Production and Exploration

"Want to go outside and chop down trees?"

In Lord Demon Lord's Magic Workshop, Leon stopped what he was doing and gave the skeleton before him a surprised look.

Facing Lord Demon Lord's questioning gaze, Whale Fall North and South gave a respectful nod and spoke with polished courtesy.

"Yes, esteemed Lord Demon Lord. Your servants lack equipment—not just weapons. They also need backpacks, bandages... and many, many other things. This additional equipment will help them explore the maze more efficiently."

After a pause, Whale Fall continued.

"As your most, most, most loyal servant, I wish to share your burdens in this matter."

Leon nodded, his gaze unconsciously falling on Xiao Wan, who had been wrapped into a dumpling by spider silk.

So that was it.

Had they gotten the idea from this fellow?

Since skeletons did not consume goods and their upkeep relied entirely on faith expenditures, the Great Cemetery had always suffered from weak market demand, making it difficult to begin production activities.

Developing a textile industry was indeed a good idea.

But only if someone knew how to do it.

"Your idea is good, but do you know how to weave? That is no easier than fighting monsters."

Whale Fall North and South smiled.

"There are always more solutions than problems. I looked through some blueprint materials, such as the early Spinning Jenny. Reproducing one should not be very difficult. As long as you give us a little support, we certainly will not disappoint you."

That was true.

These players could access the internet. Even if they did not know how, finding a few craftsmen on DouX or Bilibili and copying their methods would not be much of a problem. Besides, even if they failed, it did not seem like he would lose anything.

"Approved."

Though he did not want to expose the Great Cemetery too early out of caution, he could not keep hiding in the mine forever.

Starting today, they would steadily push outward! "North of the North Wind Mine is a forest. The monsters there are not interested in skeletons, so you can gather lumber there. But remember not to go south, and especially avoid humans whenever possible. If a fight is unavoidable, capture them if you can."

"Understood!" Before Whale Fall could speak, Shark Kill, who had come along, clenched his fist excitedly.

After a pause, Leon continued.

"Also, the mine happens to need some timber to reinforce the load-bearing structures in newly excavated areas. Since you brought this up, we might as well solve both problems at once."

"In a moment, I will issue a call to recruit carpenters. If there are skeletons among the citizens of the Great Cemetery who are skilled at carpentry, they may be able to offer you some help."

The moment he finished speaking, You You simultaneously issued the "Gather Lumber" and "Recruit Carpenters" quests.

Not many players had axes.

As long as they accepted the Gather Lumber quest, they could receive an axe and permission to leave.

Of course.

The quest also specifically advised players to stay within the designated area.

If they died outside the designated area, they would receive an additional Contribution Points penalty.

And after reviving, they would have to retrieve the borrowed axe themselves.

"Ah! Thank you so much!" This time, not only Shark Kill but even Whale Fall had stars in his eyes with excitement.

So NPC quests could be actively triggered by helping Lord Demon Lord share his burdens?! That was an incredible discovery!

After thanking him, the three skeletons eagerly headed outside to find the Cat Girl and collect logging axes and saws for cutting timber.

Not long after You You issued the carpenter recruitment quest, a player signed up.

Looks like it was settled.

"...Making backpacks and bandages from Cave Spider silk. I did not expect these players to be so imaginative." Watching the three skeletons vanish into the depths of the mine in the mirror, Leon smiled pleasantly.

Not only had the chives begun moving on their own, they had even grown into shapes he had never imagined.

Wonderful.

"Lord Demon Lord, come to think of it, You You is a little curious. Did no one in hell ever think of using Cave Spider silk to weave cloth?"

Hearing You You's curious question, Leon casually explained.

"That was hell. Do you know what the temperature was like there?"

You You said, "But... the place where you stayed seemed fine?"

"The Demon Capital was the Demon Capital," Leon said casually. "Once you left the Demon Capital, you had to stay alert at all times."

In fact, that was not all.

Although Cave Spider silk was excellent in both toughness and material strength, even far surpassing ordinary fibers, and also possessed outstanding water resistance... its excessive stickiness and elasticity were truly a headache.

As a result, this material was neither easy to weave nor easy to collect.

Therefore, although the players' idea was good, it was honestly somewhat wishful thinking.

However—

That was not much of a problem.

Especially for a top student from Demon Lord Academy, solving it would only take minutes.

Long ago, someone in hell had researched using Cave Spider silk for spinning yarn and had even developed a potion formula that would allow Cave Spider silk to retain its strength while losing its excessive elasticity and stickiness!

Unfortunately, such a water-resistant yet heat-intolerant material was of little use in hell, where "it never rained, only rained sparks."

And because hell and the surface had always been at war, at most they smuggled precious metals between them. There was no large-scale trade. Thus, this obscure formula had even less chance to be put to use.

Leon had happened to learn about this obscure formula in the library of Demon Lord Academy.

Though he could no longer remember the exact proportions, he still remembered the materials needed to prepare the potion, and most of them could be directly harvested from Cave Spiders.

Restoring the potion formula would not be difficult for him. He only needed to add a little when reeling the silk.

As he thought this, Leon had already taken out the crucible and beakers for preparing the potion, rolling his shoulders with high spirits.

"Very well—"

"This time, I shall do a good deed and help someone out."

Elsewhere, deep within the Sewer Corridor, two Skeleton Soldiers continued delving deeper into the maze.

Along the way, they had killed countless slimes, and they had gathered so many magic crystals that they were nearly out of space to store them.

Fortunately, before long, they found the corpse of an adventurer wrapped in slimes.

The clothing on the corpse had almost been completely digested. Only the less digestible boots, belt, and waist pouch remained.

Several rice-cake-like slimes wriggled springily over the body, as though chewing it.

After dealing with the slimes, One Leaf Knows Autumn recovered the belt and leather waist pouch from the adventurer's remains.

The waist pouch contained some personal belongings, along with several copper coins.

After returning the personal belongings to their original owner, the two stuffed the magic crystals they had collected into the pouch, finally freeing Hu Wan's hands.

Out of curiosity, One Leaf Knows Autumn crouched beside the corpse and carefully examined it.

Although the green slimes had decomposed nearly all the tissue on the body, leaving its original shape unrecognizable, he still spotted a clue in the bones that had yet to be digested.

"The bones were severed." Feeling the cut marks on the ribs, One Leaf Knows Autumn suppressed his excitement as he said, "This wound... was not caused by slimes!"

Sure enough—

His guess had been correct!

Other monsters were hiding in the Sewer Corridor!

"It looks a little like an animal's claws..." Hu Wan also examined it, then looked gravely at One Leaf Knows Autumn. "What do you think it could be?"

"A clawed creature in the sewers? It was probably a lizard... or some other fictional Fantasy Species."

This thing should be stronger than a Cave Spider!

Once he realized that, One Leaf Knows Autumn felt no fear at all. Instead, he grew excited.

I wonder how much experience these things give! As he thought this, his right hand explored upward along the adventurer's corpse before finally stopping at the back of the neck.

"This is... a magic crystal?!"

Seeing the crystal One Leaf Knows Autumn pulled from the corpse, Hu Wan's eyes widened in astonishment.

Humans dropped magic crystals too?!

"Mm... At present, it seemed that way."

Studying the dark green crystal in his hand, One Leaf Knows Autumn fell into thought.

For some reason, he recalled something he had previously read on the Official Website forum for Calamity Online. It roughly said that since the God of Death died, the death and reincarnation of all things were no longer equal.

Then where did people go after dying in this game world?

Or did they go nowhere at all, becoming beings like himself instead...

Considering the peculiar nature of Extraordinary Power.

The more he thought about it, the more horrifying it became.

Perhaps there was information and clues hidden behind that myth which he had yet to understand...

In the darkness.

A pair of amber eyes stared fixedly at the two skeletons, while a forked tongue flicked in and out from between its lips.

Servants of a necromancer? Here? After weighing the pros and cons for a long time, the crawling creature crouched beneath the shadows ultimately did not attack. Instead, he twisted around and slowly retreated deeper into the darkness.

His mission was to hunt adventurers, and these piles of bones were not on his menu.

The maze was currently at a precarious moment. Any slight disturbance had to be treated with vigilance... even though their Earth Dragon Clan had become the overlords of the maze's first floor with an absolute advantage.

Furthermore, the earlier Rat Tide seemed to have an inseparable connection with the appearance of these undead.

They had frightened the Ratfolk Clan, which had summoned a Chosen One, into scattering in all directions...

Perhaps they should be more cautious in dealing with the person standing behind these undead.