Chapter 170 - Preparations For Invasion

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

The game open beta lasted for almost half a year.

William pilfered unimaginable fortune from the Iron Nation’s treasury.

The spendable amount added up to 2,410,000 gold coins.

There were 20,000 sets of novice-level blue-quality equipment,

12,000 sets of middle-level blue-quality equipment,

And 3,000 sets of middle-level silver-quality equipment.

There were also various components of the catapults and heavy-duty crossbows, iron ores, mithril ores, adamantine ores, and rations.

The situation became such that,

To store these items, the City of Dawn had to build a few large warehouses.

However, the warehouses became filled to capacity.

William was only able to pilfer the Iron Nation’s treasury. Other nobles’ wealth and resources of the Black Lava Nation were spared. They were wealth that would be taken when it was the time to do so.

Regardless,

After the victory, many nobles of the Black Lava Nation were unhappy as they did not obtain any loot.

But the ‘second prince’ who had ascended the throne and his 300 personal guards intimidated them. Each guard was the elite of the elite warriors.

The commander of the royal guards Renekton died in battle so the ‘second prince’ took control of the remaining royal guards and legions. The nobles did not dare to be reckless in front of such might.

Especially when Marquis Chris supported the ‘second prince’.

The new Marquis Curry also gathered the other nobles to support the ‘second prince’, so no internal strife happened in Black Lava Nation.

The nobles preferred to have land!

If they had land and farms, they did not have to worry about money.

The previous Black Lava field marshal, Marquis Salz, passed away a few days before. The title of Marquis was succeeded by his oldest son.

But Salz’s powerful subordinate Count Diablo disappeared.

Salz’s oldest son did not manage to retain Diablo.

Diablo remained loyal to Marquis Salz because he was grateful to Salz. But things changed with the death of Salz.

As for the Iron Nation field marshal Kainor and the legendary Wells.

They had chosen to surrender and defected to the Black Lava Nation.

Black Lava Nation let them retain their noble status and land.

It was to be expected.

In an aristocratic regime, if the nobles surrendered during wars, they would receive very good treatment.

After Black Lava Nation unified the southeastern corner, many Iron Nation’s commoners had been captured as slaves. While those who were slaves before, they remained as slaves…

These slaves were sold off to the City of Dawn at high prices.

Looking at this situation.

It seemed that Black Lava Nation was making a profit. From divulged sources, the selling price of the slaves was very high. The City of Dawn was in need of slaves, so it paid a high price for the slaves…

Black Lava Nation was expanding the army rapidly. Hence, it required a lot of money for the soldiers and equipment.

But nobody knew.

The conspiracy between the Black Lava Nation and the City of Dawn.

The players got used to the situation in the game.

The other main plot missions of the other continents also reached their peak. The players of the legendary continent had finished their mission so they carried out varying guild wars.

At the grass plain between the City of Dawn and Black Lava Nation.

That was the players’ territory of contention.

The resources were rich. There were small mermen, goblins, orcs, and middle and low-level magical beasts that the players liked.

As the players’ levels were still low, they could only hunt for monsters here…

The City of Dawn and Black Lava Nation assigned these players a mission called ‘Capture the flag’.

They had to occupy the grass plains and plant their faction flag on a high vantage point.

This created a sense of war for the opposing factions. Besides hunting monsters and doing city missions, the players gathered on the grass plains to capture the flag of their opposing factions.

What about the slave trade between the City of Dawn and Black Lava Nation?

The players were not bothered about it.

From the viewpoint of history, the City of Dawn and Black Lava Nation had been fighting and trading slaves at the same time.

Some players pointed out that the Black Lava Nation was helping the City of Dawn by the slave trade, but such voices did not create any effect.

It was simple.

Black Lava Nation and the City of Dawn obtained what they needed.

Within a short period of time.

The City of Dawn had become a large city with 350,000 citizens.

With the help from slave trade, its population was still increasing. The City of Dawn became larger and larger, and it expanded up the hills. It looked as though the city was growing like a tree.

Meanwhile,

More and more mages came to the city.

Many earth and metal element mages hung by the cliff to enchant the cliff walls so that they became stronger.

This dangerous work,

It made many players hold their breath.

The tall boundless cliff would require countless earth and metal mages to complete such a grand project.

William intended to use copper and iron to strengthen the cliff wall. But it would be too expensive so he abandoned this idea that could bankrupt his city.

“I’ll use enchantment for the time being. I’ll take it slowly. I’ll try my best to prevent the dark creatures from scaling the cliff walls.” William was concerned about the cliff walls. In the second game version, many powerful dark creatures were able to use their sharp claws to climb up the wall.

What about siege ladders?

Apologies.

The dark creatures did not need to use them.

That was the reason why William wanted to enchant the cliff walls.

The cliff was 80 meters tall so it could not be completely enchanted. Hence, William only made a portion of the cliff walls very strong. When the dark creatures scaled the walls halfway, they would discover that they were unable to climb further.

“As for those steep mountain paths, I have to deploy soldiers to guard them.”

“The sheer cliffs that separate the Blackleaf forest from the Human nations were created by a sage during the Elfin era.” William Blackleaf was full of respect for the sage who had the power to change the Earth.

A sage and a legendary character.

It was like comparing Heaven and Earth…

A sage.

A sage could kill the Gods…

In the southeastern region, there were 13 steep mountain paths that could lead up the cliff.

The three mountain roads close to the City of Dawn were more accessible. The other ten mountain roads were too dangerous even for professionals.

“When the invasion of Darkness starts, I have to destroy many of the mountain roads. I’ll leave only 5 mountain roads!” William squinted. He wanted to stop them at the mountain roads to slow down their invasion.

If William destroyed all mountain roads, the dark creatures would go into a frenzy and attack from all sides.

It would be better to funnel the dark creatures into the five mountain roads as it was easier to defend the mountain roads.

If the front line was extended, even with a lot of soldiers, they would be stretched thin against the dark creatures. Then the front line would be broken. The cliff could not be used as a fortification and William had to retreat behind the city walls…