"Then, Floating Dragon Island's Black Star, what exactly do you need from me?"
Once again, Han Xiao came to Rockfess' mansion. This time, he met with Rockfess alone. The two of them sat opposite each other, and the servants served tea and drinks.
After chatting for a while, Rockfess went straight to the point.
"My time is precious. If you have any requests, feel free to tell me."
Han Xiao put down his cup, leaned forward, and said, "Then I'll be direct. My mercenary group is Floating Dragon's Field Team, and it has been operating for a year and a half. It's time to expand and increase the scale. I bear the name of Ames on my shoulders, and I can't continue doing small things. Large armies like Sky Ring and Blades are the direction that Black Star is building toward. The stronger the Field Team is, the stronger Floating Dragon will be. Thus, I need some financial support to build a base that belongs solely to my mercenary group, not a temporary stronghold that I rented."
The core of his Version 2.0 preparation plan was to expand his faction and then guide the Blue Star players to join his mercenary group during the Mutation Disaster. Godora and Dark-star were both competitors, and the players only needed to choose between the two factions. However, Han Xiao wanted to be a third party and provide a new path for the players. Thus, other than the original 'righteous' and 'evil', there was also the 'neutral' that he represented.
Because of this, problems arose one after another. In order to accommodate thousands of players, the hardware of his faction had to be greatly upgraded. Otherwise, he would not be able to accept and attract more members.
The most important factor in attracting players was benefits. Even if Pork Bun's show had nurtured a large number of people who yearned to join his mercenary group, it would not last long. Thus, providing the players with mission resources was the key. Han Xiao had long planned for this. When he first established his mercenary group, he wanted to be the middleman for mission distribution, connecting the employers and players. He wanted to use the boundless mission resources in the mercenary world to nurture his faction, retain the players, and build up the reputation of his mercenary group.
Other than the characteristics of the mercenary group itself, he also had plans for the NPC resource lands. There were countless ways to give benefits.
Apart from the quest resources, another important factor was the faction's specialties. Apart from the fact that he was a money-sucking Job Class, Knowledge, and Skills, mechanical creations were naturally his specialty. However, it was impossible for him to complete a large number of orders by himself. Thus, he had to consider the problem of mass production. He had to start assembling an assembly line and build his own military factory … with his current knowledge and manufacturing standards, it was just barely possible for him to create an assembly line.
This led to the second question. Where should the assembly line be located? If a mercenary group were to accept so many players, they would need to have a large, fixed, and exclusive stronghold, which was equivalent to a faction's main city. Otherwise, it would not be beneficial for them to develop a sense of belonging. Only when they had their own 'main city' would they be like a proper army. Even professional guerrilla fighters would still pay attention to a village surrounding a city. The stronghold's location, security, resources, functions, and so on were all problems.
Thus, the third problem was naturally raised, which was transportation! Since the number of members under his command had increased tremendously, traveling would be a problem. It would not be good for the players to continuously order spaceships, and it would not be beneficial for maintaining the popularity of the main city. He had to have a faction's own spaceship … or reach a long-term cooperation agreement with some galactic travel agencies.
These were only the basic problems, and there were many more miscellaneous problems, such as finding a stable supplier of raw materials, contacting a construction team, and so on. Expanding the faction was like expanding the scale of a company. In order to increase the scope of the business, a lot of preparations had to be made, and everything required money.
Including the reward from Nagojin, Han Xiao still had more than 500,000 Enas left in his bank account. He had counted with his fingers a few days ago and felt that this amount of money was not enough. Thus, meeting Rockfess at this time was to solicit investment.
"Expanding the size of the Field Team …" Rockfess narrowed his eyes. "Is this Ames' idea?"
"Ames has never been in charge of anything, and you should know that. I am the person in charge of the Field Team, and this is a plan that I am currently preparing," Han Xiao said.
"I could tell that it wasn't her idea …" Rockfess changed his posture, appearing more imposing. With a smile that wasn't a smile, he asked, "Then how much do you want?"
"How much are you willing to give?" Han Xiao threw the question back.
Rockfess immediately changed the topic. "So far, I have provided nine funds to Floating Dragon, totaling around 24,000,000 Enas. This will not be the final number, and I still have the intention of investing in Floating Dragon. Jenny and I are old acquaintances, and the returns she gives me are the reason why I am determined to invest. Enjoying Ames' reputation has allowed me to earn a satisfying profit from other channels."
Following which, he shut his mouth and looked at Han Xiao with a smile. What he was trying to say was, What can you give me in return?
Through investing in Floating Dragon, he had obtained some sort of permission from Jenny to share a portion of Ames' influence. Then, he would use this opportunity to start business negotiations or political activities. This was equivalent to using an investment to exchange for the influence of an expert, and then using that influence to generate money. Over time, he would only earn more than what he invested. Thus, the question was, why should he invest in Floating Dragon's Field Team? Furthermore, this was only Han Xiao's personal plan. If it was Ames' idea, he would give the money. Black Star … did not have that much influence.
Want to repay? Han Xiao smiled and suddenly said, "I believe that you have intelligence on me. Then, you must know that I have some undying warriors under me."
Rockfess nodded and said, "Hmm, I also noticed that they are not with you right now."
"They are natural mercenaries, and their numbers are far beyond your imagination. I know all of them, and expanding the scale is naturally not just about the infrastructure but also the number of members. I do not need to hire other mercenaries from the free market. They are the targets that I have my eyes on. If you invest, I can quickly expand the scale and become a large mercenary group. At that time, I will give you a satisfactory return. Even if you have Jenny's permission, sometimes you will need Floating Dragon's combat troops to appear personally to help you convince your competitors, right? Or a large mercenary group that is willing to accept your free employment?"
Han Xiao chose to reveal a portion of the situation. To convince investors, he had to describe the prospects of the project. Although there was a stock market in the galaxy, a mercenary group was far from reaching the threshold. Naturally, they did not have the qualifications to gain something without risking anything.
Furthermore, he was not afraid of revealing the existence of the players. The players would enter the galaxy sooner or later, and by then, everyone would know. During the version update period, even if he told Rockfess some information, the other party would not be able to do anything. After all, not even a strand of hair of the players could be found!
This was a new idea that he had recently thought of — to let the NPCs recognize the potential of the players and attract them to take the initiative to invest.
This meeting was a small test, and he was testing the feasibility of this idea.
Rockfess was skeptical and fell into deep thought. Han Xiao's suggestion had piqued his interest. Helping Floating Dragon build a Field Team might be a good project, but while Black Star was also a member of Floating Dragon, he did not trust him enough to invest in him.
Han Xiao had thought that he would have to wait for a while, but in less than ten seconds, Rockfess had already made a decision. The head of this financial group was extremely decisive.
"I won't give you any funding."
"That's a pity. You missed out on a project that has far greater returns than the investment." Han Xiao shook his head.
This time, Rockfess changed the topic. "However, I can give you a loan. Four million Enas for three years. On account of Floating Dragon, I will give you a simple interest rate. If you repay the loan within a year, I will not charge you any interest. If you repay the loan within two years, I will charge you ten percent interest, which is 400,000 Enas. If you repay the loan within two years, twenty percent interest, which is 800,000 Enas. If you repay the loan within three years, forty percent interest, which is 1,600,000 Enas. These are my conditions. "
Han Xiao's mouth twitched. This interest rate was a little too high. If it was within a year, it would be fine, but if it was more than three years, it would be equivalent to a loan shark. Rockfess was only willing to lend him money because he had Floating Dragon's background as a guarantee.
Being rich was truly …
"Alright, I'll agree."
Han Xiao nodded. He was not worried about returning the loan. Version 2.0 would be released within a year, and as long as the players returned, they would probably be able to count the money until their brains cramped!
Not to mention returning the loan, even if he bought the Noriose Financial Group, he would still … cough cough, he was too excited. This was still not something he could afford.
Rockfess took out his communicator and opened a loan document. Both parties signed it. This document had a legal effect, and it was backed up in the files of many civilizations that they were familiar with. It was protected by the laws of those civilizations. In Han Xiao's previous life, some player guilds had been greedy and refused to return the loan. As a result, their relationship with those civilizations had plummeted, and the upper limit of Faction Favorability had been reduced to 2,999 points. This meant that they would never be able to reach [Respected] status, and their personal trust level would decrease.
If a guild wanted to obtain a loan, they would have to put in a lot of effort to increase their Faction Favorability. If they did not return the loan, all of their accumulated relationships would be ruined. As long as a guild had foresight, they would not do something so short-sighted as to break the contract.
Han Xiao did not have any thoughts of breaking the contract.
Ding …
Han Xiao received a transfer to his account. Looking at it, the amount had changed to '4,581,010'.
Rockfess gave the money without hesitation. For a tycoon who could spend over seven million to buy expensive accessories, this small investment was nothing to him.
However, to Han Xiao, this was a huge sum of starting capital.
"Then, I look forward to working with you."
Standing up, Han Xiao shook hands with Rockfess before being led out of the mansion by the butler. He returned directly to the hotel where Herlous and the others were staying. After supervising Sylvia's homework for a while, he returned to his room to think about it.
I really got the investment. Looks like the faction's influence is greater than I thought. Now that I have the starting capital, I just need to choose a good place to start building the headquarters … Hmm, what planet would be good? It has to be not far from Blue Star, but it has to be close to the galaxy …
Beep beep beep …
Just as he was thinking, his communicator rang. It was a call from Head Supervisor Jenny. Her expression was unfriendly, and the first thing she said after picking up the call was a question.
"Rockfess told me that you privately applied for a loan from him. Why didn't you inform me beforehand?"
"Jenny, would you agree?"
"Don't call me Jenny. You should call me Head Supervisor. Of course, I wouldn't agree." Jenny's tone was firm. She had always insisted on being content with her own territory. Building a Field Team was an unnecessary expense to her. Ames had never needed a strong armed force.
"Then, why should I tell you?" Han Xiao shrugged. He understood Jenny. Jenny was in charge of finance and business, and she had a strong desire for control. She would not agree to the expansion of the Field Team. Although they were both officers of the same faction, there was a conflict between their ideals and business.
Of course, the core conflict was that Jenny did not trust him enough. After all, he was a mercenary who had only joined Floating Dragon halfway.
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