Chapter 72: The Benefits and Difficulties of Rank Advancement
Chapter 72: The Benefits and Difficulties of Rank Advancement
After hearing Bruce’s words, Fatty Lei’s heart also started to churn.
“Changing the development model of an entire Dimensional Plane world. How frickin’ grand,” Fatty Lei sighed. At the same time, he suddenly felt the System definitely wouldn’t be this kind. Just changing a name?
There’s a conspiracy!
Thinking this, Fatty Lei thought for a moment and then asked the octopus Bruce: “Is that really all there is to it? The System just changes the Dimensional Plane’s data and name? I feel something’s off here.” Fatty Lei voiced his doubts.
“Of course it’s not that simple. The Trading System is actually an Arena for species!”
Bruce dropped a bombshell, instantly shocking Fatty Lei.
“An Arena!!!!”
Fatty Lei really couldn’t understand. It was originally just about everyone trading with each other, how did it become an Arena?
He couldn’t figure it out, truly couldn’t.
Seeing Fatty Lei’s confused look, the octopus Bruce’s body leaned forward slightly. Lowering his voice, he looked at Fatty Lei and said, “You didn’t think the Dimensional System was just about everyone doing trade and paying taxes, did you?” Hearing this, Fatty Lei looked at Bruce and nodded, “That’s exactly what I thought. Isn’t that the case?”
Bruce waved a tentacle. “If you really think that, then you’ll die very miserably in the future.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Didn’t I say earlier? A Dimensional Plane world’s development gets changed. Then the mainstream development gets impacted, and next the System changes the data classification. What comes after is the main event…” Bruce was very good at building suspense.
“Brother Bruce, stop building suspense. Just say it, just say it.”
Fatty Lei was very concerned about this matter.
Fatty Lei was a bit impatient, so Bruce stopped acting mysterious.
“After the System reclassifies, that Dimensional Plane world becomes a member of the Mythological Worlds. At the same time, the source that changed the world’s development is that Dimensional Plane. Then that Dimensional Plane can directly invade this Dimensional Plane world and bring it into its own World, thereby controlling some of its resources.”
“Also, that Merchant will be incorporated into a subordinate system, becoming a subordinate of this victorious Merchant. From then on, eighty percent of every transaction’s income must be handed over to their superior. Furthermore, the System will lower the Dimensional Laws of the victorious Dimensional Plane. After it invades one thousand Mythological Dimensions, the System will reward it with the attribute of strengthened rule resistance when its goods are sold to other Dimensional Planes.”
“Sss~~~” Fatty Lei sucked in a sharp breath.
“This really is killing without drawing blood! And the rewards are very rich too!”
Bruce nodded. “So, maintaining our own world’s mainstream development is our responsibility as Merchants. At the same time, we must be careful not to get assimilated or invaded. This point is crucial.”
Fatty Lei’s heart churned again, slowly digesting Bruce’s information.
After a while, Fatty Lei spoke up and asked: “If it’s controlled within a certain range, then it should be fine, right?”
Bruce nodded slightly. “Of course it’s like that. For example, if you buy Slaves from a Mythological Dimension. They regain their power through cultivation, but you must control them and not let the natives learn this power. Then there’s no problem. So the control aspect is the most, most crucial thing.”
“It seems some goods can’t be bought recklessly either.”
“That’s right, because it’s filled with all sorts of traps. So you must be extra vigilant in the future, especially when facing Dimensional Planes with different development paths. You must be cautious, cautious, and even more cautious.” Andrew said these words to Fatty Lei very seriously.
“Thank you!”
“You’re welcome!”
“I wonder how many such Merchants there are?”
He was still a novice, but most Merchants engaged in this trade had been doing it for a long time. Some might have even done it for thousands of years. So Fatty Lei couldn’t help but ask.
“Basically, all Merchants above the eighth Rank do this. And they also have huge organizations, called Trusts.”
“Trusts! Isn’t that a monopoly?” Fatty Lei understood the meaning of this term. And he found it strange that this term appeared here, because this term was from Earth.
Could it be that a predecessor had Transmigrated here?
Fatty Lei couldn’t help but feel alarmed.
Every Transmigrator acted like they were the greatest under heaven. If someone from the same world appeared, Fatty Lei didn’t know if he would be turned into that person’s underling, or even…
Fatty Lei didn’t want to bow down under someone else’s Aura of Overbearing Power. So, putting himself in their shoes, they probably wouldn’t either.
But what if conflict happened? No need to think, it would definitely be a fight to the death.
So Fatty Lei really didn’t want something like that to happen.
“Correct, the meaning of Trust is monopoly. Those high-Rank Merchants formed this organization to monopolize the sale of single goods. The price is completely controlled by them. You could say they earn super high profits. And from time to time, they launch monopoly wars to swallow up other Merchants’ resources.”
Then wouldn’t other Merchants have no way to survive?
“Not necessarily. Fighting head-on definitely won’t work. But they aren’t interested in low-Rank Merchants. And when you reach the eighth Rank, they will ask if you want to join the organization. If you join, then there’s no problem. It’s just a matter of earning more or less. Plus, you get a powerful organization as a backer, right?”
Bruce explained this to Fatty Lei.
“Brother, you know this really clearly.”
“My ancestors also had high-Rank Merchants. However, inheritance causes a drop of one Rank per generation. So my family inherited for thirty-six generations. Plus some other factors, and now I’ve become a low-Rank Merchant.”
Bruce didn’t deliberately hide anything and very openly told Fatty Lei about his family’s affairs.
In Bruce’s view, since he was about done for anyway, saying it didn’t matter.
Of course, this was just to Fatty Lei. To other Merchants, Bruce couldn’t be bothered to talk.
“So, Brother Bruce, how does this relate to being an Arena?”
“Simple. It’s a contest of intelligence and power. Although on the surface it looks like doing business, you actually have to consider every aspect. Only the excellent beings can stand out. Those Merchants who can’t rise up will sink. This also shows their species’ ability is lacking. Do you understand?”
He didn’t!
Fatty Lei muttered to himself, “What kind of crappy logic is this? So this makes it a species arena? This System is just plain annoying and boring to death!” However, Fatty Lei thought what he thought, but he felt he still needed to work hard.
“I heard from my family’s ancestral rumors that if one can reach the top-rank Merchant, the System has a special reward!”
“Oh~ Has any Merchant gotten it?”
Bruce shook his head. “Never! This is just a guess from my ancestors.”
Fatty Lei felt a bit disappointed.
Luckily, Fatty Lei’s current Rank was very low, so he didn’t need to worry about this problem for now.
Who knew how long it would take him to reach the eighth Rank? Maybe he wouldn’t even reach the eighth Rank in his entire lifetime. That way, he wouldn’t get bullied and exploited either.
One had to say Fatty Lei was a bit like Ah Q at this moment.
Thinking about his own Rank advancement problem, Fatty Lei had some questions.
“By the way, Brother Bruce, you said level and Rank advancement, how should one advance?”
Bruce looked into Fatty Lei’s eyes, which held a questioning gaze, and was stunned for a long moment before speaking. “You don’t know yourself? You’re already level one.” Fatty Lei shook his head. “I got upgraded in a muddled way. I really don’t know how it happened.”
“You really are a fool with fool’s luck.” Bruce looked at Fatty Lei with the same shock as if he saw the Trading System destroyed.
“Tell me what happened, brother.”
Fatty Lei wanted to act cute, but unfortunately, with his looks, acting cute would probably get him KO’d by the octopus Bruce immediately.
“The most mainstream way to increase level and Rank is to hand over Credit Points, but this is a bit expensive. The remaining way is to complete the System’s hidden events. I’m not very clear about this though. Because it completely depends on luck…”
As Fatty Lei listened to Bruce say this, he pondered in his heart, “It seems I completed a hidden event, but there’s no trace to follow. So there’s no way to judge it or follow it to meet the System’s requirements.” At the same time, Fatty Lei sorted out the things he had done recently. It seemed he was only rewarded by the System twice because he kept his integrity and didn’t have bad intentions.
And the second time, his Integrity Value almost turned negative.
“Do I have to take losses and uphold integrity from now on?”
Fatty Lei originally wanted to be a shady Merchant too, after all, Credit Points were too important to him now. But after hearing Bruce’s words, plus the things he encountered recently, Fatty Lei felt he probably couldn’t be a shady Merchant.
“Then if using Credit Points to buy, how many Credit Points are needed to increase level?”
Since hidden events leave no trace, better ask about the first method.
“You are a level one Merchant, with no Rank, right?” Bruce stared at Fatty Lei for a while and said.
Fatty Lei nodded. “Yes, that’s right.”
“Advancing to first Rank requires giving the System one hundred billion Credit Points. From level one to ten, each level requires ten million Credit Points. From twenty to thirty requires twenty million Credit Points per level. From thirty to forty requires thirty million Credit Points per level… Up to level one hundred, it requires one hundred million Credit Points per level. At the same time, if you don’t have the second Rank title, then you’ll be stuck here and never advance again.”
“Level advancement is expensive, but Rank advancement is frickin’ outrageously expensive!” Fatty Lei almost cursed out loud.
After all, he was a low-level Merchant. Don’t even mention one hundred billion Credit Points. Even one thousand Credit Points were frickin’ hard-earned!
“Do you think it’s very expensive?”
Seeing Fatty Lei’s face change expressions, Bruce asked.
“Very expensive!”
“But if you have a Rank, goods can offset five percent of the Dimensional Laws suppression. Do you still say it’s expensive?”
Bruce’s final sentence made Fatty Lei’s eyes widen sharply.
“If… if you put it that way, it really isn’t too expensive…”
Right at that moment, Wangcai came running back with the Detector.
“The Detector’s slots are full, but I’m not sure if it’s okay.”
Wangcai came to Bruce’s side and handed the Detector over.
Bruce took the Detector, glanced at it, and his breathing suddenly became heavy.
At the same time, he took out a cylindrical metal container and placed the Detector inside. Some thin tentacles extended from inside his body and rapidly tapped on the metal container’s buttons.
After a good while, Bruce exclaimed in disbelief: “The Energy density is actually this concentrated!”