Chapter 124: Buy It All
Around 2 p.m., after freshening up, Zhou Ning changed into a brand-new formal suit worth several dozen Vecktas. Once he had meticulously dressed himself and topped it off with a silk dress hat, he leisurely left his dorm.
Truth be told, he still cared quite a bit about maintaining his idol image—especially in front of the players.
But he had clearly underestimated the effect of his polished appearance. Before even reaching the campus gate, he was swarmed by countless junior girls trying to chat him up:
"Good afternoon, Senior Wayne!"
"Senior Wayne, going on a date today?"
"Senior Wayne, my gas stove is broken. Can you come help me fix it?"
Zhou Ning suddenly felt like a lamb among wolves and had no choice but to greet people all the way to the school gates.
Three days had passed since the official launch, and the forum's traffic had reached an all-time high. He had secretly lurked on the forum for a couple of hours during lunch, and several threads related to him were especially popular. Unexpectedly, the threads by "Degenerate Couple Team" and "Pure Booze" had formed a sort of synergistic effect. After reading the Degenerate Couple's post, many players, drawn in by the cheap firearms and skills, declared they were ready to spend big.
Though the outlook was promising, there was one thing that greatly annoyed him: in a pinned thread, Zhou Ning saw a trailer for a film or series where he was the main character. The young actor cast to play him looked incredibly stiff and greasy, and his shooting movements resembled someone dancing a ridiculous strappy basketball dance. It made Zhou Ning's skin crawl.
With a complicated mix of feelings, Zhou Ning arrived at the agreed-upon location—a deserted lot in the eastern docks district. At a glance, he saw a massive crowd of nearly 600 people. Pure Booze stood at the front, beside him was the long-unseen Brother XB.
…Why did that guy have such a resentful expression on his face?
Seeing the densely packed crowd, Zhou Ning couldn't help but be shocked. He never expected so many people to show up. Anyone passing by might've mistaken this for some kind of illegal gathering.
But since he was already here, he just rolled with it. After all, those who could make it to Darkland at this point were either incredibly lucky or heavy spenders. Besides, only people eat leeks; when has a leek ever eaten a person?
As Zhou Ning approached, Pure Booze immediately noticed him and hurried over.
"I brought everyone," he said eagerly.
Zhou Ning scanned the crowd and smiled. "Well done. Your capabilities are beyond what I expected." He casually settled the quest rewards.
The moment the task was completed, Pure Booze and the others received a whopping 2,500 experience points. Since Pure Booze had gone above and beyond, Zhou Ning even granted him a bonus reward.
"You've completed E-Rank Quest: Wayne Sturwell's Request. You've received 5,000 EXP and 15 Roshens."
"Wayne Sturwell's favorability toward you has increased by 5 points. Your favorability with the Starry Sky Guild has increased by 200 points. Current status: Indifferent."
"Starry Sky Guild?" Pure Booze glanced at the reward and his eyes lit up. This might be the mysterious force backing the protagonist! He remembered reading a forum post where an NPC talked about Wayne Sturwell having a secret organization behind him that supplied various firearms. It seemed this was it.
Zhou Ning gave him a mysterious smile before turning to the eager players and smoothly delivered his scripted pitch: "Chosen ones, I summoned you here because I need your help—or rather, this city needs your help. Unfortunately, your current strength is still lacking."
With that opening line, Zhou Ning released the task he had already set up.
Players on-site received the quest one after another.
[You've triggered D-Rank Quest: Increase Your Strength. Accept? Yes/No?]
[Quest Hint: To combat the approaching evil, Wayne Sturwell needs your help. Please complete your class transfer and reach level 20. Return to Wayne Sturwell for an unexpected surprise.]
[Quest Level: D]
[Quest Requirements: Reach level 20 (0/1), Speak to Wayne Sturwell (0/1)]
[Reward: 2,000 EXP, Favorability with Wayne Sturwell and the Starry Sky Guild.]
"…That reward seems kind of low! A beginner quest already gives 4,500 EXP—how many quests would it take to reach level 20? Doesn't seem worth it to me."
"Don't pretend you know everything. Does doing this quest prevent you from doing others? You're going to level anyway—why not stack this on top? And from what the closed beta players said, reputation is the real key in this game."
"+10086, totally agree. Based on my decades of MMO experience, this quest definitely has a follow-up."
"Hey, did you guys see it? Starry Sky Guild! That has to be the protagonist's faction, right?"
…
Once all the players accepted the quest, Zhou Ning paused and then smiled. "Of course, to help you grow faster, I'll provide some necessary items—weapons and skills. Naturally, I'm a Ranger, so I'll only be teaching you the skills I know."
With that, he opened his personal shop and made it publicly accessible to all players.
All his previous efforts had led up to this moment. You could say he'd worried himself sick for the sake of the players.
Here he is! Finally!
The players rushed forward, swarming Zhou Ning to check out his shop, surrounding him so tightly that not even a drop of water could slip through.
"Holy crap, look! The pistol prices dropped again—I'm buying it out!!"
"Damn, who clicked so fast?! The gun I wanted is already gone!"
Clearly, this group of players wasn't just mediocre at gaming—their vocabulary seemed pretty limited too. All they could shout was "holy crap" over and over. Quality education was urgently needed.
The batch of pistols Zhou Ning put up for sale had been exchanged from the Sunwatchers using reputation—secondhand revolvers that cost virtually nothing. At 3 Vecktas apiece, they were barely profitable, but the pricing was so generous that even new players could afford them.
In just moments, stock began vanishing rapidly. Whether or not they intended to become Gunslingers, nearly every player bought one. Even those who were broke scrounged together enough to get one. The elemental creatures and wild beasts in the wilderness were insanely strong; having a gun made things much easier.
At the same time, knowledge books for the Gunslinger class transfer also started selling steadily in Zhou Ning's skill shop.
[Player XXX bought your Class Transfer Book. You received 10 Vecktas.]
[Your skill: Marksmanship Mastery has been learned. You received 2,000 EXP and 10 Roshens.]
[Your skill: Mozambique Drill has been learned. You received 12,000 EXP and 40 Roshens.]
[Your skill: Dodge has been learned. You received 3,000 EXP and 10 Roshens.]
…
All the groundwork he'd laid—every promo video, every interaction with players—was finally paying off. The players were riding high on enthusiasm, spending like crazy. Although only about a third of them could afford the class transfer books, with over 600 people present, the profits quickly stacked up.
In just a few minutes, over a hundred players had bought the Gunslinger class transfer knowledge book. Zhou Ning earned more than 2,000 Vecktas in the blink of an eye. Including his previously saved 300,000 EXP, his total experience soared past 460,000, and it was still climbing.
As the game's only Wandering Gunslinger class instructor, Zhou Ning was more than happy to see it.
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