Chapter 211: Black Market Trading Center

How to establish an effective foreign trade channel left Zhong Yi in a dilemma.

It was certain that combining the trade model with the Gold Coin Fate Soul could bring substantial extra profits, but the situation in the Monster World was too chaotic.

Honesty was meaningless; only military force was the key to solving problems.

Without demonstrating deterrent power, even the most honest trader would be robbed.

Conversely, if one possessed sufficient strength, there would be no need for trade at all; direct plundering would yield even higher returns.

Therefore, trade had to be conducted through a method of "deterring the strong while appearing weak."

Only the weak needed to trade; the strong always used force to drain the pond dry.

And the Monster World had an inexhaustible supply of fish to drain.

If the Shentang Society provided military support from behind, the small clans in the sea regions would have nothing to fear.

A united warband forged in the Novice Village could simply crush the small clans in the nearby sea regions.

But the God King clearly would not pay him any heed.

He was merely an ordinary player with a Main Fate Soul at level 42, backed only by a group of Fishing Party players who spent their days frantically posting screenshots and bragging.

If asked which areas in the sea regions were best for catching big fish, every single one of them was an expert, possessing the most detailed sea-region fishing maps within the player faction.

They excelled particularly in crafting fishing rods, selecting fishing lines, and using bait... contributing massive amounts of spiritual fish ingredients to the player legions, and serving as the primary suppliers enabling Spiritual Chef players to create various spiritual foods.

But asking them to fight?

They could only show off and cast a few lines during massive player gatherings; in terms of combat power, they were undeniably at the very bottom among all gameplay styles.

Although there were powerful high-level players within the Fishing Party, since catching powerful marine creatures also required strength as a key factor.

But such players constituted a minority within their group.

Seeking safe shelter from the Fishing Party group was unrealistic.

As for other player warbands, unless he offered sufficiently attractive benefits, no society would pay him any attention.

Suddenly having a goal made fishing instantly feel dull and tasteless.

After retracting his rod, Zhong Yi sat in a rattan chair, gazing at the sea surface and sinking into deep thought.

He pondered how to establish a trade system centered around the Gold Coin Fate Soul.

After a long while, unable to figure it out, he decided to post on the forum to seek help from netizens.

Summoning the forum interface, he spent half an hour editing before publishing his thoughts as a post on the forum.

[Everyone come discuss: how can we maximize the profits of the Gold Coin Fate Soul?]

OP: Need Milk at Midnight.

Content:

Since the Gold Coin Fate Soul appeared, I've always felt this Fate Soul is extremely powerful.

But no matter how I think, I can't come up with a reasonable application method.

There is only one core issue: we cannot view the landscape of the Monster World through the lens of peaceful and stable trade models from reality.

An extra 8% profit seems like a lot, but in reality, it might not even exceed the yields from hunting.

Unless one can establish long-term, stable trade connections with the various clans in the sea regions, obtaining continuous wealth growth through trade profits plus the financial luck gains from the Gold Coin Fate Soul.

The future growth model would then become: establishing trade with more races to gain more extra financial luck profits.

This is essentially a growth path in itself.

Increasing the number of trade partners can be viewed as expanding territory; future wealth will inevitably rise with the Black Tide.

In the future, a "Merchant Flow" gameplay style might even form.

But to become a merchant, one must have military protection.

In the Monster World where the weak are prey to the strong, being a merchant is worse than plundering.

The profits brought by plundering a clan are far higher than those brought by doing business.

Players have countless factions to plunder; there is no need to acquire profits through commerce.

Judging from the world background, doing business has instead become a very foolish growth model, suitable only for players who lack strength but want to make big money.

So the problem returns to the starting point: how can players lacking strength form a military deterrent against foreign clans?

I want to ask everyone, are there any solutions to this problem?

Comments section:

Invincible Wind Fire Wheel: A systematic business model definitely won't work; just as described in the OP's post, those with strength will plunder, and those without strength cannot establish stable trade relations. However, we could reference the NPC model common in other games, becoming a "Mysterious Merchant" wandering among the various islands in the sea regions, engaging in trade with island clans through occasional refreshes.

Chicken Stewed with Mushrooms: The Mysterious Merchant gameplay requires huge investment; thirty thousand Sacrifice Power is just the startup capital for buying the Fate Soul, and purchasing goods also costs money. Assuming goods are sold at cost price to earn the extra 8% profit, you'd need to sell ten thousand points worth of goods just to earn eight hundred points of Sacrifice Power. You'd need to prepare at least several tens of thousands of Sacrifice Power as startup capital to buy goods to sell to foreign clans, so the comprehensive startup capital must be at least fifty thousand or more... The key point is, the foreign clans might not buy your goods.

One Pillar Holding Up the Sky: Besides initial capital, you also have to invest huge time costs; sea navigation takes time, often several hours or even days. Since you've chosen to become a Mysterious Merchant, you'd at least need to equip a high-quality vehicle to improve travel efficiency, which is another investment. The time spent traveling back and forth across the major sea regions would be enough for Hunting Party players to earn several hundred, or even several thousand, points of Sacrifice Power. Therefore, the Mysterious Merchant model is too difficult to start; it's all places to spend money, not as stable as hunting.

Happy Sausage: I have a plan: capture a Strange Butterfly to gain spatial teleportation abilities, thus saving a huge amount of travel time, shuttling back and forth between major sea islands to frantically amass wealth, earning gold by the bucketful daily (lol.jpg).

Unfilial Son, Why Hit Me: I also thought of an additional cost; doing business requires expanding your Spatial Sack capacity, which is also a significant expense... OP, start a discussion group; I'm also very interested in the Merchant Flow gameplay, let's pool our wisdom to find a solution.

Forum players offered many ideas.

But most were unreliable.

Some players suggested setting up a stall to sell grilled fish.

At normal selling prices, a regular spiritual grilled fish sells for between 20 to 90 points of Sacrifice Power.

Calculating at an average price of 55 points of Sacrifice Power, selling 100 grilled fish daily would earn 440 points of extra profit per day.

The time to recoup costs is too long, and it requires investing a large amount of time; it's better to just leisurely fish in the sea regions.

Zhong Yi felt the only reliable suggestion on the forum was the Mysterious Merchant gameplay.

But this gameplay style also had unsolvable problems; sea navigation efficiency was too low.

Spending vast amounts of time only to find that the profits from selling goods were highly unstable.

According to normal logic, as principal capital grows, the profits from each trade should also continuously increase.

Trading with a principal of ten thousand Sacrifice Power versus one hundred thousand Sacrifice Power clearly yields different results.

But this is just an idealized business model.

Although the Monster World is a game, unlike products in simulation management games, not every sale achieves full transaction volume.

For example, carrying one hundred thousand points of Sacrifice Power to a foreign clan's island, the small clan on that island might only need ten thousand points worth of goods, having no need for the rest.

This leads to the result that profits from the long journey are unstable.

Wealth growth does not necessarily bring higher returns.

Because there is a discrepancy between market demand and player supply.

It is far less stable than the profits brought by hunting.

Unable to think of a solution, Zhong Yi decided to follow the forum players' idea and create a merchant group to pool wisdom and find a way.

After creating the chat group, he sent invitations to the players who had offered ideas in the thread.

Before long, dozens of players had joined the chat group.

Zhong Yi also decided to embark on his first trade journey.

Gritting his teeth, he spent his hard-saved thirty thousand points of Sacrifice Power to purchase the "Gold Coin" Fate Soul, decomposed the Force Brute Fate Soul in his third Star Vein slot, and upgraded the Gold Coin Fate Soul to level 20.

The extra profit increased from 8% to 12%.

With 7,623 points of Sacrifice Power remaining, he decided to set off immediately and act as a Mysterious Merchant.

Summoning the map function, he zoomed in on the sea region scene where he was located and chose to sail southwest.

There lay an island occupied by a foreign clan called "Night Sky Island."

After a four-hour voyage, as the small boat neared the coast, it transformed into pixelated light points that covered Zhong Yi, generating a set of black light armor.

Leaping onto the shore, he looked up.

Before him lay a lush forest of bone trees.

Tall and straight bone trees were arranged in an orderly fashion, their white leaves rustling softly in the breeze.

Walking inland from the beach, colorful shells were scattered sparsely across the sand.

Just as he was about to enter the jungle, he saw a figure sprinting toward him at extreme speed, a glint of cold light magnifying before his eyes.

Crimson Gang Qi surged; Zhong Yi suddenly threw a punch at the attacking figure.

The Crimson Gang Qi condensed in mid-air into a fist shadow, smashing the attacking figure so hard they flew backward, crashing into a bone tree and sliding down.

"Cough, cough..."

Zhong Yi now saw the attacking figure clearly.

The opponent was about 1.5 meters tall, holding a long spear polished from bone, with their body covered in symbols painted with some unknown pigment.

At this moment, they were glaring at him viciously.

His analysis ability activated at this moment.

[Night Sky Clan Warrior: Night Wolf]:

Hunting Level: Level 29

Target Introduction: A new-generation warrior of the Night Sky Clan, currently performing island patrol duties.

"Friend, don't attack; I mean no harm."

Remembering that he was here to do business, Zhong Yi decisively dispersed the Crimson Gang Qi surrounding his body and raised both hands to show he meant no harm.

His words were translated by the Challenger System and directly understood by Night Wolf.

Night Wolf, however, looked up with a vigilant expression, crouching slightly, as if ready to spring into action at any moment and launch another attack against him.

"I advise you not to make trouble; if I truly wanted to kill you, you would already be dead."

Seeing that Night Wolf still harbored a desire to fight, Zhong Yi couldn't help but retort.

"What is your purpose in coming to my Night Sky Clan island?"

"To conduct trade."

"Trade?"

"That's right. I want to ask what commodities your clan needs; I have a way to bring them to you."

Upon hearing this, Night Wolf asked with a confused expression:

"As a gift?"

"Take me to see your elders. A pig brain like yours probably can't understand this; I can't be bothered wasting words on you." Zhong Yi rolled his eyes involuntarily.

"You are insulting me." Night Wolf's Iron Face turned red from holding back his anger.

"Hurry up and take me to see your elders. If you keep talking nonsense, I'll really slaughter you," Zhong Yi said viciously, suddenly throwing a punch toward his right.

The released Gang Qi Minghun smashed a bone tree, causing it to collapse with a crash.

"Fine." Seeing this, Night Wolf nodded vigorously.

This completely convinced Zhong Yi.

As expected of the Monster World; a gentle tone cannot solve problems, only fists are the core of negotiation.

Before long, Zhong Yi followed Night Wolf to the Night Sky Clan's tribal grounds.

What came into view was a majestic white waterfall.

A massive water curtain roared down from a hundred meters in the air, crashing against jagged rocks and splashing up layers of white spray.

The Night Sky Clan village was scattered around the waterfall; the architectural style was simple and unsophisticated, with houses mostly built from logs and stone.

The nearby walls were carved full of strange symbols, and statues smeared with various colors stood along the path.

As soon as he entered the Night Sky Clan grounds, Zhong Yi was surrounded by a group of Night Sky Clan warriors.

A scan of his Analysis revealed that the average Hunting Rank of these Night Sky Clan warriors was around 40; if a fight truly broke out, he would undoubtedly die.

The upcoming negotiation would have to rely on his tongue.

His fists were no longer effective.

At this moment, the Night Sky Clan warriors retreated to both sides, and a figure leaning on a cane walked toward him.

A scan of his Analysis informed Zhong Yi of the other party's identity: the chief of the Night Sky Clan, and also the counterpart for his upcoming negotiation.

The Night Sky Clan Chief stopped in front of him, lifted his head, and spoke to him with a complex expression:

"My clan is under the protection of the Ice Eye Clan; we cannot provide any resources to the clan you belong to."

Hearing these words, Zhong Yi's mind was filled with question marks.

The other party had clearly misunderstood something.

In the subsequent exchange, both sides gradually understood each other's intentions.

Zhong Yi also understood why the Night Sky Clan Chief had said those words at the beginning.

In fact, there was also trade between clans in the Cang Star Sea Region, but this trade was more accurately described as exploitation; the two parties in the trade were more like a master and a vassal.

For example, the island where the Night Sky Clan resided could produce a spiritual plant called "Crispy Fruit," yet after the Ice Eye Clan discovered this island, they did not exterminate the Night Sky Clan.

This was because the Ice Eye Clan knew that if they exterminated the Night Sky Clan, the "Crispy Fruit" produced on the island in the future would have to be planted, tended, and harvested by the Ice Eye Clan members themselves.

In their eyes, the Night Sky Clan posed no threat, so they chose to establish a trade relationship with them.

However, this was a one-sided trade.

Every period of time, the Night Sky Clan had to offer a batch of Crispy Fruit to the Ice Eye Clan, receiving only the Ice Eye Clan's verbal protection in return.

But to Zhong Yi's ears, the so-called protection was merely another explanation for protection money.

If a major incident truly occurred, the Ice Eye Clan would definitely not stand up for the Night Sky Clan.

Yet the Night Sky Clan lacked the power to refuse this trade relationship.

Behind the Night Sky Clan, there was no racial cooperation organization like the Earth Alliance; the price of not paying was extermination.

Therefore, when the Night Sky Clan Chief heard he came for trade, he subconsciously assumed another clan had come to collect protection fees.

Upon learning the details, Zhong Yi immediately explained his intentions, as well as his desire to conduct trade via barter.

This idea, in the eyes of the Night Sky Clan Chief, was evidently too advanced.

He could not understand that in the Monster World, there was actually a faction willing to conduct trade in this manner; it was truly absurd.

But after Zhong Yi explained his intentions, the thought that surfaced in the Night Sky Clan Chief's mind was:

This outsider perhaps has no backing whatsoever behind him; otherwise, why would he choose to conduct trade via barter?

The Night Sky Clan Chief, whose clan resources were always scarce, suddenly had a greedy idea.

"I wish to know your origins?"

"Does it matter?" Seeing the Night Sky Clan Chief's tone shift from humble to neutral, a sentence surged into Zhong Yi's mind: The weak draw their knives against those even weaker.

Facing the oppression of the Ice Eye Clan, the Night Sky Clan could only offer humble tribute.

This was not kindness, but a choice made out of necessity.

But when facing targets weaker than themselves, humility could turn into greed, and it could also turn into a slaughtering blade.

Zhong Yi did not hide his thoughts either; he looked at the Night Sky Clan Chief with a helpless expression:

"Old Chief, your thoughts are exposed too obviously. I just want to conduct normal trade with you; can you not cause trouble right from the start... In short, behind me stands an existence you cannot provoke; I could exterminate your entire clan with a wave of my hand, understand?"

The Old Chief felt somewhat awkward; he laughed twice in a strange tone to ease the atmosphere, then asked:

"Foreign guest, our island only has Crispy Fruit; we have no other spiritual resources."

As he spoke, the Old Chief signaled his clansmen to bring over some Crispy Fruit.

Zhong Yi scanned it with his Analysis and discovered this was a Grade 2 spiritual plant, with a Sacrifice to Di Zhao price of 219 points of Sacrificial Power.

Assuming a transaction at the original price, after deducting the Trading Hall's 5% handling fee and adding the 12% extra profit, he could earn a 7% profit from it.

Of course, conducting direct transactions with other players without going through the Trading Hall could guarantee a 12% profit, though the process was more troublesome.

Before proceeding with the transaction, Zhong Yi voiced the question in his mind:

"Old Chief, tell me first, what does your Night Sky Clan currently lack?"

After a brief silence, the Old Chief began to recount his clan's predicament.

Zhong Yi summoned the Forum interface and recorded the keywords from the Old Chief's description.

After organizing the information, three categories of tradable commodities were derived.

The first category was food.

There was still enough space on the island to accommodate more Night Sky Clan members, but the clan's population growth was limited by food shortages, forcing them to maintain their current scale.

The second category was spiritual ore stones.

This was also an important resource affecting the Night Sky Clan's combat power enhancement; without spiritual ore stones, they could not forge enough weapons, equipment, or even fishing tools.

The third category was medicine.

There were many poisonous insects on Night Sky Island; the Night Sky Clan was often troubled by them, and clansmen who were bitten for long periods did not live long, so they needed commodities that could detoxify.

After clarifying the commodities available for trade, Zhong Yi summoned the Mall panel.

After careful consideration, he spent 1 point of Sacrificial Power to purchase a can of food rations, opened it, and handed it to the Old Chief.

"This is food; how many Crispy Fruits do you think this can exchange for?"

The Old Chief, having taken the can, lowered his head to sniff it lightly, frowned slightly, then used his finger to scoop out a piece of meat from the can and put it into his mouth to chew.

His facial expression suddenly changed; he spat it out onto the ground fiercely and looked up at Zhong Yi with disbelief:

"This is also food?"

Zhong Yi: ...

Although the taste of the food ration cans was not great, they were the main transitional food for players in the early game.

"Eating this stuff is worse than gnawing on tree leaves," the Old Chief said angrily, his Iron Face turning red from holding back his fury.

The Old Chief's words made Zhong Yi suddenly realize the root of the problem.

This was not Earth; the definition of food was not merely about filling one's stomach.

Thinking carefully, it made sense; with lush vegetation on the island, how could there not be enough food.

What the Old Chief was referring to was obviously spiritual food.

Thus, he decisively switched commodities, purchasing an Energy Paste produced by the Counter-Black Tide Legion, which sold for 11 points of Sacrificial Power in the Mall.

The Old Chief, having taken the Energy Paste, let his gaze wander over Zhong Yi's body as if searching for a spatial item, then took a bite with suspicion.

This time, the Old Chief's eyes lit up, and he nodded excitedly afterward:

"This food contains a very high amount of energy; my Night Sky Clan needs it greatly."

"How many Crispy Fruits can this exchange for?"

The Old Chief did not answer directly; he placed the Energy Paste in his palm and chanted incantations, whereupon a white mist spread from his palm, covering the Energy Paste.

"Based on the energy content of the food, give me 15 tubes, and I will give you one Crispy Fruit."

This answer made Zhong Yi instantly beam with joy.

His reasonable price point in his heart was around 200 points of Sacrificial Power.

He had not expected the other party to ask for only 15 tubes of Energy Paste; with a cost of 165 points of Sacrificial Power, he could obtain Crispy Fruit worth around 219 points, and adding the Gold Coin Minghun characteristic bonus after the transaction was completed, the profit was higher than imagined.

What Zhong Yi did not know was that in the production process of this energy food mixed with spiritual materials, there was inevitably a certain amount of loss.

The Old Chief was not stupid; the price he gave accounted for the potential loss in production, which was why he set the price at 15 tubes.

Having confirmed that the other party had the intention to trade, the next step was how to execute the transaction.

If he gave the goods directly, Zhong Yi feared he might not receive the goods in return; it was better to inspect the goods first.

He currently still had 7612 points of Sacrificial Power, which was enough to buy 693 tubes of Energy Paste.

"Elder Chief, this is our first transaction. How about I give you 46 Crisp Fruit pods in exchange for 693 Energy Paste sticks?"

"Agreed, follow me." The Elder Chief nodded without hesitation.

Following the Elder Chief to a house built of stacked stones, the old chief pushed open the door, and instantly a rich, clear fragrance wafted out; inside, piles of Crisp Fruit wrapped in leaves were stacked high.

Zhong Yi's heart pounded wildly; suddenly, he understood why plunder was the main theme of the Monster World.

Trading was troublesome, and the profits were not high.

But plunder was different; this was the path to sudden wealth.

At this moment, the Elder Chief entered the room and began carrying out the Crisp Fruit, placing 46 pods before Zhong Yi.

Zhong Yi did not hesitate either; after opening the Mall and sweeping up the goods, with a wave of his hand, 693 sticks of Energy Paste were piled before him.

But just as he prepared to pick up the Crisp Fruit from the ground, the Elder Chief's withered hand suddenly grabbed his wrist:

"Guest from afar, how many Crisp Fruit pods can be exchanged for the spatial device on your person?"

Seeing the greed on the Elder Chief's Iron Face, Zhong Yi couldn't help but sigh:

"Elder Chief, I know what you are thinking. Do you want to gamble the lives of your entire clan on one roll of the dice?"

Seeing the indifference in Zhong Yi's eyes, the Elder Chief hesitated, then withdrew his hand in chagrin.

The greed in his heart had briefly gained the upper hand, but was ultimately suppressed by fear; he dared not gamble the future of his clan for immediate gain.

Zhong Yi appeared calm on the surface, but internally he was panicking like crazy.

If he had been robbed, his over 7,000 points of Sacrificial Power would have been gone.

That would have been worse than killing him.

Once back in the little black room, he would need to cry hysterically for three days just to recover.

Storing the 46 Crisp Fruit pods into his Spatial Sack, Zhong Yi turned and left under the escort of Night Wolf.

Along the way, he summoned the Trading Row and began listing his goods.

He listed each Crisp Fruit pod for consignment at a price of 220 points of Sacrificial Power.

The revenue from the 46 Crisp Fruit pods, after deducting the handling fee, was 9,614 points of Sacrificial Power; with the bonus from the Gold Coin Fate Soul characteristic, it totaled 10,767 points of Sacrificial Power.

After deducting costs, the profit was: 3,155 points of Sacrificial Power.

He had made a huge profit!

He now needed to sell the Crisp Fruit as quickly as possible, then return to continue trading with the Night Sky Clan.

He would strip the Night Sky Clan of all their sellable Crisp Fruit beyond their tribute requirements, then wait a few months for the next harvest to conduct the next round of trading.

Facts proved that this Mysterious Merchant route was entirely feasible.

A single round of trading guaranteed a profit of tens of thousands.

The only problem was that safety was not very high.

Even a weak clan like the Night Sky Clan dared to harbor thoughts against him; if he encountered a powerful clan, they would likely attack directly.

Not long after the small boat sailed away from the island, constant notifications from the Trading Row began ringing in his mind.

All 46 Crisp Fruit pods were sold out in just five minutes.

This made Zhong Yi feel he had left too early; he immediately turned back to Night Sky Island, preparing for the next round of trading.

The trading continued until the next day.

The Elder Chief was completely bewildered the entire time.

He could not understand why this guy, who called himself a merchant, had to rest for a period after every completed transaction before continuing to trade.

Why couldn't he just complete all the transactions at once?

The next day, after Zhong Yi left the island, every sellable commodity the Night Sky Clan possessed had been bought up by him.

The total revenue reached: 31,700 points of Sacrificial Power.

The positive flow of wealth generated 38 Gold Coins for him; after sacrificing them to Emperor Omen, he received 3,800 points of Sacrificial Power.

The surge in wealth gave Zhong Yi confidence in the trade route.

Facts proved that the Mysterious Merchant route was simply a shortcut to riches; making money was too easy.

Summoning the map, he began selecting the next island.

Two days later, Zhong Yi landed on Volcano Island.

This was an island covered in active volcanoes, where heat waves rolled through the air.

Zhong Yi, who had struggled greatly to land on the island, was not so lucky this time; before he could even make contact or communicate with the alien race on the island, he was quickly sent back to Emperor Tomb Village.

Furious, he cursed loudly, feeling that a huge amount of his time had been wasted.

But after his anger subsided, he shared his situation in the "Merchant Group," then began scrolling through the chat records of his group mates.

He discovered that in recent days, the group mates had summarized three methods to gain extra revenue through the Gold Coin characteristic.

The first method, group mates called: Goblin Merchant.

The title "Goblin Merchant" originated from the ancient era of Earth, specifically before the time of the Earth Alliance.

At that time, there were also game players on Earth, playing mobile games and PC client games.

He did not understand the history of that era, only knowing that goblins were a type of monster description in fantasy works, and the term was often used to describe those greedy, shrewd players who were good at business and hoarding wealth.

This title had been passed down through the changing eras to the present.

Goblin players were similar to Hamster Party players, but the characteristic of Hamster Party players was hoarding goods, reluctant to use various resources, enjoying the sense of security brought by the growth of supplies.

Whereas Goblin players loved the appreciation of wealth.

Therefore, the title "Goblin Merchant" carried both a teasing tone and an acknowledgment of their business acumen.

The Goblin Merchant gameplay did not produce goods; instead, it earned profits by buying low and selling high, operating items listed on the Mall.

For example, hoarding Iron Shell Worm silk early on, then selling it at several times the price when values rose, thereby earning substantial profits.

The Goblin Merchant gameplay required players to monitor price fluctuations of items in the Trading Row in real-time and possess a keen judgment of market changes; playing poorly could easily lead to losses.

The second method, group mates called: Mysterious Merchant.

The Mysterious Merchant is a character common in many games, a special NPC designed by the game officials for the sake of fun.

The Mysterious Merchant's trading method has three distinct characteristics.

The first characteristic is appearing at random locations and random times, giving players a sense of anticipation and increasing fun.

The second characteristic is that the goods sold by the Mysterious Merchant are difficult to obtain through regular channels in the game, such as rare equipment, special materials, limited-edition items, and so on.

The third characteristic is time-limited trading; mysterious goods generally stay in one location for a limited time before disappearing, making it easy for players to miss them.

The Mysterious Merchant gameplay requires players to act as wandering merchants, contacting different regions and alien races.

They sell goods that alien races cannot obtain through normal channels, thereby earning profits from the difference.

Just like Zhong Yi selling the Energy Paste developed by the Counter-Black Tide Legion to the Night Sky Clan; this was a special item the Night Sky Clan could not obtain from other sources.

The third method, group mates called: Trade Merchant.

This gameplay has the highest difficulty, requiring a team, or even the cooperation of several teams.

Negotiating with those powerful clans to establish stable trade channels is an upgraded version of the Mysterious Merchant model, increasing one's own bargaining power through cooperation among players.

Currently, the players in the group were all playing the "Mysterious Merchant" Cultivation Mode.

Among these three modes, the most unstable was the Goblin Merchant.

Price changes of goods in the Trading Row were influenced by multiple factors, especially sudden updates that could cause the price of a certain commodity to skyrocket unpredictably.

Version updates were too fast, making it difficult for players to seize opportunities.

Moreover, this gameplay was not well-received by mainstream players.

In the game Monster World, all players were a single whole; the act of reselling goods internally was bound to be condemned.

After reviewing the document summarized by the group mates, Zhong Yi scrolled the chat box down to the latest messages.

Learning that he had been killed by an alien race on Volcano Island, many group mates expressed that they had suffered similar encounters.

Completing a single transaction normally was not easy; it was evident that the Night Sky Clan, which allowed safe trading, was merely an exception.

The most miserable player had visited three islands, each ending in death.

Clans with some strength, upon the arrival of invaders, would inevitably strike first to gain the advantage.

Even if you were given time to state your intentions, the alien race would think of plundering the resources you carried rather than letting you proceed with the transaction.

Just as Zhong Yi and the group mates were struggling with how to establish a stable trade model,

A group mate who had never spoken before suddenly sent a long string of content:

Buying Sacrificial Power: Brothers, I have an idea.

After testing for these past two days, I have reached a conclusion: the revenue brought by the Gold Coin Fate Soul characteristic can be shared.

Everyone can understand it this way: suppose a single deal is completed jointly by 10 players, then these ten players can share the extra 8% profit generated by that revenue (split equally).

It is essentially like hunting in a team Cultivation Mode, where team members share the hunting rewards.

Fundamentally, the interests of merchants are in conflict.

Suppose one player discovers an island capable of continuously generating trade revenue.

Then other players can also go to that island to trade, or even lower prices, intercepting the continuous revenue that should have belonged to the player who discovered it first.

Therefore, how to bind everyone's interests together is a problem we must consider.

Otherwise, it will only bring endless involution, or even armed conflict.

Here, I offer a suggestion for cooperative win-win results.

North of the Colorful Mist Coast lies an uninhabited island named "Dream Island."

I think like-minded players can form a chamber of commerce together, then establish a black market trading hub on Dream Island.

Doing so has three benefits.

First is traffic acquisition.

After the trading market is established, once it reaches a certain scale, news of Dream Island's trading market will spread rapidly among the various races of the sea region.

Clients capable of establishing trade will come proactively; in the future, there will be no need to search for clients, yet a steady stream of customer traffic will continue to be obtained.

It is equivalent to establishing a stable channel for traffic acquisition.

It also saves the extra sacrificial power cost of upgrading vehicles and eliminates the vast amount of time spent crossing the sea to search for clients.

The second benefit is shared profits.

All players are part of the chamber of commerce; only when the chamber grows larger will collective profits increase, allowing the share distributed to each player to grow as well.

As for how profits are distributed, a shareholding system can be used for the split.

Example: Suppose Player A explores and discovers a trading island capable of steadily generating profits. During this time, Player A informs the island's residents that they can come to Dream Island for trade in the future. Thus, when aliens from that island later come to Dream Island to trade, the resulting profits constitute Player A's shares, included in the total profit. During the monthly distribution, the portion these profits represent of the total determines the share taken (tentative).

If alien forces appear during this period without being registered, having sought out trade due to the trading market's influence, the profits they generate will also be distributed percentage-wise to all members within the chamber of commerce.

With shared interests, expanding the trading market will become the goal of every player in the chamber.

The third benefit is capital concentration.

Concentrating capital allows the chamber of commerce to rapidly expand its market scale, attracting more alien forces to trade and enhancing its appeal to aliens.

Furthermore, it enables us to establish trade with those races possessing strength.

For instance, if a certain race needs a specific expensive resource, a single player cannot raise sufficient funds to purchase it, but collective fundraising can solve such problems, giving us a higher starting point.

In summary, with Dream Island as the core, we concentrate our forces to build a black market trading center.

Besides trade between us and various races, it can also provide a trading platform for the races of the sea region to exchange resources with one another.

In the early development stage of the trading center, everyone will need to visit various islands to solicit customers.

This effort will be accounted for based on the proportion of subsequent customer traffic to total revenue; later, as the scale expands and customers arrive continuously, profits will only grow higher.

After reading Lord Shou Jili's idea, the group members exclaimed in astonishment.

They felt this idea was entirely feasible.

At this moment, a player raised a critical question:

Cai Jiu Duo Lian: Brother, your idea is truly excellent; after reading it, I can only say it's awesome. But there is still one unresolved issue: establishing a trading market is easy, but how do we prevent potential risks of plunder? The Monster World is fraught with danger; if powerful races learn that Dream Island hosts a trading market storing various spiritual resources, they will inevitably attract predatory forces who will covet them, wanting to swallow all the resources on the island in one go... If a sudden plundering event occurs, how should we defend ourselves?

Lord Shou Jili:

Hmm, this is an inevitable risk.

In fact, no matter how we prepare, the security issue cannot be resolved.

Methods such as offering profits to seek protection from powerful societies, spending sacrificial power to buy security weapons (arms dealers), and so on, are all unfeasible.

Even if the Shentanggong Society provides military deterrence, it cannot establish absolutely reliable security on Dream Island.

Not to mention that the core development direction of the Shentanggong Society lies in the Emperor Tomb Mountain Range; even if all members of the Shentanggong Society were stationed on Dream Island, super-powerful forces might still descend to plunder, beyond their ability to resist.

Once such an event occurs, all resources placed on the island by the races coming to trade would be lost entirely, easily causing the reputation we worked hard to accumulate to collapse.

These past two days, I have primarily been pondering how to solve this problem.

To this end, I consulted a senior within my clan and obtained a nearly perfect solution.

That is the contract trading model.

In the early stage, trade will be barter-for-barter; later, once trust is established with alien races, it can shift to contract trading.

Taking the Night Sky Race traded by the group leader last time as an example.

In the future, when the Night Sky Race comes to Dream Island to exchange resources, they will directly hand over the "Crispy Fruit" they carry to us players. We players will register it, then store the Crispy Fruit in our spatial travel bags, giving the Crispy Race a record slip (the record slip is unimportant; even if forged, it does not matter).

After storage, the Night Sky Race has two options.

Directly sell the Crispy Fruit to us players, and we will immediately redeem the goods they need.

If they do not wish to sell to us players but want to trade with other races in the trading market, then we players guarantee this transaction.

After both parties reach a trading consensus, we retrieve the resources both sides have stored with us from the spatial travel bags, deliver them to both parties, and collect a transaction handling fee (recommended at 5%; in the early stage, it could even be free to enhance influence during initial development).

Once this transaction is completed, we not only gain revenue from the handling fee but also obtain an additional 8% profit from the handling fee brought by the Gold Coin characteristic.

Suppose a powerful predatory force attacks during this period; at worst, we are annihilated.

But we players can guarantee the absolute safety of the goods.

After the crisis ends, we can travel to the island where the race providing the goods resides and return all the resources from the spatial travel bags.

Everyone must understand that this is a world where trust between races is extremely low.

After we establish the chamber of commerce, integrity must be accumulated bit by bit.

As long as there is even one instance of returning resources, the races coming to trade will develop trust in our player race, and future transactions will inevitably continue.

This trust will also spread, causing more alien races to trust us, forming a consensus of trust.

Externally, an impression will form: the trading market established by the player chamber of commerce cannot guarantee the personal safety of members from various races, but any resources brought onto the island are absolutely safe.

No means exist to plunder the resources they bring.

The spatial travel bag is the powerful guarantee of our chamber of commerce's reputation.

In the future, there may even be races that proactively store resources with us, allowing us to collect a "security fee" (provided the chamber of commerce has already established a reputation and fame echoing across the sea region).

In the future, we could even set up a trading board on Dream Island, scrolling through the resources provided by various races.

This would transform the method of setting up stalls (setting up contracts) into something akin to a trading exchange, offering an efficient trading model with filterable goods.

Trading parties would not even need to meet in person; one could simply place an order at a price set by one party, and players would handle the payment and delivery of goods between both sides.

As for the construction costs for the island's infrastructure in the future, they will be deducted from the chamber of commerce's total revenue, shared and paid by everyone.

This includes the expansion costs for storage space, which everyone must contribute to; select a few players whom everyone trusts, expand their spatial storage capacity, and have them assume the role of mobile warehouses for the chamber of commerce.

Theoretically, this trading model holds immense appeal for the various races of the sea region.

Apart from us players, no force can offer them an absolute guarantee of resource safety.

After reading the logically rigorous proposal for establishing a chamber of commerce, the group members collectively reached a climax of excitement.

They spoke one after another, expressing admiration for the player who proposed the idea.

The construction of the black market trading market perfectly solved a series of problems mentioned in their discussions.

If it forms a scale in the future, there will be no need to explore everywhere; alien races will come seeking fame while we lie back and relax.

Besides trade transactions, the trading center could even expand into models for earning revenue similar to banks, intermediaries, and so on.

After reading the content of the proposal, Zhong Yi decisively transferred the position of "Group Leader" to the player "Lord Shou Jili."

And stated: "We are all just playing a game; your understanding of the game and your ability to conceptualize leave me far behind. You are fully worthy of the position of Group Leader."

The other group members also expressed their conviction.

Before the chamber of commerce was even established, there was already a consensus on who should hold the position of president.

(End of Chapter)