After we left the dungeon, we made our way back to the city to report our success. Nuoda was already hard at work in her office within the government building that I had set up for her. At her desk was a pile of papers, which I could only assume she ordered from somewhere, much like Diane did whenever she needed to replenish her scroll paper.
“You’re back?” Nuoda asked, her ears perking up as she noticed us. Sitting across from her was a human woman with long, blonde hair and brown eyes.
When this woman turned and saw us enter the office, she blinked. “Should I come back later?” She asked, but Nuoda shook her head.
“No, this is fine. This has to do with you as well, Jenny.” Nuoda said with a bright smile. “Drake, Diane, I don’t know if you met Jenny during the party the other day, but she’s one of the Fallen that we brought over from Fallowton. She managed our skill store, and I was just working on preparing her for the same position here.”
I nodded my head politely at Jenny. “Nice to meet you. I’m Drake Advent.” I said, and Jenny chuckled.
“Of course I know who you are, my King.” She said, standing up to bow towards us. “If I am related to this matter, I assume that it has something to do with skills that can be found locally?”
Nuoda nodded her head, gesturing towards me. “I assume you have one of the books?” She asked, and I knew which one she meant.
Without hesitation, I pulled out one of the Transform skill books from my inventory. As I did so, Nuoda explained. “I’m labeling this skill as a critical resource of the kingdom. If, for any reason, anyone brings you the skill to sell it, you can pay up to double its standard price. In exchange, you are to send it directly to the treasury after you’ve made the purchase. We’ll only be selling this skill through special channels.”
Jenny blinked, looking just as confused as I had been at first as she accepted the book and looked it over. “I… see? I might not entirely understand your reasons, but I will follow your orders, Viscountess.” After saying that, she handed the skill book back to me, allowing me to store it back in my inventory. “Is there anything else?”
Nuoda shook her head. “No, I’ll go over the rest with you later. You’re dismissed for now.” She said, waiting for Jenny to leave the room before turning to look at us. “Did you get the key?”
With a nod, I produced the key and handed it over to Nuoda, who sighed in relief. As Nuoda stored the key in the secure treasury inventory of the city, Diane stepped forward. “There are a few things that we need to go over about this dungeon.”
Nuoda smiled, seeming prepared for that. “I’ve already instructed our craftsman to prepare sample locks for people to practice on to develop their lockpicking skills. In addition, I’m planning to give our butcher similar instructions as what I just gave to Jenny.”
Diane blinked, nodding slightly, but still added on. “In addition, it’s important that you stress something to the people you send into the dungeon. They should avoid fighting the boss if at all possible, unless the entire party is at least level two hundred.”
Nuoda arched a brow, looking at the three of us. “I don’t think even the three of you would qualify to raid the dungeon in that case, would you?” She asked, and Diane shook her head.
“Drake’s obviously a special case, since he can’t level up in the first place, but that’s right. The boss of the Shrine of Greed seems to have a special mechanic. Every time someone challenges the boss, one of six random statues will turn into a powerful mimic wielding skills based on the statue’s appearance. However, there is a condition that triggers all six statues to activate, along with a much more powerful boss that can take control of the entire boss room itself.” Diane reported with a long sigh.
“If not for Drake focusing purely on defense, we wouldn’t have been able to defeat the first wave of six bosses. And then, Bella had to use her biggest move to bring down the final boss with me while Drake held it off.”
Nuoda’s eyes widened. “I see. Do you know what the condition is that triggers this event?”
“We’re thinking that it happens after the challenging party has defeated all six statues individually. However, we don’t know for sure if that’s the case. It might just be a rare encounter, or rely on any one member of the challenging party to have met the condition. The key to the dungeon didn’t drop until we fought this secret boss.”
Listening to Diane’s report, Nuoda slowly nodded in understanding. “I see. I’ll trust your judgment with this, since you’ve battled the creatures personally. Removing the boss room from the equation will limit the amount of profit that we can get from the dungeon, but it will save us from suffering losses if our teams die and can’t reclaim their bodies.”
After she said that, she looked at Diane. “Drake said that you’ll be handling the sales of the Transform skill book. What’s the price you plan to sell them for?”
Diane thought about it for a moment. “I plan to sell them through the Warrington Auction House. My standard asking price will be fifty dollars USD, or two hundred platinum.”
I could feel my face drain of color when the price of two hundred platinum was said, and could see that Bella wasn’t any better off. Although I wasn’t sure what the other currency came out as, Nuoda seemed to think it was reasonable. “Given the customization power of the skill in its base form, that sounds about right. At this stage of the game, I imagine most people won’t be able to pay the platinum price.”
“That’s fine. I’ll accept other rare items that can be sold, as well.” Diane explained, having already thought this through. “My plan is to put eighty percent of the profits back into Fallcry, to help with its development.”
This time, Nuoda did look surprised, glancing directly at me. “Is that alright with you?” She asked, and I nodded my head.
“Honestly, the main reason that I’m gathering resources like this is to help her, and she is the one that discovered the business venture. In addition, I likely wouldn’t have spawned a third dungeon if not for her request. I don’t have a problem with letting her keep a fifth of the rewards. Not to mention that she’s the one handling sales.”
As I explained that, Diane looked down almost bashfully, and Nuoda chuckled. “You’re too nice for your own good, Drake. Still, I suppose that’s why people follow you. Alright, I’ll make the arrangements on my end. What are you three planning to do now? Going to explore and expand like we had discussed previously?”
Bella and Diane looked at me, and I hesitated, before shaking my head. “That was originally the plan. However… now that we have gotten all of this, I think I want to stay in Fallcry for a few days, until the first batch of items sell. Although the mimic dungeon is going to be profitable for us, it’s not something that many people are needed for. Just one person with a high level and lockpicking skill would be enough to harvest that dungeon.”
“So, to draw more people in, I want to try to create a resource dungeon in the area, too. The profits from our raids so far should be more than enough, if Diane’s able to get a good deal.”
When I finished explaining my plans, Nuoda crossed her arms thoughtfully. “I’ve been thinking about resource dungeons, too. It’s been a few days since the patch hit, so a few resource dungeons have been discovered already.”
I looked over at her in interest, curious what she had to say. “It’s true that a resource dungeon would boost the city’s income. Though, we’ll still need to train people to be able to handle it. Resource dungeons aren’t necessarily safe.”
Seeing my confused expression, she explained. “For instance, in a fishing dungeon, you could get dragged into the water if you hook a fish too strong for you to pull in. Or, you might get poisoned in a foraging dungeon by picking the wrong plants. The worst ones are the Butchery dungeons. Those dungeons look and operate like normal dungeons, but the monsters inside are only interested in fighting each other, and won’t pay any attention to someone dismantling a corpse. However, the gatherers could still get caught in the crossfire while the monsters are fighting.”
My eyes widened, surprised that there was actually a dungeon for Butchery to begin with. “How often can resource dungeons be cleared?”
Nuoda shook her head at my question. “There’s not really a limit. You could send a hundred people into a resource dungeon, and let them work all day, from what I’ve read. They might need to move around inside the dungeon to find more materials while the previous ones respawn, but that’s it. The insides of a resource dungeon is a lot larger than a normal dungeon.”
“That said, I do support the idea of us getting a resource dungeon. With the level of this area, we’re certain to get some high level materials. Even basic metals have different value based on the level of the area they’re gathered. Some people speculate it’s because the metal has a different energy density, but that’s all beyond me.” Nuoda said with a slight chuckle, and I nodded in understanding.
“In that case, we’ll go with that plan. Is there anything else?” I asked, and Nuoda pursed her lips.
“There is one thing. The economic plan you set up with Sarah. It isn’t really going to bring money into the economy. After all, we’re selling the items to other regions at the same price that we’re buying it for from players. If anything, we’ll be slowly losing money because of the share owed to Sarah herself. The only way I can see us making a profit, aside from the mimic dungeon, is if we get a good craftsman that can process any materials we come by. At least with that, we will have some way to increase the value of goods before reselling them.” Nuoda explained, and Diane looked up at her in surprise.
“I might have just the guy for that!” She said, catching both Nuoda and myself by surprise. “I know a really good craftsman player. He’s the one that made the gear for Drake, Bella, and I. If he finds out that we have an exclusive dungeon with materials to create growth items, he won’t even hesitate to come set up shop.”
Nuoda smiled at that, seeming pleased by the news. “Excellent. Truth be told, most of the craftsmen that we brought from Fallowton aren’t really cut out for working materials of this level. At best, they can serve as workshop assistants. That’s one of the things that I had been worrying over.”
“However, if you can get your friend to agree to move here, Fallcry can agree to give him priority when trading crafting materials. In exchange, we would ask for a small tax on whatever he sells.” When Nuoda said this, Diane nodded her head. Though, Bella seemed to have another question.
“Isn’t your husband a really good chef? Can’t he make money the same way with his food?” She asked, causing Nuoda to smile awkwardly.
“Ennolf… doesn’t really believe in charging people more than what it costs him to make the food he sells. He prefers to share his creations as cheaply as possible, selling below the system recommended price. I’ve tried to talk to him about it, because that is not a smart way to run a business… but he doesn’t really want to run it as a business to begin with.” She said with a helpless shrug. “He just likes to cook for people.”
