Chapter 339 Preparations

What is this? How did it get into my inventory? Thought Ye Ci. Ahh, I must’ve picked it up when I collected the loot just now.

She flipped open Bob’s Diary to see what was written in its pages.

But reality had other ideas.

The pages of the diary were filled with words, but they were written in a language that Ye Ci could not understand. She then received a system notification: This seems to be written in an unknown language. You do not know how to read its words yet.

Ye Ci blinked. Is the system telling me that I’m an illiterate?

She wanted to know what was written in Bob’s Diary, as it might lead to a hidden quest. But it was not a pressing matter, as she could always initiate the quest once she figured out the language that was used by Bob. Her priority at the moment was to prepare to build the fortifications around the Mithril ore vein.

Wyatt was waiting for Ye Ci with a smile when she returned to the first floor. It was a smile devoid of emotion that was commonly seen among NPCs. Despite their high intelligence, the NPC still lacked the humanity that made them natural, and this was why Ye Ci could never truly see an NPC as a human being.

Perhaps due to her experiences in her last life, or perhaps due to the overtly long time she had spent on the game, she no longer felt the joy of exploring new things in the game.

Ye Ci met Wyatt’s gaze, but the NPC was still giving her a mechanical smile. She returned the smile. She did not expect Wyatt to walk up to her, “How was it? Have you obtained the permit?”

“Yes. I did.” Ye Ci nodded.

“It must’ve been hard.” Wyatt did not seem surprised by Ye Ci’s response. It was as if the NPC knew that Ye Ci would succeed.

“It was fun.” to Ye Ci, exploring a new dungeon would definitely be hard, but it was also an enjoyable process that NPCs like Wyatt would never understand.

And as expected, Wyatt was surprised. He cocked his head and looked at Ye Ci, and changed the topic, “You’ve received the permit to build things in the wild, but it’s dangerous out there.”

“Dangerous?” Ye Ci was curious. She was planning to build a fortress, what sort of danger could there be? She was not an expert in building, hence she did not hesitate to ask, “Will our construction work attract the attention of monsters?”

“Of course not.” Wyatt shook his head, “But a construction site in the wild will not receive protection from soldiers. Even a mighty fortress is extremely vulnerable during its construction. An attack, no matter how small its scale, will be able to destroy it.”

Is he saying that… A frown appeared on Ye Ci’s face.

“Wyatt, are you telling me that monsters will not attack the construction site, but people will?” Ye Ci was able to catch the meaning behind the NPCs words despite his indirect answer.

“It all depends on your relations with people. If it’s bad, it’ll be quite troublesome.” The response was enough for Ye Ci to have a conclusion. Wyatt had also realised that his words were not entirely pleasant, and he quickly added, “I’ve not dealt with many adventurers, but I know that you’re not as peaceful in the wild as you are in the city.

Of course! Who would fight in the city? We’ll be arrested if we kill someone!

“Is there a way to reduce the danger?” asked Ye Ci. Since the issue had been raised, there must be a solution.

“There is one, but it might not be very effective.” Wyatt shrugged.

“What is it?”

“You can simply build it faster. If you’ve made your decision to build the fortress, you can hire some workers from the Builder’s Guild. As long as you have all the materials ready, they work very fast. It’ll greatly reduce the risk that you face during the construction.” Wyatt smiled and continued, “Of course, the workers will not be working for you for free.”

Just then, an NPC walked up to Wyatt, seemingly to discuss something important. Wyatt nodded politely at Ye Ci and bade her farewell.

So he’s not trying to help after all! Thought Ye Ci as she stared at Wyatt. He’s just trying to find business for his guild!

Despite knowing that hiring the workers would not be cheap, Ye Ci knew that it was impossible for the construction work at the Lesser Demon Sanctum to go unnoticed. There was still a substantial player population on the map, and the sudden appearance of a construction site would definitely attract the attention of many.

The major guilds would definitely react to this sudden development. Some might choose to investigate the site covertly, but others might not be as subtle. No one knew how a guild like Golden Era would react. This made accelerating the building speed a good idea.

Well I guess there’s no choice but to let the Builder’s Guild rip me off.

Of course, the workers would be hired from the Builder’s Guild in Red Lake City. Ye Ci had a high Prestige the city, and it might work to her advantage in negotiating for a lower price.

It was not easy to run a guild. The guild must grow, but it must also explore new dungeons while also providing for the many Life Players. And now the guild must also fund the building of the fortifications in the Lesser Demon Sanctum.

With Wyatt occupied with his work, Ye Ci hid her face underneath her cloak and returned to Red Lake City.

And she was correct. The Builder’s Guild in Red Lake City offered a large discount due to her Prestige, but the fees were still high despite the discount. But it did not affect Ye Ci’s mood, as it was something that was necessary.

With the permit, the building blueprints, and the manpower ready, the only thing left was the construction materials.

It was the most simple task, but was also the most difficult one.

It was easy because certain materials could be bought as long as she had the money to pay, but it was also difficult because there were materials that could not be bought.

But Ye Ci was in luck. While some of the materials required were rare, Upwards Ho! was still able to acquire them from the market. And to prevent suspicions from the other guilds, Upwards Ho! took ten days to prepare the materials. This meant that there were no fluctuations in the market, which meant that those who were watching the market were none the wiser about their activity.

Ye Ci had been leveling up in the Mist Forest during these ten days. None of Golden Era’s assassins came after her after their initial defeat, and she had never ran into even a single Golden Era player. Even the World Chat is devoid of the presence of players from Golden Era. The guild was so quiet that it was as if they did not exist.

But Ye Ci was unsettled by their silence. She knew that Golden Era would not just take the defeat lying down. They were simply waiting for the right time to act.

Of course, Ye Ci did not know what Golden Era would try, and it did not matter to her. The ten days of peace meant that she was able to reach the level of lvl70. Leveling from lvl69 to lvl70 alone was not an easy task. It took her a few days just to grind out the experience required for leveling up.

It was a happy occasion that was also regretful.

Ol’ Six was still evolving, and there was no progress bar in the pet inventory. She did not know how long it would take for the Holy Dragon to evolve and surprise her with its new looks.

Ye Ci had also received a mail from Bai Mo the day she reached lvl70, telling her that the materials were prepared. She returned to Red Lake City, and waited for night to fall.

The pay for a single Builder was 100,000 gold coins per day. But the discount she received from the Builder’s Guild reduced the pay to 80,000 gold coins per day. The construction would need at least a hundred builders, but Ye Ci did not have the money to pay, and there was an upper limit for the number of builders hired for a construction.

“I can hire only 50 of you?” Ye Ci creased her eyebrows. Hiring fifty builders a day would take four million gold coins. It was a high price, but the investment was worth it. But hiring only fifty workers would significantly lower the construction speed.

“Yes. According to your blueprints, you can only hire 50, and only for four days.” replied the NPC of the Red Lake City Builders Guild.

“Can the construction be finished in four days?”

“Yes… But only if there is not outside interference.” replied the NPC.

Ye Ci rolled her eyes at the NPC. The only thing she could do was to pay the fees to hire the NPC, and she received a transmitter in return. The workers would then arrive at the construction site when she pressed the button on the transmitter at the intended site.

She took in a deep breath as she looked at the apple-sized transmitter held in her hand. She could only pray that nothing would happen during the four days of construction, or the losses suffered by her guild would be too great to bear.