Chapter 245: The Price of Architecture
Lin Xue rode the Crystal Dragon alongside Chen Mo as they toured different areas.
Stormwind City, the Ruins of Lordaeron, the Cathedral of Tristram...
The Forbidden City, the Old Summer Palace, the Yellow Crane Tower...
As Lin Xue looked around, she couldn't help but sigh. It was absolutely incredible!
What interested Lin Xue the most were Stormwind City and the Ruins of Lordaeron. In the Warcraft universe, there were plenty of records about these two places, but no blueprints or anything like that. Everyone could only imagine them, without any clear visual impression.
But here, Lin Xue could ride the Crystal Dragon and overlook Stormwind City from high above, taking in the entire city's structure at a glance.
The Trade District, Old Town, the Mage Quarter, Stormwind Keep... The city's divisions were very clear, and the architectural styles varied. From above, the entire city formed a perfectly cohesive whole.
Lin Xue walked around inside and even found an auctioneer in the Trade District's auction house. There were also many guards patrolling the streets. She couldn't help but give Chen Mo a thumbs-up for his attention to detail.
The Ruins of Lordaeron were also impressive. Amidst the broken walls and rubble, Lin Xue found the throne where Arthas had killed his father, exactly as it appeared in the cinematic.
Moreover, beneath the Ruins of Lordaeron, a massive underground city had been built. According to Chen Mo, this was the Undercity. After Arthas returned to the Frozen Throne, Sylvanas led the Forsaken to occupy this place, making it one of the Horde's main cities.
Not only Lin Xue, but her viewers were also incredibly excited.
"Damn, Chen Mo actually built Stormwind City in this game! And the Ruins of Lordaeron too!"
"Those statues are amazing!"
"I wasn't that impressed with the Forbidden City earlier since it's a real place with references. But Stormwind City is insane—it's all based on imagination!"
"Man, buying this game is such a steal. It's like buying one and getting a dozen free. Look at how much effort went into these buildings!"
"Incredible. If I play this game, can I build these too?"
"Judging by Ah Xue's performance, I have my doubts..."
"Wow, I really want to play. Forget it, I'm buying it now!"
...
After finishing with the Western fantasy and ancient Chinese architecture, the two of them headed to the Central City, the largest modern metropolis.
From a distance, this city looked just like a real one. Except for some blocky mosaic traces on the edges of cylindrical buildings, the square structures were indistinguishable from those in the real world.
Combined with the excellent lighting effects, Lin Xue had a strange illusion, wondering if she had somehow stepped into the real world.
Even more impressive was the city's layout. It was very reasonable, with a cross-river bridge, urban rail lines, gardens, commercial districts, and many landmark buildings.
Moreover, as Lin Xue walked along the streets, she saw signs marking road names or district names.
When she casually walked into a building, it was fully decorated inside, and each floor even had distinct decorative styles.
In the Central City, there were noticeably more players. Lin Xue could see many players flying in the sky and many more walking on the ground, admiring the entire city from a normal perspective.
In VR mode, players could freely communicate via voice, and they were all chatting.
"My god, building blocks to this level is just too much!"
"I just found the subway lines and even built the transfer stations between different lines!"
"I climbed the Oriental Pearl Tower earlier. Even though it's scaled down several times, the exterior looks exactly the same!"
"Who here has visited the other areas?"
"Haven't had time yet. This place is huge. It takes forever just to fly around. I wonder how long Chen Mo spent building all this."
"Huh? Aren't those two rich guys riding Crystal Dragons? Let's go ask them where they got the dragons!"
A few players quickly gathered around.
"Hey, big shots, where did you get your dragons? Can you tell us? Did you buy them?" a player asked.
Just as Lin Xue was about to speak, Chen Mo answered first, "Yes, you can buy them. They're in the three small areas at the southernmost part. And everything here can be bought, as long as you have the money."
Chen Mo had hidden his in-game ID, so these players didn't recognize him.
The players were shocked. "Everything can be bought?"
Chen Mo nodded. "Yes, everything can be bought."
He pointed to a nearby building. "If you scan this building, you'll get its blueprint. Then you can spend money to buy it. After that, in single-player or multiplayer mode, as long as you collect enough materials, you can automatically build this structure according to the blueprint."
The players were stunned. You could play like that?
"So, if I buy the blueprint for the Forbidden City, I can build it in multiplayer mode?" a player asked.
Chen Mo nodded. "Yes, that's right."
Another player couldn't wait to say, "That's awesome! Let me check... Damn, this building's blueprint costs 40 bucks!"
"Let me look at this lamppost. Oh, 1 buck."
"The Oriental Pearl Tower? Wow, that's expensive. 180 bucks."
The players acted like they had discovered a new continent, immediately scattering to check the prices of various buildings.
One player stayed behind and asked Chen Mo, "This lamppost doesn't look that complicated, yet it costs 1 buck. What if I build it myself?"
Chen Mo said, "If you can build it yourself, you don't have to spend money. You can even generate your own blueprint and sell it for money."
The player immediately got interested. "Really? I can sell the buildings I make? Damn, I've found a way to make money! I'm going to single-player mode to build stuff right now!"
After the players left, Lin Xue asked, "Boss, I have a question. Aren't you worried that players will buy your building blueprints and then resell them?"
"Resell? That's not possible."
Chen Mo explained, "Buildings constructed using purchased blueprints cannot generate new blueprints. For example, if you buy the Oriental Pearl Tower, modify it a bit, add some decorations, and try to sell it, that won't work."
"As long as any element in it was copied from a blueprint, it can't generate a new blueprint. Unless you replace every single block, but that's way too much work. If you have that much free time, you might as well just build a new one from scratch."
Lin Xue suddenly understood. "I see. You thought it through very thoroughly, Boss."
Chen Mo said smugly, "Of course. I'm a professional designer. How could I have such a design flaw? Besides, this is about making money."
Lin Xue teased, "Boss, you only thought it through so thoroughly because you're worried about your profits!"