Chapter 38: Attention from Major Guilds

“My dear human friends, you wish to purchase Goblin robots, do you?”

After explaining their reason for coming, the staff member fetched the person in charge of the chamber.

“Yes, about fifty units.”

“Fifty units…”

The manager pondered for a moment. Most of the new Outworlders coming lately were just trying to curry favor with the Goblin Chamber of Commerce; few actually made significant purchases.

Fifty Goblin robots were meant for serious business—the buyer had to be a Lord or someone of similar stature, and their territory couldn’t be small.

“No problem. However, before we proceed, please fill out this information. We will deliver the fifty units to your location…”

“Understood. And the cost?”

“The price for one Goblin robot is 50,000 gold coins. For fifty units, you receive a ten-percent discount, totaling 2,250,000 gold. You need to pay a 1,000,000 gold deposit first, then the remaining 1,250,000 upon delivery.”

“…”

Don Quixote paused. Qin Yu had given her exactly 1,000,000 gold; had that guy calculated this all along?

She couldn’t be sure, so she simply paid the deposit, filled out the forms, and prepared to leave with her companions.

The moment they stepped out of the Chamber of Commerce, a voice called out to them.

“Yo! Isn’t this little sister Sugar?”

Hearing that voice, both Don Quixote and [Aged Vinegar] clicked their tongues—the persistent pest had arrived.

Turning around, a blue-haired player decked out in rare gear walked toward them with a smirking group of companions.

[Aged Vinegar] immediately hid behind Don Quixote, staring at the man with hostile eyes.

“Oh, Storm, I didn’t expect to run into you here.”

Don Quixote greeted him with an attempt at civility, even though she despised the guy.

“Yeah, what a coincidence. We just bumped into each other on the street earlier, and now again in the game. You don’t think this is fate’s arrangement, do you? Chen~”

Storm’s gaze flickered toward [Aged Vinegar] behind Don Quixote. Sugar’s eyes turned sharp. “Storm, if you harass Chen again, I’m going to report you for stalking.”

“Don’t put it so harshly! We’re all good friends here!”

Don Quixote and the others had no desire to entangle themselves with this guy and left after a brief exchange, leaving Storm and his crew behind.

“Guild Master, they just ordered a batch of Goblin robots from the chamber.”

A member of Storm’s guild reported back to him.

“Goblin robots? Do they have a territory already?”

To build a territory, one had to obtain a [Territory Core]. They hadn’t seen any wild ones, so they had partnered with Divine Realm factions to secure a “package deal” territory. Their guild, [Ten Directions Extinguished], was currently ranked in the top 300 of the combat power rankings.

Being in the top 300 might not sound like much, but it was actually quite impressive. The top 100 were supported by national powers, and the top 200 by massive capital—excluding those behemoths, [Ten Directions Extinguished] counted as a major guild among players.

“Investigate the location of their territory. I’ll lead the army to pay them a visit another day.”

“Yes!”

After losing Storm, [Aged Vinegar] let out a sigh of relief.

“That annoying guy is finally gone.”

“Relax, Chen. If he bothers you again, I’ll teach him a lesson,” Don Quixote comforted her.

“Easier said than done. That guy won’t give up.”

[Aged Vinegar] had been harassed by him for a while; she had never met a man with so little self-awareness—the more she ignored him, the more invigorated he seemed to become.

“That’s not necessarily true. Didn’t he give up after Sugar rejected him before?” [Rock Sugar Pear] added.

“That’s because Sugar never gave him a chance. She beat him into the ground at the tournament and mocked him right to his face,” [Candied Hawthorn] recalled—that had happened during an international competition, and the audience had been mesmerized by Don Quixote’s actions.

“Nothing we can do. Chen’s hostility toward men probably gives him the delusion that she’s just shy and that he has a chance,” [Rock Sugar Pear] analyzed.

After venting about the outsider, they returned to the territory to finish their errand.

Near the bandit stronghold.

The patrolling scouts had already been cleared out by Qin Yu and his group. Now, they needed to infiltrate the stronghold, preferably without alerting the occupants.

But the children Qin Yu brought didn’t know how to conduct stealth operations, so he needed someone with combat power to force the gates and create chaos, allowing the children to swoop in.

Honestly, only Qin Yu could handle this job. Hicari excelled at frontal assault, the kind where one could fight a hundred; as for Luna… never mind, Hong was a better fighter than her.

Qin Yu’s experience was at 88/100, just 12 points away from Tier 2.

If you thought leveling up was easy, you were gravely mistaken. Going from Tier 1 to 2 took 100 points, Tier 2 to 3 took 1,000—leveling to Tier N required 10 to the power of N (for N between 1 and 10).

Without external items, Tier 5 was the limit for normal players. Anything beyond that was “liver-destroying” labor, requiring 100,000 points and a lack of mobs to grind.

The quest system in Fate Paradise was essentially non-existent; rewards were mostly items or skills, not XP.

The only saving grace was that after Tier 3, one could earn XP through life skills like mining, farming, logging, or opening chests—or, like Qin Yu, refining potions and automatons.

It provided another path to XP, but it was miserly.

“Luna, keep an eye on everyone. I’m going in.”

“Huh? You’re only Tier 1 strength. Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Luna was skeptical of Qin Yu’s combat power; he could only deal damage to Tier 4, and anything above that would force him to run.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. If things get hairy, I’ll summon you. Once the stronghold is in chaos, I’ll open the gates. You and Hicari hold off the majority of the enemies, and let the children handle the rest to get the lion’s share of the XP.”

“Fine, fine.”

Luna was much more obedient than before, accepting her fate. At least with Qin Yu, she wasn’t living in a miserable state—she got to eat the food he made, which was far better than being trapped in the Blood Soul Realm.

“If you behave yourself, I’m confident I can help you defeat them without a scratch.”

Qin Yu entered a state of synchronization with Luna, allowing him to control her fighting style, preventing her from “throwing” the fight again.

“I know! I know!” Luna snapped.

Now only at Tier 4, she had to face a group of Tier 4 and Tier 2 Amazon warriors—getting hit was unavoidable.

Qin Yu relied on his title and [Shadow Step] to scale the walls with lightning speed. The swiftness of his climb left even Luna surprised; the human actually had some real talent…