Chapter 435.1: Friendship

Although it took a while to log off the night before, when the morning sun rose, the Order of the White Bear still appeared as scheduled at the entrance of the Petra Fortress marketplace, meeting the long-waiting Buma.

The old man, having changed into a new set of clothes, no longer looked disheveled. He not only appeared much more spirited but finally resembled a merchant.

"Do you plan to exchange the goods for money, or barter them?" he asked respectfully, seeing his benefactors approach. "I recommend the latter, after all, you have seen... It’s not peaceful in the desert right now. Holding lots of money isn’t a good idea."

Sisi, having already discussed the issue with the team, spoke up. "We need to stay here for a while, so let's change it into money."

Old Buma nodded and, without further ado, began to help look for buyers in the market who had the capacity to take on the goods they had.

It didn't need much advertising. Once word got out that they had Devil's Silk from the east, a group of merchants quickly gathered around.

Unable to stay idle, Tail and Roshan curiously followed to watch the action.

Sesame Paste initially wanted to look too, but a black-and-white cat ran into her, leaving her crouching on the ground, laughing and crying as she petted the cat that had already turned over and laid down.

Sisi left the task of finding buyers to Buma and found a quieter place to sit down. She opened up the Silvermoon Scripture she had just purchased and began to read quietly.

This book was somewhat akin to the ‘Bible’ in the Camel Kingdom, containing local believers' interpretations of the teachings of the Spirit of the Desert.

If ‘The Oasis Under the Tzobar Mountains’ interpreted the local culture from a scholar's perspective, then the Silvermoon Scripture recommended by Academy researchers, analyzed the spiritual core of the locals from a believer's perspective.

Under the protection of the Tzobar Mountains, the Camel Kingdom's unique geographical advantage has spared it from much disturbance from land mutants.

The main threats came mostly from the sea.

They produced salt, camels, big-horned cattle imported from the Poro Province, and a variety of fruits and grains. The local area was a mix of backwardness and prosperity, with well-developed handicraft and commercial industries, a relatively poor citizen class, and some cities even had merchants who did not swear allegiance to the Kingdom. There were even City Lords elected by the citizens.

That was also why the locals' attitude towards religion and the royal family was not as respectful as the citizens of the other four kingdoms.

If the Falcon Kingdom was classic militarism, the Honey Badger Kingdom was a constitutional monarchy, the Golden Lizard Kingdom they didn’t visit was a feudal dynasty that practiced mystic arts, and the embattled Lion Kingdom was a feudal dynasty following the path of inner sanctity... The Camel Kingdom was more like a republic.

The twelve cities they had were highly autonomous, and the locals not only live more secularly but have even established a secular new religion, the Silvermoon Sect.

They infused the belief in the Spirit of the Desert with the pantheistic theories of the Southern Isles, concocting a lover named the Silvermoon Goddess for the genderless and wifeless Spirit of the Desert, infusing its divinity with a touch of human emotion.

According to the Silvermoon Scripture, the Spirit of the Desert ruled the Sunset Province as the master of the desert and was destined to rule the universe.

But south of the Tzobar Mountains, the Silvermoon Bay, irrigated by rivers, was the territory of the Silvermoon Goddess, co-ruled by the two spirits.

The locals agreed with the sect's interpretation of doctrines, including apocalyptic beliefs like ‘the world will eventually be consumed by sand’ and so on, but they also proposed new ideas based on their learnings.

They had many sayings like: "If the world burns out one day, we should cherish this last dusk..."

"A candle can dispel darkness, lighting one at dawn can delay the arrival of the end..."

And many more.

The former corresponded to the secular notion of living for the moment, while the latter evolved into a worship culture.

At the beginning of each month, the believers in the Camel Kingdom light a candle at home, face the Petra Mountains for prayer and recitation of scriptures, and they can even hire three non-converts to do this for them, unlike followers of the mainstream sect who pray daily.

"... It seems that the Sunset Province really is vast! A single desert has evolved five distinct cultural ideologies."

Flipping through the book, Sisi muttered softly to herself, simultaneously making up her mind to collect more writings from the Wasteland Era during her travels and translate and compile their contents so she could post them on the forums.

After all, it would be a shame if no one discovered the hard-crafted elements by the game developers!

And she always had a feeling... What she was doing might reconnect the cultural lifelines severed by war and the remnant of radiation. While it wouldn’t bring in silver coins or contribution points, in such a highly completed open-world game, it would be a pity to be just a quest-doer without any emotions.

She might as well treat it as a hobby.

The market was noisy, but it didn't interfere with her reading.

The bargaining probably lasted until noon. There were too few merchants who could pull out so much money at once, and the Order of the White Bear were not willing to barter.

Old Buma, who had been negotiating until his mouth was dry, finally waited for a buyer with the capacity to take on their goods. The merchant was not very tall, with slightly dark skin, and from his nearly distorted accent, it was obvious he came from the Poro Province from the southwest.

He planned to take the fine silks and other exotic goods back to his hometown, including items like the black and white stockings.

He was greatly interested in those interesting products... There was only one downside.

"Why only black and white?" he asked, puzzled.

Tail was surprised. "Huh? Aren't they pretty?"

"It's not that they aren't pretty," The merchant pondered, stroking his chin, "Don't you have dyes there? Why not consider dyeing them in a multitude of colors?"

Closing the book in her hands and rising from the carpet, Sisi’s expression was a bit complicated. "That would look rather ugly."

The idea of making those things multicolored... She wasn't keen on trying that, either in reality or in the game, although Tail looked somewhat interested.

Hopefully, she wasn't seriously considering it.

The merchant smiled apologetically. "Well, it's fine. I'm very satisfied with your goods... Let me think, how about 5 million Camel Coins?"

Hearing the number five million, Tail exclaimed and quickly turned to whisper to Roshan. "Five million... What does that represent here?"

Roshan whispered back, "I don't know! But here, a cow costs only 3,000 to 4,000..."

Tail was instantly amazed as her eyes sparkled in excitement. "GIAO! Over 1,000 cows! Roro, let's go herding in the future!"

Roshan rejected it without hesitation. "I don't want to! We are the Order of the White Bear! Herding would be too embarrassing! And what about being the guild master of the mercenaries? Tail, have you forgotten your old dreams?"

Tail scratched the back of her head. "

Hmm...

It's a tough choice."

Holding a cat, Sesame Paste smiled shyly, "Haha..."

Bargaining was Sisi’s job, and among everyone, only she had the best language skills, not only for basic communication but even understanding some obscure words.

Although she wasn't at the level of veterans like Yaya or Teng Teng who had been in the game since the ‘dark days’, she had at least reached a T1 standard in language abilities, almost catching up to one of the dudes who was about to marry a cardboard cutout.

After some negotiation, the goods were finally sold for 10 million Camel Coins.

Even though the buyer looked like his wallet was squeezed dry, Buma always felt there was a smirk hidden behind his dejected expression.

As for the other members of the Order of the White Bear, they were absorbed in the joy of earning 10 million Camel Coins.

Especially hearing that goods worth hundreds of thousands of silver coins had been exchanged for Camel Coins enough to buy over 3,000 cows, Tail and Roshan's eyes nearly turned the color of silver coins.

With an average price of 5,000 silver coins per cow...

15 million silver coins?!

Tail clenched her fists excitedly. "GIAO! Sisi! We're rich!"

Roshan also said in excitement, "Whoa! I want to order an exoskeleton like Garbage-kun from the administrator!"

"That's... Amazing." Sesame Paste was completely stunned, the cat she was holding nearly falling from her arms.

Sisi looked at her companions with a slight smile. "Getting rich might be an exaggeration, but we did make a bit... Oh, and Tail, Roro, remember not to boast about this on forums."

Tail and Roshan nodded almost simultaneously.

"Uh-huh!"

"Don't worry! I'll keep an eye on Tail!"

Seeing how readily these two agreed, Sisi felt a bit more relieved.

But honestly, the profit wasn't that exaggerated. The hardest part about trading in the wasteland wasn't the bargaining, but transporting the goods back safely.

Even if they could transport over 1,000 cows back to Frost Lance Ranch without a single loss, deducting expenses for provisions, water, hiring staff, natural loss of livestock, and market supply and demand changes along the way, the actual profit could easily be half of the 15 million silver coins.

And considering the ranch's capacity limits and risks hidden in the transport cycle, the method was hardly a long-term stable way to make money.

Those factories selling bricks, cement, steel, planes, tanks, and cannons might not have high Return on Equity, but the New Alliance’s demand for those products was nearly limitless.

Those were the real money printers.

Many top-tier players no longer publicly disclosed their earnings.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Although there was no direct evidence, Sisi conservatively estimated that those monsters had assets ranging in the hundred million range... Perhaps even more.

It was just that they haven't converted their profits into cash...

...