he could step into it, a deft hand came out of nowhere grabbing him by his shoulder and pulled him into another instance. He recognised that feeling instantly as his vision disappeared and turned into a sort of blindness.
"Time for another dose of mind torture." Kraft announced pridefully. Although Jin was unable to see it, he could picture his jailer grinning devilishly. Judging by his tone the Original Bellator must have prepared something special for today's session.
"You know for as much 'fun' these sessions are, it's kind of a huge inconvenience right now…" Jin pointed out, yet he could feel that he was strapped onto a chair, only this time with chains that felt like a ton of iron balls pulling him down.
"Have you ever met an enemy who cares for your opinion and postpones his attack to a time when it's more convenient for you? In my experience right now when your mind is disturbed is the best time to launch a sneaky mind attack. Anyway, I naturally know that you're firing up to go out there. However, you seem to have forgotten that time flows slowly in this instance. Hours in here are merely minutes out there. So I won't keep you here for long… objectively speaking that is." Kraft's Cheshire cat grin got even wider.
"Alright. Not like I can do much to change your mind in this position in the first place. Let's just get this over with. Mind at least telling me what you're going to put me through this time around?" Jin queried, but instead of answering him, Kraft placed his hand on Jin's head.
As a result, Jin started to feel omnipotent, seeing things in his mind that he would be unable to without any System assistance.
"For today, I've decided to show you the effects your work has left throughout the realms or well, let's just call them worlds. These ripples caused waves and if you are not careful they might turn into a huge tide which might bite you in your butt." Kraft told him as he placed his other hand on Jin's head. The images in Jin's mind got even more intense.
"What you can see before you is all the information I've gathered which the System has collated without you knowing. It should show you that you have more people spying on you than you have realised."
"Let's start with the world you've interfered with the most." Kraft tuned the images in Jin's head and it headed to Jin's Home World. Earth.
As an 'ignorant' dungeon supplier who only cared about honing his craft by making fantastic dungeon instances (with a 'hobby' of saving worlds), Jin had actually changed Shenzhen's dungeon instance industry and it was starting to affect the whole nation. Various dungeon suppliers had come either openly or in secret to look into Jin's dungeons and the suppliers with disposable profits had already begun to emulate his dungeons.
However, they were unable to achieve the same realism he offered. To compensate they had to resort to putting more money into their dungeon servers. The suppliers had even requested their technicians to see if they could tweak it as much as possible to reach Jin's standard. On the flipside, Sea Mesh was simultaneously pushing hard to research better servers even though they were supposedly partners with Jin. For the time being, Ayse fed them with 'wrong' information periodically, so as to hinder their research efforts
Next, Kraft concentrated on the cultivators' side. Jin's dungeons had rekindled a fairly good portion of Shenzhen's people back into cultivation. Not too long ago it was treated mostly as a hobby for the younger crowd or as a necessity to further one's work prospects but those who had experienced his dungeons realised that it could be gruesomely satisfying.
It didn't hurt that Jin served a little of everything, making dungeon running easier with all the things in one major hub. From clothes to weapons, Jin had covered all necessary aspects and as if that was not enough, there were mini games that involved the dungeon instance.
From the Pet Card games to the Supa Robot Wars. Those were things he had just added to for fun and had planned to recommission once they were no longer actively played, but to his surprise it had become an instant hit and an increasing number of people played them (some even more than the dungeon instances, earning Jin a tiny steady profit).
Naturally, the System would never ignore a potential cash cow for too long, so it had noted that it was about time for Jin to create a new expansion pack to keep the hype going. Alas, the problem was that Jin neither had the time nor necessary the brains to do so. It had been easy to create a solid foundation but it was not as easy to build on that foundation of content.
Fortunately Jin had capable people under him, so he had given the Pet Card Game to his Arcade Instance Storekeepers to create the next expansion. As of now, they were in the midst of completing it and offering the proposal to Jin soon.
"Ahh.. okay, I will take note of that."
Other than that, the dungeon supplier had inadvertently increased the quality of life of at least those near his district. The Central Business District people and employees from Hua Wee Phone campuses always visited Jin's Tree Mall for its food and free bus rides. These led them to eat not only healthier tasty food but allowed them to wait without any queue especially in Lynn's restaurant. The only problem was the cost which Jin thought it would be an issue until Lynn presented him with the volumes of orders coming in via the Pandafull Delivery.
The promise of hot food upon delivery at Lynn and her penguins' quality had made it immensely popular and many major delivery services had begun inquiring about Jin's delivery system. Yet, none of them was able to get any information despite generous bribes towards Jin's Farming World employees.
Some even got ambushed with the assailants planning to kidnap them, but with the Farming World Humans each armed with a Battle Horse cultivation style, such ambushes did not work well. (The System would mark them down, for Kraft and his minions to make them disappear in a way that did not create any suspicion.)
Speaking of quality of life, the increase in cultivation inadvertently led them to work more efficiently, completing what they needed without feeling too tired despite the constant overtime they clocked. That led them to abuse of the active nightlife and what could be a better place to go to than a famous big store that's open 24 hours with awesome food and activities?
That's right! Jin's Dungeons and Pandas.
"You see how your little wimps and wants to create new service and dungeon instances have changed people's lives for the better? At the same time, you've made them dependent on us." Kraft chuckled. "This kind of subtle brainwashing is a masterclass project in progress. As expected of my student. Now let's change the pace a little and move to the next world."
"We are not going to watch how the Zodiac Clans react to Kong Rong's declaration of protecting our Panda Clan?" Jin asked and Kraft flicked his ears.
"That can wait for another day." Kraft answered with some annoyance. He was still a bit annoyed that the Top State Agent had beaten him to the punch when it came to protecting Jin. "That bastard…trying to one up me." He whispered to himself.
In a split second, Kraft forcefully changed the imagery in Jin's mind to the Goblin World. For the first time in decades, the three races who had been solitary in their ways had begun to change since they now had something in common. The Dungeon Cave in the New Adventurer's Town was the talk of the many cities of their respective kingdoms.
The town had never truly stopped growing and was on the cusp of becoming a city if only Jin allowed it. For the time being, he had instructed Zhi Nu, who had somehow been elected as the mayor of the New Adventurer's Town, to stop any additional major construction. His rationale was that if the town were to grow into a city, proper foundation and sanitation was needed first and they currently had other priorities. Yet, this did not stop the growth of the New Adventurer's Town since more and more aspiring adventurers started to flock in, each of them setting up tents since the taverns were full.
These camps had developed into a minor slum, something Zhi Nu could not stand, so she had taken the initiative to take matters into her own hands. With some assistance from the System, she had forced the adventurers and experienced workers who had built the town to develop their own temporary houses with strict rules to guarantee proper sanitation.
Recently, the Dark Foxes aka the Dark Elves had been forced to decrease the number of their usual patrols. Kraft had instructed all of them to attend his training camp, but that did not mean they didn't whip up a certain trusting type of police force to keep the place enforced in their absence. At all times, there would at least be one Dark Fox available to split up the occasional tavern brawl between the adventurers.
All of this could be attributed to the 'never ending caves'. As Jin lacked the time to properly manage this side project, the System had modelled the subsequent floors to behave to the dungeon model of the Spiral Sewers Instance. Loot became a little more sparse but the value and quantity per drop had increased, making it more dangerous for the adventurers to venture further down.
The number of casualties had increased and the Dungeon Cave had spawned something like a memorial wall to those who had fallen. While they undoubtedly offered unimaginable riches, the risk of dying was too real.
The profession of an adventurer which used to be regarded as someone who did odd jobs to get by, was nowadays respected. Those who had returned from lower levels of the dungeon were being treated like heroes.
Yet, that did not deter the adventurers as the money was worth it.
However, Zhi Nu couldn't allow everyone under her to die left and right, other that would result in a lack of proper talents. So, she had posted 'employment bounties' for gathering materials for crafters and agricultural experts too. Those were mostly found on the safer floors, allowing young adventurers to gather experience and they got rewarded with sufficient coin to survive. At the same time, she also ensured that the economy was not inflated with too much money, otherwise, not just the New Adventurer Town would suffer but their entire world. That was why she still allowed bartering and occasionally sent those bartered goods to the System to replicate them for the Dungeon Cave.
And that was when she started to see a race that was rarely seen. The Elves.
With the advent of the Dark Elves coming out to keep the peace, the Elves were actually shocked to see they managed to blend in well with the people around without any discrimination. And thus, the Elven Kingdom allowed a small group of adventurers wannabes to try living in that town.
Zhi Nu had allowed them in, but only if they did not discriminate against the Dark Elves or any other races. That was the only condition they had to abide by or they would be immediately kicked out of the town. Should they refuse to leave, it would be death by sword.
It was a weird condition, but the influential powers she held were surprisingly strong especially since the Goblin King and Orc King were often seen accompanying her for meals. Even the Human King who was known to be a recluse had started to send official letters to ask if Zhi Nu could accompany him for meals. Zhi Nu had taken the chance to get the three Kings to meet with each other to discuss various issues.
"That should be enough about the Adventurer's Town. Let's look at the Orc and Goblin Kingdom for a change. Because you magnanimously allowed the monsters to return to their homes, despite the System's recommendation, we've gathered a ton of information giving us greater insight about how these places have changed." Kraft said.
The majority of the Orcs were reeling from the loss of the recent war, yet their new King had been working tirelessly to provide aid to the masses. Getting work and therefore coin through his efforts was the best way for him to earn their hearts and trust. To be able to do that, however, Frost Echo had been borrowing money from the System despite constant warnings from Cross, his Goblin Spymaster who insisted they had to make the Orc's economy flourish on their own.
In the course of this, the budget which had been prepared for the military was repurposed to improve the agriculture of the country, allowing them to grow their own crops, while the System sells them foodstuff to get through certain periods when needed.
Some of the Orc Merchants who worked in the New Adventurer's Town had also been providing massive discounts to their Orc counterparts, providing them with supplies needed to survive through famine or the deadly winters.
Not only that, through the New Adventurer's Town, Zhi Nu had been giving them work such as building roads from their orc cities to the new town. And that also allowed them to establish outposts to protect adventurers and merchants from the threats of wildlife.
These slow but steady changes had gradually influenced the Orc's perspective but that did not mean there were no dissenters. As the spymaster Cross was in charge of disposing them and subsequently putting them into the System's care for some reeducation. Nevertheless, he did not do it himself for such risky operations. No, several Orcs and even Goblins like Flame Ripper had assisted with the culling of these 'potential terrorists'.
Speaking of Goblins, the Goblin City flourished similarly through the trade with various other races. The Goblin Crafters who had been working for Jin brought back their knowledge which they shared in the city. Especially the need for mechanisation. Soon, those Goblin Crafters who returned for good built a guild named the Illuminati Ironworks or I.I for short to facilitate the modernisation of the city. (Obviously, 'someone' had suggested that name for them for the laughs, yet the goblins loved it.) Some of the Orcs were also in the Illuminati Ironworks which they would do cross city assistance to rebuild their civilisation.
If the Lost Tech were anything but an indication of an advanced society, they believed they could get there too.
"I could go over the Giant World, but honestly, there is not much left there but a wasteland after Peppers' explosive magic." Kraft decided to skip that part. "Still, I have to admit Mother Nature sure is scary. Despite Peppers' magic, plants and animals have started growing back once more.
The System had observed the area on an occasional basis and has noticed there are now more varied species in the area. It was as if the animals or monsters saw the big explosion and got curious about it. Now that area is like a jungle wasteland and it has become a survival of the fittest."
"Wow…okay. I totally didn't expect that." Jin admitted.
"As for the Farming World… I really cannot be bothered to even glimpse at it. We've been focusing on those stupid Rats for so long, that I've had enough of them. Skipping that part too." Kraft yawned during his 'torturing' session.
"How about the Mecha World and eh Zombie World?" Jin asked. "Oh nearly forgot Derpy's home, the Fishing World."
"Oh those? I did not look through them too much, because honestly, your effect on those worlds is minimal in the grand scheme of things for now. Everyone is still a zombie as far as I'm aware and there are treasures and resources to pick aplenty. We might get to raid them if we need some extra moolah. You've already experienced it first hand how crazy those hordes can be."
"Well, yeah. If what Derek said was true and all of them have turned into zombies, we are talking about probably a couple of billions of zombies or at least hundreds of millions.." Jin managed to say out loud despite being chained down and paralysed from the body downwards. "However, aren't you concerned that you might have overlooked some survivors in that area that might not have been turned?"
"While I cannot outright strike out such a possibility, I also don't plan to look into it. In case your guess is correct, then those survivors have somehow made it this far, so they won't need your help. We are not obligated to save them in any way shape or form. If we show ourselves, they might just turn hostile or be all cunning, planning to backstab us, wanting everything for themselves." Kraft argued, sounding like someone who had watched enough zombie movies to know what might await them. "Should you create a base in that world, we can make them work for us. I have no qualms with that."
"Moving on to more interesting stuff. Rei's makeshift spaceship. The fact that he can make it work with the assistance of the Orcs and Goblins means he is quite a talented engineer despite him claiming otherwise. I'm quite tempted to get into his brain and see what else he has hidden in his nogging."
"Come on, don't do that… although maybe you should. So far he has kept his part of the bargain. We should at least find his family and make sure they are fine." Jin commented.
"You mean, check out if they've already become casualties in the ongoing war between the United Federation and Xeon Union? I still think providing them with a common enemy would be the best way to stop them from fighting each other." Kraft sighed, but agreed to look for Rei's family's location to the best of his abilities…that is after he probed his brain.
"As for the Fishing World… I would not recommend you to go there again. Although we call him Derpy, the Shadow Dagen is the manifestation of power from an actual God, who is quite pissed that someone stole what belonged to him. Although the loss of power probably is just minimal, it's about the principal of things."
"Anyway, last but not least we have the Dungeon World." Kraft giggled.
"I was actually worried you might have forgotten about it. Especially since your entire skulk of foxes is handling the Demopolis." Jin teased and suddenly the images flashed a little faster.
"I do not have to tell you much about Pandapolis since it's still a ghost town despite your promises of opening it up."
"I did not promise to open it up, alright? The shield came down and the Demons attacked us. That's all. Besides, the repair works are still ongoing as far as I know. The only sectors that are active are the industry and agriculture sector."
"Yeah, but the business sector is empty and so are the entertainment areas. Even your industry sector is not fully set up for the city. Almost half of it is for military purposes which kind of defeats the purpose of a diversified industrial sector." Kraft yawned as if he wanted to go to the Demopolis part as quickly as possible. "Your hotels are still closed too. It took a HELL of an effort constructing those series of aquatic domes and yet they gather dust."
"Well, with most of the efforts concentrating towards the Farming World… Alright, I will take note of it and will decrease the military portion when I open up Pandapolis. So, how's the progress in Demopolis?" Jin questioned and yet another flash of images came into his mind.
"Glad you asked! Big Brother Rex has been busy. Very very busy settling the Demopolis policies. I am glad that you set up a secret meeting between him and Xiong Da." Kraft nodded his head in acknowledgement.
"I thought it would be fun for Xiong Da to make laws for a 'virtual' kingdom. In fact, we are actually paying him quite a bit to do so, since it's time he could spend otherwise. Sure most of it is just an increase in terms of his store credit (plus a custom made Hippo and Egret plushie), but still, I shudder when thinking about how much we would have to pay otherwise. Not to mention he is already giving us the deep friend discount. It surely helps that he seems to have had a wish to dabble in national policies but had found it too troublesome and not profitable enough to actually pursue that desire. He seems to have enjoyed talking with Rex about it." Jin said.
"In any case, my other foxes all have problems piling on top of their heads and doing their best to deal with them. The healthcare was terribly under budget and education was a privilege reserved for the spawns of the rich demons. The transportation system was nearly nonexistent and people had to use magic to travel far distances or walk by foot. Supplies were scarce in certain parts of the cities because of it. All these problems led to crime lords which Tsu and Kai had been rotating to find out more about."
"I thought they had the beast kids to take care of? That intensive training camp?" Jin queried.
"Oh, that's what the training camp is for. To get those kids to learn how to play detective and teach them to properly scout. They've used cosmetic inscriptions to make them look taller and older. Oh and trust me, those beast kids are good at acting. So good that they are naturals at extracting information. And when it comes to running away, boy were they excellent at it. Now the Wolf Twins only have to train their combat skills up and you have your first batch of next generation spies." Kraft nodded his head with approval.
"Then I presume that the Demopolis police raids are coming closer and closer?" Jin asked and Kraft merely shrugged his shoulders.
"The Drows have asked for better equipment. They were especially interested in the kind to increase their mobility, so I have implemented the latest Gearbox Suits into our training exercises, courtesy of Yang Ling who left a sample in the suitcase she was carrying on our table while visiting you. I took the liberty to copy its designs before putting it back. Lynn nearly scolded me for being this sneaky."
"I doubt she would scold you for that. Be honest, you must have gotten caught stealing part of her breakfast too right?"
"Tsk, how could I resist? Do you think YOU could have resisted? " Kraft fiddled with his fingers and Jin's olfactory senses recalled Lynn's cooking on that day and he inadvertently drooled.
"As for the Church of the Afterlife, we've scouted them and came to the conclusion that the extent of their reach is rather creepy. If you think the Northern and Southern Scholars are a pain in the ass, dealing with an entire world religion is worse. I bet you would prefer straight forward enemies like Baal. In any case, for the time being, there is no reason to worry about them too much. Until we get our own Panda religion up and running, they're merely keeping an eye on us."
"Other than that. I say you did a good job growing up. A bit slow though. But you are doing a good job nevertheless." Kraft praised as he let go of Jin.
"That did not feel very torturous. More like you send me on a tour down memory lane. I do admit the overload of information was slightly painful but after that, I could cope with it. You getting soft, Kraft?" Jin provoked.
"Oh? Here I thought I would be nice for a change and give you some minor encouragement, but this is how you treat me? Are you turning a masochist? Is that why those girls in your harem are not satisfying you enough?" Kraft sent a wave of dark chi into Jin and immediately he started to struggle.
"You see, this technique was merely part one. After showing someone all their good memories or all of their accomplishments from any point in their life, the real torture begins by showing them slight deviations of what they had just seen. 'What if' scenarios in which certain things turn out differently. What if me and my skulk had not arrived just in time during your fight with King Baal? What if the Rat Triad Leader De Tian had bested you in combat? What if you had never gotten the System? It will bombard your brain until you will no longer be able to tell reality from fiction!" Kraft devilishly explained the 'real beauty' of his technique.
"And don't worry. I won't ruin your face or your mind that badly. After all, a certain somebody still needs you." Kraft peered into the self made darkness, grinning. Smirking.
"I think a 1,000 of those scenarios sounds quite good." He whispered with a satisfied look on his face.
Qiu Yue teleported back to the Dungeon Maker, where she was greeted by the sight of Jin who just stared at her through squinted eyes. Next to him was Gold who had hastily returned from his trip to the Eastern Region with bags of soil and fertiliser and the Scholar was sharing Jin's expression when looking at Qiu Yue.
"Am I that pretty that you all have to stare at me with such ferocious looking eyes as if you will devour me the moment I made a move forward?" Qiu Yue cracked a small joke and Meomi just sighed.
"What were you thinking to abandon the Southerners just like that?!" Gold questioned the Red Panda Cultivator, making Jin focus his attention towards him.
"Interesting, I thought your first reaction would be something more like, 'Let's go find where that Nine Oceans Phoenix has been pooping! I want all that fertiliser for myself!' " Jin's impression of the Scholar lightened the mood.
"Well, my heart is stirring and it would be a lie if I told you I don't want that miracle dung, but-"
"But just like Jin here, you care about the people of your world first and foremost. Don't worry I still have plans to help them. However, I want to do it in a way that will guarantee that we can keep the Phoenix all to ourselves." Qiu Yue interrupted and they all could see Gold's eyes practically scream 'WANT!!!'. This was the first time the Werejackal Leader had desired something so badly and coincidentally it would be for the betterment of Jin's agriculture ecosystem in the future.
Since the Phoenix equalled unlimited high quality shit all year round, it would have most likely been put on the System's to-capture eventually, but since the one flying towards the Southern Capital had a variant mutation, it meant its value was far greater than an ordinary one. For all they knew this one's poop could have the potential to be superior to the fertiliser Jin had gotten before as part of the System Rewards.
The Panda Cultivator was not the kind of guy who would travel around different worlds specifically to catch a monster unless the System put out a mission for him. So far there had not been a specific need for it, but if they had to protect the Southerners, they might as well be getting the Phoenix out of it.
"Fine, but was it really necessary to outright refuse them in such a manner? We could have used their help in capturing it." Gold argued as he placed all the soil and fertiliser bags down and swiped any possible dirt and dust from his body.
The System assisted him with a cleansing magical spell so that Gold would not dirty the Dungeon Maker interior. (Otherwise, that would be even more of a waste of resources cleaning the place up.)
"Perhaps, but our plan might have us clash with them. Besides that Phoenix is not the only one coming up to trash the Southern Capital. I had to return since we would not be able to deal with its company without reeinforcements." Qiu Yue informed him and the System pulled up a bird's eye view imagery of the Southern Capital courtesy of the Orc Pilots who were currently flying the C-130 overhead. After which, pictures of the incoming Nine Oceans Phoenix popped out on the Dungeon Maker's console.
"Hahah… this feels like another major déjà vu…" Jin muttered under his breath as he saw what Qiu Yue had meant. There was a giant flock of winged monsters coming towards the Southern Capital and the Nine Oceans Phoenix appeared to be their ringleader. The odd thing was that their group looked as if their 'creator' had basically taken some land animals and slapped some wings on top of them.
Among the variety of monsters, there were Winged Bears, Winged Elk, Winged Lions and even Winged Worms with lots of sharp and pointy teeth. Surrounding them there were smaller animals which the C130 imagery caught such as Winged Monkeys, Winged Racoons and even Winged Mutated Humans.
"Oh… that's really bad. Instead of a land attack, the Southerners are facing an unprecedented series of flying monsters. And judging from their current fortifications, their defences are rather primitive when it comes to monsters with wings." Gold shared his knowledge about the South.
Jin placed his hand on his chin and started to ponder on what to do. "Hmm… I see. Correct me if I'm wrong, but our air strike force should, unfortunately, be our weakest link, correct? Let's get Wyrstriker here for his opinion."
"Also, I have to apologise. Initially, I thought you left because you were just a natural in tsundere-ing people." Jin bowed his head but his comment made Qiu Yue pout.
"Tsundere-ing people? Only you could come up with such a term, Jin… As your tactician, it's a given that I know the composition of our forces! If it had been a simple monster horde, I wouldn't have left, but stayed and negotiated for more in the first place. I would have upped the stakes just enough so they would have to agree, but end up regretting having promised us that much while we cleared the threat effortlessly." Qiu Yue clarified.
"Master, you called?" Wyrstriker answered the summon and Jin was happy to conveniently excuse himself by giving the goblin leader a short debrief on the new situation.
"Oh… This is indeed a problem. While our aerial forces have significantly improved after the Pandapolis Defence, especially thanks to the addition of Marquis Forneus and his Dragon Devils, this might still be too much for us. We do not have enough anti-air defences against all of them. Even if we did, this is not an isolated dungeon where we can push them into one corner and annihilate them. They have the oceans and mountains to flee to when they feel threatened and we don't have the manpower to chase after all of them." Wyrstriker gave his analysis.
"I'm relieved you did not say that we did not have the strength and capability to chase them." Jin chuckled a little and Wyrstrike scoffed.
"Of course! My Goblin Wyvern Knights have been utilising our best technology that Ayse had created to date! It's impossible for us to fail to catch any monster at our speed! In fact, General Forneus had to bow down in front of Ayse when he requested his dragons to be outfitted with the same technology as us! However, the designs had to be modified and testing is currently underway to ensure that the dragons can handle the drag and inertia force." Wyrstriker informed Jin.
Wyrstriker still vividly remembered how he and his wyvern had to get used to such a boost in speed, making both the pilot and rider vomit because they could not handle the G force. Fortunately, it had not taken long for him and his team to get accustomed and afterwards the natural instinct of the wyvern was able to make adjustments that no plane would be able to. That included emergency stopping and swift turns.
Engineer Rei was in charge of collating all the data and it was his responsibility to check if he could use it to convert it into an AI data core for the golems too. (However, that project was a low priority and would only be completed at some point in the future.)
"Any ideas on how to make up for it, Big Boss? I have a few things in mind, yet not a concrete plan on how to solve the overall problem. By the way, Meomi did bring up an interesting possibility during our exchange with the Southern Stars." Qiu Yue mentioned the prospect of the Southerners having abducted the Pheonix' child.
"That would certainly explain why such a creature would fly towards them and with an army no less. Since the Southerners do not have any arid land to farm properly, a tamed Seven Oceans Phoenix, or in this case, the offspring of that Nine Oceans Phoenix would be something they would definitely try to get their hands on. Who knows with all the magical properties it's said to have, they could perhaps finally create their own farmlands." Jin theorised.
This possibility was another reason why Qiu Yue had not offered to outright help the Southerners, since she would be abetting the Southern Stars' kidnapping of the Phoenix's child.
"That sounds quite plausible. Did you happen to sense any minor changes in expressions or body language on Leopardo or his underlings when you've asked them about it?" Jin addressed Meomi who unfortunately could not fully remember.
"System shall help you."
Some consoles immediately appeared in front of the group. They activated and various screens replayed Meomi's point of view of what happened mere minutes ago, allowing the System to use its terrifying analysis. From the few twitches in their facial expressions to unconscious movement of their feets and hands, it was able to pinpoint a few black cloaks who seemed to have some knowledge or understanding towards Meomi's sudden outburst.
"This is amazing…" Jin exclaimed as he was still in awe when he saw the System strike out many of the various cloaked men who appeared to be blissfully unaware about such a reality as it eliminated all but a select few.
"Of course, the body language shows more truth than words could ever portray. It's a matter of discerning." The System stated and further narrowed the suspect to two. "However, this method of prediction does have its flaws, yet the probability that they have some deeper understanding of the particular matter is at 96.74%."
"Are we gonna bag them? And then at the same time try our best to help them?" Meomi asked, but Qiu Yue had something even more sinister in mind.
"How about instead of releasing it we just capture the child of the Phoenix for ourselves and use it to bait the Nine Oceans Phoenix? That way we could probably easily divert them away from the Southern Capital and it should be easier to control the Phoenix if we can tame its child." Qiu Yue suggested and the rest were shocked by her methodology.
"It's logical enough, although it really is quite ruthless. In fact, will it make us any better than them if we act in such a way?" Jin wondered which made Qiu Yue shake her head and shrug her shoulders.
"We are planning to make it submit to the System, right? Unless we can convince it to willingly do so, we might have to kill the Nine Oceans Phoenix first. It would be easier to slay its chick who could try to reason with its parent to willingly submit, thus sparing us from a difficult fight. Either way we would be able to allow parent and child to live together without any worries, right?" Qiu Yue argued and Jin was forced to admit she was right.
"You know better than anyone that we aren't running a charity here. There is always the chance that the Nine Oceans Phoenix' poop won't be able to act as a good fertiliser since it's a variant. Getting its child will double our chances of getting something good out of this whole episode, although we can always use the parent for its fighting capabilities. In the best case scenario, we will end up with two sources of fertiliser. That way we could potentially even sell off some excess on the Black Market."
"As much as I hate it, what Qiu Yue says makes sense." Gold sighed as he continued to look at the constant imagery from the C130's live feed.
"However all these assumptions are under the condition that the Southerners have actually captured it and it's still alive. Even if we find its child, the chances of its parent just agreeing to submit are considerably low. I don't think we will be able to avoid a fight to be honest. Our aerial troops are not sufficient against that horde. The Southerners may be able to hold it for a short time, but we do not know the full fighting potential of the Nine Oceans Phoenix, especially if it's fighting to protect its young. Even if Jin and the System could manipulate the Spirit of the Land, given their names the skies might be outside of their jurisdiction entirely."
"Scholar Gold is correct." The System confirmed that line of thought. Meanwhile, Jin who had been thinking overdrive suddenly had an epiphany which could help them.
"System, remember you kept pestering me about that monster fusion function?" Jin queried and the System acknowledged the function's presence.
"However, System understands that User does not wish to use it?"
"Is it possible to alter it and just make a temporary fusion? You know a sort of strengthening similar to the cards we use to equip our people?" Jin queried yet the System and the people around him could not make heads or tails to his line of questioning. "The Dragon Devils need bigger air boosters but we need to make them, right? I was thinking about expediting the process by putting a few air boosters together, add a few sludge crystals or sludge liquid and fuse all of them."
"Does User wish to augment the monsters by fusing them with non sentient objects? The monster fusion function is primarily meant for fusing two sentient monsters together, yet the proposed concept would not be too far fetched and the System can give it a try. Given that User wishes for the end result to become a form of temporary augmentation, the sludge crystals used to power the fusion should not be too many. In fact, one sludge crystal or a vial of the sludge liquid should be able to power twenty over temporary augmentations. However, do note that those items will be destroyed in the process once the augmentation period passes."
The System recomputed its calculations and tweaked the function for Jin's idea to be plausible. After all, as an almighty super entity wasn't it the System's job to create miracles like that?
"How long is the augmentation period?" Jin asked, hoping it would not be something absurdly small like five minutes, but something ranging multiple hours at least, in case the fight will end up prolonged.
"Given the power of the sludge, at least a week. That is assuming the monster does not die before that. Any resurrection will return them to their former state." The System reported and it seemed there was hope.
"Alright, we shall hold an emergency war council meeting, this time with all the aerial squadrons as well as any monsters who can fly, including our dear Mr Derpy. We don't have time to dilly dally." Jin ordered and immediately a request to convene in the Indoor Stadium Instance for the briefing was sent to the various monsters.
————–
Jin stood at the podium and started to address his minions as if he was a professor holding a lecture. "Sorry for the impromptu call, but we have an(other) urgent situation on our hands." The dungeon supplier briefed everyone about Qiu Yue's visit to the Southern Capital and started to explain the rationale of this sudden mission that they had to go through.
Although the primary objective was capturing the Phoenixes to increase their farming and combat prospects, all of the minions knew that Jin was interfering because he wanted to protect as many people in the Southern Capital as possible.
On the surface, Jin did so to gain as much extra reinforcements as possible for the fight against the Demon Rats, yet it was not like he was overly reliant on the Southerners. Without his weaponry the Southern Region's warriors would be unable to beat most of his monsters, unless they were at a grunt level like the zombies. According to the System they were also less valuable than his world's cultivators who would be causing some havoc once he started his Grand Operation.
In essence, Jin was not cruel enough to turn a blind eye to the Southerner's plight. Otherwise he could just force teleport the Nine Oceans Phoenix into a dungeon instance and fight it with all his minion's might, not caring for the level of destruction the flying monster horde would cause to the Southern Capital.
"Thus, we are going to a batch experiment of fusion augmentation with the Lord Forneus and his Devil Dragons to see how effective the fusion is. If the experiment fails, we will compensate you." Jin announced but he could hear the minions chuckle away.
"You can compensate us by simply bringing us back to life to fight again!" Forneus called out as he was excited for the aerial combat already. While it would not be the same as having a rematch with Wyrstriker, they had already thought of a system to compete against each other, by counting their kills (individually and with their groups).
'If that is successful, it could help in making our own Gunndams. Perhaps we could just strengthen our golems to achieve such a result. That would also mean more mobility for us, especially the monsters.' Rei thought to himself as he listened in on the briefing. He had not realised how busy the days could be assisting the dungeon supplier. Suddenly being dragged in and out of meetings disrupting his daily routine appeared to be the norm under Jin.
"First of all, we need more time to prepare our defensive operation. Ayse, Keyrin, I need both of you to stall their aerial force with your lightning strikes. Go wild." Jin instructed them. The Head Researcher took off her coat and started cracking her knuckles while Keyrin nodded in acknowledgement.
"I believe this warrants some overtime pay! Don't worry our research team accepts your sludge, be it in crystal or liquid form! Gold may have his miracle dung from that Phoenix but to us researchers your sludge is just as miraculous. It's the goddamn holy grail! Or you could increase our budget to compensate them from leading me away from work." Ayse smiled before teleporting away.
"From what I saw, your team will probably be glad to get a break from your bossy ways," Jin mumbled to himself before, but decided to humour her request. It was not like he lacked the sludge.
He shifted his gaze upwards to the ceiling of the indoor stadium. "Spiky, I'd like you to also accompany them to the Southern Capital for me. If some of those flying monsters manage to outmanoeuvre the lightning strikes and come too close to the capital you could catch them in your web."
"Mousefolks, please get those automated climbing gear from the Research Team's Armoury and protect Spiky while slaughtering those winged monsters. Show them how deadly being small and flightless can be. Pippy, if you can, go with Meomi to inform the Southerners that we will reinforce their borders so that they won't interfere or attack you."
"Ooohh! You mean those automated gear like the 'Attack of the Giants' Manga Peppers showed us?! I thought it was just gossip talk when Peppers boasted that the Weapons Research Team was doing it for fun." Pippy asked and Jin nodded his head and the Mousefolk brothers were extremely excited.
"Yes, Master! We will follow your orders!" Pippy added as he called upon his brother and a few older Mousefolks to get the gear ready first.
"HMmmmmMmMMmm." Spiky, the Altered Transforming Spider hounded with joy that he finally got to be deployed in a real battle. Its first major appearance was supposed to be during the Pandapolis Raid when it stayed on standby to protect the Iron Fortress housing the Dungeon Core. But no one went that close to it and even with the threat of the mass teleportation, Spiky was not called for the fight.
"Spiky said he is delighted that he could finally be of use." Weslie translated for Jin since he had no idea what Spiky had said. "He also said not to worry, his web can be used as support for the Mousefolks as he can selectively insert magic in his web to make it sticky."
"Nice. Okay but I need you to do something else too." Jin later elaborated to Spiky while the rest were listening in. Spiky was once even more joyous for being further involved in his new master's plan since his powers could be put to good use. The plan Jin had shared with it, would challenge him to transform into something vastly more complicated than he would usually do. Even Weslie was awed at the scale of Jin's thinking.
"Qiu Yue. Do you still have those artillery and sentry guns blueprints?" Jin took a breather and drank some water.
"Aye aye, Boss. With that kind of deployment in mind, I cannot disappoint you, can I?" Qiu Yue chuckled as she too teleported away back to her room to prepare her Sub System for the fight.
"Finally, Narris, Tinda. I heard from Drex himself that you two are the stealthiest and erm…most discreet amongst you Dark Elves. He told me that your abilities improved further ever since your help during the Salamander Keep mission." Jin was about to compliment them more but Narris stopped him in his tracks.
"Tell us our targets and we will get to it." Narris requested since both of them were supposed to be training for the Demopolis Police Raids before they got plucked out of the intensive training programme by Drex to meet Jin's demands.
As Jin told them their part in his plans, the two listened closely, but they were a little uncomfortable since they were missing out on Kraft's training regime. They might be the best at the moment, but if they did not participate in the latest iteration of Hell Training by their foxy de facto leader, they would be easily replaced.
However, Tinda took this break from the programme as a welcoming experience. There were certain things that she would like to try before heading back into the programme and this was the best opportunity to do so, especially when it came to extracting information.
"Alright. Find those two dark cloaks. We only have limited information on them. Get them to reveal the location of the Nine Ocean Phoenix's chick and retrieve it. With the incoming monsters, the heaviest defence should be focused around the caged Phoenix and the threat of its parent. You may take anything from the Research Team Armoury even the automated climbing gear. There are human sized ones aside from the ones we made for the Mousefolks." Jin replied and the both instantly disappeared from where they were sitting as if they were an illusion all along.
"Alright, I've covered the important stuff. Wyrstiker, deploy as soon as your platoon gets ready to go. Forneus, please bring your entire company of dragons into the Dungeon Maker. The System has already enlarged it enough for all of your men to squeeze in and receive the augmentation under a controlled environment. In the meantime, prep the rest of your Dragonlites for battle." Jin instructed and the entire group started to leave. Eventually, he was left with only Mr Derpy and Duke Wolte who were sitting eagerly in their seats looking at him with 'teary' eyes that he had overlooked them… again…
"Oh stop it you two. I have a super duper perfect part for the both of you to play." Jin smirked as he checked his phone for a moment to make sure he had the materials ready.
——
After Jin talked to Derpy and Wolte, he opened a portal in order to return to his Dungeon Maker. However, before he could step into it, a deft hand came out of nowhere grabbing him by his shoulder and pulled him into another instance. He recognised that feeling instantly as his vision disappeared and turned into a sort of blindness.
"Time for another dose of mind torture." Kraft announced pridefully. Although Jin was unable to see it, he could picture his jailer grinning devilishly. Judging by his tone the Original Bellator must have prepared something special for today's session.
"You know for as much 'fun' these sessions are, it's kind of a huge inconvenience right now…" Jin pointed out, yet he could feel that he was strapped onto a chair, only this time with chains that felt like a ton of iron balls pulling him down.
"Have you ever met an enemy who cares for your opinion and postpones his attack to a time when it's more convenient for you? In my experience right now when your mind is disturbed is the best time to launch a sneaky mind attack. Anyway, I naturally know that you're firing up to go out there. However, you seem to have forgotten that time flows slowly in this instance. Hours in here are merely minutes out there. So I won't keep you here for long… objectively speaking that is." Kraft's Cheshire cat grin got even wider.
"Alright. Not like I can do much to change your mind in this position in the first place. Let's just get this over with. Mind at least telling me what you're going to put me through this time around?" Jin queried, but instead of answering him, Kraft placed his hand on Jin's head.
As a result, Jin started to feel omnipotent, seeing things in his mind that he would be unable to without any System assistance.
"For today, I've decided to show you the effects your work has left throughout the realms or well, let's just call them worlds. These ripples caused waves and if you are not careful they might turn into a huge tide which might bite you in your butt." Kraft told him as he placed his other hand on Jin's head. The images in Jin's mind got even more intense.
"What you can see before you is all the information I've gathered which the System has collated without you knowing. It should show you that you have more people spying on you than you have realised."
"Let's start with the world you've interfered with the most." Kraft tuned the images in Jin's head and it headed to Jin's Home World. Earth.
As an 'ignorant' dungeon supplier who only cared about honing his craft by making fantastic dungeon instances (with a 'hobby' of saving worlds), Jin had actually changed Shenzhen's dungeon instance industry and it was starting to affect the whole nation. Various dungeon suppliers had come either openly or in secret to look into Jin's dungeons and the suppliers with disposable profits had already begun to emulate his dungeons.
However, they were unable to achieve the same realism he offered. To compensate they had to resort to putting more money into their dungeon servers. The suppliers had even requested their technicians to see if they could tweak it as much as possible to reach Jin's standard. On the flipside, Sea Mesh was simultaneously pushing hard to research better servers even though they were supposedly partners with Jin. For the time being, Ayse fed them with 'wrong' information periodically, so as to hinder their research efforts
Next, Kraft concentrated on the cultivators' side. Jin's dungeons had rekindled a fairly good portion of Shenzhen's people back into cultivation. Not too long ago it was treated mostly as a hobby for the younger crowd or as a necessity to further one's work prospects but those who had experienced his dungeons realised that it could be gruesomely satisfying.
It didn't hurt that Jin served a little of everything, making dungeon running easier with all the things in one major hub. From clothes to weapons, Jin had covered all necessary aspects and as if that was not enough, there were mini games that involved the dungeon instance.
From the Pet Card games to the Supa Robot Wars. Those were things he had just added to for fun and had planned to recommission once they were no longer actively played, but to his surprise it had become an instant hit and an increasing number of people played them (some even more than the dungeon instances, earning Jin a tiny steady profit).
Naturally, the System would never ignore a potential cash cow for too long, so it had noted that it was about time for Jin to create a new expansion pack to keep the hype going. Alas, the problem was that Jin neither had the time nor necessary the brains to do so. It had been easy to create a solid foundation but it was not as easy to build on that foundation of content.
Fortunately Jin had capable people under him, so he had given the Pet Card Game to his Arcade Instance Storekeepers to create the next expansion. As of now, they were in the midst of completing it and offering the proposal to Jin soon.
"Ahh.. okay, I will take note of that."
Other than that, the dungeon supplier had inadvertently increased the quality of life of at least those near his district. The Central Business District people and employees from Hua Wee Phone campuses always visited Jin's Tree Mall for its food and free bus rides. These led them to eat not only healthier tasty food but allowed them to wait without any queue especially in Lynn's restaurant. The only problem was the cost which Jin thought it would be an issue until Lynn presented him with the volumes of orders coming in via the Pandafull Delivery.
The promise of hot food upon delivery at Lynn and her penguins' quality had made it immensely popular and many major delivery services had begun inquiring about Jin's delivery system. Yet, none of them was able to get any information despite generous bribes towards Jin's Farming World employees.
Some even got ambushed with the assailants planning to kidnap them, but with the Farming World Humans each armed with a Battle Horse cultivation style, such ambushes did not work well. (The System would mark them down, for Kraft and his minions to make them disappear in a way that did not create any suspicion.)
Speaking of quality of life, the increase in cultivation inadvertently led them to work more efficiently, completing what they needed without feeling too tired despite the constant overtime they clocked. That led them to abuse of the active nightlife and what could be a better place to go to than a famous big store that's open 24 hours with awesome food and activities?
That's right! Jin's Dungeons and Pandas.
"You see how your little wimps and wants to create new service and dungeon instances have changed people's lives for the better? At the same time, you've made them dependent on us." Kraft chuckled. "This kind of subtle brainwashing is a masterclass project in progress. As expected of my student. Now let's change the pace a little and move to the next world."
"We are not going to watch how the Zodiac Clans react to Kong Rong's declaration of protecting our Panda Clan?" Jin asked and Kraft flicked his ears.
"That can wait for another day." Kraft answered with some annoyance. He was still a bit annoyed that the Top State Agent had beaten him to the punch when it came to protecting Jin. "That bastard…trying to one up me." He whispered to himself.
In a split second, Kraft forcefully changed the imagery in Jin's mind to the Goblin World. For the first time in decades, the three races who had been solitary in their ways had begun to change since they now had something in common. The Dungeon Cave in the New Adventurer's Town was the talk of the many cities of their respective kingdoms.
The town had never truly stopped growing and was on the cusp of becoming a city if only Jin allowed it. For the time being, he had instructed Zhi Nu, who had somehow been elected as the mayor of the New Adventurer's Town, to stop any additional major construction. His rationale was that if the town were to grow into a city, proper foundation and sanitation was needed first and they currently had other priorities. Yet, this did not stop the growth of the New Adventurer's Town since more and more aspiring adventurers started to flock in, each of them setting up tents since the taverns were full.
These camps had developed into a minor slum, something Zhi Nu could not stand, so she had taken the initiative to take matters into her own hands. With some assistance from the System, she had forced the adventurers and experienced workers who had built the town to develop their own temporary houses with strict rules to guarantee proper sanitation.
Recently, the Dark Foxes aka the Dark Elves had been forced to decrease the number of their usual patrols. Kraft had instructed all of them to attend his training camp, but that did not mean they didn't whip up a certain trusting type of police force to keep the place enforced in their absence. At all times, there would at least be one Dark Fox available to split up the occasional tavern brawl between the adventurers.
All of this could be attributed to the 'never ending caves'. As Jin lacked the time to properly manage this side project, the System had modelled the subsequent floors to behave to the dungeon model of the Spiral Sewers Instance. Loot became a little more sparse but the value and quantity per drop had increased, making it more dangerous for the adventurers to venture further down.
The number of casualties had increased and the Dungeon Cave had spawned something like a memorial wall to those who had fallen. While they undoubtedly offered unimaginable riches, the risk of dying was too real.
The profession of an adventurer which used to be regarded as someone who did odd jobs to get by, was nowadays respected. Those who had returned from lower levels of the dungeon were being treated like heroes.
Yet, that did not deter the adventurers as the money was worth it.
However, Zhi Nu couldn't allow everyone under her to die left and right, other that would result in a lack of proper talents. So, she had posted 'employment bounties' for gathering materials for crafters and agricultural experts too. Those were mostly found on the safer floors, allowing young adventurers to gather experience and they got rewarded with sufficient coin to survive. At the same time, she also ensured that the economy was not inflated with too much money, otherwise, not just the New Adventurer Town would suffer but their entire world. That was why she still allowed bartering and occasionally sent those bartered goods to the System to replicate them for the Dungeon Cave.
And that was when she started to see a race that was rarely seen. The Elves.
With the advent of the Dark Elves coming out to keep the peace, the Elves were actually shocked to see they managed to blend in well with the people around without any discrimination. And thus, the Elven Kingdom allowed a small group of adventurers wannabes to try living in that town.
Zhi Nu had allowed them in, but only if they did not discriminate against the Dark Elves or any other races. That was the only condition they had to abide by or they would be immediately kicked out of the town. Should they refuse to leave, it would be death by sword.
It was a weird condition, but the influential powers she held were surprisingly strong especially since the Goblin King and Orc King were often seen accompanying her for meals. Even the Human King who was known to be a recluse had started to send official letters to ask if Zhi Nu could accompany him for meals. Zhi Nu had taken the chance to get the three Kings to meet with each other to discuss various issues.
"That should be enough about the Adventurer's Town. Let's look at the Orc and Goblin Kingdom for a change. Because you magnanimously allowed the monsters to return to their homes, despite the System's recommendation, we've gathered a ton of information giving us greater insight about how these places have changed." Kraft said.
The majority of the Orcs were reeling from the loss of the recent war, yet their new King had been working tirelessly to provide aid to the masses. Getting work and therefore coin through his efforts was the best way for him to earn their hearts and trust. To be able to do that, however, Frost Echo had been borrowing money from the System despite constant warnings from Cross, his Goblin Spymaster who insisted they had to make the Orc's economy flourish on their own.
In the course of this, the budget which had been prepared for the military was repurposed to improve the agriculture of the country, allowing them to grow their own crops, while the System sells them foodstuff to get through certain periods when needed.
Some of the Orc Merchants who worked in the New Adventurer's Town had also been providing massive discounts to their Orc counterparts, providing them with supplies needed to survive through famine or the deadly winters.
Not only that, through the New Adventurer's Town, Zhi Nu had been giving them work such as building roads from their orc cities to the new town. And that also allowed them to establish outposts to protect adventurers and merchants from the threats of wildlife.
These slow but steady changes had gradually influenced the Orc's perspective but that did not mean there were no dissenters. As the spymaster Cross was in charge of disposing them and subsequently putting them into the System's care for some reeducation. Nevertheless, he did not do it himself for such risky operations. No, several Orcs and even Goblins like Flame Ripper had assisted with the culling of these 'potential terrorists'.
Speaking of Goblins, the Goblin City flourished similarly through the trade with various other races. The Goblin Crafters who had been working for Jin brought back their knowledge which they shared in the city. Especially the need for mechanisation. Soon, those Goblin Crafters who returned for good built a guild named the Illuminati Ironworks or I.I for short to facilitate the modernisation of the city. (Obviously, 'someone' had suggested that name for them for the laughs, yet the goblins loved it.) Some of the Orcs were also in the Illuminati Ironworks which they would do cross city assistance to rebuild their civilisation.
If the Lost Tech were anything but an indication of an advanced society, they believed they could get there too.
"I could go over the Giant World, but honestly, there is not much left there but a wasteland after Peppers' explosive magic." Kraft decided to skip that part. "Still, I have to admit Mother Nature sure is scary. Despite Peppers' magic, plants and animals have started growing back once more.
The System had observed the area on an occasional basis and has noticed there are now more varied species in the area. It was as if the animals or monsters saw the big explosion and got curious about it. Now that area is like a jungle wasteland and it has become a survival of the fittest."
"Wow…okay. I totally didn't expect that." Jin admitted.
"As for the Farming World… I really cannot be bothered to even glimpse at it. We've been focusing on those stupid Rats for so long, that I've had enough of them. Skipping that part too." Kraft yawned during his 'torturing' session.
"How about the Mecha World and eh Zombie World?" Jin asked. "Oh nearly forgot Derpy's home, the Fishing World."
"Oh those? I did not look through them too much, because honestly, your effect on those worlds is minimal in the grand scheme of things for now. Everyone is still a zombie as far as I'm aware and there are treasures and resources to pick aplenty. We might get to raid them if we need some extra moolah. You've already experienced it first hand how crazy those hordes can be."
"Well, yeah. If what Derek said was true and all of them have turned into zombies, we are talking about probably a couple of billions of zombies or at least hundreds of millions.." Jin managed to say out loud despite being chained down and paralysed from the body downwards. "However, aren't you concerned that you might have overlooked some survivors in that area that might not have been turned?"
"While I cannot outright strike out such a possibility, I also don't plan to look into it. In case your guess is correct, then those survivors have somehow made it this far, so they won't need your help. We are not obligated to save them in any way shape or form. If we show ourselves, they might just turn hostile or be all cunning, planning to backstab us, wanting everything for themselves." Kraft argued, sounding like someone who had watched enough zombie movies to know what might await them. "Should you create a base in that world, we can make them work for us. I have no qualms with that."
"Moving on to more interesting stuff. Rei's makeshift spaceship. The fact that he can make it work with the assistance of the Orcs and Goblins means he is quite a talented engineer despite him claiming otherwise. I'm quite tempted to get into his brain and see what else he has hidden in his nogging."
"Come on, don't do that… although maybe you should. So far he has kept his part of the bargain. We should at least find his family and make sure they are fine." Jin commented.
"You mean, check out if they've already become casualties in the ongoing war between the United Federation and Xeon Union? I still think providing them with a common enemy would be the best way to stop them from fighting each other." Kraft sighed, but agreed to look for Rei's family's location to the best of his abilities…that is after he probed his brain.
"As for the Fishing World… I would not recommend you to go there again. Although we call him Derpy, the Shadow Dagen is the manifestation of power from an actual God, who is quite pissed that someone stole what belonged to him. Although the loss of power probably is just minimal, it's about the principal of things."
"Anyway, last but not least we have the Dungeon World." Kraft giggled.
"I was actually worried you might have forgotten about it. Especially since your entire skulk of foxes is handling the Demopolis." Jin teased and suddenly the images flashed a little faster.
"I do not have to tell you much about Pandapolis since it's still a ghost town despite your promises of opening it up."
"I did not promise to open it up, alright? The shield came down and the Demons attacked us. That's all. Besides, the repair works are still ongoing as far as I know. The only sectors that are active are the industry and agriculture sector."
"Yeah, but the business sector is empty and so are the entertainment areas. Even your industry sector is not fully set up for the city. Almost half of it is for military purposes which kind of defeats the purpose of a diversified industrial sector." Kraft yawned as if he wanted to go to the Demopolis part as quickly as possible. "Your hotels are still closed too. It took a HELL of an effort constructing those series of aquatic domes and yet they gather dust."
"Well, with most of the efforts concentrating towards the Farming World… Alright, I will take note of it and will decrease the military portion when I open up Pandapolis. So, how's the progress in Demopolis?" Jin questioned and yet another flash of images came into his mind.
"Glad you asked! Big Brother Rex has been busy. Very very busy settling the Demopolis policies. I am glad that you set up a secret meeting between him and Xiong Da." Kraft nodded his head in acknowledgement.
"I thought it would be fun for Xiong Da to make laws for a 'virtual' kingdom. In fact, we are actually paying him quite a bit to do so, since it's time he could spend otherwise. Sure most of it is just an increase in terms of his store credit (plus a custom made Hippo and Egret plushie), but still, I shudder when thinking about how much we would have to pay otherwise. Not to mention he is already giving us the deep friend discount. It surely helps that he seems to have had a wish to dabble in national policies but had found it too troublesome and not profitable enough to actually pursue that desire. He seems to have enjoyed talking with Rex about it." Jin said.
"In any case, my other foxes all have problems piling on top of their heads and doing their best to deal with them. The healthcare was terribly under budget and education was a privilege reserved for the spawns of the rich demons. The transportation system was nearly nonexistent and people had to use magic to travel far distances or walk by foot. Supplies were scarce in certain parts of the cities because of it. All these problems led to crime lords which Tsu and Kai had been rotating to find out more about."
"I thought they had the beast kids to take care of? That intensive training camp?" Jin queried.
"Oh, that's what the training camp is for. To get those kids to learn how to play detective and teach them to properly scout. They've used cosmetic inscriptions to make them look taller and older. Oh and trust me, those beast kids are good at acting. So good that they are naturals at extracting information. And when it comes to running away, boy were they excellent at it. Now the Wolf Twins only have to train their combat skills up and you have your first batch of next generation spies." Kraft nodded his head with approval.
"Then I presume that the Demopolis police raids are coming closer and closer?" Jin asked and Kraft merely shrugged his shoulders.
"The Drows have asked for better equipment. They were especially interested in the kind to increase their mobility, so I have implemented the latest Gearbox Suits into our training exercises, courtesy of Yang Ling who left a sample in the suitcase she was carrying on our table while visiting you. I took the liberty to copy its designs before putting it back. Lynn nearly scolded me for being this sneaky."
"I doubt she would scold you for that. Be honest, you must have gotten caught stealing part of her breakfast too right?"
"Tsk, how could I resist? Do you think YOU could have resisted? " Kraft fiddled with his fingers and Jin's olfactory senses recalled Lynn's cooking on that day and he inadvertently drooled.
"As for the Church of the Afterlife, we've scouted them and came to the conclusion that the extent of their reach is rather creepy. If you think the Northern and Southern Scholars are a pain in the ass, dealing with an entire world religion is worse. I bet you would prefer straight forward enemies like Baal. In any case, for the time being, there is no reason to worry about them too much. Until we get our own Panda religion up and running, they're merely keeping an eye on us."
"Other than that. I say you did a good job growing up. A bit slow though. But you are doing a good job nevertheless." Kraft praised as he let go of Jin.
"That did not feel very torturous. More like you send me on a tour down memory lane. I do admit the overload of information was slightly painful but after that, I could cope with it. You getting soft, Kraft?" Jin provoked.
"Oh? Here I thought I would be nice for a change and give you some minor encouragement, but this is how you treat me? Are you turning a masochist? Is that why those girls in your harem are not satisfying you enough?" Kraft sent a wave of dark chi into Jin and immediately he started to struggle.
"You see, this technique was merely part one. After showing someone all their good memories or all of their accomplishments from any point in their life, the real torture begins by showing them slight deviations of what they had just seen. 'What if' scenarios in which certain things turn out differently. What if me and my skulk had not arrived just in time during your fight with King Baal? What if the Rat Triad Leader De Tian had bested you in combat? What if you had never gotten the System? It will bombard your brain until you will no longer be able to tell reality from fiction!" Kraft devilishly explained the 'real beauty' of his technique.
"And don't worry. I won't ruin your face or your mind that badly. After all, a certain somebody still needs you." Kraft peered into the self made darkness, grinning. Smirking.
"I think a 1,000 of those scenarios sounds quite good." He whispered with a satisfied look on his face.
