Chapter 54: Second NPC available and new stall mechanic

Gamers' performance did not disappoint Light Chu.

The two senior brothers with a background in metallurgy took only two days to create the tools needed by the "Armory Shopowner."

They even improved the blast furnace and cleverly solved the issue of bubbles in the steel castings.

The completed castings included a boring tool, a turning tool, and a milling cutter.

Although they were castings, their strength was reliable. With proper maintenance, they could be used without any problems for several months.

In addition to these, there was also a set of double-rail thread calipers modified from screws, steel bars, and old gears. One side of the calipers was connected to a winch with a transmission shaft and handle.

This device could convert torque into horizontal thrust through gears. With each rotation of the winch, the blade holder on the calipers would be horizontally pushed by one millimeter.

Although its efficiency couldn't compare to an electric lathe, it could still be used for precision machining at the millimeter level.

The only thing that made Light Chu powerless to complain about was the IDs of the two brothers who completed these tasks.

One was named [Beriberi_fetish_Draven] and the other was named [Toilet_diving_Yasuo_player].

What hell kind of names were those...

Anyway, according to the orders at the warehouse entrance, the two of them received a total of 80 silver coins, which averaged to 40 coins per person.

According to their plan, they intended to accumulate 2,000 contribution points within a week, so they could buy a piece of land in front of the recuperation center as soon as possible.

The reward for making the tools made them taste the sweetness of it.

They planned to open a workshop in the future, specializing in the research of metallurgy and forging.

"...Are these tools enough?" At the entrance of the weapons shop, Light Chu placed the wooden crate containing the metal tools on the table in front of Summer Salt.

Summer glanced at the tools in the crate and reluctantly nodded.

"It's passable. With these tools, there shouldn't be any problem making bullets. If we can handle seamless steel pipes, I can even help you make some simple steel pipe rifles... Did you buy these?"

"Gamers made them."

"They made them?" Summer looked at Light Chu in surprise. "I didn't expect your people to have this kind of craftsmanship."

Light Chu smiled and replied, "Compared to Boulder City, how is it?"

"Boulder City is big. It depends on who you compare it to."

As Summer Salt installed the thread calipers on the wooden table, she continued in a casual tone, "It's not just poor people like us in Boulder City. There's also the regular army armed to the teeth—the Megalith Militia. They have powered suit, dual-engine aircraft, neural-linked drones, half-track support vehicles, and some other stuff I can't even name."

"Oh? They're that strong," Light Chu chuckled. "Then why haven't they come to attack us?"

"Who knows? Maybe they're not interested. There's nothing good in the countryside anyway."

Summer gave a vague response.

In fact, she didn't finish her sentence. Although the Megalith Militia did have some good equipment, clearly not all militia members were armed to the teeth.

For example, in terms of powered suit, from what she knew, the entire militia consisted of no more than two digits, and more than half of them were post-war inferior replicas with relatively outdated power sources and weapons.

Only a small number of them were still functioning pre-war equipment, powered by unsustainable Helium 3 cold fusion batteries, one fewer to use after one depletion.

As for the intimidating stuff like drones, aircraft, support vehicles, they sounded frightening, but their deterrent value far exceeded their actual combat effectiveness.

Especially in close-quarters urban combat, cannon fodder was always the most cost-effective choice. In the slums of Boulder City, it only took 13 years from birth to becoming a soldier, and the "maintenance cost" could be covered by the nutrition block made from cockroaches, spiders, and rats.

Although Light Chu only believed half of what this person said, these interesting settings could be added to the official website's database.

Both cloud gamers and regular gamers loved this kind of background information.

....

Evening.

Gamers gradually returned to the outpost.

Light Chu noticed that there were several gamers setting up stalls on the empty ground just inside the north gate of the outpost.

And the most popular stall among them was Raven_raven's.

"Selling mushrooms! Fresh mushrooms! Don't miss out!"

"After a day's work, why not reward yourself with a pot of mushroom soup?"

"They're so delicious!"

Unable to take on quests from NPCs and not wanting to rely on others for food every day, Rara had no choice but to set up a stall.

Aside from the mushrooms she used to complete the punishment task, she kept about twenty pounds for herself. With a mindset of giving it a try, she put them on the stall and started selling.

Passing gamers quickly gathered around.

"Are these mushrooms edible?"

"Are they fully cooked?"

"Are they male or female?"

"Can they be used on sensitive skin?"

"If you eat them, will you see little floating entities"

"They are edible, they can be eaten, and you can see... uh, no, you can't see! Don't believe me? Look!" Rara picked up a mushroom, took a bite, and jumped up and down to show that she was still alive, neither disconnected nor dizzy.

Seeing the stall owner eating them herself, gamers gathered around the stall no longer hesitated and took out their copper coins.

Just as Rara said, the mushrooms were not expensive at all, selling for only 3 copper coins per pound, much cheaper than the food sold in the granary.

It had been two days since the new version went online, and the majority of gamers could afford it.

"I'll take a pound. I won't eat meat today, I'll try making mushroom porridge."

"Grilled mushrooms sound good too."

"Boss, give me a pound. If it's not good, I'll come back for a refund."

"It's such a pity if I can't see little floating people. Next time, please give me something that can make me see them! I want Klee to call me her husband."

"Hello FBI, there's a sicko here."

In less than five minutes, the twenty pounds of mushrooms piled up on the stall were completely sold out.

Looking at the sixty small copper coins in her hand, shiny and heavy, Rara's eyes welled up with tears of excitement.

This... was this what it felt like to be wealthy?

It wasn't easy!

Although...

When you thought about it, it was just 6 silver coins.

On the other side, gamers who had bought the mushrooms noticed some unfamiliar tools on the wooden table in front of the weapons shop owner that weren't there before.

As it was well-known, the game planners of Wasteland OL paid great attention to detail. Observant gamers had already recognized that the things on the table were tools used for processing equipment.

In other words...

In the future, they could bring materials and have the NPCs modify their equipment?!

"Are you the Celestial Kerry?"

"Shop owner, where's the boss?"

"Fool, she's the mercenary the manager rescued before! There's no boss here."

"I know, but you're taking it too seriously and making yourself look dumb."

Summer Salt looked at gamers surrounding her with a bewildered expression.

Although she couldn't understand what they were saying, she vaguely remembered the instructions Light Chu gave her. She looked cool and stared at them, delivering her lines with deliberate emphasis.

"Hello, I'm Summer Salt from the weapons shop. How can I help you?"

"This NPC doesn't seem very intelligent."

"That's normal. Considering the size of the server, being able to accommodate one or two intelligent NPCs is already good!"

"A 5mm smoothbore steel pipe rifle, quality: [Poor]... Damn, even the poor-quality one costs 100 silver coins! I'm outta here!"

"Ah, can't afford it, can't afford it."

"Sob, sob, sob. It's really Kerry from the Celestial, I can feel the aura of wealth just from looking at the price list."

Summer: "..."

These people were so annoying, why did they talk so much?

Were they going to buy or not?

However, Summer was slightly relieved because, just as Light Chu had said, these people were indeed friendly.

Although it was impolite to stare at people, at least they wouldn't do something irrational just because she ignored them.

In a tavern in Boulder City.

99% of brawls started because A looked at B too much.

...

After gamers logged out, a new post appeared on the official website of Wasteland OL, quickly becoming the hottest thread of the day.

"Mole's Daily: Sanctuary 404 Welcomes the Second NPC! Introducing Summer Salt, the Armory Shopowner from the Celestial Realm (Just Kidding)!"

[Canyon_escaping_mole]: "Hello, everyone! I'm a red-nosed mole escaped from the canyon. The land in my estate is no longer suitable for farming, so I decided to hide in the wasteland for a while."

Now, let's talk about the newly added NPC, Summer Salt!

This NPC actually came online yesterday, but it was probably in the debugging phase. Although she was sitting at the table, there was a sign of closure at the door. Today, not only was the closed sign removed, but guns were also hung on the shelves, and there was even a set of tools on Summer's table! Bold speculation suggests that this will be your "Kerry" in the future. I wonder when the level 14 enhanced steel pipe rifle will be available. (Just kidding)

Also, here's my lousy hand-drawn artwork for your reference. Please don't criticize if you don't like it.

[Image]

Although Wasteland OL does not support in-game screenshots, it doesn't stop skilled artists from sketching the characters from the game on their drawing boards.

For example, this mole brother turned out to be a hidden master of hand-drawn art. His drawing looks quite authentic.

[White]: "666!"

[Nighten]: "It's almost identical!"

[Vine_vine]: "Love it, love it! Big Sis looks so cool. Love love love! (Cute) (Cute)"

[Canyon_escaping_mole]: "Hehe, I actually studied fine arts, but I changed my major after failing the entrance exam for the Central Academy of Fine Arts. I have a small suggestion for the developers: you can give the new NPC a punk-style Z-shaped studded belt and goggles, change her outfit to jeans and a white shirt, and red hair would be even cooler! Of course, it's just a suggestion."

[Quit_smoking]: "Master, please draw the Dawn Boss too! I'm more interested in that! (Pitiful)"

[That_tingle_of_longing]: "Exactly! Who wants to see the NPC from the weapons shop? I want to see what the Boss looks like! There isn't even a preview image on the official website!"

[Canyon_escaping_mole]: "Don't worry, I'll draw it now. Damn, what's so interesting about male NPCs? Just wait a moment."

[Ilaina]: "No rush, anyway, I'll be online tomorrow night. (Sly)"

[Quit_smoking]: "&%@#!"

Today, the limelight on the official website was completely stolen by Summer Salt. Light Chu glanced at the picture drawn by the mole brother, then looked at her, who was sitting in the corner rehearsing lines.

They did look quite similar.

But would it really look better with that belt and goggles?

As a bona fide straight guy, Light Chu's fashion sense was on par with the information stream push notifications from Taobao and Amazon. He was well aware of his own limitations.

But whatever he wore, he looked good, so it didn't matter.

Noticing Light Chu's gaze, Summer nervously shifted back.

"W-What...?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking about how long it's been since you changed your clothes."

Light Chu looked at her right leg, which had mostly healed, but there were still traces of blood on her pants, making it seem a bit unsanitary.

Change, change clothes?

Summer became even more nervous, her face turning pale, then red, and finally blushing.

"Relax, I was just going to ask about your siz... tsk," Light Chu shook his head halfway through his sentence, "Never mind."

It was indeed inappropriate to ask that.

Maybe he should write a quest and let Vine_vine take the measurements.