Rebirth of the thief who roamed around the world (BOOK 2)

Chapter 278 - Summoning the Golden Dragon

During the evening, Nie Yan logged back into the game and started sifting through the updates sent over by Guo Huai.

The Credit Exchange had officially gone live! All kinds of items were being listed for sale, and an unprecedented spike in the trading of in-game gold and equipment occurred. But with both buyers and sellers deciding their own exchange rates, creating volatility in the market, it was temporarily impossible to get a firm grasp of things.

Several new types of establishments were introduced into the game. However, they couldn't be built yet. Some of them like virtual bars and inns could directly take real-world credits. After all, Conviction was simply a platform for them to provide a service. Others allowed the customer to receive their purchase in reality shortly after paying for it in the virtual world. This experience was somewhat similar to online shopping, but it was so much more! The customer could evaluate a perfect replica of a product in the virtual world, searching for defects and so on, before confirming their purchase.

Only a certain type of venue could host these businesses-strongholds!

Guilds would have to scramble for the next stronghold in order to establish a special district, where they could rent out the land and collect taxes. It was tantamount to moving the various businesses from reality into the virtual world.

This was a major innovation. People could assess the quality of a product before deciding on a purchase without having to step a foot outside the comfort of their homes.

The ingenuity and worth of a stronghold were on display for the world to see and enjoy.

In the previous timeline, a Basic Stronghold generated hundreds of thousands of credits and up to 1,000 gold in taxes every day. The gold was used to fund guild wars, while the credits would generally be distributed among loyal members who contributed to the guild's growth. The profit from a single stronghold was incapable of sustaining the expenditure of a guild war. However, as the number of strongholds under their control grew, the financial resources at a guild's disposal would rise exponentially. At the later stages of the game, the income of the guild would become quite substantial.

If Asskickers United genuinely wanted to expand, capturing a stronghold was crucial.

After the opening of the Currency Exchange, all 13 strongholds in Calore were released: 1 Super Stronghold, 1 Advanced Stronghold, 1 Intermediate Stronghold, and 10 Basic Strongholds. All of them were guarded by a great number of creatures of darkness. The respective strongholds would belong to whoever cleared out all these monsters. There was only one stronghold that wasn't under the control of creatures of darkness. In a couple of days, Radiant Sacred Flame and Holy Empire would engage in war to decide who may lay claim on this stronghold.

Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame quieted down since their defeat in Sinful Gorge. Asskickers United, Holy Empire, and Sapphire Shrine didn't wish to continue wasting resources and manpower fighting them either. They were all recovering in preparation to clear the new strongholds. Otherwise, if the other guilds snatched away those strongholds, their own growth would start lagging far behind.

When the battle for strongholds broke out, Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors would be the biggest threats to Asskickers United! Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were currently slowly being pushed out of the ranks of the first-rate guilds.

Nie Yan looked over his recent gains. The three auction houses he had acquired were already beginning operations and business was flourishing. At this rate, they would generate around 1,000 gold every day. Nie Yan's daily gross profit for his other business ventures were staggering. The 11 branches of the Starry Night Potion Shop brought in around 700 gold, and his other businesses like the Alchemist Shop raked in roughly 200 gold. Finally, after he finished renting out the remaining 33 plots of land he owned across the various cities in the Viridian Empire, they would generate at least 300 gold.