Chapter 3008: Fee Ratios and Advanced Features

Xia Duo was almost certain that once this plan was announced, a large number of Low-level Mages would inevitably rush into the Computing Power Pool to fleece the system; but would it really be possible to break even this way?

Even though he had long known that fees from advanced features would be needed to offset other expenditures—such as subsidies for those connecting, the cost of accessories, operating costs, and so on—if a large number of Low-level Mages really did fleece the system, could the budget truly be balanced?

It was difficult for Xia Duo himself to answer this question, so he asked the financial staff, and this was how the accountant from Evereska replied:

"Consultant Xia Duo, I feel you do not understand us Elves. As long as they are Mages, all us Elves possess the most basic morality; we would certainly never do such a thing."

"No, your statement is incorrect. Since the subsidy policy has been clearly defined, how can it be considered immoral for people to come and claim subsidies according to the rules? Furthermore, you should not overestimate the moral standards of Elves. Even if we assume the Mages you speak of have high morality, once you scale that up to the entire Elf population, can you still stand by your idea?"

Faced with Xia Duo's question, the Evereska accountant lowered his head. As a chamber of commerce accountant, the people he came into contact with most often were not actually Mages, but rather ordinary Elves, and he knew all too well the so-called morality of ordinary Elves.

When it came down to it, in the face of survival and daily life, morality was hardly worth mentioning; only those high-and-mighty Mages had the qualifications to talk about morality.

But in reality, he himself was not a Mage, and he did not realize that the Mages who truly wielded power were actually the most immoral, only restricted by a more powerful order.

If there were no order to restrict them, those Mages would teach him what it meant to be insane and what it meant to never be able to turn things around.

Xia Duo was not just considering the morality of Elf Mages or other Mages; he was considering that the popularization of Magic was the general trend of the future, and the Computing Power Pool would likely face all residents of the Northland.

In such a situation, talking about morality was too shallow; business had to be considered from a purely commercial perspective.

"Consultant Xia Duo, I previously felt that Bei Di's ideas were too naive. I did not expect him to say that right to your face. The reason I did not oppose this plan was not because I overestimated the morality of Mages, but purely out of consideration for profit."

At this moment, an Elf from Cormanthor stood up. He first mocked the aforementioned Evereska accountant, then gave his own explanation—

"I am a Low-level Mage myself. To be honest, if I encountered such a subsidy plan, I would definitely be tempted and would take advantage of it. However, I must say 'however'—"

"We must also be clear about the powerful attraction the advanced usage mode of the Computing Power Pool holds for those Mages who are truly intent on research. Basic functions alone are far from enough to satisfy their needs."

"According to our calculations, as long as advanced users reach a scale of 13%, it will be enough to cover all costs. As for the actual proportion of advanced users willing to pay, we have been busiest with this very thing during this period."

"We established a rough model of the number of Mages of various ranks in the Northland based on the reality of the situation to assist in calculating the fee plan. At the same time, by looking at the usage of the Computing Power Pool by existing users, we can basically draw a conclusion—"

"That is, at the current stage, the proportion of Mages who have the awareness, the need, and the strength to use paid advanced features is at least 15%. It is not just those High Mages; even among Intermediate and Low-level Mages, there is a relatively high willingness to improve."

"Conversely, those Mages who are already at the top have a lower willingness to use advanced features. The reasons are multifaceted, such as concerns about research leaks, or that the advanced features do not meet their needs, and so on."

"But this group of Mages is also the smallest, and most of them will not connect to the Computing Power Pool outside of actual use, and they do so to achieve better results."

"They actually do not mind paying, even if the advanced features might not bring them better results. It can be said that the subsidies the Computing Power Pool gives to this group of Mages are actually the lowest, while the returns are relatively high."

"The subsidies go more to those Mages in the range from Intermediate to Advanced Rank, but as I just said, as long as the payment ratio reaches 13%, it is enough to cover all costs."

"It is equivalent to saying that as long as there are 100 users, and they use paid advanced features for 13% of their total usage time, that is enough."

"Our current estimate for the practical usage time of advanced features is roughly around 15%, which means that even according to the current subsidy plan, there is still significant room for profit."

"As for how much profit, we have also made estimates. This is related to the total scale of users; the larger the scale, the more accurate the estimate, and the smaller the scale, the greater the fluctuation."

"Calculating based on 100,000 users—which should be a scale that has just reached the threshold of stability—if we only count subsidy costs, after deducting subsidies, the projected monthly profit could exceed ten million!"

Hearing such an exaggerated number, Xia Duo was also taken aback. Although he had great confidence in the profitability of the public Computing Power Pool, that was for the future; as for now, he would be thankful just to break even.

He knew very well that it was actually very difficult to get research funding from the Northland Alliance. Everyone was willing to take money, but if it came to spending money, even for a good cause, there would be many difficulties.

When it involved each member nation, who paid more, who paid less, and exactly how much to pay was never a problem that could be easily negotiated.

Therefore, his idea was for the various nations of the Alliance to invest money into the Psionic Network Research Center now, and pay it back in the future once the Computing Power Pool became profitable. With the imaginative space of dividends, he could still obtain the first round of investment.

But now, hearing what this financial staff member said, it seemed they could make money from the very beginning! And quite a lot of it!

A monthly profit of over ten million was already a scale of profitability only seen in some super-large chambers of commerce. However, the operating costs of a chamber of commerce were numerous; a profit of just ten million might not necessarily cover all costs, and the actual net profit was not necessarily that high!

The costs of the Computing Power Pool were not low either, but the largest cost was in subsidies. If there could still be a profit of over ten million after deducting subsidies, then even after deducting the costs of fixed equipment like accessories, gateways, and transfer devices, as well as personnel expenses, there would likely still be quite a bit left over!

Thinking of this, Xia Duo could not help but feel a bit excited, because this upcoming monthly fund at the ten-million level (the actual cash flow would certainly exceed one hundred million) was in his hands. This was what power was—this was real, tangible power.

When he was in his hometown, Xia Duo was used to hearing empty promises and had made them to others as well, so when he heard such good data, he was able to react quickly.

Therefore, he asked again: "I hear you now; you are feeding me empty promises! You said the projected monthly profit of ten million is based on the situation where the Computing Power Pool has 100,000 active users!"

"But the problem is that the total number of users of the public Computing Power Pool is currently less than 50,000, and active users have to be discounted further. Tell me honestly, based on the current scale, how long will it take to achieve stable profitability? And how much will the profit be?"

These were all very critical questions. It was difficult for Xia Duo to calculate this himself based solely on the current fee plan; he still had to ask a professional.

"At least half a year. There will be large fluctuations in income and expenditure within half a year, and it will only be possible to truly stabilize after more than a year. The larger the scale, the shorter the cycle for stable income and expenditure. As for the real profit forecast—"

At this point, the Cormanthor accountant paused, precisely found a piece of draft paper from the cluttered conference table, and then pointed to the calculation process on it to tell Xia Duo:

"If the current scale does not expand further, then the annual profit can conservatively be estimated to reach the ten-million level. But the fact is, the scale of the Computing Power Pool is constantly expanding even as we speak, so as for how much profit there will be, Consultant Xia Duo, you actually don't need to ask me—you can feel free to imagine!"