In Glory, he was a colossal tycoon, earning hundreds of thousands of Gold Pucks per month from magic scrolls alone, enough to buy anything he wanted as long as it was for sale.
But on Earth, he was just an ordinary person. Although his parents had left him this apartment, it was his home, impossible to sell.
As for savings, when he thought of the roughly three hundred thousand remaining in his account, the corner of his mouth twitched.
Previously, he'd felt pretty good about it. After all, he owned a house. With a car, he'd surpass 90% of Shanghai City's people.
But compared to his assets in Glory, he was worse than a beggar.
"To build a force that meets my requirements is actually quite simple."
"First, I need enough Gold Pucks, no, RMB."
"At least tens of millions."
A thoughtful glint flashed in Li De's eyes. Tens of millions in funding, to the man he was a year ago, newly unemployed, that would have been astronomical.
But now, it didn't seem so hard. It was only a matter of time.
The experiences of this year had allowed him to grow completely.
"How can I earn that money as quickly as possible?" Li De murmured softly, then suddenly burst into hearty laughter.
"In Glory, even the combined fortunes of 100,000 players wouldn't be one-tenth of mine."
"Earning money? How hard can it be? I am the greatest game merchant in Glory. As long as you can pay in RMB, I can have Valen forge you Transcendent equipment."
Sitting atop three great factions, an undisputed super boss, yet still wondering how to make money, what a joke.
Even Li De found it funny how he'd been stuck in the wrong mindset.
He opened the Glory player forum and did a casual search. Countless posts offering to buy Gold Pucks popped up.
"Large Long-term Purchases of Gold Pucks, Silver Pucks, Copper Pucks."
"I am a professional game merchant, specialized in repurchasing Gold Pucks. Currently offering the highest exchange rate on the forum. 1 Copper Puck: 4.5 RMB, 1 Silver Puck: 470 RMB, 1 Gold Puck: 50,000 RMB. PM if interested."
"Twilight Studio recruiting beta players, also buying game currency in bulk, send your price privately."
"Record-high exchange, 1 Gold Puck for 51,000.00 RMB, can pay more for larger quantities, buying 20."
"Cape City buying rare warrior equipment, PM if you have any. Also selling 10 Silver Pucks."
After skimming through several posts, to Li De's surprise, Gold Pucks were worth this much.
However, he quickly came to a realization: a single virtual gaming pod cost 200,000 RMB, and Glory was sold exclusively through individual pods.
Aside from the internet cafes that had purchased a batch of equipment, most of the players who had drawn beta access all had their own gaming pods.
At the very least, most players weren't poor.
Moreover, given how hardcore Glory was, even after just over a month, players were probably only just barely figuring out how to survive in Glory.
Let alone living well, most of the time it was hard enough to even get a full meal.
How could those wealthy, spendthrift players tolerate that?
They'd spent money to enjoy themselves, having bought a gaming pod worth 200,000 RMB, and now, damn it, they were being told that 'enjoying the game' meant hauling cargo on the docks.
Under such circumstances, it would be stranger if players didn't start spending real money.
But making money was hard. In Glory, if you didn't have the right connections, it was extremely difficult to earn any.
Players had just entered the game and were all still newbies; most of them were lingering at the apprentice stage of Level 1 Professionals, not even having stepped into the Level 2 Formal Professional threshold.
At this stage, if they wanted to make money, aside from doing some menial labor, they could only join mercenary companies to take on dangerous jobs.
Usually, they'd dive in with their bare bodies, and most of them would die before they even finished the quest.
Although such work paid handsomely, it suppressed their levels even further.
Overall, while players had found some ways to survive in Glory during this period, it was still extremely difficult.
This hellish starting difficulty had sparked countless protests on the forums during this time.
But the official site remained utterly unmoved, even thoughtfully asking players if they wished to delete their accounts.
That made the players so furious they almost coughed up blood, cursing the entire game design team's families a hundred times over.
If the official site hadn't concealed the address of the Glory operations team, the enraged players would have long since shown up at their door with 40-meter-long machetes to discuss the philosophy of life.
So, at this stage, the players were generally dirt-poor. Even offering such high prices, it was extremely difficult to acquire any Silver Pucks.
Li De casually clicked on one of the more reliable posts and started a private chat with the gold seller.
"Still buying Gold Pucks?"
In a rental apartment in the outskirts of Shanghai City, Zhao Xinming froze for a moment as he looked at the prompt on his phone, then clicked into the chat with a trace of impatience.
Damn it, this idiot, every time he asked whether he was still buying Gold Pucks. He used to actually believe someone might be able to sell Gold Pucks.
In the end, those guys who sounded so grand always only sold one or two Silver Pucks at most. The most ridiculous case was someone who only sold ten Copper Pucks.
Damn it, what a pain in the ass.
"Yes, buying, buying as much as you've got!!"
Zhao Xinming sent the message with an impatient expression. He could already imagine what the other party was going to say, 'I've got two Silver Pucks, could you raise the price a bit?'
"Are you really buying as much as I have?"
Damn it, when Zhao Xinming saw this skeptical question, he felt a surge of anger.
"That's right, buying as much as you've got! You can ask around about my name, I'm the Little Prince of Gold Coins!!"
"thumbs up.jpg Then I'll start by selling one thousand Gold Pucks. I'm in Green City of the Nolan Empire. How do you want to trade?"
The sneer on Zhao Xinming's face froze the instant he saw that message.
"One thousand Gold Pucks? Not one thousand Copper Pucks??"
"Mm, if that's too little, I can keep adding. Up to ten thousand won't be a problem."
Zhao Xinming's breathing grew ragged as he stared at that figure, 't-ten thousand??'
"Uh, can we maybe start by trading ten? No, fifteen??"
"..."
"Boss, boss, if you'll just agree to contact my seller…I swear they're really in Green City!!"
"..."
"Boss, don't go silent! You can rest assured, it'll definitely be a hand-to-hand transaction, boss, what's your address?"
"Ding~ The other party has left the chat."