Dark Magician Isekai: Return and make Fantasy World into a VR Game

Ou Huang logged out at noon and only logged back in at 4 p.m., after the event was over.

He had gone offline at Weisshem and remained there when he logged in.

Weisshem's streetscape in the morning didn't appeal to Ou Huang at all, and he didn't step off the spawn point after logging in and teleported straight to Exile Town.

After stepping off Exile Town's teleportation point at the Crossroads, Ou Huang opened his character panel and took a look at his stats.

ID: Ou Huang

Race: Undead

Gender: Male

Level: 2

Potential Value: 124

Ou Huang silently closed the interface.

Although he played the game as if he were a hermit in seclusion, Ou Huang also had a competitive spirit. At this current stage of the game, his Potential value easily outperformed his fellows. After all, most of the game's players were in the 70-80 Potential value range.

But… when it came to the Potential value rankings, Ou Huang couldn't even squeeze into the top three.

The number one player in the game, Ji Tang, had a Potential value of 168 and stood out as the undisputed pinnacle.

There was no point in being envious since Ji Tang was known to be a former special forces soldier with an undisclosed military designation—even though Ji Tang had never openly admitted this, it didn't stop players from slapping him with a "Soldier King" nickname.

What was truly frustrating was that the second and third in the Potential value rankings couldn't be considered standard players. The two elderly gentlemen, whose IDs were Old Geng and Master Liu, had Potential values of 141 and 130, respectively.

Whenever players went to the merchant association canteen for quests or to trade in materials, they couldn't help but feel a strange mix of sadness and resentment, seeing the stats of those two. Also, they were rather indignant that these two old men had achieved such high scores without farming monsters or completing quests, but it was also awkward to accuse these obviously non-gamer elders of exploiting the system.

The days of these two when they logged in revolved around the merchant association canteen. They cooked for all the town's NPCs and collected materials from players in exchange for gear.

But ask any player if they were willing to sacrifice their game experience and swap with them, and the answer would be a definite no.

In any case, these two elders didn't compete with players for monsters or quests; they simply used numerical cheats…

Ou Huang had no intention of competing with these two canteen elders and was always cordial when he saw them. With half a bag of grasshoppers in his backpack, he entered the merchant association canteen. Master Liu saw him and warmly greeted Ou Huang, "You're here, young brother. What are you bringing this time?"

Ou Huang looked around, headed to the utensil cabinet, and took out a plastic basin. He then emptied the grasshoppers from the bag into the basin and presented it to Master Liu.

"You can catch these little things? Did you catch them in Weisshem?" Master Liu exclaimed in amazement as he picked up a relatively large grasshopper with two bone fingers. "Woah, this one's quite big!"

Old Geng, who was busy steaming mantous (also a frozen product), came out from behind to the partially open kitchen counter. He wiped his hands on his apron, then picked up one of the grasshoppers Ou Huang brought, examining it closely. "Not bad, Old Liu. These can be fried with salt and they'll taste great."

Master Liu didn't respond immediately. Instead, he used Identify (their NPC interface had player skills available as well), verifying that the grasshoppers Ou Huang caught were white-quality before accepting them. "Alright, they're usable. Let me weigh them. Young brother, are you exchanging them for reputation again?"

Ou Huang nodded.

Currently, there are two ways to earn reputation with the "Undead Merchant Association." The first method was to complete quests at the association canteen, and the second was to exchange materials.

Practically, all the "products" obtained by Ou Huang's butcher lifestyle class skills were accepted by the canteen, and this allowed him to accumulate Undead Merchant Association reputation much faster compared to regular players.

Master Liu accepted most of the grasshoppers and opened his tool player interface with practiced proficiency. "Young brother, adding this batch will get you up to Friendly reputation. Not bad, you're the first."

Ou Huang kept his panel open, and with the new reputation points credited to his account, his reputation bar shot up to full and reached the "Friendly" tier. This unlocked options to exchange specific materials, potions, equipment, and items, as well as an option to hire NPCs, which got him quite excited.

Reputation with the Undead Merchant Association wasn't easy to earn because there were limited daily quests each day. If one didn't camp for them or wasn't quick enough, they would have to wait for the next day.

"Someone achieved 'Friendly'?" Two round skulls appeared behind the partially open kitchen counter. "Who could be that fast—ah, it's Boss Ou Huang!"

"You've beaten us to it first," Teacher Yu Chi, who camped regularly at the canteen, expressed her disappointment. "I still said that I would be the first to reach 'Friendly' after completing today's canteen quests."

"You are almost there, Yu Chi, just 200 points." Master Lu chuckled. "Just Miss Xiao Liu is still some distance away, at least 1000 points."

The young lady, Liu Meng, scratched her head, slightly embarrassed. "Aiya, I've gone on the expedition quest recently, and it slowed me down."

Ou Huang nodded amicably at the two female players. They were fellow comrades in grinding merchant association reputation and crossed paths several times a day. Ou Huang didn't consider them close friends, but they were acquainted.

Just then, another tool player peeked in from the side door of the kitchen. "Could someone help me carry water? The tank is empty."

"I'll do it, I'll do it." Liu Meng ran over energetically.

The newly arrived canteen tool player, ID Ye Zhenzhen, real name Zhao Zhenzhen, had the vibe of a mature older sis. Seeing Ou Huang standing beyond the counter, she called out, "Are you doing the quest? Come over if you are." [TL note: Ye Zhenzhen is a character from a drama series.]

Ou Huang entered the kitchen at once. He hadn't only come to exchange grasshoppers but was also hoping to get issued a quest at the merchant association canteen.

Zhao Zhenzhen had first logged in during the period when the second expedition quest was underway. At that time, most players were focused on the expedition quest and didn't notice that another member had joined the "nepo party." Otherwise, there would've been a flurry of forum posts criticizing this—after all, Zhao Zhenzhen also "cheated" when entering the game, with an initial Potential value of 122 already.

Around 7:30 p.m. game time, the NPCs staying in Exile Town began to arrive for dinner.

Players were only responsible for pre-meal preparations, while the washing and cleaning were handled by NPCs. Teacher Yu Chi, who had a kid, hurriedly logged out to prepare dinner after exchanging greetings with Liu Meng.

Liu Meng also didn't stay idle. After tidying up, she got ready to teleport to Weisshem and accept the cooking quests over there.

"Do you want to go together, Boss Ou Huang?" Just before parting ways, Liu Meng politely invited.

Ou Huang shook his head and instead made his way to the Butcher's Workshop. He still preferred to operate alone. Playing with others was just too troublesome.

With the players gone, the three tool players of the merchant association canteen huddled together and had a discreet conversation.

"Xiao Zhao, what's going on at the research institute? Can't they assign you a helper?" Old Geng asked.

"I'm afraid that's impossible," Zhao Zhenzhen replied. "My helmet already took a great effort by Director Lu to procure. There's a severe shortage of helmets in the institute right now, especially with the number of patients in line for clinical stimulation."

"That's indeed troubling…" Old Geng mused. "How about this. I see the young lady Liu Meng online quite a lot. She's simple-minded and enjoys cooking. Perhaps you can consider using her."

Master Liu shook his head. "That doesn't seem too appropriate, Brother Geng. Youngsters nowadays are smart. The more likely they are exposed to too many such situations, the more likely they are to catch on to the issues. We also can't seek out that young lady in the real world and ask her to sign a confidentiality agreement, right?"

"Why can't we? After graduating, college students still have to find jobs. Wouldn't it be settled with special recruitment?" Old Geng waved his bone claw in a worked-up fashion.

Zhao Zhenzhen didn't really know how to respond. "Uncle Geng, there are regulations in our department…"

"What regulations," grumbled Old Geng. "Back in our day, we didn't have so many rules."

"Aiya, Brother Geng, times have changed," Master Liu quickly tried to defuse the situation. "The young people today are quite different from those in the past. They are sharp and quick-witted. Anyway, besides these players, we can consider using the natives. The town there has lots of natives, so we can explore developing them—"

"We can't even understand each other's language, so how are we even going to develop natives?"

Master Liu chuckled and gave Zhao Zhenzhen a wry wink. "Brother Geng might not understand, but you would surely get it, right, Xiao Zhao?"

Zhao Zhenzhen didn't really know how to respond once more.

Master Liu had quite a bit of wit about him—players could hire NPCs, and Ji Tang, who had gotten the position of mayor, definitely had a way of communicating with NPCs; it was just that their motives for interacting with NPCs would be entirely different from the players, and there was a need for confidentiality.

A frowning Old Geng eyed Zhao Zhenzhen and Old Liu for a moment and understood that these two had already figured out a means to resolve this issue, just that they hadn't informed him.

Old Geng also didn't wish to trouble Zhao Zhenzhen, so he pointed a finger at Liu and jokingly grumbled, "Good job, Old Liu. You didn't tell me anything and just left me worrying here!"

Master Liu shook his head and chuckled.

———

6 p.m. Earth time, 11 a.m. OtherWorld time.

Zhao Zhenzhen, riding a tricycle loaded with goods, appeared at the teleportation point in the center of the Weisshem town hall courtyard.

The summoning array that acted as a teleportation point could also transport any goods carried by players as long as the object's diameter didn't exceed two and a half meters. This eliminated the need to set up a magical freezing chamber on Weisshem for storing food items.

Previously, Zhao Zhenzhen had already recced Weisshem and easily navigated the streets with ease on her tricycle before arriving at a small, two-story, ancient-style building constructed of wood and brick.

This was previously a bar, but the signboard, colorful lights, private rooms, and bar counter had all been removed. In their place was a signboard for the Merchant Association canteen, Weisshem branch.

Ji Tang, waiting at the canteen branch, came over after Zhao Zhenzhen's tricycle came to a stop and extended a hand. "Sis Zhao, long time no see."

"It's been a while." Zhao Zhenzhen shook Ji Tang's hand, then pulled him in for a hug.

Both of them had a military air about them, though Zhao Zhenzhen clearly wasn't an ordinary soldier; she seemed more profound.

Ji Tang handed the newly acquired keys to Zhao Zhenzhen, led the way in, and introduced her to the two helpers. "This is Lyka and Brook."

Both Lyka and Brook wore a lapel badge, so communication wasn't an issue. The two of them bowed politely to Zhao Zhenzhen.

Zhao Zhenzhen smiled at the young Brook, and when she looked toward Lyka, her eyes lit up slightly. "Hello, my surname is Zhao. You can call me Sis Zhao like how Ji Tang does."

Brook, who had quite a sharp intuition, couldn't help but feel that the undead lady before him, despite her cheerful voice and friendly attitude, had an unfathomable air about her. He gulped and said with some trepidation, "Of course, Lady Sis Zhao."

"Just Sis Zhao will do." Zhao Zhenzhen had never seen such a beautiful young boy in real life before and playfully ruffled the youngster's hair.

"Sis Zhao," Lyka said obediently.

"Mm." Zhao Zhenzhen nodded gleefully and pinched the cheek of the young orc girl. "Look at how thin you are. Your face is hardly larger than my palm. Do you usually eat well?"

"Yes, I'm always full after each meal," Lyka said, this time even more deferentially.

Orcs were known for their keen senses, and Lyka instinctively felt that the undead lady in front of her was unfathomable and even more intimidating than the one who often wore a fierce expression, Hal…

Weisshem was in need of a revival, and Ji Tang had a lot on his plate. Zhao Zhenzhen hadn't come to Weisshem solely to manage an eatery either, so she entrusted the preparations for opening the branch to these two young helpers. Then, Zhao Zhenzhen, the head of this canteen branch… went with Ji Tang to the town hall.

In the mayor's office, Ji Tang brought out a thick stack of paper documents and said, "These are the files left by the previous mayor. The last population census was over 20 years ago, and many of the people listed have already passed away, while new residents haven't been documented. Currently, townsfolk have a slightly higher aversion toward us, and many aren't willing to participate in a population census. When the clerks knock on their doors, they either pretend to be away or are unwilling to provide accurate information about their household members… We still have a lot of work to do to engage with the community."

Zhao Zhenzhen flipped through a few documents and asked, "Is there no head tax in this place?"

"No," Ji Tang replied. "In the Rhine Kingdom, urban population tax is collected on a household basis, with the income of the eldest male head of the family serving as the basis for taxation. I've been thinking, this tax policy is inclined toward the upper class. I looked through some Indahl newspapers that the previous mayor had, and it seems like noble families wield tremendous influence. A single noble family clan can easily have hundreds or even thousands of members. Besides the eldest male head of the family, the personal income of other members doesn't get taxed. There's plenty of room for manipulation within this system."

Zhao Zhenzhen wasn't too surprised by this revelation.

The experts back at the research institute were working diligently to decipher the written language of this world, though the only reference were several recordings of Ji Tang's attempts at reading the newspapers in the "game." Zhao Zhenzhen herself had also seen some of those videos.

In her view, this world, which appeared to have a certain level of technological sophistication and a well-structured civilization, was essentially a deformed pyramid society, combining elements of both feudalism and capitalism. Beneath the king's rule were the noble families, who held dominions. These noble families not only partitioned land and people but also controlled economic lifelines; with the roots of feudal power while generating branches for capitalist exploitation, exploiting their power was pretty much a given.

"Weak at the bottom, strong at the top. No wonder Lord Yang dared to seize this territory belonging to someone else," said Zhao Zhenzhen as she set aside these unhelpful documents. "Do you, as mayor, have any tax authority?"

"No." Ji Tang shook his head. "But there's no need to worry about this aspect either. Lord Yang has delegated the tax authority to Charles Rex and doesn't interfere with Rex's governance of Weisshem. Rex has communicated with me and won't implement the tax policies of the Rhine Kingdom here. Citizens won't pay a population tax, and household taxes will be abolished. This would encourage people to divide their families."

With Ji Tang getting the position of mayor, the expert task force was actively discussing how to turn Weisshem into a gateway for the Chinese to view OtherWorld, as well as a means to potentially influence this world.

The mass line approach had to be taken; this was the consensus of the Chinese people. [TL note: The mass line is characterized by the CCP listening to the scattered ideas of the people, turning them into systemic ideas, and returning them to the people as a guide for action, i.e., to the masses - from the masses - to the masses.]

The first step of the urban population mass line was to encourage large families to divide. After Ji Tang's attempts to recruit more laborers were unsuccessful, this policy was given the highest priority.

The Rhine people's habit of living in large families was a coping strategy in response to taxation. In their original environment, it was indeed the best approach for surviving risks—more people meant more strength—and this principle was universal across various worlds.

But a small society composed entirely of large families spanning three generations with over a dozen or even dozens of family members would lean toward conservatism, exclusivity, and resistance to change.

When recruiting sanitation and garbage collection workers, a portion of those that had relied on odd jobs such as selling snacks, offering shoeshine, car washing, or laundry services in the red-light district to make a living were eager to find employment. Even if they didn't trust the new town hall to pay them on time, they were willing to sign up in exchange for two meals a day.

Once Ji Tang received the expert task force's recommendations, discussed a plan for improving the employment rate of townsfolk, and posted notices for young and able workers to apply, no one showed up.

The public security force that replaced the militia could easily be turned back into the militia if there was a new lord. This job was an iron rice bowl, as whoever was in charge of Weisshem would still require able-bodied men to ensure the town's basic security.

In contrast, the prospects of laborers didn't seem as promising. And even if they were young men with nothing to do and willing to give it a try, they would be dissuaded by their families.

"Let's focus on gaining the trust of the townsfolk first," Zhao Zhenzhen suggested. "What's the expert group's recommendation in this regard?"

"Recruit temporary laborers," Ji Tang explained. "The renovation work on Weisshem's central street requires a significant workforce, and we can't rely solely on players. We'll start by recruiting temporary laborers for about two weeks and let the townsfolk get used to coming to the central avenue to work and get paid. After that, we can start hiring contract workers."

"Let's proceed with that first." Zhao Zhenzhen nodded. "What about the rural areas? There's a substantial rural population outside."

"We can't establish rural development at the moment, but we can try to make contact with the rural areas," Ji Tang replied. "The expert task force suggested that we introduce a grain purchase policy during the autumn harvest to address the issue of tax payment for farmers."

In the Rhine Kingdom, there was a policy of household unified taxation for non-agricultural populations—no matter how much commoners tried to maintain their large families without splitting for tax evasion, they still compared to the nobles families with more numbers—for agricultural populations, their tax was a tithe.

However, this didn't mean farmers only needed to contribute a tenth of their crops. Instead, it meant they needed to pay one-tenth of their income to the throne, the church, and the local lord. It also couldn't be paid in kind; it had to be in cash.

Farmers were required to sell at least 50% of their autumn harvest produce to grain merchants sent by the local lord, as only then would they have enough to cover the agricultural tax. And in particular years with abundant harvests with low grain prices, this 50% might not yield enough to cover taxes…

During the rule of Baron Markus, all farmers in the Weisshem territory were obliged to sell their grain to the steward sent by him. Grain prices were easily manipulated so that the baron could make a substantial profit—this was why the nobles of this world were so determined to acquire land! Who wouldn't love making a handsome sum with virtually no losses every autumn harvest?

When Rex replaced Baron Markus, the share of the "local lord" could be abolished, but the parts paid to the throne and the church couldn't be reduced as Weisshem had yet to raise the banner of rebellion. At this critical juncture where farmers had to give up yet a lot each year, resolving this troubling issue for them would swiftly gain them the approval of the rural population.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Zhenzhen momentarily fell silent, then said softly, "This step… is somewhat challenging."

Ji Tang could only nod gravely.

The solution was good, but the problem was that Mayor Ji Tang had no money—the mayor had the authority to manage income from land sales and taxes, but for the time being, he had none of the two!

Weisshem's new lord, Rex, was fully supportive of Ji Tang but had limited resources. The copper coins he had weren't enough to gather all the crop outputs from the dozens of villages in the vicinity of Weisshem consisting of a few thousand farming households.

When the players liberated Weisshem, most of the spoils had gone to Lord Yang—extracting money from him wasn't an easy task!

"Why not have Rex persuade Lord Yang?" Zhao Zhenzhen asked.

"I've tried that, but Rex… doesn't dare to," Ji Tang responded grimly.

There was no denying that Rex was a good person, but that didn't mean he was foolish. Ji Tang didn't believe he held enough influence with Lord Yang to secure the substantial sum needed to buy the crop outputs from all the local farming households.

"All right, then it's up to us to figure out a solution," Zhao Zhenzhen said, rubbing her skull, feeling the weight of the situation.

"It should probably be around August in this world now," said Ji Tang. "Local lords are required to send their taxes to Indahl by October, so there's still time."

"Then let's do what Rex's copper coins allow us to do for now." Zhao Zhenzhen nodded.

Next, the two began calculating the required manpower for the reconstruction of the town's central street, appropriate daily wages for temporary workers, and considerations on how to make more efficient use of Rex's money.

As they were immersed in their calculations, Zhao Zhenzhen suddenly heard a chime right beside her ear.

This lady, who hadn't played many games before entering "OtherWorld," was momentarily confused before realizing it was a system notification. She then quickly opened her character panel.

And then, she seemed to blank out for a moment…

"Sis Zhao?" Ji Tang asked, puzzled.

"…I received a message, um, a system notification," Zhao Zhenzhen said, her expression devoid of emotion. "The branch dispatched beyond the Taranthan territory by the Undead Merchant Association isn't a non-profit entity, and during business hours, profits and losses are self-contained."

Ji Tang: "…"

"That means to say, the local canteen branch that gets supplies from Exile Town is a business… and you get to decide how to use the profits?" Ji Tang raised an eyebrow.

Zhao Zhenzhen nodded.

The two fell into a bout of silence…

Classifying the Weisshem branch canteen as a business entity meant that Lord Yang tacitly acknowledged the tool player Zhao Zhenzhen's authority to manage the canteen branch's profits. This wasn't a sudden act of kindness from Lord Yang but a clear hint to the two of them "conspiring" in the town hall: He had no objections if they wanted to use money to gain the people's favor, but they needed to find a way to earn funds themselves and don't even think of receiving a cent from Lord Yang.