In the Elf Kingdom's Port Erolyn, Earthshaking Cannon was a pretty famous player.
As a Dwarf, he traveled over a thousand miles from the Dwarf Kingdom to the Elf Kingdom just to become a merchant here. The Elf Kingdom's handicrafts were the bestselling items amongst all the Light Factions. A statue selling for 100 gold coins here could be sold for 800 or even 1,000 gold coins if he transported it to the Human Kingdom via sea.
However, handicraft articles were considered high-end products in the Elf Kingdom. Only high-ranking merchants could purchase them. Furthermore, the Elf Kingdom was far away from the Human Kingdom. They had to use large ships for the trips to be viable and profitable. In fact, cross-kingdom trade definitely required large ships. Who would sail a small ship and embrace the high risk of capsizing at sea for over a dozen days just to be a merchant?
Hence, Earthshaking Cannon gathered a few friends to become merchants at this port to earn Reputation points and level up together. Then, they planned on pooling their resources together to buy a large ship. Once they gathered enough money, Earthshaking Cannon's advantage as a Dwarf would be useful. He could forge weapons! The Dwarves' weapons were ranked first amongst all the Light Factions, perhaps even first in the world.
Hence, Earthshaking Cannon and his friends had a good plan for their future.
Today, they found a pleasant surprise! Red Names had no human rights. They could kill the Red Name and remove the danger to civilians, and also collect the high bounty placed on him. Why not? Of course, robbing him of his gear and equipment should be kept quiet.
Blood Sea Studio.
Raging Sea of Blood had been very busy over the past few days. For the establishment of his studio, he had to choose an office venue, hire staff, find trustworthy acquaintances to manage the studio, set office rules, confirm salary and benefits, form an alliance with Dragon Slayer Guild, etc. Fortunately, Raging Sea of Blood had a large group of brothers who helped him out. Hence, things progressed smoothly.
Since Raging Sea of Blood was a famous naval battle hero in the China server, his Studio planned on developing in the oceans. Large ports like Erolyn, which was famous for its handicraft items, had displayed their value during the open beta. Raging Sea of Blood planned on deploying some of his staff in the studio to Port Erolyn for development. They would focus on trade first before strengthening their army.
Now, Raging Sea of Blood received a tip from other players. His nemesis appeared in the coastal waters near Erolyn!
Raging Sea of Blood was invigorated. His eyes were wide open and filled with rage. "Tell them to kill him! The wanted order is out, and we will fulfill our promise! Money isn't an issue! I'll personally go online to contact that player later!"
Of course, money was no issue. This was an opportunity for Blood Sea Studio to establish its reputation and professionalism! On the first day of the studio's opening, they had a chance to commemorate it by killing their nemesis! As long as he respawned on land, he could not escape the people! Everyone would hunt him down until he dropped to Level 0!
Just then, in the coastal waters near Erolyn, Earthshaking Cannon yelled loudly. "Brothers, big boss has spoken. Kill! We will be rewarded 100,000 dollars if we kill him. Every single one of you will receive 5,000 dollars!"
Everyone cheered. "Let's go!"
The twenty small sailing ships immediately changed their course and headed straight for SV Fly like a pack of wolves.
The small ships' strange movement alerted Da Fei.
"What the heck! You're not being a proper merchant. You want to fight instead!" As an experienced expert, Da Fei was well aware that these players did not come to welcome him warmly.
In coastal waters and with good weather conditions, large ships could not outrun smaller ones. Furthermore, Da Fei only had two people on board. There was no way he could get away. Of course, Da Fei did not plan on running.
"I will make an example out of these people. This way, nobody will plan to make a move on me just because they see that I'm a Red Name!" Da Fei was confident because of his Master-level Ballista. He could sink an entire ship easily just with one shot. Half of their fleet would be wiped out before they could even reach him. Then, his sweetheart, Katerina. Although Katerina was not a Combat Hero, she had Angel-like combat effectiveness. It would be a cakewalk for her to destroy these Level 10 to 20 players with 50 or 60 HP, right? None of them could even board this ship.
Katerina asked in surprise. "Captain, are we going into battle?"
Da Fei nodded and said gloomily, "That's right! They're asking for death, so it's not my fault."
Katerina stopped smiling. "This is the first time that merchants have actively started a fight with me. They should be thankful that I didn't plan on robbing them."
Rob? Da Fei's heart jumped. That makes sense! I'll lose Reputation points if I kill them. It's not worth it unless I rob them of something. After all, it costs money to boost my Reputation points later.
Da Fei was pleasantly surprised. "Can we rob them?"
Katerina smiled and said, "With their levels? We can rob them down to their underwear!"
Hey, hey, hey, babe, you can only steal my pants, not anyone else's. However, if we do get into a fight, we have to face around twenty players and maybe one or two NPC sailors. That's a big crowd. If any of them know some magic, Katerina's 73 HP may not be safe enough.
Da Fei suddenly remembered the heart of the Demonized Venom Sea Anemone King in his storage. He originally wanted to sell it. However, he had a better use for it now. He could not let his baby suffer. With her terrifying Attack Speed, the paralytic toxin effect would be well utilized.
The two sides met. Da Fei was worried about sinking their ships in a crash, so he purposely lowered his speed. When they got closer, Earthshaking Cannon and his crew's ships surrounded SV Fly.
Then, Earthshaking Cannon was stunned. Da Fei also realized that he was worried about nothing. SV Fly's gunwale was so much higher than the other ships. How could they board? Did they think that they were pirates or acrobatics in circuses who could jump around by scaling the masts? Even if you knew how to climb, your ships are so tiny. Your topmasts can't even reach my gunwale. To be frank, it's so difficult for small ships to attack a large ship.
As expected, all the players yelled in surprise. "Cannon bro, we can't climb up? What should we do?"
Earthshaking Cannon gritted his teeth. "Then, we smash this ship! Let's sink it!" Since he could no longer count on robbing the ship of its supplies, he planned on collecting the bounty instead.
Da Fei was shocked! What the heck! Why did you think that you could surround me? I could sink all of you just by steering my ship right now!
Da Fei hurriedly threw down two cables. "Oi! Come up if you dare to!" They might not dare to make the climb if he only threw one cable down. Hence, he gave them two to inspire confidence.
Earthshaking Cannon was overjoyed. "Who wouldn't dare to?!" Then, he yelled, "Brothers, let's go! The big boss promised to give us the bounty even if we die!"
The players immediately climbed onto the deck. They let out collective sighs of relief when they were not attacked, as anticipated.
This was a big ship! They started cheering as they stood on the rigid deck as if the ship was already theirs. However, they did not see Da Fei. "Where is he?"
"Idiots, come in if you dare to!" They heard Da Fei's voice coming from the cabin corridor.
"What's he doing?" Everyone wondered.
Earthshaking Cannon waved his hands. "Let's go! We have more people! We'll just exhaust him!"
All the players immediately rushed into the cabin. When they entered, Katerina jumped down from above with her dual blades. She wiped out everyone from inside the room all the way to the corridor. Within an instant, flashes of white light and painful screams filled the room. Katerina's 60 Attack, 20 Damage, and 22 Attack Speed were insanely high. Her Pirate Attributes and Attack Skill raised her Damage by another 100%. Furthermore, she ambushed them from behind. These Level 20 players with their 40 or 50 HP could not defend themselves at all.
That's right. If they fought on the deck, Da Fei was worried that they would surround him easily. Hence, he lured them to the narrow corridor. Then, everything happened according to his plan.
When Da Fei and Katerina reunited in victory, Katerina, who was sweating profusely, waved a stack of notes happily in her hands. "Captain, what do you think this is?"
Da Fei was overjoyed. "Purchase orders! You actually got it! Babe, you worked really hard!" Da Fei's heart then sank when he realized he killed around twenty Level 20 players. That meant he would lose another 4,000 Reputation points. He sighed and prayed that the value of these items would be enough to make up for his loss of Reputation. Otherwise, he would have trouble just trying to enter the port.
As for what purchase orders were? They were the proof of receipt required for merchant players to trade with exchanges. Without valid purchase orders, all cargo would be considered black market items with an unknown history. No trade exchanges would accept those. If you ran into the marines with that cargo, it would be impounded. Hence, merchants trade by exchanging purchase orders. You only legally obtain goods when you possess the purchase orders. Hence, if Da Fei did not get the purchase orders from these players, even if he took their cargo, he would have nowhere to sell them. It would just be a waste of his time.
(Author's Note: Purchase orders like these were the earliest form of futures trading. Those readers interested in futures trading can conduct your own research.)