“What’s that?”
“Items?”
People immediately surrounded Alex’s made up shop, noticing the items on the ground.
In Universal Descent, selling and trading were one of the most important features, so the system was adjusted in a way to make it easier for merchants.
Basically, he had set a holographic price tag above the items, meaning that everyone could see the prices wherever they were.
[Black Rat Helmets (Common) – 75 copper coins
Health Potion (Uncommon) – 2 silver coins
Mana Potion (Uncommon) – 1 silver coins
Beginner Backpack (Common) – 5 silver coins]
This seemed expensive, but anyone who actually went inside the shop would easily figure out that Alex was selling them at a price twice as cheap as current market value.
Basically, the man planned to make sure that there was NO competition with him whatsoever.
As the players surrounded Alex’s makeshift shop, they began to haggle over the prices.
“I spoke to the alchemist, and that health potion was around 3 silver coins…”
“Yeah, I saw that the mana one was 4 silver coins too, how is he getting those items?”
Many were suspicious, because even though they knew the game would affect reality, spending real money all of a sudden seemed like a bit much.
Most of the people just stayed back while looking, but some other ill-intentioned ones saw that as an opportunity.
Fwish!
A guy jumped from among the crowd, wearing a mask, then took both the [Health] and [Mana] potion, as well as the backpack.
“SEE YA SUCKERS!” he laughed as he was from the [Assassin] profession, making it harder to catch him.
“Oh, looks like he got scammed anyway.”
“Bad idea to set it up with no protection…”
People around were speaking, but as a response, Alex just got up, then aimed his horned staff toward the thief, sending a fireball and red crystal toward him.
Boom! Boom!
With extreme precision, the two attacks hit him, and as an assassin’s health was low, he immedietely died, collapsing to the ground.
Ding!
Then his body flashed and turned into specks of blue light that evaporated in the air.
Alex quickly rushed to retrieve his items, and placed himself back in his original position.
“…”
“What the fuck?”
The other players were absolutely flabbergasted after what they had just witnessed.
In Universal Descent, death is obviously not permanent, but there are two penalties to dying: first of all, you get forcibly brought back to reality, and you could only reconnect after 30 minutes (aka one hour in game), and second, you may lose some levels.
Dying repeatedly within a short amount of time could also end up removing some of your skills and even equipment, and if you die way too much, you get reset to 0, back to the novice village!
It wasn’t much right now as they were still in it, but it also prevented people from dying from someone and immediately going back to attempt yet again, as there was the risk of losing everything.
And suddenly, HE appeared.
A slender and handsome middle-aged man came over.
He was wearing a tattered robe with a few patches on it, it was a very basic piece of armor.
But even in a tattered robe, the middle-aged man’s aura was still strong, and Alex immediately smiled as he saw who it was, how he could not recognize that guy after all?
He glanced at the equipment on the stall, and a look of shock appeared in his eyes.
Then he looked up at Alex and said with a smile: “Young man, you seem lucky to have dropped so much equipment, is that your talent maybe?”
But Alex didn’t answer: “Do you want to buy it?”
Seeing that Alex was unmoved by his temptation, the middle-aged man said no more.
As a businessman, he naturally had good vision.
With the impact of this game on the future, the young man in front of him would surely have an extraordinary future, especially with the ability to get so much equipment from these insignificant monsters.
“Young man, my name is Richard,” the businessman introduced himself, extending his hand.
Alex shook it, and then said: “I’m Alex.”
He didn’t even care about revealing his real name to that guy since he could be trusted.
Richard looked around at the crowd that had gathered to watch the scene unfold.
He could see the envy in their eyes, and he knew that Alex was someone special.
“Alex, I am the chairman of the group called “Syndicate” in the real world.”
Of course, Alex already knew all of that, and the reason was quite simple: Richard was actually one of the few people that fought the beasts of the apocalypse in his previous life, he was a precious ally that also helped him.
He, at some point, had died, falling to a legendary boss, but Alex never forgot about him, and he wouldn’t forget about his reason to fight either: to avenge his daughter.
She had been killed during one of the first beast attacks on their world, and he had failed to protect her, so he vowed to keep fighting monsters until the very end.
Richard’s introduction made the people around him surprised.
“The Syndicate?!”
“Isn’t that one of the top 50 groups in the world? What the hell is he doing here?”
“Well, you don’t choose to be a beta tester or not, do you, folks?” Richard just laughed, and everyone quieted down.
But basically, for Alex, it meant that a big customer was here, and that he wasn’t short of money at all.
Among the 20 million beta testers from the first batch, there were bound to be some insanely rich people after all, right?
“Well, then, I’ll take three helmets, the two potions and the backpack, should be all too useful,” Richard mumbled as he clicked several times on his panels.
“Very well,” Alex nodded as he initiated the transaction.
[Do you want to pay 10 silver coins and 25 coppers coins to player “FateBreaker”?]
[Yes/No]
Richard clicked YES without a hint of hesitation, and so the funds were transfered to Alex’s account.
Just like that, he had made over 1025 dollars! An enormous amount of money for a beginning.
Soon enough, Universal Descent would take over the entire economy, and spending fortunes on equipment would become all too common, so he was just making use of his advantage to get a good start.
“I appreciate the business,” Alex nodded.
“No problem, keep doing what you’re doing, but don’t forget to priotize me if you find anything else.”
“…I’ll try,” Alex smiled.
Ding!
[You have received a friend request from RichDad, do you want to accept?]
[Yes/No]
“Yes,” Alex clicked on the option, and suddenly he was added by the chairman.
“Thank you, have fun in your business,” Richard nodded as he left, and the players made way for him.
“No problem.”
Less than five minutes later, Alex sold the last two helmets he had to some other players, no one else daring to try and steal from him after they saw him literally snipe that guy from such a distance.
He closed shop right afterward, people making way for what they now called the “shopkeeper”.
Alex didn’t mind though, and so he immediately left the village again, going inside the forest, toward the level 3-4 area, aiming to become even stronger.