Gamers of the Underworld (Web Novel)
chapter-59

Chapter 59: Offline Maintenance

Sherlock and Professor Bacon finalized their initial agreement. Professor Bacon had a deeper understanding of the request to package the graduating research as a heroic conquest of an Instance Dungeon. They even discussed the details of the Instance Dungeon Plot.

Professor Bacon used a Teleport Scroll to return to Winterfell. He had promised to bring the agreement contract and his workers three days later.

Sherlock would be the representative for the Goblins in the agreement with the Specter College.

The workers would be in charge of constructing the Teleport Portal.

The Specter College had provided a specific location for the graduating research.

As Sherlock had agreed to supply the Goblins to solve the problem of the graduating Liches, spending a few tens of thousands of Magic Stones on building a Teleport Portal was a small matter for the college. It would help the Goblins arrive quickly at the graduating research Training Grounds.

There were tens of thousands of graduating Liches, and a similar number of Goblins was required. Would the college provide the Teleport Scrolls? And deploy a Lich with Teleport Scrolls to Eternal Kingdom as a Teleport Specialist? No matter the method, the cost would be high!

It was better to install a Teleport Portal and do Lord Sherlock a favor.

A few tens of thousands of Magic Stones was a paltry sum to the Specter College. It charged high fees and provided a premium education.

This Teleport Portal was linked to Winterfell and not Specter College.

Winterfell was the Teleport Interchange in which the Goblins could be teleported to Specter College.

As Specter College had only contacted Sherlock recently, there was no reason to open its school to a Dungeon governed by a superior Devil.

Winterfell was different, it was a neutral town of the Merchant Alliance. It was perfectly safe.

To ensure timely teleportation, the Specter College rented a Teleport Portal in Winterfell for a specialized fast lane.

Sherlock was good with the arrangement as he didn’t have to use Teleport Scrolls to travel to Winterfell in the future.

After sending off Bacon, Sherlock looked at the diligent gamers before browsing the discussion forum, which was filled with posts by the Beta Gamers.

NotWearingPants wrote a post titled [Sherlie’s plot is awesome, all other games’ cut scenes were inferior!]. The post attracted tens of thousands of replies. Though it wasn’t the most popular post, it attracted Sherlock’s attention.

Sherlock opened the post, and the beginning was NotWearingPants’ symbolic greeting.

“Greetings everyone. It’s me, NotWearingPants (.・∀・)ノ゙..

It has been a week since I wrote the strategy guide on Cramer. Recently, there have been great changes in the plot!

Those gamers who were offline and non-Beta Gamers who weren’t able to witness it, it’s alright, I have many screenshots for your viewing pleasure.

(Picture) (Picture) (Picture)…

The special effects are awesome compared to the previous games that I have played.

The game has a 100% true to life animation that has a shocking effect. It is as though I am immersed in the ‘Harry Potter’ universe. I would say the special effects are even better than ‘Harry Potter’!

We will discuss the game plot.

We found many Skeleton Soldiers in the Spiders’ Lair. Sylvanas posted a call to arms, and many gamers gathered in the Spiders’ Lair.

Then we were shown the Plot Animation.

That is correct. It is the Void Devil—Ba.Mannoroth.Con.

(Picture).

There were a lot of us, and we weren’t able to move during the animation. Of all the screen captures, this is the best one. Please bear with it.

The mysterious Ba.Mannoroth.Con is the first BOSS with dialogue and is on par with Sherlock’s power. Ba.Mannoroth.Con looked pretty cool.

We only have the following information on Ba.Mannoroth.Con:

One: He is a BOSS with hit points. Though we didn’t kill him, we will definitely fight him in the future. Everyone get ready to obtain Ba.Mannoroth.Con’s Leash.

Two: He knows Sherlie, but their relationship isn’t good. He is on par or even higher than Sherlie’s level.

Three: His goal is to destroy the Underworld, but he is being stopped by Sherlie. This might be a contrived plot, so it won’t be discussed.

Four: Two of his abilities are known. The first one is to summon Skeleton Soldiers. In the fight with Ba.Mannoroth.Con, they didn’t come and help. The second one is to create a magical gust to blow the gamers all over the place. It didn’t cause any damage to us.

As this is a plot BOSS fight, the abilities are for consideration only. I’m not sure what his actual abilities are when we fight him in the Dungeon.

This is what we gathered about Ba.Mannoroth.Con.

After defeating Ba.Mannoroth.Con, we got to know about a new plot mission from Sherlie, but we will only get the details after Sherlie has recovered his power.

As Sherlie hasn’t recovered, the plot is currently unable to continue.

As for when the plot will continue, we have to wait for updates, which are frequent during the Beta Testing.

In the next encounter with the plot BOSS, could everyone please refrain from attacking our own gamers?

Sherlie’s plot is really awesome. Please take a look at the pictures as my words are unable to express the awesomeness!

I am sending Sherlie’s pictures:

(Picture) (Picture) …

Currently, there are double rewards for the missions. I will hurry back to carry more bricks. Farewell!”

[Dragon Taking Flight: The pictures showed that the producers are paying a lot for the special effects. (ง•_•)ง]

[Invincible Stronghold: Imaginative Lich King attacks the Sacred Nuptial Light]

[Dark Sky: When Sherlie was vulnerable, should you not have stabbed him? What if he has loot? ԅ( ̄『̄ԅ)]

[High Altitude Rain: The previous poster is smart! Why did I not think of it?]

[Young Dragon: This is hilarious. Is the ChestHair in the picture a pedicurist?]

[Lang Ge Li Ge Lang: D*mn, it’s allies, stop! (Manual Comedy)]

[Seafood Shaved Ice: Wait, did anyone discover the front and end name of the BOSS combines into Bacon? Perhaps it’s an Easter Egg?]

[Nuclear Beard: Gosh, you found a blind spot. = ̄ω̄=]

…

As Sherlock was browsing the posts, Bru said, “Lord Sherlock, the ‘Civilization’ series has completed its download.”

“That fast? It has been 50 hours already? Let me see…”

Sherlock closed the discussion forum and uncompressed the zipped file. He installed the game and started “Civilization 6”.

After the strange opening animation, Sherlock browsed the selectable roles and chose the Qin Emperor, who looked like a capable human leader. He clicked on the Quick Start button.

“Isn’t Lord Sherlock starting as a beginner? Isn’t this your first time playing this type of game?” Bru had some experience.

“It’s too troublesome. I’ll learn as I go along,” Sherlock said confidently as he looked at the game graphics and followed the step-by-step tutorial to move his units. He noticed the words at the bottom right corner—Next turn. Sherlock clicked on it.

…

“Lord Sherlock? Lord Sherlock! It’s time!” Bru shouted to Sherlock.

“What? The opponent finished constructing the Wonder of the World? Impossible, I’ve calculated that I’m faster!”

Bru said immediately, “Lord Sherlock, the creatures from Specter College have arrived. It’s the third day today.”

“Today is the third day?”

Sherlock lifted his head and saw the gamers working diligently outside. A few gamers bought beds and private land from Bru. During this period of time, Bru took over Sherlock’s job.

Sherlock was dazed. Why did time pass so fast? He felt he had only clicked a few Next Turn buttons.

“Lord Sherlock, the Specter College is constructing the Teleport Portal in the Dungeon, and it will take at least two days. During this time, I suggest offline maintenance. They are different from the Winterfell workers. Most likely, they are Mana-skilled Liches. If they come in contact with our gamers, there could be issues. I’ll explain offline maintenance to you…”

Sherlock agreed to Bru’s suggestion. He could focus on the Main Plot, background story, and the Instance Dungeon updates.

The gamers received Bru’s System announcement:

[Offline Maintenance Notice: The game will carry out offline maintenance and upgrade the functions in the new version. The gamers are to go offline within half an hour to prevent data loss.]