Profit

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Dale made his way uphill, arriving at the church that was now, currently empty.

"I forgot that here, people do go to bed very early…"

'They go to work very early, and come back very late, it's a strict and heavy lifestyle.'

'Is life in the fields so consuming of your time?...'

"Sigh, if it wasn't for me making a ruckus in the streets, I bet everyone would've been sleeping by now… I hope they wake up well tomorrow." He said as he got inside

'The same as before… Hm?'

Dale entered the church and realized everything was the same as last time, but on the altar now rested a single head… A golden head.

Next to it were several offerings of coins, Dale immediately realized they were Zulls of Iron and even the next grade above it… Copper.

Like before, it took 10 thousand Zulls of Iron to form a single Zull of Copper.

In other words, it takes 100 Million Zulls of Wood to form a single Zull of Copper, in the past game, the average population spent, on average, a few thousand Zulls of Wood to a few dozen Zulls of Iron.

As such, a single Zull of Copper could be seen as their entire yearly earnings, most of the time it was less than that.

"People in this village spare no money huh… But I guess they don't have anywhere to spend it so it becomes… Useless?"

'Money is nothing but a symbolic object meant to give these poor villagers, something to hold onto...'

'The same goes for religion, so it makes sense for them to spare nothing of what little money they have in it since, at the end of the day, they will never use it anywhere else.'

'Still… If they still had contact with the outside, this money could've been used on something else.'

'But now it can only be used as an offering.'

"Who is going to collect the money anyway?" He asked out loud as he looked at the Golden head inside the altar

"Me of course." David replied as his eyes moved to look at Dale

He looked at David for a while and asked:

"... Isn't this risky? For you to speak like that...?"

"Not at all, I can feel the presence of everyone within the Village, one of the many features of being a holy artifact of my caliber."

"As for your question, let me show you…"

/GULP!/

With an incredible suction force, David opened his mouth and sucked the coins into it.

/Munch munch…/

He munched for a little while before spinning the coins again, they were all shining and looked pristine.

"I didn't know you could also work as a cleaning machine, I do have some dirty clothes…" Dale said with a smile

"FUCK OFF! I'm only doing this because this is an emergency so I have to get every single bit of power I can get my hands on."

"Hum, but the coins look the same, what was there to get from cleaning them?"

"Humph, it's simple."

"In normal times, these coins would've been collected by the priests and used for their normal activities, after all, the gold and gems that once decorated my altar had to come from somewhere, right?"

"..."

"Don't give me that look! I know very well that priests can end up corrupt, but this only happens in those second-hand churches! This would never happen in a church under the direct supervision of my Boss!" David said angrily as his eyes flashed with golden light

"COUGH!..."

"However, right now, this isn't possible, so I am using the coins in the best way I can… I am eating away the 'meaning' contained within them."

"Meaning?" Asked Dale in confusion

"As people live their lives, they attach meanings onto the things around them, and they eventually try to attach a meaning to their own lives as well, when in truth, it doesn't has any…"

"It's up to them to live their lives as they see fit and not by some nonsensical, and prone to change, ethical system."

"Although... Some are born with meaning already etched into their lives, those can be taken as the lucky ones... Or the unlucky ones."

"You spoke facts but in a very twisted way…" Dale added as he thought deeply

"Anyway! Let's jump a few steps and go to the coins… What is currency?"

Dale looked at him with his eyes wide open.

"I think you jumped a few too many steps, buddy… What is a coin?... Damn…"

But David just scoffed, saying:

"Humph! It's really simple. In the end, currency is just a substitute to facilitate the exchange of goods. A method created after thousands of years of human interaction and development."

"But this only works because they have a meaning, and most importantly, trust between all parties involved, else, they are nothing but chunks of metal as you can see… Devoid of their original purpose."

"Though we can remove the trust aspect in the face of the overwhelming masses... By Human standards, if a big enough number of people believe in something, even if it's false, then that becomes the truth even when someone appears to prove the contrary."

"They'll stubbornly refuse to accept it."

"In the past, these coins would be considered quite a sum, but now, they are worthless chunks of metal that lost their meaning since they can't be spent anymore…"

"Currency loses its value when it can't be exchanged… When it doesn't flow."

"But alas, they still hold some meaning set by these villagers over the years… And that was what I absorbed."

"It's little, but it's something."

Dale had to think for a while before he asked:

"And how does this work?"

"Do you know how the mind can influence reality?"

"It's subtle if not nonexistent for most, but for those of considerable mental fortitude, it's possible to add special characteristics to objects by using their mind, or the change the priorities of the world through sheer will…"

"To believe you can when you certainly cannot, to believe in good luck amidst a streak of bad luck..."

"On an Individual to Microscale, individuals can influence the world at an immediate pace..."

"But when groups of people work under one set of rules or dogmas, they can and will add values to objects and even ideas over time… Years will turn into Decades and from that centuries…"

"Even a broken object may become a holy symbol over time, or a simple well may give birth to a Demon..."

"This is why simple folklore may become reality over centuries, all it takes is to believe... Or for a creature or event to appear at the right moment and time to solidify those beliefs."

"The power of Human belief explodes when their suspicions and ideas are cleared and proven by visual stimulation."

"On that note, some are stronger than others, being more skeptical than others, to the point such things won't really change the way they see the world..."

"And sometimes, these people may be the ones with the strongest mental fortitude... Or the weakest."

"My power comes from the prayers of people and their devotion."

"In the past, there were one in a dozen things I could help them with in order to bring forth their inner feelings, but right now, I can barely even help them sleep well, far from my past glory..."

"Worse... Now we have a few monsters looming on our asses, I need any power I can get. So don't make fun of me and help me recover!"

"I see… But what about those coins?" He asked as he looked at the small pile inside the altar

'In one day it already got this clumped up... By tomorrow I'm afraid David will drown in coins.'

'If every Villager leaves one coin here...'

"Asking the real questions now you greedy bastard?... But uh… Urg… To be honest this is quite uncomfortable." David said as he tried to wiggle out of the pile of coins

"In the past, these would be collected by the priests, but I see none around… So take it if you wish, to be honest, they are better off moving around than rotting here."

"Their smell is also not pleasant, I had enough of being in a dirty crypt, the last thing I want is to stay the next few years under a pile of rusty coins..."

"Technically speaking, as you're the only one that can hear me, you are technically the most qualified to tend to my premisses as well..."

"The problem is... Making them believe that."

Dale smiled but said:

"Sorry, no can do."

"I would be glad to make your shoulders lighter by collecting these, but I have a reputation to uphold."

"If these coins disappear within a night, people are going to get confused unless you start talking, and like you just said, we both know that isn't a possibility."

David nodded, already expecting this situation.

"However, I can at the very least help you with the organization… And this" Said Dale as he helped organize the coins inside the Altar

"Well, thanks I guess, but my Altar only has so much space, one day it will get claustrophobic…"

"I didn't end yet…" Said Dale as he removed his coins from his inventory, surprising David

"Where did you take those from? Do you have an expanded space pocket in your pants?"

"No, that doesn't seem to be the case... You took those from thin air… Magic? Hum… Too weak for that… No traces either..."

"I'm curious."

Dale became pensive as he decided to just talk his mind.

"I don't know how to explain this but… I can store things inside a pocket dimension, It's the best way I can think of to explain it."

'It's interesting to see a game character react to it, and I hope this won't have any bad repercussions… But hiding game features will only make my life harder.'

'Like, who would hide that they can access an inventory in an RPG? Makes no sense…'

'And David... I don't feel like this will change things much.'

"Well, if you say so, then I won't ask further… Just give me a minute to process these…"

"I have some coins if you wish to... Absorb them also?"

"... Huh?... You have more?! Good! Just let me..."

/CLINK CLINK CLINK CLINK!/

Dale opened his inventory and started to drop his remaining coins on the ground, these coins were made through his miscellaneous quests when the sun was still up.

The coins he got from the tutorial had been mostly invested in his small business if it could be called that.

"Mo-more?! Ok-Okay I..."

/Clink clink clink.../

"How many coins do you have?!" He asked as he saw Dale take out more and more coins from his inventory

"Hum… About a few dozen Zulls of Iron? But they're mostly in lower currency..."

'I got all of this from my adventures in the Tutorial, especially from the Vault I raided, just a shame they didn't drop higher tiers of it and only Iron Zulls… Probably to balance things.'

'Most of the money was invested in the shop, so I could sustain its buy and sell scheme, but I kept some of it and gained quite a bit more ever since I left the tutorial.'

'If I were to add everything I made on my own in the course of the first day... Then it would be around a thousand Zulls of Iron?'

'Surprising, most of it came from the Vault, but when you compare what I did today, it's ridiculous that the miscellaneous quests gave me so much money to even be comparable to that.'

'Nevertheless, it makes me really greedy when I see several dozen Copper Zulls in front me, knowing full well each is worth more than all of my coins combined…'

"Damn... Alright, just give me a... Munch... Moment to process all of this... Munch munch..."

"Make sure to collect them all afterward… Munch munch… I don't really like small spaces… I FUCKING HATE THEM TO BE HONEST!." He said in a loud tone as he munched on the coins, spiting them onto the Altar when he was done

"... If you are so afraid of that, why don't you have a body?" Asked Dale as he stored his coins again

"..."

But David remained silent, he stopped munching on the coins as his eyes grew absent

"Lets… Let's not talk about it…" He said in a deep melancholic tone

"..."

Dale looked at him with a curious expression, but he remained silent nonetheless.

It seemed he had triggered some serious PTSD response...

"Anyway, with all of that out of the bag, what brings you here?"

"Just to be sure, I haven't remembered anything at all, in fact, I haven't even started thinking about that, being more focused on thinking of ways to recover my power, one of the reasons why I started munching on these coins..."

"Me? I came here to… To make an offering." Dale said plainly

"Ho? Do it then, I will give you the honor of hearing your prayers myself!" David said with a smirk

"It's not really for a prayer… Well, you'll see." Said Dale as he moved his hands in the air, opening the game menu

David raised one of his eyebrows as he looked at Dale fidgeting with the System

"What are you doing? I don't really understand those gestures, some sort of Hex?"

Dale rolled his eyes and opened the church menu, a small icon under his Status sheet.

'Let's see… This is quite interesting… Alright, here it is.'

[To enter the trade market, 31 Zulls of Iron will be deducted]

'31?! Damn! That's 310K Wood Zulls!... In the Beta, that was enough to buy pretty much anything! The value of the currency may have changed since there are many players and the quantity of money on the market keeps increasing but still…'

'And I thought I was a bit rich for a lone player...'

'Fine, I'll pay it, I have more than enough anyway.'

'I wonder where the money goes... With so many players sending the money into oblivion, then we would reach a problem with the world's economy soon enough...'

'Perhaps... That's where the monetary rewards from chests and monsters come from? To balance each other out?'

[The fee has been deducted]

[Welcome to the trade market!]

Suddenly, a portion of the coins on the altar disappeared, making David open his eyes wide!

"OI! I felt something… Did you do something just now?! I felt… ?!"

It was then that David suddenly stopped talking, his eyes bulging.

After a moment of incessant pondering, he had a sudden look of understanding as if he had been enlightened, so he shut up completely, continuing to eat the coins and spit them out, shining clean.

"Did you say something, David? I was a bit focused so…" Dale asked in a low tone as he pushed the game menu aside

"No no, I am fine… Continue with what you were doing I… I will continue with what I've been doing…" He said awkwardly as he looked to the side

Dale nodded, sitting in one of the chairs as he read through the messages in the trade center.

"Wow..."

'It's been almost 14 hours huh… Time sure goes fast when you're gaming… Who am I kidding? I spent the entire day working my ass off as a community work under the scalding sun of the desert and in the end, I went to a cursed Dungeon that smelled and felt like the sewers…'

'It were some tiring, annoying, and borderline boorish 14 hours of gameplay...'

'It's currently a bit past 12 Am, I entered the Dungeon around 6 Pm a bit after the sun had gone down, and came back around 11 Pm in the middle of the night."

"Spending close to 4 hours to reach the bottom of the Dungeon and around an hour to climb back up including my little adventure after I reached the bottom...'

'After that, I had to wait for the villagers to gather and I had to wait as well in the Guild, not counting the time I spent talking with the Elders… All of this adds up to now.'

'The auctions start around 1 Am in-Game time, I didn't check at that time but that would've meant I set foot in the continent at around 9 Am.'

"I still have a few minutes to prepare… Not much but enough." He said out loud

'So first… Time to go through these messages… Damn.'

Dale looked at the ocean of messages on his screen and let out a loud sigh, but he had to do it.

Some images were from people he knew, friends that were asking about what he was doing, and messages from people like his brother that was asking for tips and help...

But most of them were personal requests or attempts from people to contact him, the first big seller of Azimuth.

And albeit he wasn't in the mood to go through each, he needed to learn what the players bought and their words about it as it would dictate how he should operate from here.

He had plans, and he needed information to shape them properly...

He also had to collect his items and see how much he gained from his setup… In short, there was a lot to do.

"Time to work my ass off… All for the sake of profit." He said with a smile as zoomed in the system interface

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Notes