Chapter 694 - IRO Management (12): Artifacts of Moon-White
Misha P leaned back deeply in her gaming chair, covering her face with both hands while looking up at the ceiling. A large air display floating in the center of the room showed Shou and the others, who had occupied the northern area and taken control of the entire island.
"They won quite easily."
"...Yeah, they did."
GM Choco let out a large sigh as Misha P answered without uncovering her face.
"Would it have been bad to make the Necrophager too strong to beat? We would have made it in time if we did it when they were leaving the castle."
"The setting was that it would flee somewhere else if they missed this one chance, right? If it escaped to another location while even Emeraldia couldn't defeat it..."
The flags had been set by learning about the research into Magic Stone enlargement through monster farming at the Tower of the North End and seeing the carnage in the basement. This led to the encounter at the basement exit. If they hadn't defeated it then, the Necrophager would have moved to a location with other players. If that happened...
"Yeah, it would be game over."
"Exactly."
It was possible to make further adjustments, but doing so would have required a total overhaul of all the subsequent settings...
"It's too late now. And now, an extra-large natural Magic Crystal Stone has fallen into Shou-kun's hands."
"I want to hope he won't immediately try to restart the secondary Control Room, but..."
"If it looks like he will, should we move up the World Quest for Rebirth City?"
Misha P pondered after being asked.
"We'll see how it goes. If Shou-kun provides that, it'll likely be for the Dragonkin district in the west, so we could just have the other players work hard in the east and south districts, couldn't we?"
"I hope it goes that well."
"Choco-chan is being mean!"
Misha P slumped onto the desk and started faking a sob, but GM Choco ignored her and stared at the air display. It showed Mion and the others fluffing the Divine Beastified Lupi.
"Isn't that a problem too?"
By defeating the island's final boss, the Necrophager, Lupi had completed the hidden Managarm trial of 'Surpassing the Parent' and obtained the Art of Divine Beastification.
"He's cute, so it's fine!"
"No, no, won't we get complaints from other players? They might say we're showing him favoritism."
"When that happens, I'll just give them a little spoiler. I'll say that if you treat a normal partner with love, one day... they can evolve."
If a partner spent a long time with their master, they would eventually evolve into a phantom beast and eventually be able to undergo Divine Beastification. It was originally meant to be content that took years to complete, but Shou had achieved it quickly by fulfilling all the necessary prerequisites in the shortest possible time...
"There was no foul play."
"...I'll make sure to put a lock on the scene where El used the artifacts."
"Ah, yeah, please."
Under normal circumstances, those moon-white artifacts shouldn't have appeared unless it was a World Quest level battle, yet she had used three of the five. The Spear of the Heavens that El usually used. The Eternal Great Shield that blocked the Necrophager's fireballs. And the Invisible Dagger she lent to Shou. All of these were items called World Unique Items, which were intended to be temporarily lent to key players.
"In the end, I suppose the system judged that Shou-kun winning there was necessary to prevent the collapse of the world."
"To the Dragonkin, he's the benefactor who cured the White Dragon Princess's mana deficiency, after all."
"I guess it can't be helped, since the failure of the White Dragon Princess's awakening is a collapse flag."
If the conflict with the demon forces intensified before a relationship of trust could be built with the Dragonkin, it would lead to a worst-case scenario where a large-scale battle occurred without coordination between the Humans and Demonkin. That path had already been avoided thanks to Shou...
"What about the books found in the tower? There are quite a few books that act as triggers for high-level skills."
"Those are fine. The growth of mainland players is capped by the level cap, and they won't have enough SP anyway."
"But the secret that magic tools can be made will be out?"
Among the massive collection of books on the first floor of the Tower of the North End were books that served as prerequisites for skills that allowed the creation of magic tools.
"It's fine, isn't it? Even for the players who started recently and can't get them yet, they'll be happy to know they can get them in the future."
"Won't some players try to dump all their BP into SP?"
"The Magic Steel needed for magic tools is unobtainable, so it's obvious they can't be made easily. If they still take the skills after knowing that, then... well."
The number of places where Mithril can be mined will increase after future updates, and the output will increase accordingly. However, until then, there wouldn't be enough Mithril to spare for making Magic Steel.
"Is it okay for Shou-kun to make them?"
"Well, he's working that hard for it. A game without rewards for the effort put in would be a failure, wouldn't it?"
She said this before realizing her coffee cup was empty. GM Choco, sensing this, headed for the coffee server and began brewing a fresh pot.
"Besides, magic tools can't be self-replicated, and you can't make that many of them, so it's fine."
"So it's acceptable as long as Shou-kun is just making them for himself and Mion-chan?"
"The magic tools that can be made right now are basically just household appliances anyway."
Various magic tools that enriched life were planned to be introduced in the Dragon Capital update. They hoped that owning these would become a goal for individual players or guilds.
"I just hope the Magic Crystal Stone monopoly issue doesn't drag on."
"Ugh..."
GM Choco placed a fresh coffee in front of the speechless Misha P.
"So, Choco-chan. Is there any good news?"
"Check the list of videos to be featured in the next PV. There's a lot of them, so do your best."
A large number of individual player video clips with high AI evaluation scores had been listed. Just checking these clips would be...
"Choco-chan is being mean!"
IRO Management was peaceful today as well.