Chapter 1388: 457. Invest in the future_2
“Water friends, players, and those still in the dark, are you curious why people continue to buy Angel Crystals in bulk, regardless of how high the price goes?”
In the video, Cucumber Slice pinched a crystal model of an Angel Crystal between his fingers, facing the camera with a serious tone:
“Today, let’s reveal the truth.”
The scene shifted to a group of “Artificial Angels” attacking a space station.
The voice-over of Cucumber Slice came through:
“Don’t doubt your eyes. A team of Artificial Angels is laying siege to a logistics space station belonging to the Guardian Angel Group.”
...
“Boom, boom, boom—”
The “Artificial Angels” fired laser beams three meters in diameter, violently bombarding the space station’s defense outposts.
The video moved closer to the “Artificial Angels.”
Apart of the sharp-eyed audience had already noticed that there were no Angel Enterprises Alliance emblems on the helmets and chest armor of these “Artificial Angels.” Instead, there were emblems of the “Golden Dragon” guild.
“Yes, you saw that right. These ‘Artificial Angels’ are not truly artificial in the full sense of the word. They are actually Magic Pets from the ‘Golden Dragon’ guild. Thanks to everyone’s continuous supply of Angel Crystals to the ‘Golden Dragon’ guild, the guild leader ‘Golden Dragon in the Sky’ successfully hatched the first angel-shaped Magic Pet earlier today, which is the group you’re seeing now! Angel Pets.”
Cucumber Slice emphasized the word “group.”
Earlier he mentioned that Golden Dragon in the Sky hatched the first “single” Angel Pet, so why say “a group” now?
Cucumber Slice knew the audience would be puzzled, and immediately brought up the Magic Pet attribute interface.
…
[Name]Swarm-Type Combat Angel
[Type]Magic Pet
[Quality]Purple
[Feature]
1. Swarm Combat
This Magic Pet can split into ten, engaging in swarm combat as ten separate individuals.
2. Life Sharing
Ten Swarm-Type Combat Angels share life. It is only by killing all ten Combat Angels at once that this type of Combat Angel can be rendered dead.
3. Road of Advancement
By continually consuming Angel Essence, they can slowly increase their quality, and there is a possibility of advancing to a higher-quality combat angel-type Magic Pet in the future.
…
Cucumber Slice did not reveal information such as the skills, health, attributes, etc., of the Swarm-Type Combat Angels on the disclosed panel data.
But just the introduction in the “Feature” column was enough to stun the viewers.
“Wait, wait. Are we mistaken about Magic Pets?”
“Aren’t Magic Pets supposed to be just pets? Why can they fight like real Artificial Angels?”
“Damn, we’ve been tricked. These should be called combat pets, not Magic Pets!”
“So, after getting a Magic Pet to help with battling monsters, does the owner even need to lift a finger?”
Some players had already managed to hatch white-quality Little Pets through their efforts.
At this moment, looking down at their Little Pets rolling and acting cute in their arms, they felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness flowing from within.
Can’t you show a little spirit?
While others’ Magic Pets are helping their owners battle monsters, why are you still here, rolling around for cuddles and begging for Magic Feed?
A barrage comment scrolled across the video:
“Is there a possibility that only Magic Pets of purple quality and above can be considered combat pets? Are white, green, and blue Magic Pets really just for petting purposes?” noveldrama
This comment strongly resonated with the player community.
Some hoped that they, too, could draw a purple-quality pet;
Some complained that the game was unfair, the existence of the pet system widened the gap between common players and wealthy players;
Others furiously criticized the planners and operators for not explaining the strength of magic pets clearly, blaming them for selling away many lottery chances and missing out on the opportunity to draw orange quality magic pets;
Some cursed the boss for being foolish, arguing that it’s just a game after all and even if one could train combat pets to help in battle, it wasn’t worth investing so much money;
And still others said the game had lost its flavor and was no longer the shape remembered by the old players.
All sorts of comments flew by.
Cucumber Slice in the video seemed to have anticipated the flooding barrage of comments at that moment and paused for a few seconds before saying:
“I think everyone must find it incomprehensible that ‘Golden Dragon’ guild has invested a huge sum of money in training purple quality magic pets. It’s just a game, is it worth spending so much money on? I, too, had the same question when I first heard the news. But all my doubts quickly vanished. Golden Dragon in the Sky gave me a detailed introduction to the guild’s strategic and development ideas, which are as follows…”
Cucumber Slice narrated the process of interviewing Golden Dragon in the Sky.
Firstly, the registered location of the “Golden Dragon” guild was under the United Military Academy, a subsidiary of the United Bureau. The entire guild focused on improving its reputation within the United Bureau and dedicated itself to carrying out the team-based combat missions issued by the United Bureau.
Secondly, the funds for training magic pets for “Golden Dragon” guild didn’t all come from its own capital. A large part came from appropriations by the United Bureau.
Third, the significance of combat-oriented magic pets wasn’t limited to better plundering Angel Crystals but also taking on harder team-based combat missions.
For example, the often-discussed “Great Expedition” series of missions by players over the past year.
At this point, Cucumber Slice provided some explanation about the “Great Expedition” series of missions for players who might not have heard of it.
The ultimate goal of these series of missions was to allow players to establish a forward base in unfamiliar star systems filled with cosmic monsters on behalf of the United Bureau.
In other words, any player or group of players who participated in the “Great Expedition” series of missions and successfully defended the forward base would gain a piece of land.
In the eyes of many gaming guilds, the “Great Expedition” series of missions served as a way to acquire guild territory, or even a guild space station.
However, due to the extremely high difficulty and the powerful strength of the enemies, the “Great Expedition” series of missions remained uncompleted to date.
Now, with the help of combat-oriented magic pets, the “Golden Dragon” guild might be able to expand territory for the United Bureau and obtain its own territory.
With territory, subsequent profits would come as easily as water flows along a channel.
From the small earnings of monster spawn point rents within the territory to the large income from territory trade, resource extraction, and Star Gate toll fees, and so on.
All income derived from territory would ultimately cover the expenses of nurturing combat-oriented magic pets.
When the moment came to break even, the guild would see better figures on its ledger and realize long-term stable profits.
So, to summarize in a sentence:
Investing in combat-oriented magic pets might seem like a money pit but is actually an investment in the future.
The content narrated by Cucumber Slice in the video made players sigh in amazement.
It wasn’t that ordinary players couldn’t think of the “territory” aspect, but rather, “territory” was something too remote and high-end for them.
If one wasn’t part of a Great Guild, it was indeed difficult for an ordinary person to associate combat-oriented magic pets with “territory.”
It made sense when you thought about it.
What was most needed for the Great Expedition?
Manpower.
And where does manpower come from?
Buying ships, renting ships, buying insurance, buying missiles, buying supplies; all these things required money.
If one could train a large number of combat-oriented magic pets that could continuously revive and grow, would this not equate to saving a massive amount of monetary expenditure?
With a pointer from Cucumber Slice, the vast majority of players finally understood the real value of combat-oriented magic pets and Angel Crystals, and it was not an overstatement to call them strategic resources.
Of course, there would still be a small number of players who went against the tide, unabashedly criticizing the setting of combat-oriented magic pets.
But no matter what, a massive movement had formed, aiming for territory as the ultimate goal, accumulating capital for the Great Expedition as the driving force, and using money, lottery chances, and Angel Crystals to bind all players together.
Under the influence of multiple factors, the number of Angel Crystals within the Black Hole Magic Academy soared.
Behind the scenes, Noland Lee estimated that in no more than three months’ time, he would have gathered enough Angel Crystals to rescue the Assassin Angel.
By that time, players’ overall strength should have reached a new level, enough to help him assault the space station where the Assassin Angel was sealed.