Chapter 121: Shop System And Newbies Coming Online
Blue Star, High Martial Arts Descend official forum.
As the official version update post was pinned, the players who had been crazily discussing the Crimson Moon Mountain defense battle could not help but click in to check it one by one.
Version Update 11 announcement.
Update details: fixed some game bugs, optimized the scene of the Crimson Moon Mountain map and the conditions for player entry. To attract more users, new gameplay has been added. The details are as follows.
Added 50 test player slots.
The shop system is now online. Crimson Moon Mountain will open the permission to purchase shops in three days. After players own a shop, they can freely sell various items and can hire NPCs for daily management, with a higher chance of attracting NPCs to purchase goods. （Note: the martial arts hall only charges 10% income tax on shops.）
Players no longer need to reach apprentice-level to go to Crimson Moon Mountain, and only need to become quasi-apprentices to go there. （Note: Crimson Moon Mountain is a dangerous wilderness map and it is not recommended to go there at low levels.）
…
“This game developer is way too diligent. It has only been a few days and they have updated new content again. This is definitely the most hard-working game manufacturer I have ever seen. Hurry up and give me a play slot, I am definitely playing this game.”
“Damn, they actually opened the shop system this time. People who like business-focused gameplay are blessed now, but this 10% income tax is kind of a rip-off.”
“You think 10% income tax is bad? You probably do not know how high the income tax is for setting up a stall in Crimson Moon Mountain. Selling any random item, they charge 20% income tax. It is unbearable.”
“But the shop is really awesome. You can actually hire NPCs to manage it. I wonder if you can hire beautiful big sisters. If you can, I want to hire ten and get rich while lying down every day.”
“Bro, do you want weapons and armor for those furry gorilla beauties? I have a lot here, and I can sell them to you cheap.”
…
With the sudden version update on the official forum, both veteran players and newbies were chatting excitedly. Especially the newbies, each of them felt this new version was insanely great.
Previously, going to the new map Crimson Moon Mountain required becoming an apprentice. Now quasi-apprentice is enough, which undoubtedly allows newbies to earn points faster. In addition, the opening of the shop system will let newbies buy cheaper weapons and equipment, experience using weapons earlier, and greatly speed up their combat power improvement.
The only slightly troublesome thing is that in order to trade in High Martial Arts Descend now, you need to purchase a smart watch first; otherwise, you cannot make any transactions with other players.
“Sister Wu, everything I said is true. Behind that Great Ape Gang there is a new huge faction. According to that three-eyed tribe female NPC, that faction is the Gorilla Gang in the suburbs. Their strength is unfathomable and they have great influence there. Our martial arts hall is very likely to clash with that Gorilla Gang.” Twilight of the Gods said excitedly.
“Judging from what you said about the plot, this is indeed likely to be a quiet version preview hinted at by the game manufacturer.” Luo Wu Shang nodded and could not help becoming a bit interested.
“I suspect the game manufacturer is making a big move, especially with this version update that opens the shop system. This lets newcomers improve faster. The game manufacturer never does useless things. Doing this is likely so that we players can better deal with this new hostile faction later.” Twilight of the Gods analyzed. “And they increased player numbers a lot this time. For this new hostile faction, they might open high-level large team dungeons that require quite a lot of people to clear.”
“I think so too. Otherwise, the game manufacturer would not need to update the version so quickly.” Zhang Qing Wei, standing beside them, agreed. “The power of a martial artist-level boss is obvious to all, but according to that three-eyed tribe female NPC, this Gorilla Gang has B-grade series battle armor that can suppress martial artists. With such high-level equipment, the dungeon level will definitely not be low. I guess it is a high-difficulty team dungeon prepared for players who reach martial artist level.”
The Heavenly Might members present all became excited and expectant when they heard about high-level equipment.
B-grade series battle armor, no matter how you look at it, is advanced equipment prepared for martial artists. If someone can equip it the moment they become a martial artist, they can definitely become number one among the players, instantly opening up a gap with other factions and enhancing Heavenly Might’s prestige and status in High Martial Arts Descend.
When the guild system opens in High Martial Arts Descend, Heavenly Might’s recruitment can attract more players to join, allowing Heavenly Might to grow faster in High Martial Arts Descend.
“In addition, the Gorilla Gang behind the Great Ape Gang is a major gang in the suburbs and has strong influence in the City of Light Chasing. Obsidian Martial Arts Hall will likely find it difficult to do business in the City of Light Chasing. Now the shop system has suddenly gone online, allowing players to purchase shops in Crimson Moon Mountain.” Twilight of the Gods continued, “At this development pace, the confrontation between Obsidian Martial Arts Hall and the Gorilla Gang will likely turn Crimson Moon Mountain into a town to increase the martial arts hall’s influence and power. I suggest that when shops open in three days, we should secure some shops in prime locations. As player and NPC numbers increase in the future, those shops will definitely become more and more valuable.”
“Turn it into the players’ first town?” Luo Wu Shang could not help falling into thought. After thinking for a few seconds, she immediately instructed, “If that is the case, there are two things we need to do now. First, we must become martial artists as soon as possible and get ahead of other teams so we can be the first to strike the Gorilla Gang.”
“The second is to quickly set up stalls in the next few days to sell this batch of loot. It does not matter if the prices are lower, as long as we can buy those shops in prime locations; we will earn it back many times over later.”
“Qing Wei, you are in charge of the first matter. Find a way to transfer more people from the guild headquarters so more people can enter High Martial Arts Descend to earn points, giving us more time to train and improve in secret realms.”
“Twilight of the Gods, you are in charge of the second matter. No matter what, we must get ahead of other teams and buy those few shops in prime locations.”
Knowing that Crimson Moon Mountain would be turned into the first player town, anyone who was not a fool understood that those central shops would definitely become very valuable in the future.
Buying them now would certainly turn into a gold mine later. However, the prices of these central shops would definitely not be cheap. Given the black-market style of the martial arts hall, with the current funds of the Heavenly Might team, they probably could not afford them. They needed to quickly liquidate their loot and raise funds to purchase shops.
With Luo Wu Shang’s instructions, the Heavenly Might members present all moved into action.
“Hopefully we can make it in time.” Looking at the departing crowd, Luo Wu Shang also felt considerable pressure as the vice president of Heavenly Might.
In Luo Wu Shang’s eyes, the other two teams currently in High Martial Arts Descend were not even real competitors. Once High Martial Arts Descend enters public beta, Heavenly Might, with its deep foundation, is on a completely different level from individual teams.
It was only Fang Zhen and Yi Ye Fu Yun and the others who regarded Heavenly Might as their opponent.
They did not realize that in Luo Wu Shang’s view, this was just small-scale skirmishing. Heavenly Might’s real opponents were not even in High Martial Arts Descend yet.
Now Pilgrimage was declining day by day, and the large guilds that had risen in Pilgrimage had started turning their sights to each new game. If Heavenly Might could not grow quickly in High Martial Arts Descend before it was targeted by all the large guilds, the difficulty of expanding later would be ten or a hundred times higher than now.
While the players on Crimson Moon Mountain were falling into a frenzy of raising money, above Blue Star, in Jiangnan City.
In the city center, a magnificent skyscraper of three hundred floors stood like a giant on the busiest street of Jiangnan City, overlooking this super metropolis of more than thirty million people. It was also one of Jiangnan City’s landmark buildings.
Paradise Tower.
The headquarters of Mythical Paradise, one of the five giant guilds of Pilgrimage.
Although night had fallen, the skyscraper was brightly lit. Over one hundred thousand Mythical Paradise guild members were either undergoing daily special training inside the tower or fighting on the front lines in Pilgrimage, organizing various management work and activities there, like a super enterprise.
At this moment, in the conference hall on the top floor, several core senior officials of Mythical Paradise were gathered.
“Fanchen, you suddenly called us together for a meeting. Is there something going on?” A middle-aged man nearing sixty, but who looked only in his forties and carried an air of authority, looked at the young crew-cut man at the conference table, with a hint of questioning in his tone.
Lu Fanchen.
A super genius of Mythical Paradise, a top expert in Pilgrimage on par with Heavenly Might’s Luo Wu Shang, and also the youngest elder of Mythical Paradise.
If not for Lu Fanchen suddenly calling this meeting, as president he would never have come.
“President, I recently investigated Heavenly Might and found that they have invested considerable resources into a new game called High Martial Arts Descend.” Lu Fanchen explained. “At first, I did not pay much attention to this High Martial Arts Descend. After all, the game’s external promotion claims a 100% virtual degree, which is hard to believe. But after I experienced High Martial Arts Descend’s assessment test, and after Heavenly Might’s Luo Wu Shang and Zhao Hu both moved in, I felt it is necessary for Mythical Paradise to quickly enter High Martial Arts Descend as well.”
“Is this game really that impressive?” President Kong Yuanhai was somewhat surprised. “You should know we are now fully preparing to shift to Immortal Road Eternal. You understand the importance of that game better than I do.”
“President, I know this is sudden, but High Martial Arts Descend is far from simple. Just from its test assessment alone, the degree of virtual immersion is no less than Immortal Road Eternal. And Heavenly Might’s vice president Luo Wu Shang has even brought Elder Zhao Hu in. It seems likely that High Martial Arts Descend’s future popularity will not be lower than Immortal Road Eternal.” Lu Fanchen said firmly. “Now that news about Immortal Road Eternal has leaked, many large guilds and major powers are eyeing it. Once public beta begins, the competition will definitely surpass that of all other virtual games in the country.”
“So I think instead of putting all our hopes in Immortal Road Eternal, we should allocate some resources to High Martial Arts Descend. That way, even if we cannot reach our Pilgrimage heights in Immortal Road Eternal, we will still have High Martial Arts Descend as insurance.”
“Alright, I understand.” After thinking for a moment, President Kong Yuanhai took a deep breath. “How many people do you want?”
As Lu Fanchen had said, now that news about Immortal Road Eternal had leaked, many top-tier large guilds knew its special nature. Countless popular blockbuster game guilds would likely enter Immortal Road Eternal. Even Mythical Paradise did not have much confidence it could become a giant-level faction there.
“I need at least two elders, plus one hundred thousand guild experts, to take advantage of today’s High Martial Arts Descend version update and get in as quickly as possible.” Lu Fanchen said without hesitation.
“You really are ruthless, asking for two elders at once.” Kong Yuanhai did not hesitate too long and said directly, “Fine, I will have two elders go with you, but one hundred thousand experts is impossible. Time is too short. At most, I can organize fifty thousand members for you before midnight.”
“Thank you, president.” Lu Fanchen nodded, clearly very satisfied with this outcome.
“Alright, go make preparations.” Kong Yuanhai waved his hand, somewhat helpless.
Although Lu Fanchen spoke in high-minded terms, Kong Yuanhai knew very well that this was Lu Fanchen wanting to surpass Luo Wu Shang. The two were peer-era geniuses who had never settled who was superior. Now that Lu Fanchen knew Luo Wu Shang had shifted to High Martial Arts Descend, he naturally wanted to compete.
Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, under a hanging full moon.
Lin Qi led three medium transport vehicles and returned to the martial arts hall with a new batch of energy ore.
“With the energy ore from these three vehicles, it should be no problem to convert twenty resting places in one go.” Lin Qi glanced at the players carrying the energy ore and sighed at how short-handed Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was.
He was currently extremely short on people.
Leaving aside building various housing and shops in Crimson Moon Mountain, just managing Crimson Moon Mountain in the future would require at least a hundred staff. Otherwise, it would be impossible to maintain public order in the trading area of Crimson Moon Mountain. In addition, mining energy veins would also require a large workforce. Once players become martial artists in the future, their demand for energy ore will be astonishing, so preparations must be made in advance.
And neither of these tasks could be entrusted to outsiders.
The current 110 players, even if split in half, were still far from enough.
At 2 a.m., in the quiet confined room of Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, figures formed one after another in the void, and in almost the blink of an eye, several confined rooms were filled.
Another batch of newbies had officially logged on.
