The Great Thief

The five 8% Level Reduction Gems were just too much; it was excessive by a huge margin.

“Brother, if you really want to do business, then let’s talk about something more realistic,” Thousand Feathers said as he stared at Lu Li’s four pieces of equipment, finding it difficult to swallow.

He was now regretting his decision. He should have volunteered to come and negotiate.

He was a level 43 Thief; how could he refuse a level 40 Gold set!?

“How much many can you produce?” Lu Li asked.

Starting from a high price was just the way business worked. Of course, Lu Li didn’t miss Thousand Feather’s yearning stare, but his face didn’t give anything away while he laughed on the inside.

“How about 2 5% Level Reduction Gems, and I can add a bit of gold. These items have a very low drop rate, so we don’t have that much stock,” Thousand Feathers offered through clenched teeth. He would rather spend more gold coins than to waste the gems in the warehouse.

Even an idiot knew that the value of gold coins was steadily dropping while the value of gems was steadily increasing.

“I’ve always heard that the Mercenary Groups were very honest in doing business,” Lu Li sneered. “I didn’t except this to be the case, but if you can’t offer five 8% Level Reduction Gems, then it’s likely that no one else in the whole game can make that offer either.

These words seemed critical, but they were in fact words of praise.

Thousand Feathers was pleasantly surprised. Although their Mercenary Group was less powerful than a major guild, they were businessmen and had confidence in their business.

In fact, there were dozens of Level Reducing Gems in the Mercenary Group’s warehouse.

Not long after the game began, they had discovered the potential value of these gems, so they invested millions of dollars in acquiring them. Over the course of the game, they had constantly researched how to find more of them. A Treasure Chest in a shipwreck was a place where they could easily be found, so they sent countless players to defend and loot shipwrecks.

“It would be impossible for me to offer five pieces,” Thousand Features said, still hoping to lower the price.

“In that case, don’t worry about the 8% ones and just give me five 5% ones.”

Lu Li didn’t want that many to begin with anyway, so he retracted a little.

He had given him some space by changing it from 8 to 5%, so now, Thousand Feathers had to respond with the same. Otherwise, the business deal would fall through. Thousand Feathers looked at Lu Li in cold sweat, finding it difficult to reject this offer.

This was a not a vegetable market; the loss of business here was more than a few dollars.

Whether it was five Level Reducing Gems or three Fortified Gold set items, these things constituted an enormous wealth that an ordinary player couldn’t even begin to imagine.

“Perhaps you’re feeling that giving me 5 Level Reducing Gems are a bit of a loss. After all, the future potential of these gems is amazing. However, once you and I have done business, you’re more likely to have a regular customer,” Lu Li said patiently.

“Oh, what else do you need?” Thousand Feathers asked curiously.

“Any valuables, medicinal materials, ores – it could be anything. I’d buy rare materials too, and I would give you a high price beyond the market price,” Lu Li explained, dropping a bombshell.

“Are you a businessman?” Such a big deal was beyond Thousand Feathers’ expectations.

“I’m not a businessman, but I am willing to purchase whatever you have.”

Lu Li knew how these Mercenary Groups operated. They couldn’t just dump huge amounts of an item into the market without affecting the prices. For example, if they placed 100,000 Peacebloom Flower Herbs on the market, their value would plummet due to oversupply.

Not all goods were valuable like the Level Reducing Gems. If they were stored for too long, their value was likely to be lost due to changes in the market prices.

“I have 40,000 pieces of Silver ore…” Thousand Feathers said, not believing it.

“Well, I’ll take them for 30 Silver pieces each. The market price for one is 29 silver pieces, right?’ Lu Li offered without hesitation. Ruling Sword had more than 100,000 Trade Skill players and more than 10,000 players in the Forging divisions, each of which only had a few dozen pieces of silver ore. They didn’t have enough.

Of course, if Ruling Sword purchased from Shen Wansan, it might be cheaper than the market price.

“If you have the gold, I can just purchase them at market price,” Lu Li said, trying to make Thousand Feathers feel at ease again.

“Okay, we’ll follow what you said. If you collect our goods, then I will give you the five Level Reducing Gems,” Thousand Feathers agredd, then quickly reported to the leader of the Mercenary Group.

The trade was between Four Gold set items and five level Reducing Gems.

When the deal was made, no one had really made a loss. Lu Li’s promised transaction was not a loss either; it was perhaps even more important than their need for the gems.

Under normal circumstances, a large guild would have an additional group of players on top of the combatants and the Trade Professionals.

Lu Li was originally hired as a Gold Miner for the Star Moon Guild. In addition to the Gold Miner position, there was the Cannon Fodder, Raw Material Collectors and many other roles involving logistics to serve the combatants. Any major guild was similarly constituted, especially the club guilds which had several groups of more than 10,000 players who were responsible for such duties.

This was all inside information!

However, Ruling Sword didn’t have these yet because they had built up so quickly. Lu Li and Square Root 3 hadn’t even settled matters for the combatants yet, so they didn’t have the time to set up all these other groups. These weren’t things that could be achieved quickly.

However, when he saw the Spire Mercenary Group, he was suddenly inspired.

These mercenaries couldn’t fight, nor could they match guilds in doing Instance Dungeons, but they could be relied on to collect gold and other necessary materials.

“Are you sure you can take all these goods?’ Thousand Feathers still wasn’t sure.

“I’ll take everything you have, as long as they’re worth something. I don’t believe in letting things go to waste,” Lu Li decisively said.

“Can you sign an agreement?” Thousand Feathers asked. He wasn’t going to let such a wealthy person walk away now.

“That is absolutely no problem,” Lu Li almost laughed.

“Wait a moment, I will send a System agreement before we discuss the terms.”

Thousand Feathers was one of the deputy heads of the Mercenary Group and had the power to make such a decision. In fact, their leader was also paying close attention after receiving news on this deal.

They had no ambition to dominate the world; they were just a group trying to make a living together.

The market was constantly changing, making the business of selling these materials even more difficult, especially if they weren’t connected to a major guild. However, most guilds had their own Gold Collection Units and Raw Material Collectors. For these external groups, it would normally be almost impossible to receive the market price for these items.