Chapter 105: The Orc, Utterly Shocked

Chaos continued to spread.

Not just the Plaza of Quality, but also the Orcish Magic Workshop deep within the Great Cemetery.

Since arriving in the Demon Lord's territory, a considerable amount of time had passed, and the Orc had gradually grown accustomed to a life immersed in research.

This place seemed no different from his time at the Academy—only the cramped mage tower had been replaced by a cramped mine shaft, and the dim-witted familiars had become dim-witted skeletons.

And more than that.

The master here did no work either; all tasks were handed off to servants.

But this was actually a good thing.

Clever goblins loved to work; goblins without work suffered far more than those with it.

Moreover, the Demon Lord didn't need to publish papers or supervise students—compared to his old job, this was vastly easier!

Just as the Orc believed this heavenly life would last forever, the respected Demon Lord suddenly tossed a crystal ball into his hands.

"Hold onto this. Within my Demon Lord territory, if you channel magic into it, you'll hear what my servants say."

The Orc carefully cradled the crystal ball and looked up at the Demon Lord.

"Your servants? You mean that giant spider and the cat-eared one? The Orc can understand their language—"

The Demon Lord shook his head and pointed outside.

"Not them. Other servants. Those skeletons. You idiot."

For a moment, the Orc wasn't sure who the idiot was.

Skeletons?

How could skeletons talk? But how could he defy the Demon Lord's command? He quickly bowed and stammered.

"Y-yes, Your Majesty! May I ask, Your Majesty… what will your skeletons say to me?"

"How should I know what they'll say?" The Demon Lord stared at him as if he were a fool, having heard a ridiculous question, then tossed a small booklet into his hands. "This is your work manual. Everything you're supposed to do is written here. Just remember my rules: answer their questions and fulfill their requests."

At this point, Luo Yan paused, then continued.

Complete their requests and you'll receive ghost money; issue requests to them and you'll spend your ghost money… That's the basic setup. Also, some skeletons will come to you to learn ghost script—treat them as your apprentices.

"I'll periodically evaluate your performance. The assessment criteria are in the booklet. If you perform well, I might reward you."

Upon hearing this, the Orc immediately prostrated himself and bowed.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The Demon Lord nodded, waved his hand, and walked outside.

"Call me if anything comes up."

Watching the Demon Lord leave, the Orc dared not delay—he opened the booklet and began reading line by line.

"For servants who do not speak Infernal or Surface Common, use the crystal ball's prompt to speak their names—it helps increase their immersion. If it's too troublesome, you may also call them 'player (wanjia)'?"

"As the Demon Lord's familiars, they perceive this world as a dream. Their motivations stem from the joy of role-playing… So don't be too polite to them—even being slightly rude may earn their respect?"

"Respect? What a strange setup… Remember: don't waste their time. They're busy working. Blocking them from working might provoke an attack? What the hell?"

Just as the Orc stared in shock, halfway through flipping the booklet, a flood of skeletons surged to the cave entrance.

Seeing so many undead, even the well-traveled Orc grew flustered and shrieked.

"Don't rush! One at a time!"

Whether it was his imagination or not, the skeletons seemed to understand—they lined up obediently at his door?

Were skeletons in the Great Cemetery this polite? The Orc was momentarily bewildered, unable to recognize them.

Seeing the goblin standing there dumbly, the line of skeletons began to stir, emitting creaking, rattling sounds.

As they showed signs of losing control, the Orc suddenly remembered the booklet's advice—he pointed at the nearest skeleton.

"You! Come in! Tell me what you want! Hurry!"

With creaking and rattling, the skeleton at the front of the line stepped in—and to the Orc's surprise, bowed to him.

Respected craftsman Master Orc! I'd like you to inscribe ghost script onto my weapon!

As he spoke, the skeleton handed over the two-handed sword slung across its back. The fluid motion was as natural as a living human's.

Ghost script? Which kind?

The ghostly flame stared fixedly at him. The skeleton eagerly replied.

"The kind that explodes when it strikes an enemy with full force!"

"What?!" The Orc doubted his ears, staring blankly at the creature. "Explode on impact?! Are you sure?! Your weapon will be destroyed!"

I'm sure! The skeleton nodded vigorously, beaming. The bigger the explosion, the better! I just want to try the legendary 'Explosive Strike'! Hurry up! I already paid! Ten thousand ghost money! Quick, quick, quick!

He'd never heard such a bizarre request, but seeing the skeleton wasn't joking, the Orc finally complied.

"Fine… If the weapon breaks, don't come back to the Orc."

The crystal ball displayed a list of orders.

The Orc muttered under his breath, carried the greatsword to the workbench, and began hammering and drilling with a punch and mallet along the blade's side.

Soon, a dense row of tiny holes appeared along the blade's edge.

Sweating profusely, the Orc hammered again, quickly linking the holes into neat rows of inscriptions—or rather, ghost script.

Considering its effect, calling it ghost script was indeed fitting.

As long as the user focused their will and swung the sword with all their strength, the entire blade would explode upon striking the target.

After completing the final step, the Orc carefully smeared powdered magic crystals into the grooves to enhance its magic conductivity, then tossed the sword at the player like garbage—afraid it might detonate before he could let go.

"Take it! Get it away! Get it as far from the Orc as possible!"

"Gahahaha! Thanks!"

Shouldering the greatsword engraved with the explosive ghost script, the mentally unstable skeleton skipped off happily, clearly eager to test its power in the labyrinth.

The Orc had just sighed in relief after sending off this plague, when another skeleton leapt through the door—its flickering soul flame made every inch of the Orc feel wrong.

Respected Master of Ghost Script, Orc! Please inscribe flight runes onto my shoes!

Flight? Too abstract! Magic is magic, ghost script is ghost script! Ghost script needs concrete requirements!

The Orc shook his head like a wave, shrieking. "You want to inscribe on shoes? Think of normal terms! Like 'lightweight' or 'adhesion'—"

The skeleton ignored his yelling entirely. After carefully studying the menu on the counter, he suddenly raised his head, his skull's soul flame blazing with excitement.

"Thrust! That's the one! Add it to me!" As he spoke, his skeletal index finger pointed to the term on the menu.

The Orc leaned closer to look—and froze.

"Thrust?! Are you sure? That term is for moving parts—not shoes!"

But the player didn't care. He rudely jabbed at the menu.

"I want this! I already paid! Do it fast!"

As he spoke, he swiftly kicked off his adventurer-style leather boots and shoved them into the Orc's hands without hesitation.

After all, this was the Demon Lord's servant.

Though the Demon Lord told him not to be polite, the Orc was still a timid, fearful goblin—he dared not offend them too much.

Under the burning gaze, the Orc gritted his teeth, scratched his greasy, shiny scalp, and sighed.

"Fine… The Orc will try to help… But if it fails, don't blame the Orc. You forced the Orc to do this."

Muttering, he turned to the workbench, grabbed tools, and hammered a thin iron plate into an arc while engraving ghost script, then nailed it onto the ankle area of both boots.

This ghost script was much simpler than the last. Since the Orc didn't know what effect adding "Thrust" to shoe soles would cause, he didn't write any triggering conditions—just concentrate your focus on the ankle to activate it.

Seeing the enchanted boots, the player thrilled as if he'd found treasure and immediately slipped them on.

And as expected, the unexpected happened.

The instant he stepped forward with his right foot, both shoes came alive, gripping his ankles and yanking him forward.

The skeleton crashed to the ground with a thud, his pelvis nearly splitting.

And it wasn't over—the shoes ignored the master scraping sparks from his buttocks, dragging his legs straight out the door!

"What the hell! Stop!! Stop right now! Aaaahhh!!!"

His screams echoed down the cave.

Only when the unlucky fool kicked off both boots, cutting off the magical energy source, did the enchanted footwear stop its rampage.

Watching the customer flee on his buttocks, the Orc shamefully covered his eyes, pretending he saw nothing.

As a craftsman, he still had a sliver of artisan pride… even if it was very little.

Even if demanded by the customer, the fact remained: this piece of trash still came from his hands.

It was utterly embarrassing for his master!

But—

Though the Orc thought this, the "players" lined up at the workshop door clearly didn't.

To him, it was trash. To the players, it was absurdly powerful.

"Awesome! You can actually do this?!"

"Perpetual motion machine???"

"Not quite perpetual motion—this continuous trigger probably drains magic."

"Still awesome anyway!!!"

"What if you replace both shoes with one, and add a trigger like 'crouch and kick to activate'? Could you do a sliding tackle on the spot?"

"Wait—if so, what if I attach a pair of propellers to my head and inscribe 'Thrust' on each blade… Could I spiral into the sky?!"

"Just inscribe 'Rotation' on the main shaft! Otherwise, your RPM might be uneven—might not even fly."

"66666!"

They seemed to have rediscovered the joy of building F-35s and J-20s out of blocks in old games like "RimWorld," chattering excitedly about wild ideas.

Some wanted to try automatic decapitation, others wanted to add auto-pathfinding to their leg armor, and some even dreamed of installing a full-body auto-battle system—yet not a single person thought of adding normal enchantments to their weapons.

Inspired by these wild ideas, the line outside the Magic Workshop grew even more absurd—both in length and in the bizarre items players held and the demands they made.

After hearing those outrageous requests, Oak's scalp went numb again and again until he finally snapped and screamed.

"Too many! There's no way I can finish all this in such a short time! Oak still has to complete the Demon Lord's research task!"

"By the way! Starting now, this shop operates by appointment only! Write down your requests, leave your items here, and come back tomorrow!"

"I'll give you a quote for what I can do—anything I can't do, take it back!"

The entire Magic Workshop had only Oak, and just listening to all those bizarre demands was enough to leave him flustered.

Once the inscription service switched to appointments, the long line outside the Magic Workshop finally dispersed, leaving only one person behind.

Looking at the guy named 【GulpDownTheChemicalPool】, Oak nervously spoke up.

"What about you? What are you here for?"

"Don't worry, Master Oak! I'm here to help… I heard you're hiring apprentices." 【GulpDownTheChemicalPool】 smiled shyly.

Though others couldn't tell, he thought he was being quite shy.

Hearing this guy wasn't here to carve Death Runes, Oak finally exhaled.

Finally, a normal person!

"You want to be Oak's apprentice? No problem! Take this to the apprentice room and start by drilling holes!"

At the same moment he spoke, Oak tossed a lumpy block of granite into the hands of this strange-named fellow.

"Remember! Drill holes first with a punch! Then connect them! Don't drill too deep—the rock will crack; don't drill too shallow—you won't be able to coat it with magic crystal powder!"

【GulpDownTheChemicalPool】 nodded eagerly, indicating he understood.

"So if I carve Death Runes onto it, it'll work?"

Oak chuckled mockingly.

"Of course not! You need materials with good mana-conducting properties! And you must concentrate your spirit or link it to a magic stone! This stone is just for practice! When you've learned, Oak will give you the real thing!"

Saying that, Oak ignored him, hugged a stack of orders, and walked into his room, closing the door behind him.

An hour later, after finishing his tasks, he'd sneak a look at the apprentices' work, point out flaws, and that would count as guidance.

After hearing Master Oak's instructions, Brother Gulp took the granite block and headed straight for the room deep inside the Magic Workshop.

The facilities were extremely basic—just a few tables and crude, poorly made tools; soon, when more people arrived, they'd have to fight over them.

A pile of stones sat in a bin by the wall—also for practice, useless for carving Death Runes on.

【GulpDownTheChemicalPool】 was curious about the true limits of this magical power, but it seemed he'd have to start from the most basic level.

This game's spellcasting and equipment crafting were surprisingly realistic—no shortcuts at all—which made him wonder: what was the point of the developers doing this? Or was there some secret he didn't understand?

Brother Gulp found a spot, sat down, and fiddled with his tools for a while, when footsteps sounded outside and another skeleton soldier walked in.

This guy's ID was 【ZhengSquare】, which looked like both a name and an old internet meme from the last generation.

"Huh? Someone's already here?"

【ZhengSquare】 was astonished that someone else had thought of the same thing.

He'd assumed this game was full of grindaholics—no one would care about such slow, tedious work that gave almost no exp.

Brother Gulp glanced at him, instantly sensing a kindred spirit—the flickering soul-fire in his skull brightened with delight.

"You're here to learn Death Runes too? Hahaha, nice to meet you! My ID is 【GulpDownTheChemicalPool】!"

Hearing that name, 【ZhengSquare】 suddenly seemed to remember something, staring at him in surprise.

"Oh oh oh! I know you! You're a genius!"

"Hahaha, same here! Since you're here too, you're no ordinary guy!" 【GulpDownTheChemicalPool】 squeezed his nonexistent eyebrows and grinned, "Let's team up sometime!"

【ZhengSquare】 excitedly grabbed the guy's hand.

"Definitely, bro!"

Meanwhile, Luo Yan, advancing toward the third level of the labyrinth, suddenly felt an itch on his back. He reached his wand under his robe and scratched it, muttering softly.

"Hearing You You… I've got a bad feeling."

Hearing You You, floating beside him, kindly replied.

"Don't worry, Demon Lord! I'm keeping an eye on the Quality Square! So far, I've stopped six violations."

Luo Yan shook his head and whispered a warning.

"Not Quality Square—that place won't cause trouble. I'm more worried about Oak's Magic Workshop… mark the apprentices there and monitor them closely."

Hearing You You: "Magic Workshop? Apprentices learning Death Runes? Hmm… nothing unusual there, but don't worry! I can handle this!"

Luo Yan finally nodded in relief.

"Alright, I leave it to you!"

—(Severe tendonitis pain—couldn't finish the next chapter. Taking half a day off. Sorry…) (End of Chapter)