Game Opportunities Become Reality, Episode 60
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Game Opportunities Become Reality, Episode 60
18. Monopoly (3)
Acquire the Chronicle Online game company?
That's not a bad method.
No matter how capable the game company is, if the main user base consists of commoners, there's a high chance it would be undervalued.
[WorldGames / Market cap 102 trillion]
'Uh, um...'
It doesn't seem to be undervalued much.
Well, Chronicle Online alone brings in over 10 trillion in annual net profit.
Maybe that's only to be expected.
Moreover, while investigating the share structure, I saw that the largest shareholder was the Elysia United Bank, and I cleanly gave up on the acquisition.
After all, the cash obtained through Grand Duke Lucas's Opportunity flows in through this bank.
All accounts at the Elysia United Bank are operated under encryption, so it's known to be a system where even administrators cannot look into members' accounts.
That's why nobles use it heavily as a tax haven, but...
Still, there's no telling what could happen, so there was no benefit in drawing their attention.
"Then what should I do?"
After deliberating for a while, I thought of a rather unpleasant plan.
"Should I buy slaves and set up a workshop?"
Game avatars can be purchased from other people, so if I employed slaves who couldn't betray me, I could rest easy.
But the problem is that most countries in Rondel, despite being feudal systems, have slavery illegal.
In the end, that means I'd have to touch illegality too.
For the sake of growth, there's nothing I wouldn't do even if illegal, but it was bound to be uncomfortable.
"No, still, someone from a democratic country shouldn't be keeping slaves."
Then what?
Should I use the last remaining wish?
By "wish" here, I mean exercising administrator authority through Chester, the Opportunity management site.
It was through exercising this administrator authority that I laundered money, created Arcia's registry, became Duke Riverdale's disciple, and created a fake Opportunity Seeker in the Prius Republic.
Upon reaching the 7th Circle, I was granted a total of five administrator authorities, but now only one remains.
So I didn't want to use it unless it was a major unexpected situation.
"Ah!"
Then a good idea suddenly came to mind.
"Hunting ground monopoly!"
The monopolization of hunting grounds by large guilds, often called a plague of online games.
Chronicle Online was no exception to this.
To obtain specific items or to earn money more efficiently than others, powerful guilds unhesitatingly monopolize hunting grounds.
Naturally, it's a culture where regular users not affiliated with those guilds can only feel resentful, but to me right now, it seemed perfect.
In highly efficient hunting grounds, if I fought without worrying about people's gazes, I could continue growing even faster.
'What I have to spare right now is money, and what I lack is time.'
Using that, I thought it wouldn't be hard to seize one or two monopolized hunting grounds.
"One concern is that I'll have to interact with other users."
"We're already running into quite a few users as it is."
"That's true."
With Arcia's finalizing words, I reached a conclusion.
I immediately logged into the Chronicle Online community and searched for who was monopolizing hunting grounds that suited my tastes.
* * *
Given Chronicle Online's scale, with an average of 40 million concurrent users, you'd think there would be a huge number of servers, but surprisingly, this game operates on a single server, single channel.
Instead, they adopted a method of expanding the world's scale and creating many nations and continents, managing them separately like servers.
Thanks to that, Chronicle Online boasts such vastness that calling it not just a game but a second world wouldn't be an understatement.
Perhaps thanks to the realism created by virtual reality and the massive world, many users considered Chronicle Online more important than reality in their lives.
After all, it was only natural that a world where everyone is equal felt more like an ideal than a bleak reality.
Top users of Chronicle Online are people who make their living from the game.
Whether through advertisements or item trading, it means they sustain their real lives with money earned in the game.
Among them, some earned money comparable to successful businessmen, while others barely scraped by just enough to put food on the table.
But the number of people making a living from the game was a tiny fraction compared to the whole, and even then, their earnings weren't particularly high relative to the number of users.
"I heard they're doubling the restrictions on game playtime in our country this time."
"Really? That sucks."
"And since they blocked real-money item trading a while back, it looks like I might have to resort to manual labor now."
"Couldn't you just sell through a country where real-money trading is legal?"
"Crazy guys like that get hit with a tenfold fine if they're caught."
"Ugh, you've got it rough too. It's getting harder and harder to play games."
"Damn it! If only I'd been born in the Elysian Coalition instead why do they keep making these stupid regulations?"
"Those noble bastards never play games themselves, so they just slap regulations on without a second thought."
There were even countries that imposed unimaginable regulations and penalties, claiming that games reduced national productivity.
On Earth, users would have fought back against any violation of their freedom, but in Rondel, where a class system existed, that was structurally impossible.
On the surface, they dressed themselves up in the most dazzling and impressive ways, but beneath that, impoverished commoners often sat at the core.
"Guild Master, someone's come to see you."
"Who?"
"A mage in his 200s. He says he has a business proposition and is requesting a meeting with the Guild Master."
Chronicle Online consists of 10 continents and 35 nations.
In other words, guilds within the top 10 rankings are guilds that represent a continent, and guilds within the top 100 rankings become one of the three major guilds representing a nation.
Ranked 98th overall and 3rd in its home nation, the Black Dragon Guild was a massive guild with 3,000 members, but it was a typical group of gaming addicts people who lived to play the game, no exaggeration.
As befitting a large guild, it had no shortage of advertising sponsors and generated steady revenue, but because the guild was so massive, it couldn't secure enough earnings for all members to comfortably devote themselves to the game.
Moreover, as the game became increasingly entrenched, its popularity and profitability began to decline, and regulations from various nations were tightening around their necks, forcing the guild's leadership to rack their brains every day worrying about the future.
Amid all that, a request that anyone could see was nothing but a cheap trick could only draw a lukewarm reaction from the Guild Master and the leadership.
"Just kick him out. Obviously he's trying to weasel his way into joining the guild."
Running a massive guild meant meeting plenty of people who approached hoping for scraps.
So the Guild Master didn't think much of it.
But this time, the guild member who would normally shrug and back off stubbornly held his ground.
"I think you should meet him."
"Why? What's up?"
At that point, even the Guild Master couldn't help but feel curious.
And at the words that followed, the Guild Master's indifferent expression changed.
"He brought ten Hearts of Decatron as a gift. On top of that, his gear is fully decked out in the best cash-shop equipment available at level 200. Just looking at raw stats, he might even be better off than an average max-level player, you know?"
"Really?"
A Heart of Decatron was an expensive enhancement material worth 500,000 Lute each.
Not only had he casually brought ten of them as a gift, but the fact that he was fully outfitted in cash-shop gear that was the pinnacle of inefficiency in terms of cost-performance was more than enough to spark interest.
"Is he a noble?"
"Who knows, he could just be rich."
Nobles tend to look down on Virtual Reality.
That's because they can already enjoy plenty in the real world, so they don't need to cling to virtual reality.
That said, it wasn't as if there were no nobles who played virtual reality games.
After all, there are oddballs everywhere, and not every noble lived a satisfying life either.
After a moment of deliberation, the Guild Master, feeling uneasy about just turning him away, eventually decided to meet with the low-level mage.
"Alright. Bring him in."
And shortly after, the Guild Master came face to face with a man whose avatar was plain and modest quite the contrast to his flashy gear.
He was indeed a user who gave off an aura that was hard to ignore, just as the guild member had said.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm 'Minki.'"
"That's an unusual nickname. Hello, I'm Penny."
The low-level mage's identity was Adrian.
The character nickname "Minki" was the name Adrian had used in his previous life.
Even though she operated a massive guild, was it because she had it in the back of her mind that he might be a noble?
Guild Master Penny greeted him politely.
"You mentioned a deal may I ask what brought you here?"
"I'd like to lease a hunting ground that the Black Dragon Guild currently monopolizes."
"Lease a hunting ground?"
"Yes. Just as you do now, I want you to keep other users out of the hunting ground and lease it to me for my exclusive use."
Leasing an exclusive hunting ground it was a method she'd never heard of before.
What's more, they'd have to go through the trouble of managing it, yet they wouldn't even get to use the hunting ground themselves she couldn't help but think it was nonsense.
Naturally, Penny's brow furrowed, and the executives present didn't react well either.
Why would anyone monopolize a hunting ground in the first place?
Wasn't it for high hunting efficiency and exclusive access to specific items?
There was no reason to share what they'd gained by abandoning their conscience.
"Well, if we lease it, we'd naturally have to be paid a lease fee."
"How much are you offering?"
But at what followed, the Guild Master's office fell dead silent.
"I'll give you five times the total profit you could earn from that hunting ground. In cash, of course."
"...."
When everyone fell silent, Adrian tilted his head, as if asking whether they weren't interested.
"If I may ask, which hunting ground do you want?"
"Kaltern's Chimera Dungeon."
Kaltern's Chimera Dungeon it was a difficulty that a five-man party in their level 200s could handle comfortably.
Moreover, the item called Life Water that dropped there provided a decent income, and the experience gain was generous too.
Which made it one of the places max-level users grinded for money.
"W-wait a moment. The Chimera Dungeon is a hunting ground used by over 200 people a day. The reason max-levels run it is precisely because it's profitable. If each person earns 50,000 Lute of profit there, the daily total revenue easily exceeds 10 million Lute."
If the daily total revenue was 10 million Lute, then at five times that, he was saying he'd pay 50 million Lute per day in rent.
Adrian shrugged at their words.
"No problem. In return, you must thoroughly block other users from entering."
At Adrian's casual reaction, the Black Dragon Guild Master and executives wore bewildered expressions.
"Is there some special item that drops there? Or are you tied into a hidden quest or something?"
"I just want to level up."
Everyone looked skeptical.
Unless there was a purpose behind it, no one would burn 50 million Lute a day.
It was an answer that defied common sense.
"I'm solo leveling. I want to enjoy the game without anyone disturbing me."
"So you're doing a challenge run?"
"Yes. It's tough enough as is, but all the good hunting grounds are monopolized by the big guilds."
Among users, there were those who played the game hardcore.
Like hitting max level with a normal character without a class, or playing with nothing but a pair of underwear on, without equipping a single piece of armor.
The Guild Master figured the Adrian in front of her was that sort of person.
And one with money to burn, at that...
"If you'd like, I can pay upfront. Online currency exchange works too."
The Guild Master swallowed dryly and asked.
"How long of a lease term were you looking for?"
"Let's try one month first. If my level rises well, I'll extend it as is; if growth slows down, I'll lease a different hunting ground."
"What do you mean?"
"Yes. I intend to keep leasing exclusive hunting grounds until I hit max level."
Adrian's demeanor, radiating that he didn't want to waste time haggling, made the demand feel all the more genuine rather than a joke.
And without needing to think twice, from their standpoint, it was a request with no reason to refuse.
It was a jackpot practically like winning the lottery.
"Hey, what are you all doing!? Bring out the tea!"
The Guild Master and executives bustled about, welcoming Adrian.
"Should I take that as acceptance of the lease request?"
"Of course. There's no reason to refuse such a good contract."
Adrian wore a satisfied expression.
"Alright. Let's settle it right away."
"We don't have exact data, so we can only estimate. Is that acceptable?"
"Then let's just round it off cleanly at 50 million daily rent."
At the bold decision, smiles never left the faces of the Guild Master and executives.
"We've got no complaints."
"Understood. Give me your account number. I don't want the hassle of paying day by day, so I'll prepay weekly."
"Huh? Th-then, 300 million right away?"
"If we base it on 50 million Lute, that's 350 million Lute."
The Guild Master gave the guild's business account used for advertising payments, and before long, the deposit was confirmed.
350 million a week.
How many people could burn through money like this in a game on a weekly basis?
The person before them was clearly judged to be a noble.
Not just any run-of-the-mill one either a true noble among nobles.
"Since I'm paying a hefty sum, you need to handle things properly. If you try to run off with the money or get greedy and the guild collapses into a mess that causes me trouble... I won't stand idle."
"Of course. How could it be otherwise?"
In the game, level was king, but the person in charge here was settled.
After registering as friends with the Guild Master, Adrian left the Black Dragon Guild hall, leaving only a brief note that he wanted to use the dungeon right away and to process it quickly.
"It feels like I've been possessed by a ghost."
"Open the account. Are you sure it was deposited properly? You counted the digits right?"
Urged by his colleagues, the Guild Master shared the account status, and everyone stared blankly at it.
"So jealous. He just throws away hundreds of millions to play a game comfortably."
"Different class."
With unexpected wealth in hand and a steady stream of it going forward the executives of the Black Dragon Guild put their heads together to figure out how to use the funds.
"Ah! Minki-sir said he wanted to use the hunting ground quickly! Send a message to the guild members right away telling them to clear out of the Chimera Dungeon!"
"Y-yeah, right."
Before they knew it, Adrian's game character's title had shifted from "Minki-nim" to "Minki-sir."