Golden Experience

“This doesn’t look good.”

In any thread, the reactions are not particularly favorable towards the previous post.

Some players are pointing out the simultaneous posting in multiple threads, labeling it as trolling. In this situation, the likelihood of new players appearing here seems low.

Back then, many players, even those considered top tier, gathered in response to Wayne’s call, likely because it was during a ‘global’ event. Firstly, the penalty was relaxed during that time, which was significant. In a game where the fear of death increases with experience points earned, veteran players need to be cautious in their approach. The temporary abolition of this penalty during the event probably had a considerable impact on the situation.

In addition, there was a festive atmosphere due to the large-scale event. The game itself is already extraordinary, and this event added another layer of the extraordinary. Simply put, the mood was easily influenced by such calls.

Now, the current situation is different from back then. Firstly, losing means losing experience points. Moreover, there are no event items—what players perceive artifacts as—making the odds of winning low.

The area under attack is also a low-difficulty dungeon for beginners. From the sidelines, it appears to be a territorial dispute among monsters, and leaving it alone won’t directly harm players or human-side NPCs. The only consequence might be that all players currently in battle will respawn, but for those who haven’t been playing the game for long, the lost experience points can be quickly recovered. Considering this, it doesn’t seem like the damage is worth risking the lives of veteran players who find the penalty severe.

In the worst case, maybe a level 1 dungeon will be lost, or the difficulty level might skyrocket, but there are plenty of level 1 dungeons and others. There’s little reason to be fixated on this particular location.

—Those who recognize the value of this city and dungeon may not like the situation evolving.

However, if they can make such calculations, they should know without thinking that the odds of winning are low. It would be a wise choice to cut losses in this situation.

“…The attacks have stopped?”

“…Why?”

“Doesn’t matter! What about the forum situation!?”

“Labeled as trolling! Damn it! Can someone help us?”

While waiting, they should organize their positions or strategize, but it seems their top priority is to wait for assistance from higher-level players.

In this game with no clear levels, a character’s strength is determined by their build and how they use their hand in combat. Even though the total consumption of experience points can be used as a rough indicator, it’s just a guideline. Are these players planning to define themselves as “beginners who should be helped” indefinitely?

<Waiting is fine, but are all these people here really necessary?>

<…If you’re alive, you’re more likely to make a desperate call, and in that sense, it would be effective. It’s not like it’s certain that anyone is going to come when you make the desperate call in the first place, and it doesn’t seem like anyone is coming…>

“…I thought maybe you were calling for friends to be your reinforcements, but it doesn’t seem like anyone is coming? Do you perhaps not have any friends?”

“I-I-It’s not like I’m a loner!”

“Hey, don’t fall for a monster’s provocation!”

Even if reinforcements are expected, there’s no reason to keep the players in front alive. If new reinforcements appear, they can simply deal with them again. Since the opponents are players, eliminating them before reinforcements arrive won’t make the reinforcements disappear.

“…If help isn’t coming, I guess I’m wasting my time by waiting here.”

“…”

Sugaru aimed the ice-type area-of-effect magic towards the players who had been muttering about ice earlier. It seemed like a retort to the comment wondering if Ice Magic would be effective. Certainly, the ants were extremely weak to cold, but Sugaru herself was not.

Most of the remaining players were a group of rear-guard magic users. Even the tank vanguards couldn’t withstand the magic that the frontliners couldn’t endure. They froze and shattered one by one.

It seems like an instant death regardless of damage, but what would happen if this magic were used against targets that were strong enough not to die in one hit?

“…Damn it, why a forced defeat event all of a sudden?”

“Seriously, who triggered this…”

There are only a few players left, about the size of one party. In such a desperate situation, one would think they should just run away, but they don’t show any signs of doing so.

Perhaps there’s a preconception that you can’t escape from a boss battle. As far as Rare knows, there is no such typical promise in this game so far.

So, regardless of the character’s background, the stronger one wins, and no matter how important an NPC is to the country or the world, they die when it’s their time. You can challenge opponents you can’t possibly beat at any time, and if you want to escape, you can escape.

Of course, it’s just the play of words. Whether the opponent lets you escape or not is a different issue.

Sugaru’s hands—threads were released from both of her upper hands.

I couldn’t help but do a double-take, but considering that Queen Arachnea is also a creature created by Sugaru, it’s not surprising that Sugaru can do things that her underling spiders can do. It’s probably an option covered by the experience points collected automatically at the time of reincarnation or something obtained through the reincarnation cost.

Considering this, the Demon Lord, who had fewer unnecessary options for the same experience point cost, might be more powerful in terms of basic individual strength. No, I can’t shoot threads from my hands, so it’s not entirely definite which is superior.

“Threads!?”

“Isn’t that an ant!”

“If you look closely, it has eight limbs when you combine the hands and legs! It’s a spider!”

“Spiders don’t have wings!”

On this point, Rare also somewhat sympathizes.

Sugaru doesn’t match any existing creature, whether in the number of legs or the presence of wings. What on earth is she?

That being said, shooting threads from her hands implies that she has silk glands in her hands.

It’s an ecology that seems to facilitate knitting.

<Queen Arachnea can also shoot threads from the tips of her abdomen and humanoid upper hands.>

If that’s the case, maybe it’s worth letting Queen Arachnea, who is in training in the Treant Forest, acquire [Sewing] or something and try some side jobs. There haven’t been many characters needing clothes until now, but there have been a few in the past few days. It could be fine to use cotton grown in the forest along with herbs, but it would be more interesting to use a strong material with a special effect.

Next, Sugaru showered the players caught in threads with a mysterious liquid.

When the mysterious liquid touches players, it emits white smoke with a pungent odor, dissolving not only equipment but also their bodies.

It’s probably a stronger version of the formic acid used by engineer ants, but in reality, there is no acid that dissolves various substances to this extent in one type. It’s a magical substance.

Later, only the threads used for restraint were left lying on the ground. It seems that it melted even metal equipment with the equipment of beginner-class players.

Although they should have been fighting on the plains, only the surroundings turned into a wilderness. Probably due to fire or ice. The acid seems to have been completely consumed after dissolving the players, leaving only the murky liquid wetting the ground.

“…Is everything taken care of? However, it seems that threads that can’t be dissolved by that acid are valuable. That alone might create considerable demand.”

Like poison, there might be several types of acids, and like poison, it wouldn’t be strange for there to be only one type of [Acid Resistance].

In that case, if there is only one type, it could be considered a very high-rank material in terms of defense against acid attacks.

“Shall we have Queen Arachnea produce it? My silk is of the same quality as hers. Although lower-ranked spiders can only produce lower-ranked silk.”

“That’s true… But having just the silk might not be enough. If we’re going to produce it, let’s give [Sewing] to her first.”

To acquire certain production skills, a certain DEX value or INT value is required, but it’s not a problem for a queen-class being.

While we’re at it, it might be interesting to let Queen Vespoid acquire skills like Alchemy or Blacksmithing, and let Queen Beetle acquire Leatherworking or Woodworking.

Even if players come to the dungeon where they are left in charge, the queen doesn’t have to go out every time. The number of subordinates for monitoring and operation has also increased.

There should be free time. It’s okay to have some hobbies.

“It seems that the engineer ants haven’t found the boss yet. With a plain like this, it seems like it might take some time.”

“Let’s add a few more engineers then.”

Sugaru added 30 more Engineer Ants.

At one point, Sugaru reincarnated herself to increase the total number of ants and increased the number of Queen Vespoids, but now there are slightly more than needed. The greatest strength of ants is their labor force. However, with La Colinne’s forest now running smoothly and most of the construction of the Hiers capital city’s underground passage completed, such a significant labor force is no longer necessary. The decrease in opportunities for low-ranked ants to participate in battles, with the increase of combat-capable creatures like spiders and stag beetles, has also contributed to this.

Setting the low-ranked ants loose on this plain may provide them with new opportunities for action.

“I’ll send some bees too, and if there are any changes from above… well, it seems like there’s no need to hurry now. It appears that some additional guests have arrived.”