TSA Chapter 98

The game <Magic Realm> also came into the spotlight due to this incident, making many people aware of the hidden business opportunities within it. This led to a frenzy of high-priced purchases of Physical Exchange Coupons. Unfortunately, there were very few people who actually owned these coupons, causing their price to skyrocket to a five-figure sum.

Wealth stirs greed, and soon everyone was doing everything they could to farm exchange coupons—whether through innovative use of life skills or by securing first kills on dungeon bosses and achieving record-breaking speed runs. With Night Owl’s top-tier team dominating, obtaining coupons through first kills in new dungeons was nearly impossible, but breaking previous speedrun records was still an option.

For some already-cleared lower-level dungeons, Night Owl’s team had no interest in wasting time on them, leaving those dungeons open for other players to compete in. Among them was the Cat Demon Nest, though as an Abyss dungeon, its difficulty remained high, and one wrong move could result in a wipeout.

The competition for these dungeons was fierce, and the number of exchange coupons available remained limited.

“It’s been a whole week! And you’ve only managed to get this few exchange coupons?!” Zhang Shuo’s father roared in his room.

“No one’s willing to sell… The president of Glazed Moon keeps competing with me. Whenever I raise my price, she raises hers, too. After a whole week, this is all we could collect…” Zhang Shuo didn’t even dare to lift his head as he endured the scolding.

“You spend so much time playing that game—where has all that time gone? This game’s exchange coupons can be exchanged for so many valuable items, and you didn’t think to collect some yourself? Are you an idiot?! Everyone is saying that Ran Qi has hundreds of exchange coupons in his hands! Look at their family’s nutrition liquid—it’s practically selling like crazy! Our market share is being devoured by them! Our daily revenue keeps plummeting!!!” Zhang Shuo’s father was practically embodying a rage demon, his face red and veins bulging from fury.

“Ran Qi only got those because he had top players carrying him… It’s Han Xiao from Imperial Star! That whole group handed over the exchange coupons they earned from dungeon clears to him…” Zhang Shuo muttered in protest.

“Then did that so-called Imperial Star person also make the new flavors of nutrition liquid for him?” His father asked sharply.

“N-no…” Sweat began to bead on Zhang Shuo’s forehead.

“And yet you still dare to call him useless? I think you’re the real useless one!” Zhang Shuo’s father became even more furious, smashing several ornaments before barely managing to suppress his anger. “Use the exchange coupons immediately to redeem those fruits that don’t require formulas for production! Also, start purchasing food formulas—get as many as possible!”

“Yes, Father…” Zhang Shuo hastily fled the room.

Zhang Shuo’s father took a deep breath, turned on his quantum computer, and notified the research department to prepare for testing. They needed to develop new flavors of nutrition liquid as soon as possible using the fruits they redeemed.

However, he knew this was only a temporary solution. To truly solve the problem, they needed more raw materials.

He tried every means to contact the <Magic Realm> game company, attempting to learn where the ingredients in the in-game store came from and even offering high prices to acquire those food items. Unfortunately, all his requests were rejected. Of course, Zhang Shuo’s father wasn’t about to give up so easily, but before he could take further action, the Empire’s government announced that it would be taking over the management of <Magic Realm>.

The government’s intervention quickly silenced businessmen who had similar schemes. They could only follow Ran Qi’s family’s approach—purchasing resource planets to cultivate their own ingredients. After all, relying solely on exchange coupons to obtain food was far from enough to meet the needs of the entire Empire.

Before long, various new flavors of nutrition liquid flooded the market. However, Ran Qi’s family had already built an unbeatable reputation, and people firmly preferred their products. As a result, the Zhang family’s business began to shrink, never regaining its former glory.

******

Two months of vacation passed in the blink of an eye, and when students returned to school, a major news story broke.

Some of the stricter schools conducted a series of tests to confirm that students had maintained their training and hadn’t been slacking off during the break. To their surprise, some students showed signs of physical enhancement. Though the improvements weren’t drastic—mostly just half a grade higher—it was still a shocking discovery.

If it had only been one or two students, it wouldn’t have been too unusual. But when dozens, even hundreds, of students exhibited the same phenomenon, it became clear that something was amiss.

After an investigation, they found that these students generally came from well-off families. Besides consuming the new flavors of nutrition liquid daily, they also frequently redeemed fruits and other ingredients from the game to eat.

As everyone knows, many of the new flavors of nutrition liquid on the market use ingredients obtained from the <Magic Realm> game as raw materials. So, could it be that the food items in the Magic Realm game store have the ability to enhance physical fitness?

Because of this, <Magic Realm> became even more popular, and the price of Physical Exchange Coupons was driven even higher.

Ran Qi’s school originally only conducted physical tests upon admission, but with more and more students showing signs of physical enhancement, they decided to organize a centralized test for all students.

When it was Ran Qi’s turn, all the students gathered around. If anyone had consumed the most in-game ingredients, it had to be him—after all, his family was in the nutrition liquid business, and he was widely recognized as having the most exchange coupons.

Moreover, according to expert analysis, physical improvement was typically more noticeable in those with weaker constitutions. So, everyone was eager to see Ran Qi’s test results.

Ran Qi had anticipated that people would eventually notice the special effects of the in-game food, but he didn’t expect it to happen so soon—or in such an awkward situation…

His friend, Gu Le, was standing in front of the adjacent intelligence testing machine. The two of them exchanged a helpless glance before stepping inside.

“Physical test complete. Congratulations, your physique has reached C-. Your condition has improved since the last test. Keep up the good work.” Both machines announced their results simultaneously—Ran Qi and Gu Le had both advanced to C-Level.

The students around them immediately erupted in shock—this was nearly a two-grade improvement!!!

Ran Qi and Gu Le weren’t the only ones whose physical fitness had improved, but no one else had experienced such a drastic increase.

Ran Qi had originally been half a grade below Gu Le, but because he had eaten so well during the holidays, his improvement ended up being even greater.

“Ahhh! It’s real! What they said online is true!” someone shouted excitedly.

“At this rate, they could even change their major…” someone muttered in envy.

“Forget attending classes—let’s go play the game and farm exchange coupons!” someone said, fired up.

“As if farming them is that easy…”

Exchange coupons were becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. The old dungeons had been farmed to death, and many records had been pushed to near-unbeatable levels. Now, life-skill professions had become the most sought-after careers, with many players focusing on crafting new types of equipment in hopes of earning more coupons.

“Haven’t you checked the game forums? I heard that guild wars are about to start—once a week, and the winning side will receive a certain number of exchange coupons, which will be distributed based on battle contributions. Even the losing side will get a participation reward.”

“Seriously? I need to find a guild to join ASAP!” Guild Summoning Orders were extremely rare—difficult to obtain even with money—so there were currently fewer than ten guilds in the entire game.

The topic quickly shifted, and soon, everyone was crowding around Ran Qi. “Ran Qi, is Invincible recruiting? I’m only level 47, but I specialize in accessory crafting—I can make beautiful and practical rings and necklaces.”

“That’s possible, but I’m not in charge of recruitment. You can talk to Sword at Fleeting Time.” Ran Qi replied with a smile.

“Ah, Invincible is probably hard to get into. I think I’ll try my luck with another guild.”

“Didn’t Zhang Shuo start a guild too? Do you think he’ll participate in the guild war?”

“Do you even have to ask? Of course, he will! He might even challenge Invincible.”

“No way… That’d be asking for a beating.”

“Well… you never know…”

“Alright, that’s enough. The tests are over for today. Everyone, return to your dorms and rest.” The teacher didn’t let the students continue chatting. After recording the names of those who showed physical improvement, he dismissed them for the day.