“Once you’re offline, come over by car,” Nie Yan said after a moment’s thought. It was time to start preparing for the establishment of the studio.
“Okay,” Guo Huai nodded.
As they were talking, Nie Yan passed through narrow alleys and entered a dilapidated civilian house. This should be the slums of the Orcish capital. The environment was terrible, and the house looked like it could collapse at any moment.
As Nie Yan walked into the room, he saw three people already waiting in the dim light.
“Hello, Boss Nie Yan.”
“Hello, Boss Nie Yan.”
The three players, upon seeing Nie Yan, immediately greeted respectfully. They appeared quite awkward and nervous. To them, Nie Yan was a legendary figure. It was hard to imagine that one day they would actually have direct contact with him. They felt excited and thrilled, but also a bit nervous, fearing they might say something wrong.
“Relax a bit,” Nie Yan noticed their nervousness, waved his hand, and took a moment to observe the three people.
Among the three, two were human players, both about twenty-five or twenty-six years old. They wore alchemist robes and looked unremarkable, the kind of people who would blend into a crowd. Although they looked like alchemists, Nie Yan understood that their profession was not actually alchemists. They wore alchemist robes merely for convenience.
As for the other person, he was the one Guo Huai had mentioned earlier.
He was an elven rogue. This profession was quite suitable for espionage, as elves naturally had the talent for stealth, and elven rogues were especially skilled at stealth, even more professional than human rogues.
Due to the racial appearance change, this person had a pair of pointed ears, a handsome face, and fair skin. However, among the elves, his appearance wasn’t particularly outstanding. His sharp and determined expression was different from some of the effeminate male elves, making him easy to like.
“Guo Huai has told me about you. You’re Yan Hong, right?” Nie Yan looked at the elven rogue and asked. This elven rogue’s in-game name was Jifeng (Swift Maple).
“Yes,” Yan Hong nodded.
“In the game, I’ll still call you by your in-game name. From now on, you’ll be responsible for collecting all the information about Angel Empire and sending it to me. If there’s any unusual activity in Angel Empire, you must inform me immediately.”
Yan Hong seemed quite steady. Plus, he and his family had already settled down with Guo Huai’s help, so he was absolutely reliable. It was said that Yan Hong was filial and extremely devoted to his parents. He played the game merely to earn some money. The reason why he couldn’t stay in Angel Empire was complicated.
“Yes, I will definitely do my best.”
“As for your salary, I will ask Guo Huai to increase it appropriately. Bull Men Tribe will not treat any of its members unfairly. Have you completed the map of Angel Empire’s power distribution that Guo Huai asked you to collect?”
“Thank you, Boss Nie Yan. Here is the power distribution map I just completed.” Jifeng sent a blueprint to Nie Yan.
Nie Yan confirmed the receipt and took a look. It was a map of the Saturn Empire, on which the areas of influence and fortress positions of Angel Empire were clearly marked.
“Very well done,” Nie Yan said, looking at the map with slight surprise. Angel Empire had deep roots in the Saturn Empire and deserved its position as the top guild.
Although Angel Empire’s territory was not as extensive as Bull Men Tribe’s current holdings, it had a much larger membership, far exceeding Bull Men Tribe. Besides the main headquarters, they had six branch guilds and fifty-six allied guilds. The exact number of members was hard to tally, but among these fifty-six allied guilds, more than twenty belonged to the Century Financial Group. Their infiltration into the Saturn Empire was astonishing.
From such a distance, it would not be easy for Bull Men Tribe to challenge Angel Empire and Century Financial Group’s dominance in the Saturn Empire. However, since obtaining Okolen City, things had become much more convenient.
Looking at this map of Angel Empire’s power distribution, Nie Yan was silent for a moment. Launching an attack on Angel Empire from Okolen City would be a massive undertaking. Any mistake might lead to significant losses.
After some thought, Nie Yan realized that with Bull Men Tribe’s current financial resources, they could follow the example of the Mone Financial Group and acquire some guilds in the Saturn Empire that were hostile to Angel Empire. Of course, this would require someone to handle the negotiations.
There were many guilds in the Saturn Empire that had conflicts with Angel Empire, including Elven Movement and Tianhen (Celestial Scar), among others. Elven Movement was a relatively well-known guild in the Saturn Empire, with a relatively small membership of about 170,000 to 180,000 players. They only occupied five fortresses, but were famous for successfully resisting two attacks from Angel Empire and still remaining strong, with the guild even showing signs of further development. As for Tianhen, due to its relatively distant location from Angel Empire’s territory, although it only had about 200,000 members, it controlled more than twenty fortresses, making it a local power. There were also many other guilds, although not particularly large. If they could be united, they would form a significant force.
Nie Yan needed to discuss the acquisition of these guilds with his father. Whether his father would be willing to provide the necessary funds was still an open question.
Seeing Nie Yan deep in thought, Jifeng and the other two dared not interrupt him.
“You can go back first. I’ll contact you anytime if there’s anything, especially you, Jifeng,” Nie Yan said to the three of them. He already had some plans in mind.
“Yes, we understand,” the three immediately nodded.
They left one after another. Nie Yan looked at the map in his hand. Most of the territory in the Saturn Empire belonged to Angel Empire, but he could come and go as he pleased, and no one could stop him.
Nie Yan walked outside, looking at various pieces of information about the Saturn Empire. When he saw the achievements of the Star Pharmacy, he couldn’t help but smile.
After the Star Pharmacy achieved a monopoly, it began to strategically target Angel Empire.
For a large guild like Angel Empire, providing low-cost potions to its members was a necessary benefit. If this benefit were removed, it would certainly cause dissatisfaction among the guild’s players. However, the potions produced by Angel Empire’s alchemists were far from meeting the guild’s needs, so they had to purchase potions from the Star Pharmacy.
Purchasing potions in small quantities from various branches of the Star Pharmacy was very expensive for a large consumer like a major guild. However, the days when large guilds could simply issue a procurement list and have numerous pharmacies deliver large quantities of cheap potions were long gone.
Besides Angel Empire and other guilds that were hostile to Bull Men Tribe, ordinary guilds could place orders with the Star Pharmacy and purchase a portion of potions at discounts ranging from 60% to 50%, or even lower, by supplying raw materials to the Star Pharmacy for guild consumption. However, Angel Empire had no hope of buying discounted potions.
Bulk purchases from the Star Pharmacy required prior registration. Except for a few guild leaders, ordinary players could not make bulk purchases from the Star Pharmacy. If any guild leader purchased potions in bulk and then resold them to Angel Empire, they would be blacklisted and lose their procurement privileges.
Through these measures, Angel Empire’s channels for obtaining discounted potions were almost completely blocked. They could only buy high-priced potions from the Star Pharmacy’s various branches. The daily cost of potions for Angel Empire amounted to over a million gold coins, sometimes even several million, which was a huge burden. Recently, Angel Empire’s financial situation had clearly deteriorated compared to before.
According to the information provided by Jifeng, Angel Empire’s daily income from the numerous fortresses they occupied was approximately 8.5 million gold coins, of which around 6 million were distributed to the members. This meant their daily profit was about 2.5 million gold coins. Of course, besides the fortresses, Angel Empire had other sources of income, including auction houses, shops, and gold-farming teams, which brought in about another million gold coins. Their total daily income was around 3.5 million gold coins. However, the cost of potions alone now amounted to over a million gold coins, whereas previously it had only been around 300,000 to 400,000 gold coins. This new significant expense naturally caused Angel Empire considerable distress. Although they had accumulated substantial wealth in the past, the increased potion costs, while painful, had not yet crippled them.
Looking at the income list of Angel Empire provided by Jifeng, Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel a sense of superiority. After unifying the Grailand Empire and fully restoring the various fortresses, the fortresses occupied by Bull Men Tribe could generate an income of 18 million gold coins daily, of which 13 million were distributed to the members, leaving a profit of around 5 million gold coins. The Star Pharmacy consistently brought in 6 to 7 million gold coins, and Nie Yan’s other businesses, including auction houses, added about 2 million gold coins. This totaled over 10 million gold coins, three to four times that of Angel Empire.
Nie Yan would give about 6 million gold coins daily to War God Tribe to help its development, and the remaining 7 to 8 million gold coins would be accumulated for various expenses.
Due to Bull Men Tribe and its various branches having relatively strict recruitment criteria, the number of members was smaller. However, the amount of gold distributed by Bull Men Tribe was higher than that of Angel Empire. Therefore, in terms of benefits, Bull Men Tribe offered more than twice as much as Angel Empire. Bull Men Tribe was not only wealthier than Angel Empire, but its members were also richer than those of Angel Empire. Therefore, truly capable elites were more inclined to join Bull Men Tribe rather than Angel Empire. Since Bull Men Tribe unified the Grailand Empire, more and more players from the Saturn Empire began to join Bull Men Tribe.
Looking at the vast territory of Angel Empire, Nie Yan smiled coldly. Now that he had come to the Saturn Empire, he naturally would not return empty-handed. He wanted to give Angel and Cao Xu a proper headache.
After putting the information into his backpack, Nie Yan had just left the slums when he received a message from Jifeng: Angel Empire’s elite team had already set out and was heading to the town of Blanford in the Nightmare Wastes, preparing to enter the Monster Basin dungeon.
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