Darkstone Code-Chapter 966 - 964: Product Chain

If a person has something urgent, hurriedly eats lunch, it might take only three minutes for him to forget what he ate and how it tasted.

Smoking is the same.

Most people smoke for a reason, be it pondering something, dealing with some bothersome matter, or wanting to calm their fluctuating emotions with the help of cigarettes.

At these times, they treat cigarettes merely as... a stimulator, a catalyst, rather than truly appreciating their beauty.

In today’s agitated society, there indeed isn’t much time to quiet down, to think of nothing, to do nothing but experience the uniqueness of cigarettes.

But in a small room, there is such an opportunity.

Nothing needs to be done, not even work; just maintaining silence is the best approach.

Just like the passerby, moved by his ability to wake up at six o’clock, he gently closes his eyes, relaxes his entire body, thinking of nothing.

A puff of smoke densely enters his mouth like milk, then into his lungs.

The entire lung seems immersed in milk; the feeling is intoxicating. He can even imagine the smoke wandering through his body, more so he can feel the natural joy from this puff.

His head feels slightly dizzy.

Just this one puff.

He is too relaxed, or perhaps too focused on enjoying the cigarette’s power, with no other disturbances, nicotine’s effects are magnified many times over.

This is the kind of feeling he had only when he first learned to smoke, a slight dizziness, but not uncomfortable, instead, very satisfying.

He hadn’t felt this way in a long time. He doesn’t know when it started, but cigarettes stopped feeling like cigarettes.

But at this moment, they are back!

That feeling, that moving feeling!

When he realized his fingers were slightly hot, he opened his eyes wistfully, "So soon?"

He looked unbelievingly at the remaining cigarette butt, remembering the cigarette was not too long, but it shouldn’t be gone so quickly.

The female clerk smiled and explained, "This is the first traditional flavored cigarette under our Black Gold Venerable brand, Golden Era."

"When crafting the formula, the perfumer especially highlighted its traditional taste and richness, allowing a person to feel transported back to the Golden Era of the Federation, experiencing everything from those years."

"The good and the bad, both are precious wealth."

Without knowing what more to say, the passerby nodded, "Golden Era, I remember it, it’s the best cigarette I’ve ever smoked."

The female clerk smiled, said nothing, and offered a cup for the man to rinse his mouth; the man followed her instructions.

Next came a few minutes of rest and freshening up.

Then she opened another cigarette, "Its name is Silver Era. Some new things are rising, despite the struggles, yet we remain beautiful..."

A completely different experience, the passerby thought after smoking.

Compared to Golden Era, it had some more complex flavor changes. He didn’t know why he could taste these variations, attributing it to the magic of the place and the cigarette’s quality.

The complex changes among flavors felt like the strife and competition among people, some disappearing, some standing until the end, although cruel, indeed very great.

This made him more eager for the next one, even joking, "So what’s the third one, the Iron Age?"

The female clerk chuckled while opening the third cigarette, saying, "No, Lynch believes our lives are already bitter enough. We don’t need an Iron Age; this is the first-tier product among the Black Gold Venerable brand, the Black Gold Era!"

After rinsing and freshening up, another puff of smoke entered his abdomen.

The slight throat-hit feeling and the strong invasive sensation of tobacco smoke quickly spread throughout his body, causing the passerby to fully relax, even letting go of the image he always maintained.

Softer, it lacked many complex variations, even carried a bit of spiciness, but the satisfaction it brought was unparalleled!

At this moment, the passerby finally understood why it was the first-tier cigarette. The satisfaction alone made him exceedingly eager to bring it home, to have one whenever he needed it!

Five puffs, finished, he looked at the cigarette butt in his hand with some sentiment, "When can I buy such cigarettes?"

"Soon, you can order them, no later than a week’s time, they will be by your side."

This made the passerby instantly recall the advertisement phrase — Every Moment, by your side!

Leaving, the passerby also saw a lady, perhaps seeing the confusion in his eyes, the female clerk explained, "We have cigarettes specially designed for women, thinner, making it look more elegant when women smoke."

The passerby sighed at Every Moment’s attention to detail, finally booked a pack of Golden Era, Silver Era, and Black Gold Era at the central counter.

As he held a Black Gold Venerable experience card, these cigarettes were offered at a fifteen percent discount, and the female clerk even informed him that once the products were fully launched, he would have the privilege of purchasing twenty packs per year at a fifteen percent discount.

Of course, these privileges were limited to the cigarettes; Kleve did not enjoy these discounts.

But even so, Mr. Passerby was quite satisfied, except for a slight pain in his heart when paying.

The retail price of Silver Era was three dollars and sixty-nine cents per pack, which was still within an acceptable range.

The price of Golden Era was slightly higher, at seven dollars and ninety-nine cents per pack, but with a little gritting of teeth, it was still affordable, especially after the fifteen percent discount.

What really troubled him was Black Gold Era, every pack containing twelve sticks, priced at fifteen dollars!

This was an unprecedented method of sale; all cigarettes either came in packs of twenty, fifty, or a hundred, no one had ever sold twelve.

But Every Moment achieved it. Faced with this quantity and price, even knowing he was "at a loss," Mr. Passerby couldn’t help but buy a pack as well.

He really liked the taste, a flavor that touched his soul.

After tearing off the check, he left the experience store with a satisfaction he had never felt before. As he exited the store, those in line looked at him, seemingly wanting to ask something, but he was directed to leave through a different exit.

Within just one day, the storm of Every Moment began to blow wildly, and on this same day, many shops that had previously sued Lynch received delivery notices.

According to varying distances, Every Moment would ship to them in accordance with the previously signed agreements, no later than a week.

There weren’t any major news from the distributors, but the distributors were well aware that competing with Every Moment now held little meaning.

Losing distribution rights would cost tens of thousands of dollars annually, and they were all uncharacteristically obedient, not even mentioning their desire to order stock.

Meanwhile, with a reminder from Every Moment’s legal department, a new round of court hearings was about to begin.

In short, during this period, Every Moment returned to people’s sights in an unprecedented way and became even stronger than before!

"Is this... your best cigarette?" Mr. Wardrick looked at the cigarette with a black base and gold edges in his hand, showing satisfaction on his face.

Previously, all cigarettes were white, but this one was black!

Actually, above Black Gold Era, there was another variety called "Black Gold Venerable."

However, this cigarette was not sold to the general public. Of course, it couldn’t be put that way; they could only tell the public that due to limited production, Black Gold Venerable was available by reservation only.

Whether you could get through to the reservation phone, and whether you could order these cigarettes after getting through, was another matter entirely.

It’s brand new, a truly high-end brand of cigarettes.

Lynch sat opposite Mr. Wardrick, a similar cigarette between his fingers. "There might be better ones in the future, but for now, it’s the best."

"How much per pack?" Mr. Wardrick was very concerned about this question.

After smoking this, he felt very good. Every Moment’s technology department was very strong, or rather they were experienced in handling tobacco leaves with more alkaloids.

Years of producing variegated tobacco had given them an advantage other tobacco companies did not yet possess. Black Gold Venerable had a higher nicotine content, but it didn’t manifest in a throat hit or rejection within the body. There was almost nothing noticeable when it went in.

Moreover, it was particularly fragrant and refreshing, thanks to some special spices added to the cigarette.

Mr. Wardrick also tasted the flavor of fine wine in this cigarette, and it was famous wine, aged famous wine!

Lynch was also very satisfied with this creation. In fact, it took less than five days from planning to producing a small batch of samples, and the core idea came from Lynch.

The tobacco was first soaked in high-pressure alcohol, then quickly dried and shredded, mixed with some spice powders, and finally packaged. This was Black Gold Venerable. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

From materials to ingenuity, it was absolutely top notch. So how much should a pack of this sell for?

The board of directors also asked this question. Lynch set the price at ninety-nine, ninety-nine per pack, twelve pieces per pack.

Don’t think it’s expensive; each filter tip contains a layer of pure gold filter, along with other gimmicks, that won’t make people feel it’s overpriced.

And for the wealthy, this thing is essentially just a few dollars per stick. They can easily afford Kleve costing hundreds, even thousands of dollars; let alone a few dollars per stick of Black Gold Venerable.

But sometimes one stick of Kleve can last a long time, whereas twelve sticks of cigarettes?

Could be finished in a day!

Mr. Wardrick nodded, "Very reasonable pricing, in fact, it could be even higher."

He thought it could sell for one hundred and twenty, ten dollars a stick.

"You can pair it with other things, and the effect would be better."

Mr. Wardrick was a bit curious, "What things?"

"Cigarette companions!"