infodatos Chapter 161 Pay-to-Win
Chapter 161 Pay-to-Win
Chapter 161 Pay-to-Win (Crystal)
The next morning, Gebu woke up from his meditation. After advancing to the second ring, the number of nodes did not increase, but the time required to break through each node increased significantly.
It took Gebu less than a month to go from ring 1 to ring 2. In the end, he took the shortcut from the weird uncle and successfully advanced to ring 2.
According to Gebu's progress last night, calculations show that it will take 10 days to break through each node from the 2nd to the 3rd ring. Six nodes would take two months, doubling the time.
If each step needs to double, it will take 4 months to go from three to four, 8 months from four to five, 16 months from five to six, and 32 months from six to seven. (The numbers 64, 128, and 256 appear to be unrelated and likely represent separate data points.)
At this rate, it would take more than 40 years to reach legendary level.
This is even with the growth rate remaining at two times; who knows what difficulties we might encounter later? Perhaps the cultivation time will have to increase.
Gebu felt that his cultivation speed was already very fast, but he still felt that time was running out.
Can goblins really live that long? They might die of old age before they even become human.
However, based on previous experience, wizards can quickly improve their level by consuming ether crystals. This is what goblin wizards need to do: make more money and collect more crystals, literally spending money (online).
In his book, Imint writes that using pay-to-win methods for cultivation is quite dangerous—not in a magical sense, but in a real-world sense.
When a wizard focuses all his attention on exploring the mysteries of the etheric plane, he/she often neglects the problems of the real plane.
On a smaller scale, it means working so hard that you forget to eat and sleep.
On a grander scale, it would bring disaster to the country and its people.
Why is it said to bring disaster to the country and its people? Because it requires spending real money to upgrade, and the resources needed are terrifying.
Creating an ether crystal requires several wizards and a dozen apprentices to feed their rings into an alchemical ritual, capturing etheric energy at an etheric spring, solidifying it, and then crystallizing it. The entire process can take anywhere from a few days to several months, depending on the quality of the ether crystal being produced.
It's a fairly straightforward process, but every step consumes a lot of materials.
Precious metals, gemstones, consumables, potions to support wizards' magic, the construction and maintenance of etheric springs, and the attendants who serve these wizards—and this doesn't even include the construction of the academy system and the accumulation of knowledge needed to train wizards.
It's no joke that it takes the entire nation's resources to support a legendary wizard.
This was one of the reasons for the downfall of the Arken Empire. The resources of the entire kingdom could not support the large number of wizard lords, and the people were exploited to the limit. In order to get closer to the truth than other wizards, the Arken wizards could only plunder resources and kill each other.
As a result, the rebels led by O'Bak took advantage of the situation and wiped them out.
This happened 1,200 years ago. The magic academy we have today, though it still exists, is merely a poor imitation of the ancient Arken wizarding academy.
The current academy, if it wanted to produce ether crystals, wouldn't even have enough manpower or funds, let alone the ability to do so. It would need approval from the Imperial Court, and the Empire wouldn't pay for projects that wouldn't produce direct benefits.
Ultimately, the problem is that magic has become scarce in this world.
In his book *The Method of Meditation*, Emint lamented more than once that the golden age of magic was over. That fervent and romantic era, where people were willing to do anything in pursuit of truth, had become a distant dream in the holy light of O'Bak. Modern wizards are merely fish slowly suffocating on the beach after the tide has receded, clinging to the glory of their predecessors and barely clinging to life.
When Geb read this passage, he couldn't help but think that for Imint, it was a romantic era, but for the common people under the wizard lords, being ruled by a group of madmen who didn't care about their own lives and only thought about magical research was probably a dark age where life was worse than death.
Therefore, the eccentric uncle, who is also the traveler, wants to liberate these etheric springs and let magic flow back into this world. In that way, everything will be connected.
But who sealed off these springs?
Geb had a new question.
The ruins where we encountered the manticore were built on an etheric spring and sealed by a resonant crystal.
Logically speaking, when it comes to eliminating magic, Geb's first reaction should be: Obak.
However, the ruins were not built by the followers of O'Bak; instead, they are inscribed with the titles of "Six Evil Gods" or "Six Old Gods".
Self-sealing? That doesn't make sense. If it was sealed by O'Bak's followers, why leave it there unattended? Shouldn't this "source of all evil" be strictly sealed off by the church?
Geb has not yet found answers to these questions. Nor are they found in the books. Neither Imint nor any other wizarding scholars have a definitive answer.
No, no, we can't rush it. How can we discover all the secrets of the world so quickly?
Gebu comforted himself, saying: As long as I continue to grow stronger and acquire more knowledge, the truth will eventually come out.
After a quick wash, Gebu saw that the beastwoman Fina was still fast asleep. He grabbed a cold fire poker from the stove and poked the catwoman's foot.
"Hoo—" The catwoman was sleeping comfortably when she frowned in her sleep, curled up into a ball, and hid her hands and feet under her belly.
Geb poked Catwoman's ribs with a stick, and when she didn't move, he poked her repeatedly until he woke her up.
"Ugh—" Catwoman rolled on the ground, stretched like a cat, rubbed her eyes, found the bucket next to her, stuck her head in and licked the water, making a splashing sound.
"You certainly don't consider yourself an outsider," Geb said sarcastically.
"Ha!" The catwoman looked up at Geb and hissed menacingly.
Enraged, Geb pressed the catwoman's head down with his wizard's hand, plunging her head into the water. Fina nearly drowned, her nose filled with water. She struggled against the wizard's hand, waving her arms wildly and knocking over the bucket, thus finding a way to escape.
She tried to escape, but got tangled in the rope and fell to the wet ground, looking utterly disheveled.
"Feeling more energetic?"
Catwoman looked down and stared intently at Geb, her wet fur dripping water. She was filled with both hatred and fear, and remained silent.
"Looks like he's feeling better," Geb said.
"Stinky, let Fina go right now—" the catwoman whispered. After being tied up all night, she was no longer the unruly girl she was yesterday.
"That won't do. I haven't decided what to do with you yet," Geb said deliberately coldly. The catwoman's eyes flickered for a moment upon hearing this. The halfling noticed her fear and continued, "However, if you cooperate, I can spare your life for now, and I might even give you food."
Catwoman hesitated for a moment, rubbed her flat belly, and nodded.
"Describe to me what the golden mask looks like—the more detailed the better."
Five minutes later.
Ten minutes later.
Based on the catwoman's halting description, Geb got a preliminary impression of the golden mask's appearance and voice.
When using a messaging app to contact strangers, the more you know about that person, the higher the chance of successfully sending the message.
"Fina's done talking, hurry up and bring the food." The catwoman tilted her nose and said impatiently.
Say "please".
"Meow?"
"You've gotten used to being among a bunch of beastmen; you have no manners at all," Gebu said. "In the human world, you need to be polite. When you ask someone for a favor, you say 'please,' and afterwards, you say 'thank you.' Understand?"
It's rather ironic that a goblin is teaching a beastman human manners.
Catwoman coughed and stammered as if she had a hairball in her throat, looking very uncomfortable. After stammering for a while, she finally said, "Fina is hungry. Quickly bring me food—please."
Gebule, this guy still has some room for training, he's quite interesting—although there's a high chance he'll still have to kill the cat to silence him.
The halfling ordered the hostage to cook some salted fish and oatmeal porridge for the catwoman. Then he picked up the communication stone and, in the corner of the tent, plotted how to speak to the golden mask.
Unlike Lady Stoneheart, this golden-masked man's motives are unknown, his behavior is strange, and he doesn't seem like a kind person—but he has what the man wants in his hands.
Make yourself useful and irreplaceable, so that the Golden Mask has no reason to harm you. At the same time, show that you know your place and don't want to pry into his secrets.
Finally, you can't appear too stupid. You absolutely must play dumb, but don't overdo it. If the other party really thinks you're an idiot, the deal is off.
After considering the situation, Gebu organized his thoughts: "Dear Golden Mask—"
No, no, am I writing a letter to my mom?