Chapter 757.2: Everything Good On The Frontlines

"Holy crap?! It absorbs damage?!" Construction Boy stared at him in astonishment.

Even Eye Owe Money, who had been mocking everything on the stall, looked surprised. He couldn’t help but ask, "How much is this thing?"

Mosquito grinned. "Not expensive at all! It’s only a thousand Silver!"

Eye Owe Money had actually been interested, well, that was up until he heard the price. The second the words left Mosquito’s lips, he nearly coughed up blood. "HOLY SHIT! 1,000 Silver?! You call that not expensive?! That's enough to hire ten lackeys!"

"Yeah, that's a little pricey," Construction Boy nodded thoughtfully. "I remember a ceramsteel shield costing about 1,000 silver too."

Mosquito raised his head and stared at Construction Boy with a look of utter disdain. "Can that thing compare to mine? If this shield gets damaged, it'll repair itself. If a ceramsteel shield gets punched through, can it fix itself?"

Eye Owe Money had just been thinking that Mosquito had finally invented something useful, then he suddenly realized...

Hold on. If a ceramsteel shield was punched through by the enemy, wouldn't the guy standing behind it already be dead? What’s the point of a self-repairing shield in the first place?!

Construction Boy, however, still hadn't realized that. He continued studying the oddly designed shield, trying to figure out how he was supposed to strap it onto his arm. After a long moment of fruitless examination, he looked at Mosquito with a puzzled expression and asked, "Did you forget to install a handle? There's nowhere to grip this shield."

Seeing the man's bewildered expression, Mosquito patiently explained, "No, you've got the shield backwards. That entire crimson fungal mat is the handle. Just press it against your arm and it'll attach itself."

Construction Boy was startled and immediately threw the shield back onto the stall. "Holy crap?! The side with the tentacles goes on me?!"

"... Well, yeah?" Mosquito stared at him blankly, unable to understand what kind of question he was asking. "You can't exactly point the fleshy side at the enemy, right?"

Eye Owe Money couldn't help commenting, "... Sounds less like damage absorption and more like it absorbs its owner..."

The thought that he had almost paid for it immediately infuriated Construction Boy, he flew into a fit of rage. "What the hell?! That’s false advertising! I’m reporting your ass!"

Mosquito awkwardly looked away, though he had no intention of admitting fault. He mumbled softly, "I never said it will absorb other people to restore itself?"

“Fuck you Mosquito!”

Despite how annoyed they were, neither of them had actually lost anything. After cursing a few more times, they turned around and left.

Not long after the two of them departed, another group of newcomers wandered over to the stall. Seeing unfamiliar faces, Mosquito thought to himself that business had finally arrived. A bright smile immediately spread across his face. "Brother! You've got a great eye!"

Better Relax looked up in confusion. "I haven't even said I wanted to buy anything."

"Doesn't matter! The fact that you found this place already proves you've got taste." Mosquito chuckled as he patted the newcomer on the shoulder. "So? See anything you like? I'll give you a 20% discount!"

Better Relax hadn't been particularly interested at first. But the moment he heard that he was getting a discount, his eyes lit up. He couldn’t help but ask, "Seriously?"

"Absolutely!" Mosquito grinned as he picked up the shield Construction Boy had just discarded and patted the crimson fungal mat. "Half-mechanical, half-biological prosthetic equipment! Not only does it absorb damage and repair itself, it'll even train your dominant arm. If you're a strength type, I highly recommend one of these. Guaranteed to work wonders!"

Better Relax was somewhat tempted until he saw the price tag. His interest deflated like a punctured balloon. "This thing's way too expensive. Got anything... cheaper but practical? Something that'll improve my survival rate on the battlefield without making me cry if I lose it?"

Mosquito looked at him in surprise. "Good grief. Those are some outrageous requirements."

Better Relax frowned and snapped suddenly, "You're running a business. Quit talking nonsense and just tell me whether you've got it or not."

"Oh, absolutely!" The surprise instantly disappeared from Mosquito's face as he wrapped an arm around Rick's shoulders with a grin. "Speaking of cheap and practical, I have to introduce Goblin Technology's unpowered exoframe. Not only has it been battle-tested, I guarantee it'll meet every one of your requirements. It’s cheap and useful!"

Better Relax’s eyes immediately brightened. "Really?"

"You bet! And that's not all. I've got plenty more good stuff." Mosquito smiled broadly. "Come on, I'll show you the warehouse."

As he spoke, Mosquito called over his Ratfolk assistant to watch the stall while he slung an arm around the rookie's shoulders and led him toward a warehouse behind the town.

Encouraged by a bunch of forum veterans recently, he had invented quite a few new toys. The only thing he lacked was a fool willing to be his test dummy. Not to mention the fact that they’re even paying him to die for his data collection.

Watching the rookie get lured into the warehouse by Mosquito, the veteran players passing by silently offered him a moment of prayer.

The coalition soldiers all thought they were the fearless ones. Only the players themselves knew... The real lunatics were the ones willing to test Mosquito's equipment.

...

While the players were busy figuring out how to improve their equipment and optimize their monster farming, Chu Guang, as the game's lead designer, had shifted his attention to the monsters themselves.

Aboard the Heart of Steel, standing on the bridge, Chu Guang wore a faint smile as he overlooked the battlefield through the drones controlled by Little Seven.

"An elephant with a crocodile's mouth... a snake that stands over ten meters tall... good grief, they've even made their own damn Godzilla." Looking at the monster on the screen, one that casually swept a Chimera aside with a single swipe of its claw while lazily wagging its tail, he couldn't help but praise it. "... Not bad. These guys sure have plenty of imagination."

He wasn't paying much attention to the details of the fighting. Instead, he was focused on his real job as the game's designer, photographing newly discovered monsters and updating the official online encyclopedia.

That way, players would get the illusion that their “doggy developer” was actually hard at work.

And once they believed that, they would feel even more motivated to keep grinding, if only to avoid wasting all that effort.

In fact, if the Torch Church hadn't been putting so much effort into continuously evolving new monster variants, his players probably wouldn't have been nearly as enthusiastic.

Unfortunately, the fellow who fancied himself the Human Emperor would never realize that.

Five days had passed since the Purification Station Event began. In those five short days, the New Alliance had established a total of 5 large Purification Bases and nearly 300 small Purification Stations throughout the northern Ocean Edge Province.

The large bases were mainly operated by well-organized troops such as the Storm Corps and Death Corps.

The smaller stations were controlled by medium and small-sized corps or independent teams. As a result, their numbers constantly fluctuated, and many survived only hours, or even mere minutes.

Through the combined efforts of the various troops, the New Alliance advanced the frontline to within five kilometers north of Lai Peak in just seven days, carving out at least 70 square kilometers of territory from Ocean Edge Province's 670,000 square kilometer landmass.

That wasn't all. The New Alliance had also demonstrated to the rest of the coalition forces exactly how the war should be fought.

By then, all 10 Army divisions had entered the Ocean Edge Province.

The Enterprise and the Academy were equally unwilling to fall behind, sending even more reinforcements to the front. It wouldn't be long before they achieved considerable results as well.

Seeing Chu Guang in such a good mood, Little Seven couldn't help feeling happy for him too. Swinging its little legs as it sat on the shoulder of his exoframe, the porcelain-faced figurine wore a delighted smile. "... Those guys really don't know their place. Imagine picking a fight with Little Seven's Master. Hmm, hmm! Looks like these little bugs still haven't learned their lesson. I guess that's what you call cannon fodder~"

Hearing someone even more arrogant than himself, Chu Guang burst into laughter. After wheezing for time time, he teased, "Little Seven, that's usually something the villain says."

"Ehh?" Little Seven looked at Chu Guang in shock before shrinking back guiltily. "B-but... aren't the protagonists in manga always saying things like that?"

Chu Guang froze for a moment before giving the little figurine perched on his shoulder a strange look. "... Just what have you been reading on the forums?"

Avoiding his gaze, Little Seven looked around nervously. The next second, its eyes lit up. "Master! Someone just spent 10,000 Purification Points to purchase a 400mm rocket-assisted artillery shell! Should I approve it?"

Good grief. Someone actually bought it?!

Although he knew Little Seven was obviously trying to change the subject, and doing so with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, Chu Guang couldn't help looking surprised.

That was 10,000 points, enough to purchase 20 close air support strikes!

"Location?"

"Lai Peak, suburbs! Southwest of the abandoned light industrial park!" As it spoke, Little Seven switched the holographic display to the tactical map and centered it on the requested bombardment coordinates.

As expected, the support request came from the Storm Corps. After all, they were probably the only force capable of saving up that many points without spending them.

Chu Guang checked the positions of the friendly forces and saw they were far enough away from the target area.

Seeing no problems, he immediately gave the order.

"Request approved!"

"Roger, roger!" Little Seven answered enthusiastically.

It switched the display from the tactical map back to the drone's camera feed and guided a Hummingbird reconnaissance drone closer to the bombardment zone.

At the exact moment the authorization was given, the Heart of Steel's main gun slowly rotated its turret, raising its thick black barrel before completing its firing calculations.

BOOM!

A pillar of fire erupted from the muzzle and the deafening blast echoed across the deck. A long plume of white smoke shot from the barrel, tracing a graceful arc before disappearing into the clouds several kilometers ahead of the airship.

The shell descended from the heavens like a bolt of divine lightning. The instant it struck the ground, it blossomed into a blazing crimson cloud.

Boiling flames surged skyward and the expanding shockwave swept across the ruins like molten lava erupting from a volcano. By the time the dust settled, every living thing within the blast radius had been reduced to ashes. Only wisps of heat continued to rise from the charred black earth.

Watching the explosion from the drone's perspective, the players erupted into cheers. Then, at their squad leader's command, they packed up their equipment and began advancing across the scorched wasteland left behind by the bombardment.

During the short time they had waited for the artillery strike, they had already completed purification of the ground beneath them.

In the end, they simply spent their remaining points on a 400mm heavy artillery strike against the newly explored area where they had just placed the beacon for their next Purification Base.

After all, Purification Points couldn't be carried to another base. They had already survived long enough in the previous stage that converting their remaining points into additional holdout time would barely improve their rewards. It made far more sense to use those points clearing monsters in the next stage instead.

Since the Corruption Level had already been surveyed and recorded before the beacon was placed, it had been permanently fixed to the regional corruption grid on the VM map.

That meant using points earned from the previous stage to strategically bombard the next one wouldn't affect either its difficulty or the final rewards.

Chu Guang didn't even need to guess. The entire plan reeked of Spring Water Commander.

Looking at his clever little players, a satisfied smile spread across his face.

They had completely figured out how to exploit the rules.

Then again, that was exactly what he had always encouraged.