Chapter 34: Startup Capital

One hour later.

Flashes of white light appeared in succession as fifty-two figures logged in at the resurrection point of Emperor Tomb Village.

The moment they entered the game, Yang Tianxuan and the members of the Weapon Research and Development Department were stunned by the scene before them, finding it hard to believe this was actually a game world.

Driven by their profession, they immediately began testing the world's simulation fidelity.

Gravity perception tests, throwing stones to observe parabolic trajectories, olfactory tests, body coordination tests... Amidst the gazes of other players looking at them as if they were fools, they were completely convinced by the realism of this game.

"Boss, the Erosion Clan's technology has made another leap forward; they actually managed to create such a realistic game world," exclaimed the white-haired elder standing beside Yang Tianxuan.

Hearing these words, Yang Tianxuan did not respond; the shock in his heart was beyond description.

He had long harbored the idea of testing weapon performance within a virtual environment.

He had previously conducted weapon tests in "Land of Sin," a virtual game released by the Erosion Clan five years ago.

But the results were unsatisfactory, and he ultimately chose to abandon it.

In fact, creating a game that perfectly replicates real-world physics is harder than ascending to heaven.

He had carefully analyzed the series of problems that needed to be overcome.

Not to mention how terrifying the server capacity required for such a game would need to be, every other standard had to reach absolute perfection, such as interaction frequency, data processing volume, and even image rendering quality.

Secondly, the virtual world needed to simulate all physical phenomena of the real world, including but not limited to gravity, lighting, materials, and sound, which required computational power beyond comprehension to ensure the accuracy and real-time performance of the physics engine.

To achieve perfect realism, every detail in the virtual world had to be meticulously simulated, including buildings, vegetation, terrain, and weather changes; these details would greatly increase the burden on the data processing center.

Furthermore, the massive amount of data generated at any moment within the game needed to be processed and fed back within an extremely short time, including information generated by player inputs.

For instance, when a player destroys the environment in the game, the collected information must alter the environment in real time.

Considering various variables, creating a completely realistic game was nearly impossible in Yang Tianxuan's conception, as it equated to creating an entirely new world, requiring resource consumption at a 1: ratio.

In other words, theoretically, creating a game that perfectly simulates Earth would require consuming the resources of an entire planet.

Yet everything before his eyes was undeniable; the Erosion Clan had truly used some unknown technology to create such a perfect virtual game with no flaws to be found.

While lamenting the vast technological gap between the Human Federation and the Erosion Clan, a flame rose within Yang Tianxuan's heart.

With such a realistic virtual environment to aid them, they could go all out without worrying about environmental destruction, personal safety, and a host of other troublesome issues.

"Boss, I've browsed the mall; this game doesn't sell any equipment that supports our weapon research and development; everything must start from scratch... However, the mall does sell Spirit Stones; perhaps we can first manufacture a batch of spirit-energy firearms."

Upon hearing this, Yang Tianxuan nodded in agreement.

Manufacturing powerful technological weapons required solving a series of problems such as forging equipment, processing equipment, and measurement calibration tools; starting from zero meant undergoing the tedious process of going from nothing to something.

At the current stage, without sufficient resources, they had no way to begin.

But spirit-energy firearms were different; this was one of the early weapon technologies the Erosion Clan had provided to humanity.

Weapons could be forged by altering the energy pathways of spirit ores, then inlaid with Spirit Stones to serve as ammunition drivers, with internal arrays inscribed to compress spiritual energy.

After pulling the trigger, the firearm would automatically draw energy from the Spirit Stone, compress it internally into the shape of a bullet, and fire it propelled by the internal spiritual energy; upon contacting the target, the unstable spirit-energy bullet would instantly explode, creating area-of-effect explosive damage.

For early-stage exploration, this technology was clearly more practical.

"Then let's first manufacture a batch of spirit-energy firearms," Yang Tianxuan affirmed his subordinate's suggestion at this moment.

Just then, a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard in the team asked puzzledly:

"Director, the problem is that all items in the mall require Sacrificial Power to purchase; I searched the game's function panel thoroughly but couldn't find a recharge function; where are we supposed to get the startup capital to buy materials for making spirit-energy firearms?"

Yang Tianxuan:...

Faced with the problem of having no startup capital, Yang Tianxuan fell into deep thought.

"Have you contacted Qin Ye? He entered the game a step ahead of us; ask him how much Sacrificial Power he has that we can borrow."

"I just added him as a friend; I'll ask right now," said a middle-aged man in the team, about thirty years old, as he summoned his friend list and attempted to connect with Qin Ye.

Shortly after, the middle-aged man looked at Yang Tianxuan and said somewhat awkwardly:

"He only has 239 points of Sacrificial Power, which is completely insufficient for us to use as startup capital."

"Then let's first acquire Sacrificial Power from other players; we'll pool the costs ourselves for now and won't submit an expense fund application."

With an idea in mind, they immediately took action, and dozens of messages buying Sacrificial Power soon appeared in the regional channel, with a purchase ratio of 1: 0.

But these few messages were quickly drowned out by information posted by other players, interspersed with a few mocking comments from players who thought they were dreaming, believing the price offered was no different from robbery.

This made Yang Tianxuan and the members of the Weapon Research and Development Department realize that the purchase price they had offered was too low.

They chose to gradually raise the price.

From 20: , they gradually climbed to a purchase price of 100: , yet still, no players were willing to sell their Sacrificial Power to them.

This left Yang Tianxuan completely bewildered.

Sensing something was wrong, he immediately contacted Qin Ye, who had entered the game earlier.

The response he received shocked him.

The price of Sacrificial Power in the game had long since risen from 50: to 150: , and moreover, few players were willing to sell the Sacrificial Power they held.

There were mainly two reasons for this.

First, the consumption rate of Sacrificial Power far exceeded its production rate; players didn't even have enough Sacrificial Power in hand to enhance their own strength, let alone sell it.

Second, the price of Sacrificial Power had been consistently rising, and players generally believed that the price would continue to climb.

Many brick-moving players also thought to first consume Sacrificial Power to improve their strength, waiting until they were powerful enough to earn more Sacrificial Power later; selling Sacrificial Power in the early stage would cause their own strength to fall behind the growth rate of other players, leading to a significant shrinkage of late-stage profits.

After understanding the reasons from Qin Ye, Yang Tianxuan fell into deep thought again.

If they continued to raise the purchase price, their salaries could not bear such consumption, and the process for applying for funds was too tedious, requiring time to wait.

With no recharge channel and no way to acquire Sacrificial Power at a reasonable price, Yang Tianxuan, unable to think of a solution, had to voice-connect with Qin Ye once more:

"Xiao Ye, is there any method to quickly earn Sacrificial Power?"

"At the current stage, there are three ways to earn Sacrificial Power: the first is to leave Emperor Tomb Village and hunt various types of monsters outside; the second is to be lucky enough to encounter mineable spiritual plants during world exploration; compared to the first two methods, I recommend the third method to you."

"What method?" Yang Tianxuan asked immediately.

"Go to the Dark Cave to mine!"

(End of Chapter)