Chapter 54: Let's Get This Show on the Road

"So THIS is what an otherworld MMO instance looks like?" Sharlock had binged a whole stack of gameplay videos — including ones with otherworld players barking raid-call orders over voice chat — then crossed his arms, mulled it over, and said:

"There's still plenty of jargon I don't fully get, but watching them play, it honestly looks fun. Alright — I've got a rough read on what these otherworld players are into. Clearly, just one Kramo, the kobold chief the dungeon residents fear, is not gonna be enough to satisfy their appetites."

Having said his piece, Sharlock thought for a few minutes, then took out paper and pen and started writing:

"Dear Professor Bacon, Deputy Dean of Academic Affairs at the Undead Academy:

Terribly sorry to disturb you while you're busy rescuing impoverished schoolgirls. I am Sharlock, Demon Lord of the Eternal Kingdom, and I have already worked out your grand entrance..."

A full three days had passed since the Frostlake City Dungeon Lord Experience-Sharing Conference incident.

On the forums the discussion was still burning hot, but inside the "game," the hundred players of CBT1 were already planning to band together and push the story forward.

Clear it — the Spider Nest!

As the very first zone map Dungeon: The Eternal Kingdom ever opened up, the Spider Nest had been synonymous with brutal difficulty from day one, striking dread into the hearts of the beta testers.

Then the kobold boss Kramo showed up, and those few days were a straight-up massacre — players flipping head over heels left and right. Thankfully, through everyone's tireless efforts, they'd collectively brought down the terrifying kobold boss.

And after the players cleared Kramo, a whole flood of story followed — including even a hidden quest: the Frostlake City Dungeon Lord Experience-Sharing Conference.

Only the three grindiest, richest players had qualified for that hidden quest, seeing with their own eyes just how vast and sprawling the world beyond the Eternal Kingdom dungeon truly was.

But xX_ShadowBlade_Xx had posted a detailed guide thread for the quest on the official site the moment it wrapped, leaving everyone with even bigger expectations and theories about Dungeon: The Eternal Kingdom's world and backstory.

Then there was the Spider Queen deep in the Spider Nest — a boss baked into the "game" from the very start. Naturally, everyone was dying to know what story would unlock if they cleared her. And her drop, 【Spider Queen's Hair】, was an item even the Demon Lord Locke found interesting — meaning another hidden story arc might just crack open!

For exactly that reason, the players' enthusiasm for pushing deep into the Spider Nest had never burned hotter.

And the players' combat skills kept getting polished, too — with dungeon core "Bru" assisting, and newbie trainer Moros drilling them with painstaking care, their technique had grown slicker and slicker over the past stretch.

On the gear front, some players had sniffed out little tricks for raising enhancement success rates — things like "run bricks over to blacksmith Goldmane the second you see him working," "don't get underfoot while Goldmane's working," and "do NOT make small talk with Goldmane."

That third one especially: repeated testing showed that players who blabbed at Goldmane too much — in other words, the ones constantly pestering him — had enhancement success rates so low it was tragic.

At one point 【OldMacDonald】, mid-enhancement on his Tier-2 short sword, started asking whether there were any quests for him — and Goldmane hefted his hammer, all set to snap that short sword in half on the spot, tossing out:

"One more word out of you and the sword goes — believe that!"

When an NPC has spelled things out to THAT degree, anyone still hardheaded enough to ram into it genuinely deserves to lose their sword.

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For all these reasons combined, the players' push through the Spider Nest accelerated massively. From hovering at the mouth of the Nest at first, they'd now pacified a full safe zone, and deep inside were building a forward stronghold to keep pushing from.

And the other big news: while everyone else needed parties of at least three to hunt subterranean spiders, Arthur — on the strength of three pieces of Kramo's loot — had already pulled off the feat of solo-killing a subterranean spider.

The forums naturally exploded over it, and players looking to copy Arthur multiplied fast — with outcomes that were, without exception, failure.

In his hand was 【Kramo's Dagger】, one of the three weapons Kramo dropped; on his body, a full set of Eternal Kingdom standard-issue armor and shield, every piece enhanced to +4. He was carefully squaring off against a subterranean spider while the other players kept well back at the edges, watching 【BurningChestHair】's solo-kill attempt.

Mostly because if they closed in, the subterranean spider would probably just spook and bolt.

One-on-one, though, the subterranean spider showed zero intention of fleeing. Sure, the players had taken turns butchering these things daily for a while now — but how much brainpower does a subterranean spider have? No way it could grasp, in such a short time, just how terrifying these goblins were.

Not that the current situation counted as life-or-death for 【BurningChestHair】 — if anything, the spider was the one in trouble, already stabbed raw in a dozen places by his dagger.

The dagger's whole appeal was compact and nimble: stay glued to the subterranean spider, and as long as you kept contact, you could land hit after hit. Being so light, its attack speed ran way ahead of the short sword's.

Sure, its sheet Attack Power couldn't reach what short swords and warhammers could — but it still clocked in at 【0-25】, and a fully max-enhanced Eternal Kingdom short sword only managed 【0-15】.

Panel numbers that high — sinking the dagger into a subterranean spider just felt like a whole different game.

No way to verify, of course, whether the 【0-25】 dagger truly outclassed the 【Hiltless Shortsword】's 【0-15】 — but whatever, it felt awesome to swing, and it did miracles for the confidence.

Even so, 【BurningChestHair】 didn't dare get careless — because he wasn't 【Arthur】, owner of three legendary pieces of Kramo loot: a pair of greaves, a short sword, and a suit of armor.

In that three-piece set, so long as a spider leg didn't spear you right through the skull, you still had room to work. 【BurningChestHair】 had no such margin — enhanced-to-+4 standard armor or not, if he didn't get his shield up in time to eat the spider's strike, that armor would survive exactly one hit. The second one was curtains.

The spider charged 【BurningChestHair】!

Fast, clean, cool. Watching the spider legs loom closer and closer, he didn't panic in the slightest. Not a trace of fear.

One spider leg, precision-driven straight through his skull, pinned him to the ground. Dead.

"Aww man, THIS close! Can't believe it still failed!"

"Such a shame — ChestHair's solo run was way higher difficulty than Arthur's. RIP."

"Real shame. Next time, I guess. Dude solo-grinded for two whole hours. Rough."

"Let's go, let's go — help grab the corpse. Dunno if Locke can fix a head smashed in like that."

So lamented the four players on the sidelines — then they rushed in and finished off the dying spider in a few brisk strokes, and, breezy as anything, dragged dead 【BurningChestHair】's corpse and the dead subterranean spider's corpse back toward the Eternal Kingdom, chatting the whole way.

What those players didn't know: their every move was being observed by two figures hidden in the dark — to be precise, one high-tier demon and one skeleton lich.

From Bacon's eyeless sockets, a hollow stare took in everything before him. His jaw hung open, and stayed open a long, long time.

Sharlock had summoned Bacon over from Frostlake City at the crack of dawn — a strictly hush-hush visit. Only after deliberately sealing off the Core Hall did he accept Bacon's teleport request; then, one shape-concealment spell each, and without another word they'd snuck over to the Spider Nest to observe in secret, side by side.

It took Bacon a good long while to blurt out, in sheer disbelief:

"These goblins... did you train them all yourself, Lord Sharlock? How many goblins with this level of combat discipline do you have? Goblins like these — a bit weak, granted — would be completely qualified for our academy's graduation project. Do you have a thousand? No, wait — for this batch, we might need fifteen hundred to cover the deaths. I mean, enough to complete this term's graduation project."

"Numbers you need not worry about. As long as you find them acceptable, Professor, and your academy's magic stones come through, quantity will absolutely not be a problem." Sharlock guaranteed it with utmost seriousness.

"And the combat quality? Can they really all match those goblins just now?" Professor Bacon still sounded a touch uneasy.

"On that point — as we discussed before, you'll naturally want a hands-on, on-site inspection, to test these goblins' strength for yourself. In the manner we agreed on, of course." Sharlock said.

"An inspection is needed, yes — but must we really go that far? I'm deeply grateful you recommended those spots where impoverished schoolgirls gather, so that I can help them complete their studies — but isn't that sort of thing just a bit too shameful? I've no stage-acting experience either. Couldn't we get a professional to play the part?" Professor Bacon still looked hesitant.

"Professional actors don't have the chops for it. You're the best fit there is, Professor Bacon. Not another word — while they're all still online — I mean, still awake — let's get this show on the road!"

So said Sharlock, looking straight at Professor Bacon.