Chapter 28: The Impact Brought by Lin Mu

Of course, being a businessman comes with bottom lines and principles; otherwise, it is easy to go bankrupt, offend people, and be ostracized.

Since the price has already been raised twice, it cannot be increased further. Otherwise, he wouldn't be a shrewd businessman, but a vampire—and a bottomless one at that. Doing so would easily offend other "tycoon-type" players and leave them with an impression of him being unscrupulous. If that happened, Lin Mu's future image would be severely damaged. Sacrificing a lifetime of reputation for a moment of gratification is simply not worth it!

Currently, those capable of making large-scale purchases of high-tier weapons are basically powerful factions with deep pockets and rapid development. If he completely offended these people, he would be offending an entire circle of elites. The circle of the wealthy can be described as both very large and very small. In the future, these people would be his personal cash cows!

...

After posting the weapons, Lin Mu did not check the sales information. No player should have been able to buy them all in a single second; even with money, it takes time to gather resources. Even buying copper coins on the real-world black market takes time!

"Butler, go to the real-world BattleNet black market platform and buy copper coins. No matter the amount, take every order available. We must acquire 1,000 of these weapons to equip 1,000 members of our elite team. Once we have them, we will have the upper hand in raiding the mountain stronghold!"

"Yes, Young Master!"

...

"Buy! Hurry and buy copper coins! Sweep up every single copper coin on the market!"

...

"Copper coins! I need a massive amount of copper coins! Men, go buy them! All copper coins held by guild members must be turned in temporarily. We will record them as points and compensate you later with either in-game items or cash!"

...

"Whoa, Boss! The copper coin market is in total chaos! The exchange rate has skyrocketed; the highest order is actually 1 to 2! Boss, we still have 6,890 copper coins left. Let's sell them all!"

"Damn, I heard there are top-tier divine artifacts being sold in Dongye County, and they can only be bought with copper coins. Naturally, the demand for copper coins has surged. Let's post an order too—2 RMB for 1 copper! Let's match the highest rate! Once the copper is sold, everyone can head to the food stalls and treat themselves! Haha~~"

"Boss, save some copper coins, otherwise we won't have money for food and we'll starve to death!"

...

"Boss, do you think the reason so many top-tier weapons appeared in Dongye County is because they were sold by that 'World's Second Village'?"

"Yes, it's very likely. Men, gather all your building blueprints, iron ore, wood, and stone resources. We're going to Dongye County to sell them to that Lord. He's so wealthy right now that he'll surely be buying up all kinds of resources needed for territory development. Ah Hua, how is the progress on infiltrating that salt merchant? If we can secretly buy salt, we'll strike it rich!"

"Still working on it. It seems we need more reputation and such... sigh..."

...

What Lin Mu did not know was that because of his weapon sales, the black market price of copper coins had surged to a peak of 1:2—meaning 1 copper coin could be sold for 2 RMB!

Even so, the market was filled with "buy, buy, buy!" Demand far outstripped supply!

However, Lin Mu's sweeping of copper coins also prompted forward-thinking small teams to bring their blueprints and territory items to the area to sell, which greatly flooded the Dongye County market.

This was the "ripple effect"! For Lin Mu, this was a good thing!

Lin Mu decided to go browse the market to see if there was anything he needed.

...

By this time, the news of top-tier weapons being sold in Dongye County had spread across China through various channels

"Could the weapon seller be that mysterious player, the one who established the world's second village?"

"In my opinion, it's 100% him."

"To think that mysterious player is actually in our Yangzhou County!"

"What amazing items! They add 600 combat power and +10 Sharpness. They're perfect for monster hunting. If you equip these, dungeons won't be hard anymore. Buy them quickly!"

"Brother, scrape some money together, let's grab a few weapons too..."

"Boss, get back to the county quickly! Divine artifacts have appeared in the trading market! Hurry..."

...

Players in Dongye County were going mad, and players in other regions of China were equally frenzied. "If such weapons exist, I want to buy them too!"

This situation spread throughout the China server, and even tycoons traveled via the System Teleportation Array to make purchases. The System Teleportation Array was more impressive than a spaceship, costing 1 Gold Coin or 10,000 Copper Coins...

The thousand-plus weapons began to be carved up by players. Although large factions had many subordinates, their various expenses were massive. Copper coins do not drop from wild monsters; they only drop from clearing bandits, robbers, or rebel camps. In the early stages, the source of copper coins was very limited. Now, many people could only scrape them together bit by bit from the black market, which caused the exchange rate to rise. Many gold-farming studios began selling copper coins in bulk, and many casual players sold their meager holdings to get some RMB to spend.

The changes in the trading market led to changes in the copper coin market, and the situation in the copper coin market was noticed by people in the real world. Even gaming e-sports channels and some television stations began to heavily report on the trends within the game.

Even the prestigious CCTV began long-form reporting on *Mythical World*

"Since the launch of the world-class top-tier virtual holographic game *Mythical World*, the number of players has reached 2 billion. Various industries within the game are flourishing, causing many players from other virtual games to migrate, which has led to the twilight and gradual decline of other virtual games. Countless virtual game companies have begun to close or have announced their entry into *Mythical World* to seek profit. The mystery and playability of *Mythical World* have allowed it to achieve a state of global dominance. Although this is not conducive to the structure of the virtual game industry, the globalized *Mythical World* has brought a broader, deeper, and more diversified industrial reform to the virtual economy. Many enterprises have begun injecting capital into the game, and even large conglomerates have invested massive sums to grab a piece of this emerging giant cake."

"With the massive injection of capital, the professional player circle is also flourishing. China's registered professional players have reached 198,003,575. Official data shows that professional players with assets in the millions reach 235,569; those in the tens of millions reach 4,090; and those with hundreds of millions or more reach 289. The economic state of the professional player circle reflects the vigorous vitality of our country's virtual holographic industry, attracting more and more players to join this big family. As people's wealth increases, the national economy continues to improve!"

...

With CCTV providing positive support for *Mythical World*, many elderly people and women and children also began to take interest in the game. Although their combat power might not be high, they thought it would be nice to go in to see the scenery or change to a production profession to help their children or husbands.

Today, another peak in player influx erupted in the game. Countless people began to brave the freezing cold to queue up to buy game helmets, which required personal presence to purchase.

The catalyst for this peak was Lin Mu's act of selling weapons.

...

"Quick, arrange more manpower to go to Dongye County, Huiji Commandery, Yangzhou. Conduct a carpet search! We must find that player and his territory!" commanded the leader of a major faction.

"As expected of the world's second. To be able to produce such exquisite weapons already... it must be that mine rewarded by the system. With this mine, there really is a gap between us and him now!" Jiang Chenglong, the village chief of China's Second Village, remarked with emotion in his territory's council hall.

...

Regardless of the storms brewing outside, Lin Mu—who had transformed from a commoner to a tycoon—began his preparations to sweep the market.

When you have money, you must spend it. He would buy more building blueprints, encyclopedias, skills, and other items to increase the development speed of his territory, produce more exquisite finished goods, and sweep up even more wealth to further develop his territory. This snowball-like development model was the second step in Lin Mu's grand strategic blueprint: "Amass Grain."

Furthermore, Lin Mu would use his advanced knowledge and experience to purchase resources and items at low prices that would appreciate in value later. In the early stages of a game, price fluctuations are massive—one of the iron laws of virtual gaming.