Chapter 307 - 286: Trading Seafood for a Title
After settling Leviathan’s Egg, Da Fei couldn’t wait to board the Flying to find Deirdre.
Just as he entered the cabin, a fragrant breeze hit him, and the long-missed seductive voice came through: "Master, you finally came, I miss you so much!"
Da Fei hadn’t had a chance to respond when Deirdre’s smooth, pale body suddenly plunged into his arms. Da Fei, without any hesitation, hugged her tightly, fondling her while laughing loudly: "Baby, I missed you too!"
Deirdre pouted playfully: "I thought Master had forgotten me, I’ve been so lonely!"
Da Fei laughed: "Sorry to keep my baby waiting, this return is especially for your growth and progress. By the way, what have you been busy with all this time?"
Deirdre smiled: "Of course, diligently managing Master’s artillery Banshees, and overseeing the Banshee Camp on the ship. Now, the camp has already got 113 Banshee slots, just waiting for Master to provide the money to recruit them."
Da Fei suddenly felt a surge of excitement! 113! That means, during the nearly 4 months I’ve been away, she has been recruiting soldiers every day from the camp! Awesome! This is the true power of the Demon Barracks!
To produce troops in a barracks, several conditions must be met: one, population of the territory; two, daily training; three, resource reserves. These three conditions are easy to understand. Some special barracks, like the Anemone King, don’t require a population and training, but they need resources, and without sufficient resources, production stops, yielding only 16 units over a few months.
The Demon Barracks also need to meet these three conditions, but because Demons possess exquisite space teleportation technologies and a huge population, Demon Barracks can also recruit through instructor-led summons, and the recruitment output depends entirely on the instructor’s capabilities.
It seems leaving Deirdre in charge here was truly the right decision! Otherwise, how could I have had a breakout performance in this afternoon’s competition? These are all the Hell Race’s level 4 strategic troops, a single Mass Charm can directly disable the enemy’s army! Not to mention their Chain Shooting, once their numbers increase, they can absolutely bombard the opponent into a sea of flames! The scene would be absolutely explosive!
Wait a minute! 113 Banshees require 339 Command Power, and my current total Command Power is nearly 1400, my current troop total including the Necromancer Dragon is 1200 already, still not enough to include all the Banshees, right? Speaking of which, it reminds Da Fei again of that damn debt of 100 million Gold Coins! Hey, didn’t we agree on installment payments?
Anyway, let’s put the debts aside for now. Whether it’s buying treasures or asking Makar for a position, I definitely need to fill the Command Power gap. The championship is worth 1 million US dollars—not a small amount! Paying off the debt will be a piece of cake.
Da Fei then said to Deirdre with a smile: "Baby, transform, let’s go out and have some fun!"
Deirdre giggled flirtatiously: "It would be my honor!" Amidst the laughter, a pink mist rose, and a middle-aged beautiful Nun reappeared.
Da Fei thought to himself, how much do you love Nuns anyway? But well, love knows no bounds, and I love them too! Wahaha, except old nuns.
After teleporting, Da Fei returned to Elorin, just then the guard at the Teleportation Array called out: "Mr. Da Fei, Sir Coltner and Little Coltner request your presence at the most luxurious Morning Wind Tavern in the city."
Oh, both of the Coltners have come out, wahahaha, I’ve already more than fulfilled the task and trained Little Coltner into an Intermediate Navigator, how will you thank me? However, time is money, and right now, I’m eager to sell my goods!
Da Fei hurriedly replied: "Understood, I’ll come by soon!"
Da Fei rushed straight to the trading house, and as players on the road saw Da Fei appearing again, they couldn’t help but exclaim: "It’s Da Fei again!"
"He has another Nun Hero? Such a flamboyant, busty Nun! That’s so awesome!"
"More than awesome, it’s busty awesomeness! Pure milk cow!"
"Let’s see what he’s up to!"
Suddenly, a trail of players followed behind Da Fei.
Damn, why are they so annoying! Da Fei reluctantly let them follow him to the trading house. Now, Da Fei handed over the sales list to Deirdre, and the trade began.
Da Fei calmly waited for the trading window to appear, his eyes widened, ready to count the zeroes!
But after a long wait, what came was indeed the trader’s cough: "Sir, could you please wait a moment? I’d like to invite our trading firm’s business manager here to discuss this slowly with you."
Fuck! No trading window! A feeling of being scammed rushed up Da Fei’s mind! Da Fei hurriedly asked: "What’s the matter? It’s just a simple transaction of money for goods, why do you need a manager?"
The trader sighed: "I’m so sorry, sir. According to the rules of the trading house, transactions of one-time sales or purchases exceeding 50 million are not handled by us regular traders."
Seriously? There was no rule like this during the public beta, right? Is it to prevent players from exploiting loopholes to make money? Or do you not have that much money either? Impossible, Fire Dragon Island being an impoverished region might lack funds, but Elorin is a major port of the Elf Kingdom, surely it can’t be that you can’t afford mere tens of millions? Could it be that my sunken cargo is really that impressive?
Da Fei asked in a deep voice: "So, how much is my transaction worth?"
Damn it, lucky it’s a game where buying and selling prices are set by the system according to rules, otherwise I wouldn’t even know the value and would never make these trades. And I wouldn’t ask such a dumb question even if I were beaten to death!
The trader sighed: "I’m sorry, I don’t have the authority to finalize the prices. Please talk it over with our manager when he arrives, sir."
"Hello, Mr. Da Fei! Can we have a talk in the VIP room on the second floor?" A middle-aged elf, dressed as a gentleman, appeared courteously.
Let’s talk then.
After the attendant had served tea in the second-floor VIP room, the manager introduced himself, "I’m Roland, the business manager of the Elorin Exchange. I’ve long heard that Mr. Da Fei is a hero of Elorin, but sadly we never had the opportunity to meet. I’m very glad to meet you today."
Da Fei was not in the mood for pleasantries and modestly coughed, "Please, sir, how much is my cargo worth?"
Roland spoke gravely, "The price of the ore is 57 million, but it’s difficult to set a price for the salvaged goods, so we need to discuss this further."
million! A few million higher than I anticipated! It looks like I really struck it rich this time!
Da Fei said with joy, "Never mind the salvaged goods for now, let’s just deal with the ore!"
Roland earnestly said, "To tell you the truth, Elorin doesn’t have enough liquid cash to buy your ore."
What?! They really don’t have the money! Da Fei couldn’t help but spit out a mouthful of old blood and snapped, "How can you not even have fifty-seven million in cash?"
Roland seriously explained, "The value of money is its fluidity. Given Elorin’s current city development index and prosperity level, indeed, we do not have such liquid funds."
Suddenly, it dawned on Da Fei! The system upgraded! Really upgraded! During the beta, exchange centers were just a tool for merchants to endlessly print money. Now, a city’s Gold Coin quantity is entirely linked to the city’s development and prosperity levels. This means that if a merchant wants to earn more profit, they must invest in the city and give back to the community!
But the thing is, I really need the Gold Coins now! Da Fei inquired, "So, Mr. Manager, do you have any suggestions?"
Roland replied solemnly, "My suggestion is to pay you an upfront payment of 20 million Gold Coins, and we will pay off the rest within a month. Please trust our exchange’s credibility. After all, if we in Elorin can’t afford it, other cities can’t either. Of course, you could choose to sell the goods in batches, but that way, the rewards of Experience and reputation you receive would be much less."
Da Fei was stunned! It was always only players who owed the system; never did I think the game system could owe players! I got caught up in this? But when the system is in a bind, what can a player do? Meekly agree to the system’s demands? Damn! Isn’t this absurd? Could this trivial matter not be resolved with a few lines of system prompt by a trader downstairs? Why bother going upstairs at all?
There’s a trick! There’s something shady!
Thoughts raced through his mind. As a top player, facing this situation, isn’t it customary to extract things like Divine Artifacts, titles, dominions, beautiful Vice Heroes from the system? Right now, what I most need is a title! I need it for the afternoon match! It’s the battle for the championship, and those foreign players will definitely band together against me, I need as much Command Power as possible!
But do I have the capital to blackmail the system with this cargo? This isn’t the desperately poor Fire Dragon Island; if he doesn’t want to buy, what can I do? Try it out? Let’s give it a shot!
Da Fei then said, "I also have a suggestion, Mr. Manager, would you be interested?"
With a twitch of his eyebrows, Roland took a sip of tea and said lightly, "What would Mr. Da Fei suggest?"
That expression! There’s definitely something fishy! No mistake! I really am a top player!
Da Fei became extremely confident and said shamelessly, "Mr. Roland, the exchange is the economic lifeline of a city. Although your position might not seem prominent, I believe you have broad vision. I don’t mean anything else; I just want to be promoted and ennobled so I can make greater contributions to our city, to our Bright Alliance. Do you, Mr. Roland, have any way of making that happen?"
At these words, Roland, with his cup of tea, seemed to freeze like a sculpture!
Da Fei tensed up! Damn, did I overstep my bounds with such a brazen request? Could I have pushed too far?
Finally, Roland set down his cup and shook his head slightly, "It’s not about whether I have a way or not. The key is whether Mr. Da Fei has the sincerity to serve the Alliance!"
Ah! What a sanctimonious bureaucrat’s face! Brother’s sight is sharp, I saw through you the moment I walked in! Ha ha ha ha!
Feigning ignorance, Da Fei asked, "What do you mean by ’sincerity’?"
Roland chuckled, "If the sir is willing to serve the city, then I have another suggestion. If sir is willing to donate this batch of 305 units of deep-sea goods, I could find a way to smooth things for sir. However, sir is already an Alliance Lieutenant, and upgrading through donations is becoming difficult to maneuver. Therefore, my suggestion is to secure a Lieutenant rank for each of those beautiful Deputy Officers accompanying sir. You should know, it’s especially hard for Deputy Officers to gain titles, but once they do, it’s like opening a gate for further promotions. How about it?"
Da Fei’s heart trembled greatly! No wonder he invited me upstairs; he’s after my se