Chapter 12: The Adorable Medusa
Turning around, I saw a fat man and a thin man smiling at me. The fat man kept smiling as I turned and asked, “Are you short on appraisal fees?”
I nodded weakly.
“Tell me, how much are you short?” The fat man's eyes lit up briefly before he put on a chivalrous demeanor.
“Forget it, you don’t have that much money.” Although I believe that in the game, some people might be willing to help a stranger selflessly, it’s impossible for them to casually lend such a large amount of money, and they wouldn’t have that much to lend in the first place.
“What? Do I look suspicious?” The fat man chuckled. “Let me introduce myself. My name is Global Pass, and this is my partner, Pass Global.”
“We are from Wanxin Communications Company, here to gather information in the game, mainly to promote our company,” added the thin man, Pass Global, with a smile.
Global Pass? Pass Global? Why do these names sound like advertising slogans? In the game, there’s a specific type of player dedicated to game information. They delve deeply into all aspects of the game: maps, demos, monster data, quest information, major events, and even espionage. Their names are usually quite representative, often something like Bai Xiaosheng, Xiao Baisheng, Wan Shitong, etc. Clearly, Global Pass has the potential to become a well-known name.
“This isn’t the right place. Let’s talk somewhere else.” Despite my masked face, the fat man noticed my hesitation. Without waiting for my response, he pulled me along and walked away.
Cautiously, I followed them to a system hotel. It seemed they were doing quite well; they had a VIP room key—costing ten gold coins a day. These guys were rich.
A VIP room is like a private space, absolutely safe inside. Unless permitted by the owner, no one else can enter.
“Tell me, how much are you short?” The fat man looked solemn.
“What’s the condition?” Seeing the confident look on the fat man’s face, could he really afford to lend that much money?
“If it’s good equipment, we get the first right to buy it, and the loan accrues interest. We’ll sign an IOU,” the fat man said, rhythmically tapping his fingers on the table.
“Ha! Interest is no problem. I might sell some equipment. But, you need to keep this confidential, including my name and everything that happened today.”
“Of course, we have professional ethics in our line of work,” the fat man patted his chest, a sincere look on his face. “Besides, we don’t even know your name yet.”
I stared into the fat man’s eyes, sneered, and said word by word, “Lend me thirty thousand gold coins, can you?”
Their faces changed instantly! Especially the thin man, Pass Global, who nearly fell to the ground.
“Three divine artifacts?” Global Pass’s voice trembled, his face excited.
“No, but I’m sure there are at least two. The rest wouldn’t be lower than scarlet.” I drank a cup of tea from the table in one gulp. “I already have over two thousand gold coins, but it’s still far from enough.”
“Having over two thousand gold coins personally is already wealthy…” the thin man muttered.
Nonsense. If you didn’t even have that much money after looting a dragon’s lair, what’s the point? In my imagination, a dragon’s lair should have at least tens of thousands of gold coins to be worthy of its owner—not being able to accept the emptiness of the dragon’s lair still gnawed at me…
“As long as there are divine artifacts, we can manage! Come with me!” The fat man grabbed his cup, sighed deeply after gulping down the tea, and pulled me along.
“Wait, where are we going?” Having revealed so much, I didn’t want to follow them around blindly. Though many areas in the city were weapon-restricted zones, the streets weren’t! It’s better to be cautious.
“I’m taking you for a free appraisal,” the fat man said urgently, pulling my hand. “Once we confirm it’s a divine artifact, the appraisal will be free!”
“A player appraiser?”
“A retired NPC appraiser,” the thin man added, recovering from his shock.
Carefully following them through the dark alleys, I felt more secure in the darkness. My adaptability to the night was unparalleled, even high-level thieves couldn’t compare. The hellish dark space honed my senses beyond imagination.
“Can you tell me how you got this equipment?” In the dim alley with only a few hurrying players, the fat man finally asked the question that had been lingering in his mind.
“Ha, that’s personal, I won’t disclose it,” I chuckled. The incident was too strange; it was better if only one person knew.
“Hey, prying into personal matters is part of our job,” the fat man laughed heartily, unaffected by my refusal.
“Haha, it was indeed a stroke of luck, but I can’t tell you the details now.” I laughed awkwardly, not wanting him to press the matter further. “What’s up with the system? Honestly, the appraisal fee was unexpectedly high. If I hadn’t stumbled upon two thousand gold coins, I wouldn’t have had the courage to leave the appraisal hall. And what’s the story with this NPC?”
Stolen story; please report.
“Haha, young brother, you don’t know.” The fat man patted my shoulder, laughing.
“Destiny claims to be free. During the public beta, there are always hundreds of thousands of people online, and that’s with a limit of one million accounts. Imagine when there’s no limit in the official release. The market will be huge. Conservatively, it’s estimated that within a year, the online population will exceed one hundred million.”
“If they’re willing to forgo such a large amount of playing fees, then opening real currency exchanges is necessary and inevitable. You’ve seen how hard it is to earn money in the game. Can you live comfortably with just a few copper coins from monsters?”
I agreed with the fat man’s analysis. But if they did open real currency exchanges, players would surely buy equipment. Even for appraising divine artifacts, it’s just tens of thousands. How many divine artifacts can there be in a server? This is minuscule compared to the massive potential revenue.
As if reading my thoughts, the fat man smiled faintly, “Don’t think that only high-level players will benefit. There will be plenty of ways for the system to make money: repairing equipment, buying potions for leveling up, selling houses in cities, taxing player transactions…”
“Honestly, people’s psychology works this way: you’ll easily spend a hundred yuan in the game but begrudge ten yuan for a point card. Now, it’s free, encouraging you to spend!”
“The gold coins in players’ hands, as long as you don’t exchange them for RMB, belong to the system. If you do exchange, even better. Have you ever seen game currency equal to real money? A 10% exchange fee is acceptable for a free game, it’s only fair!”
“Therefore, once real currency exchanges start, prices will definitely soar!” the fat man concluded. “Actually, we have around thirty thousand gold coins, but they’re all tied up in equipment.”
“What? You two did all this?” Unbelievable, could this fat man be the legendary professional merchant?
“Of course. Our company entered the game with over a hundred people from the start. Once we had initial funds, we invested everything into business. We two haven’t leveled up at all, spending all our time buying and selling.”
Speechless, was Wanxin Company abandoning the real market to collectively invade the virtual world? “Your company allows this?”
“Of course! It’s the company’s idea. Don’t you see the potential of this game? Think about it, if Wanxin’s name becomes well-known in the game, it directly reaches nearly a tenth of the active population in the country. It’s predictable that more companies will enter the game to build their brands—spending here is much cheaper than in reality!”
“The funny thing is we’re here struggling to advertise while Destiny is relentlessly promoting itself, even setting up servers abroad!” The fat man laughed at himself, pointing to a dark little door. “Here we are. You’re the eighth person I’ve brought here, don’t disappoint me.”
The legendary recluse in the city. I’m curious to see this retired NPC appraiser that Global Pass mentioned!
The fat man knocked gently, his voice sweet, “Master Carter, I really have what you asked for this time. Please open the door.”
“Kid, not another fake?” A hoarse voice came from inside as the door opened.
Under the dim light inside, I saw an old man with a face full of white beard almost covering half his face. His cloudy eyes were staring at me—clearly, the other two were regulars.
“Let me see, don’t bring me more fakes.” The old appraiser extended his hand, expressionless.
After some thought, I handed him the staff, curious to see his reaction.
As soon as he took the staff, his seemingly dull eyes suddenly lit up with a piercing gleam. He took out a pair of glasses from his pocket, carefully examining the staff with the gentleness of handling a newborn.
“Indeed, a fine piece, a fine piece! Haha!” The old man suddenly burst into laughter, the staff in his hand emitting a seven-colored light, instantly overpowering the dim lights in the room. From the tip to the base, rainbow-like halos flowed, leaving us all in awe.
“Haha, young man, thank you. I’ve finally fulfilled my wish!”
"Hurry, open the attributes and take a look!" The fat man gulped hard, unable to contain his excitement. To be honest, I felt the same way.
I set the equipment to exhibition mode and raised the staff high. As I moved my wrist, a rainbow-colored trail swept from bottom to top. The already-prepared thin man, Pass Global, captured this great moment with his camera.
"Warning, leave me out when you post it. I don’t want to be hunted down." Even a fool could guess that this guy planned to post it on the forum—unfortunately, I couldn't see it.
"Hehe, of course, of course."
I pulled up the attributes, and despite being mentally prepared, I was still stunned.
Medusa's Staff: Requirements: Profession: Mage, Agility: 27, Spirit: 50; Attributes: Damage: 56~75, Magic Damage: 29%, MP Recovery: 20/sec, Additional Magic Damage: 11%; Additional Skills: Healing, Holy Word of Light, Medusa's Gaze; 3 Slots.
Incredible, absolutely incredible! Healing is the specialty of the advanced profession of Warlock—the Priest, and although it's a basic skill, no one has it yet. Holy Word of Light is the nemesis of undead creatures! As for Medusa's Gaze, it undoubtedly has a petrification effect. But why does Medusa's Staff have two signature skills of the Goddess of Dawn? Strange!
However, this was clearly not the time to delve into the staff’s origins, as Pass Global's camera was faithfully recording the staff's attributes.
"STOP!" I grabbed the camera from Pass Global's hands and smashed it to the ground. "I said, no need to capture the attributes. You saw them, now swear to keep it secret!"
"Of course, of course, hehe!" Pass Global scratched his head sheepishly. Given how generously I let them see the attributes, if they couldn't keep it confidential, their integrity would indeed be questionable. "So your name is Forgetful?" Damn, grabbing someone else's belongings adds to your PK value... Luckily, there were no guards around.
"Can you meet the attribute requirements?" Fat man Global Pass shook his head, trying to hold back his curiosity. Honestly, the staff’s requirements were quite high; generally, a mage would need to be over level 60 to equip it.
Unfortunately, I'm not an ordinary mage. Born weak and frail, it was only after the baptism of dragon blood that my HP barely crossed two hundred. Usually, an average mage who adds a few points to constitution would have my current HP by level 20. Sigh! I'm a level 49 mage, about to advance to a specialized profession!
"Hehe, of course I can!" With 31 upgrade points remaining, I added them to agility and spirit, even having one point left over. In their wide-eyed amazement, I changed the way I held the staff. Immediately, the rainbow-colored light completely enveloped my hand—successful equipment.
"You! You! Are you over level 60?" The surprises I brought today were too much. Even for someone like Global Pass, who specializes in information and has seen big scenes, it was unimaginable.
Meanwhile, the old appraiser stood by with a smile, watching the three of us fooling around, leisurely sipping on the cola on the table.
"Uncle Carter, I have a few more items similar to this staff. Can you take a look at them all together?" Waving the staff a few times, I couldn't wait to take out the other items.
"Oh? More?" The old appraiser instantly perked up, his eyes emitting the same light as before.