Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed The World
chapter-253

It was universally agreed by the major guilds that the rewards for being the first to clear a map far exceeded those from regular grinding. It was simple to see why; the equipment drop rate was greatly increased, as was the chance of encountering gold chests. Even the much rarer dark gold chests were a lot more common. Though the allure of Gold and Dark Gold equipment was great, the difficulty of being the first to clear a map was similarly great, which made many guilds think twice before taking such a risk.

The challenges of clearing a map for the first time lay in the increased number of Elites, and at times even Lords. Entire forces getting wiped out was a common sight, and if such failures repeated themselves several times over, even top elites would degrade into no more than average players. The risk of falling so far behind was a tall hurdle for most guilds, so only the best of the best would dare to organize a pioneering expedition. But even then, they only chose maps suited to their level. A single word described those who attempted high-level maps—suicidal!

This caused the vast majority of dark gold chests to land in the hands of the top few guilds, while everyday players and smaller guilds would find it tough to acquire even one. There were also tragedies that often occurred, like finding a dark gold chest only to discover that your Lockpicking skill was insufficient to open it. You could do nothing but allow that wondrous opportunity to slip through your fingers.

Nie Yan rested his hand on the chest. He fortunately had a Lockpicking Specialist skill that could open chests beyond his level, though it was just barely enough.

Nie Yan pulled up the game’s website and browsed the ongoing property auctions. By now, there was an extremely high volume of bidders, and the bids for some properties were as high as 1,500 gold. What’s more, they were trending ever higher! He decided to hold off from bidding until near the end of the auction. By then, he could swoop in and snatch away whatever property caught his fancy.

Written in large and bright text, there was a piece of news listed on the website regarding credit conversion. The system of credit conversion would be set up similar to a financial exchange. For instance, if you wanted to sell gold or a piece of equipment for credits, you could do so based on current rates, or talk privately with the equipment holder and negotiate prices. The buyer would be using real-life credits to purchase the seller’s in-game equipment or gold.

These exchanges were all monitored by federal regulatory commissions. Due to regulations, it was prohibited to directly purchase goods in reality with in-game currency. To do so, a person would have to first convert in-game currency or equivalent to credits through official channels and then purchase the goods. This was done to prevent in-game currency from replacing credits and disrupting the natural flow of the market.

The credit conversion system would be released as soon as the property auctions came to an end, and it would immediately introduce a surge of capital into Conviction. This surge would continue to push the prices of equipment and in-game currency upwards as large investors built up their structure and strength.

It would also greatly stimulate the development of player businesses in the game, and this was clear from the recent performance of the Union of Assassins. Through the attention brought by Sleepy Fox, Kill Love, and Fa Lan, their numbers spiked. The number of professional players broke through 12,000 and the number of clients broke past 8,000. Every day, the union received over 500 requests and acted as the intermediary for thousands of trades. More importantly, Nie Yan’s net income was over 300 gold a day.

Under Nie Yan’s control were two of the most profitable auction houses, countless properties, the Starry Night Potion Shop and its numerous branches scattered across most major cities, and of course, Asskickers United’s full strength. He’d be able to hold his own even when Cao Xu entered the playing field.

It had only been a month or so since the game’s initial release, but Nie Yan had already set up a stable business by laying down each path with care and reached his current position. He was very satisfied with these results.

The dark gold chest clicked open, interrupting Nie Yan’s train of thoughts and prompting him to reach around the chest. He fished out two items.