Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 297

“Hehehe…”

As soon as I logged into Deron, a laugh escaped me without realizing it.

The reason? Simply the time of connection.

Current time: 1:30 PM.

An ordinary student would never connect at this hour.

But who am I? The winner of the VRS School tournament, that’s who.

The school had completely exempted me from afternoon classes despite the end of the competition.

So, I could connect to Deron at this time.

And!

Today also happened to be a very important day.

It was the day of a massive update patch for Deron.

Right before the transition to a new expansion pack, this patch always came around.

If I could log in quickly, I could gather more information.

In RPGs, it’s a battle of information. That means I was already ahead of the average players.

I immediately opened the Auction House to check the price fluctuations of various material items.

Basic first-level harvests like wood and stone were currently upwards of twice their usual price.

Watching the fluctuating prices reminded me of the maritime battle incident.

Back then, how was I? I ignored the prior notices from Deron and ended up suffering enormous losses by not building ships.

Once was enough for mistakes. I smiled as I recalled the stockpiled wood and stone items in my warehouse.

The materials I had slowly collected for this day were so reassuring.

“Yeo.”

“You’ve logged in!”

A voice came from behind me.

A female wizard in a red robe.

It was Helena.

I rushed to her and smiled as I embraced her.

I wasn’t alone now.

I had reliable allies connecting with me from school.

Just imagining how fun it would be to push through the main quest with my best friends brought a constant smile to my face.

“Ahem…”

Just then, another voice chimed in beside us.

Turning my head slightly, I saw a white-clad paladin girl looking around cautiously.

“Jupiter!”

“Uh, I came to clear a quest with you…”

Now everyone from school that joined was gathered.

With this kind of party, we could clear the main quest faster than anyone else.

“Then let’s go!”

I created the party and sent invites to Helena and Jupiter.

The main quest starts at the Adventurers’ Guild on this continent.

[The Expanded Dimensional Rift]

Go to the Adventurers’ Guild and accept a new request 0/1

“Did everyone accept the quest?”

There was no way they hadn’t. The quest alert pops up as soon as you log into the game.

I then led the two of them towards the main continent and headed for the Adventurers’ Guild.

“Wow…”

In front of the Adventurers’ Guild.

I gaped in awe at the larger crowd than I expected.

Is this what happens when a game unites the global servers?

It was busier than when it was a single Korean server.

After waiting in line for quite some time, our party’s turn finally came.

If it were up to me, I would love to shove past everyone with my ridiculously high strength stat, but considering the guild’s image, I refrained.

“Quest!”

“Oh, Adventurer! You came at just the right time. We need to discuss the recently discovered dimensional rift…”

“Skip!”

“For more details, here’s this request form…”

“Yes!”

Skip, skip, skip.

I skipped all the dialogue.

After all, the important details are in the quest breakdown.

“I wish you good luck on this journey…”

And that was the end of the conversation.

“Ugh, Blood Demon King… Is that really necessary…? You’re talking while I’m trying to…”

What was that supposed to mean?

What mattered to me wasn’t the NPCs’ dialogue.

I had to see the end of the new content faster than anyone else.

Now that I was in this party, Jupiter and Helena had to follow my lead.

“Just keep up.”

“Ah, got it…”

A new main quest was really no different from usual.

Twists and turns around every corner in the quest structure.

Run errands, hunt monsters. Then go find NPCs and deliver materials.

After about 30 minutes passed, I finally received the quest for airship construction.

[Traveling the Expanded Dimensional Rift]

Step 1: Build an Airship 0/1

“Hmm…”

I checked the quest details and immediately clicked the shipbuilding button.

The familiar interface unfolded.

It wasn’t much different than when building a ship.

In fact, it was even better.

I clicked to build a first-level airship as per the quest details.

[Would you like to build a Level 1 Airship: First Voyage?]

Wood 300X

Stone 300X

Iron Ore 200X

Cloth 50X

Magic Circuit 10X

Magic Engine 1X

Ether Essence 1X

While I had wood, stone, iron, and cloth in my warehouse, the items below that needed to be purchased separately.

The magic circuit and magic engine were items I could produce through magic engineering, and the ether essence was an item newly made by refining the transcendence stones I held.

I was curious about how to utilize the transcendence stones accumulated over time, and they had just added another purpose.

Nodding, I created the ship.

Looking at the completed design of the ship, I frowned slightly.

Overall, it resembled the form of a sailboat.

Well, it was only the first level.

I wasn’t expecting an impressive appearance, anyway.

It didn’t suit me.

For the Blood Demon King, the ideal ship had to be larger, cooler, and more unique.

“Yeo. Did you make it?”

“Yep. But I’m not happy with the first level.”

“Are you going to make a bigger one?”

“Yep.”

“Do you have gold?”

“Yep.”

I confidently nodded in response to Helena’s question.

The gold I received from her was still left in my inventory.

Of course, I did spend a considerable amount of gold buying raid equipment.

“What level are you going to make?”

“Um…”

I let out a small grunt while looking for the ship I could build.

The ship at the very end of the list was locked as it required a blueprint, but the ships at level 15 just below it could be built immediately.

Should I go for that?

A ship made of a giant dragon’s bones held the exact image of a ghost ship I had in mind.

The name was impressive, too.

[Roar of Deathwing]

Ah…

The description of the ship mentioned that it could flap its wings thanks to the magic used by a dragon during its lifetime.

How could I contain myself?

It was time to create.

“Ah…”

But.

The required materials were a problem.

[Would you like to build the Level 15 Ship: Roar of Deathwing?]

Dragon Bones 10,000X

Dragon Heart 500X

Steel 5,000X

Mithril 2,000X

High-Performance Magic Circuit 300X

High-Performance Magic Engine 10X

Ether Essence 1,000X

Is this what they added to the production list?

Even rough estimates showed demands for an astronomical amount of gold.

To gather those would take months of farming at minimum.

“Whoa… a level 15 ship…”

Jupiter was also showing interest in the level 15 ship.

Wondering what ship she was going to make, I turned my head slightly and asked.

“What are you thinking of making, Jupiter?”

“If it’s a ship that suits this light knight, then it has to be this.”

[Saint Eagle]

Saint Eagle. It was another level 15 ship I wanted to make, and its overall appearance resembled a pure white eagle.

“Are you going to make it?”

“I’ve already clicked to create.”

“Already…? Isn’t that going to require a ton of materials?”

“I bought everything.”

What’s the problem? Jupiter answered as if nothing was wrong.

It was then I remembered Jupiter and Ellie’s background.

That’s right. Jupiter, like Helena, was one of the players who could play without worrying about gold.

“Blood Demon King, given your tastes, you must be making the Roar of Deathwing, right?”

“Uh, yes…?”

“Hmm… That ship is not to my taste. Seems I’ll have to part ways here.”

With that, Jupiter summoned an incredibly huge ship in front of the large dock.

Fwoosh!

The emergence of the massive, pure white ship that spread a gentle light captured the attention of many players.

“Hehe…”

Jupiter wore a victorious smile.

She jumped up and stood atop the giant eagle’s head.

“I’ll be waiting for you! Once the Roar of Deathwing is done, come find me!”

Whoosh—

With that, the Saint Eagle took off, its gigantic wings flapping as it soared toward the dimensional rift in the sky.

I stared in awe at the sight alongside Helena.

“Aren’t you building a ship?”

“I-I am…”

I want to…

But I don’t have enough gold.

With the gold I had left, I barely qualified for a level 5 ship.

“Is it that you lack gold…?”

“A bit…”

“Should I lend you some?”

Lend? Should I? No. I shouldn’t do that.

I turned away from Helena’s bright smile, avoiding her gaze.

“N-No…”

“Aren’t you going to ride a level 15 ship…?”

Of course, I want to.

But…

I swallowed hard as I looked at the level 16 ship that existed above level 15.

A dazzling golden glow.

The ship with a body larger than the level 15 was enough to leave one in awe just by looking.

“I’m going to make a level 16 ship. So I won’t make a level 15.”

“But that’s currently locked, right?”

“… I’m going to get the blueprint, so it’ll be fine.”

“Yeo, the new content is aerial battles. So obviously, the ship blueprints will be obtainable through the aerial battle content, right?”

“That would be the case…?”

“So, wouldn’t it be more beneficial to ride a level 15 ship instead of a lower-tier ship?”

“Well… that is true…”

“So you should make it.”

“But…”

“Jupiter made one, too.”

Exactly.

Helena beamed at me and suggested a trade.

“Don’t feel burdened.”

“A-Ah, but…”

“How about this instead?”

“Uh, how…?”

“Yeo, you pay half. I’ll cover the other half.”

“Uh…”

“In simple terms, we’ll use the ship together. Of course, you’ll do the making.”

“Oh…”

Half. Joint ship.

Half…

Yeah, half should be something I could repay before the season ends.

With my abilities…

[The trade was successful.]

“Whoa…”

When did the trade get completed?

I gaped at the massive amount of gold that entered my inventory.

“I’m really looking forward to the level 15 ship!”

Helena clapped her hands, squealing in excitement.

Right. Since it has come to this, let’s quickly make it and conquer the new content.

I opened the Auction House and started to collect all the materials.