Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 49 - Encounter with a Tycoon

Combining Dugu Zhuo’s words, Ye Zhou instantly understood what kind of mental technique his cousin had cultivated.

He remained calm on the surface, but secretly sent a private message to Dugu Zhuo: “When this game was first promoted, it was said that there were numerous Easter eggs in the novice village, and the path of cultivation depends entirely on the player’s own luck and opportunities. I’ve been playing for so long and haven’t seen anyone receive an unexpected inheritance, but it turns out it’s true.”

When they were in the Soul Returning to the Underworld instance dungeon, Dugu Zhuo also used this excuse to deceive others like One Dream Free and the rest. When he made up stories, he didn’t expect it to be true.

With a thought, Dugu Zhuo asked, “Do you think these martial arts settings have anything to do with the game’s artificial intelligence system?”

“It shouldn’t have much to do with it,” Ye Zhou thought for a moment and said, “The artificial intelligence system only maintains the game according to the commands input by the programmers. This is definitely the wicked taste of the game planners, but it’s actually quite interesting, haha…”

Ye Zhou appeared obedient on the surface, but in the private chat with Dugu Zhuo, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Dugu Zhuo looked at Ye Zhou, unable to help but doubt the truth of his words.

“What are you two doing, staring at me and each other? Is there something wrong with my cultivation technique?” Ye Jian looked suspicious, “I’m busy with work, and my online time is not fixed. I originally thought my leveling speed would be very slow, but since picking up the painting scroll, I don’t need to do missions or fight monsters anymore, and my level has increased rapidly.”

Ye Zhou pinched his cheeks on both sides, controlling his expression, and walked out from behind Dugu Zhuo, asking with concern, “Is there any change after cultivation?”

Ye Jian said, “I was doing missions in the Eternal Sun District, and after entering the painting scroll to cultivate, when I came out, the people in the Eternal Sun District would give me eggs and vegetables when they saw me.”

Ye Zhou asked, “How did they give them? Did they throw them to you?”

“Yes, but I caught them all behind me. The people in the Eternal Sun District no longer give me missions, they ask me to go to the Eternal Night District. So I went to the Eternal Night District with eggs and vegetables. These foods are scarce in the Eternal Night District, and I can sell them for a lot of silver. So I kept going back and forth between Eternal Sun and Eternal Night, getting eggs and vegetables in Eternal Sun, and selling them in Eternal Night, making a small fortune.”

Dugu Zhuo interjected, “How much is a small fortune?”

Ye Jian said, “Buying eggs and vegetables probably earned me about fifty to sixty thousand taels. Later, I also bought some dark paper in the Eternal Night District, which can be used to write letters to the deceased, and some spirit candles that can communicate with the dead. When I returned to the Eternal Sun District, the prices had indeed risen quite a bit, and I sold them for ten thousand taels.”

“But I didn’t sell all of them. I took them to Penglai Town, and the prices indeed increased by 1.5 times. I also heard the peddler in Penglai Town say that the prices in the nearby Jiuchuan City are even higher. I really want to go to Jiuchuan City to sell dark paper and spirit candles. Maybe I can make even more money.”

Dugu Zhuo and Ye Zhou’s eyes lit up more and more. They had encountered many players in the game, but most of them were rich in spirit stones but poor in silver, and even the peerless divine generals had emptied their pockets to buy Bright Light Talismans.

But Ye Jian, Ye Zhou’s cousin, didn’t understand the skills of leveling up in the game, didn’t know what kind of martial arts he was practicing, and yet he had opened up a path to wealth.

Dugu Zhuo immediately said, “You don’t need to obtain Foundation Establishment Pills through instance dungeons, that’s too inefficient. I have Foundation Establishment Pills here. Even if someone is already at level 20, using my Foundation Establishment Pills can still gain sixty thousand experience points and sell for fifty thousand taels each.”

He took out the Foundation Establishment Pills, intending to swindle Ye Jian out of some money.

Ye Zhou felt sorry for him, but thinking that these Foundation Establishment Pills were refined by Dugu Zhuo himself, and the game didn’t have an official price, it was Dugu Zhuo’s freedom to sell them for however much he wanted.

Who knew that Ye Jian, who seemed a bit foolish, would shake his head after hearing the price: “It’s not worth this price.”

“Why?” Dugu Zhuo asked.

Ye Jian said, “The Foundation Establishment Pill is an item that can be obtained in a level 20 instance dungeon. I asked a game merchant, and he said it costs 100 yuan to bring a team through the dungeon, with a minimum of five people per team, which is 20 yuan per player; the hard mode costs 150 yuan, with a minimum of five people per team, which is 30 yuan per player. The merchant said that he has to add money because he has to buy a prop called ‘Bright Light Talisman,’ which is worth four thousand taels.

“I calculated his profit margin to be 50%. That means four thousand taels is equal to 25 yuan RMB. Given that bringing a team through the dungeon for 100 yuan can get the Foundation Establishment Pills, four of them are 100 yuan, which is four times four thousand taels, totaling sixteen thousand taels. Even if we calculate at this price, the Foundation Establishment Pills are only worth sixteen thousand taels.

“But the price can’t be calculated like this, because for 100 yuan, the player will receive roughly over 30,000 experience points, one to two thousand taels, and thirty to fifty spirit stones.

“Assuming that I didn’t obtain any valuable props or weapons in the dungeon, just these guaranteed income alone is worth about 30 yuan, or five to six thousand taels. Subtracting these, your Foundation Establishment Pills should only be worth ten thousand taels.” 

Dugu Zhuo: “…”

In the game, he had always been like an encyclopedia, seemingly omnipotent, but now he was rendered speechless by Ye Jian’s mention of tens of millions of taels of silver.

Ye Zhou inexplicably felt sorry for Dugu Zhuo and quickly spoke up for him, saying, “But it’s different. Foundation Establishment Pills are not sold on the market. They are rare items, so naturally, they have to be priced higher.”

Ye Jian said seriously, “Little Zhou, ‘rare items’ shouldn’t be used like that. If Foundation Establishment Pills are not available on the market and only Dugu Zhuo has them, even if he sells them for a hundred thousand taels, I would still scrape together the money to buy them. But since Foundation Establishment Pills can be obtained in game dungeons, their value must be discounted.

“Currently in the game, silver is actually more scarce than Foundation Establishment Pills and experience points. Dugu Zhuo wants to obtain a lot of silver, so he has to offer things that players cannot obtain in the game but are extremely helpful for game progression to force players to crazily earn silver to buy his items.”

Dugu Zhuo had always followed the mentality of a cultivator and rarely bothered with the mundane world of commerce. Today, after hearing Ye Jian’s words, he gained some insight.

Ye Jian said to Dugu Zhuo, “I want to buy Foundation Establishment Pills, but the first one is a necessity for reaching level 20 from level 19, and it can be sold for ten thousand taels. But the second one is not essential for me. I’ll buy ten pills at half price, for five thousand taels each. Do you have enough in stock?”

“Brother, are you still lowering the price?” Ye Zhou knew that Dugu Zhuo worked hard to earn money for the sect, and he didn’t want him to sell for less. He simply grabbed Ye Jian’s sleeve and said, “I don’t care, fifteen thousand taels for one pill, eleven pills, just gather the money.”

Ye Jian said, “…Little Zhou, are you always this crafty?”

Seeing Ye Zhou pulling up Ye Jian’s sleeve in an intimate manner, Dugu Zhuo reached out and grabbed Ye Zhou’s wrist, separating his hand from the sleeve.

Dugu Zhuo’s expression remained unchanged. “I’ll sell you eleven Foundation Establishment Pills at your price, but you need to pay me another hundred thousand taels for information about the painting scroll you obtained, your current identity and martial arts, and the future path you will take in the game.”

When it came to martial arts, Ye Jian’s expression turned foolish again as he asked, “Is there something wrong with my martial arts? Even if there is, I can find the strategy on the game’s official website, right?”

“You can log off now and check, or call the game’s customer service. I’ll wait for you here,” Dugu Zhuo said confidently.

The game company’s official website never releases guides or explanations; it’s all up to the players to figure it out themselves. If Ye Jian could find it, that would be strange.

After agreeing with Dugu Zhuo, Ye Jian logged off to investigate. About half an hour later, he came back online and said, “I don’t currently have a hundred thousand taels. Sell me the Foundation Establishment Pills first, and after I reach level 20, I’ll sell the remaining goods in Jiuchuan City and then pay for the information.”

Dugu Zhuo agreed, and after the exchange of silver and goods, Ye Jian swallowed all eleven pills. Not only did he successfully establish his foundation, but he also instantly reached level 26.

While he was taking the pills, Dugu Zhuo also gave Ye Zhou a bunch of Foundation Establishment Pills, helping Ye Zhou to quickly reach level 29.

Seeing Dugu Zhuo giving so many pills to his younger cousin, Ye Jian, Ye Jian, knowing Dugu Zhuo’s love for money, was afraid that he might be planning to lend money at high interest rates and make his cousin sell himself to repay the debt. He quickly intervened and said, “Xiaozhou, I don’t have that much money to buy you pills.”

But Ye Zhou said, “But Dugu Zhuo and I have a ‘blood pact’ relationship. We don’t care about this little money between us. In the future, when I earn money and spirit stones in the game, I will give them to him.”

He was saving up to establish a sect with Dugu Zhuo.

Ye Jian said, “…”

He always felt like his cousin was being taken advantage of.

Outside the town of Penglai, Dugu Zhuo said, “It takes an hour to get from Penglai Town to Jiuchuan City, and there are bandits on the way. Players who are apprentices now no longer have this problem. They have learned various escape techniques to avoid bandits and increase their speed. Since you haven’t become an apprentice yet, do you need me to fly you over on a sword? It will cost thirty thousand taels.”

“With so many players on the road, I can find someone else to take me,” Ye Jian said stubbornly.

But he asked several players, and they all said that escape techniques could only be used by themselves and couldn’t carry others.

It seemed that only Dugu Zhuo could fly with someone on a sword.

Ye Jian came to Dugu Zhuo angrily and said, “Rare items? Is that how you’re pricing it?”

Dugu Zhuo nodded happily, “Rare items indeed.”

“But it’s not worth thirty thousand taels for just an hour. At most, twelve thousand taels. Otherwise, I’ll just walk there,” Ye Jian gritted his teeth.

Seeing Ye Zhou’s face, Dugu Zhuo let Ye Jian off the hook once and only charged him twelve thousand taels to experience flying on a sword once.

To keep his distance from Ye Jian, Dugu Zhuo and Ye Zhou shared a sword, with Ye Zhou in control. Ye Jian rode alone on Dugu Zhuo’s stainless steel sword, which was controlled by Dugu Zhuo.

During the journey, Ye Jian went from being somewhat afraid to being curious and finally to enjoying the feeling of flying on the sword, spreading his arms wide and shouting in joy. He exclaimed that this game was worth spending a billion on.

After landing, Ye Jian went from being a shrewd businessman back to being a naive player and happily said, “This experience was totally worth twelve thousand taels. I want to buy another trip later.”

Dugu Zhuo felt that Ye Jian’s personality was somewhat contradictory and couldn’t help but look at Ye Zhou.

Ye Zhou said, “I’ve never seen my brother like this before. He’s usually very elite. Our family runs a business, and he handles all my future funds. I didn’t expect him to be so… naive in the game. Maybe he just doesn’t want to think about complicated things in the game and is letting his nature take over?”

Hearing the words “letting his nature take over,” Dugu Zhuo couldn’t help but pat Ye Zhou’s head.

Perhaps the Elder Ye Zhou in his memory was not showing his true nature, burdened by too many restraints and lacking an opportunity to let his nature take over.

Jiuchuan City was a large town, and Ye Jian felt right at home here. He went to several shops and sold the parchment and spirit candles for a high price. Not only did he gather the one hundred thousand taels Dugu Zhuo wanted, but he also had some money left over. He planned to use this money to buy goods in Jiuchuan City and sell them back in the Eternal Night Zone.

But before that, Ye Jian needed to understand his martial arts technique.

He first gave Dugu Zhuo fifty thousand taels. “This is a deposit. The remaining amount will depend on the content of the information. I’ll see if it’s worth another fifty thousand taels.”