After settling the two pigs, Xu Yuan originally planned to return the way he ca, but after looking at the large at farm and the monsters continuously spawning ahead, he gave up on that.
"Forget it… I'll just dig my way up here…"
Actually, going back the way he ca would be the safest, after all, Xu Yuan had been working underground, and although he had a general sense of direction, he knew he was already deep in the forest.
But Xu Yuan was not clear about the situation outside.
The forest area was definitely already occupied by conscious monsters. If he accidentally ran into them and got surrounded, that would be troubleso.
But turning back would take too much ti, and it wasn't exactly safe either, after all, Xu Yuan's no-torch at farm was basically a mob-spawning cage.
After making a decision, Xu Yuan carefully listened to the sounds above while slowly digging upward.
Slowly digging to the first layer below ground, just as he was preparing to continue digging upward, he looked up, and Xu Yuan was completely stunned.
'A chest?!'
Xu Yuan hadn't expected that he could actually dig up a chest here.
'Is it a wild chest?'
Since he didn't know the situation above, Xu Yuan didn't continue digging.
Instead, he opened the chest from underneath.
When he saw the contents of the chest, his eyes widened.
'… So many eralds?!'
There were over ten eralds inside the chest above his head. Nothing else was there.
Judging from the contents of the chest, this definitely wasn't a random resource chest from the Trial Grounds. It was clearly placed here by soone.
'Could I have stumbled into the lair of the Pillagers?'
After previously eting the Leatherworker Villager, Xu Yuan had roughly guessed that erald production was likely tied to the Pillagers.
Xu Yuan knew that there were definitely monsters stationed in this forest area.
And this chest he accidentally dug up also proved that the ones stationed in the forest were likely the Pillagers.
Just as Xu Yuan was thinking this, he suddenly heard voices from above.
"Sa ku li sa lu? (Is it really necessary to store the eralds here imdiately every ti they refresh?)"
"Sa lu li ka?! Ka mi sa li ku! (Are you questioning the chief's decisions?! This is also for future safety. If the players find out we get eralds at intervals, we'll be in danger!)"
"Sa li si lu si?... (That may be so, but what if the Pillagers in this Trial Grounds also drop eralds? Then it can't be hidden anyway...)"
"Ka su li sa?! Sa ku mi lu! (Why think so much?! In any case, even if we die, we can't let players benefit from us!)"
After the two Pillagers talked for a bit, Xu Yuan heard the sound of a chest opening.
Soon after, the sound of the chest closing, followed by footsteps gradually fading away.
'Getting eralds at intervals?'
The conversation between the two Pillagers was fully heard by Xu Yuan. He also caught the key piece of information.
In the overworld, killing so Pillagers would yield eralds, but typically just one, unless using a Looting-enchanted weapon, which had a chance to yield more.
But judging from the conversation just now, it seed the conscious Pillagers in the Trial Grounds would receive one erald every so often.
Just as Xu Yuan had previously speculated, the main source of eralds was indeed the Pillagers.
What Xu Yuan didn't expect was that the Pillagers in the Trial Grounds were directly turned into a mint.
The real HIM's arrangent could be said to be purposefully inciting conflict. Turning villagers into resource warehouses, and Pillagers into a mint.
He clearly understood the hatred between the villagers and the Pillagers, villagers definitely wouldn't cooperate with Pillagers.
To get the resources in their own hands and arm themselves, the villagers would have no choice but to fight the Pillagers.
anwhile, the Pillagers, being aware that they were essentially a mint, would surely try every thod to control the villagers and defend against player attacks.
As for the player faction, it went without saying, they were adults. Their choice was naturally, they wanted everything.
At this point, the conflict of interest among the three factions had clearly ford.
Thinking of this, Xu Yuan couldn't help but feel troubled.
Even though Xu Yuan had successfully convinced Barbecue Sauce, and thus had a good start to his layout, Barbecue Sauce belonged to the animal faction after all.
Their social relationships were relatively simple. At least, the animal faction didn't have major conflicts with the villager or monster factions.
Even if there were, they were only minor personal grudges among individuals. It hadn't escalated to faction-level hatred.
This was evident from Barbecue Sauce wanting to save the Leatherworker Villager.
But the villager and Pillager factions were far more complicated.
Since the beginning of the ga, the villager faction and the Pillager faction had been sworn enemies.
Villagers hated Pillagers no less than they hated players. Because the things Pillagers did to them were pretty much the sa as what players did.
And although the Pillager faction probably couldn't even explain clearly what grudge they had with the villagers, from the ga's start until now, they had indeed committed many sins.
Even if the villager faction was willing to reconcile, the Pillagers probably couldn't fully trust them.
After all, if soone they had been oppressing and persecuting suddenly wanted to cooperate, who wouldn't feel uneasy?
Clearly, Pillagers didn't want to work with players either. This could be seen from what one of them said just now.
He said, ("Even if we die, we can't let players benefit from us.")
That sentence alone was enough to show how much the Pillagers hated the players. So the hardest part of the entire plan to solve was the relationship between the villagers and the Pillagers.
'Looks like we must find so kind of dium before an actual war starts…'
What Xu Yuan referred to as a "dium" was actually a middleman.
Xu Yuan, appearing as a player, obviously couldn't be the middleman for those two factions. After all, they not only hated players but also hated each other.
Even if Xu Yuan talked until his mouth went dry, it would be impossible to have the sa effect as he had with Barbecue Sauce.
So he had to find a person from a faction that neither side hated to act as the middleman and bridge the gap.
And this bridge had to fulfill the current needs of both sides.
The villagers and Pillagers didn't need food. Their need was defense, what they needed was equipnt. So, trade naturally beca the bridge between these two factions.
What Xu Yuan had to do was have the middleman gradually build a trade network. And the entire trade network had to be controlled behind the scenes by Xu Yuan. That way, if war did break out between the two sides, Xu Yuan would hold absolute influence.
'For the villagers' side… the animal faction might be a suitable middleman… For the Pillagers… the only suitable choice might be the monsters…'
That was Xu Yuan's initial plan.
First convince the middleman, ensure their loyalty, and then let them beco the trade link between the villagers and Pillagers.
The monster middleman on the Pillager side would first gain their trust, then tell the Pillagers they had a channel for equipnt, and ask them to trade eralds for gear.
The sa went for the villagers, tell them there's a source for eralds, and have them trade materials.
Here's a simple example, if one iron axe costs 10 eralds, then the monster middleman would ask the Pillagers for 30 eralds.
Then deliver 20 eralds to the villagers. 10 would be used to purchase the iron axe; the other 10 left for the villagers to buy weapons for themselves.
In this way, one trade ant both sides got what they needed. And Xu Yuan, acting as the true middleman, would naturally collect a fee.
In this trading model, Xu Yuan had to control every single transaction. The villagers would only receive resources, no extra eralds.
He would also control the number of eralds on the Pillager side, making sure they couldn't hoard large amounts.
In other words, for each transaction, the villagers and Pillagers would only gain materials, not extra currency.
Over ti, eralds would quickly pile up in Xu Yuan's hands. In this way, it was equivalent to him controlling both the resource flow and currency supply.
Once both sides wanted to go to war, they would have to consider Xu Yuan's role.
War required huge resources, and both resources and money were in Xu Yuan's hands. Naturally, he held the power.
If he could resolve the conflict between villagers and Pillagers, then the player faction wouldn't even be a problem.
If he could successfully deal with the villagers and Pillagers, it ant Xu Yuan had firmly grasped control over both resource and currency rights.
With tons of supplies and gear in hand, just lightly assembling an army would give him strong deterrent power.
And Xu Yuan wasn't fighting alone, when the ti ca, Black Blade would definitely stand on his side.
With Black Blade's skills, plus the imnse resource supply, it was likely no one would dare ss with Xu Yuan.
Thinking of this, Xu Yuan had a rough plan. 'The idea works. Next, I just need to perfect the details and find the right candidates…'
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