Sacred Souls: Genesis

Chapter 364: Chapter 353 Business (1st Update) Chapter 364: Chapter 353 Business (1st Update) Spirit had two business meetings scheduled for today, one in reality and the other in the game.

The business in the game was only half discussed when someone arrived in reality, forcing Spirit to temporarily log off to attend to the visitor.

Now, he was sitting in his company’s negotiation room… he was somewhat anxious, continuously tapping his arm. Those sitting on both sides of the conference table were business tycoons he couldn’t afford to offend, all introduced by his father for business discussions.

I’m just an ordinary club manager, what business can I discuss?

The main reason Spirit was impatient was that he knew… why these people were here.

“So, Mr. Li, as the first member of the Divine Power Fund, you don’t have any referral rights, do you?” one of the negotiators asked.

“Your company, Nai Xin, being the world’s leading sports brand, didn’t Divine Power send you an invitation? And your company, uh, Player’s Eye too, everyone here should make a call and check with your superiors, or dig through the trash folder of your email to see if there’s an invite from the Divine Power Fund.”

Spirit said he was just a spiritual shareholder of Divine Power, he had no power to interfere with the operations of the Divine Power game, and more importantly, he had no authority to invite anyone to join the Divine Power Fund.

“This might take some time to confirm.” These negotiators were essentially employees of big corporations, they didn’t have the status to ask their bosses ‘The invite has been sent, did you delete the email?’
“Then go and confirm. I appreciate your interest, but I really don’t have the authority to invite you to join the Divine Power Fund. Please communicate this to each other. Today’s meeting is hereby adjourned.”

Spirit glanced at the time; he had been offline for nearly half an hour, and another business deal awaited him in the game.

“Mr. Li, please wait, but you do have the power to choose linked merchandise within the Divine Power Fund,” the negotiator from Player’s Eye suddenly said.

“Rest assured, as long as you have a cooperative relationship with our business loop, your products will be featured in the linkages inside Divine Power. However… currently, there are only so many players in Divine Power, having someone from the top management come down to talk really makes me…” Spirit was interrupted before he could finish his sentence by Xue Bi patting him on the back.

After this fruitless business meeting concluded, Spirit quickly left the negotiation room.

“I’m not wrong, Divine Power currently only has 250,000 players… Although the topic is terrifyingly hot right now, companies like Nai Xin paying attention really is impressive,” Spirit muttered as he walked swiftly down the corridor, speaking to Xue Bi trailing behind him.

“After Queen Mei’s declarations at the Holographic Projection Exhibition, it represents that Divine Power might initiate changes in the real world,” Xue Bi seriously told Spirit.

“Changes? Wasn’t it possible to make money by playing games many years ago? I’m still somewhat reluctant to believe… that Divine Power will return all the money earned to the players. Isn’t it a bit early for such changes?”

Spirit felt somewhat convinced by the grand picture Queen Mei painted at the Holographic Projection Exhibition, because on normal occasions, big companies like Nai Xin and Player’s Eye wouldn’t come to him for discussions, spending more time negotiating with his father instead.

Now, they were approaching Spirit for his opinion, purely because he was one of the five members of the Divine Power Fund, and though he was unaware of the other three members, he and Mr. Yin, relying on the advertising impact and linkages of the Divine Power Fund, had already made a fortune.

“It’s different, past video games were merely a form of entertainment, but Divine Power could become your second life,” Xue Bi added another sentence that Spirit failed to understand.

“Is there a difference?” Spirit asked, puzzled.

“The difference lies in that every achievement you earn in Divine Power will be reflected in the real world. If you become the chairman of the first major guild in the game world and own many territories there, then real-world corporations will seek you out to gain benefits in those areas… This is the influence that Divine Power’s continued development could have on the real world, and universities might introduce new academic fields related to Divine Power,” explained Xue Bi.

“I think I understand a bit, in summary… in the future, leveling up and spending money in games won’t be considered a ‘waste of life’ anymore?” Spirit still vaguely remembered how Xue Bi used to urge him at the launch of Divine Power to mind his gaming time and enjoy a healthy life.

“It depends on what you do, like the current deal with the League of Gods needs to be clinched, log in.” Xue Bi extended her hand and pushed Spirit into the VR equipment.

Spirit sighed, put on the VR headset again, and logged into his account. After a brief loading screen, the view in front of Spirit changed from a modern office to a resplendent grand hall.

“Where did we leave off?”

Spirit came to his senses and saw the beautiful Goddess sitting in the hall.

Joining the League of Gods’ grand guild were Gray Eyes Association and Night Sprint, two competitors that Spirit found rather challenging, but Cola Frenzy maintained the number one spot in the League of Gods’ reputation.

It did so through completing various team instances and side quests issued by the League of Gods; the guild’s reputation and individual reputations were separately categorized, with Cola Frenzy’s reputation at fourteen thousand points, rated ‘Respectable,’ and Spirit’s personal reputation was one hundred twenty points, also rated as respectable.

Unfortunately, the reputation system didn’t have much of an advantage at this stage, but after the Spirit updated the Black Tide Island NPC favorability system! The benefits of the reputation system finally came.

Bubble, at the invitation of Mei, was preparing to talk about a big deal with Mei.

“The purchase conditions for Divine Power Crystals, Lord Bubble… You have shown great interest in our Divine Union’s various pet eggs, so you plan to spend Divine Power Crystals to buy them in bulk,” Mei said.

“Yes… pet eggs.”

Bubble only snapped out of it when he saw that the Spirit Shop had started selling ornamental pets. The Spirit had finally perfected the originally criticized pet system.

As the first players in the Spirit world, the Dragon Speaker sisters contributed eleven tamed dragon pets for Cola’s fervent contribution, but the growth rate of these dragon pets was so slow that Bubble wanted to curse.

Now, one of the dragon pets that Bubble was fostering could only spit a small fireball, and just then, Bubble had heard from Mei… the Divine Union also sold pets!

“These two are the griffon eggs you inquired about, and these two are the young unicorns,” Mei brought out two griffon eggs and placed two young unicorns on the table.

“Wait a second, how long do these things take to grow up?”

Bubble stopped worrying about these two pets’ combat abilities for the moment, as griffons and unicorns were included among Spirit’s mounts; unfortunately, they could only be ridden and not used as combat pets, but these four were clearly usable as battle pets.

But what was most important to Bubble was the growth period of these four creatures.

“It takes about twenty years for the unicorn to reach maturity, and the griffon is the same,” Mei said.

“Excuse me.”

Hearing this growth period, Bubble immediately stood up and decided to take his leave. The time scale in Spirit was the same as in reality; who knows how many game versions would have been updated in twenty years! By the time these pets grew up, their level cap probably would have increased to well over a hundred.

“Lord Bubble, wait a moment, if you do not want the juvenile form, we also have adults available, it’s just… taming takes a bit of time,” Mei added.

Bubble was about to respond to Mei but was stopped by Xue Bi’s hand.

“There’s something I’m curious about; you should be the management tier of the City of Gods. As the currency, Divine Power Crystals are managed and distributed by you, aren’t they? Why do you… all the gods in this city are trying to make Divine Power Crystals off us?”

Xue Bi voiced her skepticism, which had been simmering ever since she joined the Divine Union. Divine Power Crystals were only produced in the Divine Union’s instance; logically, they should be distributed by Mei and her colleagues. Instead, Mei and other Divine Union managers were thinking of various ways to make Divine Power Crystals from… players?

“Xue Bi, isn’t this thing distributed by the system? She’s the NPC in charge of retrieving the currency,” Bubble said.

“Be quiet,” Xue Bi said.

“Lord Bubble, Lady Xue Bi, this is no secret.” Mei, smiling, pointed to a huge statue behind her and said, “The Divine Union is not an organization that only exists in the Black Tide Island; this organization connects millions of worlds in the star chart, and we are gods born from the faith of followers. There are countless gods bearing the name of Mei in the star chart.”

“However, in the Divine Union, there are some powerful singular gods, who are the embodiments of laws and also the managers of the Union, and they are responsible for the distribution of Divine Power Crystals. The tasks you, the Spirits, carry out on Black Tide Island were also set by them… We come to Black Tide Island also to earn Divine Power Crystals, apart from gaining followers, it’s another way for us to increase our power,” said Mei.

“I see…” Xue Bi was about to ask something when… MacCoffee popped up out of nowhere.

“Pig Head President! There’s a new fishing event on Flowing Water Street! The first prize apparently is a very powerful NPC contract!” MacCoffee moved sideways into Bubble’s line of sight.

“Where?” Bubble barely glanced at the NPC contract for the first prize before grabbing MacCoffee and asking for the coordinates.

“I’ll take you there.”

Xue Bi, with a headache, watched the two leave the conference hall, while Mei maintained her smile.

“Let’s talk about the pet business later then; I will take my leave now.”

Xue Bi didn’t perceive Mei as a mere digital NPC; in Xue Bi’s eyes, Mei was a cunning deity, a god using the Spirit to earn her own benefits.

“Next time, I’ll prepare goods that will satisfy you,” Mei could only smile as she watched Xue Bi leave.