Chapter 4: Demon King's Trade
Zhang Nu is powerful on his own, so he doesn't lack combat power for the time being. Right now, labor and production capabilities are more important.
Plus, the soldiers cost 100 gold.
That's too expensive.
He doesn't have that kind of money.
Thus, Zhang Nu spent 25 gold to summon 5 laborers.
The Demon King's Altar activated a transport gate and 5 figures walked out of it. Each of them had tools like hoes or axes.
"Master!"
The 5 draconians all knelt down.
These lesser draconians have thin blood. They lack sharp claws, sturdy and impressive scales, or wings capable of flight. They're also three sizes smaller than him.
Rather than draconians, they're more like lizardmen.
Of course, even the weakest draconians are still over two meters tall, fanged and intimidating, powerfully built and extremely strong when compared to humans.
Zhang Nu opened their information.
[Draconian Laborer]: 15 HP, 15 MP, 2 Strength, 2 Constitution, 1 Agility, 1 Will. Collection lv2, Construction lv2, Smithing lv1, Hunting lv1.
[Loyalty]: 100% (Locked).
[...]
Strength and weakness are always relative.
These draconian laborers wouldn't have any issues beating up three adult men at the same time.
They're good at collection and construction. Construction includes chopping wood, harvesting herbs, and mining. The construction and smithing abilities are also very important for base building.
If one had to nitpick, then the only issue is that draconians eat a lot of food.
Thankfully though, Zhang Nu's location is very rich in resources. There's no problem supporting even 10,000 draconians!
"You guys take care of this food."
Zhang Nu brought out the dozens of bigfoot birds and unicorn deer that he hunted earlier.
The five draconian laborers moved at his orders and started processing the food right away. They even started up a fire and started roasting the bird and deer meat.
Soon, the delectable scent of cooked meat filled the air.
Zhang Nu grabbed a deer leg and started biting away. Even though there weren't any spices, the meat was still very delicious and fresh. It could instantly defeat even the highest quality beef from reality when it comes to the taste.
This place really is great.
The environment is sealed and resources are plentiful.
It can be said to be the best when it comes to early game development.
Zhang Nu opened up the chat menu. He wanted to see the other players' situations. However, he ended up surprised at the change in the number of Demon Kings.
A few hours ago, the number of Demon Kings online was 1 million.
Currently, the number online has changed to 999,901.
99 Demon Kings are gone? They were disqualified that fast!
Zhang Nu looked through the chat log.
"Shit! My altar got destroyed by orcs!"
"Help, I was found by humans. I'm being hunted from all sides. Someone please save me, I don't want to die!"
"My territory here is filled with terrifying monsters. I can't beat any of them. How am I supposed to play here, I can't even get out the door here!"
"I'm trapped on a deserted island. There's nothing here. I'm on the verge of dying from hunger. Can anyone send me something to eat? My dad is the president of the XX company in Shanghai, so I got plenty of money!"
"..."
No wonder then.
These hundred disqualified Demon Kings were either discovered and killed, or their arrival location was so terrible that they had no way to develop and expand.
It's not strange for a hundred or so to get disqualified within just two or three hours then.
Zhang Nu felt like, as time progressed, especially after the safe period is over, there will likely be thousands more Demon Kings who will end up dying before they can get anywhere.
Demon King really is a high risk profession.
Zhang Nu discovered that, due to their arrival locations being desolate areas, right now the most common problem that Demon Kings are having is the lack of food.
However, players do have a specialized trade platform. They can place items on it and sell off surplus materials in exchange for other resources that they might need.
Zhang Nu sent a message in the chat menu, "Selling bigfoot birds. Its meat is delicious. 5 gold each. It will be added to the trade menu immediately. First come first served."
The moment this message was sent out, the chat menu exploded.
"Shit, where did so much food come from?"
"5 gold? That expensive? Why aren't you rushing to grab them then!"
"Everyone's only entered the game for a few hours, so the vast majority don't even have a single gold yet. You asking for 5 gold for just a single bird is practically highway robbery!"
"Too expensive. Nobody buys it. Anyone who buys is an idiot!"
"That's right! You just keep them yourself until they grow moldy!"
"..."
Zhang Nu was uncertain at the moment.
Even if those people's words are harsh, they do have some logic to them. The game only started a few hours ago, so the vast majority definitely won't even have a single gold yet.
5 gold per bird.
Will it really be able to sell?
Whatever. Let's try it out first with 10 birds!
The trading menu requires a fee for trades. Each item will only stay on for 15 minutes. If they end up not selling, then he'll end up losing the several gold worth of the transaction fees instead.
However.
Nearly instantly.
The 10 bigfoot birds were all gone.
[Trade Successful, you gained 5 gold!]
[Trade Successful, you gained 5 gold!]
[...]
[Your items have all been sold!]
Gone instantly?
Zhang Nu was dumbfounded.
T/N: And now we have an economy. One composed of what's basically something like a million individuals. That number will drop over time, but at the same time, as that happens, the individuals will also expand from singular persons to full fledged cities, states, or even nations. It makes an interesting and complex bit of world building.