A New World, an immersive game experience

Continuing on, Eldrian searched for the details on how the 'city-building' part of the major update would be implemented.

Apparently, gold and mana crystals will be required to purchase certain functions for the owned locations. Once functions were unlocked, it would even be possible to create a city in minutes. Albeit at extreme costs.

'I see. The mana from mana crystals will supplement material requirements. Having the materials will also lower the gold cost. So, if you have everything needed to build the fort or town, then you just need to pay a handling fee.'

'Oh, guild houses can even be spruced up, too. Though furniture bought through the system can't leave the confines of the house. Does that hold for forts too?' Eldrian wondered, having hoped to perhaps buy a ton of cannons and cannonballs to supplement their supply.

Though, that would only be possible if they could be bought, and if the price was acceptable.

In effect, this update basically brought the virtual home style world building to the game itself. The amount of freedom it will give players, however, wasn't stated in details. But considering Fort Phoenix, Eldrian felt it was going to be quite an amazing system.

'Ah, so the only difference between forts, towns, and cities is size. You can basically do everything else you want in any of them. Oh, magic towers are also limited in each.'

Eldrian was glad the price for them wasn't listed. He was sure it would scare him to death. After all, a magic crystal is more powerful than even the largest Mov Crystal, which could easily go for ten thousand gold. 'Does that mean they aren't required to set up a location?'

'As for the difference between this and the virtual home—instead of paying with cash to get functions, we need to spend in-game currency... And, well, whatever is built will appear in game, not in a separate virtual space.'

'That is probably where the market update comes. Bet the dungeon one is also to supplement the city building.'

The market update was simple enough. Thus far, the only trading possible had been between players. Both types were auction-like. Items traded in temples, and gold and silvers simply through the system.

The new market system would allow the buying of online currency with cold hard cash at fixed rates.

'Not the biggest fan of this part,' Eldrian thought. It would certainly give anyone with spare cash an advantage. However, looking at the current conversion rate, Eldrian shrugged. Sure, silver and gold had become cheaper, but one silver was still worth 0.25 dollars.

Considering that Tier 5 items went for anywhere from 150 to 300 gold on average, Eldrian didn't see how people could afford to use the market to get OP. Spending 4k for one item was simply insanity, and it wouldn't even be OP. It would be a low end Tier 5 item.

'Still, I wonder if they're going to crash the market? If they make the fixed amount low, something like 1 silver to 1 cent, that can be relatively affordable. Still expensive, but I'm sure there are crazies that can afford that.'

As it currently stood, it was simply not probable to buy a weapon with actual cash. Well, at least not for any normal person.

'Then again, the dungeons are going to lower the value of gold regardless,' Eldrian thought. This was perhaps the biggest change for him. While the city building update was great news for kingdoms. Having the ability to build a fort, town, or city with just money was insanely valuable.

However, these dungeons were going to be the most likely source to fund city building. And they were what he was most hyped for. He already had an idea where two might appear, and both would be most welcome. Grinding them could finally change his and the guild's, even the kingdom's, financial difficulties.

[Dungeons currently only activate when very extreme scenarios are met. With only 96 occurrences since release, we have decided to add standard dungeons across the world where major events had occurred in the past...]

'But why now?' This question kept bothering Eldrian.

These additions were certainly welcome. With how things had been going, Eldrian had been fearing how they could hope for victory. The kingdom was continually being whittled down, and he didn't think he could grow strong enough to make a decisive difference.

Not only that, but their resources are also finite. Especially mana crystals. Spent when used, the kingdom only had so many. And only a certain amount could be mined each month. Heck, those mines might even dry up in time.

'The ability to buy mana crystals via the new market is nice. Extremely so. Not to mention the rotational items.' This all seemed great, and while all this will drop the value of in game currencies, Eldrian felt it was needed if they were to prevail in the end.

However, he could not understand the reason the devs had finally added some friendly updates. Heck, the last update had been so long ago he hadn't thought there would be any more coming.

'Should I cash in the rest of the gold? Or wait and see what the market update is going to do?'

Eldrian had been locked from that part of the system for a while. What with him considered dead by the public and all that. He only recently got that error fixed, somehow it had gone smoothly. Eldrian probably had Zaphreal to thank for that.

Still, it was a simple matter to give the gold to Elizabeth. It was from the guild's bank that they had afforded the abandoned warehouse where Eldrian was staying.

"We need some cash, and I can't think... well, maybe they won't crash the market. But still..." In the end, Eldrian withdraw the rest of the gold inside the lich's ring. It would give them around 30k to work with. Enough to manage for a year, if they didn't go crazy on repairs or anything like that. He was fine living off canned foods or what he could catch in the forest near the city.

'As for the mana crystals, I'll give some to Ilmadia. But I want to keep enough to cause some havoc on the front lines.'

'Oh right, that reminds me of the mine... with the undead finally dealt with, we can finally look into it. Though, the fact that there is a drake living there is a problem...'

Diving into his thoughts, Eldrian settled into thinking of the future. He even determined to contact Jade.

—

"Oh, the new update?" Jade asked, a smile playing on her lips. Twirling her golden hair with her fingers as she teased Eldrian. "Not telling. You've been ignoring me." She puffed.

"Seriously? We've been at war, you know?" Eldrian countered.

"True..." Jade nodded. Of course, that hadn't mattered to her. She had simply spent her flirting between places.

Considering that she wasn't constrained like other players, she sometimes explored the libraries of empires. Other times she went sightseeing the wonders of ANW. Sometimes she didn't even enter the game, and at other times she lazed around in the fort.

"What do you think, Levana?" Jade asked, throwing her head over her shoulders at the vampire.

Eldrian still couldn't quite understand why the two had grown so close. Nor why they spent basically all their time here. Especially since no one else had come here during the border siege.