Chapter 107: The "@#￥" Brotherhood

Huang Yunshuo offered some words of comfort to the group. After settling the expenses, his balance stood at 4.17 million; it seemed there was still quite a bit left.

"The real challenge begins after the data restoration. I just hope we have enough materials for the physical repairs when the time comes."

Everyone donned their helmets and logged in one after another. Huang Yunshuo, completely unaware of the commotion happening in his livestream, found that the virtual immersion had been further enhanced upon logging in. The improvement in the gaming experience was significant, and he was thoroughly satisfied.

After vanity-checking his own character’s appearance in the interface for a moment, he remembered the task at hand. For the Huang Yunshuo of the past, equipment maintenance spray materials at 260 copper coins per unit would have been a death sentence for his finances. But now that he had his alloy armor, and having set aside some copper coins for rocket shells, he could afford a dozen or two units of materials.

He checked the price of rocket shell materials on the global general store, only to be disappointed that these high-demand commodities remained stubbornly stable in price, showing not the slightest sign of dropping. After spending 10,400 copper coins to purchase 200 sets of rocket shells, he searched for the price of the maintenance spray materials.

"Oh? There’s room for a price drop?"

Huang Yunshuo’s heart skipped a beat. A few of the materials were cheaper than in the standard shop, effectively bringing the cost of a 260-copper unit down to 240—this was a major piece of good news!

He bought enough for 20 units of maintenance materials in one go, found a small corner, sat on the ground, and began crafting.

89% seemed to be a threshold. Aside from catastrophic errors like incorrect mixing sequences or improper dosages, crafting rarely failed before reaching 89%. However, once it hit 89%, things became dire. Sometimes, Huang Yunshuo could force a success through some inexplicable lid-adjusting technique, but most of the time, it ended in failure.

All in all, his success rate hovered around 35%. Seven successes out of 20 units—a one-in-three chance was just absurd. It meant that 30 points of durability cost him 720 copper coins, or 140,000 credits.

1 point of durability equals 5,000 credits?

Excuse me? Huang Yunshuo really wanted to ask: is this a game played by hand, or is it played with money?

He glanced at the durability of his rocket launcher and alloy armor; there were no specific numbers, only percentages. He had no idea how much of that 30-point durability a single spray would restore.

While Huang Yunshuo was busy crafting, a system announcement rang out, deafening and immediate.

[Warning! The animal army of Giggling Roosters has assembled and is marching toward each town. From this moment on, a player fortress will appear to the south of every town. Players are instructed to head to the fortress to defend it. If 10,000 small animals breach the fortress, the defense will be ruled a failure regardless of whether the fortress is destroyed, and all current players will face a penalty!]

[Attention: Full-recovery treasure chests will soon appear randomly on the battlefield. Countdown: 5 minutes and 0 seconds.]

[Players currently killing the animal army will receive double experience and loot rewards. Players who die will lose 20% of their current level's experience, but will not drop items.]

The system announcement echoed in everyone's ears. The town of Shitai was in chaos; players spread the news and rushed toward the massive fortress that had materialized out of thin air on the grasslands south of town.

It had been 40 hours since the launch of "Reign of Recasting," and the population of Shitai town had reached 3 million. The sight of so many players pouring out of the city was staggering, though Huang Yunshuo, buried in his crafting, saw none of it. In his view, the monster siege had only just begun, and it was impossible for the players to be overwhelmed. He didn't think his presence was necessary; it was better to craft more maintenance sprays now, or else he’d be in real trouble if his armor and rocket launcher lost durability later.

"Big Yellow, when are you coming?" asked Yu Shiyin and the others, who had already used a space-time scroll to teleport to Shitai and reached the fortress.

"I’m in town making sprays; I’ll be over later," Huang Yunshuo replied.

"Chu Jun started a brotherhood. He sent you an invite; join it."

Huang Yunshuo checked his message list and joined the brotherhood Chu Jun had named "@#￥".

"Damn this lazy dog!"

When it came to naming things, Huang Yunshuo had to hand it to Chu Jun. The bastard would rather die than give a proper name, opting for random gibberish symbols instead—what a lunatic.

The brotherhood included nine people, including Huang Yunshuo. Chu Jun had also added Chenlu Qingshuang and Hu Xiaoruan, bringing the total to 11. The brotherhood's health buff was only 0.05% per person; within a 100-meter radius, 500 people could add up to 25%, but what was the point of 11 people? It only boosted them by 0.55%. With his 275 health, that was only a 1.5 increase—was this a joke?

Still, the 500-slot remote warehouse was a good feature. He didn't know if his own inventory would be enough, so having that was a decent backup plan.

"I’ve made 50 bottles of potent minor health restoration spray. I’ve put them in the remote warehouse, everyone help yourselves!" Ye Piaoxue said in the brotherhood channel.

"Good stuff!"

Huang Yunshuo was stunned. The material cost for Ye Piaoxue's potent spray was 30 copper coins, with a 30% success rate—meaning the material cost per successful bottle was 100 copper coins. This girl had spent 5,000 copper coins; what a big spender.

Considering she needed to keep crafting to gain proficiency and reach higher alchemy levels, and because these sprays were actually quite decent, Huang Yunshuo didn't feel she was wasting them. He took 5 bottles and shoved them into his backpack.

"Hey, you're being too impolite! There are only 50 bottles in total; we were supposed to take 2 a piece for emergencies!" Song Na said indignantly. Chen Juanfeng sent a lewd emoji: "You're the one being difficult! Considering their relationship, what's wrong with Big Yellow taking a few more? Jeez!"

"What relationship? Do you want to die, Chen Juanfeng?" Ye Piaoxue snapped. Chen Juanfeng gave a dry laugh and fell silent, while the others sent a flurry of suggestive emojis.

As the last unit of material was consumed, Huang Yunshuo stood up, tidied his things, and headed toward the south of town.

A monster siege information bar had appeared on his interface. It indicated that there were over 2.48 million players in the fortress, and the number of animals that had broken through was zero. Total player casualties were 2,791, and 489 animals had been killed.

"So many people died in such a short time."

Huang Yunshuo was just about to lament this when a system prompt rang out.

[Attention: Full-recovery treasure chests have appeared. Coordinates: xx.xx]

"This must be a key item."

Huang Yunshuo’s heart stirred as he checked the location on the map. The chest was 100 meters south of the fortress. Since the south was the primary direction of the animal army's assault, the firepower there was fierce, and the sheer number of red dots representing the animals was so dense it almost stained the map solid red. It was clearly not going to be easy to retrieve.

Rushing out of the southern gate, Huang Yunshuo caught sight of the majestic player fortress. Damn, this thing was huge!