646 Chapter 646 - A Super Favor (1/2)
Young Master Han and the others present wanted to get a feel of how Gu Fei viewed this situation, yet they still failed to make heads or tails of Gu Fei's thought about it. At any rate, they were at least assured that the man would not bear a heavy psychological burden as they had previously believed he would, so nobody really cared to explore this issue any further. With that, they turned to Dusky Cloud, ”What did you just say?”
Dusky Cloud was stunned for a good moment before he blankly asked, ”I asked what you guys were talking about.”
”Before that, what were you saying previously?”
”Oh. That plenty of people are complaining about the efficient monster grinding routine,” Dusky Cloud repeated.
”He he! Just tell those people complaining not to learn it, then!” Young Master Han said dismissively.
Dusky Cloud chuckled bitterly. Everybody of course knew about such an argument, but how many people out there could honestly just give it up like that? Just look at the deadlock everybody was caught up in over by the grinding map now! It was apparent to all that nobody could get any grinding done if they continued to stay around, yet everybody was afraid that others would proceed to take advantage of the situation and benefit greatly from it when such concessions were allowed, so everyone continued to waste one another's time there, resulting in heavy losses for all involved. It might be fine if it was a huge organization, like a guild, as everyone would be willing to sit down and cooperate on this matter, but because the tens of thousands of players were all unaffiliated, with individual ideas and habits, how could there ever be any consensus on how things should be done? Thus, time was the only thing that these players were squandering as they persisted in hanging around.
When Dusky Cloud saw that there was no way for his guild to carry on grinding like that, he very wisely rallied his men and left the map, and the turf that they held was quickly subsumed by those around. Dusky Cloud was rather despondent as well. He had brought several hundred men with him for this foray into the White Mill map, so why did he see no difference in the size of the crowd after he left? Just how many people were there standing at the side, waiting to fill in the gaps?
Ultimately, Dusky Cloud was no different from these people. He was unwilling to give up on this efficient monster grinding routine even though he had just left, so he took the initiative to contact Sword Demon in hopes of opening a backdoor…
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”Heh… Boss Cloud, do tell us straight if you've got ideas!” Brother Assist smiled.
”This… Well, then, I'll get down to it…” Dusky Cloud wrung his hands. He was the big boss of the distinguished Ten Guild Alliance – someone who would bravely voice his opinions no matter the circumstances – yet he could not help but feel somewhat embarrassed at the moment.
”Please do share!” Everyone had their eyes on him.
”Well, given the current state of affairs, we may have learned the efficient monster grinding routine, yet we have nowhere to properly utilize it because there are simply too many people vying for a spot. Thus, I'm beseeching you gentlemen to privately develop a grinding map routine just for us, if possible?” Dusky Cloud implored.
The experts were all smiling and chuckling. In truth, they had already guessed Dusky Cloud's intentions for approaching them, and they already had mulled over the matter. Looking at the fierce expression on Dusky Cloud's face, Brother Assist replied, ”Well, then… How much are we talking?”
This was the crucial point that Dusky Cloud was very fearful of. These experts was capable of gathering 400,000 players for a single grinding map, charging each of them 99 gold coins, which came to a total of 3,980,000 gold coins in profits. The Ten Guild Alliance merely had, give or take, 4,000 plus members, and if they were to split the cost, that meant that each player would have to fork out almost 1,000 gold coins, and that was no small sum at all. Not everyone could match this, and there was no reason the other party would be willing to sacrifice such a huge payday, was there? Leverage on their relationship? Dusky Cloud was well aware how they stood with one another at this point, and he had no doubt that the relationship shared between both parties was nothing particularly deep.
As such, the reason he had revealed the mayhem that the efficient monster grinding routine had caused was in hopes of these people feeling a little worried about it. But in the end, they had all been completely unfazed by Dusky Cloud's account, looking as if they were still intent on continuing conducting their business as they had done before. Simply put, they had no interest in making any sort of adjustments to their execution.
Since the other party took the initiative to ask about the price, Dusky Cloud gritted his teeth. Even though he found this to be very embarrassing, he had no choice but to answer. ”Honestly, there's no way we can bear the four-million price tag that 400,000 players combined are able to pay. Maybe a million gold coins is possible, but that's already the very limit we can bear.”
Dusky Cloud was of course unable to pull out 1,000,000 gold coins all by himself; that would require everyone in the guild to evenly split the cost, which came up to about an average of 200 gold coins per player. This was the conclusion Dusky Cloud had ended up with after an in-depth negotiation with his guild, and everybody felt that this was a still acceptable sum.
”He he…” Brother Assist gave a vague chuckle as the whole lot of them began a flurry of discussion over their mercenary channel.
”F*ck, this guy's really considerate. That's almost 200 gold coins a person!” Royal God Call moaned.
”Old Cloud's honorable, alright,” Sword Demon's friendship with Dusky Cloud was forged by fighting side by side with each other, and seeing that the latter was someone who valued sentimentality to boot, the former had a fairly positive opinion of the man.
”G*dd*mm*t. I lost again,” War Without Wounds angrily lamented.
”What did you lose?” Gu Fei was a little lost.
”We had a bet on how much Dusky Cloud would offer. Sword Demon was the closest, so he won,” Brother Assist explained.
”Who's the one who had guessed the lowest?” Gu Fei asked.
”Royal. He guessed that they would come and engage in wholesale and would offer a price that would not even average to 99 gold coins per person.” Everybody threw a look of disdain at Royal God Call.
”He he! Royal, it's your win,” Gu Fei said.
”What?” Everybody on the channel was surprised, suddenly realizing that something was afoot. On the table, Gu Fei was already speaking to Dusky Cloud. ”How can we talk about money like this? I have yet to return the favor of you guys protecting my students before!”
Dusky Cloud was stunned for a good moment, before mad glee took him; it was obvious that what Gu Fei had said meant that he was about to express his thanks in return for Dusky Cloud's aid. He stood up in his excitement, his hands still fidgeting uneasily. ”Isn't… Isn't that a little too generous? That had been no more than... A simple lift of my finger.” All he did was escort a bunch of kids across Yueye City; Dusky Cloud had never expected that doing something so trivial would result in such a huge windfall.
”It's nothing; this is no more than a simple lift of my finger as well.” Gu Fei smiled.
”That… That's really too much…” Dusky Cloud said.
”Yes, I know you'll be a little embarrassed. Not giving a dime just isn't your style. It's a 4,000,000-gold-coin transaction, after all! A million is too much, so half of it will do,” Gu Fei continued.
”Ah?” Dusky Cloud did not expect Gu Fei to still expect a payment even after talking about returning a favor, but his previous worry was them accepting that 1,000,000-gold-coin offer, so Gu Fei was already being sufficiently courteous by accepting that. The additional 500,000 discount that he got was already more than enough to keep him happy. Free? Just like what Gu Fei had said; Dusky Cloud would really feel bad accepting such a huge favor. Thus, Dusky Cloud quickly agreed after that 'ah' utterance. Were it not for the table separating them, he would have immediately given Gu Fei a hug right there and then.
However, Gu Fei had a bitter expression. ”Actually, it's fine if I don't take any money from you, but just look at the greedy faces those guys are making over there. We've got no choice but to throw 500,000 gold coins to shut them up.”
Everybody already knew that nothing good would come out once Gu Fei opened his mouth, and as Dusky Cloud struggled to accept Gu Fei's offer, the mercenary channel was in such a din Gu Fei was about to drown in their yells.
Hence, Gu Fei decided to help them get 500,000 gold coins and threw a look of contempt their way at the same time. Dusky Cloud saw that, aside from Gu Fei, the fiery glares from the other experts were so intense that their irises were almost in flames. Dusky Cloud was really grateful that Gu Fei would be willing to give him a discount, but he did not wish to cause his other friends to end up with a loss because of it, so he decisively said, ”It's best if we keep it at 1,000,000 gold coins! I'm already feeling very embarrassed that you've agreed to such a price.”
”No need; 500,000 gold coins will do!” Gu Fei waved his hand, seemingly delighted as he gazed at the expression the others were showing. ”Aren't I the boss? I'm making the final decision right now!”
Gu Fei slapped the table heavily twice, and half of the people around that table flashed their middle fingers at him. Southern Lone Blade did not join Young Master's Elite, so he had no idea what was being discussed on the mercenary channel. Thus, sat in silence as he witnessed all this, not making a sound as he did. All he could do was shake his head, uncertain if he should laugh or cry. Southern Lone Blade could not help but think that Gu Fei was truly not fit to conduct business deals just from the impromptu decision he had just made on a whim. In addition to this, his view regarding the members of Young Master's Elite lacking unity was further confirmed…
Dusky Cloud stared blankly at this circle of men, uncertain just what he should say in the end. Gu Fei imposingly extended his hand out to Dusky Cloud. ”Do you have the money with you?”
Dusky Cloud waved. His men moved forward and pulled out the fifty pouches of 10,000 gold coins they had divided among their dimensional pockets, piling them all on the table. This display instantly grabbed the attention of everyone in the tavern! The average player almost never had a use for a 10,000-gold-coin sack, and right now, there was a table piled high with it.