Chapter 69
Because he had obtained a new building from him, Shu Mo closed the backpack page and looked at Xie Qingyun with a kind expression.
He comes with something real, so who wouldn't welcome such a guest?
The team leader's heart bleeds when he sees Xie Qingyun reach an agreement with the boss in a blink of an eye and becomes a formal employee.
Shu Mo looked at his bad face, moved aside, and asked the deputy leader in a low voice: "Isn't this really considered poaching your people?"
"That's not the case." The deputy head said decisively, without any principle. "Boss, how could you be the kind of person who would do such a thing?"
After a pause, she muttered again.
"Even if this is true, it just happened by itself."
Shu Mo: “…”
The leader collapsed, "It was me! I carried him here, okay?"
Who can tell him how to explain to the mayor when he gets back?
He looked at Xie Qingyun, feeling even sadder and even a little sour.
It's like watching your colleagues jump to better companies while you still have to work hard as a worker.
——We are no longer on the same path.
——From now on, you will be the one eating the employee meals of Nuannuan Hot Spring.
The team leader looked at Xie Qingyun resentfully for a while, but he also knew that with him here, Shu Mo might not be able to bring up some topics related to the hot springs, so after a few more pleasantries, he prepared to leave with the deputy team leader.
Before leaving, the two of them went to the specialty counter and took twenty gift boxes of Chinese pastries.
"It won't go bad if I put it in my backpack. The mayor said I can keep it for future gifts."
The team leader and Shu Mo explained.
This exquisitely packaged gift box looks much more upscale than the gifts that players used to exchange.
The specialty counter originally reserved two items for high-end gift boxes, taking into account the existence of this type of customer group. Now it is finally gradually attracting attention among high-spending people, and Shu Mo is also very happy.
Anyone who can socialize with the mayor must be a player of the same level. Once this gift is given out, the reputation of the hot spring will spread further.
After seeing the two off, Shu Mo took Xie Qingyun to familiarize himself with the hot spring environment, and then let him wander around for a while while he went to find a place to set up the handicraft shop.
Excluding staff dormitories, there are currently only three buildings in the hot spring, and it is impossible to make any detailed plans. It feels like it doesn't matter where they are placed.
The vacant space Shu Mo found was on the side of the road between the main building and the villa.
These two places are bound to be the places with the highest concentration of hot spring visitors in the future. By building a commercial street between them, guests can visit the shops on both sides of the road while moving around.
I don’t know if it’s because it’s a free building, but the handicraft store doesn’t have any fancy settings. It’s just a simple small building with clean windows and empty shelves inside.
Go around the display rack and there is a cashier counter deep inside. There is a door next to the cashier counter, leading to a warehouse of about 10 square meters, which is connected to the back door of the craft shop.
Players have backpacks, so this warehouse should not be used. Shu Mo thought that this place could be transformed into Xie Qingyun's workshop.
However, how to change it depends on his personal needs.
After checking around and finding nothing wrong, Shu Mo called Xie Qingyun over.
When he came over, he was a little surprised, "Can you send messages in a hot spring?"
The social system of "Arctic Cold" is very poorly designed, almost non-existent. Players can't even add each other as friends, let alone have private chats.
Xie Qingyun hasn't felt this kind of pop-up message in his face for many years.
Shu Mo punctured his fantasy, "It's not really possible, because I can only contact the employees one-way from here."
This message system is actually a function on the employee panel, which is in turn a partition of the management panel. Others who do not have a simulated management system naturally cannot enjoy the convenient services it brings.
"Is that so..." Xie Qingyun responded, not looking too regretful, "But it doesn't matter. Anyway, even if there is such a function, I probably won't be able to use it."
Before the game, he was still in high school, and he rarely used his mobile phone since then.
Shu Mo muttered in his heart, he is indeed a otaku.
She suddenly realized that Xie Qingyun was probably the only employee so far whose first reaction after being hired was not to ask about food and accommodation.
This guy hasn't even thought about this question until now, and hasn't even asked where his dormitory is.
As soon as he entered the store, Xie Qingyun began to look around curiously, scanning the shelves, and without stopping for long, he went straight to the warehouse at the back.
“Is this my workshop?”
"Yes." Shu Mo followed up, "If you think the area is not enough, I can still find a way to renovate it."
But it’s so expensive to add two items to the specialty counter, and I don’t know how many points I’ll need to expand the area of the facility.
Shu Mo was about to call out the system to ask, when he heard Xie Qingyun say, "No, that's enough."
"I don't have such high requirements for the working environment. This is big enough to put my workbench and furnace." He seemed quite satisfied. After saying this, he turned around and said, "Let's talk about salary."
When this was mentioned, Shu Mo felt a little distressed.
On Xie Qingyun's personal dashboard, the salary line was still followed by [To be determined] because Shu Mo had not yet decided on an appropriate salary for him.
When he was in the town before, Xie Qingyun was paid as the chief blacksmith. In addition to the fixed salary, he could also often take orders from other players to earn some extra money. According to the team leader's description, there was an endless stream of people who came to entrust Xie Qingyun with forging equipment, and many of them even came all the way from other places.
Excluding materials, the commission fee alone could be as little as a few hundred or as much as a few thousand points... Calculated this way, his income would probably rank among the top three in the entire town.
The other two are the town mayor and President Liu of the Pastors Association.
The town has taxes, and the association also takes a commission from every business transaction. These two people rely on a huge collective. But Xie Qingyun relied only on his craftsmanship.
It is not appropriate to offer such a person a salary that is too low - after Gu Xiao and the others came to the hot spring, their income basically increased or even doubled. It cannot be that when it comes to Gu Qingyun, their income has dropped drastically, right?
But if the price is too high, it will exceed Shu Mo's budget.
After all, this guy is such a big shot - if you pay him a salary based on his actual level, I'm afraid the number he gets would be terrifying.
Shu Mo was truly sad.
She hesitated for a moment and spoke a few seconds late, then she heard Xie Qingyun say, "Boss, I wonder if my salary can be exchanged for ore of corresponding value?"
"According to the current market price, a piece of Monster Sparrow Stone is about 1,000 points. Because the supply is unstable, the price sometimes fluctuates, but on average it's about this number. I don't need a salary. For every 1,000 points I earn, you can exchange it for a piece of ore of equal value."
Xie Qingyun had probably been thinking about it for a long time, and had made clear arrangements for himself with a sincere look in his eyes.
Shu Mo was speechless. Did he really come here with the intention of throwing himself at someone?
"Are you so short of ore?"
"Of course!" Xie Qingyun perked up when he said this. "I've always wanted to get some ores to study the properties of equipment, but research is bound to involve losses. When I was in the small town before, there were requirements for how each piece of ore could be used, so I couldn't use it freely. The quantity I collected at the market was very limited - every time there were several people fighting for a piece of ore, and I couldn't beat them at all."
He felt aggrieved. "After all, I'm not very well-informed. Every time I rush over, they're already sold out."
This is the downside of not going out on a daily basis.
Shu Mo looked at Xie Qingyun's thin body and thought that even if he went out, he might not be able to compete with those strong combat players.
If you meet a tank player whose arms are as thick as his thighs, you might be able to push him out of the final circle with just one slap.
It was precisely because of the huge demand for ore that Xie Qingyun rushed to the hot spring.
Nuannuan Hot Spring sounds like a privately-run place, which is completely different from the forging team in Guangming Town. The latter is employed by the government, so their actions are bound to be restricted, and even he is no exception.
"Boss, do you think this is okay?" he asked expectantly.
"If you think it's okay, then let's do it." Shu Mo felt relieved to be able to pay wages with ore. After all, to her, those ores were free. Besides, apart from this handicraft shop, there is really no other place in Hot Springs where you can consume them. She hesitated for two seconds. "From now on, we will give you 10 pieces of ore every month. Specifically, it will be Monster Bird Stone or Earth Essence Stone... You can choose any type that the inn currently has, as long as the total does not exceed 10 pieces. What do you think?"
Xie Qingyun: “!”
He nodded frantically, "Sure, sure, that's great!"
In the past, in the town, Xie Qingyun basically had a lot of money but couldn't spend it. Receiving one or two pieces of ore a month was enough to make him happy. Everyone envied him for earning so much, but for him, what was the use of having so many points if he couldn't buy important research materials?
I didn't expect that by changing my job location, I could actually get ten pieces of ore every month. Is this real?
What a magical place Nuannuan Hot Spring is!
From one or two yuan to ten yuan, the comparison made Xie Qingyun feel unreal as if he had become rich overnight.
He was so happy that he was bubbling with joy, and felt like he was floating. "Boss, you are such a good person."
Shu Mo, who was inexplicably given a nice guy card, said: "..."
She coughed lightly, pulling Xie Qingyun back to his senses as he flapped his wings and happily flew away. "Now that we've talked about salary, let's talk about work."
"As for the business model of this store, I plan to refer to the small handicraft stores in tourist attractions in the past, selling small items with commemorative and aesthetic value, mainly accessories, ornaments, and pendants. The specific content is up to you to decide."
She still believed in Xie Qingyun's aesthetic taste.
"I understand what you mean. These are very simple." Xie Qingyun nodded. "But there is a problem. I just walked around the main building and found that the products currently sold in the hot spring are basically in the price range of 10-50 points... I may not be able to offer such a low price for the things I make."
"——The raw materials alone are more than this price, and my output is limited. To balance the costs, the price cannot be low." Apart from the raw materials, if ten pieces of ore per month are converted into points, it is equivalent to Shu Mo paying 10,000 points of salary every month, which is all labor costs.
Xie Qingyun considered it very carefully.
"According to what you said, to make a sufficient profit, the price of a bracelet here would probably be more than 200 points." Shu Mo asked a very straightforward question, "With such a high price, do you think it can be sold?"
“I’m afraid it’s not a question of whether we can sell it or not.”
The two looked at each other, Xie Qingyun blinked and showed a sly smile.
He drawled out his words lazily, "...it's a question of whether they can get it or not."
The decadent aura around the young man gradually dissipated, revealing a sharp edge.
Shu Mo smiled, "Then sell it."
However, Xie Qingyun's words just now made her realize another problem.
His production capacity is limited, so he might need to import some other products to support the store so that the shelves don't have too much space.
This kind of handicraft shop is fun to visit only when it is fully stocked.
It would be best to get some affordable goods. Referring to the specialty counter, most of the goods are sold at a low price but in large quantities. The remaining handmade products of Xie Qingyun with exaggerated prices are specially supplied to special customers with needs, with the main focus on small quantity but high quality.
Otherwise, if ordinary customers see merchandise costing hundreds of points as soon as they enter the store, they will probably be scared away.
The two reached an agreement on the pricing, and Shu Mo asked again: "As for raw materials, do you have any other needs besides ore?"
She knew nothing about the life professions in the doomsday game, but referring to other games in the past world, this kind of rare ore is usually used as one of the main materials in forging, and is often combined with many other materials.
"You don't have to worry about that." Xie Qingyun flipped his hand and conjured up a few bundles of rope and a clay block. "I have a lot of basic materials such as hemp rope, clay, and wood in my backpack. I won't be able to use them all in a short time."
Materials like these are used in large quantities during forging, and they are stockpiled in quantities of several thousand, occupying several rows of space in the backpack.
"Even if they run out, it's easy to buy them back. They're everywhere in the market. These aren't problems."
After all, the biggest trouble - ore - had been easily solved by Shu Mo.
"However, the only thing that's a bit troublesome is the monster materials..." Xie Qingyun frowned, "After all, there are too many types of monsters in the game. It's hard to say which ones you'll need each time, so it's impossible to stock up in advance."
Sometimes, even if you just want to refine a piece of equipment, you have to go to more than a dozen stalls to collect all the materials. Nowadays, when opening a store, the quantity and variety required will only become more numerous and complex.
Xie Qingyun started to feel overwhelmed just thinking about the workload.
"I'll make a list first, boss, you can send someone to look for it in town." He scratched his head, "There are quite a lot of them, and some of them are not very common materials. I'm afraid it will take a few more days to get them. If we open the store in a few days, time will be tight. It's best to leave today-"
"Wait a minute."
Shu Mo interrupted Xie Qingyun, "First, tell me what materials you need, and the ones that are the most difficult to collect."
"Uh. Let me think about it." Xie Qingyun said, "For example, the fangs of the green leaf snake, the scales of the ghost butterfly..."
Although they are all drops from A-level monsters, there are differences in the explosion rates between different drops. For example, the probability of the ghost butterfly's scale powder appearing is only one twentieth of that of butterfly wings. If you are unlucky, you may not encounter anyone selling it for several days.
As for the other materials mentioned by Xie Qingyun, their rarity is about the same. As he said this, he felt a little nervous. Anyone who knows a little about the game would have given up after hearing this.
He looked up and glanced at Shu Mo quietly, only to find that she was staring at a certain point in the void, seemingly lost in thought.
"boss?"
"Ah, I found it."
Shu Mo's eyes suddenly lit up.
She rummaged through the backpack filled with messy materials for a long time, and found a small bottle in her hand. The powder inside glowed with colorful light in the sun. "Is this the ghost butterfly scale powder you mentioned?"
Xie Qingyun was stunned for a moment, then realized that Shu Mo was not in deep thought, but was looking at the light screen on his backpack.
"I didn't expect you to have it, boss. That's great. I can buy one less..."
As he spoke, he became a little hesitant.
Why does it feel like Shu Mo has no intention of stopping?
She continued to flip through the pages, and then she was delighted again, "So here it is! Look, the hair of a lightning leopard."
She stuffed a bunch of hair that was shining with electric light into Xie Qingyun's arms.
Xie Qingyun: “?”
This one too?
"Boss, you have quite a rich reserve of materials." He admired it.
"Wait, it's not over yet."
Shu Mo was still busy flipping through the pages. After a while, he handed over a handful of fangs.
"I have the fangs of a green leaf snake. I remember that I have them!... Are these enough?"
Xie Qingyun: “……?”
Is this thing calculated by the handful?
“And this.”
"this."
"Oh, by the way, take this too."
Shu Mo threw handfuls of precious materials to him like throwing cabbages. After a while, Xie Qingyun's arms were filled with a pile of shiny beads, sharp teeth and claws, and colorful body parts of monsters.
Xie Qingyun was shocked.
As a blacksmith, he has to deal with all kinds of materials on a daily basis. He thought his backpack was already messy enough, but he didn't expect that someone actually stockpiled more things than him, and the variety was even richer.
He watched Shu Mo's magic-like movements and recalled the description the team leader had given him of Mo Bai digging for ore.
...Are all the guests in your hotel Doraemon? ?
After a long while, Shu Mo finally stopped and asked uncertainly, "It should be almost done. Is there anything I missed?"
Xie Qingyun, who was already buried in the pile of materials, said: "...No, no more."
He made a weak sound from under the pile of materials.
"Boss, did you kill all these?"
Just looking at the quantity and quality of materials, the boss's killing efficiency is too terrifying.
Shu Mo paused and said naturally, "Yes."
It was his own barrier and his own summoned beast that killed him, so why doesn't it count as her killing?
As the hot spring expanded in size, especially after the annex was built, the barrier was further expanded and more and more monsters crashed into it every day. Shu Mo was too lazy to even activate his own skills and simply switched to automatic attack mode. He only patrolled once during his daily walk and picked up the materials dropped around him.
Anyway, she is the only one who can pick up those materials, so they won’t be stolen. She just needs to collect them before they disappear automatically.
As for the harvested materials, Shu Mo initially had the patience to see what monster dropped them, but later he was too lazy to even look at them, let alone sell them in the mall.
Over time, more and more materials piled up in the backpack. In addition, this was an advanced leveling area, so naturally the materials were mainly for A-level monsters, which just met Xie Qingyun's needs.
Hearing her indifferent reply, Xie Qingyun, a truly powerless rookie player with a combat power of 1, stood in awe.
“That’s amazing!”
The highest respect to the master of stockpiling.
In any case, having such a reliable boss is definitely the dream of every blacksmith.
Just think about it, every material he mentioned can actually be found in Shu Mo's backpack. How convenient that is!
[Obtain: [Storage Box]*1]
[Put in backpack]
Shu Mo put down a huge and heavy wooden box with a bang in the corner of the room.
You can refer to the treasure chest style that often appears in games and movies. After you open it, a panel will pop up in front of you.
There are a total of 500 storage slots, each of which can store up to 99 items, which is similar to a backpack.
The only difference is that you can't carry it with you and can't use it with other players.
[Item details: Player [Shu Mo]'s storage box]
[The following players can freely access items in the storage box: Shu Mo]
Shu Mo added Xie Qingyun's name to the list of available users, and then signaled him to put the pile of materials in.
Just in case (actually because she was too lazy to run back and forth), she threw in some other unused materials.
The backpack suddenly felt much fresher.
Xie Qingyun opened the storage box, looking at a dazzling treasure house, and couldn't help but remind him: "You are so confident in leaving these materials here, aren't you afraid that I will secretly embezzle them?"
It turns out that when you are in town, you need to submit an application to use any materials.
Although his applications are usually approved within seconds given his status, behind this lies the town's strict control system over materials.
The contrast of suddenly meeting a boss who doesn't care at all is so great that he can't get used to it for a while.
"Just use it." Shu Mo answered surprisingly straightforwardly.
"I don't go out very often, and these materials are of little use to me anyway. If you need materials during your research, just get them from here."
She really didn't seem to care.
"This, this is not good." Now even Xie Qingyun felt that it was inappropriate, "Even if it is useless now, maybe it will be needed in the future. How can you give it away for free? What if it is wasted?"
This is the end of the world where supplies are scarce. Monster materials that can be used to make weapons and equipment and have a wide range of uses can, to some extent, be considered strategic materials.
"I'm actually very curious, what do you collect the minerals for?" Shu Mo asked back.
Xie Qingyun was stunned, and answered subconsciously: "I want to explore the limits of weapons and equipment."
The same dagger that a level 60 assassin can equip, the standard T dagger sold in the mall may only have an attack power of 500, a better blacksmith can make it 600, and the one made by Xie Qingyun may have an attack power of 700.
...but he still felt it was not enough.
"If I can further increase this value, humans will be able to kill stronger monsters at the same level, and there will be a greater chance of survival." Xie Qingyun looked at her, "That means we are one step closer to clearing the level."
This answer was not particularly unexpected. Shu Mo had long felt that behind Xie Qingyun's unusual enthusiasm there must be a deeper obsession supporting him. But hearing his answer suddenly still made her heart waver.
Human beings’ courage to go against the current in the face of adversity is always touching.
Shu Mo calmed himself down and said softly, "Then I think these materials will definitely not be wasted."
Xie Qingyun was quiet for a moment.
After a while, he spoke: "It will take about a week to prepare the products. After a week, the handicraft store can be officially opened."
"I see. Thank you for your hard work."
Shu Mo nodded, "I will prepare the remaining goods within this week."
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