Ferventia

Lead NPC software designer Eliza and lead artificial intelligence developer Benjamin sat around a large oval table together with a handful of other Bell Inc hires and personnel.

The 4D multi-projector continued to shift between images, statistics, and important events happening inside Soulbound Online.

"Today's first topic:" a feminine voice announced, "the progress of solving the in-game inflation."

The voice belonged to the managing director, an elegant woman, opulent in all the 'right' places, according to many men and women.

"The CEO won't be joining us today, director Adley?" Benjamin politely asked.

"No, Dr. Cortez. He will be absent while working on Project Void. You are aware of the significance behind this project, no?" The director answered with a scowl.

Benjamin gave a reluctant nod.

"Alright, we don't have all day. Project coordinator Gaspard, status report on the auction house, market trends, and current Aerth coin value?" Director Adley signaled.

A formally attired man sitting beside the director stood up and began switching up the holographic displays and turned the images into a single holographic globe.

"As you're all witnessing, the Soulbound Project successfully launched in all four continents of Ferventia about a week ago." The project coordinator pointed toward Eloria and the three other continents, Weloria, Nothoria, and Sothoria.

Eloria belonged to the eastern parts of Ferventia and was the smallest continent compared to the three others continents by a fair margin.

Players from the respective continents were segregated in a similar fashion inside Soulbound Online so that their time zones aligned with each other geographically.

This essentially meant that Evan's character would start somewhere in the eastern part of Aerth. Coincidentally, the Edin Kingdom was located in the east. Hence the New Braves regionals were first separated into smaller dukedom-, kingdom-, or empire elimination tournaments before collective continental finals would take place!

"Firstly, let's address the auction house." Gaspard continued. "The increased utilization of the auction house is directly tied with the rapid increase in Aerth coins across Aerth. As of now, it makes sense that the inflation is somewhat higher in the west since Weloria's population is considerably larger than for instance Eloria's."

"What does that say for the future of the auction house?" A middle-aged man on the large oval table asked.

"In essence, not much. It is still too early to give definite answers to that question. However, if we look at the western and eastern markets, the market trend is two-fold.

While Weloria has a player base of around 110 million active players and Eloria has around 60 million active players, one would think that the inflation rate would almost be twice as high in the west."

"And that's not the case? How's that so?" The man questioned.

"That's where it gets interesting. And here's why – People tend to use the auction house for Aerth coins in exchange for Ferventia's Crown currency. Trading items in-game is only a means to an end.

The main reason for this is because many items are untradable, while the tradable ones are either limited-use items such as consumables like EXP potions or items that have level restrictions and become less valuable over time. We've seen this happen with the Common and Rare set beginner's items that become unwearable hand-me-downs once players reach a certain level."

"So, if I understood this correctly, this means that players more often than not sell their unusable items to the in-game NPCs or trade them with other players in the auction house for Aerth coins, then trade Aerth coins for Ferventia Crowns?" One of the analysts inferred.

Gaspard nodded facing the analyst while director Adley offered a rare but amiable smile to the results he'd presented so far.

"And the current Aerth coin value?" director Adley cross-examined.

"As of right now, the value of a single Aerth coin is quite high, but we can expect it to drop somewhat once more players reach, say, early mid-game."

"I want numbers."

"Well, let's look at the players located in Weloria first. 100 Aerth coins are estimated at 60 Crowns. You can equate that to a dinner for two in a normal household.

For Nothorian and Sothorian players, the exchange rate is slightly better, at around 65 to 70 Crowns.

And lastly, for Elorians, the exchange rate is at an astonishing 100 Aerth coins to 90 Crowns, which is 33% higher than the Welorian standard."

Many people in the meeting room raised their eyebrows.

"How's this possible? I mean, I get that the player base in the eastern regions of Aerth is less crowded, but that alone shouldn't provide such a disparity. Though, it's good news since Bell Inc gets 3% from the exchanges." Another analyst said. "Why aren't we increasing the exchange rate at this point?"

"We could, but the CEO is against this." Director Adley stated. "That puts us at the next topic on the agenda."

Eliza and Benjamin both frowned. They knew what was coming next.

"Since the CEO owns 40% of Bell Inc's shares, as long as most board members come to an agreement to raise the company's coin exchange profits to 15%, we'll hold the majority vote. Now, all in favor, raise a hand." Director Adley raised her slender hand.

Inside Soulbound Online, Evan felt a sneeze building up. "ACHOO!"

'This woman!' Eliza inwardly gasped. 'An increase to 15% would ruin the stability of the game. I can't let this happen!'

Benjamin held a similar thought. He'd come too far to let this leach destroy everything he'd been a part of building up for so many years. He took a quick glance around the room, noticing that more than half of the people including Gaspard held their hands raised.

Luckily, more than half of the room wasn't enough. Director Adley tried to hide her grimace.

The board members were now split into two factions. One in support of Bell Inc's CEO and one in support of managing director Adley.

Though the remainder of the meeting had become tenser, they still scuffled through each topic without too much issue.

The New Braves tournament would launch in less than 5 days, and a lot of players had already qualified for the regionals. The holographic globe once again spun around displaying the four continents of Ferventia.

Nothoria: 7709 qualified players

Sothoria: 8801 qualified players

Weloria: 8856 qualified players

Eloria: 11582 qualified players

Despite a smaller population, players from the Eloria continent held the majority when it came to Heroic Merits obtained through Quests and defeating Anomalies! This showed that players from Eloria meant business.

Sothoria also held quite a few +3 Merit-holders in spite of being the second least populated continent.

The numbers also aligned with the currency exchange values. While Aerth coins were more displaced among top-ranking players from Weloria, it became obvious that top-ranking players from Eloria had gained more coins and rewards after a week of playing Soulbound Online.

If this trend continued, and if players like Evan from Eloria continued to consistently rack up more Heroic Merits and conquer more Dungeons, the currency exchange rate would continue to stay balanced or even grow in their favor!

The expert analysts presented the Golden Exchange Ratio, a 1:1 trade from Aerth coins to Crowns. They estimated that this was theoretically possible if Eloria continued to excel in comparison to the other continents!

After the board meeting, Bell Inc finally announced the format of the New Braves Tournament regionals. It was as Evan and his party had hoped – a point based group round robin!