Chapter 58: What a Coincidence
As the sky gradually brightened, Su Xiao had been offering various items all night, finally elevating the [Oath Emblem: White Dragon] to the Holy Spirit rank. Although it hadn't reached the Immortal rank, some things couldn't be rushed.
Originally, he had planned to earn a large amount of reputation through offerings, but after a whole night of sacrificing, his original 12,086 reputation points were now down to 5.
The only gain from the offerings so far was [Sunlight Particles (100 ounces)], which was the hope for a big profit.
To brew a Sun Potion, other materials could be replaced with ones of similar properties, but [Sunlight Particles] were irreplaceable. Without this main ingredient, everything was meaningless.
Earlier during the offerings, Su Xiao had obtained 0.75 ounces of sunlight particles, but that was too little. To brew one bottle of Sun Potion, at least 1 ounce of sunlight particles was needed.
With 100 ounces of sunlight particles, brewing 100 bottles of Sun Potion was no problem. With these potions, earning reputation wouldn't be a major issue.
However, having only sunlight particles wasn't enough to brew the potion; other auxiliary materials were needed for integration, stabilization, catalysis, and so on.
Where would these auxiliary materials come from? Converting Soul Coins into reputation and purchasing them from the Sun Church or other believers was a feasible strategy, but Su Xiao felt it wasn't profitable enough. Why not involve Kaisa for this potion business?
If Kaisa could handle the auxiliary materials and sales, Su Xiao could split the profits with Kaisa on a 70-30 basis. Su Xiao would provide the technology and sunlight particles (the main material), taking 70% of the earnings, while Kaisa would handle the auxiliary materials, sales, and upper-level relations, taking 30%.
The reason Su Xiao's share was so high in this cooperation was that he held the core technology. For Kaisa to take 30%, he had to be indispensable; otherwise, Su Xiao wouldn't give him that much.
After this idea came to mind, Su Xiao contacted Baha through the team channel, asking him to inform Kaisa about this matter. Five minutes after hearing about it.
"My dear friend? What exactly are the effects of this Sun Potion you mentioned?"
Kaisa sat on the single sofa in the living room, holding a cup of tea, with his other hand, which had nowhere to go, picking at the sofa seam beside his butt, trying to dig out small items like coins or rings. For Kaisa, not finding money when leaving the house every day was a loss.
Indeed, as soon as Su Xiao finished speaking, this guy Kaisa rushed over in a flurry. It had to be said, this guy had an extremely keen sense for profit. Usually greedy, stingy, and cunning, he was exceptionally reliable when cooperating.
"The Sun Potion comes from the Holy Land: Chiriad..."
Su Xiao explained the situation to Kaisa. The more Kaisa listened, the brighter his eyes became. Finally, he slapped his thigh, and his eyes moistened.
"My dear friend, Kaisa, sniff~, Kaisa suffered a huge loss not long ago."
Kaisa was crying with snot and tears, looking genuinely heartbroken. Clearly, he had lost a lot recently.
"..."
Su Xiao pulled Bubu Wang, who was beside his leg, in front of him. If Kaisa, with his face full of tears and snot, lunged at him out of excessive grief, he would sacrifice Bubu Wang as a hidden weapon to block Kaisa's charge, preventing his clothes from getting smeared with the guy's thick snot.
Having been Su Xiao's follower for so long, Bubu Wang immediately sensed the dangerous situation. It looked at Baha, its eyes saying: 'Save me.'
Baha suddenly went cross-eyed, as if its intelligence had been hit by a dimensional reduction, implying it hadn't seen anything.
Baha knew perfectly well that if it saved Bubu Wang, it would be the one sacrificed as a hidden weapon. Just thinking about Kaisa's personal hygiene made Baha shudder.
What Bubu Wang and Baha feared didn't happen. Kaisa sniffled, calmed down, and said, "Bai Ye, Bubu, Baha, do you know what I went through in my last world? In my last world, I went to the famous Alliance Star. My initial identity was the Western Continent Quartermaster. On that Western Continent, it was all Infested Warriors.
The ruler of the Western Continent called himself Emperor Taiatu. He had three knights under him, and no other high-ranking ministers. Below them were all brainless Infested Warriors. I was the quartermaster at the time. Given enough time, I could have absconded with the funds... ah, spit, I could have taken what rightfully belonged to me and left the Western Continent. That was all the wealth left by the Taiatu civilization!"
Saying this, Kaisa's eyes were bloodshot, looking like he might go into shock from anger at any moment.
Bubu Wang and Baha felt something was off. Alliance Star—wasn't that the last world? When Emperor Taiatu was besieged and killed, they were all there. Not long after, the Western Continent sank.
Su Xiao picked up the tea cup in front of him, took a sip, and said nothing. He had already roughly guessed the subsequent situation.
After calming down, Kaisa continued with a somewhat tragic tone: "For those treasures, after arriving at Alliance Star, I was careful everywhere, not daring to show any signs. I didn't even dare to gather intelligence, afraid of attracting wolves. Two days before I was about to succeed, someone suddenly attacked the Western Continent. Before I could figure out what was happening, shells started falling from the sky. I don't know which damn bastard gave the order, but the bombardment lasted over eight hours! Over eight hours! Supernatural items were blown to pieces. If I hadn't been quick-witted, I would have been turned to ashes too."
After venting his misfortune, Kaisa let out a long sigh, seeming to feel a bit better.
"Kaisa, why didn't you gather intelligence in the last world's progress? Couldn't you have set up some informants or something?"
Baha spoke with a smile, a very unscrupulous smile.
"How could I? Everyone around me was Infested Warriors—violent and stupid. Besides, if someone had discovered me, I would have become an NPC money-boss. The Western Continent was a high-risk area. Contractors there saw everyone as a boss."
Kaisa sighed helplessly. After this catharsis, his mood improved a lot.
"By the way, Baha, which world did you guys go to last time? Made a big profit, right?"
"Yeah, ah, right, made a big profit. Last world we went to the Dark Star, even encountered an Ancient God. That scene, tsk tsk tsk."
Baha was lying through its teeth. The last world progress was, of course, Alliance Star; the one before that was the Dark Star.
It was worth mentioning that the bombardment Kaisa suffered on the Western Continent was definitely ordered by Su Xiao. At that time on the Western Continent, no one except Su Xiao had the authority to order a bombardment lasting over half an hour. Su Xiao was the supreme commander at the time.
"Dark Star? Isn't that a world belonging to Holy Light Paradise? World invasion? You guys made a killing."
Kaisa was well-informed. He knew about many Eighth Rank Primordial Worlds.
The topic had been led astray by Kaisa. Su Xiao took a sip of tea and asked, "I'll provide the main material. Can you handle the auxiliary materials?"
"Of course I can. But, my dear friend, this Sun Potion you mentioned..." Kaisa paused, then continued with a sly smile, "The Sun Potion you mentioned isn't actually that rare. I have a similar potion for sale here. It was developed by Archbishop Cooper's formula and brewed by the church's alchemists. It sells for 200 Sun Gold Coins."
Kaisa took out a gold coin. This coin was slightly larger than a one-yuan coin. Compared to normal gold, its color was much deeper because it was mixed with Sunstone. This coin was the internal currency of the Sun Church.
After joining the Sun Church, one could indeed coast along and wait for death, as long as they believed in the Sun. Here, three meals a day and living supplies were free, and accommodation was provided. Many talented people came to the Sun Church just to freeload.
They initially pretended to believe in the Sun, but soon they found that the Sun truly responded to them. The power of the Sun gradually appeared within them. Pursuing supernatural cultivation was addictive.
As these talented individuals grew stronger, they would feel bored, spending 24 hours a day in a 'Sage's Time,' finding everything dull. They would try new things, like tearing down a commission from the bulletin board and completing it.
This was just the beginning. Once they had power, commissions became addictive. Factors like the night, blood, nightmares, psychic monsters, and sunlight made these talented people indulge in them.
When they came to their senses, they found themselves wearing iron-black head buckets and carrying brutal saw-hammers. Their previous fear of other believers had disappeared through repeated cooperation. These were brothers and sisters, people they could entrust their lives to. The young people who had come to freeload had become fearless hunters in the night, unafraid of death or nightmares.
After completing commissions, believers would receive 'shares.' Sometimes, believers traded privately, so currency was necessary.
Therefore, many years ago, the Sun Church issued this internal currency. As a small-circulation internal currency, it had to ensure its own value. The Sun Gold Coin consisted of two parts: Sunstone + gold. Sunstone had high value within the church, and gold was stable, preventing the Sunstone powder from becoming impure. The two were a perfect match.
One share from completing a commission could be exchanged for one Sun Gold Coin at the management office.
Su Xiao caught the Sun Gold Coin Kaisa tossed over. One Sun Gold Coin could be exchanged for 10 reputation points. For him, the more of these coins, the better.
Kaisa's meaning was clear: the Sun Church already had a potion similar to [Sun Potion], selling for 200 coins, or 2,000 reputation points.
According to Kaisa's estimate, just the auxiliary materials for [Sun Potion] would cost 100 gold coins.
Assuming [Sun Potion] also sold for 200 gold coins, after deducting the 100-gold-coin cost and the value of 1 ounce of sunlight particles, there was little profit. Plus, there were only 100 ounces of sunlight particles; once used, they were gone, and it might even result in a loss.
"Bai Ye, this business isn't easy to profit from."
Kaisa winked, meaning they should stick to the old plan. He had everything ready.
"The Sun Potion wasn't originally a buff-type potion; it was a protective-type potion."
Su Xiao stood the coin in his hand on the table and briefly explained the composition of the Sun Potion to Kaisa. The effect of this potion was 90% resistance to scorching and 10% buff. As he said, this thing was developed not for buffing anyone.
With his Alchemy Lv.62, Su Xiao could certainly improve this potion. His improvement direction was to discard all the protective properties and maximize the buff. A common analogy was to reset the potion's skill points—if it had 10 skill points, all would be invested in buffs.
If the current Sun Potion could go 50-50 with similar potions, after the improvement, with its effect increased tenfold, it would be like one punch per kid against similar potions.
"My dear friend, are you saying the Sun Potion's effect can be increased by up to 10 times?"
Kaisa swallowed, his heartbeat accelerating.
"To be precise, it can be increased by at least ten times."
"This business is worth doing."
Kaisa took out a second-hand calculator and pressed it at a speed that left afterimages.
Finally, after a comprehensive assessment combining economics, market science, psychology, and more, Kaisa estimated that if the Sun Potion was successfully improved, each bottle would sell for 3,000 Sun Gold Coins, or 30,000 reputation points per bottle.
Su Xiao felt it couldn't sell for that much, given the similar potions on the market. At 20,000 reputation points per bottle, it might sell quickly. If something was too good but too expensive, it would significantly boost buyers' rationality—a boost from the 'Power of Poverty.'
That meant, if all were sold, the total profit would be 2 million reputation points.
Kaisa guaranteed with a pat on his chest that each bottle could definitely sell for 30,000 reputation points. Otherwise, he wouldn't cooperate with Su Xiao. Without providing the technology, if he couldn't raise the price, taking 30% would make him uneasy.
At 30,000 reputation points per bottle, with a 70-30 split, Su Xiao would get 21,000 points, and Kaisa 9,000. Assuming all 100 bottles of Sun Potion were sold, Su Xiao would gain 2.1 million reputation points.
That meant, cooperating with Kaisa not only yielded 100,000 more reputation points than expected but also avoided the costs of auxiliary materials and sales issues. In the end, it would earn at least several hundred thousand more reputation points.
After that, by using the two faction privileges of [Cost Price Purchase] + [Return], he could accumulate reputation daily. It might not take long before Su Xiao could use his reputation points to buy out the entire Sun Church's inventory.
If a normal Eighth Rank contractor joined the Sun Church, they would be busy with commissions, enduring hardships to complete many tasks, saving up 100,000 reputation points, buying a long-coveted item, and leaving satisfied.
What Su Xiao was about to do didn't seem like purchasing items; it was more like stocking up. Decision paralysis? No problem, just take everything.