Legend of the Pinnacle of Online Games

Chapter 152 The City Lord's Chief Steward

The system notification made Lin Hanchuan breathe a sigh of relief.

Finally, we secured permanent ownership of the two-star crystal mine. Although it was a sure thing, it wasn't until the dust settled that we could truly feel a weight lifted from our hearts.

Long Xiaochen sent a message.

Long Xiaochen: "Captain, we've secured the permanent ownership of the crystal mine. We'll transfer our share to you later."

The crystal mine is currently owned by the entire Heavenly Path Team, with each member having a share.

Although Lin Hanchuan is the team leader, he still needs the consent of the entire team to dispose of the crystal mine, such as allowing dwarves to mine and sell crystals.

In case someone in the team is offline.

We have to wait for him to go online.

Very troublesome.

Long Xiaochen and the others voluntarily gave up their shares in order to avoid these troubles and leave them to Lin Hanchuan to handle alone, so that they could have some peace and quiet.

"Thank you for your trouble! I can't leave here for a while, so you can arrange your own time from now on." — Lin Hanchuan did not refuse Long Xiaochen's suggestion; it would indeed be much more convenient this way.

Long Xiaochen: "It's no trouble at all! Captain, you go ahead with your work, we'll go down to Green Light Lake later."

"Okay! Remember to let me know if anything happens." — Just as Lin Hanchuan finished replying, the system notification sounded in his mind.

"Ding! Please note that the Heavenly Dao Squad member 'Kanglong Youhui' has voluntarily relinquished ownership of the two-star crystal mine!"

"Ding! Please note that Heavenly Dao Squad member 'Moonlight Chill' has voluntarily relinquished ownership of the two-star crystal mine!"

"Ding! Please note that the Heavenly Dao Squad member 'Bloodhand Demon Slayer' has voluntarily relinquished ownership of the two-star crystal mine!"

After three consecutive system notification sounds.

"Ding! Congratulations! You have gained permanent ownership of a two-star crystal mine!"

Looking at the notification text that popped up on the panel, Lin Hanchuan said to Faceless Passerby and Mo Lingyun, "We have secured permanent ownership of the two-star crystal mine in the Water Bear Monster's territory."

The faceless passerby laughed and said, "Congratulations, boss! You've successfully acquired the crystal mine."

Mo Lingyun chimed in, "Starting the game with a mine ahead of other forces, this is on the verge of taking off!"

Although the crystal mine is still in the territory of the water bear monster, the entrance is now shrouded in a black light curtain.

From now on, only Lin Hanchuan, or players and races who have Lin Hanchuan's permission, will be allowed to enter.

Lin Hanchuan could even use this to create a crystal mine pass.

"Congratulations to you too!" Lin Hanchuan replied with a smile.

Acquiring the crystal mine is the most important step in crafting the Water Bear Set. Once the goblins and dwarves of Radiant Forest begin mining, the crystal mine can be converted into cash.

I stayed at the tavern for a while.

Lin Hanchuan chatted with Corey and the Red Dwarfs for a while before taking Mo Lingyun away, heading directly to the farmland in the Southern Sixth District.

"That tavern under construction will be completed in three or four days," Lin Hanchuan said to Mo Lingyun as they walked along the road.

"Next, I'll take you to see the farmland in the South Sixth District. Although it looks barren on the outside, there is actually a spiritual field in the innermost part."

"There are many rare medicinal plants planted inside, all of which were obtained in the Gray Forest a couple of days ago."

Lin Hanchuan placed high hopes on Mo Lingyun.

To help him get up to speed quickly and allow Lin Hanchuan to become a hands-off manager as soon as possible, Lin Hanchuan took the initiative to show him his properties in Wangyue City so that he would have a general idea of ​​what they were like.

When they arrived at the farmland, they ran into Andrew, who was patrolling around the farmland with several city guards.

After giving them a handful of gold coins and treating them to a meal and drinks, Lin Hanchuan entered the farmland, going deep into the innermost part, where he saw Alice busy in the spirit field.

Under Alice's careful tending, the plants in the spirit field have regained their former vitality.

Lin Hanchuan glanced at it briefly.

Mo Lingyun was stunned.

On the way here, although I had mentally prepared myself for the scene in the spirit field, I realized at this moment that I was still too naive.

Emerald-colored mist billowed from the spirit field, and hundreds of exotic flowers and herbs stretched their limbs in the rosy light. The Crimson Gold Flower breathed out flowing fire, each petal resembling molten gold foil, dripping with tiny sparks.

Frost crystals clung to the roots of the Ice Soul Orchid, and tiny specks of starlight froze within its translucent buds. Crimson vines climbed along the crystal fence, their serpentine leaves shimmering with phosphorescence on the undersides, flickering like breath. A three-zhang-tall Illusion Moon Orchid was unfurling its silvery petals, three spheres of light floating at its center, chiming with a clear, cool bell sound in the gentle breeze.

What attracted Mo Lingyun's attention the most was the seven-colored flower that had just sprouted petals.

Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple; seven petals, like fragments of a rainbow solidified together.

The crimson petals are molten agate, with liquid gold threads floating on their surface; the orange petals are wrapped in a honey-like, translucent gel; the yellow petals are pieced together from millions of amber crystal fragments; and beneath the thin, cicada-wing-like glass layer of the turquoise petals, swirling vortices of emerald galaxies drift.

The blue petals are covered with ice cracks, and a faint blue halo flows and shimmers between the ice crevices, like a glacier that has sealed fragments of the aurora; the purple petals are covered with nebula-like dark patterns, and are full of shimmering light spots.

Seven-colored halos converge at the flower's stamen to form a ring-shaped rainbow bridge. Under the sunlight, the colors shimmer and dance, captivating the eye.

Holding her breath, Mo Lingyun carefully examined the seven-colored flower several times before finally looking up and focusing her gaze on Lin Hanchuan, incredulous.

"You even managed to get your hands on the rainbow flower?!"

"Is there a problem?" Lin Hanchuan asked calmly.

"Awesome!" Mo Lingyun's thousand words in his heart were finally expressed in his hand gesture. He stretched out his right hand and gave a big thumbs up.

The Seven-Colored Flower is an eight-star sacred item.

It has an extremely powerful effect on improving a player's hidden attribute of comprehension. Once fully matured, consuming it can allow a player to instantly comprehend an E-level skill to S-level or higher.

If a seven-colored flower appears in Zone 1.

You've even robbed the city walls.

Lin Hanchuan obtained it quietly.

"Old Mo, calm down. You've seen your share of ups and downs." Lin Hanchuan gently patted Mo Lingyun's shoulder and said with a smile, "Save your praise for when I've nurtured it into a nine-colored flower."

When Lin Hanchuan first obtained the Five-Colored Flower, he had already planned to cultivate it into a divine-grade Nine-Colored Flower.

The current seven-colored flower, an eight-star sacred plant, is only in a transitional stage.

"Aren't you afraid of getting robbed?" Mo Lingyun couldn't help but say. "Once a divine flower matures, it will cause miracles and strange phenomena. Moreover, a nine-colored flower represents at least one divine skill. Players who see it will go crazy."

"What's there to be afraid of!" Lin Hanchuan said nonchalantly. "If we can make Wangyue City our impregnable base, let alone one divine-grade plant, even if there are a hundred, no one will dare to steal them!"

Lin Hanchuan said this intentionally to put some pressure on Mo Lingyun.

There are so many good things in front of me.

The city guards can only provide protection for a short time. Once the players are stronger, they will have to rely on their own strength to protect themselves.

Mo Lingyun understood Lin Hanchuan's thoughts perfectly well.

call! !

Mo Lingyun took a deep breath and replied, "I will do my best!"

Lin Hanchuan smiled and nodded, then looked at Ai Li and said, "Please take care of Xingchen later, I'll be right there."

Star is an NPC with its own biological clock.

I was already dozing off when we got to the tavern.

Lin Hanchuan had other things to deal with next, so he had to entrust her to Aili.

“Okay, boss!” Alice picked up Xingchen, who was swaying even when standing, and then continued to say to Lin Hanchuan, “The first batch of medicinal plants in the spirit field will be ripe in three to five days. Boss, remember to come and collect them then.”

Lin Hanchuan pointed at Mo Lingyun and said, "This is my half-brother. He will be in charge of the spirit field from now on. He will come here to process the mature medicinal plants in the spirit field."

Although medicinal plants are commodities, they are more often strategic reserves for a particular power.

It would be most appropriate to entrust the management to Mo Lingyun.

That way I won't have to run to the spirit field every few trees that ripen.

It's taking too much time.

Mo Lingyun then said to Ai Li, "My name is Jun Mowen, and I will come here often in the future."

Alice looked at Mo Lingyun and nodded, "Okay, Second Boss, my name is Alice!"

After leaving the farmland, Lin Hanchuan took Mo Lingyun to the weapons factory.

"I acquired the weapon factory for 50,000 gold coins. The factory manager is an NPC named Roger, who is very responsible. You should get to know him better. After our guild is established, the crafting of weapons and equipment for our players will mainly rely on the weapon factory," Lin Hanchuan confessed.
Mo Lingyun exclaimed, "Old Lin, you're really being extravagant! Having a weapons factory craft weapons and equipment for our guild—that alone is enough to make players in Wangyue City scramble to join us."

Weapons and equipment, besides those obtained from farming in the wild.

Some players bring their own blueprints and search for alchemists or blacksmiths to help them craft.

Normally, guilds would categorize all players with professions like alchemist and blacksmith and provide them with preferential training to help them craft weapons and equipment in the future.

The benefits of doing this are obvious: it allows the guild to cultivate its own internal core.

However, the downsides are also very serious. Alchemists and blacksmiths start from the beginner level and each level requires a lot of resources and time to improve. In the end, you also have to make sure that they don't leave the guild and join another one.

Of course, these players who are being groomed by the guild all have relevant agreements and contracts, but as everyone knows, these are only good for protecting honest people, not for protecting unscrupulous ones.

If the other person is determined to leave, there's really nothing you can do about it.

Therefore, stronger guilds will hire alchemists or blacksmith NPCs, or cooperate with races that know how to forge, such as dwarves.

The top-tier guild is the Weapon Factory.

Taking the only weapons factory in a city and prioritizing the supply of weapons and equipment to one's own guild sounds impressive, but this usually only happens in the mid-to-late game.

Guilds like Lin Hanchuan's, which had already prepared their weapon factories before even being established, were the only ones in the entire guild.

"Since we've said we're going to expand our influence, we definitely need to prepare wholeheartedly," Lin Hanchuan said earnestly. "Starting over again, I'm serious."

“I’m not joking.” Mo Lingyun said just as seriously, “With the foundation you’ve laid, if I don’t make your guild the top one in the Ninth District, I’ll really have no face to show anyone.”

"What name do you plan to give your guild?" Mo Lingyun asked.

Lin Hanchuan kept saying he wanted to establish a guild.

But he hasn't even been told his name yet.

Everything is still in a state of mystery and unknown.

"The Way of Heaven," Lin Hanchuan replied, "the same name as my Heavenly Way Squad." Mo Lingyun: "This is going to be a relentless pursuit of justice!"

"There shouldn't be a guild called Heavenly Path in the current world, right?"

Guild IDs are also unique.

However, the conditions for establishing a guild limit the number of guilds, which is far fewer than the number of squads, and even fewer than the number of individual player IDs.

Since guild IDs are not speculated on in the market, no one will hoard them.

Unless a major guild suddenly disbands, no one will be willing to hoard its IDs.

Even if a well-known guild ID doesn't sell, it can still generate buzz for a while.

"No!" Lin Hanchuan shook his head.

All the major guilds that descended are registered with the official descending website; you can find them by searching for keywords.

Lin Hanchuan had previously searched for the Heavenly Path Guild.

It is confirmed that there is no guild called Tiandao.

“That’s fine!” Mo Lingyun replied.

……

As they were talking, they arrived at the weapons factory.

After meeting Roger, Lin Hanchuan introduced Mo Lingyun to him. The two got to know each other briefly before getting down to business.

"I've already secured the crystal mine. It's located in the territory of the water bear monster, and the coordinates are..."

Lin Hanchuan said to Roger.

“Once the goblin dwarves arrive, you can let them start mining directly. I will handle the guard situation at the city hall, or at the very least, hire one in Moongazing City.”

"As for the water bear monster, tell your goblins and dwarves not to be afraid. As long as they don't attack it first, there won't be any problem."

In fact, from the moment it was confirmed that it had won the right to defend the Crystal Mine, the Water Bear Monster had already become the bodyguard of the Crystal Mine.

Even within its territory, as long as the Heavenly Dao Squad doesn't attack the Water Bear Monster proactively, they won't consider them enemies.

The same applies now that we've acquired perpetual rights to the crystal mine.

As the owner, Lin Hanchuan will not be attacked by the water bear monster when entering its territory. This special effect will also apply to the goblin dwarves and escort team he has hired.

Roger: "I've written it all down. I'll explain it to them in detail later."

"Okay!" Lin Hanchuan nodded, then casually asked, "What about the deputy factory director?"

He still cared a lot about this NPC who frequently visited the Radiant Forest.

"I sent someone to call him to the Radiant Forest; he should be out of town by now!" Roger replied. "Should we call him back?"

"No need, we can talk about it next time we meet." Lin Hanchuan looked at the time on his personal panel. It was almost time to meet the city lord, and he couldn't possibly wait for him at the weapons factory.

"I need to go to the city hall now. We'll talk about the formation of the expedition team after I come out. You can have a good chat with Director Roger now."

After leaving a brief message for Mo Lingyun, Lin Hanchuan left the weapons factory.

Walk briskly along the street.

At the entrance of the city hall, Lin Hanchuan was not stopped. The city guards took the initiative to lead the way and brought him into the city hall.

The first place we went was the land transaction center.

When the NPCs at the land transaction center saw Lin Hanchuan, their faces showed the same joy as always.

Charles was the first to step forward and hurriedly said to Lin Hanchuan, "Mr. Huangchuan Baixiao, you've finally arrived! The city lord just asked me through the communication stone where you are!"

"We shouldn't have missed the agreed time, right?" Lin Hanchuan glanced at the time on the panel and confirmed with Charles.

“No, no!” Charles quickly shook his head. “You arrived just in time. The moment you walked into the city hall, the city lord should have known you were coming.”

"And what's next?" Lin Hanchuan asked.

This was the first time he had met the city lord in the early stages of the game, especially since the other party had been bribed by the demon.

The reason Lin Hanchuan didn't ask the city guards to take him to see the city lord as soon as he arrived at the city hall, but instead made a special trip to the land transaction center.

Essentially, they wanted to get a sense of what Charles was saying.

“Mr. Arakawa Shiro, please have a seat at the land transaction center for a while. Someone will be here soon to take you to see the city lord,” Charles replied.

The city lord is very powerful.

The city guards also obeyed the city lord's orders.

There was nothing in the entire city hall that could hide from him.

Soon someone will come and take Arakawa White Owl away.

"That's good!" Lin Hanchuan breathed a sigh of relief, and then, without waiting idly at the land transaction center, he took out 30 gold coins and bought the land directly.

The land we just decided to buy.

An elderly man with a frail appearance arrived at the land transaction center. He stood hunched over at the entrance, looked at Arakawa Shiro, and asked bluntly, "You must be Mr. Arakawa Shiro, right?"

“It’s me!” Lin Hanchuan stood up and replied, then glanced back at Charles.

Charles said in a low voice, "He is Mr. Orm, the chief steward of the city lord's household, and his son William is the deputy city lord!"

Lin Hanchuan's eyes lit up.

This was the first time he had heard the name William.

Given that William is confirmed to be the devil in disguise, and Orm is his father, it remains to be seen whether we can glean more information from him.

At this moment, Om's voice continued, seemingly ignoring Charles's words, as he repeated his introduction, "I am Om, the chief steward of the city lord's household. I have been ordered by the city lord to come and take you to see him."

"Sorry for your trouble!"

Lin Hanchuan walked out of the land transaction center and followed Om along another long corridor, heading further into the city hall.

Lin Hanchuan didn't waste the opportunity to be alone with Om and took the initiative to strike up a conversation, saying, "I never expected that you, Mr. Om, would be the father of Vice City Lord William. We are truly grateful to Vice City Lord William for his selfless dedication, which is why Wangyue City is where it is today."

Om paused slightly and looked at Lin Hanchuan.

He knew better than anyone the current situation in Wangyue City, and the foreigner's words were clearly loaded with ulterior motives.

However, when he thought about how this foreigner named Arakawa Shiro was supporting the development of Mochizuki City with his actions, Om's gaze towards Lin Hanchuan became much kinder.

After all, Wangyue City was the home where his ancestors had lived for generations.

He's much better than my good-for-nothing son.

Om sighed and said, "My good-for-nothing son does bear some responsibility for how Moongazing City has become like this. Alas, it's all his fault!"

Lin Hanchuan looked at Om.

Did the other party make a mistake? He initiated the conversation, hoping to praise William, gain Om's favor, and thus obtain some additional information.

However, since the conversation had already begun, Lin Hanchuan naturally followed up, "Everything has only just begun, and there is still a chance to salvage the situation. As more and more foreigners flock in, Wangyue City will surely regain its former glory."

He didn't know if Om had noticed his son's unusual behavior.

We don't even know if this Om is also played by a demon.

We can only keep arguing while trying to find a breakthrough.

Om shook his head and said, "You must already know something about him and that woman."

William and that woman?
Who is that woman?
what's up?

A series of questions flashed through Lin Hanchuan's mind, but he turned them into affirmations when he spoke, "I do know some things. Alas, I never expected Mr. William to act that way."

Seemingly having found someone to vent his frustration, Om shook his head and sighed, "Who would have thought! He actually caused such a ruckus at the Crescent Moon Cult because of a woman, loudly denouncing the Crescent Moon God as a heretic. If it weren't for the great Crescent Moon God's magnanimity in letting him go, he would have been a corpse long ago."

Fortunately, he eventually reformed, went to the Church of the Crescent Moon to repent, and was forgiven by the Crescent Moon.

"but……"

Om thought of something, looked at Lin Hanchuan, but ultimately didn't say it.

Family scandals should not be made public.

Lin Hanchuan remained silent, unable to ask any further questions this time.

If someone is still unwilling to continue talking even when you are guiding them, any further attempts to guide them will raise suspicion.

Just chatting is fine.

We obtained quite a bit of information.

A woman caused a scene at the Crescent Moon Church, confessed her sins, but...

Each of these four keywords is important.

There should be a story in the middle where William is killed by a demon.

With William's topic gone, Lin Hanchuan asked about another deputy city lord, the one he had met on the corridor leading to the land transaction center last time.

Om loathed him.

Lin Hanchuan only received the other party's name—Charlie Puss.

……

……

The city hall is the largest building in Wangyue City, covering an area of ​​over 3,000 acres. After reaching the end of the corridor, crossing a lawn, passing an orchard, and arriving at a bridge over an artificial lake, Lin Hanchuan saw a solitary two-story stone building standing on the opposite shore of the lake.

"That's the Lord's residence," Om explained.

Lin Hanchuan looked up.

The city lord's residence looked unremarkable from the outside, and there were hardly any city guards around it.

A middle-aged man with graying temples stood in front of the door, casting his gaze in this direction. When he met Lin Hanchuan's eyes, he nodded slightly.

(End of this chapter)