Chapter 35: Suffer the Life-Profession Players, Let the Dog Planner Bear the Infamy

Ye Zhiqiu's speculation was correct, they

However—

What does this have to do with the noble Demon King?

In any case, Luo Yan hadn't missed out on a single good thing.

Don't life-skill players always complain about having no work?

Well, here it is.

He's found work for them right now!

……

The entrance to the first layer of the labyrinth.

In the hall covered in spiderwebs, a group of pitch-black skeletons were lining up and standing obediently.

The reason these guys were pitch-black was mainly because they had just come out of a coal mine. As for those who weren't quite as black, they were the ones digging for iron.

Speaking of which, Luo Yan had to complain about the quality of the bones buried in this mine.

Perhaps it was because everyone buried here had been dead for a long time, but some players would have their bones fall apart while digging, leaving only half a body stuck in the ground.

For these unlucky little guys who died by accident, Luo Yan really couldn't bear to deduct their contribution points, so he finally specially permitted them to pay with Nether Coins instead.

Why not just waive it?

That was, of course, because combat-class players protested, shouting things like, "This isn't fair, unless you waive it for me too."

Then let's just compromise.

Anyway, whether he gave them or not, it was all Nether Coins; he felt it didn't matter, as long as the players were happy.

"Is everyone here?"

Appearing with the posture of a BOSS, Luo Yan took a headcount and found that there were unexpectedly many players who had come to join in the fun.

It wasn't just players from the "Mining Department"; even those from the "War Department" had run over.

He nodded, a satisfied expression on his face, and without waiting for the players to reply with a drawn-out "Everyone is here," he went straight to the point.

"Very good."

"In the Underworld, dissection is a profound branch of learning because the conditions and environment there are very harsh, and many resources need to be obtained from the corpses of monsters..."

"And among these, the most important and also the most basic resource... is the magic crystal."

From small things like the magic crystal chalk used to draw magic arrays and the wicks in magic crystal lamps, to large things like the core units in war behemoths and the core of the Demon King... everything is inseparable from this magical thing called a magic crystal.

And the most magical part is that this thing only condenses after the monster dies.

It doesn't exist while they are alive.

Luo Yan reasonably suspected that this rule might also have been set by some deity from the Early Epoch.

But that is not important.

What is important is that he now wants to teach these little players how to collect magic crystals from the corpses of cave spiders!

Luo Yan set up a wooden board in the open space and began to write and draw on it with a charcoal pencil.

"... The collection of magic crystals is a great branch of learning. A skilled craftsman can remove a magic crystal within three cuts while ensuring the integrity of the monster's corpse to the greatest extent, without damaging other valuable materials."

Not many people could understand those abstract, messy scribbles.

Whether it was the players standing obediently or Hearing You You, who was watching from the side with concern.

Finally, the meddlesome Hearing You You couldn't help but speak up in a low voice.

"Um... no, noble Demon King, actually, you could just demonstrate it once while recording with a crystal, and Hearing You You can help you upload the tutorial video. If you demonstrate it like this, even Hearing You You can't understand what you're doing..."

Luo Yan, who was speaking vividly, froze, to the point that he even forgot the lines he was halfway through.

However, the players couldn't see Hearing You You at all, so he was the only one left there feeling awkward.

"... Alright, alright, I get it, just shut your mouth for now. This is role-playing; I'm acting out a plot cutscene, what are you in such a rush for!"

Pushing the wooden board away in embarrassment and anger, Luo Yan took a crystal ball from his bosom and walked to the side of a cave spider corpse.

"... Theoretical teaching is over! Now, I will teach you the actual operating procedure."

While speaking, he took out his magic wand and cast a Cyclone Art to flip the cave spider's corpse over.

Afterward, he operated the cyclone to float the crystal ball to the side and took out a small silver knife to slice open the spider's hindbrain.

That ink-green crystal was about the size of a thumb's fingernail, hidden near the pharyngeal ganglion.

With a light flick of his small knife, he picked out the magic crystal and held it on the tip of the blade to show the players.

"Look, it's just that simple."

Worried that the players wouldn't see, he even specially used his magic wand to light up a torch nearby.

Seeing the Demon King's miraculous craftsmanship, many players applauded in surprise.

"Oh oh oh..."

"So that's how it is!"

"As expected of the Demon King!"

Selectively ignoring the sounds of "skip" and "GKD," Luo Yan curled the corners of his mouth with slight pride.

Just kidding.

He was, after all, an honor student who got full marks in theory class.

Especially recently, not only his theory classes but his practical skills had also visibly improved.

"Very good, very good. Since you have already learned it, then start working!"

"Remember what I said: remove the magic crystals while trying your best not to damage the monster's corpse!"

"There are quite a few treasures on a cave spider, from glands to teeth, and even spider silk and chitinous exoskeleton... Forget it, saying these things is of no use to you; you just need to know that they exist."

He waved his hand and, before the players could start trying to use their hands instead of their legs to glitch-walk, he freed the players' frozen feet.

In an instant, the players on the scene scattered like happy ducks, rushing toward the nearest cave spider corpses and gesturing at them with daggers snatched from the rats.

As long as you take out the stones in the monster's brain, you can get a reward equivalent to cutting off a rat's tail!

Collect 100 of them and there are extra contribution points!

This quest is too profitable!

Watching the scene of the players busy at work, Luo Yan, standing to the side, couldn't help but show an expression of "This is really nice."

The low intelligence of summoned creatures has always been the most troublesome problem for all mages specializing in summoning spells.

For example, Bond, whom he was currently using.

Although he could project his spiritual power over to perform micro-management, that would affect spellcasting, and secondly, it wasn't effortless at all.

Unlike his cute little players.

They are even more artificial intelligence than artificial intelligence.

This fellow countryman who claimed to be the God of Machines really did leave behind a good thing for him.

"Demon King... is there any use for you to collect these magic crystals?" Looking at the self-satisfied Luo Yan, Hearing You You asked curiously.

Luo Yan smiled and said.

"They have great uses; for example, the most direct one is that they can be sold for money."

The magic crystals on adult cave spiders are much larger than those dropped by skeleton soldiers, and they are also much more valuable.

According to the knowledge he extorted from Chris, a cave spider's magic crystal can be sold for 100 copper coins at the Adventurers' Guild, and those of better quality can even reach 120 copper!

Although this sum of money is not much, it is enough to fill part of the deficit of the Great Graveyard.

When his "personal merchant" comes again next time, he can just use magic crystals to replace part of the payment.

By the way, the exchange rate between the Aus Empire's copper coins and Aus silver is about 100:1.

It is said that two centuries ago, this figure was still 25:1.

And the reason it became like this is superficially because of inflation, but in fact, it is still because of the "indirect tax."

The Emperor mixed copper into the silver coins, the nobles mixed lead into the copper coins, and eventually, over time, it became like this.

I heard that because they couldn't stand the Empire's exploitation, the northern Academy Alliance even simply used magic crystals to replace the ecological niche of silver coins for internal circulation... After all, there weren't many feudal lords there anyway; they were mainly mages and mage towers.

In contrast, the Underworld, which only has one currency, "Kaila," does not have these problems.

In the Underworld, when the price of one thing goes up, everything goes up; rounding it off, it means nothing has gone up. There will never be a situation like in the Aus Empire where the price of bread goes up but wine does not.

Although Luo Yan didn't know what was funny about this, it was, in any case, one of the human jokes of the Underworld.

Hearing You You continued in a low voice.

"... But, you are the Demon King, is it really useful to have so much human money?"

Luo Yan said as a matter of course.

"Of course it's useful. I can't go to the human world to buy things with Kaila, can I?"

Construction is very expensive!

Especially repairing teleportation arrays, repairing altars to summon other monsters, and so on; the cost is simply like building a wonder!

And proselytizing is also a money-burning job; without money, he can't even afford to support a few acolytes.

Currently, there are only skeletons in his territory, but it's impossible for it to always be skeletons.

He is, after all, a Demon King with dreams.

Just as Luo Yan was imagining the bright future of the Great Graveyard, he suddenly noticed a skeleton standing still in place.

That ID was also quite pitiful; it seems the appetite is not small, and it needs a large bowl to be full.

Looking at 【Little Late Not Full】, who was so anxious that they were about to cry, Luo Yan sighed and said.

"You... go and clean up those spiderwebs."

It just so happened that he planned to transform this labyrinth entrance into other facilities.

He really couldn't stand the cave spider corpses; cleaning up the spiderwebs shouldn't be a problem, right?

"Yes! Demon King!"

Little Late Not Full let out a sigh of relief, feeling relieved, and ran off happily to clean the spiderwebs.

Is this what PUA is?

It's also something they don't like to do, but because it's less annoying compared to another thing they dislike even more, they became full of joy instead.

Luo Yan suddenly felt a bit guilty.

Very good.

This shows that he did the right thing again.

……

Luo Yan watched at the scene for a while, and seeing that the players were even more skilled than he had imagined, he turned around and returned to the Demon King's territory, diving into his workshop to brew potions.

Compared to magic crystals.

He felt that "beast potions" from the Underworld should be more valuable.

Anyway, there are so many materials; it would be a pity not to brew some.

By the way, he could also record some material so that the interested little players could learn as well.

Just as Luo Yan left the labyrinth, Arakdo from the Shadow-Weaving Nest quietly sneaked into the hall at the labyrinth entrance with a group of hunters.

This is Her Majesty the Queen's "pioneering land," and also the place that adventurers call the "North Peak Mine Entrance."

However, having said that, since it was born, it hadn't seen many adventurers enter through this entrance.

And the moment it stepped into this territory, it saw a scene it would never forget in its life.

Corpses everywhere!

Dried blood plasma like a dried-up stream!

And what shocked it even more was that a group of skeleton soldiers holding small knives were actually dissecting the corpses of its own kind, just like the adventurers outside!

"These bastards..."

Some hunters were furious, their mouthparts rubbing together, wishing they could rush up and chew these skeleton soldiers into bone ash!

However, there were also some hunters whose scarlet pupils revealed an unconcealable fear.

Skeleton soldiers...

Those are monsters even lower-level than ratmen; except for slimes, almost no one would bother with them.

Yet at this very moment, this group of bone frames that should have had no brains actually possessed intelligence not inferior to humans!

What terrified them was not just these skeletons themselves, but also the necromancer who summoned them—

What kind of great power does that guy have!!!

"Retreat!"

The resourceful Arakdo was shocked and gave the order to retreat without hesitation, decisively leading the group of hunters to quickly evacuate this place of right and wrong before the necromancer discovered them.

Running wildly all the way.

Arakdo didn't dare to stop for a moment, heading straight into the depths of the Shadow-Weaving Nest, to the court of Her Majesty Arachnos!

On the dense and firm spiderweb.

Her Majesty the Queen, with a huge figure, was chewing her mouthparts, savoring the taste of the male cave spiders from earlier.

It had just been fed.

In every sense.

Risking being eaten by Her Majesty, Arakdo knelt on the ground, trembling.

"Noble Majesty, according to your instructions, I have investigated the situation in the pioneering land!"

Moving her enchanting and huge body, Arachnos looked lazily at her subject.

"Speak, what is the situation there."

"It's a necromancer!"

In an instant, Arachnos straightened her body, her face full of panic.

"A necromancer?! How could there be a necromancer?!"

Humans wouldn't cultivate such stinky things, and such stinky things wouldn't run into a labyrinth for no reason!

There is only one possibility—

He is a guy with formal training!

And it might even be from that place!

"That necromancer is very strong! The skeletons he summoned not only have intelligence but also have extraordinary power above bronze or even steel! My most cunning hunter, Aratrulu, died at their hands!"

Arakdo stated his findings, his scarlet pupils flashing with a hint of dread, and even terror.

"It can't be wrong..."

"He is the successor appointed by the Underworld... the new Demon King who has come to replace Demon King Regi Dragon!"