Chapter 86: A Bountiful Harvest at the Market Through Mutual Exchange
After a year of rapid development, Star Territory has taken in all the residents of the neighboring towns of Yunpei, Wenjia, and Dongyang, and has attracted a large number of casual players from other safe zones to settle there, reaching a population of 50,000.
In addition to the already bustling commercial street in the territory, an open-air market spontaneously formed in the southeast corner of the territory and quickly prospered.
There are no fixed shops here. Players can rent a stall with a clean bamboo mat for a small fee to sell the supplies they hunt or gather.
Early in the morning, players who returned from hunting yesterday would flood into the market with all sorts of materials, skillfully occupying stalls and neatly arranging their dazzling array of goods, waiting for customers to arrive.
Today was an ordinary day, but no one expected that just after 10 a.m., a large group of unfamiliar faces wearing heat-resistant protective suits suddenly poured into the market entrance. At a rough glance, there were about 180 people.
They rushed to the stall, showing great interest in the common materials that were already commonplace in the area and even somewhat difficult to sell.
"How much for these scorching gravel? Forget it, I'll buy them all from your stall."
"Look over here! There are actually such high-quality desert giant scorpion stingers for sale here."
"My God, is this paradise? I've been searching for this thing for years without any clues, how come I even have this?"
The shouts of the visitors instantly ignited the previously quiet market.
Before the player who specialized in selling leather goods from monsters had fully woken up from his early morning drowsiness, four or five well-equipped players swarmed around his stall.
"This lava lizard's molted skin is absolutely amazing!" A player with a scarred face picked up a piece of dark red, shiny leather with subtle heat wave patterns, his voice filled with undisguised surprise.
"Back in our area, to get one this complete, you'd have to spend days camping out near a lava cave. I never expected to find several here. Boss, how much are they?"
The stall owner, who had been somewhat dazed, snapped out of his daze and hurriedly quoted a price, feeling a little uneasy. His goods were always more expensive than those of other stall owners, and many people were unwilling to buy them. He wondered if the stranger in front of him was the same way.
As a result, the other party only gave a token amount, paid the bill readily, picked up the leather, and turned to rush to the stall next door.
Stall owner: "?? Who are these people?"
In the southwest corner of the market, a young female priest had just completed a transaction. Looking at the materials she had collected, she said with a hint of regret, "If only I could collect the Nightmare Demon materials, I haven't gathered all the materials to upgrade my staff yet."
Although she spoke softly, the stall owner, who had just finished trading with her, caught it. He immediately looked up and enthusiastically called the generous priest player back: "Does the guest need any more Nightmare materials? I have plenty of Nightmare drops in stock."
As he spoke, he magically pulled out two large bamboo baskets from under the stall and poured their contents onto a thick cloth.
Suddenly, various Nightmare Demon parts piled up into a small mountain, dazzling the female priest.
The stall owner rubbed his hands together in a good mood and introduced, "To be honest, we spawn these kinds of monsters frequently, and we have a lot of materials accumulated. How much do you want? If it's a large quantity, I'll definitely give you a good price!"
Although the drop rate of Nightmare materials is not high, they respawn quickly and in large quantities. They are usually sold slowly in the local market and often take several days to sell out.
The female pastor was also pleasantly surprised. She hadn't expected to find so many materials here, even though she had searched all around her safe zone. After rummaging through the mountain of materials, she said generously, "Give me ten more pairs of those demon eyeballs. I forgot about these tentacles and slime."
One of them managed to buy the scarce enchanting materials they desperately needed, while the other quickly cleared out their inventory. Both were in high spirits, and with their good mood came more talkativeness.
Through conversation, it was learned that the Star Territory opened a teleportation channel today, and most of the players who dared to be among the first to enter the unknown Star Territory were high-level players with great enthusiasm for exploring the game.
Therefore, compared to the unique attractions in Star Territory, the market is more popular with this group of people.
The female mage came from the largest priest association in Dongling City. Today, the teleportation channel between Star Territory and Dongling City opened, and her original intention was actually to come here for sightseeing.
Unexpectedly, the market here had so many materials she originally needed; it was as if she had come here specifically to buy materials.
Some of the more astute individuals took the opportunity to inquire about the types of scarce resources in Dongling City, keeping them in mind so they could keep an eye out for them on their next demon-hunting trip.
These guests from the three major cities were generous spenders with a large demand for materials, and their efficiency in clearing out the market was like that of a tireless shopping machine.
After nightfall, the daytime heat is regulated to a comfortable temperature by the barrier.
Far from being deserted, the market became even more lively under the lights and in the night breeze. Some stall owners were restocking their goods, while others were packing up, and everyone's face was beaming with smiles.
On this day, the stall owners at the market had a bumper harvest, with their inventory basically emptied and their wallets much fuller.
Meanwhile, at the food delivery lane, the first group of travelers, fully loaded with their orders, were queuing up to return home.
It wasn't that they didn't want to stay overnight; it was just that Star Territory was too popular, and they couldn't get a hotel bed.
In the group, several out-of-town players from Beihai City drank iced milk tea and exclaimed, "This trip was totally worth it!"
His companion, rummaging through his backpack, replied in a moment, "That's right. Where we're from, materials are fought over, but here they're sold like cabbages."
"And have you noticed? The high-temperature environment materials here are particularly complete and of high quality. Many heat-resistant materials that have disappeared or are extremely scarce in our area can be found here."
A player in the queue next to him took a leisurely sip of his bubble tea with pearls and interjected, "I reckon it's because of the environment here. When I first teleported here today, I specifically explored the area where Star Territory is located. It's a hot and arid zone, with desert covering 80% of the area. The monsters here tend to be heat-resistant, so it's normal that there are many heat-resistant resources."
"Hey bro, where are you from? You're so professional!"
"Me? I'm from Dongling City."
"No wonder. Dongling City used to have many top universities and experts in various industries. I didn't expect them to be so professional in games as well."
Listening to the chatter in the team, someone suddenly exclaimed, "If you ask me, the game should have added a teleportation function a long time ago. The map is so big, and the resources that spawn in different places are different. I never thought that the materials I've been searching for for so long would be so common here. Buying them for such a cheap price feels like a windfall."
This resonated with many. "That's true. If we can't get the materials in the future, we can choose to spend some money to teleport them over. Even if we can't find them in Star Territory, there are players in other cities. We can exchange resources from several places together, which is much easier than searching for resources by ourselves."
"This is all thanks to the Star Territory. If it weren't for the teleportation channel they provided, we wouldn't be here."
As everyone looked toward the gradually bustling night market, they all shared the same thought: "Now I finally understand why our city is making such a big fuss about establishing a teleportation channel with the Star Territory."
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Author's Note: It's the end of the year, and the unfortunate oxen and horses are back to working overtime every day. Today was even worse; I had already gone home, but my boss called me back to work overtime.
Today's chapter is short and concise, I hope you enjoy reading it.
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