Chapter 367: Fate Gambling City Planning (Begging for Monthly Tickets)

Facing the Dragon Sparrow Fate Lord of the Fate Clan, General Ye Ming's attitude instantly became humble.

Even the killing intent radiating from his body was reined in, completely losing the aggressive momentum he had just displayed.

Facing A-Lan, he could argue his case, even pushing to the limit to probe his bottom line.

But before Brother Ming Hou, continuing to do so would undoubtedly make him a laughingstock.

Like ocean waves, no matter how fierce, cannot stir the depths of the seabed.

The combat power of the Mist Fog Clan posed no threat whatsoever before the great mountain that was the Fate Clan.

Tides rise and fall, powerful clans rise and fall… this world has undergone many changes during their long slumber, and the fact that the Fate Clan still stands tall today is the best proof of its strength.

And in that equivalent gamble back then, it had wagered everything, even: the Mist Fog Rules.

During that time, it had also considered various potential risks.

For instance, if it carried the Rules into the Fate Clan's territory, perhaps the gamble hadn't even begun before it would be plundered by the Fate Clan.

At that time, it was alone, like a lamb entering a tiger's den.

If the Fate Clan truly wanted to act against it, it had no power to resist.

Relying solely on its own strength to oppose the entire Fate Clan, there was only one path—death.

But the Fate Clan had abided by its principles, actively received it, and allowed it to participate in the gamble on equivalent terms.

It could be said that its ability to free the Mist Fog Clan from the shadow of the Death Word Clan, to let the slumbering clansmen once again breathe the sea breeze of the Azure Star Sea Domain, was half due to effort, and the other half came from the Fate Clan's commitment to the "equivalent gamble."

Their adherence to the "equivalent gamble" commitment is more reliable than any faction's alliance.

Meeting again, General Ye Ming felt only respect in his heart, not daring to show the slightest negligence.

But what puzzled him was why the Dragon Sparrow Fate Lord had come personally—what matter did it concern?

Could it be that the foundation behind the Gold Coin Commerce Association was such that even the Fate Clan had to personally step forth to maintain cooperation?

General Ye Ming's gaze shifted between A-Lan and Brother Ming Hou, yet he did not dare ask more.

Facing General Ye Ming's respect, Brother Ming Hou nodded calmly.

As for General Ye Ming, Brother Ming Hou had no thoughts about him, nor did he wish to have too much contact.

Just a hegemon-level force of a small region, nothing worth calling a powerful clan; right now he only valued the assistance the Gold Coin Commerce Association could provide for the Fate Clan's upcoming development.

Assuming cooperation could be established with the Gold Coin Commerce Association, the development of the Fate Gambling City would also grow alongside the Commerce Association's expansion.

This platform is too important.

As for the Gold Coin Commerce Association's development potential, there is no upper limit.

As players, infinite margin for error allows the Gold Coin Commerce Association to stand forever.

Even if various bankruptcy risks exist during development, they can quickly make a comeback and rebuild rapidly.

Compared to the Gold Coin Commerce Association, the Mist Fog Clan is merely an insignificant small force.

Being able to cooperate with the Gold Coin Commerce Association now is only because the player faction is in its early development stage, giving it the opportunity to cooperate.

Seeing that Brother Ming Hou merely nodded calmly, then shifted his gaze to A-Lan, General Ye Ming felt no dissatisfaction in his heart.

In this world where strength is king, the prerequisite for earning respect is possessing sufficient power.

The Dragon Sparrow Fate Lord was clearly qualified to ignore his overtures of goodwill.

Realizing that staying here would affect the upcoming discussions between the Dragon Sparrow Fate Lord and the person in charge of the Gold Coin Commerce Association, General Ye Ming stood up on his own initiative.

He nodded to Brother Ming Hou and A-Lan respectively, keeping his tone respectful:

"Since the Dragon Sparrow Fate Lord and the President have important matters to discuss, General Ye Ming will not disturb you further."

Having said that, General Ye Ming transformed into a black stream of light, shooting toward the sky.

As he swept past Brother Ming Hou, General Ye Ming deliberately smoothed the gale, lest he offend the Dragon Sparrow Fate Lord.

After General Ye Ming flew far away, A-Lan walked with a smile to the round table in the center of the rooftop, reaching out to brush across the tabletop.

The scattered wine cups and empty plates instantly dissolved into specks of light, replaced by a set of tea wares glowing with soft light; spiritual tea in the pot was emitting curling white mist, its fragrance crisp as morning dew.

"Sit, Brother Ming Hou." Saying so, he took the lead in sitting down on the rattan chair, lifting the teapot to pour two cups of emerald-green tea:

"Finally sent this hot-tempered general away, we can have some peace and quiet to discuss business."

As for A-Lan addressing him as "brother," Brother Ming Hou didn't mind at all; being members of the same player faction, the address was not excessive.

After a slight nod, he took his seat opposite A-Lan.

The hem of his silver long robe hung down onto the bluestone slabs; Brother Ming Hou's face still wore a breezy, calm expression, then he picked up the teacup but did not drink, merely watching the drifting clouds reflected in the tea:

"Brother A-Lan, I've already explained my thoughts to you in private chat. I hope to build a Fate Gambling City on Dream Island. What do you think?"

A-Lan's hand holding the teacup paused for a moment; he did not immediately respond, but asked curiously:

"Brother Ming Hou, the Azure Star Sea Domain has many uninhabited islands. You want to build a gambling city on Dream Island, which must mean you value the customer flow of my Gold Coin Commerce Association."

Brother Ming Hou nodded, getting straight to the point:

"Exactly. Building the Fate Gambling City isn't difficult; what's difficult is the customer acquisition channel. Only the Gold Coin Commerce Association can provide us with steadily growing customer flow, and in the future it will surely form complementary traffic."

Hearing this, a glint of deep thought flashed through A-Lan's eyes, then he looked up at Brother Ming Hou, earnestly advising:

"Brother Ming Hou, I understand you want to borrow the Gold Coin Commerce Association's customer flow, and complementary traffic is a good thing, but what I need to remind you of is that the gamblers who come to participate must absolutely not be players from our own faction."

Brother Ming Hou heard this and nodded with a smile:

"Naturally. Players are protected by the High-Dimensional Gods; gambling with players carries the risk of not being able to recover the stakes. So the gambling city may allow players to enter, but absolutely cannot allow players to participate in any gambling."

A-Lan shook his head:

"That's not the point. Essentially, the player faction is a war force created by the High-Dimensional Gods, like chess pieces on a board. He allows players to develop freely in Monster World, but absolutely does not allow excessive internal friction among players. This can be glimpsed from a series of update settings.

"For example, the Sin System updated early on was to reduce malicious confrontation among faction players in the wild; the Duel Arena updated recently, which delineated a dedicated scene for resolving conflicts, aims to limit organizational conflicts between players within a controllable scope; and the recent restrictions on scalping players is also to reduce internal friction within the faction."

He picked up his teacup, watching the curling rising mist:

"The High-Dimensional Gods gave us the right to develop freely, but in reality also drew a red line. We can go seize resources from foreign races, trade with foreign races, make the cake bigger together, but we absolutely cannot lay a hand on the interests of other players within the faction. If the Fate Gambling City extracts wealth from players' hands, I can say with certainty that the gambling city your Fate Clan establishes won't get far."

Brother Ming Hou's silver pupils contracted slightly; this issue he had actually considered as well.

Before this, when he was browsing various materials on the player forums, he discovered that quite a few updates were made with the starting point of avoiding internal friction.

He just hadn't expected that this potential red line would be confirmed from Brother Ming Hou's mouth.

"This problem is easy to solve. After establishing the Fate Casino, I will forbid players from entering."

Hearing this, A Lan shook his head decisively:

"There's no need for that. Just restricting players from participating in gambling is enough. The development of the Fate Casino cannot do without players."

"Our Gold Coin Merchant Guild can provide the venues needed for early-stage development, as well as various forms of assistance in that early development, helping your Fate Clan build a Fate Casino on Dream Island. But I hope this Fate Casino can develop by integrating with the player ecosystem, letting other players also earn profits from it."

Amid Brother Ming Hou's puzzled expression, A Lan continued:

"When newbie players first enter the game stage, the development paths they can choose are limited. The Gold Coin Merchant Guild has provided newbie players with a delivery job — it both solves the guild's transportation problem and lets newbie players take a percentage of the profit from each delivery mission."

"The Fate City can clearly do the same. Gambling-related positions are handled by members of your Fate Clan — that's your specialty — but you can also set up some traffic-boosting positions for players inside the casino, achieving a win-win."

"For example, those Spirit Chef faction players — the Spirit Food meals they make are delicious. The Fate Casino can absolutely open a channel for Spirit Chef players to sell Spirit Food meals, selling Spirit Food meals with buff effects to the foreign races to earn income. You won't take a single cent of their profits — just consider it a contribution to the faction's development."

"This way, other players can become the casino's affiliated ecosystem, avoiding internal friction while leveraging the services they provide to drive traffic to the Fate Casino... Perhaps in the future, plenty of foreign races will come specifically for the delicious Spirit Food meals."

A faint light glimmered in Brother Ming Hou's silver pupils — clearly moved by this line of thinking:

"Your idea is good. The development of the Fate City can follow what you said."

"Exactly," A Lan said, picking up his teacup and nodding with a smile:

"What the Higher-Dimensional Deity wants is for us to make the cake bigger, while also bringing assistance to the faction's development and letting more players share in the development benefits. Only this way can business last long; monopoly is destined to have no future. The Star Net once told me a sentence: the starting point of the Eclipse Clan's development inside and outside the game must first serve the will of the Higher-Dimensional Deity. Now I pass this sentence on to you."