Chapter 84: Marketing Strategies for Homebodies-Solo Journey(Allergic to alcohol)

In just half an hour, the most prominent adventurers of every rank across the entire Farvey Continent received a magical message:

"Discovered a bug that adds forty points of attack power. Selling for only five hundred gold coins. No account or password needed. Face-to-face transaction, live demonstration, goods before payment, guaranteed effective. Believe it or not."

The senders of these messages were varied, using highly commercial names such as "Selling Everything to Afford a Wife," "Professional Merchant of the ** Type," or "Parents Begged Me Not to Sell My Blood for Debt." They shared one common trait: until this moment, they had never appeared on the Farvey Continent.

As we know, there is a special state of soul in this world called an "alt," and that is exactly what they all were.

Sooner or later, they received replies from those powerful adventurers. Before long, in the nooks and crannies of various cities and some desolate, secluded areas, these low-level alts held historic meetings with the peerless powerhouses. Once the meetings concluded, the powerhouses left feeling satisfied, clutching a pair of Level 12 "Boxing Gloves." And every time a deal was struck, the pockets of a mysterious witch named "Feiyin" grew heavier by five hundred gold coins.

Now, this mysterious female mage stood before me, drooling with a silly grin as she counted the gold in her pockets over and over. The "clinking" sound of money, which would be nothing but noise to an ordinary person, sounded like heavenly music to her.

"Selling a piece of Level 12 trash for five hundred gold coins—isn't that a bit too extortionate?" After a moment of silence, I couldn't help but ask. After all, the same pair of gloves sold for at most twelve silver coins at a roadside stall. Although I had initially entertained the thought of making a killing, a profit margin of over four thousand times still felt staggering.

"You're looking at it the wrong way," Feiyin lectured me, sounding righteous as she counted her money. "How many times have I told you? Those who can reach this level so quickly—they're all 'otaku.' Do you know what an otaku is?"

I shook my head, looking bewildered.

"A so-called otaku is someone you can always find online at any time. They choose the most violent classes. They grind for the highest-level skills, soloing bosses, pulling at least five or six mobs at once—undead, demons, trolls—whatever they can get their hands on. Killing a Green Dragon with one hand and a White Tiger with the other, while surrounded by a ring of Minotaurs—all elite-tier. The kind that can take a beating. They pull the mobs and use every skill they have, whether it's for attack, defense, magic, or healing. They look up, see sixteen status buffs, and feel incredibly proud..."

The violent scene Feiyin depicted made my blood run cold. If everything was as she described, then "otaku" must be the most terrifying creatures in the world. In their presence, the battle-crazed Longbow Shooting Sun, whom we know so well, would seem as gentle as a little lamb.

Well... I must clarify one thing: I am definitely not referring to Yan Zhen’s battle pet, Sheepy.

"...Once they have money, they boost their stats, starting with attack power. They push their critical hit rate to twenty percent..." Feiyin continued to describe the habits of these obsessive maniacs. "...Then they boost defense, agility, health, and mana. One word: high! Everyone around them has stats in the three-to-five-thousand range; if you buy a piece of gear that only adds three or five points, you’d be too embarrassed to say hello to anyone. Tell me, how much would such an otaku be willing to pay for forty points of extra damage?"

I calculated briefly and guessed boldly, "I’d say two hundred gold coins at most."

"Two hundred? That’s the floor price. My flat rate of five hundred is a conservative estimate. Don't think it's expensive; this is a bargain. You have to study the psychology of the otaku. Someone willing to spend thirty or fifty thousand gold coins on a suit of armor won't care about spending five hundred on a pair of gloves. Do you know what an otaku is? An otaku is someone who only looks at high stats, not low prices. So our slogan is: Don't seek what's appropriate, seek what's expensive!"

I pondered this carefully and suddenly noticed a small problem: "Since they already know you're giving them boxing gloves, if they don't want to buy them, couldn't they just go and farm one themselves? Why fall for your trap?"

Feiyin smirked, "You don't get it. How much time does it take to farm a pair of gloves? That would delay their leveling speed. If they can just buy them, they won't waste the time."

I frowned. "Isn't that just stupid?"

Feiyin patted my shoulder approvingly. "Classmate, congratulations. You have finally accurately summarized the most significant characteristic of an otaku."

I: "..."

...

Before long, Feiyin extended her tentacles toward the adventurers ranked below the top thirty who were still high-level. Compared to the hardcore "otaku" Feiyin targeted first, these lower-ranked folks were much sharper—at least they knew how to haggle. Soon, the alts sold another dozen pairs of gloves at prices ranging from three hundred to one hundred gold coins. Every few minutes, a large sum of money would be deposited into Feiyin's mailbox. Immediately after, the Guild Master, who was keeping watch by the mailbox, would withdraw the funds and carefully delete the transaction messages, leaving no trace behind.

Estimating the time, Feiyin must have felt the moment was ripe and immediately issued the "commence operation" order to the five guild members who were already prepared.

Moments later, standing before the masters of the top five guilds in the Farvey Continent Alliance was a "deeply affectionate and loyal" friend. These friends told the guild masters the special effects of the boxing gloves without reservation, urging them to hurry to East Chelld Harbor to seize the production resources.

Everything went smoothly. A few minutes later, the five informants reported back that the guilds had mobilized en masse to East Chelld Harbor to occupy the territory.

Feiyin nodded in satisfaction and issued her third command.

I immediately pulled out my magic notebook, flipped to the contact page, and sent the following message to every name on the list:

"Have you heard? There's a bug with the boxing gloves. Everyone can wear them, and they add forty points of extra attack power. I’m only telling you because you’re a friend; I wouldn't tell just anyone."

The twenty-some members in the guild executed the order immediately. In another dimensional plane, other guild members used QO:. messages.

I was very skeptical about how much reach twenty-some people could have, but as it turned out, I had severely underestimated the primitive information-spreading method of "word of mouth." Minutes later, the streets were filled with people looking down at their magic messages, and eventually, those not looking at their messages became the minority.

With the help of these arcane messaging devices, the spread of this news expanded explosively. Just as I sent the message to the thirty-fifth person in my notebook, the name of the thirty-sixth person began to blink—the signal that they were sending me a message. I opened it to find a familiar sentence:

It seemed there was no need for me to continue...

In just half an hour, the special effect of the boxing gloves had spread through every street and alley of the continent. I couldn't guarantee that everyone knew, but those who didn't were few and far between.

The time was right, and Feiyin's fourth command followed.

By now, in all the major cities of the Farvey Continent Alliance, a group of mysterious merchants of unknown origin appeared, waving the eye-catching banner: "Boxing Gloves. Limited Sale. Ten Gold Each." This would be the last time these merchants appeared in this world. Once the gloves at their stalls were sold out, these people would vanish into the crowd forever. No one would know where they went, just as no one knew where they came from. There would be no evidence to link these unscrupulous merchants to our guild.

At this point, Feiyin's superb business acumen was displayed to the fullest:

Why did Feiyin provide such precious information so generously to other guilds for free, instead of selling it for a higher price?

"Only by letting those big guilds completely monopolize the production channels can we create an extreme shortage of goods in the market in a short time. That’s our only chance to raise prices and sell off our stock," Feiyin explained.

I didn't understand most of what she said, but what happened before my eyes explained it all:

Soon, those who rushed to East Chelld Harbor returned empty-handed—at least for the next three days. The members of the top five guilds had surrounded the entire harbor area, occupying every spot that produced boxing gloves. Facing these highly organized guilds, the scattered adventurers couldn't get their hands on a single pair.

When people could only search for traces of boxing gloves in the street stalls, the mysterious merchants' booths became the most bustling places in the city. Not far from us, a dwarf warrior named "I'm Going to Crush Carrefour" was selling boxing gloves. I was certain he was an alt of someone in our guild, but I couldn't tell who.

He was already surrounded by three layers of people. Each one clutched their purse, looking pitifully at the pile of gloves before him, their eyes practically popping out of their heads, yet no one paid—ten gold coins was indeed not a fair price for Level 12 gear.

"Too expensive..." they muttered, occasionally glancing at the stall owner, seemingly hoping he would lower the price.

"I'm Going to Crush Carrefour" ignored them completely. He was the only one selling boxing gloves in the entire city, so he held all the power in pricing—or rather, Feiyin held all the power.

The standoff lasted for a few bizarre minutes. No one broke the deadlock.

I sighed, stepped forward, pushed through the crowd, and went straight to the side of "I'm Going to Crush Carrefour."

"Give me a pair." I tried to sound hurried.

"Ten gold, no haggling!" The stall owner was startled to see me, then muttered. In his expression, I caught a glimpse of a deeply hidden smirk.

"Ten gold it is." I paid readily, took the gloves, and thrust my fingers in before everyone's eyes. Although everyone present must have heard about the boxing gloves' special effect, they still gasped when they saw my stats change with their own eyes.

Knowing a bug exists is one thing, but seeing a living person gain forty points of attack power out of thin air is another. My live demonstration shattered the last rational defense in everyone's minds regarding the laws of commodity value, igniting their intense desire to purchase.

As soon as I stepped out of the crowd, a second hand threw out ten gold coins, followed by a third. Once someone took the lead, the others seemed to receive some kind of guarantee, and they swarmed forward, waving their coins. A buying frenzy, unprecedented, was stirred up by these crazy buyers. Even some passersby who didn't know what was happening, or couldn't even see the sign, threw themselves into the crowd.

"Hey, what's going on in there? Why so many people?" A Tauren dove into the crowd, knocking several people off balance.

"If you don't know, why the hell are you squeezing in?" A dwarf, nearly trampled, cursed at his legs.

"Where there are many people, there must be something good..." the Tauren answered as a matter of course.

"Those in the back, line up! Have some manners, won't you?" A crisp female voice came from the crowd. With so many heads, I couldn't tell whose mouth it came from.

"We are lining up..." a group outside echoed.

Well, in a sense, everyone here was indeed lining up, and in an orderly fashion. It’s just that the line, while not very long, was very thick...

Feiyin and I stood aside, watching coldly as a crowd of people voluntarily lined up to have their heads held down and their purses bled dry. I couldn't understand what was going on in their heads. Anyone with the slightest bit of critical thinking would know that the five major guilds couldn't occupy East Chelld Harbor forever, and that boxing gloves would eventually become more abundant. Sooner or later, they would only need to spend three or five silver coins on travel fare to farm a pair themselves. Yet now, they were willing to pay an exorbitant, undeserved price, crowding together to be suckers, fearful of falling behind others.

In fact, many things are like this. When faced with a choice, most people don't want to decide for themselves; they prefer to follow others, as if standing on the side of the majority could make even a wrong thing seem right. They never seem to wonder: why should you trust a stranger you don't know over yourself? Why are you so sure their judgment is wiser than your own?

Why are all intelligent beings gregarious?

Perhaps they are looking for a sense of spiritual reliance in each other.

That is how "plants" are born.

"Who is that?" Feiyin glanced at the merchant and asked me.

"Buddha Smiles." Despite the short sentence, I recognized his voice.

Soon, Buddha Smiles sold the last pair of gloves and, without stopping for a second, crossed planes and left the Farvey Continent. He sold out at exactly the right time. Within three minutes of his departure, several more merchants selling gloves appeared on the street—I guessed they were people from the five major guilds. The price of boxing gloves dropped sharply due to their competition, falling from ten gold coins to eight, six, five, four, and finally stabilizing at around three gold coins.

Those who had paid the earliest immediately realized they had become the textbook definitions of "suckers," and complaints echoed through the streets.

I wondered, if I told them that thirty dim-witted people had spent five hundred gold coins for the exact same piece of trash gear, and that those thirty people were all "renowned figures" they knew well, would they feel any better?

Just as I was letting my mind wander, Buddha Smiles, having returned to his original appearance, came to our side.

"Hey, you lazy tin can, I was doing just fine setting up my stall, why did you come over to stir up trouble?" The moment the swordsman in white appeared, he began to complain directly to me.

"You're truly ungrateful! If it weren't for me, you probably wouldn't have made a single sale until now!" I retorted immediately.

"I could have sold them for ten more gold coins, but you ruined it!" Buddha Smiles completely ignored my role in the publicity.

I immediately tossed the boxing gloves at his face: "Don't forget, you still owe me ten gold coins."

After some banter, Buddha Smiles handed the proceeds from the gloves to Feiyin. He looked around at the competitors and said indignantly, "Guild Master, these people are stealing our business. Should we get more gloves and squeeze them out?"

Feiyin rolled her eyes at him: "Are you an idiot? Our guild only has twenty-some people, plus alts and newbies. Which of the five major guilds can we squeeze out? Besides, the price can't be raised anymore. It's not worth the effort to earn crumbs; you'd earn more killing mobs and selling gear. Only a fool would join that mess."

As she spoke, Feiyin smiled meaningfully: "Let them all sell. The more people selling, the better. Let them all rush to do this business, then we won't stand out so much."

"So... what should we do now?" I asked curiously.

Feiyin smiled beautifully:

"Find a GM, report the bug. We are law-abiding citizens, after all..."