[Ding!]
[Your Asset Level has increased!]
[Asset Level: 1 (Valuation: 9,800 Gold Coins)]
[Liquid Funds: 127 Gold Coins, 76 Silver Coins, 0 Copper Coins]
[Fixed Assets: Medium Alchemy Laboratory (Primitive), Elementary Potion Workshop (Exquisite)]
[Unlocked Modules: “Fixed Assets,” “Technology Turntable”]
Some time had passed since Luwei’s visit to Duke Roy.
The military’s efficiency was absolutely beyond reproach.
In just three days, they had established a rough potion production line from scratch in a secluded mountain range.
With a wave of his hand, Duke Roy assigned over 100 people to Luwei as production line workers…
The paint on the ceiling of the potion workshop hadn’t even dried before a group of highly motivated soldiers threw themselves into the production of Life Potions day and night.
Thus, Luwei’s fixed assets were propelled to new heights by this single potion production line, naturally completing her Capital Primitive Accumulation…
Looking at the panel’s prompt, Luwei couldn’t help but feel a wave of emotion.
In the original Bonds game, if a player wanted to complete primitive accumulation and raise their Asset Level to Level 1, they would have to push through several main story chapters at least.
This design was actually quite reasonable.
After all, by that time, the player would already be surrounded by a crowd of beautiful girls, so they wouldn’t lack manpower.
That was when the player truly unlocked the core gameplay!
But now… by chance, Duke Roy had helped Luwei complete this step ahead of schedule.
The “Fixed Assets” module provided features to help players manage their assets, such as displaying revenue ratios, visualizing output, and personnel allocation…
But as a player, the most powerful cheat was actually the “Technology Turntable.”
There were only two gacha pools in the game.
The first was the character Romance Quest pull, which could be considered a recurring benefit; the skills obtained from it mostly only improved the protagonist themselves.
But the Technology Turntable—as the largest pay-to-win element in the game—yielded rewards enough to change the development of the entire game world!
Thinking of this, Luwei summoned the Technology Turntable page on the Game Panel…
A shimmering turntable manifested in the air, glowing with brilliant light.
Golden lines divided the disc into five sectors.
[Buildings]
[Armaments]
[Alchemy]
[Intelligence Secrets]
[Precious Items]
As a game specifically designed to serve the lower half of the player’s body, the production team naturally wouldn’t be so hardcore as to torture the player’s brain by forcing them to develop technology manually.
Most of the blueprints, techniques, recipes, and runes in the game could be obtained through the Technology Turntable.
For example, the “Basic Healing Potion Recipe” that Luwei had obtained earlier could be pulled from the alchemy recipe sector as a green item, in addition to being a reward for a Romance Quest.
However, this turntable was incredibly scammy.
It was called a “Technology Turntable,” but it was practically a “Cash-Grab Turntable”…
This led to widespread complaints from players, eventually escalating to groups of people denouncing Luwei, the planner.
And Luwei, who had designed this thing, had received quite a performance bonus back then…
“What goes around comes around~~”
Luwei made a sour face.
She actually had to swallow the mess of a mechanic she had designed in her past life…
At Asset Level 1, a single pull cost 1,000 Gold Coins.
A ten-pull only guaranteed a green item, and the developers took no responsibility for duplicate items.
As the Asset Level increased, the Gold Coins required for the turntable would skyrocket, though the quality of the guaranteed items would increase accordingly.
In the game Bonds, the most important wealth was these advanced technologies and techniques!
Therefore, the importance of the Technology Turntable was beyond doubt.
Faced with research and development pressure, players had only two choices.
Either use in-game resources for the turntable—1,000 Gold Coins a pop—which could empty a player’s warehouse in just a few pulls…
What?
You can’t afford it?
Then go pay real money for pulls…
This led to a problem.
Whale players could use cold, hard cash to advance technology, teaching free-to-play players the meaning of capital’s technological colonization…
But would paying money make the game comfortable to play?
Not necessarily…
Because the probability of getting building blueprints, weapon designs, or alchemy recipes was incredibly low.
With the base probability, everything pulled from the turntable before the pity counter was a white item.
Useless [Intelligence Secrets]—such as “20% off eggs downstairs today” or “the priest at the next-door church is helping a young boy treat hemorrhoids for free.”
Random [Precious Items]—like the “Unpullable Sword in the Stone” or “boots freshly stripped from Floxi’s feet.”
Uh… whether the latter was useful depended on the person.
Imagine a player playing frantically for a month, pushing the main story until they wanted to vomit, painstakingly saving up 1,000 Gold Coins…
Only to be told that what they pulled was a worn camisole or bear-print panties?
Luwei truly realized just how deep her own dark sense of humor as a planner ran…
[Remaining Free Pulls: 3]
Looking at the small text at the bottom of the Technology Turntable, Luwei felt it was one of the best decisions she had ever made.
‘So, should I pull right now?’
With her finger hovering before the turntable, Luwei suddenly had an idea.
She paced back and forth for a bit and decided to see Floxi first.
‘Before pulling, it’s necessary to lower the probability of pulling useless items…’
“W-what did you say!?”
Floxi covered her burning cheeks, her eyes spinning like dizzying circles…
“I said, bring out all your clothes!”
“Panties too—especially the ones you’ve worn but haven’t washed!”
As she spoke, Luwei unceremoniously began rummaging through Floxi’s wardrobe…
“Ugh~~”
“I understand…”
‘Why would Her Highness suddenly come to my room and say she wanted my clothes?’
In the face of Luwei’s strange behavior, Floxi didn’t actually feel much rejection.
It was just that when she saw Luwei counting her intimate clothing one by one, she couldn’t help but feel bashful…
“Your Highness…?”
But before Floxi could ask, Luwei had already looked up, staring straight into her eyes—
Then she said, word for word, “You still have one more pair of bear-print panties. Where did they go?”
Those words seemed to have a magical power, especially coming from the mouth of Her Highness Luwei!
Floxi’s face flushed crimson all the way to her ears, and her eyes couldn’t help but dart away…
But for some reason, she felt lightheaded, as if a kitten were scratching at her heart.
“H-how do you know… I have… bear-print… panties…”
Her voice was as thin as a mosquito’s buzz.
“Why are you being so shy?”
Luwei’s tone was somewhat impatient.
“Tell me, where are they? This is important!”
Floxi felt her shoulders being pressed down as she was pinned against the wall.
All that remained in her vision were Luwei’s transparent blue eyes…
What on earth was going on??
Feeling the other’s breath hitting her neck, her eyes had nowhere to hide…
Floxi felt her limbs go weak and her head spin.
She had almost lost the ability to process the current situation.
Why was the kind of scenario that only appeared in romantic novels happening to her?
However, Luwei’s question completely ruined the unique, lingering atmosphere of a romance novel…
“I’m asking you, where are your bear-print panties?”
Faced with her questioning, Floxi was so anxious that she almost squeezed out tears.
“Your Highness, I—I’m wearing them!”
She steeled herself and lifted her skirt…