Review: I Discovered the Hidden Main Quest

When Ning Zheng went up the mountain, he saw them excitedly gathered around the Power Hammer, gesticulating wildly.

Though curious, he paid no mind to the blacksmith shop's affairs.

The steward's room.

He sat in a chair and reviewed the accounts.

The magic coins spent on various forging tasks.

The number of Magic Bronze rough blanks forged and stored.

Employee benefits expenses for the canteen and dormitories, which included room and board.

And the cost of public facilities, such as the Power Hammer.

Hmm.

The ratio of "labor investment" to "product output" was very healthy; they were even making a good profit!

After all, Jiu Cai Rong had also secretly reduced the wages for various tasks like mining, smelting, and forging.

Most people worked nine hours a day and only earned one or two magic coins. The remaining 30% of their salary was euphemistically called "shared costs for the dormitory and canteen" for the blacksmiths!

Shared costs?

What kind of nonsense was that? Wasn't providing food and lodging a normal benefit for people who worked?

Ning Zheng understood.

Jiu Cai Rong's management style was characterized by its sheer "lack of morals."

It was far more ruthless than the previous fat steward who resorted to yelling and beatings.

The old steward exploited people through abuse, but Jiu Cai Rong exploited them with a friendly demeanor.

"Is this the cruelty of capitalists!"

Ning Zheng felt a sense of shock looking at the data-rich ledger.

A pang of bitterness welled up in his heart: So, you can really earn that much without a conscience?

After re-examining the accounts and confirming that Jiu Cai Rong was indeed working diligently, he handed over the Shadow Wine Rice seedlings that had been rapidly cultivated with Spirit Nurturing Liquid.

He explained their efficacy and instructed Jiu Cai Rong to set the price.

Although their grade was not high, they were considered outstanding among the lower-grade spirit rice spiritual roots.

In the steward's room, Jiu Cai Rong's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "My Lord, the spirit rice that carries the aura of the Manor Lord has an idol effect. I think one plant can be priced at 100 magic coins!"

Ning Zheng felt a bit embarrassed about the "idol" part.

Especially recently, when logging in with the "Flower Blooming Rich" account, he always saw comments like "I can accept this Manor Lord," "I want to have children with the Manor Lord," "I'm already using a 3D printer to make figurines," and "This arrow has shot straight into my heart." As someone who had just gained a fan club, he was a bit overwhelmed.

He just felt that these blacksmiths, who were always stealing things, sure knew how to talk nicely.

But this wasn't about the price itself; it was about whether anyone currently had that much money.

"It's fine, we can offer loans."

Jiu Cai Rong seemed experienced:

"After the currency system was introduced, I wondered if I should set up a loan system. If they can't repay, they can sell themselves to settle the debt. I think the 'selling oneself' industry has great potential in our manor!"

Ning Zheng pondered.

This "selling oneself" likely meant a literal sale.

If they couldn't repay, they'd probably be dragged to the forging furnace and have people "initiate" them, right?

Ning Zheng couldn't be bothered to manage them. It wasn't that his morals had declined, but rather that he had become numb.

Things that you might think are incredibly unethical are actually widely welcomed! This made Ning Zheng realize he was twenty years behind the times!

However, Jiu Cai Rong quickly asked, "Steward, does our manor have any special secret techniques to increase the probability of embers appearing after death?"

After asking, he immediately realized his question might seem strange to the old steward and quickly added an explanation:

"It's mainly because our race has done too many wicked deeds in our lives. We want to die a terrible death!!"

Ning Zheng burst out laughing on the spot.

Last time, his race not only wet their beds but also didn't sleep in beds.

This time, his race does wicked deeds and wants to die a terrible death?

Their lives were quite eventful.

There were indeed ways to increase the probability of embers appearing.

Otherwise, how could those demons have transformed all the villagers at the foot of the mountain into embers?

Ning Zheng didn't know how they did it; that was too high-level.

But he had his own methods. In his opinion, all it took was misfortune.

Reduce their luck value to 0, and they'd instantly be possessed by the God of Misfortune, and the Grim Reaper would arrive, naturally granting their wish.

After all, when people are down on their luck, they naturally deserve a terrible death!

Seeing how much they liked it, Ning Zheng naturally obliged them.

As for the specific probability of embers appearing if they did this?

Ning Zheng didn't know either.

Ning Zheng thought for a moment, took out a few magic coins, and handed them over:

"I've infused this with magic power. As long as you channel magic power into it, it will increase the probability of embers being generated upon death. You can decide how much to sell it for yourself."

This was just a formality.

He had Little Ai assistant keep an eye on them. Before the people holding the magic coins died, their luck value would be deducted, and he could even earn a little extra cash.

Soon, Ning Zheng left.

Although he had handed over the spiritual roots to them this time, he hadn't put all his hopes in one basket.

Ning Zheng also kept the original plant, planting it in a patch of wasteland in the spirit manor and asking Ning Jiaojiao to help manage it.

Magic coins, meat fields, spirit rice – the three essential elements of cultivation were initially gathered.

Three days passed by unconsciously.

The manor was abuzz with blacksmithing, while the hairpin makers and scholars were engaged in their respective activities.

They were mainly preparing various facilities for the blacksmith shop, such as the Power Hammer and forging press. The hairpin makers were also crafting all sorts of needles, threads, and sewing tools.

The scholars were truly studying.

There were even quite a few scholars, making the Sword Forging Manor seem like it was turning into a scholarly manor!

And these people were studying both online and offline, with some even waking up at four in the morning.

They were more enthusiastic than students preparing for postgraduate entrance exams.

Ning Zheng had also been cultivating peacefully at the foot of the mountain these past few days.

With the blessing of the meat fields, the quality of life was exceptionally high now.

During this time, he also checked the forum and suddenly realized why they were so eager to plant the spiritual roots.

"Su Yu Niang: Urgent! Urgent! Brothers, I've discovered a hidden plot! If you don't study anymore, you'll all miss out on the planner's new main quest!"

If Ning Zheng hadn't opened a forum, he wouldn't have known what was happening.

"So, the reason for all this quiet studying these past few days is this thing?"

Ning Zheng was puzzled. He hadn't urged them. They could work anytime, so why the rush?

And what did they mean by missing the planner's main quest?

Ning Zheng, the planner himself, didn't even know.

He curiously opened the post:

"Everyone, I am Su Yu Niang, and here's what happened! Using the panoramic view of the manor I previously filmed with the eye flower, I started using a telescope again yesterday to take another look. To my surprise, the festive atmosphere of the decorations at the foot of the mountain is getting stronger and stronger."

"This must be some kind of omen! My fellow netizens and I analyzed from 7 PM last night until 10 PM. With the help of everyone, I feel we have successfully predicted the manor's main quest!!"

Screenshots, Screenshots.

The comparison images were posted. Due to the dense forest, the manor under the telescope only revealed a corner, with most of it blocked.

"First of all, anyone who has played this type of management game knows that for inns, hotels, and manor management, the game's playable area is limited. Everything outside is wallpaper, which we call an air wall."

"Everything outside is a virtual map. When Ember goes out, it's just pretending to go out. Once they step out, they become data. For details, you can refer to Travel Frog, or idle games. They only bring materials and belong to text adventures."

"So, why is the dynamic wallpaper at the foot of the mountain constantly progressing? Why are the festive lanterns gradually being hung? It must be an indication that new plot is coming soon!"

"After the Crow Calamity, I think there are two possible developments for the main quest."

"1. To be optimistic, a management-style main quest – the New Year celebration. Since we can't go down the mountain, let Ember go to the market to set up a stall and sell weapons, doing business with the fellow villagers below. This logic is quite normal, right?"

"2. To be pessimistic, a combat-style main quest – the Nian Beast. The Nian Beast is a regular in New Year events in various games. The joyful villagers during the festival will trigger the monster Nian Beast to attack the village. At this time, we on the mountain need to frantically forge weapons, play suonas, and strike gongs, and sell them to the villagers below to drive away the Nian Beast!?"

"Regardless, it requires the manor to urgently forge weapons to have a sense of participation. The main quest is this."

"Of course, the threshold for participation is high, and you need Ember! This way, whether it's selling weapons at the market or helping to sell weapons to drive away the Nian Beast, Ember is needed to transport the goods and deliver our weapons to the villagers below."

After a wave of brilliant analysis akin to Sherlock Holmes, everyone felt it made a lot of sense.

The previous main quest was to gather materials.

This main quest was definitely about using the materials to sell weapons!

This game was full of strange details; it wouldn't just create this wallpaper at the foot of the mountain for no reason; it was definitely hinting at something.

The comments below were also quite interesting.

[This game has refreshed my worldview. Even in such a small area, they can come up with so many imaginative new plots. The last Crow Calamity provided forging materials from the sky, and this one involves sending "pets" to go to the market and set up stalls from afar. It's truly innovative!]

[Su Yu Niang's fellow netizens are amazing! We can finally let our pet babies sell the crow materials we've stockpiled in the market! We can also exchange them for some good items! The trading gameplay is very novel!]

[I know this. She's been chatting at night recently, picking her feet while having awkward conversations about the plot, and sharing recordings of the day with her fellow netizens, analyzing and complaining frantically. It's actually yielded results.]

[She must have guessed right now.]

[The development team is slacking off, not writing this. Jiu Cai Rong, hurry up and write the update announcement for the new main quest.]

Ning Zheng watched for a while and figured out roughly what was going on.

It was because it was the New Year down the mountain, and the annual market was in full swing.

What main quest or not? They were simply thrilled to have secretly seen a glimpse of it and wanted to enthusiastically participate in the mountain market by setting up stalls.

Ning Zheng guessed their intentions.

They were all lively and eager, always wanting to sell weapons.

Even though they had said they would contact merchants in the city once their skills improved, they couldn't wait.

But now there was a big problem.

The villagers down the mountain were not ordinary people.

The stalls were in the ghost market, a hundred ghosts parading at night, ghost soldiers passing through. The people there were not living beings.

There were fisherman water monkeys, red-clothed brides, pig sellers, skull candied haw peddlers – sinister, violent, bizarre, evil, cackling creepily, engaging in forced buying and selling. They weren't selling ordinary goods.

But Ning Zheng thought about it carefully.

Weren't the blacksmiths also not ordinary people?

The things they sent out were not living beings either. They were all of the same kind. In the ghost market, what was there to fear about conflicts or people dying?

Since none of them were ordinary living people, it was unlikely that anything major would happen.

In Ning Zheng's opinion, the strangeness of these blacksmiths was also astonishing. Forced buying and selling?

It was hard to say who would bully whom.

He had learned his lesson from the crow incident. "I suppose I was worried for nothing. This place is full of spirit manors, and I'm the only living person. Only I will die. I should worry about my own safety instead."

Ning Zheng had already removed this group of little blacksmiths from the human category, placing them alongside the fellow villagers of the spirit manor.