Chapter 304: New Cooperation

Chapter 304: New Cooperation

Right now, even though many people were trapped by these miscellaneous functions, there were actually even more traps afterwards. Those miscellaneous functions would definitely be developed by the merchants who had learned their lessons later on. Although they might not be hidden gems like food delivery, they could still bring some benefits… All of these were sources of mana income, and those miscellaneous functions would need time to develop.

Zheng Yichen was too lazy to operate them himself and let those merchants and other forces fall into the trap and develop them. Zheng Yichen was happy to see it happen. Even if the functions were small, they were still a big factor in winning people’s hearts, right?

Besides food delivery, Zheng Yi also had an extra plan. However, this plan was not like the online store, where he could just create a platform and the merchants would fight to join in for a new advantage. The extra plan could not work that way. He had to talk to the target source first before he could proceed with the next steps.

Otherwise, if the other party simply refused to acknowledge it on their own, it would be meaningless. Unless Zheng Yichen created a web version of the Mercenary Guild… But the Mercenary Guild was like the Merchant Alliance, both involving huge interests. Even powerful nations could not easily touch them.

Just doing nothing and trying to take this business would be very difficult. The Trading Zone increased the exchange of goods and business scope for the merchants, which was very beneficial to them, so it gained support. This was not stealing business; it was a mutually beneficial cooperation that didn’t require much negotiation. However, the Mercenary Guild was not the Merchant Alliance; it wasn’t about commerce. Zheng Yichen could ignore them and create an intermediary platform, but considering all aspects, this was not the best choice.

If he reached a consensus with them, he could easily achieve greater results. Why would he do something that was hard and not rewarding? Even if that approach succeeded after some time, it wouldn’t bring only good things. It would be like pushing the Mercenary Guild to the opposite side. If he just took a small step back, which wouldn’t cause any loss to himself, he could pull the other party onto his own chariot. Why choose the worst option?

What made Zheng Yichen a bit worried was how exactly he should solve this matter. Meeting face-to-face was definitely impossible; now was not the time to expose his identity. A web appointment? That was indeed possible, but Zheng Yichen couldn’t find the main person. Searching for some information could find some branch presidents, but doing so was a bit troublesome…

“Ugh~ Tsk, better just deal with the trouble,” Zheng Yichen muttered to himself, slightly conflicted. To be reasonable, although the Creator was very approachable on the Forum, actively lowering himself to discuss matters with someone felt like it diminished his prestige. “Taking a step back opens up a broader view. I can’t let a little success give me some bad habits.”

Zheng Yichen muttered and created a Confidential Post. He @-mentioned some Mercenary Guild presidents. Considering certain factors, their replies were only visible to Zheng Yichen himself. Otherwise, regarding the content involved, before Zheng Yichen could say much, those people might start arguing among themselves once they found out. These people all understood the weight of the Creator’s identity. Any branch president who noticed they had been @-mentioned by the Creator immediately put down what they were doing and entered this Confidential Post.

They saw the main content of the post at first glance, and their eyes lit up. This… After more than half a month, the Creator finally couldn’t resist reaching his hand towards the Mercenary Guild?

Well, saying “reaching his hand” might not be quite right. From the content, the Creator’s actions seemed inclined towards a kind of cooperation. However, this matter was simply not something these branch presidents could decide. They had to report it to the overall president. Moreover, this was a Confidential Post. Anyone who wasn’t @-mentioned couldn’t enter. Among those @-mentioned, there was no ID for their overall president. Besides, the overall president’s ID was also confidential now. Usually, he might be secretly observing the activities of these branch presidents on the Magic Weapon Forum.

The functions of this Forum were becoming increasingly complete. There was already a function to follow certain entities, especially the Creator, whose follower count was always number one. After that came various famous figures. Surprisingly, Dan Marina’s ID on the Forum also had a very high follower count. Similarly, due to the Forum’s culture, a phenomenon called “fans” was just beginning to emerge.

Although Zheng Yichen hadn’t revealed too much related information, as branch presidents of the Mercenary Guild scattered across this world, they all possessed abilities matching their positions. Even if someone was incompetent, they had sufficient insight; otherwise, they couldn’t have stayed in their positions for long. If there were exceptions, it was purely because their backing was strong enough.

But even if someone was incompetent, they wouldn’t babble nonsense at this moment. Zheng Yichen had contacted dozens of branch presidents. An incompetent person here couldn’t cause any waves. Moreover, these branch presidents were also very far apart from each other. Even if they wanted to discuss extra matters, there was no opportunity. Zheng Yichen wasn’t worried about someone trying to fish in troubled waters. Even if they did, it didn’t matter, as long as enough results could be produced. He didn’t care who exactly made the connection.

Although those branch presidents had some guesses, before Zheng Yichen expressed his specific intentions, all guesses were meaningless. Even if someone was bold enough to try to probe, Zheng Yichen simply wouldn’t reveal any information. He only unilaterally offered a bounty for the contact information of the Mercenary Guild’s overall president. He didn’t plan to let everyone know about this for now.

Zheng Yichen not revealing any information made those branch presidents quite worried. They all clearly understood this was an opportunity. If this didn’t work, the Creator could simply post a new thread. Just by marking in the thread that he needed to discuss some matters with the Mercenary Guild’s overall president, he could pretty much settle this matter. As for impersonators, at this stage, no one dared to fool the Creator in this regard.

Now that the Creator was doing this, it was simply because he didn’t want too many people to know about this matter. Therefore, this was a rare opportunity. Normally, they couldn’t contact the guild’s overall president even if they wanted to. But now they had such a good chance to show their faces. How could they miss it? Just leaving an impression meant that in the future, if there were any special matters, there would be a greater chance for them to be involved. These were opportunities for advancement. Moreover, if this matter brought sufficiently great influence to the guild.

That would be even better. Sufficient influence meant leaving a deeper impression on the overall president. This was an even rarer, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

In short, the opportunity could not be missed. Plus, they couldn’t see each other’s comments, and even the IDs were only visible to the poster, which completely eliminated the possibility of these branch presidents communicating privately afterwards. To grasp such an opportunity, they had to rely on their own abilities. Therefore, after learning some details of the matter from the Creator, they immediately mobilized their connections. The problem of distance?

Before the Magic Weapon Forum existed, some branch presidents located far from the Mercenary Guild headquarters might have felt helpless, lamenting that the time was not right. But now, this thing could largely ignore distance restrictions, allowing them to easily contact friends and flexibly operate their network of connections. And the cost was just some mana. Why wouldn’t they do it?

Of course, location was also an advantage. At least those branch presidents near the headquarters had a greater advantage. But now, given their conditions, they could still strive for it.

The biggest problem was that none of them knew what the overall president’s Forum ID was. They hadn’t dared to investigate before. Now, with such a great opportunity, they could not only show themselves but also investigate the overall president’s ID. After all, the matter was big enough; the overall president definitely wouldn’t pursue this. Since it was directly related to the Creator, if they got into trouble, they could just shift the blame onto the Creator later.

“Hmm~ Really slow,” Zheng Yichen stared at the Confidential Post he had made. He had even finished his daily production of Power Cores, but there was still no effective reply in the post. Instead, those branch presidents who hadn’t seen the @-mention information immediately were now asking in the post about the result. Zheng Yichen had the mood to reply to one or two, but as more asked, he couldn’t be bothered. He directly posted a new comment in the thread: as long as he didn’t explicitly say there was a result, then there was no result. Stop babbling here and hurry up and work hard.

“Ah~ Hah~ The efficiency is really low. Tsk, thinking about it carefully, it’s not strange,” Zheng Yichen yawned. Although the Magic Weapon Summoning Book could be used like a phone… this thing was ultimately under his own control. It wasn’t like on Earth where some special individuals had their own independent secret communication lines, completely under their control, so they felt at ease using them. Here? How could they feel at ease using it?

Low efficiency was normal… right?

Tsk, he should have asked Dan Marina earlier… The thought had just appeared when Zheng Yichen shook it out of his head. Finding her would indeed be convenient, but if he sought her out for every matter, if it were some emergency, it would be understandable. But doing so for something he could personally solve was another matter. He wasn’t that young anymore and had sufficient abilities. There really was no reason to overly rely on others.

Encountering some difficulties and seeking others, Zheng Yichen was worried that continuing like this would only make his initiative completely passive. This was not good for his current situation… Even if he wanted to be a lazy person, he should first secure the conditions to be lazy by his own efforts.

Fortunately, after waiting until the next day, Zheng Yichen received an effective reply, making him, who felt he had waited quite a while, light up. He immediately contacted the other party privately. Was one day considered a long wait? This was probably a habit developed from being spoiled on Earth. Like recharging a game card or phone credit, getting it within thirty seconds felt normal.

Exceeding one minute would start making him wonder if he recharged the wrong number.

With this branch president who communicated with Zheng Yichen serving as a bridge, Zheng Yichen successfully contacted the Mercenary Guild’s overall president. The other party’s ID was a very ordinary name, probably a pseudonym, not their real name. After confirming the other party’s information, Zheng Yichen used Contract information to further verify. The other party’s strength was among the top among Magic Weapon Summoners. Given that, it was unlikely to be fake.

—Although it may seem rude, I must state in advance, please do not impersonate someone. This will come at a great cost!

Without much introduction to the main topic, Zheng Yichen spoke very directly and clearly. The other party didn’t seem to mind much either, just replied “feel free,” and then began asking what exactly Zheng Yichen intended to do by seeking him out. Perhaps some people used to look down on the Creator, but now the Creator had really stirred up quite a few things. Even if not strength-oriented, the subsequent impact of these matters involved too many forces.

Those who used to look down on him had also begun to take the Creator seriously. Now that the Creator actively sought him out, as the overall president of the Mercenary Guild, he dared not look down on him. The Mercenary Guild was far from as simple as it appeared on the surface. As the overall president, although he had sufficient authority, it didn’t mean he wielded power alone. Right now, as he spoke directly with Zheng Yichen, several important figures from the guild were observing by his side.

The cost of impersonation? He was the overall president, so there was no such thing as impersonation. What cost would he bear?

“Not afraid at all, must be eighty percent genuine…” Zheng Yichen looked at the overall president’s information and nodded. After replying, the other party had changed his ID. The name was simple and crude: Mercenary Guild Overall President. This ID really wasn’t something ordinary people could use. If discovered using it, they would really be beaten to death.

Of course, with just this simple confirmation, Zheng Yichen didn’t fully believe it. Later, he would have Dan Marina confirm it slightly. But what if the other party was really fake? So what? At most, some of his plans were known to others earlier. As long as the other party couldn’t represent the Mercenary Guild, they couldn’t truly affect his final plan. At most, they would gain some advantage in the subsequent development.

At that time, Zheng Yichen felt settling scores later would be easy. Since he possessed monopolistic capital, as long as he didn’t break the bottom line, what was wrong with enjoying the convenience brought by the monopoly?

“Cooperation…” At the Mercenary Guild headquarters, the overall president looked at the information given by the Creator and, together with several other high-ranking members, fell into brief contemplation. The cooperation model Zheng Yichen proposed wasn’t something no one had thought of. But without the Creator’s and the Mercenary Guild’s support, someone in the guild had also proposed, based on the trading online store, to use the Magic Weapon Forum platform for some cooperation.

But this matter hadn’t been concretely discussed to a result yet when the Creator proactively found them first, providing a more complete plan.

“Try to negotiate, tell the Creator we’ve also thought about this…”

“Better not do that.” The guild high-ranking member who spoke first hadn’t finished his words when he was interrupted by another. “No matter how much we negotiate, the initiative isn’t in our hands. The conditions given by the Creator are already very good.”

Were the conditions Zheng Yichen gave good? Of course they were! With collecting mana as the premise, Zheng Yichen’s conditions were the kind that wouldn’t let himself suffer losses nor make others find them hard to accept. Of course, because these conditions were clear enough, there was no room for concession. This was also a test from Zheng Yichen. If the other party took the opportunity to propose new demands… Well, figure it out yourselves!

You’re already taking such a big advantage, and you want to take even more? Can your heart be any blacker? Can your face be any thicker? Excessive accommodation? He didn’t want to waste time on this. Anyone sufficiently smart would make the correct choice. As for those who acted foolishly, what was the point of keeping such cooperators? Looking for trouble?

The high-ranking member who spoke wanted to say more but soon shook his head. Striving for benefits for the guild was a responsibility of his position. However, considering the initiative, as a colleague reminded, doing so might really make the Creator unhappy. Conditions being sufficiently fair didn’t mean the bottom line was low enough… On the contrary, precisely because of this fairness, it would be easier to break the other party’s bottom line, causing the cooperation talks to collapse!

The information of “too many demands, no deal” contained within fair conditions was even clearer. “Since that’s the case, I have no objections.”

At their level, if there really were idiots, they would have been kicked out of this circle long ago. Although they might have conflicts over ordinary matters, in important matters, they would all think carefully and thoroughly.