Chapter 277: The Herbs Craze

There were three types of Instance Dungeons in King of Pantheon. The first type was the average dungeon like Frost Labyrinth and Tidal Throne. These types of Instance Dungeon did not have any major restrictions and were open to the public since day one.

The second type was the Secret Dungeon. Players had to meet specific requirements of the dungeon in order to enter them. For example, the Black Wolves’ Den in Eastcloud Valley that required players to collect Wolf Soul Crystals in order to enter was a Secret Dungeon.

The third type was the Unlocked Dungeon. These Instance Dungeon would unlock as the level of the player base increased. They are generally considered the expansion packs of Pantheon. The Pinnacle of Fire was the first Unlocked Dungeon of King of Pantheon.

Just as the Arena’s Seasonal Championships concluded and whilst the players’ passion for the game had yet to die down, the Pantheon official site had been updated with a new picture.

In a pitch black sky, a ray of white light was shining down the middle, looking excessively striking. On the ground, there were countless players wielding their weapons up high, surrounding the ruins of an ancient city.

‘Is it time for a new expansion pack? What will it be about?’

Although there were not many hints given by the single picture, some more observant players noticed that the players depicted to be surrounding the ancient city ruins were all sporting symbols from their respective camps. The Eastern Continent camp had the symbol of a pair of crossed swords; the Western Continent camp had the symbol of a rapier; whereas the Southern Continent camp had the symbol of an ax. The symbols of the three major camps were all present!

At this point, the map for the Northern Continent had not been released yet. The hidden message being hinted at in this picture was obvious. With players of all three camps gathering together, this could only mean that the Instance Dungeon that would be released was a shared dungeon that all three camps would have to face at the same time.

Due to that single mysterious picture, the players’ passion for the game was reignited once more. The official site was suddenly flooded with countless players crafting elaborate theories about this upcoming expansion. However, there were barely a handful of players who got their predictions correct.

To hype up the new expansion, the Pantheon developers had launched three types of new game consoles. The first was the VR Goggles Lite which had the same functionality of the full VR headset. The second was the High-end Full-Nutrient Gaming Setup. Created using the latest high-end technology, this console allowed the players to enter a state of semi-hibernation for up to months. Furthermore, not only would it not damage the players’ bodies, through prolonged periods of having the Nutrient solution streamed into their bodies, they would even feel an improvement in their physical abilities.

The third type of console was even more absurd. It was named “Good Things Come in Pairs”. It was the world’s first Full-Nutrient Twin Gaming Setup. It allows two players to enter the game at once. The catch for it was that if the players entered the game together, their EXP gained from fighting monsters would be increased by 2%.

To players, the first two types of consoles were decent. As for the third type, it sold purely due to the players’ curiosities, its actual utility was very poor. This was because as a guild’s level increased, the players would also get an increasing EXP buff up to 3.5 times the original EXP gain.

The additional bonus 2% EXP gain was insignificant to most players.

Li Yi bought two of the VR Goggles as soon as they were released. After verifying his game ID, he immediately tossed his old VR headset aside.

The Goggles had all the functionality of the headset, but it was also much lighter. It was way better than the clunky headset he had been using.

On the other hand, he did not have any interest in the Full-Nutrient Setup. Although that thing could allow players to experience 100% realistic full-body sensations, he was not too fond of having to play the game whilst lying inside a giant wet box.

The other set of VR Goggles was a gift Li Yi wanted to present to Jiaojiao.

Previously, Li Yi did not accompany Jiaojiao to do the negotiations. This caused Jiaojiao to become furious. Originally, the tension between the two had slowly loosened up over the past few days, but it all changed on the night Xu Man and Xu Yue invited him out. When Li Yi returned home with his face covered with traces of lipstick and makeup, he was coincidentally seen by Jiaojiao…

“Look at you go, you f*cking playboy. Having Lil’ Snow ain’t enough for you, huh? To think you’d still dare go out and pick up chicks in your spare time? Alright, now I know your true colors, never come in contact with me again!”

Jiaojiao roared in anger as she stomped home. She had not spoken to Li Yi ever since.

Li Yi took the VR Goggles upstairs and rang the doorbell a few times. He then placed the console on the ground and walked back downstairs.

Jiaojiao, still with a cucumber facial plastered on her face, opened the door. Looking at the console on the ground, she looked around outside but no one was there. She swiftly picked it up and closed the door.

‘It’s a done deal.’

Li Yi hummed as he walked back to his room to play his game.

“Light Grass and Darkness Flowers, 10 Silver per set, buying everything you can get. Buying in bulk.”

Li Yi went to find the profiteer One Gunman and gave him the latest buy orders.

Although this One Gunman kid sucked at the game, he was a natural-born profiteer. Ever since Li Yi started working with him, he managed to get his hands on a lot of stuff that he originally could not get from the Auction House.

“No problem, I’ll definitely complete this order!” One Gunman excitedly started his hunt.

Due to the stabilization of the exchange rate between Gold Coins and real-life currency, Li Yi’s offer price of 10 Silver was already quite decent. It was 1.5 Silver higher than the market price, so it was obvious that he wanted to let One Gunman get something out of it as well.

‘When doing business with Guild Master Dark Wing, as long as you put in the effort, you’ll always be able to reap the rewards.’ This was One Gunman’s personal experience.

Ever since he started working with Dark Wing, One Gunman, who had been constantly suffering losses, had his entire life turn around. Now, he would rake in tens of thousands of bucks every month. This also allowed him to quit his job as a waiter in real life.

Li Yi contacted a few more people and had them start buying the herbs. Of course, he was not one to sit idly while his subordinates were working. When he had nothing to do, he would head to the Auction House and buy out all the Light Grass and Darkness Flowers if the prices were acceptable.

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He wanted to stockpile them!

It was the same as when he was stockpiling the Fire Resistance Potions previously. He had planned to reap a huge profit when King of Pantheon’s second expansion pack were to release…

Other people might not know the details about the upcoming expansion, but Li Yi knew it like the back of his hand. Although he never participated in any profiteering in his past life due to his reputation as a con artist, the situation now only required that he made purchases accordingly. It was simple enough that anyone can do it with the appropriate knowledge. As long as he buys anything that can be foreseen to have huge price inflations, there was no way he would ever make a loss.

If Li Yi bought it at small amounts, it would not have much effect on the market. However, Li Yi’s motto when it comes to doing things was to go big or go home. He was not interested in doing trivial things, reaping a huge profit one-shot was more of his style.

‘If you can choose to either profit 100 or profit 1000, why not choose the latter? Sometimes, being too cautious means being a coward. Just as the saying goes, the bolder you are, the larger your reward!’

“I’ll take everything you’ve got!”

Light Grass and Darkness Flowers spawned in a map with Level 50 monsters. The two herbs were of opposite attributes, but they were both rare herbs.

Under normal circumstances, the Light Grass and Darkness Flowers would not respawn. Only after collecting all the herbs in the map would there be a small chance of these two herbs being spawned. However, they were not the same as average herbs. If no one collected them within six hours of it spawning, these two types of herbs would automatically disappear.

They were extremely rare, but due to their lack of utility, the lack of players with the appropriate potion formulae, and the fact that apothecarist could not grind their mastery levels using them, their prices were never high.

“Old Beast, did you notice that recently the prices of Light Grass and Darkness Flowers have increased by 1 Silver? Snowcrystal Flower prices dropped by 3 Silver, whereas Windbell Grass prices also dropped by 5 Silver.” In a Virtual Meeting Room, Defiantly Tyrannical rubbed his nose as he analyzed the market changes with Star Fire Guild’s I Love Beast Beast.

I love Beast Beast shook his head, “Once the second expansion pack gets released, a lot of the items now would have price fluctuations. There are definitely a lot of people stockpiling various items, but whether they’re stockpiling the correct stuff is a whole other story.”

“As long as we investigate something enough, there will always be a lead. Recently, after I’ve been observing the herb prices, guess what I found?”

“What did you find?”

Defiantly Tyrannical chuckled, “Dark Wing is the bastard who’s been buying out all the Light Grass and Darkness Flowers recently. There’s a definite correlation between his crew and the price inflation of these two herbs.”

“So it was Dark Wing who’s stockpiling them!” I Love Beast Beast suddenly stood up.

“What’s going on?”

“That bastard might very well have access to insider information. Think back to the earlier days, before the Pinnacle of Fire dungeon group was released, he was stockpiling all the Fire Resistance Potions he could get his hands on. He made a fortune out of that. Then, he also started stockpiling Fire Crystal Rocks which everyone thought were trash. The end result? The prices for Fire Crystal Rocks surged up by 3-4 times, causing huge losses to our guild. All whilst he reaped all the profits.” I Love Beast Beast was a bit frustrated.

“He definitely isn’t some sort of insider.” Defiantly Tyrannical shook his head and said, “But his observational skills are extraordinary. He managed to predict future market movements just from a small hint given by the dev announcements. Sigh, how unfortunate it is that this kind of guy isn’t our ally.”

I Love Beast Beast also let out a sigh.

“Old Beast, send out an order, we’ll also start stockpiling Light Grass and Darkness Flowers.”

“I agree. Motherf*cker, I won’t let you earn all the profits. If you want to profit, we’ll all profit together!”

Defiantly Tyrannical had already sent out the order, asking the Three Major Guild Alliance to buy out all the Light Grass and Darkness Flowers they could find. In addition to that, he also had them hog up all the spawn locations of Light Grass and Darkness Flowers, preventing other players from getting their hands on them. They were cutting the supply lines directly!

When Defiant acts, it will always be Tyranny, ¹ the Eastern Continent which had barely enjoyed a few days of peace and quiet got stirred up once more.

Word of the Three Major Guild Alliance’s arrogant moves soon spread to the Iron Alliance. Li Yi’s response was even more ruthless. “So the Three Major Guild Alliance wants to steal this? Then, you guys go out and start stealing it back. If you don’t like someone then kill them, no need to fret too much over it.”

Before the leaders even came out, the Iron Alliance members had already started their assault. They started to snatch territory from the Three Major Guild Alliance. The all-out territorial war dragged on daily, with both sides refusing to give up.

Luckily, Defiantly Tyrannical still had some form of decency. He was not making a big fuss out of things. He just passively shrugged it off when the Iron Alliance members managed to snatch away their territories. However, if anyone else tried it, they would be met with a merciless counterattack, not relenting until their opponents gave in.

Due to the actions of Defiantly Tyrannical, the two major forces in the Eastern Continent started their rapid conquest…

There was not a lot of Light Grass and Darkness Flowers to begin with. Dark Wing’s plan of stockpiling them soon became an open secret. As more and more people heard the news and started joining in, the prices for the two herbs surged like crazy. The original price of 10 Silver per set raised to a whopping 1 Gold per set within a short 10 days. The prices had increased tenfold.

“Send out the order, dump the goods, We’re no longer stockpiling!”

Li Yi made an immediate decision to sell off all the Light Grass and Darkness Flowers they had stockpiled, not leaving a single set behind. His dumping process had started…

Defiantly Tyrannical’s analysis was definitely theoretically sound, but Li Yi’s dumping did not have a single premonition or market signal. He was happily stockpiling the merchandise one day, before suddenly dumping everything the next. The change was so sudden that Defiantly Tyrannical did not even have the time to react. When he finally noticed the change, Li Yi had already dumped all the stock he had.

“Hahahaha, even before the expansion has been released, I already earned myself quite a fortune. Defiantly Tyrannical, if it weren’t for you, I definitely wouldn’t have managed to pull this off!” Li YI laughed loudly.

In this herb stockpiling war, Li Yi earned a clean 6,000,000 Gold alone, whereas Defiantly Tyrannical’s side suffered a loss of nearly 1,000,000