Precious - grade? Almost as soon as the message popped up, it caught Lincoln's attention. Immediately afterwards, his heart started pounding. You have to know that in the later stages, precious - grade recruitment tickets were extremely valuable items, and they were often in short supply. This was all because there was a one - in - a - thousand chance of recruiting a legendary - level initial hero with a precious - grade recruitment ticket. Don't underestimate this one - in - a - thousand chance; it was the recruitment probability for a legendary hero! In his previous life in Sweet Haven, only a few top lords on the blue planet had legendary heroes.
Lincoln typed and asked, "How many do you have?" The player named [Sea Buckthorn] quickly replied, "Hehe, I've got at least 30 here. If you want more, I can get them for you."
Lincoln was shocked. Thirty was already a significant number. After the apocalypse, these were top - notch items that would make countless top - tier powerhouses fight tooth and nail. Even now, they were rare. And this guy even claimed he could get more. Almost instantly, Lincoln figured out the other person's identity - a game merchant! A professional who made a living by reselling various items and resources in the game. There were players like this both before and after the apocalypse.
Lincoln thought for a moment and then asked about the price. Sea Buckthorn replied, "Three thousand dollars each. And I'm talking about real money, not gems."
Sure enough! The fact that the other person only accepted real - world currency further confirmed Lincoln's suspicion. This price wasn't really high for a precious - grade recruitment ticket. But following the principle of a shrewd buyer, Lincoln still tried to bargain. "One thousand dollars each. I'll take as many as you have."
Sea Buckthorn: "[Crying.jpg]! Dude, you can't bargain like this. After all, these are precious - grade items. At the price you're offering, I won't even be able to cover my costs."
"Two thousand eight hundred dollars each. No lower!"
Lincoln replied calmly, "One thousand three hundred dollars each. If I don't buy them, who else are you going to sell them to?"
Sea Buckthorn: "Really can't do it. At least two thousand five hundred dollars each."
After a few rounds of haggling, they finally settled on a price of two thousand dollars each. This was because Lincoln didn't have time to keep arguing with Sea Buckthorn. Otherwise, he could have pushed the price down even further. Right now, what he lacked the most wasn't money but time.
Thinking of this, Lincoln simply entrusted the task of collecting recruitment tickets to Sea Buckthorn. "I'll take as many recruitment tickets as you can get. Ten dollars for each common recruitment ticket and a hundred dollars for each rare recruitment ticket. I don't care about your purchase price. I'll settle the bill at these prices."
Sea Buckthorn naturally wouldn't refuse such a good deal. Although he wouldn't make much profit from each individual recruitment ticket, Lincoln wanted a large quantity. If he managed to collect a lot, he might even make more money than from selling the precious - grade recruitment tickets. After all, the supply of precious - grade tickets was limited, while common recruitment tickets were currently unsellable on the market.
Sea Buckthorn's face beamed with a big smile, and his attitude towards Lincoln did a complete 180 - degree turn. This wasn't just a customer; this was practically his own brother!
"Hehe, are you, the rich guy, preparing for the upcoming apocalypse version in a few days? I also have blueprints for defensive buildings. Do you want them?"
When Lincoln saw this message from Sea Buckthorn, his heart skipped a beat. He instinctively thought that the other person might also be a reborn person. But he quickly dismissed this idea. If Sea Buckthorn were also a reborn person, he would have been hoarding supplies like crazy. Why would he sell these rare items to Lincoln so cheaply? The reason the other person could sense Lincoln's intention was simply due to the game merchant's keen sense for money.
Lincoln didn't try to hide it and replied, "Yeah, just stocking up a bit. Maybe there'll be a new leaderboard then." His words were ambiguous and could be interpreted in many ways. Mainly, no matter what he said now, the other person probably wouldn't believe him. It was better to be half - true and half - false. If Sea Buckthorn stocked up on supplies because of this, he'd be grateful to Lincoln. If not, he couldn't blame Lincoln.
Lincoln continued typing, "I'll also buy blueprints for defensive buildings, but only those of good quality. Besides, I'll buy rare resources like crystals, mercury, and magic stones..."
He rambled on and on, leaving Sea Buckthorn stunned. This wasn't just a brother; this was his own father!
But after the initial excitement, Sea Buckthorn calmed down. What if the other person suddenly backed out of such a large order? It seemed that Lincoln could see his concerns. Without any hesitation, he immediately transferred the money for the 30 precious - grade recruitment tickets.
When Sea Buckthorn saw the message that sixty thousand dollars had been credited to his bank account, he jumped up in excitement. Perhaps feeling Lincoln's sincerity, he also became serious.
"Bro, I'll trust you this time. But this is such a big order that I can't handle it alone. If you trust me, I'll find some people to help you collect. I only have one request: settle the bill every one hundred thousand dollars. How about it? If you agree, I'll start collecting for you!"
Lincoln nodded silently after reading the reply. Having a game merchant help with the collection would definitely be more efficient than doing it alone. There were only a few days left until the apocalypse version update, and time was of the essence!
After chatting briefly with Sea Buckthorn, Lincoln stopped his own efforts to collect recruitment tickets on the public channel. This made the players who still had recruitment tickets in their hands wail in despair, feeling like they had missed out on a fortune. But it wasn't long before the situation in the game changed. Suddenly, there were many people buying supplies, and recruitment tickets were also among them. Although the prices they offered weren't as generous as what Lincoln was paying, at least the players could recoup some of their losses.
Lincoln didn't pay attention to the commotion in the chat channel. Instead, he turned his attention back to his own small village. Only then did he notice the system prompt that had just popped up in the message bar:
[Congratulations! Your top - up amount has reached the requirement, and you've unlocked VIP6 privileges.]
[You've unlocked VIP6 privileges: The basic territory area is increased by 20%, the resource - gathering speed of farmers is increased by 300%, the construction speed is increased by 300%, the movement speed within the territory is increased by 15%, the favorability of your subjects is increased by 10, the number of free weekly refreshes in the Doomsday Store is increased by 4, and the number of refreshes in the Mercenary Camp is increased by 4...]
"Have I reached VIP6 already?" Lincoln mused as he looked at the message. Don't underestimate the bonuses of VIP privileges. In the later stages, simply upgrading a defensive tower could take ten days or even half a month, and building large - scale defensive structures could take three or four months. Take the Hero Tavern as an example. Originally, it would take 12 hours to repair it. But with the VIP6 privilege, it only took 4 hours, a three - fold increase in efficiency!
There were still a few hours left until the Hero Tavern was completely repaired, and Lincoln didn't waste any time. He immediately gathered all the villagers who had been slacking off at home. The villagers were all well - fed and content, with a happiness level of over 90. Lincoln couldn't help but sigh as he looked at them. All this well - nurtured "meat" would only end up as food for the fierce beasts later.
Without further hesitation, he started tapping on the screen with both hands, his operations reaching a fever pitch. All those useless and decorative buildings like small bridges over flowing water, pavilions outside the attic, and lotus ponds under the moonlight were all demolished. Lincoln was going to rebuild his luxury small village.
All 200 + inhabitants in the entire territory were mobilized for this massive renovation project. The three - fold construction bonus also applied to demolishing buildings. Although these brick - and - tile houses were time - consuming to build, they were much easier to tear down. Generally, it only took a few villagers half an hour to knock down a building and clear away the debris completely.
Even so, Lincoln still thought the progress was too slow. Soon, his eyes fell on the Mercenary Store. To recruit more villagers, he had to upgrade his Lord's Mansion and expand the territory. Only then could he build enough cottages to accommodate more villagers. But it was obviously unrealistic to upgrade the Lord's Mansion in a short time. So, there was only one option left - temporary hiring!