Surviving The Fourth Calamity

37: Chapter 37 Peaceful Country Life 37: Chapter 37 Peaceful Country Life Hill’s domain village had finally gotten on the right track.

He had given a task-listing tablet to the grocery store owner.

After all, the tasks that could be issued in his territory were basically all about collecting various materials.

Hill understood that gather quests did bring some experience to the players.

Compared to just selling items for money, players preferred tasks.

These past few days, he had been secretly listening to the players’ chats.

Those high-level players were essentially cursing the planners for being inhumane, as leveling up past level 50 could take more than a week.

They were also discussing when the game would launch its first instance.

Hill was genuinely curious as to how the deity intended to create a game instance in a real world.

After all, from what he could tell from the players’ indirect hints, the game did plan to have instances; it just wasn’t clear when they would be available.

Based on Hill’s many years of experience reading online novels, it was very likely that a segment of history would be captured as an image for players to challenge as an instance.

After all, the God of Time and Space existed, and time came before space!

Hill felt that once this deity officially ascended to the Divine Throne, the river of time would have its master.

During this God War, Hill definitely would not leave his house.

He absolutely didn’t want to give himself a chance to be captured as an instance NPC.

Hill felt a bit sorry for the people in the God of Nobility’s faction; if they fought bravely, they were sure to become the bosses in the instances, repeatedly tormented by players.

If they were also good-looking, they’d be jokingly mentioned and teased constantly, even in death they might not rest in peace.

Since the teleportation array was activated, low-level players who came over started practicing kite-fighting tactics using the Magic Arrow Tower.

The creatures that had been inhabiting the nearby mountains for a long time were out of luck.

Hill’s Magic Arrow Tower was continuously firing every day.

The village guards could only stand ready to close the main gate at any moment.

Hill initially wanted to stop them since it was consuming his Elemental Crystals.

But later, Hill suddenly discovered that perhaps due to the deity’s digitization, the Magic Arrow Tower grew stronger as it eliminated more monsters.

Valuing safety over expenses, Hill did not hesitate to stock up a large amount of Elemental Crystals on the core of the underground Magic Array.

When he shared this discovery with Fran and Adrian, those two immediately refused to use this method.

Fran’s Magic Tower, after all, had mages visiting often, and he couldn’t afford to lose face.

They thought Hill was really thick-skinned.

Didn’t he feel embarrassed that his domain village was constantly attacked by wild beasts?

Hill touched his handsome face, could that even be embarrassing?

He didn’t think so at all!

It wasn’t like he was the one luring the monsters.

It was all the players’ doing; he just couldn’t bear to stop them.

Hill was somewhat worried that after his advancement to Magister, Fran would have higher expectations of him; he should probably keep a low profile for the next couple of years.

Hill decided to use the Lord’s Mansion as a study for the time being, hoping to finish reading all the books before his promotion.

The sparse elemental power in the village could help control the speed of his advancement.

He dared not stay too long in his own Magic Tower right now and hoped to advance to Magister after Adrian.

Moreover, the Space-Time Cathedral had just been completed.

Many players curious about the scenery outside the western borders came to visit.

The teleportation array was busy with people coming in and out every day.

Hill also found that many gangs and family groups had personnel stationed in the village inn.

Their aim was to rush to Fran’s territory’s Potion Shop every morning to grab goods.

Hill’s Healing Medicine and Magic Power Potions were also sold out every day.

List’s main task now was to direct the Alchemy Workshop to produce these two potions.

However, higher-level potions that could enhance physical attributes were still only available in Fran’s territory.

The Royal Capital’s Magic Tower also had potions available, but these required exchange with their Merit Points, and they seemed to prefer using Merit Points on equipment.

Hill’s inn was fully booked every day, even the Space-Time Cathedral’s hall was filled with low-level players.

Many tourists came in the morning and left in the evening.

They also loved the food prepared by Hill’s trained chef, often taking it away in packages.

The mass of animal meat purchased by Hill’s grocery store was all turned into food and sold back to the players.

Hill initially thought he would incur losses in this aspect but unexpectedly made a small profit.

It seemed the players obtained their Elemental Crystals quite easily, could they also be bought with real money?

The more players came, the more curious doubts Hill had.

He paid close attention every day to listen to the players’ chats.

But what the players were most interested in now were the castle defense battles of the first batch of players’ territories and the grudges and vendettas that arose between these territories over the competition for resources.

Baldy’s Black Rose also appeared a few times in the players’ conversations, but they seemed to have formed an alliance with the neighboring territory and were ignored as underlings.

Snow Cloud Peak occupied the largest territory next to Black Rose, successfully becoming the most hated entity.

Being first on the Merit List certainly brought glory, but it also made oneself a target for everyone.

As a Magister, Snow Cloud Peak unhesitatingly named his clan Magic Cult.

It was completely different from the others, like Qingyuan and Alluring Rain of the City.

Thus, in the month-long castle defense battle after the player territories were established, they were battered most fiercely every day.

Black Rose was also beaten up once a day, then they would stand in their own territory cheering for the Magic Cult.

The natives didn’t understand this fierce battle between players at all, and Adrian firmly believed it was a drill to ward off the Noble Coalition.

Hill sarcastically thought, the Undead Tribe in your mouth, training crazily, would rather lose the city to the Noble Coalition than hand it over to rival players.

Hill saw that in the large dining hall of the inn, every morning players would slam the table and shout, “Today, another group of 5 is fighting the Magic Cult.”

Thankfully, they had to declare war before fighting, otherwise the Magic Cult wouldn’t even have time to call for reinforcements.

Hill’s Domain was vast and had many enemies, but he also had many allies from the Alliance Gang.

Every day, a huge number of players would swarm in, and most of the Elemental Crystals in the players’ hands were reclaimed by the Teleportation Array.

To Hill, it seemed that the technologically advanced society from which the players came was very stable and prosperous, with work hours only lasting 3 to 4 hours a day.

Bored, many people preferred playing online games where hostilities had been accumulating over the years.

They had already become very accustomed to the faction struggles, and for the Scattered Ones, their days started with a grand melon-eating spectacle each morning.

Hill really wanted to check out their forums.

Hill was sitting in his office and saw Olivia passing by outside the window.

Aside from her thrice daily prayers, she stood outside watching the Undead Tribe.

This sharp and perceptive woman seemed to want to get closer to the deity by understanding the deity’s Clan.

But Hill only saw her steps growing heavier as she returned.

Completely clueless, huh?

Little girl, you’re looking in the wrong direction.

It would be better to do more activities if you wish to gain the deity’s favor.

All members in Hill’s Domain were literate, men had received some basic Knight’s training, and women knew basic etiquette.

Although several families had already had children, they were still in their infancy, and she could not start basic education classes.

The only troublemakers in Hill’s Domain were the Undead tribe, who did not require Olivia to mediate justice; all problems were directed at Hill.

Olivia was somewhat at a loss, unsure how to earn the favor of the deities.

Next door in Fran’s Territory was the largest public library to date, but it was intended for Mages, and she used to visit it daily.

Unfortunately, as a noble lady, Olivia didn’t think that commoners or Knight Swordsmen had any need to read books, so it never occurred to her.

Hill had no desire to guide her, for this was Olivia’s own path to tread.

The clever girl would eventually find her own way, and what Hill thought might not suit her.

This girl still maintained the noble tradition of changing into three sets of clothes daily: morning dress, afternoon formal wear, and evening casual clothes.

She tried to dress as simply and modestly as possible, each outfit covered by a Priest’s cloak, but even so, she stood out in this village.

Hill had already seen female players who came daily to take photos of her.

On her first day out, to show solemnity, she had worn a blue silk gown with lace cutouts and many small pearls sprinkled across the bodice beneath her cloak; her golden hair loosely tied back with two gently curling strands hanging down.

She wore a set of pearl jewelry.

Her beautiful sparkling green eyes and her noble and elegant attire instantly captivated a crowd of players.

Hill watched with amusement as she awkwardly got surrounded by players all day, becoming a tool for photos, even witnessing many players trying to utter outrageous propositions only to be struck down by lightning.

Poor Olivia indeed made a deep impression on the Undead tribe members, but unfortunately, the outcome was not as she had imagined.

Olivia quickly realized that she had made the wrong choices without understanding the Undead Tribe and tried to dress more simply every day to observe the Undead.

Unfortunately, what a lady of Great Nobility considered simple was completely beyond the players’ understanding.

Even her so-called simple morning attire, consisting of a silk gown and a long robe, was considered very formal by the players.

Thus, Olivia could only rigidly persist every day amidst crowds of players who came to take photos and observe her.

Hill found it very amusing, wondering about the kind of people assigned as main Priests in the cathedrals William had built, and how strong their mental fortitude must be to deal with the players.

Whenever Hill appeared before the players, he wore the fashion they sold.

Hill was indeed a handsome young lad.

But then, which among the players was not good-looking?

In a game where one could tweak faces, every style of handsome guy existed.

If Hill also wore noble formal attire he might attract attention, but the clothing he wore had been seen too often by them.

Stopping to take a photo was the greatest interest they showed in Hill.

Alice or Merkel might have caused a sensation had they appeared.

Unfortunately, Hill was very satisfied with his current life and had no need for attention.