Atlas Studios

  Atlas Studios

  Rough huge rocks were stashed at the side, and gray powder particles shrouded the newly excavated construction site.

  Hammering sounds filled the air as weak green Goblins carried rocks their size and hobbled along.

  A pair of hands grasped a hammer that had no handle and knocked on a chisel that was stuck in a rock in a bid to break it into smaller pieces.

  Without the protection of the wooden handle, he grasped the metal handle that was forged with spiral grooves to increase friction.

  With this design, every action of hammering was physical torture.

  There were about twenty similar Goblins at the construction site.

  It looked as though the Goblins were living through hell.

  But if you listened to their conversations……

  “I’m so happy. After carrying this rock, I’m completing my mission.”


  “When you accept a new mission, return quickly. Many of us want to build a house. Who knows, someone might take your place. I can’t control it when there are so many people.”


  “Wah, help me reserve a spot. Don’t let others take it. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”


  “Make haste, make haste!”


  “Gosh, why is Sherlie here?” a gamer carrying a huge rock shouted. Everyone stopped and looked at the approaching Sherlock.

  A gamer said, “That’s normal. Sherlie would take a walk some time.”


  “But he seldom visits the Living Quarters.”


  “Seems like it.”


  “Take a look, take a look.”


  The gamers abandoned their posts and surrounded Sherlock. A few brave gamers tried to grab Sherlock’s cloak, but they were immobilized by Sherlock’s dominant aura as soon as they went near him.

  Sherlock had experience with the gamers, so he wouldn’t let them climb all over him.

  Sherlock wanted to find out if the gamer, Hemp Rope Technology, was digging a methane pool.

  The wall that had the word “Dream” and the construction diagrams was filled with more graffiti, like:

  Underneath “Dream” was “Suzuran Summit, Selling contact: Wechat XXXX”.

  Beside “Work Hard”, which was written by Sherlock, were the words “Lousy Producer”.

  And “Peasant was here (Strike out)”, “Take note of quality”, “Please stop the graffiti”, “This is my construction blueprint”, “Brother Arthur is the coolest”, and “Please visit Taobao” among others.

  The wall was filled with graffiti, unlike the first time Sherlock saw it.

  As there was no space for blueprints, there was another blueprint on the other wall. It looked like an underground multi-sided storage groove. There were many channels and connections. The words “Methane Pool” were written on the side.

  The Living Quarters, which had been covered with a partial surrounding wall, were now completely protected. There were many rocks stored at the side and tools on the ground. From the condition of the half-smoothed rocks, at least a third of the gamers were working here.

  Sherlock pondered and asked Bru, “Didn’t I prioritize the development of the Commercial Area? Why are there so many gamers building the house? Didn’t we increase the rewards for the development of the Commercial Area?”


  “I doubled the rewards. Honestly speaking, even if I tripled the rewards, the effect wouldn’t be much. Perhaps we could increase it by five times,” Bru suggested.

  “Lord Sherlock, you might not have a deep understanding of the gamers. Though they love high-reward missions, between building a home and a high-reward mission, most of the gamers would choose building a home without hesitation.

  “In the otherworld, strong-willed gamers were willing to spend months and even years carrying bricks to build world-class buildings as their homes. In games, if there was private land available, they would build their homes untiringly. They would also accumulate decorations to make their home presentable, even if there were no functional benefits.

  “The gamers were obsessed with their homes. According to a popular advertisement tagline, ‘If they don’t make their homes presentable, they would feel uncomfortable.’”


  Sherlock nodded and asked, “Why did they bury their feces underneath their home? Are they going to blow up their resting place using such methods?”


  “I feel that they are more interested in bombing your Dungeon, Lord Sherlock.” Bru was worried Sherlock might be mistaken, and he quickly explained, “Like I said initially, they would give themselves strange names and do lots of strange things.”


  “Like using feces to detonate one’s home?”


  Bru pondered for a while and replied, “Pretty much.”


  “Though I’m not sure, according to my understanding, they have powers similar to Mana, perhaps technology? Or some other term? The surface humans are also developing this power. If the otherworld’s gamers have this research capability……” Sherlock nodded and returned to the Dungeon Core Main Hall. He ignored the gamers behind him and said, “Bru, I have another bold idea.”
……

  Gray smoke shrouded the narrow tunnel.

  Five Goblins, who didn’t have any protection against the ore powder particles, waved their pickaxes excitedly and hit on the tough Diamond Seam rocks, making loud hammering sounds.

  “Hemp Rope expert! Hemp Rope expert! Why are you still excavating?”


  Five Goblins stopped their excavation simultaneously. Four Goblins looked at the Goblin, Hemp Rope Technology. He was slim and looked like a dried Goblin.

  “I am searching for explosive materials! Make haste! What is it?” Hemp Rope Technology turned his head and asked bewildered.

  “Gosh, stop excavating! You’ve been by the forum administrator!” a gamer ran and panted as he said.

  “The administrator’s looking for me?” The thin Hemp Rope Technology was dumbfounded.

  A gamer at the side smiled and said, “Must be that lousy producer who saw your posts in the forum. He wanted to warn you not to create trouble.”


  “There’s no need to give a warning. Since the game has this capability and it was discovered by the gamers, the game producers have no reason to ban it.”


  “Why are the game producers looking for Hemp Rope expert?”


  “Who knows? Hemp Rope expert, take a look offline.”


  Hemp Rope Technology nodded and fell to the ground as he went offline.

  The forum was shocked by the administrator [Dungeon Lord Sherlock (Sherlie)]’s post, which was like detonating a bomb in a fish pond.

  The title of the post was [The game producer’s reward announcement for Hemp Rope Technology]:

  “Greetings everyone, we are the producers of “Dungeon: Eternal Kingdom”. This is our first time in the forum using the administrator account to communicate directly with the gamers.

  The game producers would like to express our gratitude to the Beta Gamers for working hard, and for their contributions to the Beta Testing and refinement to the game.

  I am pleased with the unity of the gamers. As the game is 100% simulated Virtual Reality, the gamers can create their reality in the Magical World. The unity of gamers allows the smooth development of the game and the Beta Testing. I hope that everyone will continue with the good work.

  Work hard for Sherlie’s Dungeon. (Smile)

  We would also like to express our gratitude to our friends in the forum who were unable to participate in the Beta Testing and yet contributed with their ideas and suggestions.

  We feel that everyone has provided many good ideas to enrich the developing “Dungeon: Eternal Kingdom”.

  Thank you for your contributions. Thank you.

  We understand everyone’s anticipation and love of the game and would like the development of the game to accelerate so that there will be more functions and various types of gameplay. The game producers are also working hard to present the best game to everyone.

  The game producers are definitely not slacking by playing computer games.

  Let me mention @Hemp Rope Technology.

  The Beta Gamer has unexpectedly invented a new type of weapon called the Bladder Bomb.

  Though we were surprised, we decided to give this enterprising inventor a special reward, the game’s first alias—Pioneer.

  This is to encourage more gamers to explore different types of gameplay and create interesting, functional, and powerful game items.

  We will award this alias to this gamer in the next update. We will also push out the new Alias System and increase the new types of gameplay. For more details, look out for the coming Update Patch.

  In addition, do not try to blow up the Dungeon (Server). Sherlie would be very perplexed.

  Wishing all of you the best of health.”