Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

Back in the orc plains, Ed was having a leisure walk admiring the changes in Sanctuary.

"Sigh..." Ed sighed before looking at the sun in the sky. It was perhaps 2 hours past noon now. Time was moving rather slowly.

'With new changes came new issues' Ed thought lamentably. He did not know which issues he should tackle first.

Still, just like in the crypt, there was also some routine work to be done.

The first work required some bidding so a stage was placed in the Sanctuary plaza. This stage was what Ed was leisurely walking towards.

"Hm?" "Hey that's Ed!" The crowd realized the presence of Ed and before Ed knew it all the orcs and goblins were looking at him with shining eyes. They all then parted to form a path.

Ed was the only that could provide the service being sold, while he didn't need to be present for the auction, everyone knew to show him some courtesy. Ed walked up on the stage and sat on a chair that was prearranged for him.

"Bidding for 10 upgrade slots will commence soon! Everyone please remember to be orderly and grab a number sign from one of our employees!" A young orc woman shouted at the mass gathered below the plaza stage.

Seeing the large crowd trying to huddle ever closer to the stage following the announcement, Ed couldn't help but notice that many business entrances were being blocked. Those that were still had accessible had few customers either way.

'I might be interrupting normal business here' His slot auction was a great event that could attract many orcs, but it wasn't like the plaza needed any more clients. The plaza was considered the only place to shop for most Sanctuary residents and a hub of entertainment.

In a way, it actually was the only place to shop too. Giving the size of Sanctuary, there was no such thing as a small local business. All businesses were small local businesses and they were all building their shops at or near the plaza as was natural.

Ed decided he needed to converse with Sharog and Yerghug about creating a more spacious commercial district. It would be a new district connected with the current plaza. Connected was a rather broad term though, Ed didn't mean the plaza and commercial district needed to be next to each other

Businesses would go where the customers went. That wasn't to say city planning couldn't work its magic. With just a flat and uncongested road, the orcs, goblins, and lizardmen could go to and fro with ease ensuring some potential customers might take a peek.

The numbers would still be small though and without a large customer base, no sane business would occupy the new district without incentives. But again, city planning or rather the government could work its magic. With some events, people would gather.

Seeing as he couldn't do the auction in the plaza, creating a nice auction hall in the new district would serve as a large enough event. With Ed present, there was no way customers wouldn't flock over.

By the time Ed was done with his silent planning, the auction finally began. The bid was for 10 open slots as the young orc woman said earlier and each slot had a starting price of 5 orc coins.

"10 orc coins!" An orc by the front of the stage shouted immediately after the official commencement.

"15!" Another counter bid.

"17 orc co-" A third tried to place a bid but they weren't fast enough.

"20!" "21!" The orcs were very quick to outdo one another, the first slot was soaring in price.

"Damn it! You all can sure yell quickly! It's getting too expensive!" An orc shouted exasperated.

"Hmh!" Their goblin friend said nodding strongly.

While double digits did not sound too outrageous, it was worth noting this was a new currency. There weren't many orc coins in circulation. Putting aside that the manufacturing required a rigorous smithing process limiting their influx, the orc coins the residents received were not in great number either.

All of this ultimately meant the orc coins were thought highly of, and thus were valuable. Making a single orc coin a day was enough to be considered well off.

The main reason why one was enough to be well off was definitely that food and water as well as housing were all free, but the point still stood. The price was outrageous! This was an impressive first formal auction!

"The first slot has been sold to bidder number 11 for 31 orc coins!" Once this shout rang out the whole plaza was wowed into stillness. What an insane sum!

Either the bidder saved for an entire month or they could make this much in a week or two. Both were impressive feats for different reasons.

"Wow!" "Crazy!" "Ed! Ed!" "Hm? Why is someone shouting Ed?" "I know number 11! Hahaha! I know number 11!" After the small second of stillness, came an explosion of noise. The auction was having an overwhelmingly positive reception. For the most part...

"Tsk, what a waste! I would have just set up a business!" Someone silently muttered in the crowd.

"This is unfair!" Someone complained. The ones with money would continue to amass strong fighting prowess at this rate!

"We will now be bidding for slot 2!" The auction had to move on though.

"Sold to bidder number 45 for 32 orc coins!" The slots prices did not decrease after the initial high. In fact, that was just the beginning. As more slots were sold, more orcs convinced themselves their chances to acquire one were limited.

Simply put, it was buy now or buy never in their minds! Clearly, that wasn't going to be the case since Ed would return but… who knew when? It was a limited time service!

The price could only soar under those circumstances.

"Slot 5 goes to bidder number 88 for 45 orc coins!" Plus, the people bidding these crazy amounts were the ones that could afford it anyway. As in, they were business owners already or worked at or closely with the Sanctuary council.

For these sorts of orcs and goblins there was no better place to splurge. They didn't need money so why not garner strength?

It wasn't like Ed hadn't thought of this problem. It was just that basing the consciousness and skill upgrades on strength and skill would result in the same positive feedback loop for the strong.

Which was why Ed decided to implement a one upgrade per individual rule. Once everyone got at least one upgrade, the others could try their hand at bidding again.

'That would limit the bidders and drive down the potential customers and price' The fewer people wanted a product, the lower its price. The one offering the product had to settle for the price the few customers would be willing to buy the product at after all.

'Even if that sometimes means selling at a loss' Not that money really mattered, but since Ed thought this far ahead, he obviously thought of a simple not perfect measure.

'Just need to give the winners of the bid a wait time' Ed wasn't sure about the exact wait time so he had yet to announce it. But at the rate of 10 slots… considering the current population size... a single week would suffice.

"The final slot!" The final was about to be auctioned off much to Ed's surprising.

'I didn't pay any attention' Time ended up passing by without his notice. All along, Ed had been stuck in a pensive state.

"Kyah! I need a piece Ed!" "Is he thinking about me?" The Ed fan orcs were all for it though.

"I got it! I finished my portrait!" "We can hang it on the club's room!" They clearly took the matter very seriously.

"The final slot goes to bidder 29 for 45 orc coins!" The orc woman who had been running the entire show declared enthusiastically.

'The value is the same as slot 5 but not bad…' He planned on having Sharog redistribute these orc coins into the market instead of saving them up.

Redistributing coins as much as possible would lower inflation since again, there were less in circulation. To reiterate, if there was too much of something it was only a matter of time until it was considered worthless.

Ed stood up from where he sat on the stage. He came forward and looked at the crowd.

"Winners please head into the Sanctuary town hall with your respective number signs, I want to impart you strength immediately" Ed said addressing the crowd. Whoever brought the signs would get the upgrade, a straightforward way to do business.

'I wonder if there will be any romantics gifting a winner number sign to a significant other' The gift would be a little ugly but the significant other would definitely appreciate it. Especially if they were orc women from the Ed fan club.

Saying what he needed to say, Ed retreated into the Sanctuary town hall. It wasn't long before the new upgrade candidates were confirmed and stood waiting further instructions.

Before beginning the procedure, Ed decided to ponder about what skills he should impart onto them.

'I should probably ask the winners what area they work in to make a better decision next time' For now Ed decided to just give everyone some generally good skills. While he was still on time to ask, he felt this could become a marketing opportunity.

Ed could either add additional spots with which you could pick a general skill direction, or convert some spots into custom spots instead. There was even the possibility of making it a random event. The inconsistency would create an illusion of rarity.

"Ok, let's do this" Ed muttered before approaching the first winner.

He used his spirit insertion to suck up their consciousness before doing the same with the others. The 9 orcs and 1 goblin were collapsed on the town hall's floor. There were no beds, no chairs to lean on, just the cold hard floor.

'Are beds and other commodities also a marketing opportunity?' Ed asked himself before entering the system space and joining the collapsed.