Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 103 - 98 New Armor

Chapter 103: Chapter 98 New Armor

"Success!"

"It was a tough fight, but it’s been a while since I battled a challenging boss like this. Absolutely exhilarating."

Zhao Haiping wiped the sweat from his forehead and joined the other players in cleaning up the battlefield.

The armor and weapons left behind by the demon had Demonic Qi, allowing players to use them temporarily but not to carry them as long as their own weapons and armor, so handing them in was the best choice.

Moreover, since it was a collective effort by all players to conquer the demon, these spoils of war certainly couldn’t be monopolized by a few.

The group, in high spirits, carried the weapons and armor back, ready to trade them in at the blacksmith’s for silver.

The money gained from these spoils could be combined with the bounty earned from killing bandits, to be distributed according to the game’s assessment of each player’s Contribution Value.

There was even a small compensation to encourage players who had died.

These rules were, of course, carefully considered and established by Meng Yuan.

Meng Yuan did not support players recklessly rushing in, wasting the precious strength of the Returners, but he also wanted to encourage their spirit of charging forward bravely.

For example, someone like Fan Cun, who traded his life for a cleaner, quicker end to a battle, such actions also needed encouragement, and his Contribution Value should be correspondingly increased.

Along the way, other players cast envious and regretful glances.

"A big wave of demons appeared?"

"Damn, so many spoils of war? You guys struck it rich, huh!"

"It sucks, I was just idling about moving bricks, and by the time I heard the news and rushed over, the fight was already over?"

The players who missed out on the action were truly sighing in frustration.

Soon, after being resurrected, Fan Cun, Zhao Haiping, and the others received their bounty and returned to the blacksmith shop in the city.

Fan Cun confidently pulled out a handful of silver coins and said, "Brother blacksmith, give me a new set of armor and a spear!"

Then, his voice dropped a little, "Just the mid-grade ones will do."

Although he backed down in a second, none of the other players laughed; instead, they looked on with envy.

Simple reason: the weapons and armor here were extremely expensive!

Even the cheapest kinds were somewhat unaffordable in the eyes of the players.

The blacksmith shop in the fortress sold standardized armor from the Great Sheng Dynasty era, with prices ranging from 40 Silver Coins to one or two Jin Money.

The cheapest armor was 40 Silver Coins, which equated to about four taels of silver in the Great Sheng Dynasty’s history; if converted to modern prices, it was practically around four thousand yuan.

This price was comparable to that of some armor enthusiasts buying armor in the real world.

Despite the higher degree of industrialization in modern times, and superior raw materials and manufacturing processes than in ancient times, modern armor is generally crafted as collectibles—with low demand, low output, and high labor costs.

In ancient times, artisans were low in status, hence labor was much cheaper.

However, regardless of the era, armor was certainly considered an absolute luxury. Many powerful officials accused of treason were often charged with illegally hoarding armor.

Several types of armor were sold in the blacksmith shop, mostly made of cotton armor. They used densely packed cotton soaked in water as the main filling, with cowhide and metal as composite defensive materials, becoming the most common protective gear in the middle and late periods of the Great Sheng Dynasty.

The major differences in the armors sold here were in their craftsmanship and design.

The cheapest sold for 40 Silver Coins, essentially the most basic soldier’s armor, really just a helmet with a simple shoulder pad, somewhat makeshift.

As the price increased, the armor covered more parts of the body, and both practicality and aesthetics naturally increased as well.

For example, higher-end armor included phoenix wing helmets, unique shoulder pads, and front and rear Heart Protectors, with the quality of materials and craftsmanship noticeably higher.

The armor that Fan Cun chose belonged to the mid-grade category, selling for 70 Silver Coins. On the battlefield, it surely qualified as elite.

Of course, there were even more expensive armors available, the full body heavy armors appeared quite magnificent, but neither their weight nor their price was something current players could afford.

Receive

"Great Wei and even earlier Great Chu used to have full body iron armors, right? How come during the Great Sheng Dynasty, they ended up wearing cotton armors? It feels lackluster."

Zhao Haiping explained, "You just don’t know about this. I was curious too, so I asked Chuge.

"He said that though iron armors are great, they are too heavy, usually weighing thirty or forty pounds, which could seriously impede the marching speed. Iron armors are useful against heavy cavalry, but the main enemies of the Great Sheng Dynasty are the barbarians from the north and the bandits from the Eastern Barbarians, who mainly focus on raids, so mobility needs to be ensured.

"Of course, one reason is that such armors are cheaper. If it were pure iron armor, you would probably need to work several more days to afford it.

"Moreover, the protective performance of this armor is definitely much better than the most basic armor of the soldiers; after all, the iron smelting technology and craftsmanship of the Great Sheng Dynasty must have improved a lot from Great Chu."

Fan Cun suddenly realized, "So that’s how it is. Does that mean we might be able to wear full body heavy armors in later and more advanced dynasties?"

Zhao Haiping, "How would I know? I’m not the game designer. But logically, that should be the case."

"Got it, that means we need to continue making money!" Fan Cun happily went out of the city again, ready to continue ambushing the misdirected bandits.

...

Meanwhile, Chuge, Li Weiyi, and other players focused on city building were standing outside in the plaza of the City Lord Mansion.

The two-day voting period was finally coming to an end.

Actually, there was not much suspense in this vote.

Although many other players had proposed their own plans, Li Weiyi’s plan was undoubtedly the one that received the most votes.

His plan was the result of repeated discussions with in-game architecture experts and veteran simulation game enthusiasts and had been confirmed with industry friends in reality, winning the support of the majority of players.

In any case, after a public, fair, and rigorous vote, Li Weiyi’s plan was finally selected as the landscape transformation plan for this historical slice.

The transformation plan is currently just a series of parameters and doesn’t have a specific terrain map, because generating terrain is inherently random.

But the players were all filled with anticipation.

Finally, Beichen walked out from the City Lord Mansion.

Now that the voting was over and the majority of players had approved the plan, it was of course time for Beichen the city lord to use the construction value and the power of the Reclaimers to transform the entire historical slice.

Chuge couldn’t help but look at the construction value numbers written on the public notice board.

To date, the construction value of the Reclaimer fortress had reached over a million.

There was an initial construction value of 800,000 at the start of the Reclaimer fortress, and over these two days, players being busy in their fiefs and the Reclaimer fortress had gathered another two hundred thousand.

It must be said, the diligence of the players was unimaginable.

Actually, the construction value each player could accumulate for the city each day wasn’t much, only a few to a dozen points, and not every player liked to "move bricks" or fight demons, some even preferred to continue playing solo in Trial Illusion, not producing any construction value at all.

To gather an additional two hundred thousand in construction value in two days was quite fast.

Suddenly, Beichen’s figure stepped forward towards the sky, while at the same time, the players who were mining outside the city, hunting demons, and transporting materials like stones, were all sequentially transported back inside the city.

The entire city became lively immediately!

"Eh? What’s happening? Did I die?"

"I just found a huge ore stone in the mine, I hadn’t even swung my pickaxe yet, how come I’m back here?"

"Why are so many people gathered here?"

Fan Cun had just left the city not long ago, and was now transported back, his face full of confusion.

It wasn’t until he glanced at Beichen floating in the air that these transported players faintly guessed something big was about to happen!

Beichen raised his hands slightly as if he was mobilizing the powerful Reclaimer force, and subsequently, the construction value numbers on the public notice board began to rapidly decrease!

1,000,000, 990,000, 980,000...

Nearly every second, tens of thousands would instantly drop.

The players who had toiled to "move bricks" watched this scene, each drawing in a cold breath.

Although they had mentally prepared beforehand, seeing it still inevitably made them feel a pang.

The construction value that they had carefully accumulated bit by bit, when spent, vanished like flowing water—so fast!

But most players also realized what was actually happening.

The plan that had been debated over for two days finally had a result, the terrain of the Reclaimer fortress was being changed!

And after the terrain was changed, the city could be replanned and built step-by-step into an impregnable fortress!

As the right energy filled the entire historical slice, players felt the ground under their feet start to tremble.

The ground of the small county didn’t change, but the surrounding terrain was transforming!

The players could even feel that they were rising!