Chapter 198: Shopping for a Lord’s Manor
Any shop that could not even be bothered to upload a real photograph of its product was clearly trying to fool idiots.
This was not merely "high risk."
It was outright fraud.
Based on Joo Joowon’s many years of experience shopping on discount platforms, this was no longer a matter of "cheap products being low quality."
Some of these sellers might very well disappear after taking the money without delivering anything at all.
No matter how low the prices were, they could never tempt him.
He had absolutely no intention of thinking, the price is already this low anyway.
Even if I gamble once, I won’t lose much.
After filtering everything like that, fewer than one hundred pages of products remained.
Compared to the official mall’s 999+ pages, the difference was enormous.
...
[ Seller: @DefinitelyNotDarkElves ]
[ Complete Service Including Materials, Honest Business ]
[ Description: Natural style architecture suitable for all Lords who enjoy nature themed designs. First time customers receive a 20% discount. ]
[ Customer Reviews ]
[ @ForestGuardian ★☆☆☆☆: Stay away from this seller! Damn dark elves pretending to be nature elves! How are houses built from piles of broken stones considered nature style?! Was the dark theme no longer enough for you people?! ]
[ @HolyCrusader ★☆☆☆☆: This is blatant discrimination against customers of the Light Path. Why should those of the Light Path receive such unfair treatment? This is outrageous. If you don’t remove the fallen angels from my Lord’s Manor, I’ll bring my army to your shop every single day and flood the place with Holy Light Magic!!! ]
[ @BuildInspector ★☆☆☆☆: All the positive reviews here are fake! Terrible shop! The building materials they use are the lowest quality available! Everyone, be careful and don’t get tricked by the seller! ]
...
[ Seller: @TrustMeTech ]
[ Our Construction Robots Never Slack Off. Any Robot That Complains About Unpaid Wages Will Self Destruct on the Spot ]
[ Description: Technology style architecture suitable for all Lords who enjoy a convenient lifestyle. Fixed price. New customers receive a 100 minus 10 discount coupon. Join the shop membership to enjoy even more benefits. ]
[ Customer Reviews ]
[ @Overclocked ★☆☆☆☆: What a terrible shop. Every piece of technology here is defective. The repair costs are almost as expensive as what I originally paid to build the place! ]
[ @TechNomad ★★★★★: Not bad. I recommend it for technology based Lords. Everything is outdated technology, so replacement parts are easy to find on the market. Repairs are convenient and the overall cost is very reasonable. ]
[ @RustyEngineer ★☆☆☆☆: Every construction robot is an artificial idiot. Stay away from this shop. I asked them to install another automatic cooking machine in the kitchen. They installed an automatic toilet stirrer in the bathroom instead! ]
...
Joo Joowon looked through the listings one by one.
As expected of the High Risk Zone, the pages were filled with negative reviews.
Aside from a handful of Lords whose specialties happened to match the shops’ products, the overwhelming majority of customers were extremely dissatisfied with the service they had received.
Even so, every shop still had an impressive number of sales.
In the end, poverty was the biggest problem.
Although the products sold here were nowhere near the quality of those from the official Apocalypse Mall, at least they were affordable.
Technology Style was exactly the type of environment Joo Joowon preferred.
However, the situation here also taught Joo Joowon something.
Although this place was indeed much more affordable, it was definitely not suitable for complete beginners who knew nothing.
It was extremely easy to get scammed.
It was far more suitable for experienced veterans or Lords whose specialties matched the products being sold.
Otherwise, they would almost certainly end up being cheated.
With that realization, Joo Joowon finally began to form a rough idea.
Besides that, he also discovered that the Age of Apocalypse truly consisted of more than just Gaia’s server.
The Age of Apocalypse did not seem to care at all if players discovered this fact.
Just like online games that allowed players to choose between different regional servers, such as Telecom Servers and Network Servers, the Age of Apocalypse operated in much the same way.
Joo Joowon noticed that every product listed a transportation fee.
Some items stated that the Lord did not need to pay any transportation costs.
Others treated Gaia as a remote region, requiring the Lord to pay additional shipping fees before the goods could be delivered.
That meant there really were other forms of life beyond Gaia’s universe.
Still, now that the Age of Apocalypse had already descended, this was hardly something shocking anymore.
After all, who still had the luxury to be surprised by such things?
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Joo Joowon simply wondered whether, after players reached higher levels in the future, there might eventually be large scale wars between players from different servers.
Fortunately, even if something like that did happen, it would be a very long time from now.
There was no guarantee he would even still be alive to witness it.
With that thought, Joo Joowon quickly pushed the matter aside and used the information he had gathered to narrow down several shops that seemed relatively suitable for his own needs.
...
[ Seller: @OneBrainCellStudio ]
[ Design Only, Material Costs Not Included ]
[ Description: Technology themed architecture suitable for Lords who specialize in Mental Power. Custom orders are non refundable. Construction begins after the design plan is confirmed. ]
[ Shop Rating: 4.8 ]
[ Customer Reviews ]
[ @MindBurner ★☆☆☆☆: Terrible review. Every piece of furniture consumes an absurd amount of Mental Power, and the conductivity is garbage. It belongs in a trash heap! ]
[ @CrystalSense ★☆☆☆☆: Disgusting! They use second hand materials! The moment I connected my Mental Power, I could tell everything was second hand! Damn it, even the showerhead was used. Isn’t that going too far?! ]
...
[ Seller: @IJustWantThemtoGraduate ]
[ Description: My students failed their courses and completely ruined my reputation in the education world. I urgently need those little brats to graduate. Prices are negotiable, and I’ll personally guarantee the work. I’m a mentor from a well known architecture academy, but I can’t reveal my identity. If that bothers you, please look elsewhere. ]
[ Shop Rating ]: 4.5
[ Customer Reviews ]
[ @BrickBreaker88 ★☆☆☆☆: Fake. This is not a prestigious university. It is just a bunch of worthless schools where stupid students who cannot finish their graduation projects or theses come looking for suckers. The architectural designs are extremely unreasonable, and there is no instructor guaranteeing anything. If something goes wrong, you can only blame yourself. ]
[ @BudgetLord47 ★★☆☆☆: Although there are many architectural styles to choose from, the students all have extremely poor fundamentals. They know almost nothing. Their only advantage is that they are cheap. If you do not mind rough workmanship, you can give them a try. [Image] [Image] [Image] ]
[ @DreamBuilder101 ★★★★★: Everyone is welcome to try my shop. Although I am not an architecture major, I have always dreamed of becoming an architect. You only need to pay for the materials. I do not charge any design fee. Big brother, please do not delete this. Customers are supreme. I have already found out which school the designer assigned to me came from. If you delete my shop, I will go cause trouble at your academy. [Click here to jump to shop] ]