The Star Archipelago, Sun-Eroding Island.
That day, some players in the Mining Area were reassigned from mining to transporting ore.
Their good fortune had come so suddenly that they could hardly believe it.
Every day, the ore produced in the Mining Area was piled up in its center and watched over by laborers assigned to transport it out.
Every player who entered the Sun-Eroding Island Mining Area had coveted the pile of Spirit Ore at its center.
Unfortunately, they hadn't been able to get anywhere near it.
But things were different now.
As laborers responsible for transporting ore, their job was to watch over and move the whole batch.
So now, they were both thieves and guards.
Just thinking about it made them happy.
That day, cheers rang out in the Sun-Eroding Island regional chat channel.
"Whoa, the batch that just arrived had two Level 3 ores in it. They're both mine!"
"Take a look, guys. Ever seen ore like this? (screenshot.jpg) It's Level 3, but it sells for twice as much as ordinary Level 3 ore in the Game Store. And now it's mine."
"We're rich! We're rich! Sun-Eroding Island really is a great place. This is so much fun!"
"Fifteen people per group, and each person gets one-fifteenth of a batch of ore. It's way more profitable than mining!"
The players' eyes gleamed as the pile of ore grew taller.
In their eyes, the ore already belonged to them.
All they had to do now was find an unoccupied corner and divide up the batch.
Before long, however, a player voiced a dissenting opinion in the regional voice channel.
This player had a very different idea from most of the others about what they should do with the ore.
"Whatever you do, don't take the entire batch at once. That'd be like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, and we'd actually make the least profit that way. Think about it: once we take this batch, will we still get a chance to steal Spirit Ore on Sun-Eroding Island? More importantly, doing this could also hurt our brothers on Dragon Scale Island and make the Faceless Tribe declare war on all of us. Then we'd become enemies of every player, especially since there are plenty of people outside waiting to get in. So I think the best approach is to take about 20% each time and keep it going. We'd make far more than we would from a one-time haul!"
"He's got a point. The most important thing is to keep harvesting the leeks, one crop after another. We absolutely can't pull them up by the roots all at once. That'd be stupid."
"I agree. We'll make more by transporting ore several times than we would in a single haul."
"You've said exactly what I was thinking. Everyone, don't be reckless. Let's work together and keep harvesting the leeks."
"Anyone who cuts off our source of income is making an enemy of all the players. You'd better think carefully and not mess this up, or you'll be living at the respawn point from now on!"
As the players discussed the matter in the regional voice channel, this player laid out his proposal and explained its pros and cons.
His suggestion soon won the support of a large number of players.
Before long, they gradually reached a consensus.
When it came to a one-time haul versus harvesting ore over the long term, they chose to maximize their profits.
Inside the Mining Area.
Once enough Spirit Ore had accumulated,
the players began loading it onto mine carts under the supervisors' watch, then carried it out of the mine in batches.
After following the Mining Area's route out of the mine and reaching an unsupervised area, the players made their move.
They picked through the ore in the carts and slipped the pieces they wanted into their private spaces.
But they didn't take much. They shared 20% among themselves and kept an eye on one another.
At that moment, the players were overjoyed.
Once they'd finished picking through the ore, they transported the batch along the route to the ore production statistics department.
Some players were kept behind to help the statistics department count the Spirit Ore and sort it by quality, while the rest returned to the Mining Area.
As soon as those players returned, the Mining Area supervisors came over to ask what had happened.
The players had already discussed their story in the regional voice channel, and immediately told the supervisors about the many "suspicious things" they'd noticed during transport.
They started casting suspicion on the statistics department.
But they didn't directly accuse it of stealing the Spirit Ore.
That way, they could make the supervisors even more suspicious of the department while also securing greater benefits for themselves.
Sure enough,
after hearing the players' account, the supervisors of the various Mining Areas grew extremely excited.
They felt their suspicions had been right all along: the drop in Spirit Ore production was indeed the fault of the Spirit Ore statistics department.
Now they just had to have the Human Race laborers keep investigating. It was only a matter of time before they found evidence.
They were even more convinced that assigning the Human Race laborers to the transport team had been a wise decision.
When the players who'd helped the statistics department count and sort the ore returned, the supervisors of the various Mining Areas approached them again.
These players had already agreed on what to say, too.
They began listing the various suspicious things they'd noticed while counting the Spirit Ore.
For instance, they'd noticed that the statistics department sometimes sent them away for a while during the counting process. They'd also seen the department head count a batch of ore alone, and so on...
These accounts undoubtedly deepened the supervisors' suspicions of the statistics department.
They also made the supervisors trust the players even more.
Word of what had happened on Sun-Eroding Island soon appeared in the Omnipotent God Discussion Forum.
It drew the attention of a large number of players.
One player even recorded a video to show off.
In the video, several players stood beside carts piled high with ore, putting on all kinds of airs.
"Ugh, this is so heavy. I'm exhausted. When will this life ever end?"
"Another exhausting day. I suddenly miss the carefree days on Dragon Scale Island. Hahaha!"
"There's enough ore here to buy a house back home, right? Jealous? Hahahaha!"
The post was full of replies from players saying, "???"
Clearly, the people in the forum still had no idea what was going on.
But before long, someone explained in the replies, describing what had changed on Sun-Eroding Island and how they'd been reassigned to the ore transport team.
The other players in the forum were incredibly envious of their good fortune.
Many players already thought mining on Sun-Eroding Island sounded wonderful. They hadn't expected the treatment to improve again.
They'd gone from mining gold to hauling gold bricks.
Just thinking about it made them happy.
Unfortunately, getting a place on the trip to Sun-Eroding Island was like entering a lottery. You couldn't just go because you wanted to.
The players in the forum could only envy them and secretly swear that next time, they'd do whatever it took to push to the front and claim a place on the trip to Sun-Eroding Island.