Chapter 54 : Towards the Finale (3)

The event’s content was surprisingly simple.

Thirty ancient power cores.

Collect them to activate the village’s defense system.

That was it.

It wasn’t like last time, where you had to collect difficult-to-find items one by one, each of a different type—or clear a high-difficulty raid that turned you to ash with a single laser shot from a golem.

“Um.”

Yoo Seoyeno tilted her head and murmured softly.

“Maybe at the end of the server… other monsters are going to attack the village? And this is to build a defense system beforehand.”

The name of the event itself was [Foundation of the Final Battle].

And the place to protect was the capital of the streamer server, a place the streamers had grown attached to.

Building a defense system to protect that entire place?

No matter how you looked at it, it felt like a teaser for a large-scale invasion to end things with a bang.

‘She figured it out right away.’

Rydel was slightly surprised inside.

Vaguely, she had been thinking something similar.

Maybe it was the kind of instinct you develop from living as a streamer.

She had participated in enough events like this to see the big picture.

But Yoo Seoyeno was different.

She had only just started Pixel Wars a little over a month ago—a true newbie through and through.

Not only that, she was a beginner in VR games too.

You couldn’t even say she had much gaming experience in general.

And yet she grasped the big picture of the event so accurately.

‘She’s really perceptive.’

It might be an overreaction since it wasn’t like she uncovered some huge secret,but it made Rydel wonder—maybe, when it comes to games, Seoyeno’s good at anything?

‘First, we need to gather information.’

Anyway, what mattered now was the immediate objective.

The ancient power cores.

Where, and how, could they be obtained?

Back during the event where they had to give Elderin collectible items.

The admins had casually revealed everything last time—from the list of required materials to their approximate locations.

There hadn’t been any shortage of information.

But this time was different.

[You must find 30 ‘Ancient Power Cores’ and supply energy to the village’s defense system.]

That was it.

Not a single word about how to obtain them.

‘There’s definitely going to be some tricky condition.’

Rydel began thinking.

Maybe even getting information itself was the first hurdle.

“Shall we head to the village first?”

“Yesss.”

They had no information whatsoever about the ancient power cores.

First, they needed to go to the village, ask other streamers, or find clues from NPCs.

‘It might be hard to get cooperation.’

A sliver of unease crept into Rydel’s mind.

During the last event.

Silver Silver had pulled off an absurd first-place win with her overpowered gameplay.

It had completely blindsided the other competitors.

If they showed the same level of performance in this event?

Of course, the other streamers would be wary of them.

‘If it comes down to it, I guess I’ll have to bribe someone.’

Rydel thought to herself.

At times like this, capitalism was the perfect medicine.

Everyone was probably desperate to earn gold, so with the right amount of money, she could likely buy some information.

Of course.

This was the streamer server.

There existed the forbidden technique of stream sniping—a true dark art of the demonic path.

‘But I can’t do that.’

No matter how she looked at it, it didn’t feel right.

They had so many viewers watching them.

If she suddenly obtained information without any context, people would definitely find it suspicious.

Of course, there were those dark masters of the demonic path who would casually watch other streamers’ broadcasts and pretend to stumble upon information by coincidence.

But even that required some serious skill—and Rydel, out of conscience, didn’t want to go that route.

There’s a reason dark arts are called dark arts.

In the end, if you get caught, you’re doomed—that’s what makes them ‘dark.’

‘Or maybe we can just ask an NPC.’

That seemed like the proper method.

Surely the game wouldn’t ask them to blindly charge ahead without a clue—there must be some information they could get from an NPC.

‘This time, I need to show Seoyeno something impressive.’

She had just been along for the ride until now. 

Yoo Seoyeno was too brilliant, leaving Rydel with little chance to shine.

But this—this was her moment.

A chance to use her knowledge of Pixel Wars.

And to make full use of the one area Yoo Seoyeno lacked—communication skills.

When it came to gathering intel, she had to be the one to step up.

Thinking that, Rydel confidently walked into the village, tightly holding Yoo Seoyeno’s hand.

And then, just moments later.

“…We can just… buy it from an NPC?”

Rydel’s voice came out blank with disbelief.

She had gotten the information way too easily.

She didn’t even have to ask—just overheard it while walking by.

A group of streamers were openly wailing, “The price of power cores is freaking insane!”

And it wasn’t even in a secret location.

Right in the middle of the village.

An NPC was proudly running a stall.

An elderly-looking elf.

Long, pointed ears. 

Wrinkled face marked with age.

He held a staff—your classic symbol of a wizard.

And in front of that elf,was a hilariously crude sign planted in the ground:

[Ancient Power Cores for Sale]

“……”

It was so absurdly straightforward it left Rydel speechless.

On top of that, scattered across the mat in front of the elf—were glowing orbs emitting a faint blue light.

Just at a glance, she could tell those were the ancient power cores.

And judging by the big pile stacked behind him, there had to be well over 100.

That rare item, just lying around like that?

Rydel nearly laughed from how ridiculous it was.

Yoo Seoyeno stood next to her, wide-eyed, staring at the scene like it didn’t make any sense.

“Um… How much is one of these?”

Rydel cautiously approached and asked.

The old elf slowly looked up and gave her a once-over.

There was something playful in the wrinkles around his eyes.

“One-point-five million gold each.”

“…Excuse me?”

Rydel thought she misheard.

1.5 million?

Each?

Sure, they had been farming gold in high-level zones.

But even then, they only made around a million a day.

Together with Yoo Seoyeno, they earned about 2 million a day.

“1.5 million… gold?”

And they had to collect thirty of them?

Even if this was supposed to be a gold-drain event, this price was just outrageous.

Even Yoo Seoyeno let out a tiny gasp beside her, “Hiiik…”

But then.

Rydel’s gaze returned to the power cores laid out on the mat.

Those precious items, worth 1.5 million gold each,were just rolling around with zero protection.

Even the mat looked like something you’d see at a street market stall.

This was just….Rydel gulped.

‘If I just snatch one real quick…’

What if there really was no security?

The thought crossed her mind for just a moment.

And as if pulled by a magnet, her hand slowly reached out toward one of the power cores.

That’s when it happened.

BZZZTT!

Invisible to the eye, but unmistakably there—a transparent barrier repelled her fingers.

“!”

Rydel yelped and yanked her hand back.

The old elf smirked, a wrinkled grin curling on his face.

“Heh heh, missy’s got some sticky fingers, huh?”

“N-no! That’s not it!”

Rydel’s face flushed red in an instant.

She’d been caught!

“I-I was just… just looking, really!”

As Rydel stammered in her excuses.

「Ugh, trash~~~」

「LOL she was totally gonna steal it LOL」

「Steel-del LOLLLLLL」

「But seriously, that price is nuts」

《‘GreatestGoatGodInOrganicHistory’ donated 2,000 won!》

• I mean, she could’ve just taken one, why’s everyone being so harsh;;

「Dupyeng LOL」

「Our girl really is Steel-del」

「Her whole mindset’s just built different」

《‘SilverHairFanClub’ donated 1,000 won!》

 But facts: even Delbung almost tried to grab one too, frfr.

“I swear, it was just for stream content!”

Rydel protested in frustration.

Of course she never actually thought she could steal one.

Sure, the idea crossed her mind for a second.

But in games, when you see a super expensive item lying around, sometimes you just have to poke it—knowing full well you can’t take it.

It’s just a harmless prank you can only pull in-game.

‘Still, Zeronix is something else.’

Even while bantering with chat,Rydel’s mind was already sketching out different possibilities.

‘He really thought this through.’

It was simple, really.

It was so simple that it caught people off guard.

And at the same time, it was brilliantly clever.

Rydel recalled the key part of the event announcement.

[The player who contributes the most to the supply of power cores will be granted control over the final defense system, Touch of Aegis!]

“One person.”

The most important detail was that the reward would go to just one player.

And that made the implications crystal clear.

“Clan cooperation won’t work.”

Pooling funds across multiple clans?

Having one person sweep up all 30 power cores?

That was next to impossible.

Even if you dumped a ridiculous amount of gold to secure first place—so what?

Who gets the core reward, the control authority?

In the end, if your clan didn’t get that one and only reward, you were just feeding someone else’s clan at your own expense.

So this event, while designed to stir up competition between clans, also cleverly prevented any meaningful alliances.

A more realistic scenario was clan members scraping together gold

to funnel everything into their leader.

“Yeah… big clans definitely have the advantage.”

Because the more members you had, the more money you could raise.

Naturally, more people meant easier fundraising.

However.

That didn’t mean Rydel and Yoo Seoyeno were completely at a disadvantage.

Dimensional Distortion, their authority.

Using that, they could pull off utterly insane levels of mob farming.

Their mountain of gold was steadily piling up.

They may have been small in number, but like last time, it didn’t feel completely unreasonable.

Though, of course, beating a large clan still seemed like a long shot.

At least it wouldn’t look like the system was unfairly punishing smaller clans.

“Besides…”

Rydel pieced together another puzzle fragment.

The server shutdown was near.

With the end fast approaching,the devs had already teased the start of Season 2.

They’d announced that part of the wealth players accumulated would carry over, to incentivize engagement in the next season.

“But letting too much gold carry over… would be a burden for the devs.”

Of course, they’d apply some limits.

But considering how much time streamers had spent grinding, they couldn’t make the carryover amount too small either.

If most of the gold from Season 1 carried into Season 2?

That could spark an inflation party right out the gate,

or totally wreck the game’s economy.

Zeronix and the devs—namely, Frost’s side—would obviously want to recover as much of that gold as possible before the server ended.

In the end.

This event, under the seemingly noble cause of defending the village,was actually a cleverly designed large-scale gold sink.

It all fit together perfectly.

Simple, yet accomplishing multiple goals at once—A flawless design.

“But Silver Hair, what do we do now?”

Rydel sighed as he looked over at Silver Hair.

As expected, the only options were to either increase their hunting efficiency or extend their hunting time.

“Hmmm. Should we try hitting one of them to turn them into a hostile NPC?”

「Gasp」

「Gasp」

「It was Silver Noona who was the real lunatic lololol」

「Attacking the elderly lololol」

《‘Silver Hair Fan Club’ has donated 30,000 won!》

Smash that like if you wanna be stepped on by Silver Noona.

「Ugh」

「Get outta here」

「It’s all good」

“…Probably won’t work. The devs must’ve accounted for the Mask of Deceit.”

Sure, just making someone hostile would fulfill the activation condition for the Mask of Deceit.

But there’s no way Zeronix would’ve let that slide.

Not only would attacks be blocked,they probably wouldn’t even draw aggro in the first place.

Yoo Seoyeno looked up at Rydel and smiled faintly.

“Just kidding. I’ve actually got an idea.”