69 – Mana Stones (2)
“Oh…”
Kim Hyun-woo looked at the mana stones filling the underground of Yeongjuseong and unintentionally sighed, then turned his gaze to check the inventory.
[Red Stones: 480] [Blue Stones: 9,823] [Gold Coins: 383,422] [Mana Stones: 423,221]
The inventory of Lartania that Kim Hyun-woo was looking at had changed significantly from a month ago.
The red stones, which had still been in the thousands even after purchasing the labyrinth package, were now used up for expanding the underground warehouse due to the lack of space for mana stones in Yeongjuseong’s underground.
Also, the blue stones were used to activate the blacksmith package. The wealth, exceeding one million gold coins, had been used for fortifying the city walls, buying additional resources, and exchanging mana stones. As a result, only 300,000 were left.
Truly an enormous consumption.
However, Kim Hyun-woo did not feel any particular anxiety despite being fully aware of it.
As much as he was spending money, Larutania was rapidly developing, and the mana stones exchanged for money were collected specifically for today.
“Are all the mana stones inside Loria the lowest-grade ones?”
[No. The lowest-grade and low-grade mana stones are mixed, with the ratio being 92% for the lowest-grade and 8% for the low-grade.]
Listening to Loria’s words and looking at the piled-up mana stones like a mountain, Kim Hyun-woo nodded his head and thought, ‘This should be enough.’
In fact, when Kim Hyun-woo enjoyed Arteil as a game, the value of mana stones was not that high, to speak of it dispassionately.
Firstly, in the game Arteil, mana stones were fundamentally non-negotiable resources.
So, there should be many places to use them, but in the early stages of the game, mana stones were only used in various processing facilities and 3rd buildings that could be built in the future territory, and there were no other uses beyond that.
On the other hand, by trying to raise the hero level or exploring the labyrinth by purchasing packages, the warehouse was filled with mana stones all day long.
Later, there were cases where the warehouse was filled with mana stones, and users complained to the developers about the warehouse being filled because of mana stones.
And thanks to the steady criticism of the users about the accumulating warehouse, the developers of Arteil came up with a way to deal with mana stones belatedly.
That was to create a system that could forcibly open the labyrinth break with the mana stones.
When users first heard the news, they cheered without a doubt.
If the labyrinth break couldn’t be stopped, it would cause great damage to the territory, but if it was just stopped, it was a very good system for securing red and blue stones.
However, after such praise, the system that could actually trigger the updated labyrinth break with mana stones, called ‘Mana Break’ by users, was heavily criticized.
In fact, the updated mana break system was not that bad just by looking at its content.
In reality, the developers made a slight distinction in the rewards that could be obtained from the mana break and labyrinth break, but that was just to prevent users from obtaining blue stones, and red stones could still be obtained in the same way.
The reason the mana break system received criticism was simply because of the number of mana stones required to execute the mana break according to the system updated by the developers, which exceeded 50,000.
Even while saying that he would go on infinite hunts without sleeping after purchasing the package, ignoring the fact that the favorability of the heroes was dropping, it was possible to collect 50,000 of them.
However, the development team had set another restriction on the magic stone break.
That is, the magic stone break could only be triggered by magic stones of the same grade.
For example, if 50,000 magic stones were needed, all of the stones had to be of the lowest grade, and the phenomenon of the labyrinth break that occurred was also only at the level of a 10-level territory.
In other words, the development team, with a strong determination not to give a single penny of cash currency through the system, did not touch the system despite receiving all the insults they could get.
“Actually, now that I think about it, it seems like users started to drop off from Arteil since then.”
Kim Hyun-woo, who recalled the memory that could be considered the starting point of the game’s downfall, unconsciously looked at the open window.
—–
※Caution! Please use it where there are magic stones!
[Lowest Grade]
Labyrinth break occurs!!
Offer magic stones to trigger a labyrinth break event equivalent to a level 10 territory.
Required Magic Stones 50,000/50,000
Reward: [1,500 Red Stones]
[Would you like to purchase? Y/N]
—–
Reading the notification window that popped up in front of him, Kim Hyun-woo looked at the reward.
“1,500 red stones can be obtained from the level 10 labyrinth break event.”
In other words, in order to purchase a 30-day Labyrinth package, he had to trigger the labyrinth break five times using 250,000 magic stones, but Kim Hyun-woo nodded with a feeling that it wasn’t so bad.
The quantity of 250,000 was indeed a huge amount, but it didn’t necessarily lead to a loss.
“It’s a real bargain to be able to replace the red stones with rubies.”
Moreover, as time passed and the labyrinth was dug deeper, the consumption of rubies to maintain the labyrinth was an essential necessity when considering the additional income and gold coins that could be obtained.
Kim Hyun-woo was already rapidly expanding his territory just by creating the labyrinth city.
Furthermore, as time went on and Kim Hyun-woo continued to develop the labyrinth, the losses would be minimized even further. So, without hesitation, Kim Hyun-woo pressed the Y button.
Wooong-!
As he watched a tremendous number of rubies being sucked into a giant magic circle in front of him, he thought to himself, ‘Now, all that’s left is to persuade them.’
With a smile, he began to walk towards the square where the mercenaries were gathered.
—-
An unidentified hero has entered the territory.
—-
“?”
Kim Hyun-woo chuckled at the sudden notification window, but soon shrugged his shoulders.
Normally, he would have been concerned, but lately, despite the frequent appearance of notification windows, nothing significant had happened. Also, based on Loria’s words, she had mentioned that if a hero wearing a specific artifact came and went, notification windows like this could appear.
Moreover, after seeing this notification window several times before and confirming that a hero with such an artifact was indeed affecting the tavern, Kim Hyun-woo shrugged and headed to the square.
The Square of Lartania.
Kim Hyun-woo looked around at the packed mercenaries.
With every one of them looking at him with curiosity, Kim Hyun-woo cleared his throat and thought to himself, ‘Of course, I won’t tell the mercenaries that there’s a labyrinth break crisis.’
From the very beginning, because the perception of the Labyrinth Break is an acknowledgment, it’s hard to predict how things will unfold if we talk about the Labyrinth Break.
Therefore, rather than discussing the actual situation that will happen in the future with the mercenaries,
“Everyone, I am Lord Kim Hyunwoo of Lartania.”
He decided to change his words a bit prettily.
“From now on, all monsters appearing in the Labyrinth will drop magic stones at a rate of 100% for one day.”
In other words, it’s like an experience points double event.
####
At Kim Hyunwoo’s single word, without waiting for the mercenaries to say anything, they immediately rushed back to the Labyrinth.
“…Excuse me? So, does that mean, as you mentioned, goblins will appear 100% in the Labyrinth Break? Does that mean it was intentionally caused?”
“That’s correct.”
When he told the truth to the curious Elena, she asked with a surprised expression.
“I-Is that okay, though? The Labyrinth Break is very dangerous.”
“It’s okay.”
Kim Hyunwoo answered neatly.
“Since the intensity of the Labyrinth Break I intentionally cause is not that strong.”
Of course, Kim Hyunwoo didn’t lie to the mercenaries with his eyes closed, but he thought Elena’s concern was natural.
No matter how weak the intensity might be, the Labyrinth Break was still the Labyrinth Break, and if by any chance the damage to the mercenaries became quite significant, there could be a lot of noise within Lartania.
However, the reason Kim Hyunwoo could maintain such a confident expression was precisely because of the number of mercenaries.
As far as Kim Hyunwoo could remember, the number of soldiers needed to block a level 15 Labyrinth Break, assuming a certain level of equipment and proper weapons, was around 1,500.
From Noble mtl dot com
But even if you took the statistics with the minimum number of mercenaries in Lartania, there were over 9,000, and even if only 50% of the mercenaries who went down after listening to Kim Hyunwoo’s speech a while ago, it was 4,500.
So Kim Hyun-woo can use overwhelming tactics without incurring any maintenance costs.
“Moreover, the 10th level Labyrinth Break doesn’t even spawn large monsters, only goblins and trolls, so there shouldn’t be any significant damage.”
With such thoughts, Kim Hyun-woo smiled as he saw the notification that the Labyrinth Break had just begun.
“And after this crisis, I plan to descend to the 4th floor, so please prepare for that.”
“Oh, yes, I understand.”
As he said this, Kim Hyun-woo, while checking the progress, put a piece of dried sweet potato, a snack made by Yeran yesterday, into his mouth.
“?”
He tilted his head in a strange feeling.
The reason was that despite being a snack left from yesterday, the dried sweet potato was strangely moist at the end.
“Who touched it?”
Thinking so, Kim Hyun-woo, with a puzzled expression, soon found Elena in front of him.
“Why are you doing that?”
Looking at Kim Hyun-woo staring at her, Elena asked, and with a small smile as if understanding the situation, he nodded his head and said, “Dried sweet potatoes are delicious, aren’t they?”
“Yes…?”
“It’s subtly appealing.”
Elena momentarily questioned Kim Hyun-woo’s sudden remark, but soon realized what he was talking about and said, “Um, Your Highness? It seems like you’re misunderstanding something, but I didn’t touch it, to be exact.”
“Just speak.”
“Yes?? No, I didn’t touch it.”
Elena made a very unjust expression.
As if he knew everything, Kim Hyun-woo nodded as he spoke.
“Ah, I understand. I will make sure to discuss and plan through Rani next time.”
“No, really, it’s not me!?”
“I know.”
“No!? I’m serious, it’s not me!!”
“Yes, yes.”
Faced with Kim Hyun-woo, who didn’t believe a single drop of truth, Elena couldn’t help but look extremely unjust.