Chapter 23: Lord Tarantan's Reputation
Yang Qiu has also considered allowing players to choose their own appearance and create their own characters - not to mention that face creation itself is a pain point for krypton gold, players who spend time and effort to create their own characters will have a stronger sense of immersion and game stickiness.
The reason why this plan failed to be implemented was that the materials for the alchemical puppet were too expensive.
Even if we ignore the difficulty of finding a safe channel to buy materials with his current wanted status, the cost of filling the skeleton into a "donkey dung egg-shaped" alchemical puppet that only needs to look good on the outside and stuff some junk inside to make up the number is ten gold coins at the beginning...
So... forget it.
Anyway, it's quite laborious for Yang Qiu to produce things that cost extra money, so it's better to produce more things like the "Deception Orb" and "Undead Horse" that he released this time, which he can produce and sell himself...
After drinking a cup of milk tea to ease the embarrassment, Yang Qiu immersed himself in the branding matrix again, paying attention to the situation at the knight mentor's construction site.
The fifth player who has worked hard to gain friendly reputation with Knight Mentor Jerome has appeared.
The player had just handed in the task and before he could even laugh out loud, he was immediately swarmed by several skeletons and carried aside...
There was only one undead horse, and there was obviously more than one person who wanted it. Before the player could react, a bag of copper coins was stuck in his face: "Three hundred copper coins to give up the bidding rights, do you want to do it?"
"Fuck!" the player said firmly, "No need to give me copper coins, settle in RMB!"
"Using the same trick to eliminate competitors again, how shameless!" The onlookers who were eager to watch the fun immediately started to make a noise.
The few skeletons that successfully eliminated the potential safety hazard completely ignored the guys who saw the funeral as nothing more important than the funeral, and immediately asked their friends to drag away the hard-working player who had the right to bid...
So... when the Knight Mentor NPC announced that the auction would officially begin half an hour later, there were still three players with bidding rights remaining on the scene.
Of course, these three people are not referring to the hardcore gamers, but the bosses who bought their bidding rights...
The players in the auction of the Deception Orb were able to reach a harmony. Although it was impossible for these bosses who were willing to spend money to reach a harmony on the Undead Horse, which attracted more attention and was more important than the Deception Orb, they also reached a consensus before the auction began - everyone contributing a small amount of money, and taking away the players with bidding rights on the spot was only a later task. In the early stages, this group of rich people had already seized most of the sources of copper coin production in the game, fundamentally eliminating the birth of new competitors.
That's why the fifth player who gained reputation could agree so readily , because they have been here for a long time and they know very well that no one can come up with enough copper coins to compete with these rich guys.
“It’s still difficult!”
One of the three rich men, the boss who had reached a cooperation agreement with Qin Guan, sighed.
The boss's ID is Yanqiu. Just looking at his ID, you can tell that he is an artistic youth, and he is also an artistic youth with a rich family background. He originally had no interest in the mounts in the game, but four days ago he saw the NPC Lord Tarantan riding a swaggering undead horse in the market, and was shocked. He immediately used the pocket money that was originally intended to buy a camera to show off to collect copper coins. With the help of Qin Guan, he monopolized about 20% of the copper coins produced by the brick-moving party.
"Let's do our best." Qin Guan consoled him, "We only spent 900 copper coins on the medicine, and we brought the rest back."
In order to avoid further stimulating Miao Bi Sheng Hua, Qin Guan has returned the Fraud Orb... But Miao Bi Sheng Hua still seemed to be very shocked and went offline early to eat.
"Okay, let's try our best. Even if we can't win the bid, we have to raise the price. Otherwise, it will be a waste of our hard work these days." Yanqiu said resentfully, and turned his gaze to the competitor who had attracted the most brick-moving parties so far and posed the greatest threat to them.
Qin Guan followed Yan Qiu's gaze and felt a slight toothache...
What caused Yanqiu, a second-generation literary youth, a lot of headaches and also caused Qin Guan a lot of pain was a player with the ID "Brother Lahong".
This Brother Lahong is not the traditional tycoon who can solve all problems by spending money. Instead, he is a very approachable, charismatic, and popular underworld tycoon. When he entered the game, he brought with him a dozen brothers he met in an online game. After only a few days since the game was launched, more than fifty players of various types gathered around him, making him even more prestigious than Qin Guan, a veteran of the closed beta test and the number one player.
When Qin Guan looked over, Brother Lahong noticed their gazes and waved at them.
"You're showing off before you even take a picture of the horse. That's too much." Yanqiu's tone was filled with even more resentment.
Qin Guan: “…”
Qin Guan felt that Yan Qiu was thinking too much. He actually knew Brother La Hong. This man was a small business owner in real life. His real name was Liu Shuang. He had the same Shanghai style both online and offline. What he did just now was purely a greeting to show his friendliness.
It is confirmed that literary youth cannot be friends with social people...
When the half-hour was up, Knight Mentor Jerome walked directly to the middle of the players and raised his hand to announce the start of the auction.
The bidding method is very simple. There are only a few players with bidding rights, so you can just bid verbally.
"3000."
Yanqiu made the first bid and raised the starting price three times.
"4000."
Another owner also made an offer.
The social man La Hong casually threw out a number that shocked the whole audience: "Ten thousand."
The onlookers were shocked: "Holy crap!!"
"This is so fucking fake! I only have a few dozen copper coins in my pocket after playing for a few days, but others can take out ten thousand!"
"Nonsense, didn't you see that she was carrying more than a dozen large wallets (backpacks)?"
Yanqiu turned his head to look at Qin Guan.
Qin Guan spread his hands helplessly.
No one wants to work so hard to get the qualification, but not even be able to raise the price...
Even if Xiao Zhou's studio and the money his fans earned from doing brick-moving, as well as the copper coins Yan Qiu asked others to collect from outside, put them together, it wouldn't be that much...
It wasn't just Yanqiu who was overwhelmed by Lahong's killer offer. Another boss was so angry that he cursed a few times. He nervously discussed with his friends for a while before gritted his teeth and made a bid: "10,100."
Brother Lahong raised his hand: "One hundred and eleven."
"Fuck!" the boss yelled, "Are you going to let others play?"
Brother Lahong laughed and said, "Don't get excited. I'm just trying to save you some trouble. Just get rid of this horse quickly."
"I want this horse, too. I've earned more than 2,000 Knight Instructor reputation points!" The boss resorted to the strategy of playing the victim.
"Oh, if it really doesn't work, you can just come to our side. We can't give the horse to you alone, but we can discuss it when you need it, such as when you need it for a mission. We are all brothers and sisters, so it's easy to talk about it." Brother Lahong said very proudly, "Besides, this horse is not going to be out of print after it is released. When you get a horse next month, all of us brothers and sisters can support you."
"What the hell?!" All the players were stunned. The two sides were still fighting and you put out the flag of recruiting. Is it possible to play like this? !
The boss was also shocked: "Oh my god, what are you saying? If I don't join you, I won't even get the next horse? Is this a threat?"
"Hey, it's pointless to over-interpret it." Brother Lahong quickly put down his hand, "I just took into consideration that it's not easy for you to raise so much money but fail to buy a horse. The tasks in this game are so hardcore, and the job transfer tasks at level one are probably quite difficult. Maybe the job transfer of the Knight Apprentice will require a horse or something. If you're an outsider, I can't lend you the horse that so many of us brothers and sisters worked together to get, right?"
"Okay! You win!" The boss immediately gave a thumbs up, "Okay, you convinced me. If you can't beat them, just join us. Boss Lahong, do you need any younger brothers to serve you tea and water?"
“Holy shit!!” All the players were stunned again.
When two armies are facing each other, killing the enemy general with one sword is nothing. What is really cool is to persuade the enemy general to turn against you in the battle!
The literary youth Yanqiu probably has never seen such a wild thing in his life. He turned his head stiffly and stared blankly at Qin Guan, the only person he could still trust.
Qin Guan looked so painful...
He can't be as sexy as the social methods he uses. He is just a big host of a transvestite account and he really can't be as sexy as them.
So… the first undead horse in the game was sold for 11,000 copper coins in less than two minutes after the auction started. The two groups of players who were originally fighting each other gathered together, dancing around this handsome horse in ecstasy and taking pictures, leaving only the onlookers and the neglected third group in a mess…
Yang Qiu, who witnessed the player's amazing operation with his own eyes, was also at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
"I didn't expect that I missed a big fish with potential?" Yang Qiu had to pay special attention to this brother Lahong.
This player's potential value is average. Up to this point in the game, his potential value is only 41 points, which is just above the average passing line of Earth players and can just be used for "identification".
Yang Qiu looked at this potential and shook his head...
On the fourth day of the server opening, most of the 300 players had their potential values increased by 3 to 7 points. Among them, the number of players with a potential value of 40 or above and who could activate the "Identification Technique" increased from 26 on the day of the beta test to 68.
This is a very normal level of potential value growth, just like fat people who have not exercised for a long time lose weight quickly when they start to lose weight. People on Earth who have not specifically improved their spiritual power send their souls here every day for "exercise", so there will inevitably be a stage of explosive growth in the early stages.
According to Yang Qiu's speculation, this stage of explosive growth should be able to last until the player's potential value increases to about 30% of the initial value.
Once the peak of this first wave of growth has passed, it will enter a plateau period...
The 41 points of potential value of Brother Lahong must be the performance in the middle stage of the growth peak. It seems difficult for him to jump to 50 points in one go by taking advantage of the growth peak - it is very likely that most of the players have completed the first-level job transfer, but this guy has not even reached the first level.
However... judging from his performance, this Lahong brother is not the kind of player who cares about game numbers, and the reason he has united so many players around him is not because he is a good fighter.
Although this guy's potential is worse than Qin Guan's, Yang Qiu is quite confident in this player: "For a leader-type player, whether he can play or not is not important at all!"
Yang Qiu added a special mark to the player's brand light spot and unceremoniously classified this person as a special labor force.
Yang Qiu has already marked many people as similar special laborers... He is not squatting here to monitor every day because he is bored and snooping into the privacy of players, but to select special talents from among the players!
It is already the limit to coerce and bribe the natives of this world to serve as high-level NPCs. If the Tarantan territory is to develop and the undead race is to grow stronger, they must make better use of the players, who will rush over as soon as a task is sent, who are willing to work hard and sacrifice their lives for a few "game values"!
Just like this time, if Yang Qiu hired natives to clean up the exile town that was almost in ruins, he would be exhausted just to provide them with food, accommodation, wages, and organize their labor.
It has been turned into a liver-stimulating activity. Players only need to spend some time to get three crystal balls engraved with the "Disguise Phantom" rune, and then release the undead horses that are of no use other than looking cool, and the game is done!
The current Exile Town is no longer the deserted appearance it once was - all the unusable dilapidated buildings have been demolished, the garbage and waste on the streets have been recycled, and those that cannot be recycled have been transported to the foot of the mountain west of the town for landfill, and even the river that was blocked by garbage for years and turned into a stinking ditch has been salvaged!
Next, just continue to issue tasks to force players to build it brick by brick.
The reputation tasks for each professional mentor still need to be completed, so it is not a problem to let these players work hard and build up the professional guild.
As for the vacant lands cleared by zombie NPCs after issuing tasks outside the planned construction sites of each guild... it's not that easy! The Blood Alliance system is open, and players can build their own Blood Alliance bases. You still have to work hard!
Of course, just forcing players to work is not enough. Yang Qiu still has to do what a game producer should do.
The hidden task has been arranged, and it's just waiting for the right time to hit the predetermined trigger person's forehead.
As for the more critical job transfer task...
Yang Qiu turned his attention to the first tier of players ranked by potential.
There are a total of five people entering the first echelon, all of whom are players who have reached level one and meet the conditions for job transfer.
First, there is the European sturgeon, which has 54 potential points upon logging in and jumps to the next level directly.
The style of this Beluga bar is quite unique - he wandered around all day on the first day of the server opening, and was willing to do tasks the next day; while others were working hard to earn copper coins, this player was leisurely brushing up Yang Qiu's reputation; while others were excitedly trading copper coins and watching discussions about the ownership of the undead horse, this person was also busy with his own business, as if he was not living in the same dimension as other players...
Secondly, it is the brilliant writing of the current potential value of 54 points . This girl upgraded to 50 potential two days ago, and has been busy helping her friends to grind zombie NPC tasks to save gold, and has not reported to him yet.
The third one is his elder sister Yang Ying, whose current potential is 53 points. After the forced-to-play activity came out, Yang Ying has been actively doing zombie NPC tasks. Today, she sold her copper coins and went back to work on Rex's warrior reputation. It will probably take a few more days before she can get friendly and do the job transfer task.
The fourth one is that only those who work hard can win, a leader in a small team of players.
The fifth one is Entropy But Emergence, a friend his sister met in the game. He was also busy with zombie NPC missions and neglected to complete reputation missions. He didn’t come to report to him even though he reached a high enough level. Both Entropy But Emergence and Miao Bi Sheng Hua had come to find him. He was a player who was determined to play the magic system.
"It seems that the first one to start the job transfer task can only be this 'Only those who work hard can succeed'." Yang Qiu touched his chin and turned his gaze to the brand light spot belonging to this player.
Then he discovered that... this player had not gone to accept the job transfer quest from Tattle, but was heading to the town hall alone...
"……Um?"
A few minutes later, Ai Pin Cai Ying, who had already earned the reputation of Ranger Instructor, pushed open the door of the town hall and walked towards Yang Qiu who was sitting behind the table without looking away. He raised his hand and greeted him casually: "Hello, Yang, do you have any quests to post?"
In the eyes of players, NPCs are just NPCs. If they are willing to use polite words during interactive dialogues, they are already considered to have the quality of a player. There is no such thing as respect. Even Yang, who has the titles of "Lord Tarantan" and "Undead Resurrection Instructor", does not have such a face.
Yang Qiu: “…”
He didn't care about the players' attitudes. What annoyed him was that he never expected that this guy who had worked hard to get a friendly reputation with the Ranger Instructor actually had no intention of switching to the Ranger Apprentice, but was coming for him...
"...Hello, fellow undead." Yang Qiu read the lines with a serious face, "You have been awake for a while and know the situation of our undead race. We are trapped in this barren land, surrounded by our enemies. Are you willing to give everything for the revival and glory of the undead race?"
Only hard work can win. He muttered, "This NPC is so talkative." He couldn't wait for Yang Qiu to finish speaking and said, "Yes, give me the task."
So there is a reason why NPCs often can't control the urge to hack players to death.
Without saying a word, Yang Qiu handed over his reputation mission as a magic mentor and lord.
"Manage the medicinal fields?" Only hardworking people can win. He lowered his head and glanced at the information on the task panel. He didn't waste time talking to Yang Qiu and left according to the task instructions.
Yang Qiu watched the rude guy leave, then picked up the milk tea and took a sip.
"If you can be so ruthless as to get Ranger reputation by bidding for the Orb of Deception, you are a talent... Then you must hold on and don't give up easily - it's not that easy to gain Lord reputation!"
Jiang Wei, who knew nothing about the "hard work leads to success", followed the instructions on the task and went around to the back of the town hall, and indeed found the dilapidated warehouse marked in the task prompt.
When you enter the warehouse, you can see a row of metal barrels with lids and the entrance to the underground cellar.
Jiang Wei took a metal bucket marked "mission props", stepped onto the wooden ladder to enter the entrance, and walked in the dark tunnel fixed with wooden frames for a few minutes. A natural underground cave as big as two basketball courts appeared in front of him.
"There is such a place under the Exile Town?" Jiang Wei walked out of the tunnel and looked around in surprise.
This place seemed to be larger than what the eyes could see. There was a flowing underground river at the innermost part of the cave. On the cave wall above the underground river, there were several dark and deep passages .
There is no light source in the underground cave, but darkness is nothing to the undead, and Jiang Wei can still see the surrounding environment clearly.
So he soon discovered... that the entire ground of the cave was covered with extremely strange vines.
When Jiang Wei saw the shapes of these strange plants, he suddenly felt his scalp tingling.
The vines that look like sweet potato vines are covered with dense, overlapping white leaves. These leaves are extremely thick and their shapes resemble human palms. At first glance, it looks like countless pale human hands stacked on the ground.
Jiang Wei was completely stunned.
At this moment, he heard the sound of "click, click" coming from the tunnel behind him.
The ground in the tunnel was wet mud, and no sound was made when walking on it. The "crunch, crunch" sound was the sound of bones colliding when the skeleton walked.
Jiang Wei, who was very familiar with this voice, was frightened for some reason...
Turning his head stiffly, Jiang Wei saw a player with the words "Beluga" on his head walking in carrying a tin bucket.
"... Has this guy really been working on his lord's reputation for a long time?" Jiang Wei knew that this beluga was the person with the highest potential in the game, and he looked at him silently.
The beluga just glanced at him without any intention of talking, and walked towards those strange palm-leaf plants on its own.
Next... Jiang Wei, who had witnessed firsthand how fucked up Lord Tarantan's reputation mission was, opened his mouth wider and wider...
