Chapter 76

With the several hundred thousand in hand still warm, it was exchanged into game points, and then the process of buying land began. The three-person team composed of Cleaner, Peach Eyes, and Kantu, upon seeing the merit points, charged forward like bulls seeing a red cloth, regardless of the task. Adding the merit points they had acquired from players and the ones they originally possessed, they finally managed to gather 10,000 merit points on the first day, purchasing the first piece of land that Peach Eyes had his eye on. In addition to the 10,000 merit points, they also paid 5 million points.

"How's the trigger research going? Brushing merit points like this is definitely not enough; you need to supplement it from your side as well." Brushing merit points was undoubtedly a time-consuming task, and none of them were professional players who could stay in the game 24/7.

Moreover, some business groups, guilds, and families had already noticed the usefulness of merit points and were quietly acquiring them from players, making the competition for buying merit points with game points very intense. Therefore, Trigger's research on enhancing equipment attributes became an indispensable means of accumulating merit points.

"It's almost done. I can fuse the materials for the earlier stages, and the final step can be done by the players. This can prevent players from causing trouble due to exclusive effects. The synthesis of these enhancement materials is very complex, and it's unlikely that players can replicate it in a short time.

However, the price is too high. According to your requirements, we need to charge merit points and have players provide the materials to reduce our material consumption. To ensure we have enough research materials, the merit points will decrease significantly. And to ensure the merit points, without logistical support, we will face a significant shortage of materials for our research." Trigger said helplessly.

Enhancing equipment attributes is not a panacea, especially since this enhancement consumes a lot of rare materials. Now, Peach Eyes wants to collect some merit points from it to reduce the pressure of collecting merit points, which will make the overall price very high. It's unlikely that many players will be willing to pay, especially since the current equipment is still in a transitional phase. Players won't spend a lot of resources to enhance transitional equipment.

"Can we temporarily reduce the material requirements?" Peach Eyes said helplessly. Without sufficient logistical support, it was already a miracle that a few people could sustain a research institute.

"If it's not necessary, it's better not to reduce them. Researching this kind of thing isn't something you can just do. If we pause, other players might surpass us, and it will cost us even more to catch up, and we might not succeed. This would cut off our future income." Cleaner shook his head. Reducing the supply of materials for Trigger's research would be like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

"Is there a way to reduce the consumption of rare materials in the synthesis of equipment enhancements, using some common materials instead? Players have already discovered the value of rare materials, and most of them need to be obtained by us. It's very difficult to acquire them."

Currently, the rare materials used in Trigger's research are from previous stock, monsters killed by Cleaner, and materials bought by Peach Eyes when players didn't know their value. Now, finding a bargain is extremely difficult. As the game progresses, players are becoming more knowledgeable, and the number of fools is decreasing. With the competition from major forces, rare materials that were occasionally seen on the market have almost disappeared.

"There is a way," Trigger nodded.

"What way?"

"Temporary attribute enhancement can reduce the consumption of rare materials. The materials consumed for this enhancement are less than one percent of those needed for permanent attribute enhancement."

"Temporary attributes?" Cleaner was curious.

"Temporary attributes are attributes added temporarily. After fusion, they can be used while the player is online, but they disappear when the player logs off or dies. However, adding temporary attributes is not very difficult, and it can easily be replicated by other mechanics." Trigger said with some concern.

What does the original version fear the most? Not that consumers won't buy it; if it's truly useful, someone will buy it. The original version fears piracy the most. The original version has to spend a lot of resources on research, while pirates don't have this cost and can directly launch imitations and compete on price, which can make the original version very angry.

"If we launch temporary attribute enhancement, how long will it take for others to replicate it?" Peach Eyes frowned.

"If they have a detailed database of basic materials like ours, they can replicate it in less than a day. Without a material database, it would take at most a week."

"Is there a way to extend the time it takes for others to replicate it? Also, can the temporary attributes remain for a while after logging off? If the equipment is dropped, that's fine, but if they disappear after logging off and on, the temporary attribute enhancement will have significant limitations.

After all, in the game 'Fate,' except for dungeons, you generally can't AFK. If you go to eat or use the bathroom, the temporary attributes will disappear, and players won't be willing to pay to enhance them again every time. You can't expect players to enhance their attributes every time they go to the bathroom and then come back."

"We can extend the time, but the maximum is one hour. Any longer would require more rare materials, and it wouldn't be worth it to sell temporary attributes that consume so much. If we add this, we can also encrypt it to make it harder for imitators to replicate."

"I think we don't need to encrypt it at first. We can take it step by step." Kantu, who had been standing silently, spoke up.

"Oh, what do you mean? Explain." Kantu's business acumen had been recognized by the group, but he seemed uninterested in this aspect, preferring to fight and kill with Cleaner, which made Peach Eyes very frustrated. Otherwise, he could have been more relaxed.

"We can first launch temporary attribute enhancement that others can quickly replicate. After they replicate it, we can launch temporary attribute enhancement that remains for a while after logging off. After they replicate that, we can gradually extend the time. We should always be a step ahead, making all players feel that ours is the genuine article and better than others. Even if it's more expensive, people will still buy it because good things are naturally more expensive."

"That's a good idea, but if we extend it bit by bit, won't it reveal the research direction for permanent attribute enhancement, leading to a big boost, and then we'll have nothing left?" Cleaner felt that Kantu's idea was good, but maintaining an advantage to make more money could be risky if the research direction for permanent attribute enhancement was gradually revealed.

"We need to see how long we can extend the temporary attribute enhancement without revealing the permanent enhancement. After reaching that point, we can directly launch permanent attribute enhancement, maintaining our advantage for a long time."

"Ha, that's great. Softly slicing the meat, I like it. You're good, Kantu. Why don't you stay home and do business instead of following the captain to kill monsters?" Peach Eyes patted Kantu's shoulder.

"I still feel that fighting suits me better." Kantu scratched his head.

People have rebellious tendencies. As a second-generation rich kid, Kantu had seen too many businessmen and was very resistant to becoming one, despite his high business acumen. He was more interested in the bloody battles he had never experienced.

"A business genius is thus corrupted." Peach Eyes sighed and then asked Trigger, "How long should we extend the temporary attribute enhancement to avoid revealing the secret of permanent attribute enhancement?"

"Four hours. I can use another method to extend the offline time of temporary attributes to four hours. This is a wrong path, and four hours is the limit of extension, with no connection to permanent enhancement." Trigger tapped on the computer and explained after looking at the research process.

"No need for four hours; one hour is enough. Four hours is enough for players to log off for a nap and then log back in. If they log in and out repeatedly, they can use the temporary attributes as permanent attributes. One hour should be enough to prevent players from constantly waking up to maintain the temporary attributes. This also gives imitators three hours to research. This research will likely consume a lot of resources, and when they reach four hours, they will realize they are on the wrong path and have to start over. Or they might think they are on the right path but haven't found the key breakthrough and continue to research. Ha ha..."

"Then we can launch permanent attribute enhancement, making them think we followed the same research path. This will make them more confident in their research path, and then, hehe..." Kantu interjected, and the two of them laughed slyly, making Cleaner feel a chill down his spine.

If they follow this plan, the imitators will fall into a big pit and be thoroughly deceived. This is a bloodless murder.

"What if others launch a four-hour extension after we don't? What should we do?" Trigger asked, his eyes gleaming with excitement. Clearly, the idea of tricking the imitators excited him. Cleaner shook his head, lamenting the company he kept, but a gentle smile appeared on his lips.

"That's a problem. Find a path that extends to one hour with minimal material consumption but requires a lot of materials after one hour. This will increase the cost, and even if they launch the temporary attribute enhancement later than us, the price will definitely go up, or they will definitely lose money.

Faced with this result, and considering that players can use this time to AFK, as long as they are not foolish, they won't launch it even if they research it. If they launch it to build their reputation, you can find a wrong path to extend beyond four hours and let them research it. Researching to extend beyond four hours will be a huge cost. When they realize it's wrong, hehe..."

Trigger brought up the previous incorrect research paths, each with a possible attribute enhancement time. The three of them leaned in, discussing excitedly and occasionally laughing slyly. Standing aside, Cleaner could already foresee the tragic future of the imitators who only knew how to copy and had no independent research. To get out of the big pit designed by the three, they would not only fail to make money but would likely end up penniless.

"Great, great. Let's do it. Today, we'll launch the temporary attribute enhancement without time extension. Tomorrow, we'll launch the three-minute extension. After someone replicates it, we'll launch this, then this... Let's go to the market and set up a stall, hehe..."

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