Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Magic Stones (2)
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"Oh..."
Kim Hyunwoo let out an involuntary gasp of admiration as he gazed at the magic stones filling the basement of the Lord's Castle. He turned to check the resource window.
The resource window for Lartania looked vastly different from what it had been a month ago.
The Red Stones, which had numbered only a few thousand even after buying the Labyrinth Package, had been spent on expanding the underground warehouse because there wasn't enough space for all the magic stones piling up in the Lord's Castle basement.
The Blue Stones had gone toward activating the smithy package, and the gold reserves—which had once exceeded a million—had dwindled to just around 300,000 after funding the walls, buying more resources, and exchanging for magic stones.
An enormous expenditure, to be sure.
Yet Kim Hyunwoo felt no anxiety about it, even as he fully recognized the scale.
Lartania was developing at a breakneck pace with every coin spent on gold, and these magic stones—converted from cash—had been stockpiled precisely for today.
"Loria, are all these magic stones lowest-grade?"
Kim Hyunwoo nodded as he listened to Loria, his eyes fixed on the mountain of stones piled high.
'This should be more than enough.'
Truth be told, back when Kim Hyunwoo played Arteil as a game, magic stones weren't all that valuable—at least, not objectively speaking.
For one thing, they were a resource that couldn't be traded with other players.
And while there were uses for them, early in the game, the only places to spend them were on various processing facilities or third-tier territory buildings you could construct later. Nothing else.
Meanwhile, stones just kept piling up in your warehouse all day if you were grinding packages to level heroes or running the labyrinth.
Later on, warehouses would fill up because of magic stones, prompting players to complain en masse to the developers.
Thanks to those persistent reports, the devs eventually added a way to get rid of them: a system to forcibly trigger a Labyrinth Break with magic stones.
Players cheered when the feature first dropped.
Labyrinth Breaks could devastate your territory if you couldn't stop them, but succeeding meant a great source of Red and Blue Stones.
But after the initial hype, the "Magic Stone Break"—as players dubbed it—earned nothing but rage.
On paper, it wasn't terrible. The devs made rewards almost identical to regular Labyrinth Breaks, just without Blue Stones. Red Stones were the same.
The problem? The sheer number of stones required.
To trigger one yourself, you needed over 50,000 stones.
It was possible if you grinded non-stop with packages, ignoring hero affinity drops and sleep.
But the devs added another catch: you could only use stones of the same grade.
Want to spend 50,000? They all had to be lowest-grade, triggering a level 10 break matching a beginner territory.
It screamed "no cash shop rewards for you," and players tore into the devs—but they never changed it.
'Come to think of it, that's around when player numbers started dropping.'
Recalling what might have been the beginning of the game's decline, Kim Hyunwoo glanced at the open window.
※Caution! Please use where magic stones are present![Lowest-grade] Labyrinth Break occurs!! Offer magic stones to trigger a Labyrinth Break incident equivalent to territory level 10. Required Magic Stones: 50,000 / 50,000Reward: [Red Stones 1,500]
[Purchase? Y/N]
Kim Hyunwoo scanned the alert floating before him and eyed the reward.
'A level 10 Labyrinth Break yields 1,500 Red Stones.'
To buy a 30-day Labyrinth Package, he'd need to trigger it five times with 250,000 stones—but he nodded, figuring it wasn't bad.
Huge quantity, sure, but no real loss.
'Converting stones to Red Stones is basically free money.'
Plus, deeper labyrinth runs would bring extra income and gold, making stone expenditure essential for maintenance.
He was already skyrocketing territory growth just by building the labyrinth city.
And further development would minimize losses, so he hit Y without hesitation.
Woooong—!
He watched as a massive magic circle appeared before him, sucking in a colossal number of stones.
'Alright, now all that's left is convincing them.'
Smiling, he headed toward the square where the mercenaries waited.
"?"
Kim Hyunwoo tilted his head at the sudden alert but shrugged it off.
Normally it'd catch his attention, but lately these popped up often with no issues.
Loria had mentioned heroes with certain artifacts could trigger them just by coming and going.
He'd even spotted a few at the tavern with such items after similar alerts, so he shrugged and continued to the square.
Lartania's square.
Kim Hyunwoo surveyed the mercenaries packed in tight.
Every one stared at him with curiosity. Clearing his throat, he met their gazes.
Of course, he had no intention of telling them about the Labyrinth Break.
Public perception of it was too negative; mentioning it could stir unpredictable reactions.
So instead of the straight truth...
"I am Kim Hyunwoo, Lord of Lartania."
He opted for a prettier spin.
"In about 30 minutes, every monster emerging from the labyrinth for the next day will drop 100% magic stones."
Like calling it a double EXP event, say.
The mercenaries bolted for the labyrinth without waiting for more after his single line.
"...Pardon? So, does that mean the goblins appearing at 100% rate... means you've artificially triggered a Labyrinth Break?"
"That's right."
He told the curious Elena the truth. She looked shocked and pressed further.
"I-Is that okay? Labyrinth Breaks are incredibly dangerous."
"It's fine."
Kim Hyunwoo answered cleanly.
"The one I'm triggering artificially isn't that intense anyway."
Naturally, he wasn't blindly lying to the mercenaries, but Elena's worry made sense.
A Labyrinth Break was still a Labyrinth Break, even if mild. Heavy mercenary losses could cause internal backlash in Lartania.
But his confidence stemmed from their numbers.
For a level 15 break, you needed about 1,500 soldiers with walls and proper gear.
Lartania's mercenaries exceeded 9,000 at minimum count, and even if only half headed down after his speech—that was 4,500.
Overwhelming human wave tactics, no upkeep cost.
'Plus, level 10 breaks spawn no large monsters—just goblins and such. No major casualties.'
With that thought, he smiled at the alert signaling the Labyrinth Break's start.
"And once this break ends, we're heading to floor 4. Get ready."
"Ah, yes, got it."
As he checked progress and popped a dried sweet potato—one of Rani's test snacks from yesterday—into his mouth...
"?"
Something felt off. He tilted his head.
The end was oddly moist, despite being yesterday's leftover.
'Who touched it?'
Frowning at the thought, he spotted Elena right in front of him.
"? What's wrong?"
She asked, staring blankly at him. He nodded with a small smile, realization dawning.
"Dried sweet potatoes are tasty, huh."
"Pardon...?"
"They're surprisingly addictive."
Elena blinked at his out-of-nowhere comment but caught on and responded.
"...Um, my lord? I think you're misunderstanding. I didn't touch them."
"No need to deny it."
"Yes?? No, I really didn't!"
Elena looked utterly indignant.
Kim Hyunwoo nodded knowingly, as if he had her figured out.
"Okay, okay. I'll ask Rani to make more next time."
"No, seriously, it wasn't me!?"
"I know."
"No!? It really wasn't!!"
"Sure, sure."
Elena could only wear an infinitely aggrieved expression at Kim Hyunwoo's utter disbelief.