Lonely Swordsman shared the Dr. Pepper with the others.
"Ah, that's refreshing!"
Everyone took a gulp of the ice-cold Dr. Pepper, and the unique stimulating chill of the carbonated drink shot straight from their tailbone to the top of their head.
Quinn even felt that the Dr. Pepper produced in this dungeon was better than in his previous life.
But what Adventurer had ever enjoyed this?
They were all both surprised and delighted!
Cat Meow Meow asked, "Lord, what is this exactly? I've never had such a delicious drink. Is this a special product of this Secret Realm?"
Quinn replied: "This is called cola, a common drink in the Secret Realm world. And this isn't the only special product. The content and materials of this Secret Realm are much richer than you can imagine!"
"That's great!"
"I didn't expect you, Lord, to be quite generous!"
The Adventurers' eyes lit up. Although many Adventurers enjoyed adventure itself, having only a pleasant adventure experience without any rewards was not sustainable in the long run.
The surface world was severely polluted, so it was impossible to obtain enough food and clean water to sustain people.
Adventurers were the primary producers in this world. If there wasn't enough output for a long time, how could they maintain their lives?
People needed to eat, drink, and relieve themselves.
Adventurers were no exception.
On the surface, they still faced birth, aging, sickness, and death, and also needed various living materials to sustain themselves. A Secret Realm that could operate stably long-term must have reasonable output.
Even if it was just ordinary water and food.
And this box of Dr. Pepper was a top-grade beverage.
If taken to the Black Stone Town trade market, it could probably be exchanged for at least a month's worth of drinking water!
The Doomsday Frenzy was not only interesting, but also had a good return rate.
The three Adventurers decided to continue the challenge!
Adventurers challenging a Secret Realm consumed stamina points, and the stamina value was related to the Adventurer's level.
That's right.
Like players, Adventurers could also level up.
However, the process was complex and the leveling conditions were harsh.
Nearly 100,000 Adventurers in Black Stone Town were basically First Tier.
Black Stone Hammer King, Cat Meow Meow, and Lonely Swordsman were no exception.
However, even among First Tier, there were strengths and weaknesses. Black Stone Hammer King and Cat Meow Meow were novices, with only 5 stamina points per day, allowing them to challenge the Secret Realm a maximum of 5 times.
Lonely Swordsman was very close to Second Tier.
He was a quasi-first-class Adventurer in Black Stone Town, with 8 stamina points, allowing him to challenge the Secret Realm 8 times. At this moment, the three had decided to use all of today's stamina to challenge the "Doomsday Frenzy" Secret Realm!
And so…
[Adventurer "Lonely Swordsman" has died, Spirit Power +1, Soul Crystal +1!]
[Adventurer "Lonely Swordsman" has died, Spirit Power +1, Soul Crystal +1!]
[Adventurer "Black Stone Hammer King" has died, Spirit Power +1, Soul Crystal +1!]
[Adventurer "Cat Meow Meow" has died, Spirit Power +1, Soul Crystal +1!]
[…]
The three Adventurers took turns challenging the Secret Realm, slowly advancing their progress. They painstakingly completed the search of the initial building, finding the storage locations of most supplies.
Not only that, they also found the Underground Garage.
From the relatively safe Underground Garage, they left the zombie-infested streets and explored the nearby area to some extent.
The game difficulty was really high.
Zombies were always everywhere, and zombies would randomly spawn.
A slight mistake in this process would lead to a tragic death.
Yet, the three Adventurers had a blast playing.
The tension and excitement of exploring an unknown world, the freshness of discovering new supplies and new scenes, made them completely unable to stop, and the challenge itself also had good rewards.
They successively obtained supplies such as beer, Dr. Pepper, candy, and chocolate.
These basic resources, were very valuable in this world.
The Adventurers were getting into the swing of things, and in the last round, they even found a MAC-10 suppressed sub-machine gun, experiencing the pleasure of "spraying and praying". Large numbers of zombies were overturned by a hail of bullets, with flesh and blood flying everywhere.
"This is too awesome! Who can resist this?!"
"Can't stop at all!"
"What an awesome weapon!"
"Tomorrow we can definitely fight our way out of here!"
"Ahhh, I still want to play, but my stamina isn't enough!"
"Lord, your Secret Realm is very well made, but there are too few Underground City Secret Realm Crystals. Can you add more Secret Realm Crystals? I'm planning to call all my good buddies to support you, but one Secret Realm Crystal is definitely not enough!"
Quinn smiled slightly.
Tomorrow's business seemed to be settled!
He then said, "Don't worry, although my Underground City has just started, the number of Secret Realm Crystals and various facilities will soon be perfected, so that every Adventurer who comes to explore can have a good time."
"Good!"
"With your words!"
"We can rest assured!"
"Farewell, we'll see you tomorrow!"
The Adventurers left.
They all played to their heart's content.
Miracle City welcomed its first closure.
The Underground City Secret Realm generally only opened for twelve hours a day.
Why was this?
This was related to the world's operating rules.
A day in this world was also twenty-four hours.
Twelve of those hours would be enveloped by the Chaos Tide.
In other words, for the first twelve hours, the Underground World would be filled with chaotic energy, and all Dark Kind would be unable to leave their shelters. The Secret Realm could also operate by drawing energy from the Chaos Tide.
For the latter twelve hours, the Chaos Tide covering the Underground World would recede, and the Secret Realm Crystal would lose its energy supply and be unable to operate. At the same time, the dark creatures and Dark Kind of the Underground World would become active.
These existences were the greatest threat to the Underground City.
However, each Underground City automatically generated a protective energy force field upon its birth.
It was a novice protection period,
which could last for thirty days.
During this period, there was no need to worry about attacks.
Simply put, opening the city was the operating hours for receiving Adventurers.
Closing the city was when the Lord managed, constructed, and developed his territory.
Quinn tallied his first day's harvest. Today, he harvested Adventurers a total of eighteen times, gaining a total of 16 mental power and 18 soul crystals.
He activated the Lord's Core and opened the territory management option.
This option had three sub-options:
[Population], [Construction], and [Management].
The Population option allowed for managing armies and residents. Miracle City currently had none, so he skipped it directly.
Quinn chose the Construction option. Within this option, there were two sub-options: [Basic Construction] and [Special Construction].
Basic Construction was a set of facilities that came with the core. They could be built by consuming amounts of soul crystals.
Special Construction was for building additional facilities beyond the basic infrastructure.
These facilities were numerous and bizarre, and their functions were even more varied.
However, they were more expensive to build, requiring not only more materials but also the collection of relevant construction blueprints. The main way to collect blueprints was by fighting Dark Kind, or of course, by going to the Lord's Market to acquire them through trade.
He clicked on Basic Construction.
The relevant list appeared before him.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
[Secret Realm Crystal], 5 Soul Crystals.
[Arrow Tower], 50 Soul Crystals.
[Warehouse], 50 Soul Crystals.
[Mercenary House], 100 Soul Crystals.
[Monster Camp], 300 Soul Crystals.
[Essence Altar], 500 Soul Crystals.
[Warrior Barracks], 1000 Soul Crystals.
[…]
[Underground Teleportation Station], 10000 Soul Crystals.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
There were more than ten types in total and each building had practical functions.
Some served Adventurers, some increased military strength, some aided in management, some were defensive structures… all were essential infrastructure for Underground City operations.
Quinn could only build Secret Realm Crystals.
Secret Realm Crystals were the entrance to the Secret Realm.
A Secret Realm Lobby could accommodate a maximum of 100 Secret Realm Crystals.
If the Secret Realm Lobby was likened to an internet cafe, then Secret Realm Crystals were the number of computer terminals.
Adventurers (players) needed Secret Realm Crystals to play games, and maintaining Secret Realm Crystals would also cause territory consumption, equivalent to rent or utilities for an internet cafe.
Fortunately, the consumption was not large.
As long as it wasn't forcibly activated during the ebbing tide, each crystal only consumed 5 soul crystals per month.
Although the consumption per crystal was not much, if the number of Secret Realm Crystals was too high, it would accumulate over time and become a considerable burden on operations, especially if the created Secret Realm was unpopular and its popularity declined, it could lead to losses and bankruptcy.
The reverse was also true.
If too few Secret Realm Crystals were built, it would be unable to meet the Adventurers' demands, affecting territory income and even reputation.
Although a Secret Realm Lobby could only house a maximum of one hundred Secret Realm Crystals, the Lord could increase capacity by upgrading the hall or building more Secret Realm Lobbies.
[You are building a Secret Realm Crystal.]
[This construction will consume 15 Soul Crystals. Do you wish to continue? Yes/No]
Quinn chose to build without hesitation. With the original one, his Underground City would now have four crystals, capable of accommodating four Adventurers challenging simultaneously.
After this construction, tomorrow's income would surely multiply several times!