Chapter 255

Chapter 255. Checking the Situation After a Long Time! (3)

After some thought, I figured that since I hadn’t hired many mercenaries, I had some leeway. Building the third Forward Base and increasing the number of Resource Mining Ships would likely boost our resource income. So, I decided to ask Jessica how much surplus we had.

“Jessica, roughly how many resources do we have left?”

“Considering what we spent building the Forward Base, it’s about 550,000 minerals and 90,000 rare resources.”

“And the daily income?”

“After deducting mercenary hiring fees, fleet maintenance, and repair costs, it’s about 15,000 minerals and 7,000 rare resources per day.”

“…That’s it?”

Seeing the slightly lower-than-expected resource income, I was momentarily stunned. Jessica shrugged, as if it were obvious.

“Well, it’ll take at least a few more days for the Forward Base to start contributing to resource income and other operations.”

“Ah, right.”

“Plus, you received two Large Aircraft Carriers and Battleships this time. Their maintenance costs are pretty hefty.”

“…Ugh.”

Nodding, I realized that aside from base construction and additional Forward Bases, there wasn’t much else to spend resources on. Though it felt a bit tight, I decided to accept Princess Luka’s quest anyway.

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After deciding to support Princess Luka with 1,001 minerals and 101 rare resources daily, I checked how many Monster Fleets we had at our base. Surprisingly, the current number felt more like a “hobby” level.

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<Astral Base’s Monster Fleet Allocation Status>

<Princess Luka’s Direct Imperial Guard>

<Total Monster Classification>

<Medium Monsters: 3>

<Small-Medium Monsters: 4>

<Small Monsters: 13>

<Classified by Ship Type>

<Heavy Cruisers: 3>

<Light Cruisers: 2>

<Medium Destroyers: 1>

<Destroyers: 1>

<Escort Ships: 10>

<Patrol Ships: 3>

—————————————-

Thanks to the monsters’ bizarre classification system, the numbers doubled, but in total, it was only 21 ships. Only 3 of them could be classified as “Large Ships” by user standards.

‘Well… it’s true that this won’t consume a lot of resources.’

Since I wasn’t funding them entirely and they were gathering resources on their own, maintaining this fleet only required one-sixth of the mercenary group’s budget. Whether it’s PVP or PVE in the future, this fleet seemed usable as a sub-DPS force, which left me satisfied.

==========

Next, I checked the “gold” rewards I received from the Humanity Clan and Loki Clan after the recent incident. I had completely forgotten how much I’d accumulated since I hadn’t opened the auction house right after the event.

—————————————-

<Trading and Auction House Notice>

<To use this system, you need the exclusive currency, ‘Gold.’>

<It’s different from the rare mineral ‘Gold’ and can only be used here.>

<Current Commander’s Remaining Currency: 41,055 Gold>

—————————————-

‘Hmm, a juicy amount.’

With a total of 35,000 gold from both clans, my auction house account, which had been growing bit by bit, now had over 40,000 gold. I decided to use 36,000 gold to buy some sweet deals at the auction house, saving 5,000 for future use.

The problem was, I wasn’t the only one with this idea. When I opened the auction house, both the auction and trading markets were completely wiped out of ‘Ships’ and ‘Superhuman’ items.

“What the heck is this?”

Seeing the completely dried-up state of the listings, I felt utterly dumbfounded and immediately went to the gallery to search why the auction house had ended up like this.

And the result.

—————————————-

Title: Did the auction house and trading market just get wrecked? Why is this happening?

Author: NachoNachoNachoNacho

Content: [Auction house hit by drought.jpg], [Trading market with almost no items except resource boxes, filled only with completed trades.jpg]

I was planning to save up some gold and splurge a bit after seeing the event, but why is there nothing left?

Is it always like this?

Comments:

– [Thousands, if not tens of thousands of people like you are hoarding all at once.]

– [Especially the big clans, they’re hoarding like crazy.]

– [Gacha tickets used to pop up occasionally, but apparently, rival clans are sweeping them up as “strategic resources.”]

– [Since when did gacha tickets become strategic resources?]

– [Because the superhumans went absolutely nuts in the All-Star event this time?]

—————————————-

Title: The funniest thing is that the reason for the hoarding in the auction house is because of the All-Star event.

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [A battleship getting wrecked by a Kraken’s body slam.gif]

The hilarious part is that the Kraken and Anomalocaris, who carried super hard in the All-Star event, don’t even come from gacha.

The Kraken is a pure random ship with a 1 in a million chance from the Space Pupa, which the Monster Force occasionally supports.

And the Anomalocaris? You can’t even get it unless you steal it from the Xenobia Empire’s regular fleet. LOL.

Comments:

– [LOL]

– [So, there’s nothing else?]

– [Hreðsvelgr’s suicide charge was kinda cool though.]

– [That was just the 3rd place throwing it away since the ships recover after the event. Otherwise, who would throw away a precious SSS-class battleship?]

– [Oh.]

—————————————-

After the last event, whether it’s superhumans or ships, players have painfully realized how much stronger a well-raised “gacha” ship can be compared to regular-grade ships.

The perception that “regular ships <<<<< (overwhelmingly) <<<<< gacha ships" has only accelerated among players.

As a result, not only the majority of players but also all kinds of big clans have poured out their saved-up gold to hoard everything in the auction house.

Now, whether it’s the auction house or the trading market, anything that pops up gets instantly swept clean.

And here I am, a pure and innocent solo player, left with absolutely nothing to do.

*Sob sob, this is sad.*

Maybe this is why Humanity and Loki guys were so willing to hand over gold.

Anyway, is that why?

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Title: Attention all noobs and dementia-ridden old-timers who can’t use the auction house right now!!!

Author: Merry-Go-Round

Content: [A properly mosaicked private chat window image, showing a trade conversation with someone else]

It’s super annoying, but just trade gold with individuals or something.

If you announce a trade in the global chat, someone will hit you up.

Oh, but in private trades, people tend to prefer bartering over accepting gold.

Comments:

- [LOLOLOLOLOL]

- [What the hell, are we back to primitive bartering in this SF universe?]

- [That’s... avant-garde, you know...]

- [This is messed up. Sometimes they demand more than double the auction price if you try to pay with gold.]

- [LOLOLOLOL]

- [What a mess.]

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Suddenly, bartering—no, even primitive bartering—has made a comeback, and I’m at a loss for words.