A few minutes had gone by, and Xu Feng practically explored each and every cranny of the room. He didn't expect to be able to rent such a place at the price that he was asked to pay.
This simply didn't make any sense to him!
'Did my fortune really increase?' He questioned himself, feeling like this was too good to be true.
It was just a shame that Zhao Kai was not here at the moment. Otherwise, he would have definitely given the latter another punch to the face to check if it was the reality or not.
Despite the excitement of his findings, Xu Feng didn't allow himself to get too distracted.
Such vanities were naturally pleasing to the eyes, but there were more important tasks up ahead for him. He could not afford to idle his time away, admiring these vanities that didn't belong to him— at least not yet.
Just as Xu Feng was about to head to the supposed bedroom assigned to him, he suddenly received a message.
The message was from an unknown person, but he recognized the numbers on it.
"Oh, this is the owner huh." Xu Feng muttered, opening the message.
[Hi, I'm the owner of room 360 and you are allowed to use the facility in the house, but if you break anything, then you must pay for everything. Also, there are security cameras everywhere so don't try to do anything funny. I'll be returning to the room later on to greet you, so feel free to do your own thing.]
Right after he finished reading the message, he heard a somewhat beeping sound on the ceiling. Lifting his head upward, he then saw a camera nodding itself up and down, seemingly implying that it was watching him.
'How humorous.' Xu Feng thought, not a bit offended by the actions. Given that the person was desperate enough to rent out a bedroom for 50,000 dollars, some sort of security measures being implemented was understandable.
Unwilling to spend too much time with this person, he replied back with a simple "ok" emoji as well as making a hand signal toward the camera.
Afterward, he proceeded to enter the bedroom assigned to him.
"Not bad, it's spacious and comfortable." He commented.
Though most of his attention was focused on a large gaming capsule. This was also the main reason why he was adamant in choosing this place despite being somewhat suspicious.
His virtual helmet was nice with great synchronization, but it was an inferior item when compared to the real gaming capsule. He wouldn't be forced to lay in bed while gaming anymore.
Instead, he would be lying in the comfortable cushion of the gaming capsule with a monitoring system equipped to ensure his body's health was kept at the optimal state.
Just a single glance at this gaming capsule, and Xu Feng could determine its value to be at 100,000 and above.
And precisely because the owner was generous enough to allow him to use the gaming capsule, Xu Feng didn't mind being scrutinized a little bit. It was a small price to pay for such a great bargain.
Moreover, the security cameras are equipped in the living room and kitchen room. Private areas such as the bedroom and bathroom didn't have security cameras.
Glancing at the bedroom for a few more seconds, Xu Feng proceeded to lay on the gaming capsule, choosing to log back into the Divine World.
Like always, there was a momentarily brief darkness before Xu Feng regained his vision. Upon opening his eyes, Xu Feng was dumbfounded by the sheer number of players crowding the streets.
'What the hell happened to the sudden influx of players?' Previously, when he logged out of the game, the streets were still somewhat spacious.
However, now it looked like there was no space to even walk around. Checking his game notification, Xu Feng realized there were quite a bit of unread messages in the inbox.
"Right, I was doing the application and muted my notification…" He mumbled, realizing he had forgotten to turn on the notification after finishing the housing application with the employee.
Since he was filling out some important documents, he didn't want to be disturbed at that time.
Although he did place a timer to have it turned on automatically after a certain time, the time runs differently in the game compared to the real world.
Thus, lots of things could have happened while he was busy with his other tasks.
'It seems like the bait worked wonderfully and attracted numerous players to migrate to Riverwood Town.' Xu Feng soon figured things out after reading Gentle Wind's message and the Game Forum posts.
Apparently, Herald Fist was on the verge of tears when he was so close to achieving the first clear achievement.
And the reason why he failed was due to the duration of the potions running out.
Therefore, he started spamming lots of messages in the Game Forum, requesting for the mysterious seller to show up and sell the potions to him.
He even went as far as saying he would put out 10,000 dollars to buy a batch— equivalent to 10 silver coins in-game.
Alas, Herald Fist was impulsive, and instead of posting the forum in a specific region, he published the post to other regions as well, prompting players from elsewhere to realize the situation.
A player could make a forum post based on their region or publicly where everyone could see regardless of their location.
To simplify things, it was the equivalent of a local and global difference. By publishing the post globally, he was announcing this to every player.
Smiling bitterly, Xu Feng didn't know how to react to this.
On one hand, Herald Fist helped publicize his items for free, but on the other hand, the domino effect he was striving for had increased tremendously from his original scope.
'How am I supposed to stay hidden and earn a profit when everyone has their attention on this matter now? How did this Herald Fist even become a guild leader with such a mentality?' Xu Feng wondered silently.
https://discord.gg/7hXBJ7Rkdb
After realizing the severity of the situation, Xu Feng soon adapted to the change and began to make new plans.
Now that the appearance of Fire Resistance Potions had been revealed to the masses, there was no longer any need to conceal it further.
Additionally, his post had gone to the top 3 thanks to the extensive guide where players didn't doubt its legitimacy— courtesy of Herald Fist verifying and confirming the strategy from his frantic forum post.
'Everyone is following the guide precisely, with only a few variations in between and with so many other players confirming it's true. I doubt it would take much longer for someone to obtain the first clear achievement.' Xu Feng fixed his glasses slightly, analyzing the possibility of the situation.
As much as he wished to achieve a greater shock factor, players aren't foolish enough to not find a breakthrough soon, especially when some could have a stroke of luck and complete the dungeon through brute force.
While he was thinking that it was time to give everyone the shock of their lifetime, Gentle Wind was messaging him again.
Gentle Wind: Riverwood Town is experiencing an explosion in popularity. Many players from other regions are coming here en masse. Are you still confident about getting the first clear achievement?
Anonymous User: Relax, Gentle Wind. There's no need to worry much.
Gentle Wind: How could I not worry? Even without those potions, I heard some teams and guilds are reaching the final stage as well.
Anonymous User: Then let them achieve it.
Gentle Wind: ???
Anonymous User: It seems like you have misunderstood me from the beginning, Gentle Wind. You're only speaking of their progress in the Easy Mode. But the first clear achievement I'm guaranteeing is Hell Mode. Not Easy or Normal Mode. Let's get that clear.
"Hmm, she's not responding yet." Xu Feng checked the time and realized a few minutes had gone by since there was a response. "So she really did misunderstand me. Well, not that it was surprising anyway."
He was never the type to achieve some mediocre results. If he were going to do something, then it must be a banger. The first clear achievements were amazing, but that also depended on the difficulty of it.
Everyone else was currently trying to obtain the first clear achievement on the Easy Mode level, but his intention had always been Hell Mode.
Therefore, he was never worried about others taking the first achievement on Easy Mode level.
After all, who would care about it anymore once the higher difficulty level was achieved by someone else. Matter of fact, their achievement and feeling of glory would soon turn to a feeling of shame.
A shame that could not be washed away because while they were celebrating like kings, another party had swooped in and accomplished greater results. Them acting like kings would instantly turn into a bunch of clowns, parading their pitiful achievement.
"Seems like Gentle Wind managed to recompose herself." Xu Feng muttered, reading her response.
Gentle Wind: Your intention and the contract of our deal was always about the Hell Mode difficulty?
Anonymous User: Naturally. Otherwise, why would I demand such a high fee?
Gentle Wind: Surely, you must be jesting… how can it be considered a high fee if you were talking about Hell Mode?
Anonymous User: Well, you're my first customer after all. And the first customer usually gets some privilege. Anyway, have your members reached the threshold of my requirement yet?
Gentle Wind: I was just about to mention this to you. We're ready on our side.
Anonymous User: Great, wait by the forest and I'll arrange for my subordinate to meet you there.
With that message sent, Xu Feng also started listing the inferior Fire Resistance Potions in the Auction Market.
Online Players: 6,875
Current Listings:
[Fire Resistance Potion x5]
Seller: Anonymous User
Starting Bid: 10 copper coins
Buyout Price: 3 silver coin
Time Left: 12 hours
Since the value of the potions increased extensively thanks to Herald Fist, Xu Feng decided to raise the price.
Not only that, but he also purposely ensured that no one else would know how many batches would be sold, essentially enticing them to buy it as soon as possible, otherwise, they would lose their chance.
Go big or go home, these players are now trapped in his little cages, having been psychologically manipulated into splurging more for their imaginary future success.
'Oh, Herald Fist, because of your actions for attracting so many players here. I hereby give you my thanks and listen to your request. Now empty your pocket and splash me with the money.' Xu Feng sneered inwardly.
Originally, he wasn't going to be that ruthless with the pricing.
However, with the influx of players arriving here, causing the difficulty to rise tremendously for him to navigate, he decided to be ruthless.
Meanwhile, the moment he put up the listing of the potions, players nearby him started shouting in fervor.
"Hot Damn! The potions are back in the Auction Market!"
"What? Really? Holy smoke, it's actually back and this time it's in batches!"
"This mysterious seller is really shrewd. Now that the potions are in high demand, they are going to make a killing again. 3 silver coins as the buyout price… I don't even have 50 copper coins!"
Seeing them shouting in such fervor, with some being envious, and others being frantic, Xu Feng was pleased.
He was anticipating the rapid fortune he was going to make so he decided to join in on the fun and entice them further.
"The seller might have listed it up because of the increase of players here, but knowing the potion is such a rarity. I wonder if this is the only batch or not." He shouted loudly, bringing the attention to others that this might be the only batch being sold.
"Right, who knows if there are going to be more?"
"Indeed, I tried to look for information and NPC stores in the area, but none of them have these kinds of potions."
"I came from Greenbird Town, and they don't have these items either. Otherwise, I wouldn't have traveled here."
As the players started to panic among themselves, Xu Feng equipped a mask that he bought from a vendor and began walking toward the forest at a calm and steady pace.
https://discord.gg/7hXBJ7Rkdb