Chapter 493

Chapter 493. The management team’s heads are still exploding today.

About two weeks after the ‘Astral Expo’ event ended.

Our eternal third-place holder, ruler of the Central Zone, owner of the Leviathan, protector of the Tanhoizer, Avalon, Barracuda, and Spiralus, and so on and so forth…

…Anyway, Icarus, with an incredibly long nickname, was once again being memed by users for being in third place.

Despite the Astral Expo event ending successfully, the management team was still dealing with a massive headache.

But the reason wasn’t some unexpected irregular situation like what Antares of Humanity had caused before.

So, what on earth was the problem?

<["The gold consumption rate of users is more severe than expected."]>

<["Whoever said we should just hand out more gold, come forward and bang your head on the table."]>

<["Hmm, I thought it was a decent idea at the time."]>

Due to large-scale hoarding that had been going on for a while, most users’ gold reserves had plummeted, except for a select few.

To try and resolve this, the management team had distributed gold to users during an event, ranging from a thousand to a maximum of ten thousand per person…

But after that, no event came out that made users want to spend their gold freely.

Now, users had too much gold left over, causing the prices of key items in the trading market to go absolutely bonkers.

No, it wasn’t just key items…

<["The prices of ships, equipment, and even Superhumans that users need in the trading market have skyrocketed."]>

<["Prices have jumped three, even four times, and there are still people buying them...?"]>

<["You know the usual standards, what more do you expect?"]>

<["Now that I think about it, you’re right."]>

They were literally experiencing the effects of inflation, with the prices of *everything* rising, and they were stuck trying to figure out how to fix it.

With so much gold circulating, users were buying ships and Superhumans at prices several times higher than their actual value.

Even at those inflated prices, users were still buying, so sellers were holding onto their stock and raising prices even more.

Eventually, only users with gold could afford to buy anything, while the rest were left with nothing to spend their gold on.

The management team, after temporarily turning off their glowing halos, gathered together to brainstorm a solution.

They were grinding their gears, trying to come up with a new plan.

After a grueling 6,974-second marathon meeting, someone finally suggested a solution…

<["Let’s inject more gold into the system? Maybe the amount we injected last time was too small."]>

<["Go stand next to that guy and bang your head on the table too."]>

<["Ah."]>

Given that injecting more gold now would only make the situation worse, the operator who suggested it ended up joining the other guy in head-banging punishment.

==========

But thankfully, aside from those being punished, the rest of the management team was putting their collective intelligence to work.

<["Is this that economics book or something?"]>

<["...But why did you bring this?"]>

<["From now on, we’re going to have to figure this out using this book."]>

<["Ughhh."]>

<["Ughhhh."]>

They even brought out some random economics book from who-knows-where and mobilized all sorts of resources to try and come up with a solution.

After spending another week in meetings, their once-shiny heads were starting to dim.

<["The answer is to recover the gold itself."]>

<["That seems to be the case."]>

<["Let’s create content that requires users to spend large amounts of gold in a short period, separate from the trading market."]>

<["Luckily, there’s a user event coming up soon..."]>

“Hasn’t it been almost 4 years since we started this?”

“Ah.”

“For the 4th anniversary, let’s do a random box event, but only using gold, no other currencies.”

“Also, if we just throw it at them, they might not use it, so let’s give them 5 to 10 free boxes at first.”

“Don’t give them all at once. Spread it out over dates to keep them hyped.”

“Ah.”

Our brilliant staff planned to drain the overflowing gold from users through a ‘random box’ event for the 4th anniversary.

Of course, some staff expressed concerns about this ambitious plan…

“But if we do it like this, won’t users resist and refuse to spend more?”

“Plus, if they think it’s not worth it, they might just take the free boxes and leave, increasing the gold in circulation…”

In response to these concerns, the staff member pushing the plan confidently shook their head and continued.

“So, shouldn’t we increase the odds a bit at first?”

“…Are you suggesting we boost the odds for the free boxes to make the rest seem better?”

“No, how can we manipulate the odds?”

“Then what?”

“Since we’re hiding the odds anyway, let’s say the free boxes are ‘relatively bad’ but guarantee an S-rank or higher within 5 boxes.”

“Ah.”

“Then users will be hooked and pour all their gold into the random boxes, even though the odds are unknown.”

After a moment of silence, the rest of the staff agreed…

“Let’s go with that then.”

“This is gonna be hilarious.”

“Sometimes we need stuff like this.”

“Life as a meme and eraser is tough, but it’s fun to see this occasionally.”

Agreeing with the idea, they immediately started preparing for the 4th-anniversary event.

Of course, just as they were about to send the event message and the fancy ‘random box’ to all users…

“Wait a second.”

“Why?”

“Uh, we still have about a week until the 4th anniversary.”

“Ah.”

“Oops.”

Unfortunately, contrary to the staff’s plans, there was still quite a bit of time left until the 4th anniversary…

So, the devious and utterly evil plan of the staff had to wait another week before it could be executed.

==========

And a week later…

—————————————–

[Global Notice]

<<[Astral Lagrange 4th Anniversary Event Announcement!]>>

[A message for our Commanders!]

<It's been 4 years since you Commanders first entered this world...(continued)

-----------------------------------------

As I was idly passing time, keeping an eagle eye on the market bubble, I saw the long event message pop up.

Realizing how much time had passed, I couldn't help but feel a bit dumbfounded.