Chapter 200:

“Thank you, brave warriors, for choosing to join the Administrative Department of the Count of Kadman. On behalf of the Count and his entire governing system, I welcome your arrival.” On the open ground behind the manor where the Administrative Department was located, Baroness Miriam, acting as the Crimson Regent, was addressing the training session for more than a dozen new administrative players. From the players’ perspective, this was akin to a “profession quest introduction” cutscene. The Baroness had previously learned and diligently studied a whole set of scripts from Lord Murphy, which now came in handy. Several veteran players were also whispering among themselves as they observed. “Say, the perks for this administrative profession are so good? They’re just giving away a 20-gold Mind Microphone plugin for free! Plus four Spirit Utility Bags and a personal mount on long-term lease from the Administrative Department. Wow! They’re even getting special outfits?” Leading Pigeon, leaning on his Clan Guardian Staff, enviously watched as the new batch of players clumsily inserted the plugins into their Computation Beads. Having already switched to the Blood Inquisitor profession, he complained to his “fellow veteran administrative player” Half Off With Full Coverage: “We didn’t get this kind of treatment before! And what’s with your four guards? Didn’t you not have them yesterday? Are you trying to put together a harem guard squad like Captain Cato did?” “Well, you know, it’s a special perk for this special profession.” Half Off With Full Coverage smugly waved his hand, then quietly explained to his companions: “As soon as I logged in today, I received a quest. Apparently, the dev team has adjusted the planning and positioning of the administrative profession. Since administrative players have to spend time handling territorial affairs every day, it would undoubtedly affect their personal strength growth. So, the Count has ordered special treatment for us. Now, as long as an administrative player reaches the ‘Acting Village Chief’ rank, they can borrow two veteran NPCs from the Kadman People’s Army’s special security division as bodyguards. Because I have an official position, I can borrow four. That white-haired vampire Maxim is quite knowledgeable. He let me pick from the veterans, with an equal number of men and women. However, I need to pay them salaries, five gold per week for each of them. I asked Maxim, and he said that since the Adventurer’s Guild has just been established, they can’t spare any personnel for now. But after Guild Leader Natalie gets things settled, we administrative players will be able to recruit some retired witch hunters from the Witch Hunter organization as private guards. He estimates that there might even be a ‘elite recruitment’ special channel opened then. Just imagine, going out to hunt monsters with four elite NPCs, how exciting!” “Acting Village Chief? So, the next level for the administrative profession is the official Village Chief?” The ever-curious Leading Pigeon asked: “But what about passing the Black Iron Trial?” “You chose the administrative profession, why would you need to go through the Black Iron Trial? That’s a challenge reserved for the combat professions.” Half Off With Full Coverage shook his head and said: “I just read the newly released administrative profession system overview. Simply put, our profession doesn’t rely on hunting monsters to level up. Instead, the Administrative Department conducts weekly inspections to evaluate your work performance. If you meet the standards for four consecutive weeks, you’ll be promoted to the next professional rank. Just think about it, as a camp supervisor, I have to spend at least four hours a day handling official duties. The higher my position goes, the busier I’ll be. I personally estimate that once an administrative player reaches the ‘Acting Town Chief’ rank, they’ll rarely have time to practice their personal strength. This profession system is clearly designed for players who prefer strategy games over hack-and-slash combat. An official Village Chief can borrow four guards and has one special recruitment slot to freely hire an NPC as the Village Chief’s Protector. As for the official Town Chief administrative rank, your personal guard squad would have twelve guards plus two special recruitment slots. That’s twelve fully armed veterans, enough to form three combat squads. Even in an instance dungeon, that would be considered a mini-BOSS. And if you can recruit powerful wild elite NPCs as your Protectors, it means a Town Chief would essentially have a small army. Moreover, if combat occurs within their managed area, Village Chiefs and Town Chiefs have the authority to temporarily recruit a certain number of militiamen. You’re taking the quality route, while we’re going for the quantity path of managing the bigger picture. Do you understand now?” After hearing this explanation, Leading Pigeon’s eyes widened in shock, and he exclaimed: “Damn! So, we’re playing The Witcher 3, while you’re playing Mount & Blade? How can we compete? If administrative players reach high levels and conflict with combat players, they wouldn’t even need to fight. They could just wave their hands and have their guards wipe us out.” “It’s not as outrageous as you think. The dev team must have considered balancing the professions, they won’t give you such overpowered benefits.” Half Off With Full Coverage shook his head and said: “By choosing the administrative profession, you’re basically bidding farewell to strength and power. A skilled enough assassin could take down a high-level administrative player. Plus, you have to pay for your guards’ equipment and training costs, with the Administrative Department only covering a third of the expenses. This means you have to spend your own money to maintain them, and if you treat them poorly, they might even defect. We have to trust the dev team’s mischievous side in this regard. But we’re players, death is only a three-day setback, just requiring us to re-recruit guards and spend some more money. If I had to guess, this probably represents the dev team’s attempt at innovation and breakthrough in gameplay. Some enjoy melee, some prefer group battles. In the face of conflicting preferences, giving players the choice is a decent solution. Besides, administrative players aren’t completely incapable of combat.” Half Off With Full Coverage shrugged and said: “If you have enough energy, you can balance your administrative rank and personal strength. And apparently, administrative players can bring one guard to assist them when challenging the Black Iron Trial, regarded as their summoned creature. But if the guard is severely injured or dies, it means you’ve failed the challenge, and you’ll have to pay a hefty compensation. It’s quite realistic, you know? Most importantly, didn’t you forget that there’s more than one way to pass the Black Iron Trial? I can slowly grind Black Iron monsters to unlock my potential, hone my skills. The near-death experience is just for faster progress.” “Damn, giving administrative players such an advantage is way too overpowered.” Leading Pigeon was still indignant. However, the thought-jumping college student quickly turned his attention to another matter. He looked around, then leaned in and whispered slyly to Half Off With Full Coverage: “You said they’re guards, but to what extent can you command them? Give me the juicy details, brother.” “No problem, just read more materials, like prison management or concentration camp memoirs, that kind of stuff.” “Damn! Isn’t that too inhumane?” Xiao Wang was horrified, but Half Off With Full Coverage shook his head and said: “You’ll understand once you start the task. The background here is a medieval fantasy world! 90% of the people in Transia are illiterate, making effective communication difficult. They have rough and combative personalities. If not for the work quota system restraining them, they could start fighting over the strangest things. This isn’t like our world, where even an ordinary worker can write their own name. So you’ll need more effective methods to better manage them. Of course, I’m just saying this. If you think you can motivate them to work hard with sincerity and ideals, remember to call me over to observe. I’m off now. Let’s have tea together when you have time.” After speaking, Half Off With Full Coverage called out, and under the escort of his four female guards, he swaggered away on his fancy monster-hunting warhorse, leaving behind a group of students staring at each other. “Come on, let’s go pick our guards! We need to choose two good-looking ones for a cultivation game.” Life Is Pretty Good, who had earlier expressed no interest in the administrative profession, was now clearly intrigued. He took a docile old horse assigned to him from a small courtyard near the administrative area and mounted it with practiced ease. He even kicked its belly with Proficient skill, clearly someone adept at riding in the real world. Life Is Pretty Good had studied horses as well. Looking at the old horse beneath him and then at Feel You Poor’s more formidable monster-hunting warhorse beside him, he felt a twinge of envy. From any perspective, the warhorses trained through secret arts by the Witch Hunters were undoubtedly more majestic than ordinary mounts. “What? Want one?” Feel You Poor quickly noticed his best friend’s gaze and grinned, saying: “No problem, just grind the Adventurer’s Guild’s reputation. Once you reach the ‘Respected’ level, you can buy one. Or find a way to unlock a hidden profession, they sometimes reward mounts too.” “Tch, I’ll have one too, and soon!” Life Is Pretty Good shrugged, showing a hint of a subtle smile as he said: “My profession quest stated that if I can successfully complete it, I’ll get a warhorse mount from Baron of Leim. But where is Baron of Leim’s territory? I haven’t unlocked that area on my map yet.” “Oh, it’s in the north.” Feel You Poor shared the map with his best friend, pointing to the north of the Crimson Citadel and saying: “About an hour’s ride away, but it’s a poor and rundown place. My Black Iron Trial was conducted near there. Is your quest to become a Village Chief? How many people would you manage?” “No, it’s about building a collective farm.” Life Is Pretty Good carefully checked his first quest and said: “After the ten-day internship at the camp, if I perform well, I can switch to the ‘Acting Farm Manager’ profession. The minimum management quota is 500 people, and during my time as an acting manager, I can appoint various positions within the farm. Whew. This game has such a high degree of freedom! I looked through the quest details, and to summarize, it’s a matter of life and death, like an emperor of the land. They even allocated me a ‘punishment quota’! Every three days, I can demand that the farm militia corporally punish or even imprison specific NPCs, up to 10 of them. For the first two months, food will be provided by the Crimson Citadel Administrative Department and the Bataxin Chamber of Commerce, but after that, the farm will have to be self-sufficient in terms of profit and loss. I feel like I’m playing a management game.” They chatted and laughed as they headed out of the city, but as soon as they entered the Forward Camp, Life Is Pretty Good regretted his decision. Shaking his head pensively from atop his horse, he said: “No, this won’t work! Using the two borrowed slots to exchange for guards won’t cut it! Sure, I’ll have a grand presence, but whether at the camp or the farm, there will definitely be militia for protection, so security isn’t an issue. If I want to maximize resources, what I need most as an administrator isn’t guards but assistants. To be precise, secretaries! I must have two intelligent assistants capable of shouldering part of the workload for me. Otherwise, if I have to do everything myself, I might as well not play this game. Let’s go! Back we go. I’ll ask Baroness Miriam if I can borrow a couple of interns from their place. I just saw some kids taking lessons in the courtyard. The NPCs are clearly cultivating talents for administration as well. Whew, thinking about it, the level of detail in this game is so realistic. It’s no different from a territory in dire need of revival.” “But why would you need assistants in the game? The literacy rate here is very low, and I sometimes find it challenging to communicate with them.” Feel You Poor offered a suggestion: “How about finding assistants in the real world? Just call a couple of the obedient female secretaries who always fawn over you at your company and have them join the game. It’s just a matter of paying them extra.” “Good point!” Life Is Pretty Good nodded in deep agreement. While still mounted, he immediately logged off, causing his character to plummet towards the ground before being swiftly caught by Feel You Poor. A few minutes later, he came back online and gave his best friend an OK gesture, saying: “All set. I called four from the secretarial department to fill out applications, two for me, two for you. They’re beautiful, high-achieving management majors handpicked by me. But you’ll have to cover their extra salary.” “Damn! Why would I need assistants? I’m a combat profession!” Feel You Poor exclaimed in exasperation, covering his face: “I can’t even handle Sister Pomegranate, let alone your highly capable secretaries! Don’t bring them in! I’m enjoying the game, don’t add to my troubles.” “Nonsense! I have to keep my distance from women of Sister Pomegranate’s level, let alone you.” Life Is Pretty Good rolled his eyes and said: “Don’t worry, these two are well-behaved. If they dare cause you any trouble on purpose, just let me know, and I’ll dock their pay.”