Chapter 222 The Trump Card
Just after Eric issued the new directive, Anna began to prepare.
Anna was indeed much smarter than ordinary NPCs. She quickly completed the tasks Eric required.
Under Eric's direction, the entire StellarTrails Emporium began renovations. According to Eric's requirements, the first and second floors were designed as specialty counters. The first floor sold common everyday items, while the second floor housed the premium goods. The fourth to sixth floors were converted into workshops for various life professions.
The entire fourth floor was a forging room, the fifth floor was an alchemy room, and the sixth floor was partly other profession workshops and partly a warehouse, available for both NPCs and players to use.
The renovation of StellarTrails Emporium also attracted the attention of many players.
Previously,many curious players had been attracted to StellarTrails Emporium due to the viral video of Eric and Anna, only to find that StellarTrails Emporium, located in a prime location, was closed for renovations.
This made all the players very curious about what was happening.
"His Highness Kai Blackthorn, everything you requested has been completed. Is there anything else you need?" Anna walked over to Eric, who was working on a business plan, with a serene smile and said softly.
"How many people did you find in total?" Eric asked.
"We found a total of 245 Alchemists, of which 209 are junior, 29 are intermediate, and 7 are senior. Additionally, we found 228 Blacksmiths, of which 188 are junior, 31 are intermediate , and 9 are senior." Anna then placed a list on the table.
"That's quite a lot." Eric was very satisfied with the number of NPCs on the list.
If the core high-level members of a top-tier guild saw this, they would probably be shocked beyond measure.
These were all genuine Alchemists and Blacksmiths, not apprentices. With them, a third-rate guild could instantly become a super guild.
This was the power of StellarTrails Emporium. If it were a player-established shop, they wouldn't be able to hire these high-level NPCs at all. At most, they could hire NPC apprentices, but StellarTrails Emporium could hire so many Alchemists and Blacksmiths, highlighting the significant difference.
These people were much better than player apprentices, although their efficiency was somewhat low, their growth was too slow, and their potential was much less than that of players.
"Your Highness, we are offering such high wages to hire so many people and providing a large amount of materials. I suppose this is a losing business. StellarTrails Emporium will go bankrupt in just over ten days, not even a month," Anna said worriedly.
To hire these people, StellarTrails Emporium paid 30% more, and it also had to bear their failure rates. Anna found it crazy.
Moreover, whether it was potions or equipment, they never sell well, let alone making money.
Only those master-level figures could really rake in the money. Hiring so many people now was a complete loss.
Anna really didn't understand why Eric wanted to hire these people. Wouldn't it be better to buy finished products directly from them? This way, there wouldn't be any losses.
However, Anna didn't know how important these Alchemists and Blacksmiths were to the current players.
"You don't need to worry about that. Just have the Alchemists keep making their specialty junior Restorative potions and Mana restoration potions. As for the intermediate and senior Alchemists, have them make intermediate Restorative potions and Mana restoration potions. And have the Blacksmiths all make Whetstone of Precision." Eric said with a smile.
In Divine Realms: Legends, there were many NPC Alchemists and Blacksmiths. Generally, only players who had opened shops were qualified to hire these NPCs to make things. Ordinary players, even if they found these NPCs and provided materials, the NPCs wouldn't make things for them.
However, hiring these NPCs to make things wasn't without its drawbacks. The main issue was the low efficiency, with a fixed number of items produced each day. The advantage, though, was a high success rate, unlike players who would wast a lot of materials before they finally succeeded.
In the later stages of Divine Realms: Legends, these NPCs wouldn't be very useful, as player-made items would dominate. However, right now, these Alchemists and Blacksmiths were extremely valuable to Eric.
Especially the intermediate Restorative potions and Mana restoration potions, which were incredibly useful to players at this stage, potentially saving their lives in critical moments.
Although these items were common and players could buy the recipes from the Alchemy Association, current players couldn't make them. These items could only be purchased in small quantities from hidden NPCs, making them a luxury for most.
If these Alchemists made them, their success rate would be over 70%. The cost of making an intermediate potion was only thirty to forty copper, but each bottle could sell for five to six silver coins. After deducting the hiring costs, they could still make a profit of four to five silver coins.
Moreover, these items were in high demand among players. If Eric sold them at StellarTrails Emporium, he would definitely make a huge profit.
Additionally, there was the Whetstone of Precision, something all players needed. A set of sturdy stones was worth 13 silver coins, while a set of Whetstone of Precision was worth 40 silver coins. Given the success rate of those apprentices, they couldn't compete with these official Blacksmiths.
The only issue was the materials. Previously, StellarTrails Emporium bought directly from Alchemists and Blacksmiths. Now, they provided resources for them to make items, so the guild had to solve the material problem.
Ordinary materials on the market could be bought cheaply by the guild, but materials for making intermediate Restorative potions, intermediate Mana restoration potions, and Whetstone of Precision had to be sourced by players.
However, Eric wasn't worried about this. The herbs for making intermediate Restorative potions and Mana restoration potions were not expensive as these herbs were not used by players at all.
Current players were all apprentices. It was already good for them to make junior Restorative potions. They wouldn't waste materials on other potions that were difficult to make and not worth the effort, so the materials for intermediate potions were cheap.
As for sturdy stones, Eric wasn't worried at all. He had a large stockpile, enough for the Blacksmiths to use. Additionally, he could continuously purchase more from Rosewater, so there would be no shortage.
With these advantages, plus selling in prime locations in eight cities, making money was completely a piece of cake. Eric also had an ace up his sleeve.
Advanced Whetstone of Precision!
It was far superior to the ordinary Whetstone of Precision. It not only restored twice the durability but also increased damage, equivalent to an additional buff, with which the ordinary Whetstone of Precision couldn't compare.
Eric had already decided to sell one advanced Whetstone of Precision for 7 silver coins. A set of twenty advanced Whetstones of Precision would be 1 gold 40 silver. Once placed on the second-floor counter, players would rush to buy them, especially the large guilds.
Defeating a boss would usually come down to an extra 1% of damage, and the advanced Whetstone of Precision could provide an additional 3% damage. Guilds eager to clear dungeons wouldn't miss out and would buy them frantically.
Previously, Eric made advanced Whetstones of Precision for his own use and distributed some to his team. Now, he still had over eight hundred left, enough for StellarTrails Emporium to sell for a long time.
But Eric's plans went beyond this.
Now that he had such a large market, he knew that if he didn't fully utilize it, he wouldn't have such an opportunity in the future.
So, Eric came up with a plan to use StellarTrails Emporium's market to prepare for his future shop.
After that, Eric handed over the subsequent work to Anna and left StellarTrails Emporium alone.
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