Battlefield Access

Xiao Yu's plan was simple: if he could earn the three million to cure his illness, that would be better than anything else. No matter how much money the artifact cost, it was not as important as his own life. Unfortunately, his plan could not be realized as he wished.

Upon Huo Xian immediately flew into a rage, "Damn it, why don't you just rob someone? Three million, that's ten years' salary for me!"

Jiang Zeyan for Huo Xian shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Xiao, I'm afraid we can't give you three million. Firstly, we don't have that authority, and secondly, we have no precedent for doing so."

Xiao Yu found it hard to accept. "Hey, a company as big as yours can't even come up with three million? You said before that you spent over a billion on this game, and your company's annual profit is probably over ten billion, right? You're short of such a small amount of money?"

Jiang Zeyan shook his head. "Making more money has nothing to do with us laborers. We have no power. To be honest, 3 million is definitely impossible. In fact, let alone 3 million, we can't even come up with 300,000. You should suggest some conditions that we can decide, like in-game items."

Sigh, it still didn't work out. Xiao Yu didn't have high hopes anyway. You can spend money to buy things in a game, but what game company would spend money to buy things from players?

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Yu said, "Then let's do this: I'll trade a divine artifact for a legendary one. If you can give me ten or eight legendary items, I'll reluctantly trade with you."

Although divine artifacts are highly valuable, their value is limited. Legendary items, while not as valuable as divine artifacts, are still extremely valuable; ten or eight of them are worth more than divine artifacts.

To his surprise, Jiang Zeyan smiled wryly and said, "I'm afraid that won't work either. All the story items in the game are unique, and legendary items are even more so. It's not that easy for us to collect legendary items. This isn't like ordinary game data that can be copied at will."

Xiao Yu was furious. "Damn it, if this won't work and that won't work, then what can you possibly offer?"

Jiang Zeyan patiently explained, "All we can offer you are some in-game services. For example, we can help you resurrect your Balrog Lord account, Lagrios. Of course, it's not a 100% instant resurrection, but we can help you issue story quests and call on adventurers to perform the resurrection ritual. Normally, this kind of resurrection service would cost at least two million, but we're offering it to you for free now. How does that sound?"

Xiao Yu glared at him, "Two million my foot! Don't think I'm a sucker, it's only a little over a million."

Jiang Zeyan felt a little embarrassed upon hearing this. "I might have misremembered, but over a million is still quite valuable. What do you think?"

Xiao Yu thought to himself that if it were in the past, he might have actually agreed. After all, it was a three-skull-level BOSS, which was quite a figure. But now he already had a three-skull-level BOSS, and its development prospects and attribute growth were obviously better. He didn't care about an ordinary three-skull-level BOSS.

Seeing that Xiao Yu disagreed, Jiang Zeyan was somewhat helpless. After thinking for a moment, he simply took out a form. "How about this, this is our VIP service category. You can choose whatever you like, as long as the total price does not exceed 1 million."

Xiao Yu took a look and found that there were quite a few things you could do in the game by spending money, but most of them were personalized services, such as getting a maid in the game or skins in the game. It didn't seem to have a big impact on strength.

The table was divided into three parts. The first part listed the existing services, the second part listed the services that had not yet been launched, and the last part listed the services that were still under development and whose technology was not yet mature. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. It was you.

"I need permission to create a permanent battlefield," Xiao Yu said, pointing to an item in the third column.

Battleground Creation Permission: After purchasing this permission, players can create a permanent battleground where adventurers from the Alliance and the Horde will fight to the last for the glory of their faction.

(This service is not yet available due to the immaturity of the technology.)

"What?"

"You want this? That's impossible."

Ma Xiaoyun and Huo Xian spoke almost simultaneously.

Xiao Yu ignored the two of them and stared at Jiang Zeyan, who showed a hesitant Jiang Zeyan.

In the Sky World, battlefields are divided into temporary battlefields and permanent battlefields. Temporary battlefields, like the Battle for Burning Path that Xiao Yu participated in, are usually wars Alliance and the Horde for a certain territory. Adventurers, heroes, and soldiers from both sides participate in the battle, and after several days or weeks of fighting, a winner is finally determined, and the battlefield ends.

These battlefields are one-off events; once they're over, they're gone. Many things on the battlefield are quite random, with no specific rules; as long as you can win, that's all that matters.

But there is another kind of battlefield, called the permanent battlefield.

A permanent battlefield is created when the Horde and the Alliance are locked in a stalemate on a certain battlefield for more than three months. The system will generate a permanent battlefield for this purpose. These battlefields are characterized by a very balanced strength between the two sides, and neither side can completely defeat the other to achieve victory.

In the permanent battlefield, the mirror system can be activated, which means that theoretically, no matter how many people come, they can fight in this battlefield. Various battlefield rules have also been introduced, such as player limits, victory conditions, etc., similar to the battlefields in traditional online games. Basically, it is a place for players to farm honor.

There are only a dozen or so of these battlefields in the game so far. They are all places where players gather because they can farm merit points, which can be exchanged for merit equipment. For example, the Grand Marshal's Plate Armor Set, also known as the Gold Cloth, can only be obtained by earning merit points.

Besides equipment, there are also various merit mounts, merit items, and so on.

The biggest advantage of opening battlegrounds compared to opening dungeons is that the system pays for the loot, while the boss in a dungeon has to pay for the loot itself. You can add your own equipment or generate it with points, but the merit points produced in battlegrounds are exchanged for equipment and items at the Alliance and Horde quartermasters.

In other words, if a battlefield could be opened and tickets sold, it would be a complete free lunch. That's why it's easy for players to create their own instance in the Sky World, but it's practically impossible to create a battlefield. There's no such service at all; players can only trigger temporary battlefields, participate in them, but have no control over them.

However, it now seems that the game company is planning to launch this service, but the technology is not yet mature, so Xiao Yu was the first to see it.

"This—this is impossible, you're extorting me."

Jiang Zeyan, signaling Huo Xian shut up, "Where do you plan to establish the battlefield, the Lost Island?"

"Of course," Xiao Yu said, "Now that we have adventurers from both the Alliance Horde on this Lost Island, isn't it a ready-made battlefield? Moreover, the opposing factions are also ready-made: Song of the Ocean and the Immortals, who can be allies of the Alliance and the Horde, serving as neutral factions for issuing combat quests. Yarvis City and Yartera City can serve as rest areas for the Alliance and the Horde, respectively. The Lost City is the main battlefield area, and I've even come up with the battlefield scenario."

Xiao Yu then casually made up a story.

Three days have passed since the Immortals and the Song of the Ocean joined forces against the Naga. Their fragile agreement has long since crumbled. Now, the thunderous drums of war sound once more. Both sides have committed their full strength to this territory, buried with countless explosions. The Alliance and the Horde, seeking to expand their spheres of influence, have also joined the fray. Brave adventurers, for the glory of the Alliance and the Horde, join this battle!

"How about it? This script is pretty good, isn't it?" Xiao Yu said finally.

However, he also knew that opening a permanent battlefield was not so simple. First, he had to open the shipping routes for the Alliance and the Horde to the Lost Island. Although he could use the method of hijacking ships along the way, it was not a long-term solution. Then, the Alliance and the Horde had to send quartermasters and other NPCs to the island. They also had to form an alliance between the Alliance and the Immortals, and between the Horde and the Song of the Ocean. They also had to design the victory mechanism for the battlefield. In short, there were many things to do.

However, behind the trouble lies enormous profit. It's not just about selling tickets; with more adventurers, various ways to profit will naturally emerge. The revenue from just one battlefield isn't particularly high, but once this battlefield attracts adventurers, he can develop the Yarvis City, sell items to adventurers, collect consumption taxes, and then build several dungeons on the island, selling dungeon keys to players, as well as various supplies. All the things he learned about running a studio from the Defias Brotherhood can be used. Lost Island will become a very popular adventure area, attracting adventurers from both the Alliance and the Horde. This will provide a stable income of in-game currency; perhaps he can earn three million in nine months—wouldn't that be more profitable than selling three million worth of items?

Seeing that Jiang Zeyan was still hesitating.

Xiao Yu continued, "I can design the battlefield myself. You just need to send the Alliance and Horde ships and people there. Then I'll stage a dramatic falling out with the Song of the Ocean, and you'll help me set up the battlefield. After it's done, I'll hand over Scourge of the Ocean to you. How about it? A permanent battlefield access and three million gold. You can choose. Oh, right, there's one more thing. If I hand over Scourge of the Ocean, the Naga will become a huge threat again. So I require you to order Azshara not to attack the Lost Island."

Jiang Zeyan shook his head. "Azshara is an autonomous AI. We can only influence her, not completely command her. At most, I can prevent her from attacking the Lost Island for a month."

Xiao Yu thought for a moment. A month would be enough. With a month to develop, his troops would also level up, and even without the divine artifact, dealing with the Naga wouldn't be a problem. However, Jiang Zeyan... did that mean...?

He gave Jiang Zeyan a meaningful look. "So you agree?"

Jiang Zeyan a bitter laugh. "Do I have any other choice?"