"I underestimated it."
Seeing the surge in orders again, John wiped away some sweat. He had thought that raising prices would balance the order volume and computational power, but he realized he had overlooked the impact of word-of-mouth spreading and increasing orders.
Now, despite the price hike, the number of orders was overwhelming. John's service was excellent, fast, and cheap, causing many returning customers to spread the word, attracting even more clients. Old customers would now reserve orders days in advance to avoid waiting in line.
Raising prices again?
John thought about it briefly but dismissed the idea. Frequent price increases might seem opportunistic and could damage his reputation without significantly increasing revenue. For now, he decided to maintain the current strategy until he could boost his computational power and expand his equipment, allowing him to handle any number of orders.
For now, John had to endure the situation. He constantly had to apologize to customers who were upset about the wait time.
"Sorry, sorry, our small shop has limited capacity and too many orders to handle."
"Our game assistants are working 24/7 without rest; we simply can't squeeze in more orders right now. But rest assured, we'll get to yours as soon as possible."
"I'm sorry, sir, but we pride ourselves on our integrity. Imagine if you were in line and someone who paid extra jumped ahead of you. You wouldn't be happy either, right?"
"You guys are quite fair. If you have so many orders, why not expand and hire more staff?"
"Thank you for the compliment. Your recognition is our greatest motivation. We are actively preparing to expand and hire more staff, but it takes time. People need training, and equipment needs to be assembled. Within two months, we should be able to expand our scale, and there will be no more waiting."
"This is the first time I've seen a business that refuses to take more money."
"Sorry, sir, it's entirely our fault."
John spent almost all his time apologizing. By now, he almost instinctively wanted to apologize whenever he saw a bird fly into the yard.
At this moment, another regular customer's order was completed. John quickly sent a message via his phone: "Dear customer, your task is complete. Please log in to verify. If satisfied, please leave us a positive review~"
"Wow, you guys at Revival are fast! Those two days in line were worth it. By the way, how do you manage to beat these bosses? I've hired several top players, and they couldn't do it."
"It's actually not that difficult; it just requires precise operation and positioning."
"You're a real pro. By the way, why don't you make videos? With social media being so popular now, with your skills, you could easily make more money than just grinding out orders."
This customer's words gave John something to think about. It was true that making videos and becoming a social media personality could potentially earn him a lot more money. He might even become a celebrity.
But after some thought, John dismissed the idea. Most people crave fame because fame brings money, but John feared fame. He didn't want to become famous; he was even afraid of it.
If he attracted the attention of the Etythians and his secret was exposed, it would be a disaster. Currently, running a small online gaming workshop, making initial capital under the radar, was perfect. Once he had enough computational power, there were plenty of ways to make more money without drawing attention.
"However, this customer does have a point. Always maintaining such high efficiency could draw unwanted attention. I should avoid such extreme plays. If the character's stats are too low, I won't take the boss orders. For other orders with decent stats, even if I take them, I'll intentionally take longer, not finishing too quickly."
This approach would inevitably reduce his order volume and affect his income, but for the sake of safety, the sacrifice was worth it. Additionally, this would free up some computational power, which he needed for developing the new generation of chips.
"Thank you for the suggestion. We'll consider it."
After dealing with this customer, John deliberately slowed down his subsequent game assists. Predictably, the increased wait times led to more customer complaints.
A few days later, the new batch of materials finally arrived.
These circuit boards had closer semiconductor installation holes, and the semiconductors themselves were smaller. Even the wires were much finer.
If he could successfully make a new-generation CPU with these materials, it would be a 2.72mm process, nearly doubling the previous CPU's precision. The number of integrated semiconductors would also reach about 20,000.
Its frequency could reach around 200KHz, resulting in about a fifteenfold increase in computing power.
However, increased performance also meant higher manufacturing precision. Previously, John could casually use a lamp for lighting, easily soldering semiconductors or installing capacitors and resistors. But now, integrating more circuits in the same space was not so simple.
John had to buy specialized lighting and smaller soldering irons, sometimes even using a magnifying glass to proceed with the work.
Moreover, developing the new generation of CPUs also involved software. John had to write the instruction set for the CPU himself, inputting the code bit by bit using several switch-like devices, a tedious process.
If not for the computational power saved by deliberately slowing down game assists, John felt he might have gone crazy.
"This generation of CPU can still be hand-made. For the next generation, I'll need to create some tools to assist. Also, I need to develop my programming language. Otherwise, constantly writing code in assembly or machine language will wear me out."
After completing today's work, even with chip assistance, John was exhausted.
It had been exactly a month since adopting the Nash equilibrium strategy. After a month of hard work, it was finally time to reap the rewards.
"This month's total revenue... $76,000, with expenses of $27,000, leaving $49,000. Not bad at all."
Looking at the $49,000 in his bank account, John felt very satisfied.