[Mysterious Merchant](Neutral Faction), Level??? Attribute???, Skills???, [Description: A merchant who randomly appears in the wild or towns. The most mysterious smuggler on the continent. He sells items that cannot be bought in ordinary shops at low prices. There is a certain chance of rare items, skill books, and skill scrolls appearing.]
From obtaining A-level skills on the Jiangcheng Bridge to meeting mysterious merchants at the bus station, it was all in Zhang Mu's plan to prepare for creating greater advantages in the early stage.
The mysterious businessman was a very important link. His whereabouts were ethereal and he would appear anywhere. Each stay did not exceed six hours. The probability of encountering him was lower than winning the lottery. However, the first time it appeared, it was at the bus station.
Zhang Mu dragged the fat man with limp legs and walked to the mysterious merchant. He sat in a black van, four meters high, made of metal, black and badly worn.
" Warriors from the other world, your luck isn't bad. You actually met me in such a place!" The mysterious merchant's voice was hoarse and heavy. He jumped out of the car and continued,"Welcome to the mysterious store. Our goods are cheap and high quality. We guarantee that you will be satisfied."
Zhang Mu nodded." Let me take a look first. What products are there?"
The mysterious merchant turned around and kicked the truck. He shouted," Hey, you guys inside! We have business!" The van was opened and a long shelf was pushed out, holding more than twenty different items, all different goods.
[F-class Monster Manual](Camp Dawn), records information and data about the normal and elite monsters of Camp Dawn from Level 1 to Level 10. This map sells for 10 gold coins. The remaining number is 1.
[Area Map](Dawn Camp): records the terrain of the area map, the distribution of monsters of various levels, and the location of wild dungeons. Price of this map: 100 gold coins. The remaining number is 1.
[Posts](6 hours), E-grade item, lowest level posts, can be used for forum posts, only visible to players in the map of the region, posts will be deleted automatically after 6 hours. This map sells for 50 gold coins. Remaining quantity 2.
[F+ Skill Book, Bash]. Class restrictions: Berserker, Shield Warrior, Knight. This map sells for 300 gold coins.
[F+ Skill Book: Assassination]. Class restrictions: Thief, Assassin, Assassin, Ranger. This map sells for 300 gold coins
[F-rank Skill Book, Backstab]. Class restrictions: Assassin, Thief, Assassin. This map sells for 200 gold coins.
[F-rank Skill Book: Speed Skating]. Class restrictions: Assassin, Ranger. This map sells for 200 gold coins.
...
Among the 20 items, there were Intelligence, Equipment, Enhancement Scrolls, and Skill Books. However, most of them cost hundreds of Gold Coins. At this stage, players definitely could not afford to spend them.
Zhang Mu said after reading: "I want to make a deal with you."
The mysterious merchant said,"Is there anything you like?"
Zhang Mu shook his head and said," You should understand that we can't afford anything at this stage."
The mysterious merchant smiled." Oh, then what kind of business do you want to do?"
Zhang Mu said," Lend me 50 gold coins. Two hours at most. I'll pay you back double."
" I've been traveling the continent for many years, but this is the first time someone has asked me to borrow gold coins."
Zhang Mu said," You are a businessman. You put profit first. This transaction is very cost-effective."
"Interesting person." The mysterious merchant looked Zhang Mu up and down." Although it's not allowed in principle, you look different. I can make an exception." However, the conditions need to be changed. I'll lend you 50 gold coins. In two hours, you'll have to pay back 200 gold coins."
[Hint: Mission Debt Repayment triggered. Mission difficulty level F. Accept?]
"I accept!"
----
[Mission: Repaying debts]
[Nature: Random Quest]
[Difficulty: F]
[Description: Repay the mysterious merchant 200 gold coins in 120 minutes.]
[Success Reward: Mysterious Merchant Favorability +20.]
Penalty for Failure: Mysterious Merchant has permanently negative Affinity and permanently deprives a skill.
----
Zhang Mu received 50 gold coins. After selling the Houndman machete, he received another 15 gold coins. Now, he had a total of 69 gold coins.
Cost 10 gold coins to purchase an [F-class Monster Manual].
Spend 50 gold coins to buy a [Post (6 hours)].
Zhang Mu focused all his attention and saw a miniature version of Zhang Mu appear in his consciousness. All his attributes and status were displayed beside him. There were many options around his character information, including [Backpack],[Mission],[Guild],[Team], and [Forum]. When he entered the forum, there was nothing in it.
Posts bought from Mystery Store are used to create posts on forums.
Zhang Mu pondered for a moment and immediately wrote in the thread:
"Whether it's a rich and powerful official or a glamorous celebrity, from the moment the game started, everything disappeared! Therefore, abandon the past glory or filth, put down the former pride or inferiority bar! At this moment, all living beings are standing on the same starting line. Only the truly strong can obtain the right to survive, while the weak can only be eliminated and enslaved. Life or death, strength or weakness, you choose…Please believe that this is the true end of the world, but not the end of mankind."
"In addition, I want to tell you an unfortunate thing. We are no longer on the familiar Earth. Perhaps it is absurd, but it is true. Outside Jiangcheng City, there has become a forest. Yes, we have arrived in another world. We have been isolated. There will be no more rescues, no more armies, no more governments…Jiangcheng City is the lowest level area in the local map. The monsters are between Level 1 and Level 3. In fact, as long as we overcome fear and use our intelligence properly, low-level monsters are not invincible!"
"Of course, you might choose to hide somewhere with plenty of food? This is impossible. The system will soon issue a mission, which is mandatory. Those who fail the mission will be eliminated by the system…"
" This is information on monsters below level 10. It includes the habits and weaknesses of monsters, attribute information, skill information, etc. It is important survival information. Please pay attention to it!"
" Reading will cost 1 gold coin."
Zhang Mu copied the information in the monster manual. This part of the set fee was 1 gold coin per person. The Monster Manual contained detailed information on all monsters below Level 10, and the total number reached an astonishing thousand.
Jiangcheng City had a population of nearly four million, and most of them would die within 24 hours of the disaster. About one tenth of them would survive, and one fifth of the survivors would obtain player status within the first 12 hours. In other words, nearly 80,000 people qualified within 12 hours.
This piece of information was very important and definitely had the ability to rewrite history.
Summing up the lessons of failure in his memory, the biggest reason why mankind was defeated in the end was that too many people died in the early stage. Secondly, there was a lot of internal strife among humans in the middle stage. The various factions were independent, causing the few survivors to kill each other and unable to concentrate their strength. This led to the result of the destruction of all.
Since he was starting over, he couldn't repeat the same mistake. He could use the information he knew to seek the greatest benefit. However, this wasn't a game for one person. Zhang Mu had to let more people survive to strengthen the overall strength of the human camp!
An important document containing all the monsters in the current stage would be published. This was crucial for people's survival in the early stages. At the same time, it would establish a solid reputation for Zhang Mu and make him a celebrity in the entire region map!
Zhang Mu used the wooden figure as the forum ID and posted.
" Hint: The post has been successfully created. It will be automatically deleted in six hours!"
" Prompt: The first person to post on this map has received 300 reputation points!"
" Prompt: The first post has been successfully created. Full map announcement!"
Fatty was surprised when he heard the system notification." There's actually a forum function. The blockhead who posted this post is you, Boss, right?"
Zhang Mu sat down and waited quietly. The monsters were still roaring outside the iron gate. However, no monsters could get close to the mysterious merchant within 100 meters. Before the mysterious merchant left, the two of them were absolutely safe. With the system announcement, players were the first to know about the post's status. The number of views instantly reached more than 1,000. The total number of players in the city was not much higher than that.
About 2 minutes later, the first payer appeared and received the first gold coin.
Five minutes later, the number of payments exploded, reaching 160 in an instant.
After 10 minutes, the number of payments gradually stabilized, reaching 180.
After 30 minutes, they broke through 200 people.
Zhang Mu clenched his fists. Very good. The income rate was much faster than expected. He handed 200 gold coins to the mysterious merchant.
" Mission completed!"
"Mysterious Merchant Favorability +20. Favorability increased to 20. Relationship change: Neutral → Normal."
From now on, every gold coin would be Zhang Mu's personal wealth.
The amount of payment continues to grow, as players continue to increase, there are more players to fight monsters to obtain gold coins, the growth rate steadily increased.
1 hour, 150 gold coins.
Two hours, 400 gold coins.
Three hours, 590 gold coins.
4 hours, 950 gold coins
Five hours had passed, and 1200 gold coins had entered his backpack.
Even after a month or two, 1200 was still a lot of money. With the 200 paid posts that recorded a lot of monster information, 1400 people paid to read them. People don't usually act alone. It's enough that one person in a group pays, and the number of people who get information shared is at least four or five times the number who pay!
The mystery businessman leaves in about 20 minutes.
[Area Map Manual], 100 gold coins!
[F+ grade skill book: Assassination], 300 gold coins!
[F-rank Skill Book: Speed Skating], 200 gold coins!
First, he bought the most important skill books and maps, for a total of 500 gold coins.
[LV1 Skill Upgrade Scroll], 400 Gold Coins!
Skill Scrolls could upgrade skills. This was an extremely important item. He had spent a total of 900 gold coins.
There were many good things in the Mysterious Shop, but time was too limited to collect more gold coins, so he could only choose the most useful things to sell. After buying the skill books, skill scrolls, and maps, Zhang Mu bought the remaining [Post] in the shop. When you have no money, you can quickly earn a lot of wealth by using the same method.
Zhang Mu spent the last 203 gold coins on equipment.
[Refined Iron Short Sword](Normal Black Iron), Attack +8, Sharpen +1, Durability 20\20. 80 gold coins!
[Fine Iron Two-handed Axe](Normal Black Iron), Attack +14, Attack Speed-10%, Durability 20\20. Selling price: 110 gold coins!
Although they were both Black Iron Equipment, Normal Black Iron Equipment was much better than Inferior Black Iron Equipment. Zhang Mu equipped his short sword and gave his two-handed axe to Fatty.