Chapter 212: Lesser Beast Meets Greater Beast! The First Encounter of Players and Mercenaries

It can only be said that the Challenger Guild's madman lives up to the reputation; Da Pen Gu refused to accept it, stubbornly enduring the foul smell and trying three times in a row.

But every time during processing, leaks occur, causing mistakes in the steps, imbalance in proportions, and failure in brewing; young hero, please try again.

"Cough cough, this thing is really damn hard..."

Choked by the pungent smell, tears streamed down as he slumped in his chair, gasping for breath.

His fingers mechanically flipped through the manual he had already read back and forth several times, unintentionally reaching the back cover.

His blurry vision suddenly caught sight of something, prompting him to hastily wipe his tears and focus his gaze.

"Wait, how come a talisman seal is drawn here?"

Although he himself is an atheist, the elderly at home are relatively devout, so he also happens to know a bit about it.

Even if no similar pattern exists in his memory, this design style and pattern are so familiar to him that it is definitely a talisman seal!

But...

Which one exactly is it?

Or perhaps...

Is this an Easter egg deliberately placed here by the game officials of the Huaxia Production Team, or is it the trigger condition for another new system?

Da Pen Gu quickly posted a screenshot of the talisman seal on the public screen, hoping to pool wisdom to get an answer.

But nowadays the game's public screen is full of mixed characters; it's no longer the enthusiastic player forum of the past.

Perhaps there could still be some discussion environment when opening large dungeons, but at this stage of development, it's all just people chatting nonsense.

Although the discovery of the talisman seal indeed sparked many players' comments, most were just joking about related memes, and only a few genuinely participated in the discussion.

Apart from confirming that this is indeed a talisman seal, the only other suggestion was that the mall has a 【Sheepskin Parchment】 item that could correspond to it; no other useful information remained.

Therefore, Ji Ming originally thought that among the over 1,200 players, there should at least be a painter, or even better, a professional like a Taoist priest.

Even if the output wouldn't be high, at least trying to replicate the Calming Talisman to add some production channels shouldn't be a problem.

But there are indeed painters among the players, and each is quite well-known, for example, the 【Pure Love War God】 of the Wild Heart Guild.

This cow-person player is also quite handy, successfully making a pen from the branches of Ge Rui Sen and the ink sac of a certain fish in the lake.

After adding the lapis lazuli ink that came with the sheepskin parchment, he vividly drew the talisman seal on the paper.

But when the final stroke was completed, nothing happened at all—neither the item nor the system showed any response.

Ji Ming also quietly took out a Safety Talisman he himself had drawn for comparison, finding that although the other's work looked similar, it lacked any spiritual essence.

Indeed.

According to the description in that booklet, to successfully draw a talisman, besides drawing skill and memory, a certain affinity with the wood element is also required……

In that case, the planned online launch of the 【Sheepskin Garment】, as well as the production and recycling system for the 【Talisman Garment】, can only be temporarily shelved.

Wait until the lucky players unlock the talisman as a prerequisite technology, then we can talk about other things.

No choice, Ji Ming had to take the sheepskin garment that just arrived in the afternoon and personally begin drawing behind the curtain.

Fortunately, since there's no need to help Bishop Te Ni Si with alterations and tailoring, simply painting on the clothing is actually relatively simple.

So he quickly finished making another talisman garment, and had Wei Er Mo craft it into a set of black chest armor and skirt armor.

The highly elastic talisman garment possesses great plasticity; even though its style leans toward feminine, it still fits other body types that aren't too exaggerated.

Moreover, the dwarf master's craftsmanship needs no further comment—the produced outer armor combines durability and good looks, and could be sold as a UR skin in any game to scam players.

"The amazing comfortable lining combined with my superb skill—although this isn't my greatest work in life, it's definitely one of the most satisfying masterpieces."

Recently, he has been in deep cooperation with the Starry Sky Guild, engaging in remote dialogue with real-world designers, and has come up with many new ideas.

While tapping the impressive taotie pattern and beast swallow on it with his iron rod, Wei Er Mo spoke up to this point, but then suddenly changed his tone.

"I'm just curious, Envoy—last time too—why does the lining's style look so weird?"

"Uh... I don't know, I just bought it randomly at the market."

I can't tell Wei Er Mo that I outsourced the design and production of the sheepskin garment to a super great succubus—while other companies rack their brains to squeeze out such painstaking works, which are just basic operations for them, whereas for normal products, making a buddy mod would leave us drenched in sweat……

For now, not having decided where to put this talisman armor, Ji Ming first stored it in the particle ash warehouse, properly placing it in the storage room.

However, as he was about to leave, he habitually glanced at the inventory list and suddenly discovered that his weapon reserves had dwindled to only one-fifth.

——Damn, could I have been robbed?

As the still-at-large bandit of Sunlight City, he quickly checked the recent item inflow and outflow records.

He found that from noon onward, players began buying weapons in large quantities, the purchase volume completely abnormal, as if possessed by a model‑shop scalper.

As for the direction of circulation of these weapons……

As everyone knows, if a merchant wants to make money, he must meet consumers' urgent needs and supply what they demand.

And the most profitable livelihoods in this world are all written in the legal code, especially those with the heaviest penalties.

So……

After the first player made a killing selling battle axes to the Agesi Chieftain, more than half of the over 1,000 players switched professions to become arms dealers.

They exchanged all their points for weapons, listed the goods, and became itinerant merchants wandering the Underground Plains.

Moreover, have they never eaten pork or seen a pig run?

Imitating the tone of product‑pushing livestreams, street vendors, insurance‑selling relatives, and TV advertisements, they knocked on the doors of every tribe.

"Chief, do you want an axe? Just open your wallet and I'll deliver it shortly."

"Big bro, this newly obtained cleaver is cheap!"

"Can't wear! Can't wear! Can't wear! How can you wear such lousy leather armor? Look at our family's leather armor!"

The beastmen in the underground city may be ferocious in daily life; one can't say they merely gnash teeth and suck blood, but they are also tantamount to killing indiscriminately.

But how could those honest and simple folk have ever dealt with such a mindset? A few words would leave them dazed and confused, their hearts set on buying, buying, buying.

Along the way there were also those who wanted to steal from thieves, for example, the Lizardfolk Scale Armor Tribe, who killed the itinerant merchants that came to peddle their goods, intending to acquire them for free.

But the players have already made business their lifeline—where could we let them run wild?

A few top players raised their arms and called out, immediately organizing an allied army and declaring a northern expedition.

At first there were few people, and the lizardman chief Du Ke still wanted to act tough.

"You're slandering us; our Scaled Armor Tribe has never killed a merchant!"

But upon seeing the gathered humans growing more and more, all clad in armor and wielding weapons,

"Haha, you mean those few people? We thought they were spies from other tribes—just a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding, heroes."

The players were also reasonable; they first let it buy a batch of weapons at a high price, and then shared part of the profit with the deceased.

Then they made him swear not to harm humans again, and for now they let the matter drop.

As for whether it was truly let go or merely pretended,

"Control your anger, I've heard that some players have already successfully forged a flintlock gun barrel; wait a bit, and then we'll just use thermal weapons to cut him down……"

And since each tribe now has new weapons, they naturally need a place to test them out, to see if their swords are sharp enough.

Those large tribes might still have some strategic resolve; to avoid getting drawn into war, they may choose to simply garrison and not fight.

But in the past few hours, the scattered small tribes have erupted in multiple wars, and some unlucky ones have been completely eliminated.

The victors must convert the looted resources into more weapons to continue expanding.

The losers must also convert their meager resources into weapons in hopes of a comeback.

So after all this, the players have ended up with overflowing riches,

But the small tribes either face constant warfare and a sharp population decline, or are stripped of their livelihoods and reduced to bandits.

Coincidentally, today is also the day Dean An plans to formally expand his influence and enter the underground plains.

He put in a tremendous effort, having Xie Dun bring another batch of supplies here secretly, in order to activate this blood-drawing pump to replenish his own blood.

Of course, the first thing they did upon arriving here was to wipe out the Red Dragon Mercenary Corps of the mountain folk, who were being used as tools, sending them the label 'deserters'.

Wiping the bloodstains from the handrail, Xie Dun knew that since the previous incident, Regiment Commander An De Lu's trust in him had sharply diminished.

After all, in the original plan, the one responsible for underground city affairs should have been Mustache Johnson, and as the face of the mercenary corps, I myself ought to be stationed to oversee the territory.

But in recent days, Johnson, the captain with the slightest presence, has suddenly started showing up frequently, snatching away many of the duties that originally belonged to him.

Xie Dun originally thought the regiment commander was warning him not to think he was irreplaceable, so he chose to swallow his anger.

But just the day before, the regiment commander suddenly summoned him to the office.

"Hey, Xie Dun, I've already tested it—Johnson really isn't fit to bear the main responsibility."

"Bars also has to manage the self-discipline squad and can't leave, so since the capable should take on more work, this underground plains affair should be handled by you……"

"Busy, everyone's busy—do you mean I, Xie Dun, can't get away?"

"Moreover, you say Johnson is unsuitable, so why did you, right after I left, hand over all external and logistical work to him?"

Hearing his subordinates' reports, Xie Dun was also seething with anger.

But as a knight, his loyalty still outweighed everything else.

"Never mind, even if I'm semi-exiled, as long as I can achieve something, maybe I can win the regiment commander back over……"

But just as he was leading the mercenaries, loading wagon after wagon with weapons, intending to do business along the scouted trade route,

he discovered that those small tribes that had previously clung to them, eager to buy equipment at high prices, had all lost their former enthusiasm.

One particularly wild dog‑headed chief even brandished his steel knife and split the curved blades they had previously sold him clean in half.

Although the mercenaries couldn't understand the dog‑headed chief's barks, seeing his contemptuous gaze, they were sure he was looking down on them!

"Damn, if I can't sell you weapons, can I still not beat you?"

Although, in order to do business better, An De Lu had specifically emphasized that the dispatched mercenaries should be friendly if possible, and not cut off their source of profit for a moment's gratification.

But he also said that, when facing those beasts that refuse to be civilized, one should emulate the overbearing manner of the First Lionheart King.

Kill!

Holding the dog‑headed chief's bloody head, they then visited several small tribes with which they had previously reached agreements.

With such a grand gift, the chiefs of those small tribes became much easier to talk to.

Their oddly shaped figures trembled as they huddled on thrones resembling trash heaps, trying to communicate with the mercenaries in as unskilled a common language as possible.

"It's not that we don't want to buy, it's just……"

As it turned out, before they arrived, many other humans had already come here.

They thought these were the same adults who had come earlier to negotiate; seeing that the weapons' quality was indeed good, they hurriedly pulled out money to buy them.

"Damn, according to your description, they mostly have black hair and black eyes, while we are brown‑haired and blue‑eyed—how could we be the same?"

The rabbit‑person chief was frightened into tears.

"Sir, you might not have noticed, but the old chief who received you last time has already died; I am the son who took after my mother's coloring……"

Xie Dun was choked by those words, his face black as a pot bottom.

But his hand, resting on the sword hilt, rubbed it for a long time before finally letting go.

It wasn't that he suddenly decided to go vegetarian and chant… to the Holy Light God; rather, what's the point of killing?

Such small tribes, having already poured almost all their resources into buying weapons, could not possibly conjure more out of thin air, no matter how obedient they were.

Rather than uprooting them for a show of force, it's better to keep them around to fatten up before slaughter.

Moreover, if one really wants to make money, there happens to be a ready‑made avenue right now!

With the mercenaries burning with anger, he sent men out to scout the surroundings and indeed found a few so‑called itinerant merchants.

Just as the rabbit‑person had described, these strange people truly looked very different from them.

Their features were softer, their skin smoother, and moreover……

Wait, why do I feel they look somewhat familiar?

In his thoughts, a face that has recently been in the limelight surfaced in Xie Dun's mind.

Ji Ming!

They are Easterners!

In the underground plain there are many Easterners; how did they get in?

These merchants seemed even more surprised than them; they didn't run, but instead stretched out both hands shaking up and down, then pointed at the air.

Still laughing!

Feeling slighted, Xieerdun flew into a rage and immediately drew his waist sword.

Although these merchants were well-equipped, their combat ability was pitifully low; they were almost chopped to death by random blades without much resistance.

However, just as the excited mercenaries pounced like wolves to loot the spoils, the corpses on the ground all vanished into thin air.

What's going on?

He felt a jolt in his heart, recalling the legends outside Sunshine City, those dangerous mysteries and witchcraft.

To deal with these things, the most advantageous weapon is……

Come on, let's retreat first!

But just after taking a few steps, noisy footsteps came from behind.

Who chopped my brother! Get out here, old man!

Only to see on the high ground, uniformly dressed men lined up, each holding a gleaming large blade.

And standing in the middle was a golden-armored sturdy man wearing sunglasses on his face, shouldering a nine-ringed broadsword.

If it's the Star Void Essence, the spear-blade is sharp, justice is steady, challenge is healthy (or should we say……vile?)

Then speaking of madness, in the players' circle there is only……

Grandma's, dare to kill our Legend people, brothers, chop him!