《The life of a merchant in vrmmo》 Chapter one: no regulations When I chose to be a merchant the words game over did not cross my mind but now as I look at the market rates I am having my doubts Weak health potion (132%) Lesser Health potion (178%) Lesser Mana potion (143%) Apples (124%) Brandy (167%) Raw Rabbit meat (57%) Leather (67%) The game has lunched less than 24 hour ago and the market rates have already been pushed to extremes by the horde of players selling and buying without a care to poor merchant apprentices like me and as low a level as I am (lvl 0) I cannot leave the city and trade with other places and with the way the fields outside the city I probably won¡¯t get a single kill and to make things worse if I don¡¯t finish this quest in the time limit I won¡¯t have a second chance *A golden opportunity* Merchant guild mediator Tristan have asked you to show your capability as a merchant by turning a single silver coin to a golden one Quest requirement: class quest Reward: gain relation with the merchant guild Time left: 19 hours 32 minutes I have already seen others give up or invest real world money to buy silver from other players. And since even a single silver coin would be a rare site this early on in the game I cannot afford to use that method and as a merchant apprentice I did not have access to haggling skill not that it would be any useful with the market rates this extreme All I had was accounts Accounts (max lvl) Market rates can be seen Oh it was a useful skill that gave a merchant a huge advantage when trading But currently it¡¯s useless to me. I sat near the fountain in the square to think about my current situation I have one silver and I need to turn it to one gold coin that¡¯s 10x the value The prices of Things like potions food are above 150% so I cannot make a profit by reselling them on the other hand prices of raw materials like rabbit meat and skin are plummeting and they will keep going down in the near future so buying them will only lead to a loss Looking around I saw were most of the players are and I got an idea for the next 10 minutes I went around the shops and checked the market rates again just to confirm my theory I then went and bought health potions with all my money for 180% since the market rates rose once more I got 11 bottles of lesser health potions and a single copper coin left it should¡¯ve gotten me 20 bottles since the original price is 5 coppers. The inflation was insane I sat opposite of an item shop and displayed my health potions for 10 coins each (200%of original price) obviously no one bought any there were many shops that sold potions and it¡¯s not like there was a waiting line so I just sat and started thinking about other options. Soon the average level of players will rise and they will try to get new equipments better potions and when they are bored of butchering low level mobs the prices of food and drinks will soar like it does in every holiday. While I contemplated on what to do a voice called to me -hello I looked up and there was a girl smiling down at me -I would like to buy some potions please -sure I said that while looking at the time twenty minutes have already passed surely the prices haven¡¯t rose this fast -but umm can you give me a discount She said that with a shameless smile -I am sorry but I cannot afford to lower the prices Your feminine charm will not work here I am afraid -fine then I will take 3 potions please She said that with a frown and left. After her a warrior came and bought five and the two archers after that bought the rest I bought these potions for 9 coins (180%) and sold them for 10 (200%) so I made 11 coppers in a half an hour I sighed at my meager profit margin How am I going to feed my children this way I said to myself while I walked to the nearest item shop there was something odd that I needed to confirm? When I looked at the potion price it rose 2% in ten minutes but in half an hour I managed to sell them for 20% more Looking at the markets rates again confirmed my doubts Lesser health potion (212%) It has rose by 32% in half an hour Looking around the town square has shown me why. it seems like every merchant apprentice in town had the same idea and they are buying potions from the item shop and reselling them to the players and it seems like they pushed the prices even higher It seems that this method will make even less profits now not that it had made much to start with so I left and again I walked around the city looking for another way to make money Soon the average level of players will rise and the price of lesser potions will fall in exchange for better potions rise as demand change and those idiots will lose their investment Maybe I should buy better potions and stock them until their price rises but looking at the price of a weak potion changed my mind Stolen novel; please report.Weak heath potion (100%) 30 coppers 30 coppers that means 3 bottles for a long time investment No it will take too long and will not yield much profit Looking again around the market I noticed that on the other hand the prices of rabbit meat and leather have kept falling Raw rabbit meat (48%) Rabbit pelt (53%) If I am correct and things keep going in the same direction then prices of food armors and weapons will rise too at first I thought of getting a production skill like cooking and tanning but I found that will be quite hard when the skill and tools cost no less than 5 silver coins Then another thought came to me as I started walking away from the main square I may not have the funds to manipulate the market rates but others do all I needed to do is guide them into that endeavor The game has been up for several hours several players had moved on into stronger monsters and the competition to buy from them is insane And soon most players will move on from rabbits and the supply will almost stop All that is left is to empty the market from the current I walked around the town and offered every merchant to buy all the pelts that he can get for 3 coppers which is 25% more than the current rate thankfully only few had pelts or this wouldn¡¯t work but I did spend most of my money and bought 36 pelts Few people gave me suspicious looks but most of them were too tempted by my offer to think it through Once I was done I entered a small shop and already the market rates had changed a lot Rabbit pelts (87%) I waited for five minutes before selling for 118% I sold my pelts for 169 coppers I had now 172 coppers to spend I went to three merchants that I went to early on and hoped that they didn¡¯t notice the rise in the market rates and bought all the pelts that they had for 3 coppers (75%) I got 57 pelts and had one copper left I managed to sell them for 138% 314 coppers of profit I walked around the city again and bought from merchants that didn¡¯t know that the prices rose and apologized to others telling them I can¡¯t afford the price they offered And they couldn¡¯t disagree since I offered to buy for 75% but for some reason the prices rose sharply I did end up with 105 pelts Back at the shop the sudden rise in price has subsided at 172% and I managed to sell my pelts for 600 copper coins I doubted that I would find anyone still willing to sell for 75% but I did look around and I did find a two who didn¡¯t go to a shop in a while and got 25 pelts from them and I sold them for 67 coins of profit I had now 6 silver coins and 67 coppers For now I wanted to play it safe I went and bought cooking tools and a recipe for rabbit meat The sun was setting now and it was the perfect time for a food stall I bought meat souse Salt and pepper with the rest of my money I started grilling the meat as people started crowding around The first patch wasn¡¯t very great so I sold it for 15 coppers After three more patches I got the cooking skill *Cooking (lvl 1) : as your culinary skill rises the food that u make tastes better and more refined For being the first to acquire the cooking skill in the server you have gained a title Fame +50 All stats +1 *The first chief: the way of to a chief is a long one and those who begin it earlier will have a head start Charm +5 Ding You have unlocked a unique stat Charm: interactions with npc¡¯s become easier Fame stats and and a new stat this is too good. my money is already well spent even if I don¡¯t make profit the taste of the food I made became much better and since I was the only one making food currently I managed to keep raising the price until in no time I had made more than a gold coin After the line has ended and the last player left I walked to the merchant guild and paid my due -well done I didn¡¯t expect you to return so early here is your merchant badge Ding Would you like to change your class to a specialized merchant once you do you may learn class only skills Yes| no I tapped the yes button as fast as I could Ding For being the first to acquire a merchant class variant in the server you have gained a new title Fame +50 All stats +1 Ding You have acquired a new skill Haggling (lvl1): Prices of goods can be negotiated easier and more favorably with npc¡¯s Ding You have acquired a new skill Appraisal (lvl1): appraisal of items can be made to detect their true value Ding Escape (lvl1): when targeted by enemies speed is increased by 50% -Jackpot Haggling is god send for a merchant appraisal will be very valuable as well and escape is insanely good chapter two : trade routs While trading yesterday I had went up 2 levels and with two titles I had quite the stat boost I thought about stat distribution but I decided to delay that because I did not Know what I needed Current funds: 1 gold 7 silver 52 coppers I was now at a crossroad my food stall was making a decent income and I started adding new Types of dishes on the other hand my specialized merchant class shine bests when trading long Distances and trade even if it had risks could make more profits The city I started in was called Udan. It was a capital of a small principality and had port to The west Talking to people around the city and to merchants several things became clear to me The region around the city had a cold climate so not every food type could be grown here Things like rye and wheat are the stable food fruits and wines are considered luxury goods Here which I could see in the market rates on the other hand whisky and gin are cheap and Abundant I knew that I could not go on a long journey I simply did not have the funds to make it profitable All I could do is go to nearby towns and trade between them and the city Short and not very profitable but all I had Going to the markets Gin (93%) 1 silver 39 coppers Whisky (98%) 98 coppers I decided to invest in gin even if it costs more Thanks to my fame and charm haggling managed to lower the price to 91% And got 12 bottles of gin for 1 gold 6 silvers and 38 coppers which left me with 1 silver and 14 coppers My plan was simple buy gin from the city and sell it to the villages and buy grain from the Villages and sell it in the city The closest village should be half an hour to the west. so i better get going As I walked away from the city less And less players were seen and soon I was the only on the roads The way was relatively safe sense it¡¯s a small distance from the city Though I did notice couple monsters but they were a good distance from the road that I Didn¡¯t worry and I made it to the village safely The village of Helde was small and it didn¡¯t have many buildings I headed to the trader to Check the Current rates Gin (97%) Though it was abundant and there was a good supply of gin it was not produced locally The village didn¡¯t have a brewery like the city so they have to buy it from the city After several attempts at haggling I managed to raise the price to 98% And sold my gin for 1 gold 7 silver and 64 coppers And that translates into 1 silver and 26 coppers of profit and some exp Next is to buy wheat and take it back to the city Wheat (86%) 4 coppers I managed to buy it for 85% I got 469 units of wheat and was left with two coppers The journey back took more time because I had to rest when my stamina was depleted Thankfully I didn¡¯t get attacked and I decided to put all my stats in agility to raise my speed And stamina a bit even with that it took me fifty minutes but I finally got back to Udan The rates for wheat were 93% but I managed to raise it to 95% So I ended up with 2 gold 2 silver and 29 coppers I took a different gate and headed towards a different village sense I needed to find the best Route and to didn''t want to raise the rates in the villages but mostly for safety The next village had favorable rates as well and I made 3 silver and 34 coppers with my gin However the trader here was different -I heard Tomoe had a good harvest this year -oh where is this Tomoe -oh are you interested its five miles east from here but the road is a bit too dangerous for You -I see thank you for telling me So npc¡¯s could give valuable information like these I decided to skip the dangerous route and go back to the city This time I was very nervous some players had saw me walk away alone and they might Follow or try to ambush me on my way back so I didn¡¯t go over weight and didn¡¯t buy much And I was right to do so As I walked from behind the trees the two players from before were engaging a three Horned deer one of them noticed me and started pointing at me while talking to his friend This was my queue to leave as I started running away one of them in light armor disengaged And started running after me while his heavy armored friend kept fighting the deer This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.He was gaining at me at first but after I used my escape skill he stopped and just gawked at My speed As soon as he stopped targeting me my speed fell down to normal but he had already given Up and returned to his friend who was having a hard time fighting alone My first encounter with robbers has went better than I could hope for ***** Back in Udan every one was speaking about the dungeon that was discovered recently it Was a cave 2 miles south east of the city checking the market rates it seemed everyone And there mother was getting supplies and rushing off I seen some merchants buying food and potions and heading in the same direction as most Of the players probably to set shops at the entrance Not a bad Idea except that everyone had it at the same time so I don¡¯t thing I can hop in And it seems the prices managed To stay as high as ever Lesser health potion (187%) Lesser mana potion (158%) Weak health potion (213%) Weak mana potion (163%) Intermediate health potion (123%) I have noticed that the prices rose in the nearby towns that I visited It seems that they as well bought potions from the alchemists of Udan So there wasn¡¯t a huge difference in market rates and it seems someone was stockpiling Intermediate health potions for when the demand rises None of the villages I visited had much production beside foodstuff so they relied on the city Of Udan for most of the things they need except for food I decided to avoid most of the players by going north I still needed information on the nearby villages and what they produced before choosing The best routes 40 minutes later I reached the first village Ding *you have discovered the village of Zama Zama a small settlement built three generations ago by Shepherds from Udan Fame +100 So I am the first to go this far north. Talking to the villagers I found out the next village is at Least half a day to the north and from what I could see this village lived on raising sheep¡¯s And that was shown on the market prices Wool (83%) 41 coppers Lard (87%) 1 silver 74 coppers Lamb meat (91%) 2 silver 73 coppers They all had favorable rates wool was the cheapest and had the lowest rate then again I Could afford to reach my weight cap with lard lamb meat was a bit too expensive and too Heavy so I bought all the lard I could get and one piece of wool and one piece of lamb meat To see how much I could get for them I managed to get 14 pieces of lard one slice of lamb meat and a small bag of wool and was Left with 14 coppers I spent 10 to get some rye bread and headed back to the city It took me an hour to get back to the city taking a few detours to avoid both players and Monsters Lard fetched a whopping 2 silvers and 16 coppers (106%) Wool for (97%) and lamb meat for (118%) This time I didn¡¯t sell my goods and went to the eastern gate towards the first village I visited Today When I came to Helde earlier today I didn¡¯t see any animals so they should pay more And I was right Lard (132%) Wool (119%) Lamb meat (143%) I expected a rise in price but not this much Oh I didn¡¯t complain and sold my goods and holly molly I made 4 gold coins 1 silver and 84 More than one gold of profit and enough exp to reach the next level Coppers this is the route that I should use Zama to Helde And if I can get a good price for goods from Helde in Zama then this route should be very Efficient time wise I fell in the trance for several hours From Zama to helde back and forth Some people tried to rob me but no one was as fast as I was giving danger my back After all two thirds of courage is running away -I hate walking -I hate monsters -and I hate other people with a passion When I woke up from my trance I had gained 5 extra levels and had 15 gold coins and 2 silver and 30 coppers I could now buy a mule and a carriage but I think that will mark me as a piggy bag for others To smash But nevertheless I am starting to think it¡¯s time to move into grander project Chapter three: trading company A man that called himself ¡°Mr. M¡± came to my stall today My name is Joe and my character is called vagabond For the last half a day I have been trading in Udan and I am far from making a single gold coin to get the merchant class The man who called himself ¡°Mr. M¡± made me a very tempting offer He said that he already acquired the merchant class and that he is going to start a trading company he offered to help me get the quest done and offered to give me information¡¯s on valuable trade routes he said that as he pulled to gold coins and started rubbing them together And all I had to do is go and buy with his money on the rates that he say and I can keep all the profits that I make with my own money The offer was too good so I was suspicious He looked at me as if he knew what I was thinking and then he told me if I was interested I can find him in front of the merchant guild **** Another one has came -oh welcome I see that you decided to join -yeah I am ready where do I sigh up -oh the company is not official yet but I can make a contract through the merchant guild - I see a contract -here it is you can see it He studied the contract for several minutes then he looked at me and agreed -good here is what you¡¯re going to do I am going to give you 50 silver coins and trade goods you will take the north gate and head to a town called Zama ill locate it on your map Sell the goods I give to you and then you will buy wool or lard I will tell you which one add me to my friend list and you will contact me before selling or buying anything Here is your goods and good luck The boy ran north smiling with him I now have 15 employees Ding *Tori is sending you a whisper -boss here are the market rates in Helde -good job tori get me barley this time -ok boss and here is the screen shots The screen shot were a safety precaution to make sure no one try and cheats me I have 5 trading from Udan to Zama 5 others from helde and Udan And I have sent three to tomoe but they haven¡¯t reported back yet One is sitting near the southern gate and helping me keep an eye on the market rates while the last one was killed and forced to log out Still In two hours we have made the equivalent of twenty journeys from Zama to Helde My minions would run back to me with goods and treasure while I sat and worked on my cooking skill My lamb stake is doing very good if I may say so Harald came back from Zama he gave me the goods and money I gave him fifty silvers and the goods that Eva just brought from Helde I was making much more than I ever could by my self And I was spreading the love around by giving 5% of the profits to my minions -um hello I looked up at the awkward looking creature in front of me and noticed his name ¡°nail¡± -I heard that you help people who want to be merchants -you are mistaken this is not a charity I am simply running a business here and they are working to earn their pay -um in that case can you offer me a job please One look at him and I could already see him trip and fall on his face at the site of the first highway thief he face But yet again I could use more manpower for the company to grow and for some reason I felt like helping this guy -how long have you been in the game -this is my first day -did you get the merchant class change quest -I did -and how is your progress -ah I have 58 coppers now He actually lost money now that I think about it he did buy some of my stake He would definitely be useless as a trader -very well I will hire you wait here I went to the merchant guild to draft a new contract Then I went to and got a knitting set and a recipe book called sewing basics I showed him the contract and he signed it without looking at it -so where do I begin will you send me off like those guys or do you want me to trade in the city -neither. You will work as a cloth maker I bought you a knitting kit and here take this recipe book as well I will give you wool for now and you will make woolen fabric for now -ah I was hoping to do some trade -I am giving you a silver coin an hour A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.-what -read your contract I wasn¡¯t sure how much profit woolen fabric will make but I knew but I knew it had a higher base price and later on he would be able to make better stuff He was still shocked as he started sewing next to me. It seemed that a silver coin was much more than he could ever wish for In the next hour I had hired four more minions 3 I added to my growing sewing business and one to my humble restaurant Woolen fabric was doing quite good that¡¯s why I added 3 more into it The base price for woolen fabric in town was 2 silvers compared to 1.5 for raw wool and it went for (97%) here in Udan But it went for (123%) in Helde I wonder if the prices will go up in winter But of course it will until now I haven¡¯t seen a difference from trade in this world and a primitive version of that in ours When the sun was closed to setting I asked everyone to rush back to the city or stay in there villages Except for the team I sent to Tomoe every one of my minions has reported back -it¡¯s time for the first company meeting I rented a private dining room in a restaurant for privacy -I hope everyone has gotten to know each other Everyone stopped talking and gathered around me -I have already registered our official trading company an hour ago I sent them the invitation request and spoke -welcome to the golden chain trading company I got a few smiles at that -Eve will be appointed as treasurer and Maxwell as vice president. I stopped for a second then continued Sadly we cannot have a company house at the moment since the cheapest plot is more than a thousand gold coins That should be our company goal for the near future and we should establish our self in this region after that I am open for suggestions but I have some plans of my on I stopped for a second to see of anyone wanted to say anything -I have a suggestion The one who spoke was the awkward kid nail -we should have a uniform it will make us stand out and bring a sense of unity and belonging That was actually a good idea -sure as long as it¡¯s practical if everyone agrees nail here will be in charge o it I gave him a thumbs up as he turned red from the attention he got -can you make a big hat -how about a skirt for the girls -what color do you have in mind He actually spoke at that and said golden because our company name I actually liked that and found it very appropriate -I have a suggestion as well This time it was Eve that spoke -we should recruit more people and make permanent posts in the nearby villages Well that goes without saying I nodded at that -how about getting carriages or some sort of animal to transport more goods The one who spoke was Maxwell -Wouldn¡¯t that make us a target for bandits? -true He answered without adding anything else -How about we hire guards then Said Vaco this time -that will be expensive Answered Eve -by the way how much do we have to spend She took the opportunity to ask me -I spent 50 gold coins already to register the company Some almost fell when I said that while others just stir in their seats -that leaves us with 87 coins. Gold that is we had a great hall today I said that as I smiled ¡°But the problem with hiring guards is that they might get tempted and rob us them selves When I registered our company I was told that once we establish a company house we can hire locals as employees I assume that means we can hire npc¡¯s if that include npc guards then our problem will be solved¡± Everyone nodded at that -Any other suggestions -No one. Then we should get back to business the expedition to Tomoe have reported earlier today prices of grain and food stuff is as low as 70% while fish is the highest at 113% We need to change our trade routes accordingly Grain will be bought in Tomoe taken to Helde were we will have a trading post from Helde other merchants will take the grain to Udan while taking woolen fabrics and fish to Helde -Grain will be taken by the Zama to sell and they will bring back wool -Everyone agrees -good then this meeting is over