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Except under certain special circumstances, ga characters could not see the various interfaces used by players.
However, the Saintess could still judge from Macchiato's gestures that she was likely communicating with other Saviors.
"Descent into Netherworld Village? What kind of place is that?"
This was the first ti Macchiato had heard the na. The reason she had not killed Carl in Version 1.1 was... she had not finished the second half of the Version 1.1 main story at all.
First of all, Macchiato was not a real whale. In reality, she was a highly popular VTuber who used a virtual avatar.
Her identity as a female whale was only a public persona, one she maintained through massive pay-to-win spending to attract popularity.
In fact, the agency behind her was backed by Oath, and they could always secure sponsored microtransaction streams from Oath for her.
Naturally, a large portion of the money she spent on pay-to-win ca from Oath's marketing budget.
Therefore, in a sense, Macchiato was a hardworking employee just like Mio.
On the surface, she aggressively bought premium packs, spent a fortune on the ga, and seed to be making a huge profit.
In reality, a large chunk of the money Macchiato earned from streaming was taken as commission by her managent agency.
As a result, her professional performance was exceptionally outstanding.
And the reason she had not played the second half of the Version 1.1 main story was... as a strear, her sharp sense for public opinion made her realize that the second half of Version 1.1's main story was far too controversial.
Even now, a huge number of Saintess fans and veteran players who loved the original ga's first-generation NPCs were still arguing online over whether the plot should involve killing the Saintess or killing Carl.
Faced with this deadly choice, Macchiato had very cleverly chosen the "or" option, which was to skip the second half of Version 1.1's main story entirely.
Fortunately, Oath was also considerate enough to provide players with the option to skip the second half of the Version 1.1 main story and go directly to the City of Glory.
They probably also wanted to minimize Carl's influence as much as possible.
"After Carl Agata went to Netherworld Village, a new independent map mode appeared. Go investigate and see whether it has any extra systems or items that can increase character strength," replied Vengeful Blood, the leader of the Do Alliance.
The Do Alliance could be considered one of Macchiato's partial employers, since her managent agency held shares in the Do Alliance.
Moreover, her persona as a skilled player had been carefully crafted with the help of the Do Alliance's top players.
"I worked so hard to get a spot in the early access trial! My fans are all waiting to watch explore the City of Glory!"
Macchiato did not want to miss this once-in-a-lifeti opportunity.
Because there were still a large number of Oath players who could not enter the City of Glory, they could only satisfy their cravings by watching the official livestreams and the streams of other players with early access.
This was pure, unfiltered traffic! She was counting on this wave to make big money!
"A bunch of people are streaming their exploration of the City of Glory right now, but there aren't many strears exploring Netherworld Village. That is the real opportunity... you will be properly compensated."
Wasn't that just twisted logic? Her fans and viewers wanted to see her explore the City of Glory, not go on an adventure in so tiny village they had never even heard of!
But with her superior speaking up, what else could Macchiato do?
"Understood," Macchiato replied listlessly, then followed Vengeful Blood's instructions and headed to Netherworld Village.
At this stage, it was actually quite simple for players to go to Netherworld Village.
As long as they had not killed Carl in the second half of Version 1.1, they only had to find the still-living Carl in those ruins to unlock the path to Netherworld Village.
When Macchiato stepped into the portal to Netherworld Village, she was actually imagining that its architectural style would be full of breathtaking scenery, just like the City of Glory.
That way, the livestream's entertainnt value would not be too bad, and she could offer sothing different.
Unfortunately, as soon as Macchiato stepped through the portal to Netherworld Village, the scene before her gave her a brutal reality check.
What greeted Macchiato was a cramped space that looked like the interior of a ship.
Forget environntal beauty. Just being in this place gave people an uncomfortable, suffocating feeling.
"Coming here once is definitely enough."
Macchiato looked around, feeling as though she had entered a prison.
Fortunately, the other players she had been matched with gave her a deep sense of security just from their IDs.
Ryan, Crimson Night, Kyo, and a Mio whom she did not know very well... but that did not matter.
"I didn't expect three of the top ten Extre Abyss players to be here. I should be able to breeze through even the hardest dungeon, right?" Macchiato was the first to break the silence in the space.
She was also a veteran socialite, very familiar with the top players from all the major guilds, including these three elite players.
However, she soon saw two other characters appear here and they seed a bit out of place.
"Lady Macchiato, I can feel the unease in your heart, but there is no need to worry... because I am here. I will protect you no matter what happens!"
Hasumi was still trying to win back Macchiato's favor.
But compared to Hasumi's consistently forceful lines, Macchiato was more concerned about sothing else.
"Can this dungeon support a party of up to eight? If we can invite gacha characters to join, it feels like the current lineup is a bit short on people."
Macchiato's words pierced Hasumi's heart directly.
Although the Knight Princess maintained an extrely kind and confident smile on her face, in private, her virus erosion symptoms might have worsened again.
"Since we can't recruit the Saintess, this version seems to only allow us to invite Hasumi and Irene," Crimson Night, the host of this session, inford Macchiato.
"Ugh... the developers of Descent into Netherworld Village really should have paid more to collab with the Saintess too," Macchiato said.
Hasumi's mouth began to bleed. She looked as though she had suffered a severe internal injury.
"Is my Irene not good enough?" Mio hugged the soft, fragrant Little Maid and stood up for her.
"I'm... just telling the truth. Look, if Descent into Netherworld Village can use characters from Oath, the highest priority should definitely be the currently most popular Saintess! Don't you guys want to explore Netherworld Village with the Saintess?"
When Macchiato said this, no one present answered.
However, the livestream chat unanimously started spamming things like, "Why does this ga look like a haunted house attraction at an amusent park?"
"Huh? Just thinking about visiting a haunted house with the Saintess gets incredibly excited!"
"You guys have no taste! Wouldn't visiting a haunted house with Irene and Hasumi also be really interesting?"
"To put it bluntly! Just thinking about visiting a haunted house with pretty girls gets excited!"
Carl was actually watching Macchiato's livestream, Crimson Night's livestream, and the official Descent into Netherworld Village livestream he had registered with his own account.
The chat in Macchiato's livestream made Carl realize that the concept of horror gas did not exist in this world.
After all, with the world-class Video Ga Ban in place, anyone who dared to develop a horror ga would be crushed by the authorities!
But even before the ga officially began, the players watching the livestream had already grasped the first layer of fun in Descent into Netherworld Village.
"So is this one of those scary experiences? Like exploring a haunted house?"
Prompted by the livestream chat, Macchiato realized that Netherworld Village felt very eerie, both in atmosphere and in na.
"Let explain things here."
Carl stepped forward at this ti to briefly explain the ga rules.
"Netherworld Village has already prepared a hideout for you all, and right now, you are aboard a Magister airship exploring the areas surrounding that hideout."
"Your goal is simple: scavenge items from various regions of Netherworld Village, then build up your own hideout."
"If your entire party is wiped out during the scavenging process, all the loot you have found will be lost."
After hearing Carl's brief introduction... Macchiato still weakly raised her hand and asked a question.
"I noticed that all my power from Oath has been reset. I'm completely ordinary now. Does this kind of... porter-like activity really... have any fun to speak of?"
"..." Carl was unable to answer Macchiato for a mont.
It was Crimson Night who stood up at that mont and solemnly declared.
"Our Navigator Guild has already decided to rebuild Netherworld Village, so Miss Macchiato... if you find any loot in the surrounding maps, I will purchase it using real-world money at the corresponding exchange rate."
"So it's just farming... fine, I can do any job!"
Macchiato was all too familiar with this kind of work. She had done exactly this before becoming a strear!
There were far too many players who made money by gold farming and grinding in pay-to-win online gas, repeatedly farming various enhancent materials and tickets to sell to whales for gear upgrades.
Macchiato did not expect to have to pick up her old trade, but as a miserable worker, she would earn whatever she could.
After everyone was ready, the hatch of the Magister airship opened.
The first map they explored was an extrely luxurious-looking manor.
This was also Carl's way of creating a counterpart to the mansion in the City of Glory.
"Can we really find anything useful in this place?"
Macchiato pushed the door open and walked into the luxurious manor.
This manor had been renovated once by Carl, and his purpose in renovating it was to give players the ultimate "lived-in" experience.
Simply put, it was to make players feel as though the previous owner of the manor had still been living there right before they stepped inside.
The fireplace was still burning, the coffee on the table had not yet gone cold, and dense decorations and books were displayed everywhere. They were not arranged in perfect order because they had clearly been handled and flipped through often.
"Excuse ... is anyone there?"
Sure enough, when Macchiato and the others stepped into the manor, their first reaction was to call out and ask whether anyone was ho.
Because it really felt as though soone had been living here just an hour ago.
And the reason Carl worked so hard to create this "lived-in" feeling was because... stealing things from a mansion with an owner was where the fun truly lay!
"Can we really just take whatever we want here?"
Macchiato picked up a book lying on the table and saw a line of text quickly pop up over it.
[Ordinary Book, Quality: Common, Value: 1, Use: None.]
The answer was, yes, they really could take whatever they wanted! But... the value was not high.
Macchiato glanced at her character's inventory and found that she could only hold five items at most.
For a veteran farming player, a five-slot inventory was simply not enough!
Give her a three-hundred-slot inventory, and Macchiato could strip the entire manor bare!
Unfortunately, right now, she could only throw away the useless book in her hand and pull open the drawer beneath the bookshelf.
"Gray... fog?"
After Macchiato pulled open the drawer, she found that the inside was shrouded in gray fog. Then an interface like a scratch card appeared before her eyes.
Accompanied by the end of the "Searching" prompt... Ding!
A blue light emanated from the drawer in front of Macchiato, and then a brooch lay quietly inside.
[Expansion Brooch, Quality: Rare, Value: 1200, Use: Increases inventory capacity by two slots while equipped.]
"Huh?! You can directly find equipnt that imdiately increases combat power?"
Macchiato imdiately put on the brooch. Although her inventory only increased by two slots, it still made her heart leap with joy!
Actually, for soone like Macchiato, who had played so many gas, even a seven-slot inventory was too small. A brooch that added two slots was just a drop in the bucket, a cute little piece of vendor trash.
But how to put it... it was that feeling of starting from zero and slowly growing stronger by picking up loot.
This experience of continuously growing stronger while playing, combined with real-ti positive feedback for the player, was enough to make anyone addicted.
"You can find so decent stuff on the tables, but you'll find even better things by rummaging through cupboards and drawers."
As Ryan spoke, he also showed off the golden statue he had just found.
[Gazelle Statue, Quality: Rare, Value: 2600, Use: Increases movent speed by 5% while carried in your inventory.]
"In that case, those unopened boxes and drawers basically offer a gacha-like experience. It's just that, judging from the layout of the hall, the drawers and boxes in this manor, aning the searchable points, seem to be... limited."
At that mont, Mio inadvertently said sothing that ignited the competitive tension among everyone present.
That was right! Since the drawers and boxes were limited, even though they had entered as a team, any equipnt they found that could imdiately increase combat power would naturally be used by the person who found it first!
Thus...
"I'm going to the study! No one is allowed to compete with ! The study is obviously where a manor owner hides the most treasures." Ryan was the first to claim his territory and imdiately warned everyone off.
"Shouldn't it be the cellar? Then the cellar is mine." Crimson Night said this with a very calm expression, but she was already rushing toward the underground cellar.
As for Kyo, he had disappeared the mont they entered the manor!
"Then, then, then... then I'll go to the collection room! There has to be treasure there, right?"
Macchiato could no longer care about Crimson Night being her employer or anything like that as she glanced at the surrounding rooms.
Even though she was wearing glasses, she still spotted a collection room located on the basent level.
And so, this perfectly coordinated team divided up their territories and began an utterly rciless looting of the treasures in this manor!
(To be continued.)
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