This isn't the Fourth Calamity

Chapter 373 Levi's Day

It rained lightly all night.

The early morning in Punk City was bathed in such light rain, and the air was unusually clear. Lao Li’s pharmacy at No. 14 Three and One Third Street opened its doors early. The owner of the player store, Levi’s, greeted Aunt York, the proprietress of the Arm Inn. Put down the door panel and walk into the narrow shop.

The light inside is dim, and there is a fermented smell of medicinal materials and potions. Levi, who often smells this smell, can't detect it, but every player who walks into the store will subconsciously cover his nose, which will affect everyone. Since then, he has paid special attention to ventilation in his business.

Levi's opened all the doors and windows, and lit a magic lamp just bought from the alchemy shop, dispelling the darkness and strong smell in the shop.

It was just dawn and there was no business. Levi's first calculated yesterday's accounts, took out the profits saved in the past few days, put them in a space bag, and went out to the ICBC business office a hundred meters away.

ICBC also used the offline LOGO signboard in the game, but limited by the material, it is impossible to make the offline window machine clear and clean.

There are not many salespersons, and there is only one counter, and there are no players, only hired NPCs.
Under the warm hospitality of the NPC salesperson, Levi sat in the waiting area and waited for a few minutes. When it was his turn, the NPC salesperson politely led him to the only counter.

"Exchange 2 gold, 16 silver and 88 copper, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay, please take a look at the latest exchange rate. If there is no problem, please sign."

Seeing that the exchange rate had risen by several hundred basis points again, Levi's felt very happy, and happily signed and handed it over to the teller, completing the online and offline exchange procedures.

That is, the handling fee is too expensive, as high as 5%, and personal income tax will be calculated after converting to RMB.

The game income tax rate for players in Canaan is progressive, with one month as the settlement cycle. Taking Levi’s income, the tax rate is as high as 40%. contributed to the tax revenue.

The high taxation of players has won a lot of praise offline. They all think that it is easy for players to come in for money. To create any wealth without taxing them so much is simply a shame about fairness.

Players are naturally opposed to this, but relatively speaking, their base is still too small, and their interest groups are not large enough, so their voices are very small, and they will soon be submerged in mainstream public opinion. Can't get up.

In the past, Canaan Company did not go deep into the online business, and there were still some loopholes for players to evade taxes. Now it is no longer possible. The game activities, especially economic activities, are heavily supervised by Canaan Company, and the relevant data is directly transmitted to the taxpayer. Institutions also block any room for tax evasion.

After a long time, the players have resigned themselves to their fate. If you pay the tax, just pay the tax. Your arms can't twist your thighs. Since you can't resist, you can only lie flat.

Levi's went to the 'bank' of Honest Hall, which is only open to NPCs, after coming out of the ICBC branch that only opened business to players. Well, it was the lair of NPC gangsters commonly known as loan sharks, and met a small boss inside. On the other hand, he bought a batch of stolen goods at a low price, cheated, and robbed him. A large bag almost exceeded his load, and he sneaked back to his own shop.

Aunt York next door is also open for business. Her half-child, with freckles on his face, and Chalt, who dreams of becoming an adventurer like a player, helps him look after the store as always.

"Uncle Levi, just now a player came to buy a set of primary red potion, this is money."

"Thank you, Charles."

"You're welcome, Uncle Levi's"

Levi's smiled, and handed him a bottle of intermediate red potion as a reward for looking at the store.

Charter took it happily, bowed, and left bouncing away.

Next, Levi's knew that Chart would use this bottle of mid-level red potion to issue a quest, asking players to tell him about adventures he had never heard of. The location where the quest was triggered was at the entrance of the alley. The "Adventure Story" who came to get this bottle of red potion from him has almost become the norm every day. These players also joked that they have mastered a channel that others do not know, and they also agreed to keep it secret. No one knows the source Right here with him, haha...

Put the medicinal materials collected at low prices into the container, carefully take out the packaged main materials of various colors sold from the Alchemist Association, and open the package to let the accumulated magical aura dissipate.

After cleaning up the working counter, igniting the expensive magic stove, placing large beakers and rows of clean and tidy empty bottles, the intermediate pharmacist Levi's began the refining process of red and blue potions.

First pour pure water into a large beaker and heat it to boil, then take out a main alchemy material and carefully drop it into the boiling pure water drop by drop with a straw.

Immediately, a rich dark blue color spread in the beaker, and the bubbling bubbles evaporated a faint blue potion smell, which became more intense as the straw dripped into it.

Ten years later, Charte guarded the door again at some point, stopped two players who were about to come in, and looked at the room curiously.

Under the azure magic aura, Levi's skillfully prepared the potion, looking mysteriously like a mage—the young Chalt's eyes were full of longing, but it was a pity that Uncle Levi's refused to accept him as an apprentice.

Soon, a set of primary blue potion was prepared, and Levi's poured the solution in the beaker into clean small bottles to complete the packaging.

"welcome!"

Then I went out to recruit a few players to come in.

Players who are still in the game area at this stage have a characteristic, that is, they are full of resentment.

"What are you doing, why don't we enter the battlefield until now, is this going to give up on us?"

"Damn it, the level of combat power discriminates!"

"I heard that the 6th test is about to start, what will the newcomers do then?"

"I don't believe that newcomers are treated the same way. This guy will be let go one day."

"How much is a set of blue medicine?"

"10 silver," Levi's said with a smile.

"Fuck, it was only 9 silver and 50 copper yesterday"

"The exchange rate has risen, and prices are also rising. There is no way," said profiteer Levi's.

A few players had no choice but to pool money with each other to buy a set of low-level blue potions, and then went out to do quests and spawn monsters noisily.

Levi's, who earned 5 silver and 45 copper in blood, was satisfied and threw 10 shiny silver coins into the cash drawer. Hearing a jingling sound, it was like hearing some fairy music, and his whole body was full of energy.

The reason why we don't use the more convenient "account-to-account" transaction is to save money. Although this transaction method is convenient, it will be scratched by the system. Although it is only one percent, it can add up to a lot, especially for For those players who are still in the game area and are equivalent to being abandoned, the legs of the flies are also meat.

Levi continued to prepare his potion.

The current pharmacist, the gold content is really not comparable to the previous few tests, more like an assembler, the value of the medicine formula is not even one-tenth of the alchemy and enchanting formula, no, just prepared a set of intermediate red Potion, there are players who come to sell a potion formula.

[Intermediate Perception Potion Formula·Status]

The formula for the status potion is the formula with the highest explosion rate. It increases a certain attribute of the player within the time limit. The finished product is cheap and can only earn hard money.

Levi's had known this recipe a long time ago, politely sent away the disappointed player, and more players came to his door one after another.

Either buying or selling, the small shop became lively. In one morning, it made a sound of more than 1 gold coin. It was not comparable to before, but it was still passable.

To be honest, running this kind of small store is no better than some small profitable offline businesses, but offline game nerds like Levi’s have no chance to make a living with their own abilities. The game is different. Love, the second is timely feedback, the third is relative fairness, and the fourth is freedom...

Having said that, Levi's was not reconciled to getting rich. He closed the store at noon, and went to the Alchemist Association as usual to gain a sense of presence.

There are very few alchemy apprentices enrolled, and each of them is an existence that Levi's is extremely envious of. There are even more alchemy enthusiasts who are still doing tasks, studying, and waiting for the alchemy instructor NPC to favor them. Almost all of them are in the lobby on the first floor.

Levi said hello to several familiar old faces, and got together to chat about their business experiences for a while.

These people are almost all life players who run various small businesses in Punk City. There are blacksmiths who blacksmith, intermediate craftsmen who specialize in jewelry manufacturing, tailor girls who sew and mend, and second-hand dealers who specialize in ore business. NPCs and players buy medicinal materials and then sell them to people like Levi's, medicinal merchants, etc.

There are also NPC business, that is, there are many kinds, and there are many types.

These people have a common 'hobby', which is alchemy, which can also be counted as enchanting. Of course, such hobbies have a common premise, that is, there is no limit to money!
Levi's was talking about entering the alley, when a formally enrolled alchemy apprentice came out accompanied by an NPC mentor, a group of people immediately surrounded him, clapping wildly around the NPC alchemy mentor.

Levi's movements were slow, he was blocked outside, and he was in a hurry. He heard from the NPC alchemist instructor that there was an 'alchemist admission certificate' that had fallen from the abyss battlefield and was about to enter the auction process...

The crowd exploded immediately, and the players immediately abandoned the NPC alchemy tutor, rushing to the second floor.

On the auction catalog on the second floor, it was recorded that the auction in the afternoon would have the item 'Alchemist Entrance Certificate'.

The starting price is not expensive, only 50 gold.

For ordinary players, this is really a huge sum of money, but in the eyes of the Levi's group, this price is really the same as free.

But not everyone who has money can participate in this internal auction. You must learn how much reputation you have earned from the Alchemist Academy, and how much favorability you have with a certain NPC alchemist instructor. , are eligible to participate.

Fortunately, Levi's came to brush up his presence every day, and he didn't miss a day. His flattering skills are considered to be very good, and there are quite a few NPC alchemy instructors who intended to issue a "letter of introduction" to him.

In this way, the qualification to participate in the auction is obtained, and the rest is to sell the pot and sell the iron, and to win the admission certificate.

Many players who didn't meet the standard in this aspect were all nervous. The auction was about to start in the afternoon. It was too late to do tasks and flatter NPCs. There was still no way to do it.

Levi's wasn't in the mood to care about this anymore, and hurried back to the store to check how much money he had spent.

regret……

Due to the rising exchange rate, he remitted most of his profits offline, leaving only a little working capital in the store, which was less than 10 gold.

Krypton Gold?

It’s okay if the amount is too small, but if it’s too big, one has to bear a wave of exploitation from the exchange, and the other is that the yellow-faced woman at home refuses to agree.

She was happy to take the money home, and she took out the money from home to recharge the game, which was tantamount to killing the yellow-faced woman... Sigh, when people are middle-aged, they just can't help themselves.

How can this be done.

When I was worried, a familiar professional player came to my door and proposed to jointly bid for the admission certificate.

"Uh……"

"Old Li, I know you are short of funds, and I am a little short of reputation, how about cooperation?"

"What money is tight, don't talk nonsense."

"You send money out every day when others don't know, how much money can you save in this store? Do you have 50 gold?"

Levi said in his heart, don't say 50, I can't even get 10 gold, but it's still a perfunctory joke.

Before leaving, the player said resentfully, "I heard that Kang Mazi and the others have formed some kind of family in partnership and signed an agreement for offline and online business entities. This alchemist's admission certificate is equal to public property, and it is inevitable to concentrate financial resources. If you want to be alone, go ahead and dream!"

Hearing the news, Levi's heart sank, and he had no choice but to invite this man back with a shy face.

The man didn't care about it, and said anxiously, "It's just the two of us, we have to find more people to come in."

Levi's heart bleeds when he thinks that most of the meat in the bowl will be taken out before he eats it, but the reality is like this, so he can only nod in agreement.

There are too many businessmen with similar ideas and needs.

It didn't take much effort for Levi's to successfully form a group, raising more than 180 gold in a short time, but...if the bidding is successful, who will be enrolled in the end is a problem.

There are three people who are eligible to enroll, namely, intermediate pharmacist Levi's, intermediate tailor Cuihuashang sauerkraut, intermediate jewelry craftsman Yanyu Chonglou... Yanyu Chonglou is a girl, but in reality she is a well-known, handicraft, intangible Inheritors of cultural heritage.

Levi's naturally did his part, as did the other two.

During the stalemate, a medicinal material merchant said impatiently, "Stop arguing, grab the meat into a bowl first."

Also.

Only then did everyone put aside their disputes, formed a group to fight towards the Alchemist Association, and went up to the second floor in a mighty manner.

The auction hall on the second floor was full of seats, almost all the professional players who had heard the news came, and all those who participated in the auction formed a group.

Ah... this!

Levi's panicked. He didn't expect that in such a short period of time, even the professional players in the main city of other systems would come. 180 gold was thought to be safe, but now it seems that it may not be enough.

How can this be done.

Additional funds?

The three players who can enroll naturally have nothing to say, they have to give it a try, but the other players who just join the group and plan to share an alchemist's "Qiantu" are very upset. What can be taken out has already been taken out, and what can't be taken out Whether it's worth it or not is a question.

There is no rush to send money in from reality, Levi gritted his teeth when he saw this, "I'll mortgage the storefront to the bank!"

He is going to die.

(End of this chapter)