After introducing all the initially constructed production workshops, Jiu Cai Rong was glowing with vitality.
All he could say was—
This game had far too much freedom!
Everyone could find their own way to forge things and do whatever interested them.
Jiu Cai Rong added a complaint, "Those lolitas researching makeup and dressing up are wasting resources. I'll persuade them to change their ways another day."
Jiu Cai Rong had worked under capitalists for so many years that his heart had long since grown as cold as theirs.
"There's no need for that. The meaning of life isn't to create profits. After the blacksmiths in the Mountain Villa finish their daily quotas, they can do whatever activities or entertainment they want."
Ning Zheng felt that he was too utilitarian, obsessed with profit, and short-sighted. He would never manage the Mountain Villa well.
Ning Zheng felt as though he were running an amusement park. Once people entered, they had already paid the two-coin admission fee and could play as they pleased, experiencing the local customs and culture.
People helped you out of friendship. You couldn't morally blackmail them into paying you while also making them work for you, could you?
How was that any different from the idiotic act of paying your boss to let you work?
People already worked, studied, and went to their jobs every day. They were exhausted. Now that they had found time to play games, it was for leisure, happiness, and a taste of the beauty of childhood.
Now, these blacksmiths had not only returned physically to the bodies of children and lolitas; their mindsets had returned as well. They piled up sand, played fortress games, set up tower defenses to fight monsters, played hopscotch, jumped rope, threw beanbags, and rediscovered the joys of childhood in the Mountain Villa.
They couldn't strip away the most fundamental attribute of a game: happiness.
Besides, a Master Blacksmith could never be forged through enslavement and oppression.
People who were lifeless and only knew how to fob off their work could never create anything good.
To put it another way, anyone who had not Seen One's True Nature and seen the self, learned who they were, and opened the Heaven and Earth Bridge was merely a lifeless mortal.
Only someone with genuine love from the bottom of their heart could forge an artwork with a soul and reach the pinnacle of a field.
Ning Zheng told him all these thoughts.
Jiu Cai Rong felt as if he had been enlightened. The Old Steward had indeed lived too long and seen too much; his insight was truly extraordinary. He thought to himself:
This game is way too realistic! Unlike other games, where you can forge things just by clicking on equipment, here you have to hammer away one strike at a time. The degree of passion really does affect a person's blacksmithing skill.
I was too extreme. Looking at it this way, studying, Seeing One's True Nature, and Opening the Three Flowers are all necessary. No matter what kind of blacksmith they are, they must advance into a scholar. Only with Myriad Scrolls in their heart and passion surging through their chest can they create things with spirit and vitality. Otherwise, their work will be too steeped in craft.
He suddenly understood.
That makes sense. Once you get a scholar's certificate, you can earn more money at the forge.
It seemed that in any world, you needed a diploma to get ahead. Afterward, Jiu Cai Rong brought Ning Zheng to the cafeteria. This was the project he was most proud of.
"The cafeteria is our foundation. Only by eating well every day will we have the strength to work!"
Jiu Cai Rong proudly introduced it. "We've created an Ingredient Compendium and carried out all kinds of appraisals and combinations, treating our hardworking blacksmiths to the most delicious meals."
Inside the cafeteria.
That "Eye Flower" was here too. With a basket on his back, he was selling ingredients—a basket of mushrooms and all sorts of miscellaneous things.
Food God frowned. "That color is vivid enough. It's poisonous, isn't it? Is this the Corpse-Colored Hallucinogenic Mushroom you found halfway up the mountain? Why is it called that?"
"Because it grows on corpses and comes in all sorts of colors."
At that moment, "Eye Flower" recalled something, and his gaze grew hazy. "I licked it once, and then I arrived in that winter night from long ago and saw my grandmother."
"You still remember your grandmother? Ahem, I'll take the whole lot."
Food God was highly professional. He used a needle to dig out a tiny bit, licked it, and immediately revealed an intoxicated expression.
"Mm, the appearance really is excellent. There are indeed good things in the wild woods halfway up the mountain. The wild plant ingredients in our Mountain Villa are still too scarce. After all, this is a place where people live."
This Travel Frog really could go out and bring back materials.
That made up for the limitation of having only the Mountain Villa as a map. The pet-outing gameplay could provide a steady stream of materials.
When "Eye Flower" heard this, he was overjoyed, feeling as though a payment had just landed in his account. "You're an expert. After all, the more fragrant and fresh it is, the more poisonous it is."
Food God nodded and said solemnly, "That's exactly how it is. There are gains and losses. It satisfies the appetite, but the body has to suffer for it. Once you swallow this stuff, you'll probably be rushing to the toilet so violently that you won't even have time to close the door."
"Eye Flower" hesitated, worried that he wouldn't be able to get a high price.
"Don't worry. From now on, I'll buy as much as you gather. I'll tell you a secret. Do you know why I compete with the other chefs for jobs, and why they can't beat me?"
"Eye Flower" was curious. "Why? Because your cooking is good?"
Food God gave a knowing smile. "My cooking? Mm, mainly, everyone loves eating it. Why? My specialty is making things more delicious the more poisonous they are! They wouldn't dare eat this in reality, but here they can eat it without worry."
"I just have to time it right. By the time they finish dinner, they're almost ready to log off. Who would know whether their stomachs would act up afterward?"
"I'll tell you this quietly: the more intoxicated they look while eating dinner, the more they'll be bouncing around like sky-rockets when they lie down in bed after logging off."
Eye Flower was dumbfounded: "."
Jiu Cai Rong was also deeply shaken in the shadows. He thought to himself that he had nearly fallen into the trap.
Luckily, I designed the dormitory well. Although the iron bunk beds have upper and lower levels, they're arranged in a staggered pattern.
There's no one on the lower bunk. Otherwise, the lower-bunk brothers would be the ones suffering in the middle of the night every day!
Damn, these bastards are truly impossible to guard against.
Jiu Cai Rong's teeth hurt.
He had actually embarrassed himself over the cafeteria, the very project he had focused on most. This was clearly a management failure—a food safety issue had appeared.
Ning Zheng had no intention of criticizing him. Instead, he looked at the wooden-faced Jiu Cai Rong and felt that he seemed prematurely aged. He had probably been worrying himself sick these past few days.
If he had personally taken charge as the "planner" Xiao Ai spoke of, managing them and designing updates, the amount of suffering he would have endured was simply unimaginable.
"By the way, Steward, I heard that embers will disappear sooner or later."
Jiu Cai Rong hurriedly and awkwardly changed the subject, his gaze falling on "Eye Flower," who was turning in a quest at the cafeteria. "Do you know roughly how long this ember of his will last before disappearing?"
Ordinary people didn't know.
But Ning Zheng had spent every day with them and had extensive experience. After examining the concentration of yin energy around the other party, he quickly reached a conclusion. "Mm, it'll probably disappear completely in a little over a month."
A month or so.
By all accounts, that was a huge profit!
After all, "Eye Flower" had only cost ten Magic Coins for a single death.
He had already earned back far more than that amount.
But expenses couldn't be calculated that way. They could die hundreds of times without producing even one ember. The cost of creating one was far too high, and it didn't last!
Moreover, each resurrection would cost significantly more than the last. After enough deaths, the fee to buy back life would inevitably become astronomical.
"Is there any way to make an ember exist forever?" Jiu Cai Rong asked.
"Put down roots in the earth vein, and it can exist forever." Ning Zheng gave him an answer.
Ning Jiaojiao, as well as the elders and villagers of the entire Spirit Manor, were examples of this. They had put down roots in the earth vein and continued to exist for a long time.
Embers came in two kinds.
The first was like a wandering soul, drifting everywhere until it gradually disappeared.
The second was like an Earthbound Spirit, unable to move yet existing forever.
In the state of having taken root in the earth vein, an ember could not be killed by ordinary means.
For example, if "Ning Jiaojiao" were killed, she would revive from the earth vein after a while, inexplicably reappear inside the house, and go around looking for her big brother to play games.
It was like cutting down a plant. As long as the roots underground remained, it would grow back after a while.
Jiu Cai Rong's heart warmed as he listened. This was the way to preserve an ember permanently. "May I ask how one connects to the earth vein?"
Ning Zheng calmly glanced at him. "Only powerful high-level cultivators can communicate with the earth vein. Our Manor Lord might be able to do it, but how could an existence like that help a mere ember?"
Naturally, he couldn't do it. Only the Demon People from the former Mountain Villa possessed such heaven-defying methods.
Jiu Cai Rong fell into thought.
At least, the direction was clear.
Before you continue