This Wasn't Originally a Honey Pot

Moonlight Tower's lower levels had a notorious reputation for being horrific in all sorts of ways.

But from my perspective, where I knew everything from the pathfinding to the boss strategies, it was just an original-era dungeon with a shitty layout.

Streamers were people who pretty much only played the game outside of eating and sleeping, so even a dungeon with a big reputation like this could be cleared in two hours ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with time to spare.

So...

That's my long-winded excuse for having no grounds to refuse Im Ha-rin, who begged me to hit the PC bang right after school ended by promising to buy me a burger.

"Unnie, unnie! Hana unnie."

Im Ha-rin held a burger in her left hand and pointed at the PC bang monitor with her right.

"Did you see this? You gotta know about it."

"Uh... if you're talking about YouTube algorithms, this definitely doesn't look like a high school girl's."

How is the recommended feed nothing but League of Legends and Lost of Fantasy?Is this really a high school girl? She's just a total gamer.

"Nooo, not that. It's about PlayPeople."

"Oh... them? Like I said last time, they do rampant reposts as a basic, and they spew bullshit for views, so no need to watch that crap at school."

"You're saying that without knowing what I'm talking about, right? They reposted what you said again."

"Not surprised..."

It was something I'd half-expected, so I just felt that numb "live and let die" vibe.

"But they seem scared of getting sued. They didn't use Kang Min-seo or other streamers' footage—instead, they screenshotted their own in-game characters and posted that?"

"Wow, they've evolved. Give 'em five more years, and they'll be perfect for exploiting kids on passion pay until they get sued..."

"Hey, for real. That?"

"......Metaphor!"

I firmly pressed Im Ha-rin's side boob with my left hand.

This hadn't happened yet in Jeong Hana's world.

"Anyway... look at this. 'Why You Need to Hit Level 55 Fast! Let's Talk Expert Materials!'"

Im Ha-rin read the PlayPeople video title with the enthusiasm for some dramatic sound effect like doong-doong-doong in the background.

"Huh, weirdly on point for once... not bullshit. Expert materials are a honey pot."

Sweet enough that if someone asked if you could rice-farm with this, you'd confidently say "of course."

And it refilled like a honey pot every expansion pack.

Guys ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dead-set on rice-farming with expert professions would level up at lightspeed right at launch, farm materials all day, and rake in massive profits.

"Tch... you didn't tell me about something this good?"

"Your level's too low for the honey pot to even open. I'll tell you when you hit max."

"Max level? They say you can make over a thousand gold an hour at 55?"

"What kinda nonsense is that?"

Im Ha-rin pointed at the monitor again with her right hand.

"Look, unnie. If you grind expert materials from Moonlight Tower hard and sell 'em, the auction house buys 'em up high—about a thousand gold per hour?"

"No way..."

Why would I have spilled this on stream?Because it's not a honey pot.

"Total bullshit."

"Really? But they do trade high on the auction house, right? Don't you know? The price keeps climbing."

"No, why?"

"Uh... 'cause they go into potions and crafted items you mentioned? And accessories! They go into making accessories!"

They're gonna regret this...

"Agh, so frustrating. Hold on."

I jumped straight into the gallery and posted.

"...Unnie, seems pointless?"

Im Ha-rin finished munching her burger to the end, wiped her hands with a wet wipe, and said.

"They buy up everything posted on the auction house right now. Especially herbs! Herbs go into potions, right? Those are great."

"They're gonna regret this..."

"Strength potions? They say DPS goes up basically 10% with 'em? Gallery's going nuts saying they're essential and prices will stay high forever!"

"No, absolutely not. Items made at 55 will crash harder the more people hit max. They're just stepping stones."

Im Ha-rin sipped her cola and looked at me.

"Really? Better stuff comes out at max?"

"Yeah, that thing you mentioned? Moonlight Beast Potion."

"Yeah! Strength +50 for 30 seconds."

"At max, you can make Blessed Strength Boost Potion. That's +100 strength."

"Huh? 100? Double?"

So materials farmed at 55 are meaningless.

"Later, when people do all-in-one packages and level expert professions, they'll need a ton, but not 'thousand gold an hour' expensive."

"But you can still make crafted gear? I saw in the gallery—Lost of Fantasy lets you wear two accessories?"

"'Cause good ones don't drop in dungeons. Raw stat crafts with crit or spec look tasty?"

"Yeah! Exactly that, unnie!"

"Yup~ At max, you can make ones with 1.5x more main stat."

The devs aren't idiot morons.

No way they'd let you use 55 gear forever.

"Then the day people hit max, this stuff becomes total trash..."

Slurp, slurp—

Im Ha-rin drank her cola with a super disappointed look.

"But, unnie. This much?"

"What is it?"

"...I'm 56. Can't we bus a couple runs of the Tower?"

"What's the goal."

I poked her side boob again with my left elbow.

"Ahng! Leveling up!"

"No honest answer, I'm ditching you. Lots of people waiting for me."

"N-nooo... I get what you said, unnie? Once max hits, this stuff's instant trash! Hoarding now is total idiot move?"

"Yeah. I don't recommend it."

"Tha~t Ru~n! Tho~se! Look at the auction house search!"

Im Ha-rin madly clicked the auction house NPC to show me the prices.

"See? 10 gold each right now? Thousand an hour's exaggeration, but it's expensive!"

"What? Then a stack's 200 gold?"

"Uh, stack?"

"You know herbs take proper bag slots? Max 20 per slot. So they sell in stacks."

20 per stack.

20 at 10 gold each = 200 gold.

"Insane... who's buying this much? Why?"

"Gallery says potions are consumables, and DPS boosters have endless demand."

"True, but no one can make 'em yet?"

Lost of Fantasy's expert professions were a chain of mini-games with pedigree.

So no one-click potions.

You could make 'em, but same 10 materials: noobs make 5, pros make 20—huge efficiency gap.

"Really?"

"Expert professions have quest-like progression from the bottom up... no one can make these yet."

"Whoa, then it's hoarding, unnie! 'Cause people hype it as great!"

"Ugh..."

Hoarding this? When they won't even use it???

"Anyway... dunno who's crazy enough, but this is a honey pot. If they buy at these prices, thousand an hour? If they keep buying, over 2k easy."

"2k gold?! You ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠can clear that fast, unnie?"

"Why clear dungeons?"

Im Ha-rin blinked.

"Uh... Moonlight Rockgrass only drops in Moonlight Tower?"

"Who said?"

"...You?"

Im Ha-rin firmly poked my chest with her finger.

"When did I?"

"On stream earlier? Farm materials from the Tower."

"Those you can farm anyway, and lower mobs are tough so you kill packs and water bread—might as well sensibly grab usable expert mats instead of standing idle."

"R-really? But people think it only drops here?"

Hold up, that's why it's expensive?

"This wasn't originally this big a honey pot—there's the reason for the price spike..."

I bolted to the flight manager and flew straight to the spot in my memory.

"Huh? Unnie, why there?"

"Come on. You're 56, right? This open?"

"Passed by and unlocked it."

"Party up. From now on, do exactly what I say."

Normally I'd level now.

But if someone's buying herbs this high, that's different.

"Unnie, I'm here... what're we doing?"

"See this? The cave. Tree ghost cave."

"Oh, this the quick-farm spot? Kinda meh."

"Mobs don't matter. See, go inside... there?"

"Whoa?! Moonlight Rockgrass here too? Wow, tons! What?!"

Deep in the elongated cave: nearly 10 gathering points for Moonlight Rockgrass.

"In a party like us. I gather one node? You touch within 5 seconds, it doesn't vanish—you get one too."

Official name's gathering point, but I call 'em nodes 'cause lazy.

"Huh...? Herbs don't duplicate?"

"They do, and farms don't know this exploit yet—game's too new."

Safety measure: too many users fighting over field mats? Boom.

Our farm uncles rice-farmed with this.

"Anyway, Ha-rin. Let's suck some honey. Good?"

"Wow, perfect, unnie! How many herbs per node?"

"No expert professions, so even good luck: max 2. One lap here = one stack."

"This whole thing in under 5 minutes?"

Obvious.

"Yup. Mobs spawn sometimes and smack us, but you're Black Mage—20-sec kills. Or CC and farm if lazy."

"In-insane... 5 min for over 20? Hour = 240!"

Im Ha-rin started grinning ear to ear.

"Dungeon run's barely one stack an hour, unnie? Even named-skip reset exploit: 5 in 10 min!!!"

"But PlayPeople's in trouble."

"Why?"

"Why? They hyped this as honey pot, made the hype. Few days? Prices tank. Gonna eat massive shit."

I called it trash gear, right?

Auction it for gold though.