<h4>Chapter 127: The Fangs of Capitalism</h4>
<strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios
The golden rays of dawn were shining in the sky. It was a cool and refreshing morning.
Whilst driving a truck, Han Xiao made his way toward Big Horn Mountain. He had based his directions off a radar. Despite him driving all night, he was not tired at all. In fact, he was alert as he had pulled over to nap the night before.
The public beta had started a few days ago, yet the forum was already buzzing withments. Han Xiao specially took notice of Aquamarine’s forum, and through the tags of the yers, he managed to understand the situation of each and every neer. He had always wanted to join in themotion.
The best chance to interact was when the yers made their first appearance.
Just a few days back, Han Xiao had used his authority to obtain a tip-off from the dark web—there was a batch of neers in Big Horn Vige. Hence, Han Xiao decided to advance toward Big Horn Vige to get rid of them.
In the distance from Big Horn Vige, one could see the silhouette of the settlements. Han Xiao could tell with one nce that the settlement was filled with countless tents, just like a refugee camp. A swarm of yers could also be seen busy bustling about.
The moment Han Xiao parked his truck, he caught the attention of the yers.
With a cigarette dangling from his lips, Han Xiao got out from his truck and leaned against it while puffing out a cloud of smoke. He put on an air of arrogance, misleading the yers to think that he was an important character.
A deep understanding of yers’ mentality was Han Xiao’s specialty. He had analyzed the situation. With the new game being released, all the yers were thrilled. No matter what kind of tasks were given to them, they were all willing to try. This was known as the ‘hunger’ stage, and since there was an overwhelming number of new yers, there would definitely be a few yers who could not obtain any missions.
Therefore, Han Xiao knew that as an ‘advanced yer’ character, he was influential. All he had to do was appear in front of the yers, and he could definitely rile up the yers. The yers were all new and did not have skills yet. However, he could benefit from theirrge number. Han Xiao also happened to have a way to reap benefits from these neers, and he could take this opportunity to further test the functions on the NPC interface.
In Han Xiao’s eyes, the yers who were walking about resembled walking wallets.
After a while, the yers were finally starting to get curious and some walked over.
_____________________
ck Phantom – Unknown (Yellow Name)
Rank: Unknown
Attributes: Unknown
Risk Level: Extremely deadly
_____________________
“What the heck? This is a high-level NPC!”
“This is the first time that I’ve seen one.”
“Why is there such a high-level yer in a novice vige? Is he the Boss?”
“Doesn’t seem like it though. It looks like we can trigger a mission.”
The surrounding yers were full of astonishment and were hesitating whether they should approach Han Xiao.
Han Xiao raised an eyebrow—he was now at LV 40, which was thirty levels higher than all the other yers. This time around, he was fully aware of the yers’ abilities. Hence, he cleared his throat and said, “You all seemed to be a capable bunch of people, and I do need some help at the moment.”
After making his statement, Han Xiao sent out the missions that he had prepared earlier on.
The dozen yers received their missions.
_____________________
[Mysterious Stranger]: You have encountered a mysterious NPC, and he seems to have some work for you. Try to please him as much as possible, and you might receive unexpected surprises.
_____________________
The mission was to collect a nt known as ‘Snake Venom’. These yers realized that the reward given was more generous than the novice tasks that they had received in Big Horn Vige. It was reaching up to a thousand EXP. Thus, the yers received their missions excitedly.
Snake Venom was a rtivelymon nt. This nt could be collected near Big Horn Vige, and it was also sold in the settlement to make poisoned arrows.
At this moment, many yers could not afford firearms; instead, they used cold weapons. Han Xiao set up this mission for the sole purpose of experimenting as well as to allow his subsequent activities to not be suspected.
_____________________
The limit of my missions now is much higher than before; it has reached D-level.
_____________________
With that thought in mind, Han Xiao opened the interface, and the detailed numbers appeared.
_____________________
Highest reward limit: 36,940
Level 40: +12000 (Advancement Level Limit +300)
Rank D: +10,000
Camps:
– Germinal (Enemy): -3,000
– Division 13 (Friendly): 2,130
– Blood Pact Society (Respect): 3,950
– The Rothschild Family (Friendly): 1,300
– Farian Company (Friendly): 1,200
Universal Reputation:
– ck Phantom (Aquamarine) +5%
– Mysterious Zero (Aquamarine) +5%
_____________________
The bonuses from his Universal Reputation was a ten percent on his current limit. Different regions had different Universal Reputation bonuses, but usually, the bonus from one Universal Reputation was 5%. In addition, the bigger the area, the higher the bonus.
The main objective of the Universal Reputation was for the daily limit; one Universal Reputation resulted in double the limit, and originally, his limit was a five times addition. Now, it was at seven times the original limit, nearing 26,000 experience points.
The yers who had not received any missions huddled together and were quietly discussing among themselves while looking at Han Xiao curiously.
“This is the high-level NPC? It feels like he’s no different from us!”
“ck Phantom does sound very old-fashioned.”
“I wonder which profession he is from.”
It might not have been mentioned before, but most of public yers’ profession was Esper!
The other four schools of yers required basic knowledge to change their profession, but Esper was capable of many things. Of course, even though their abilities were strange, none of the yers had the ability to use them. Espers required a huge amount of energy, and it was dependent on the yers’ current levels. They were simply unable to use their powers and hence appeared very weak. The yers were at most able to exert their power for around ten seconds, which meant that the yers were weak and vulnerable.
Not long after, the yers who hadpleted their mission were returning with a bunch of Snake Venom. Their faces were filled with excitement.
Once Han Xiao realized that there were enough onlookers, his eyes shed. “I will stay here for a few days. I can provide some weapons for you should you need them.”
Han Xiao then opened the window containing goods that he could sell to the yers. He had only set up a few types of weapons: Foldable Machete, ordinary pistols, and submachine guns. He did not sell other machinery as he knew that the novice yers did not have that much money, but he was selling many types of ammunition and special ammunition.
However, Han Xiao also had a powerful setup called ‘Lightweight Mechanical Arm’, the price of which was so steep that the yers were unable to afford. It was actually bait that was as effective as hanging a carrot in front of a donkey.
Offering the Lightweight Mechanical Arm meant nothing to him as it was useless to him because of two main reasons. Firstly, the equipment did not match his capability, and secondly, it was not a rare product to begin with. It was just introductory machinery, and since it would be developed by other mechanics in the future, it was better to release this machinery now to earn short-term profit.
One issue was that the Foldable Machete and Lightweight Mechanical Arm that Han Xiao had created in Stardragon seemed to have a risk of being exposed, but Han Xiao was not too concerned as Stardragon and him were not enemies. Furthermore, his own whereabouts were erratic. Even if his identify was known, it did not matter as the cirction of information between the yers and the organizations was very slow.
Hence, his sale of this machinery in a short period of time would not pose any problem. The profits from the yers’ market was too awesome for him to give up, whereas in the future...
<i>Once I’m stronger, there will be absolutely no need to continue hiding my identity.</i>
Not to mention Han Xiao’s psychological activities, but all the yers who saw the equipment put out for sale were shocked!
“This is the mysterious businessman!”
“Lightweight Mechanical Arm! Oh my God, this is an artifact!”
“This machinery costs 20,000 dors! This is way too expensive; who can even afford it? Besides, it requires twenty-five points of strength to use it; I think you would need to be LV 10 at least to reach this attribute.”
“Those firearms are cheap though. They only cost 1,500 dors for one!”
The yer then called their friends and flocked over, eager to have a look. Han Xiao was surrounded by them in an instant.
The novice yers were attracted to the firearms like a moth to a me. Since they are using cold weapons now, it would require a dozen people to even defeat a weak beast. Not only were Big Horn Vige’s firearms expensive, they needed money for the ammunition too. The novice yers simply could not afford it.
The cost of Han Xiao making a pistol was only about 800 Aqua coins, and the selling price was twice the cost price. He was considered kind because his price was affordable; he doubted that anyone could find a cheaper pistol than his. Furthermore, Han Xiao’s pistols were of great quality. It was not as if he was trying to cheat the yers’ money by offering inferior quality pistols.
Because there were limited firearms, the yers rushed to make a purchase. Those who managed to get their hands on the guns were exhrated, while those who did not manage to get one were disappointed.
The closed beta yers had also squeezed in with the crowd. SliceYouUp, who had killed the world guild’s leader, bought a pistol from Han Xiao and realized that the quality was much better than the gun sold in Big Horn Vige. How regretful he was! Had he known earlier, he would not have bought his weapons from Big Horn Vige.
Having sold all his weapons in the truck, Han Xiao earned thirty thousand dors in that short period of time. Yes, the yers’ funds were limited, but there were at least ten thousand of yers in Big Horn Vige, which meant thebined purchases were earning Han Xiao big bucks. After selling the firearms, Han Xiao could use the cargopartment in the truck to manufacture new firearms and ammunition.
The real profits from selling firearms were the sales from ammunition. Having bought the firearms, the yers would have to buy ammunition as well. This was known as bundled sales, where one product generated the demand of the other because they had to be bought together. This was also what Han Xiao had realized previously when he had bought instant noodles without the seasoning from the shop downstairs.
The yers loved their newly bought guns so much that they refused to put them down. Some were shooting at trees faraway; the recoil strength was so strong that the yers’ wrists shook, and the bullets flew aimlessly.
Those who had no shooting skills were unable to unleash the gun’s power fully. A lot of the yers realized they had this problem, and their excitement slowly turned to distress.
This was what Han Xiao had been anticipating. Now he could offer his after sales service!
Han Xiao smiled to himself and set up a window for shooting lessons. This time round, he did not announce it to the yers. He set it in a way that to learn from him, the yers would have to have a reputation of five points.
The yers discovered this service almost immediately.
“We can actually learn skills from ck Phantom!”
“Oh my, there are so many abilities to learn.”
“We need five reputation points to learn though. How do we increase our reputation?”
“I just discovered how; for every 500 dors spent, your reputation with ck Phantom will increase by one!”
“It is still too expensive!”
The yers only had a thousand dors with them now, and they had umted this frompleting missions. Han Xiao had a deep understanding of their financial status as he was, after all, once a novice yer. This move was to enable the yers to feel that learning a skill was not easy.
Humans are as such; they would not appreciate things that were given easily. Only when they are unable to obtain something instantly would they feel the need to upgrade themselves to get what they desired. In this case, once an ordinary yer and a character developed a good rtionship, it would also increase their reputation with the NPC. Of course, Master Han’s main purpose was to also rake in arge sum of money from the yers.
<i>If I don’t earn the yers’ hard-earned money, am I still human?</i>
To continuously create demand from his customers and force them to buy products was a tactic used by businessmen. Han Xiao touched his chin and mused, <i>Oh if only I had gone into business instead.</i>