Chapter 117 (2/2)
-[Sending Odin a request to connect….. Request complete. You are being connected with Cha Jun Sung.]
***
Cha Jun Sung lost in a virtual battle against a top level 5 Caicus. It is a dreamlike virtual battle, but there is one thing that he realized for certain.
He decided that the level C store would not be able to handle level 6, much less the top of level 5. For the sake of safety, 2 people need to combine their strength to take on a mid-level 5 as well.
Even if he purchases weapons and sets supporting gear, he could risk his life to get through the advance mission but the problem is what comes after that.
He does not dwell on his defeat. If he is lacking somewhere, he can gather it. If he loses confidence because he lost in the virtual version, it will be hard for him to concentrate in Life Mission.
Cha Jun Sung came out of the training room and decided on a residence in zone A area 25 after much thought. It was a trade for 10,000 points.
The building is clean but it is not to his liking. It is geographically uncomfortable.
He wants to get a place near the training room and mega tower, but that costs too much. There is a slow influx of Lifers, so it is overflowing in commercial spaces.
It will be good to watch the situation and gather points before moving.
His party members left finding the residence to him and were completely encompassed by the training room. Park Jin Hyuk in particular said that it was like doing a raid in the game.
“But Odin, can we sell this house again later? This is technically an item that I bought in Mechanic City.”
-[….. You can sell it.]
Odin’s voice is strangely slow. It is like when people are hesitating to say something and have no choice but to say it in the end.
“Oh! For how much? Items in the store are blocked well so there can’t be any profiteering.”
-[….. There isn’t.]
“What are you talking about? Say it properly. Why are you acting weird?”
[There is no limit.]
“Huh?”
[Store products are infinite because they can be created in factories as long as we have the materials, but there is a limited number of buildings in Mechanic City.]
Cha Jun Sung thought hard. He never learned real estate, but higher education is emphasized in Korea and he is a college graduate.
“They’re limited? The price is decided on when first buying from a cyborg, but that disappears when going over to Lifers?”
-[Yes.]
Scarcity. Imagine millions of Lifers enter Mechanic City. They will surely try to find a residence, won’t they?
There is a lot of demand, but if there is a supply cap? There will be auctions and price wars.
Even in reality, there are people with useless pieces of land who suddenly become rich. There is no reason why this cannot happen in Mechanic City.
“That’s a scam. If it’s going to be like this, you should have blocked real estate like you did with the items.”
It is an advantageous system for Lifers who have entered groups.
If large scale personnel hoard them and then sell to other Lifers at an expensive price, the profiteering system the helpers blocked becomes pointless.
“I don’t think you guys would have done this without thought. Why is it like this?”
-[It is to increase efficiency.]
“Efficiency?”
[What are you going to do if there is something you want to buy but don’t have enough points for?]
What would he do? He would have to go through missions and gather points.
Cha Jun Sung understood right away. It means that if he wants something that is scarce and finite, he needs to catch a lot of mutants.
If he just advances and gathers the points, he can purchase an item in the store at any time. Odin is emphasizing the difference in value.
There are a lot of people in the game who invest millions of dollars to acquire a look set that changes appearance with all types of options.
Helpers used the human psychology that they want to look better than they actually are.
That is why there is no restriction on real estate as there is on items. They are to choose the one of the two that is more satisfying to them.
“Large guilds will take over.”
-[Whether it is with items or real estate, there is no way to prevent the flow of it. If you feel iffy about it, you can make a group too.]
Make a group? He is averse to it. He cannot manage it. People have a temperament for that as well. He needs to have the talent for it and Cha Jun Sung is hopeless on that end.
There is a point to what Odin is saying as well. Everything gets stronger as they gather and as there are more. Even on Earth where money reigns over points, groups are at an advantage.
Even if Mechanic City did not function with relation to the current system, groups have more influence than individuals do in this place.
Anyone with a complaint forms groups. If not, they stay silent like Cha Jun Sung does. There is a gap between the powerful and those who are not in any world.
“I’ll just ask one thing. Are there any restrictions? Can you dominate Mechanic City as long as you have the points and achievement points? That can’t be it, can it?”
-[There is a limit to how much real estate a Lifer can own by class.] [The zone does not matter, but it is different based on the area and the scale of the constructed building.]
Cha Jun Sung massaged his forehead. He understands what Odin is saying. It is just that trying to accept it makes his head hurt.
Beep beep!
The PDA blinks. It is something that happens when the request for a call comes in. There is no reason for it to be the party members. It must be Gaia.
-[Shall we pick up this time?]
“Yeah.”
When Cha Jun Sung ended the training and came out, Odin told him that Gaia had requested contact. He did not call back however.
He is testing her out. The person who wants it more will call. Cha Jun Sung is actually in a rush, but it looks like Violet is clinging more because he saved her life.
-[Look here! How is it impossible to get in contact with you for half a day? Are you ignoring me on purpose?]
As soon as the PDA was connected, Violet attacked Cha Jun Sung. She has a hot temper. It is a relief that she did not curse at him.
-[I’m sorry. I was in the training room until now and must not have seen it.]
It is not a lie. It is 90% truth. Excluding the one time he ignored her call when he came outside, he really had not been in a situation to pick up.
-[Mechanic City has that? The training room in Life Mission?]
-[Fascinating, isn’t it?]
This place is as if the large city of Life Mission has been moved here. Cha Jun Sung thought that it is fascinating. It is because they thought the same.
-[That’s good. I was uneasy about facing some, but you asked me to join your party, right? I’ll join on some conditions.]
-[What are they?]
-[If you win me, the Empress of Light, I’ll lend the party my spear.]
Cha Jun Sung was silent. Empress of Light, 3rd place ranking. In Life Mission, 1st through 10th places of the 36 rankers are the truly skilled people and the rest are just fillers.
Even within the top 10, the classification is split again into 1st through 5th and 6th through 10th.
In the virtual, he pushed Weapon Master and Blood King back with upgrades like bizarre items, skills, and the 10th stage of body modifications.
All he has now is a basic battlesuit and a bag of vibrating weapons. He cannot guarantee that he can beat her or other weak rankers.
He was not sure what Violet was saying, but he is averse because she is saying that she wants to fight. Weapons are for destruction.
-[Very well. If you tell me your location, I will go look for you with our party members.]
-[I’m in zone D area 29. First, come to zone D. There isn’t a training room in this area. I think I’ll need to move to a top area.]
Cha Jun Sung entered zone D in his PDA. The distance is automatically calculated. It is pretty far. He will be able to get there quickly because the road is empty.