novelraw Chapter 327-1: Life of a Disciple, Plain and Dull (1)
Chapter 327-1: Life of a Disciple, Plain and Dull (1)
The time for free chatting passed minute by minute.
At first, Deng Shouyan was still speaking up from time to time, but as the offering ritual drew near, he could not help growing anxious.
“Why is nothing sold yet?”
He waited desperately for game notifications, hoping the items he had listed would sell soon so that once he obtained the Spirit Essence, he could shine brightly in the offering ritual.
Because the time interval since the last offering ritual was extremely short, the Spirit Essence he had collected from his underlings this time had only just broken into five digits, which was truly pitifully small.
In previous quarterly offering rituals, he could at least scrape together more than one hundred thousand, and sometimes even two or three hundred thousand.
Seeing that the offering ritual was about to begin while his equipment and items still had not sold, Deng Shouyan felt the proxy agent position grow further and further away from him.
“There are only fifteen minutes left until the ritual starts. Damn it, why is no one buying my equipment?!”
At this moment, not only was his mentality beginning to shift, but even the atmosphere in the Council Chamber chat was quietly changing.
[…][Arsonist: Have you guys noticed that over the past two days, a lot of equipment has appeared in every channel of the Book of Trade, causing prices to drop a bit…]
[Martial Artist: Yeah. If it were any other time, I might have gone wild and bought stuff to update my equipment. But the offering ritual is about to start, so I can only suppress my restless heart… Sigh, what a great chance to buy things at a discount. How come no one is buying anything?]
[Heavy Gunner: I noticed it too. Some equipment has been reduced in price several times in a row and still has not sold. That is really puzzling.]
[Blade-Wielding Guard: According to economic theory, the sudden, continuous price drops have stirred up a wait-and-see sentiment. This wait-and-see sentiment makes apostles adopt a ‘let me just watch a bit longer’ mentality, causing sales volume to fall rather than rise and leading to ongoing weakness at the terminal.]
[Therefore, at this time, you have to stop lowering prices and instead raise them in the opposite direction to stimulate consumption growth…]
[Singer: Makes sense! But I am not the one selling equipment, so what does it have to do with me? Yeah, you all keep chatting, I am going to the bathroom.]
[Weaver: There are still a bit more than ten minutes before the meeting starts. I am going to lurk for a while. You all continue.]
[Wall-Breaker: Same here.]
[…]
Deng Shouyan suddenly noticed that the number of people in the chat list had dropped. Quite a few people had left the Council Chamber.
He reacted at once and hurriedly left the Disciple Sanctum, returning to the library.
“Those idiots are not seriously following that Blade-Wielding Guard’s so-called economic theory, are they? Heh, you guys go ahead and raise your prices. While you raise them, I will keep lowering mine. I refuse to believe I cannot sell them.”
Deng Shouyan opened the Book of Trade.
The Book of Trade would rank items priced below the suggested price at the front. What appeared before his eyes were still those familiar pieces of equipment priced slightly below the suggested price.
Only now their prices had changed again. Instead of rising, they had dropped further.
Deng Shouyan froze. A few items had already been reduced to rock-bottom prices that made his heart itch. If not for needing to stockpile Spirit Essence for the offering ritual, he would not have been able to stop himself from buying them.
While he was distracted for just an instant, those rock-bottom pieces of equipment vanished, clearly having been sold.
Deng Shouyan understood immediately. So-called economic theory his ass. The prices just had not been slashed hard enough.
Once equipment was sold at rock-bottom, the profit margin in between far exceeded the Book of Trade’s handling fee, making it profitable. Even if the equipment was not suitable, someone would buy it, relist it, and slowly sell it again to make a small profit.
Gritting his teeth, he painfully lowered his prices once more, marking them all down to rock-bottom.
Very soon, game transaction notifications appeared.
[Your Knight Kite Shield (Rare + grade equipment) has been sold. After deducting the handling fee, you have obtained Spirit Essence: 28,500]
[Your Snake-Pattern Chainmail (Rare + grade equipment) has been sold. After deducting the handling fee, you have obtained Spirit Essence: 19,000]
[Your…]
[You…]
Deng Shouyan’s heart was filled with mixed feelings. He was pained, yet also somewhat happy. He was happy, yet there was a vague sadness.
Watching the equipment he had painstakingly accumulated get sold off at low prices, the feeling inside was indescribable.
“There is no turning back now! I have to win that proxy agent position!”
He quickly returned to the Disciple Sanctum and entered Council Chamber No. 12.
By now, the offering ritual was about to begin. Text kept flooding the chat list. Most people, whose equipment still had not sold, were being sarcastic and sour, while a small number of people seemed to have gathered enough Spirit Essence and were already talking about things related to proxy agents.
Now full of confidence, Deng Shouyan also began tossing out slick talk in the chatroom while Lord Cain had yet to arrive in the chamber.
The apostles had no idea that Lord Cain had already been in the Council Chamber for a long time, happily watching their messages.
He had even secretly arranged two shills to keep fanning the flames and leading them on.
[The offering ritual officially begins!]
Deng Shouyan’s spirit jolted and he immediately braced himself.
Even though the offering ritual had already started, the free-chat window did not disappear.
However, this was everyone’s first time participating in Lord Cain’s offering ritual, and no one dared speak recklessly in front of the Disciple Lord.
[Two black-robed figures appear behind the host dais. The voice beneath the robes spreads through the entire Council Chamber.]
[Cain: Opening the gate to the New World requires your devout offerings.]
[Cain: This offering ritual will also be conducted in an open, named format. My assistant beside me, Arsonist, will record your offering amounts throughout the process.]
[The accumulated offering amount has always been the unchanging standard for determining the order in which one enters the New World Gate.]
[In order to welcome the advent of the New World as soon as possible, I ask that each of you contribute your share of strength.]
Deng Shouyan had already participated in many offering rituals and could recite the conventional opening speech with his eyes closed.
Just from the ritual’s opening remarks, it was impossible to judge the character of his new superior, Lord Cain.
He looked at the balance of his savings. Most of his items had already been sold, and his funds had just broken into six digits.
This number could not compare with his usual offering amounts, but it was already the limit of what he could do.
[Arsonist: Next, we will follow the order of seat numbers to begin the offering ritual…]
[First offering participant: Martial Artist!]
[…]
[Apostle Martial Artist has donated 21,500 points of Spirit Essence.]
[Martial Artist: Respected Lord Cain, my single devout heart can be witnessed by the sun and moon, but the interval since the last offering ritual was too short, and this subordinate is truly powerless…]
[Cain: I see that you are powerless.]
Somewhere in Jiangnan Province, Martial Artist stared wide-eyed at the text, screaming in his heart: “Lord, I am powerless. It is powerless, not that I am useless…”
He hurriedly typed a long string of text, trying to explain himself to the Lord.
[Martial Artist: Lord, I…]
[Cain: Next.]
Before Martial Artist’s text even finished displaying, he was mercilessly muted. He fell into a daze, knowing that he would probably never sit in a proxy agent seat in this lifetime.
Deng Shouyan’s heart skipped a beat.
To be honest, Martial Artist’s Spirit Essence offering was not that small. Of course, compared to the usual minimum of one hundred thousand for offerings, it was indeed rather unsightly.
But considering the time issue, such a situation was understandable. If he himself had not sold his equipment, his offering amount would not even compare to Martial Artist’s.
“This Lord Cain does not seem to be the soft-hearted type…”
Deng Shouyan could not help recalling rumors. According to reliable information, there had been a total of 23 people competing alongside Lord Cain in the Disciple selection.
Aside from the two who had withdrawn and fled midway, not a single one of the remaining candidates had survived. All of them had been killed by Lord Cain!
“Truly ruthless and terrifying!”
Deng Shouyan began to speculate about Lord Cain’s temperament. Based on the current situation, his superior was undoubtedly a big shot who governed his forces with an iron fist and cold-blooded cruelty.
Although Martial Artist had offered little Spirit Essence, he was the first to offer, which caused his alias to suddenly rise to the very top of the list, followed by the words ‘Offering: 21,500 Spirit Essence.’
For a time, the free-chat channel became a smoky mess.
[XXX: This is my first time seeing someone with just over twenty thousand Spirit Essence become the top-ranked participant. Martial Artist, you’re really giving face to our Jiangnan Province!]
[XXX: Facing Disciple Lord Cain of the Sanctum, how could you bring yourself to offer just twenty thousand Spirit Essence? If I were you, I would find a block of tofu and smash myself to death.]
[XXX: If you have no Spirit Essence, then sell your equipment. How dare you call that an act of devotion? Bah!]
[…]
Confident in his own ample Spirit Essence, Deng Shouyan also joined the chorus of denunciation, trying to draw Lord Cain’s attention.