Wizard: Building a Golem Legion From Zero

Chapter 473: Chapter 461: Mining the Players

William sat behind a large oak desk.

The desk was piled high with urgent documents from various provinces. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and activated the special Spirit Communication Terminal on the corner of his desk.

A blue screen of light materialized, revealing the figure of Allen sitting on the throne of Cybertron.

"Your Excellency, Allen."

William’s voice was tinged with exhaustion. "Sword Art Online has been online for thirty days. The national crime rate has dropped by eight percent, and the public happiness index has reached its highest peak since the founding of the kingdom. It’s a miracle."

His tone shifted as he picked up a red-covered report from his desk.

"However, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Industry just submitted a joint summary. Nearly ten percent of the nation’s young and able-bodied workforce are spending more than sixteen hours a day online in their sleep pods. Last month, national steel production fell by three percent, the textile industry’s shutdown rate reached six percent, and the major mining districts are experiencing severe labor shortages."

William stared at Allen on the screen and asked tentatively,

"While the problem isn’t too severe for now, if this continues, the kingdom’s economic foundation might collapse."

"Should we... enact some laws to moderately restrict game time?"

Allen leaned back in his chair.

His gaze wasn’t on William, but on a global data panel floating in the void.

"William, I will implement restrictions, but you must understand that these are just growing pains."

Allen’s tone was calm. "The old means of production are being phased out."

"But without steel and technology..."

"Soon, they will create value in the Spirit Realm several times greater than in reality."

Allen cut William off. "The Kingdom’s Ministry of Finance needs to prepare a special fund. Jarvis will send you the specific amount."

The screen went dark.

William stared at the blank terminal, his brow deeply furrowed.

He couldn’t understand how killing Slimes in a virtual world could produce steel and grain.

Allen cut the connection.

"Jarvis."

[Here, Commander.]

"Release the version 1.1 update announcement. Push it to the entire server."

Allen brought up the new version that had been brewing for some time.

"First, open the ’Workshop Rental’ system. Players can spend Game Coins to rent Alchemy Workshops, Forging Rooms, and Enchantment Platforms of varying levels. The workshops will provide an unlimited supply of basic virtual materials."

"Second, launch the ’Patent Application’ system. Alchemy formulas, equipment blueprints, and Rune Arrays independently developed by players in the game can be submitted to the system for review."

"The most crucial point: for patents that pass the review, the system will offer a one-time buyout or a profit-sharing plan. Rewards include, but are not limited to, large amounts of Game Coins, rare items, and... real-world remittances of Magic Stones and Gold Coins."

"Third, launch an anti-addiction system..."

Inside Sword Art Online, tens of thousands of players stopped in their tracks to pull up the system announcement and read it.

"You invent stuff in the game and get paid real money?"

Madblade’s eyes widened. He grabbed the collar of a nearby Mage. "I’m not seeing things, am I? Did the system just say there’s no upper limit on the top reward?"

The Mage pushed his hand away, his own eyes bloodshot. "You’re not! And the materials in the game are infinite! You won’t get blown up if you fail!"

"I’m gonna take up a life skill profession too!"

Professor Karl of the Royal Alchemy University was currently standing in front of a system workshop.

He hadn’t been out hunting monsters in the wild; for the past month, he had stayed in the safe zone.

Seeing the announcement, Carl pushed up his monocle. He had suspected this day would come ever since he saw the realistic physics engine claimed in the game’s promotional video.

He pushed open the door to a rental workshop and paid the rent of one hundred copper coins.

Carl walked up to the workstation.

In the real world, he had been dedicated to researching a "high-temperature magic conductivity fluid," but the materials were expensive and the experiments carried the risk of violent explosions, so his progress had stalled for six months.

Here, he pulled up the materials panel.

Red Flame Grass, Deep Sea Blue Crystal, Griffin Blood. They were available in any quantity he wanted.

Carl picked up a beaker.

「Three days later.」

A blinding blue light flashed inside the workshop. A pool of viscous, silver liquid appeared in the beaker.

A system notification chimed in Carl’s ear.

[Unknown formula detected. Performing logical deduction and physics-based validation...]

[Validation successful.]

[Congratulations, Player ’Carl,’ for successfully developing ’High-Temperature Magic Conductivity Fluid.’ Please name this patent and submit your application.]

Carl’s hand trembled. He clicked submit.

Five seconds later,

[Patent review passed. Rating: D-Class.]

[Reward issued: 50,000 Game Coins. Real-world funds reward: 5,000 Magic Stones. Subsequent patent usage royalty: 5%.]

Carl quickly logged out of the game. He scrambled out of his sleep pod and, without even putting on his shoes, rushed to his safe.

He took out the materials and began mixing them according to the perfect ratio derived in the game.

Ten minutes later, the exact same silver liquid from the game appeared in the real-world beaker.

Carl collapsed into his chair, roaring with laughter.

"It worked! It works in reality, too!"

That afternoon, news of several players’ successful experiments and their Magic Stone remittances spread throughout the kingdom via the Spirit Communication network.

This was the final spark that ignited the powder keg.

Countless scholars and apprentices, who had been constrained by a lack of funds and materials in the real world, flooded frantically into Sword Art Online.

Fortunately, the second batch of sleep pods had already been made available for purchase; otherwise, they would have been scalped on the black market for an exorbitant price.

[Creativity sample acquisition rate increased by 4000%.]

[Logical deduction data stream continuous.]

[’Seed’ activity has surpassed the critical threshold.]

Monitoring reports from Jarvis popped up one after another.

Allen watched as the rune network representing the "seed" rapidly expanded, its internal connections growing more and more complex. The expression on his face was like that of an old farmer seeing a bountiful harvest in his fields.

Just then, a glaring red notification popped up.

[S-Class patent application received.]

[Submitted by: Ghost.]

Allen’s gaze sharpened.

Ghost. The player who had achieved godlike status in the arena and was now dominating the life skill profession leaderboards in the new game.

"Bring up the blueprint."

The screen of light flickered. An extremely complex diagram of a Rune Array appeared before Allen.

Name: Miniature Magic Circulation.

Allen stood up and walked to the screen of light.

One of his current key research projects was the miniaturization of the Magic Engine.

He was stuck on balancing energy output with size reduction.

He stared at the blueprint before him.

This player, Ghost, had used a theory that defied the conventional logic of Alchemy, combining thirty-six basic Runes and borrowing from each other’s structures to compress the array’s volume by 70% while retaining its function!

"Jarvis, create a three-dimensional model and run a physical simulation."

[Model creation in progress... Simulation beginning.]

[Energy loss rate: 1.2%.]

[Output stability: 98.7%.]

[Conclusion: The structure is perfectly viable and can be applied directly.]

Allen fell silent.

He had dedicated a portion of Cybertron’s computing power and spent months trying to solve this problem, all to no avail.

And a player had just hammered it out in a game?

Even Allen himself found it a bit absurd, but then he had another thought.

’This is the absolute advantage brought by a massive population base. Among countless trials and errors, a miracle that shatters convention is bound to be born.’

"Approved," Allen gave the command. "Classify it as S-Class. Buy out this patent."

"Reward with real-world funds: one hundred thousand standard Magic Stones. Announce it to the entire server."

...

Floor One of Sword Art Online.

The sky suddenly darkened. Immediately after, golden fireworks exploded across the sky, illuminating the entire Town of Origin.

The system’s grand announcement rang in the ears of every player simultaneously.

[Server-Wide Announcement!]

[The patent ’Miniature Magic Circulation’ submitted by player ’Ghost’ has passed the highest-level review! It has been rated S-Class!]

[The system has issued the buyout reward: 100,000 standard Magic Stones in real-world funds!]

[Knowledge changes destiny, and creativity leads the future. May all players continue to expand the frontiers of knowledge.]

The announcement was broadcast three times in a row.

The entire game world fell deathly silent for a full ten seconds.

Then, a roar erupted, loud enough to tear the sky asunder.

One hundred thousand standard Magic Stones!

For a commoner, a single Magic Stone was enough to support a family for a year.

One hundred thousand Magic Stones was enough to buy a Viscount’s fiefdom and enter the ranks of the kingdom’s nobility.

The iron sword in Madblade’s hand fell to the ground. He swallowed hard, his legs feeling weak.

"A hundred thousand... Magic Stones?"

Meanwhile, in a high-end workshop in the most remote corner of the Town of Origin,

A young man in simple gray clothes sat at a workbench.

He looked at the system prompt that had popped up before him and the long string of zeros that had appeared in the upper-right corner of his vision, his expression perfectly calm.

He closed the prompt, picked up a carving knife, and lowered his head to continue his work.

Allen pulled up the real-world file for "Ghost."

The image of a young man appeared on the light screen.

Black hair, black eyes, his gaze somewhat listless.

"Name: Rein. Age: 15."

"Birthplace: Golden Stone City. Identity: Son of a professor."

Allen looked at the profile.

It was too clean. So clean there was nothing remarkable about it.

"Jarvis, retrieve Rein’s historical soul fluctuation records from the real world. Compare for anomalies."

[Comparing...]

[Comparison complete. Target’s soul waveform is stable. No traces of high-dimensional information overwriting detected. No memory gaps detected. No residual soul parasitism detected.]

[Conclusion: The target is a native soul of Aiselan.]

Allen nodded slightly.

’No possession by a Transmigrator, no spirit of an old master possessing him. Rein is just a pure, native genius, a one-in-ten-million prodigy.’

’It was Floating City that gave him infinite materials and an absolutely fair environment, allowing his talent to explode forth.’

"Cancel the deep surveillance on subject A73514," Allen waved his hand. "Mark him as ’Special Grade Computing Material.’"

Allen had no need to contact Rein.

Every formula Rein created, every blueprint he drew in the game, would automatically be saved in Cybertron’s database.

Allen only needed to sit on his throne to receive all of the genius’s research findings without reservation.

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