prynovel Chapter 13 The Snail Group Owner's Self-Strategy
Chapter 13 The Snail Group Owner's Self-Strategy
Rainbow Village, Southern Outpost.
Night had fallen, and a strong wind was howling outside the outpost, carrying leaves with it.
Inside the thatched hut, five players lay sprawled on the ground like dead dogs.
Even George was panting with his eyes closed, completely exhausted after chewing on dozens of large chew toys.
"I can't go on... my stamina bar is empty."
The little snail lay sprawled on the haystack, its body twitching slightly uncontrollably.
"Stop talking nonsense and log off now."
The agent said, "Old Lucas said there's still half a carcass of 'Pretty Pork' left in the cellar. Once we've had a good night's sleep and regained our strength, we'll have him get some roast meat when we wake up tomorrow."
As he ran away with the bucket, he wiped the sawdust off his face. Due to the long hours of intense labor, his consciousness had begun to flicker with warning signs of extreme weakness.
As for Xiaoyu and the whole roasted lamb, they were too tired to talk.
The five people and one dog didn't even have time to say goodnight before they hurriedly logged off.
The five bodies inside the thatched hut instantly fell into a deep hibernation, and the players' consciousnesses successfully returned to Earth.
In this completely silent world, Lynn, on the top floor of the outpost, could no longer lift even a finger.
These two days and two nights of overwork have not only drained this body,
This pushed his mental strength as a "system processor" to the brink of collapse.
As the five offline indicator lines on his retina dimmed, Lynn let out a long sigh of relief.
"These animals, they work like their lives depend on it..."
He buried his head in the soft cushion in the corner, his eyelids as heavy as lead.
...............
The real world.
After roasting the whole lamb, Ah-en took off his VR glasses. Although he wasn't as tired as he was in the game, his stomach was still churning with acid.
I've been so engrossed in games that I've barely eaten anything these past two days.
He immediately picked up his phone and ordered a takeout order that was very oily and spicy.
Half an hour later, the delivery arrived. The whole roasted lamb couldn't wait to open the box, pick up a piece of pork belly, and stuff it into its mouth.
However, he froze at the very first bite.
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"This meat... why does it feel so bland?"
He frowned, carefully savoring the taste in his mouth.
It lacks chewiness, that rough, grainy texture, and that wild, vibrant feeling.
Oh no, even real-life food doesn't taste good anymore.
He threw down his chopsticks, feeling as if countless ants were crawling inside him. After only an hour offline, he felt uneasy all over, his mind filled with images of chopping trees, slaughtering pigs, and leveling up in Rainbow Village.
"No, I have to go back! Even with the weakness buff, I want to walk around the village!"
He pushed the unfinished braised pork aside and, like an addict, put on his VR glasses again.
However, just as he closed his eyes, eagerly anticipating waking up in the thatched hut, the familiar sight of Rainbow Village did not appear before him.
In the darkness, a blank, red holographic font blocked the login screen:
[Server-wide announcement: The server is currently undergoing maintenance, estimated to take 10 hours.]
[A major expansion is coming soon—The Call of Pearl Harbor… Sweet dreams, warrior from afar.]
Holy crap?! Server down for maintenance?!
Ah-en, the roasted whole lamb, suddenly opened his eyes, took off his glasses, grabbed his phone, and opened the group chat.
This MapleStory chat group, which originally had about a hundred members, has seen dozens of new members join in the past two days, drawn in by the agent's sharing of details about Sophia and the subsequent word-of-mouth from casual players.
Of course, I mainly came here for the game.
Roasted Whole Lamb: "Help, bro! I just tried to log back in, but I can't! The game is under maintenance! And then some kind of Pearl Harbor expansion popped up!"
I'm having withdrawal symptoms! Can someone give me a couple of axe blows to sober me up?
Czech public security agent replied instantly:
"Don't even mention it, I was also kept out."
And when I went downstairs to pick up my package just now, I subconsciously walked close to the wall in the hallway, because I always felt like there was something weird around the corner, you know?
This game is absolutely addictive!
The casual gamers in the group were so jealous of these closed beta testers' Versailles that they were practically splitting apart.
Da Niu is rather lazy: "Please, just post a picture! Even a simple photo of the announcement with your phone would be fine! What's the point of talking if you don't have a picture?"
Elliott: "Hi, is this game real? I really want to play it. Where can I get it? :)"
Happy Brand Blade: "Is this guy a foreigner?"
Elliott: "Hello, what?"
Still Too Thin Rice: "It's confirmed, it's definitely a foreigner, hahaha."
Elliott: "Yes :) I'm from America."
Just as the group was chatting about this and that, the civil engineering guy, who was running away with his bucket, suddenly threw out an extremely pointed question, instantly silencing the group.
He ran away with a bucket: "There's something I've been holding back all day. @Lin En, the group admin, come out and explain yourself."
Why is the GM in the game also named Lynn? And when I thought about it carefully, the NPC's facial features looked a bit like the photos in your album.
"Tell me honestly, did you make some underhanded deal with the development team behind our backs?"
Upon hearing this, the silly group members all responded enthusiastically.
Various conspiracy theories have emerged. Some people guess that Lynn is actually the heir of the game company, while others guess that Lynn is an undercover planner who is paid to infiltrate the players' ranks.
However, no matter how many times Lynn was tagged in the group chat, her profile picture remained gray.
At this moment, he was snoring away at the outpost in Rainbow Village.
During the long wait for Lynn's reply, the group admin, Climbing Snail, spoke up.
He didn't participate in the gossip about his identity at all, but instead directly asked a question about the game itself in the group chat.
Climbing Snail: "Forget about Lin Zi's background, he's probably not that awesome!"
I just took advantage of the server downtime to review the resource consumption and mission rewards of the past two days, and I discovered a serious bug!
Everyone was taken aback, waiting for him to continue.
The little snail continued typing in the group:
"Have you guys noticed? Our current model is 'eating from the same pot' (a system where everyone gets the same food)."
Every day, they work themselves to the bone chopping down trees and killing monsters, while the system NPCs provide them with food and lodging.
This is certainly a great experience for beginners, but strictly speaking, this primitive communal system is not sustainable in the long run in a game!
A Czech public security agent posted a question mark.
"Isn't it good to have meals and accommodation included? Do you want to work in a game to buy a house?"
"You don't understand. From a professional game design perspective, this goes against the logic of long-term operation!"
The climbing snail tapped on the keyboard, its tone professional and confident: "Think about it, right now we only have five people, and with George, that's only six units. The GM can handle all the logistics. But what if the second closed beta and open beta launch, and hundreds or even thousands of players flood in?"
This "one-size-fits-all" approach would absolutely cripple the game's economy instantly, because money wouldn't be able to circulate.
He paused for a moment, then offered his professional insights as a seasoned gamer:
"Therefore, I am certain that during this ten-hour server downtime update, the official team was definitely urgently implementing a brand-new economic structure!"
As you can see, this update is definitely related to the economic system. For example, the credits we were given before will become the currency of the Rainbow Village stage, and we will use these credits to eat and craft equipment.
Only by establishing a healthy value exchange cycle can players' output and consumption be balanced.
Only in this way can the game have enough underlying numerical support to open up a large expansion map like Pearl Harbor!
As for whether a new currency system will emerge to replace credits, that depends on how the game develops.
The group was silent; everyone was reading his long post.
A full minute passed before a casual gamer posted a message.
Birdsong and Fragrant Flowers: "Brother Snail, you're awesome. This level of vision, thinking directly at the strategic level, is incredible. I'd call you the strongest spiritual shareholder."
Little Snail: "Get lost! That's called the professionalism of a hardcore gamer! Finding system vulnerabilities and refining the economic model—that's what closed beta testers do!"
……
A few hours later.
At the Rainbow Village outpost, Lynn slowly opened his eyes.
After several hours of deep sleep, a surge of energy has coursed through his entire body.
With a slight thought, Lynn projected a real-world network onto his retina.
He opened the group chat, looked at the "999+" unread messages, and gasped.
Did I miss something important...?
When he quickly scrolled through the chat history and saw the questions raised by the person who ran away with the bucket about "GM Lynn's identity", his heart skipped a beat.
But when he then saw the climbing snail's discussion about economic systems, his lips curled up in a wide smile, and he even burst out laughing.
"What a talent... truly a genius of all time!"
Lynn was so excited that he kept rubbing his hands together.
He was just wondering what excuse to use to cancel the "free rationing" of these good-for-nothings, but to his surprise, these hardcore players not only didn't think about the GM going bankrupt, but instead took the initiative to pave a smooth way out for him from the professional perspective of "maintaining the long-term development of the game".
To live up to the hard work of the young players, Lynn immediately began his performance.
He typed a long message in the group chat, brimming with the typical office worker vibe: "Sorry guys, I've been working overtime at the company these past two days, coordinating with data testing. I pulled two all-nighters and just woke up!"
He then skillfully shifted the blame: "Haha, it's about the GM who asked about it."
Ugh, that was all the work of those lazy dogs in the R&D team!
Because I was in charge of coordinating this small-scale closed beta test, the programmers, in their rush to meet deadlines, didn't even bother with independent NPC modeling; the NPCs in Rainbow Village were all generated directly by AI. The GM, on the other hand, simply extracted my ID's backend data and my real-name verified facial scan, using them as the template for the initial guide.
Let's just treat Lynn as a highly intelligent AI, since he really is an AI.
Perhaps when the official server goes live, the company will replace his appearance with the official model.
As soon as this message came out, all the doubts in the group instantly vanished. "Hahaha, I knew it! I was wondering why that NPC's micro-expressions were so vivid; it turns out they just used your face model."
"Wow, your development team is top-notch. The game is so amazing, but they just skipped the tutorial NPCs to save time."
Seeing that the crisis was over, Lynn immediately turned his attention to praising the little snail.
Lynn: "@ClimbingSnail Holy crap! Snail, I just saw the economic system you mentioned, it's absolutely amazing."
The R&D team has been discussing this for the past couple of days! Some details can be improved according to your suggestions. I feel you have a talent for planning!
The climbing snail posted a sunglasses emoji that seemed to say, "Hiding its merits and fame."
"Basic operation, don't be silly."
Close the group chat.
The enthusiasm and snobbery on Lynn's face vanished instantly, like the tide receding.
He stood up, brushed the grass clippings off his clothes, and carefully adjusted his hat in front of the broken bronze mirror in the outpost.
When he looked up again, his eyes no longer held the youthful vivacity of a modern young man.
Instead, there is an all-knowing "system will".
He is no longer the miserable working-class man in the group who works overtime all night; he is the supreme ruler of Rainbow Village and the only god who leads the Fourth Calamity.
"System, unlock login and issue a server-wide announcement."
Lynn gave the instructions in his mind.
He slightly polished the content of the snail's document and gave it a more official tone.
A few minutes later, five players plus George logged on.
The moment the little snail opened his eyes, the adventurer's emblem on his left arm burst forth with a blinding light, and lines of three-dimensional holographic text appeared on their retinas like a waterfall.
The little snail frowned.
There's a lot of content, and the font is a bit small, making it a little tiring to read.
[Version 1.01 Update Log: Logic Restructuring and Expedition Sequence]:
The system has detected that the current camp productivity level has passed the initial stage.
In order to establish a healthy and sustainable economic cycle model, the "Initial Unconditional Allocation Agreement" is officially removed, effective immediately.
The new module, MapleStory Contribution Agreement 1.0, has been implemented.
From this point onward, all of the players' prey and gathered items can be turned in to the camp and converted into "credits".
All weapon and equipment manufacturing, maintenance, water supply, cooked food distribution, and future career mentor consultations all require an equivalent amount of contribution points.
(Note: There are no free gifts; only sweat can irrigate the path to truth.)
The font in the retina was a bit too small, so the little snail adjusted the font size with its eyeballs, finally getting it to a comfortable level.
[Limited-Time Main Quest - Bloodbath on the Raging Coast]: On the southern coastline, restless hog herds are threatening the safety of shipping lanes. Hunt them down to stockpile enough fat and heat for your expedition.
Mission Reward: Huge contribution points. The first five warriors to complete the task will receive the exclusive system-blessed medal, "Founder of the Start."
[Epic Server-wide Quest Launched - Voyage Restarted]: In the forgotten old shipyard on the east side of the village, lies the wreckage of a steam-powered hybrid sailing ship left by the sages, the only hope to reach the Treasure Island of the civilized world.
Mission objective: Using solid wood and adhesives, and with the assistance of the AR system, perform structural repairs on the wreckage.
After reading the long list of system announcements, the little snail was so excited that it trembled all over.
"Guys! Did you see that?! The official team actually adopted my suggestion! They've implemented the credit point system exactly as it was!"
The little snail clenched its fist, feeling an unprecedented sense of participation.
"And it even has an exclusive, limited-edition title with special effects! If this thing were to be released on the official server, it would definitely be incredibly cool!"
"Stop talking nonsense! Didn't you see the first point? From now on, even drinking water will cost money!"
Ah-en, the roasted whole lamb, grabbed the iron sword hanging on the wall. "Let's hurry to the Rampage Coast to farm some starting funds while no one's competing with us for monsters, or we won't even be able to afford coarse noodle porridge tonight!"
Xiaoyu was also extremely excited: "After this wave of grinding, I can finally change my job!"
"Voyage restarted... Steam hybrid sailboat..." His attention was completely off the rare medal as he ran off with the bucket.
His eyes were fixed on the third item in the update list, and the soul of a civil engineering student burned fiercely at that moment.
"The system has given me AR-assisted modeling? This is clearly a giant holographic 3D puzzle! Brothers, let's quickly slaughter some pigs to stock up on food, and bring the materials we collected from fighting the Wood Demon yesterday. I'm going to be the chief engineer!"
George grinned, knowing he could gnaw on a pig's butt again!
The five men and one dog, like mad dogs injected with high-purity adrenaline, howled and charged out of the outpost, heading straight for the southern coastline.