Chapter 73: Players' Self-Reflection and Trade Agreements

Compared to the tranquility of the Old World, the Player Base side seemed quite bustling.

More and more players were gradually coming into contact with the other world and beginning to successfully enter it. Especially after Edward received the favor of one of the dark gods, yet showed no abnormalities, research into mythology and psychic phenomena had undoubtedly been placed as the top priority.

After all, that was a miracle that had reversed a Human's gender, vitality, and even self-perception. No matter how one considered it, such a thing possessed unimaginable value.

Therefore, all of a sudden, exploration of the other world transformed from a dispensable national-level project—where no one knew where the benefits lay, and everyone just explored a little to use the broad prospects in PPTs to swindle money—into a super-hot industry that could truly realize unimaginable technology and funds, and even reverse aging.

Edward had already been taken away from the current Player Base. As the first individual to accept a god's favor and undergo an anodic-to-cathodic reversal of aging—or to put it plainly, a sex change, and one that truly involved physiological organ transformation—he was treated as a key subject for observation.

Li Ang was not sure what Edward himself thought about it, but for him, the players were clearly a very good partner for cooperation at the moment.

They were full of enthusiasm, and because of the successful case, they were eager to make large-scale investments in the other world.

In this case, as the only force that had shown the ability to fight against the servants of the dark gods and even beat the opposing side until they were howling and terrified, Li Ang's Star-Bearers held very high value in the eyes of the players.

Sometimes Li Ang had also thought about whether he would be regarded as a god if he displayed the ability to truly contend with the dark gods, or even tear apart continental shelves and create world-ending disasters. But after thinking about it carefully, Li Ang still rejected this tempting option.

The reason was simple: he could not be sure why players on this planet could project themselves into another world.

Even though he had already placed a Magic Sentinel on Edward, he still could not understand the theory behind how players' consciousnesses could manifest physical bodies to exist in another world.

Rather than making so many risky moves, it was better to enjoy his double life as he was doing now. He would continuously obtain benefits and resources from another perspective to manage his Star-Bearer region well. After all, the players were not a monolithic block, and Li Ang's requirements were not high; whoever was fast would get the deal.

Being a player himself, Li Ang knew all too well what the players wanted.

"You're back?"

After opening his eyes in the Nutrient Pod, the person in charge outside looked at Li Ang and sighed somewhat subtly.

"You really are unlucky. We just arrived inside the Norsca Mountains, but we only found those Star-Bearer squads you mentioned, and didn't find any trace of you. But I believe we will be able to rescue you soon."

"Ah? Oh."

Right, he still had a persona waiting to be rescued.

Looking at the man who seemed very regretful, Li Ang did not hesitate to cast a Psychic Interference directly.

In the fabricated Psychic Illusion, they obtained trade information regarding the Star-Bearers and even reached a preliminary agreement. Trade exchanges with the Star-Bearers and the maintenance of shipping routes were already under negotiation.

Also because all the players in the Norsca region were concentrated, Li Ang did not spend much effort setting up the trigger for the hallucination in all the Nutrient Pods. As for the so-called reality conflict issue, Li Ang never cared. He was also very clear that the players actually did not care much about these things either.

When the benefits you provide are enough to satisfy everyone, people are very tolerant of failures in some links.

Because the price Li Ang gave in the illusion was one thousand units of Gold Coin in exchange for large amounts of iron ore, copper ore, and other common resources. This high profit and price advantage were enough to make everyone shut their mouths.

One thousand units of Gold Coin were nothing to Li Ang; he had these things as byproducts of his spellcasting just by stomping his feet. But for the players, one thousand units of Gold Coin was a massive amount of Gold Coin that could greatly advance the entire Hope City construction project.

And all they had to do was concentrate the supplies on the north side of the Norsca Peninsula and let the Star-Bearers load them onto ships and take them away. After slightly adjusting and correcting various values and the players' thoughts to ensure these tasks would continue, Li Ang walked out of the room and began to review the various materials left behind by the players this month. These players were not incompetent; they just had no way to access many things.

And ever since Li Ang showed them in the Broken Lands just what a Great Mage could achieve, the players had opened their eyes and started to extract all the myths and related records preserved in various places into the database. What Li Ang needed were these seemingly inconspicuous mythological materials.

Carrying a magical aura, Li Ang walked out of the room and casually shrouded the Player Base with a Magic Barrier.

Following past memories, Li Ang sat once again in the basement of the player database. He flipped through the various new files from the past month while checking the forum to see if there was anything new.

And sure enough, the headline remained the Broken War, which had topped the list for a month.

"The Broken War! The shock brought by the Mad Witch King Leon!"

"The power brought by the four Paths—what can the other world truly bring us?"

"Methods to pursue blessings! If you want to become a true powerhouse and be just as formidable in the real world, you must pursue the blessings of the gods!"

"Mage growth manual: teaching you step-by-step how to become a wizard as powerful as the Mad Witch King! Please pay to view, and watch our overview of all the Subspace powers we have collected for you!"

……

……

Acting crazy as always; modern civilized society still allowed Li Ang to relax his mind a little.

But while surfing the internet, Li Ang did not forget to mark some titles and locations that looked strange and suspicious. And very soon, he noticed an inconspicuous title.

"Excuse me, has anyone noticed the issue with the Plague Hero Pillar north of Hope City? Why has it become like this?"

"……"

Plague Hero Pillar? Wasn't that a memorial pillar built to commemorate the plague hero? Li Ang raised an eyebrow as he looked at the forum post and opened the inconspicuous thread. And the attachment inside made him unable to look away immediately.

A pale green mutated triangular symbol was shining beneath a collapsed pillar. But what really concerned Li Ang was not this, but some details he saw beneath those pillars.

Noisy footsteps, and some pale green fragments of magic stones known as Warpstone.

These stones, which fell from the Evil Moon and contained magical power, were generally considered to be symbols of evil power. But in Li Ang's eyes, this meant a very simple mathematical formula.

One cubic centimeter of Warpstone equals one Magic.

"Hello, I am a player from northern Norsca. Are you interested in talking about this?"

Thanks to the Alliance Leader! Thanks again!!!

(End of chapter)