Chapter 637 - The First Tribulation
Chapter 637 The First Tribulation
The reputation store was full of equipment.
Everything that one could think of was there. Epic-level necklaces, weapons, and armors of all professions and all attributes. And the attributes were also very good.
A few of them could even compete with Andonara’s Hero’s Sword, but they certainly couldn’t compare to Roland’s Nether God’s War Scythe or Shuck’s Holy Sword of Light.
These two pieces of equipment were divine artifacts.
The equipment in the reputation store also cost a lot of reputation, starting from a low of three thousand and going up to about eight thousand.
Even Roland could only afford to buy medium-grade weapons right now.
While Roland didn’t need the equipment, that didn’t stop him from browsing the reputation store.
Men often say that women dilly-dally when shopping for clothes, but in reality, men were similar when shopping for PC accessories in computer centers.
Besides, when one came across these reputation shops with tons of top-notch gear they didn’t have, they’d look around and compare and contrast to see which one was right for them.
Even Roland was constantly checking out the items in the reputation shop right now.
Finally, he gave up looking at the equipment and started looking at the items like skills and attributes.
Since equipment could be bought, skills and attributes could also be bought.
Of course… it was more expensive and seemed to have less value for the cost.
For example, an epic longsword with over 20 points in Cleave and Impale that came with Blind-Fight and First Initiative only cost 4000 reputation points.
But to learn a First Initiative specialty would cost 4500 points, which seemed like a huge loss.
However, it was clear to everyone…
Equipment, while important, was not a part of them; it could be damaged or lost.
But skills and attributes, once learned, were forever their own.
Under normal circumstances, no one could take it away. Roland looked around and found the page about magic power, and after looking at it for a while, he spent 2000 reputation to add 10 points to his magic cap, and another 2000 reputation to add 2 to his magic power regeneration speed.
Now that the Magic Shield was improved, his shield wouldn’t break as long as he still had “blue” himself, and no one would be able to kill him.
This meant that the magic cap and magic regeneration speed were equally important.
Moreover, the more magic power he had, the more magic power he could output in the same amount of time by relying on the talent Magic Power Control, indirectly increasing the power of his spells.
As for Schuck, he redeemed his reputation for the constitution attribute.
It was an undisputed fact that Saint Samurai had high resistance to everything, but low health.
So by strengthening his health points, he was making up for his shortcomings.
Although the reputation store was appealing, not many people could afford to buy anything in it right now.
The players soon focused on the main event.
They began to build defenses near the Realm of Devils’ portal. As the only transportation hub, it naturally had to be well-protected.
The players were building fairly quickly, and a large number of Mages were coming in through the portal.
All the player Mages in the entire server inherited Roland’s magic concepts.
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Although they couldn’t use exaggerated destruction spells like Roland, they knew Language Proficiency, Rock to Mud, the water-making spell, and the food-making spell, and used them quite well. Almost as well as Roland did.
So… players had no logistical troubles at all.
A temporary city was soon built in the Realm of Devils.
Thick, high walls encased the devils’ portal, a large number of low-level and casual players protecting it.
The other players split up into groups and began to scout and sweep deeper into the Realm of Devils.
When they encountered a devil, they simply attacked it regardless of what it was. But there were accidents… Some players occasionally came across a succubus on her own and talked business with her.
The succubus, a rare neutral creature of the Realm of Devils, also took a great interest in the players. After several days of sweeping, they had killed quite a lot of devils, and the male players had brought back dozens of succubi.
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None of these succubi had signed a contract, and in theory, they could be trusted.
But also, as a result, there were some dissenting voices in the vanguard of the expeditionary army. “I don’t agree with letting the succubi in. They can’t be trusted and are most likely spies, let alone letting them fight with us.” Solisa of the Phoenix Guild slapped the table hard. “You men, can you stop being so horny? Those are devils, they are demons, they have horns on their heads and goat hooves on their feeteven so, you guys can still get down with it? You’re humiliating yourselves.” The vanguard was commanded by a dozen of the more famous guild chairmen jointly.
“Why not?” Moogle, the logistics head of Fatter Cat, who was also the interim logistics head of the expeditionary army, looked at Solisa with a very strange expression. “They are female, intelligent creatures, and humanoid, but there are just some parts that slightly differ from us humans. You can’t discriminate against racial minorities, that’s not good.”
When Solisha heard this, she was so angry that her chest ached. “So you men only speak up for men. Regardless, I strongly disagree with the succubi entering our army.”
“This is indeed a problem.” Roland nodded and said, “We are at war. In a war, if there is something like a branch of military prostitutes or those that bring a woman along, it is easy to cause envy when someone has it and others don’t, which isn’t good for unity and also affects morale.”
Roland’s words still carried considerable weight.
After all, he was now the highest level in the whole server.
He was also the most powerful person in the whole server; even Betta, with his Wetland City, still couldn’t match Roland in terms of organizational strength. “Then what do you think should be done?” Moogle threw up his hands. “You can’t split them up. You know well how hard it is for many male players to find a suitable NPC who can accompany them. Not everyone can pick up the queen like you.”
W
Why’s the fire burning on me?
Roland was a bit helpless. “It’s not really that hard. For those friends who find a succubus companion, they can just transfer to work in the logistics team, right?”
The crowd thought that was a good suggestion.
Logistics was important… but it wasn’t too important for the players.
Because of the water- and food-making spells, logistics was more of a token security measure. There was no problem throwing the succubi over there.
Solisa thought for a moment and said, “That’s fine, as long as those succubi don’t appear in front of our main force.”
The crowd smiled faintly and stopped talking all at once.
Although Solisa’s reservations against the succubi were quite legitimate and sound, all the male players present were quite quick-witted.
They could all see that the female players were jealous.
After all, there were plenty of options for female players before.
They could have a relationship with the noble NPCs in the game, but also with other players.
There was a wide range of options.
But it was different for the male players; although they could also find female NPCs to “play with,” it was difficult for ordinary women to withstand the physicality of male players. There weren’t many female professional NPCs, and those that were were dominated by the nobility.
Just like Roland’s inability to break the queen’s defenses now, male players were murderous weapons to the average female, and it could result in death if they weren’t careful.
So the male players would go after female players most of the time.
After all, the vast majority of the girls added Charm and were decently strong.
However, there were signs of succubi appearing in large numbers now… and compared to those female players with princess or lady complexes…
The succubi were great.
Even if they weren’t very beautiful, even if some parts couldn’t be described with words…
They were gentle, and they would woo and flatter you. And they hardly ever betrayed you as long as a contract was formed. What’s more… they would fall in love with the men who treated them well.
The contract had the potential to become permanent.
Any man with a bit of romantic ambition would feel good about the succubi.
Hearing the men concede, Solisa went away satisfied.
She came this time to back up the female players.
A few commanders then left the tent as well, but they walked around outside the tent and turned back.
Then one man was left outside on sentry duty, while the others gathered together in a mysterious and wicked manner.
Roland quirked his eyebrows.
Before he came, Moogle had spoken to him privately, saying that there were more important things to talk about after the meeting
A dozen guild chairmen were gathered, and they looked steadily at Roland, none of them speaking Roland also looked back at them in a somewhat bewildered manner.
Then these people looked a little awkward and seemed embarrassed.
After a while, it was Moogle of Fatter Cat who gritted his teeth and said, “Roland, let’s talk about the succubus issue.”
“Didn’t we talk about it just now?” Roland was a little confused as to what these people were thinking. “Putting them on the logistics team, don’t you guys want to do that? Are there other arrangements?”
“It’s not that.” Moogle waved his hand. “We need to talk about more important things.”
“Say it, it feels like you guys are being
sneaky.”
“We want to commission you to create a contract spell!”
Roland still didn’t understand what the other party wanted to do and stayed quiet.
The other party seemed to have a favor to ask, so sooner or later they would all talk. There was no need to rush.
A dozen players looked at each other for a moment, then proceeded to say, “You should know about the succubus contract.”
Roland vaguely understood. “You guys want to make the authority of the succubus contract greater?”
The so-called succubus contract was essentially a master-servant contract.
The man was the master, the succubus the servant.
Normally, men had more rights and fewer obligations.
If a succubus was summoned with a Warlock’s summoning contract, the Warlock would have a little more authority.
Either way, the succubus was at a disadvantage.
This helped to keep the succubi from betraying them.
After all, they were devils, and if one didn’t use such powerful means to bind them, there was no guarantee that the succubi wouldn’t have other thoughts.
None of the men were Warlocks, so Roland assumed they just wanted powers similar to those of Warlocks, to be above the succubus.
But to Roland’s surprise, Moogle waved his hands vigorously. “No, no. We want you to change the contract to be more equal!” Roland: ?????
You guys aren’t right in the head.
Looking at Roland, whose expression seemed as though he were looking at idiots, Moogle took a deep breath and said, “Actually, half a dozen of us have a master-servant contract with the succubi, but we don’t want that. We want to get along and communicate with the succubi as equals. All we need is a contract to make sure they don’t rebel.”
Roland was shocked.
Generally speaking, when a man looked out for a woman, he was most likely in love.
It’s only been how many days … and these guys have already been charmed by the succubi?
No wonder Solisa reacted so intensely.
Something suddenly occurred to Roland. “Wait, you guys agreed together earlier to attack the west, could it be…”
These men suddenly laughed in a very embarrassed manner.
“In that direction, there’s a gathering spot of succubi?”
Although it was embarrassing and humiliating, they all nodded.
Since someone had already contracted a succubus, wouldn’t it be normal to know in which direction there were more succubi?
“You guys get courage from lust.” Roland held his head helplessly between his hands. “I don’t know whether I should feel ashamed or proud of your simplicity and persistence when I think of you as my companions and friends!”
Loyalty to s*x and acting for it. They took action damn fast. It was just that their intentions were a little off.
“Brother, you have a queen, so leave a broken flower like the succubus that doesn’t catch your eye to us good-for-nothings.” Moogle slapped his chest hard. “Besides us, there are still nearly three hundred thousand fellow soldiers with physical needs to be solved.”
“I feel like this Realm of Devils Expedition has turned into something else.” Roland smiled bitterly at first, then his smile gradually became twisted. “But it seems to be quite interesting.” Men would be children until they died.
Honestly, a mainstream plot like attacking the Realm of Devils was something that Roland had played a lot in other single-player games.
But… taking down a world just to go and steal girls, or rather to liberate a female race, sounded like fun, too.
And it seemed possible to bring the race around to the humans’ alignment, which would be even more exciting.
“Let me see the contract,” Roland said. Several men rolled up their sleeves and put them in front of Roland at the same time. On their large arms, a small, pink, circular magic array was engraved. Roland took a picture of it with the system’s camera.
Then a dozen bags of gold coins were placed in front of Roland.
Moogle said, “I know that this is probably making things difficult for you, so we have prepared a great compensation… This is just the deposit, we will pay you double the price of the deposit when you are done.”
There were at least 500 gold coins on the table.
Doubling it… Outrageous.
Roland shook his head. “Is it worth it for you all to pay such a big price for the succubi?”
“Why is it not worth it?” Moogle laughed. “Put it another way, if someone wanted you to sell your queen to him for a thousand gold coins, would you be willing?”
“I would blow his damn head off.”
Moogle shrugged. “By the same token, although the succubi are physically different from us, their faces are a bit long, like donkey faces, not very pretty. Not even one of them is a virgin anymore, and each succubus has had at least a dozen, if not hundreds of men. That’s not how they want it to be. They were forced to live that way. Only those of us who have contracted a succubus and have interacted with them understand that they really are the kind of race… that is so gentle that you would hold up the skies for them.”
“Heh!”
Roland sneered, “All that pretty talk, but really you’re just lusting after the succubi’s big round white chest plate?”
Moogle laughed awkwardly. “We’re all men, don’t expose us.”