Becoming rich

"Me, Lia, glad to help you for that, sir." She seemed to be overly stimulated, Noah doubtfully glanced around.

Despite the building's new and welcoming exterior, its interior was depressing. If not for the title at the gate, he would've thought mistaking a ghost house as chamber of commerce.

Most of the chairs in the hall were covered in dust, with small cracks appearing in the wall.

He hadn't met any other staff here. He asked Lia about it, to which she shook her head in disappointment.

"It's been months since we had our last customer," Lia didn't hide, as she knew everyone in Zenith knew about this.

"We have no fund to pay for staffs. So most of them left.."

Noah was surprised to hear this. His eyes skeptical. Lia sighed before explaining.

The Chamber of Commerce was a pretty big organization in Eldoria, controlling almost 60% of the market for dungeons and Rifts worldwide.

But in Shooting Stars, they failed to reach the same dominance because of a single principle of theirs:

"Quality product at a qualified price."

"I will say the boss of you seems too smart to run a business."

Lia merely smiled at his sarcastic remark. She had no shame for him calling out like that rather a proud smile.

They never tried to bleed customers, as most of the products they sold were available on the common market at reasonable prices.

For those who couldn't run a dungeon due to their lack of strength, the resources they got from them were lifelines.

Because they dominated both the selling and buying markets in the outside world, they hadn't faced many issues.

But in Zenith and other Shooting Stars, it was different. Here, no runners were ready to sell their loot for a lower price when they could auction them at market for a higher price.

Also, the dungeons and Rifts they ran here were of higher quality and unique, making the market always competitive, unlike the Chamber of Commerce with its fixed rates as per quality.

Noah could sell the ores he had for almost double the price on the market. If possible, he wanted to do so.

"Alas..."

Lia led him to a small wooden door. She took an almost rusted key from her space pouch and opened the door.

It was an empty room with a large iron chest in the middle. A hologram screen floated above the chest, which blinked twice as he entered.

"You just have to place your products there. It's imprinted with the Star network, so the quality and the price will be as per the AI's grading."

One thing he loved about the Chamber of Commerce was this: no human involvement in any part of trading.

Perfect for those who didn't want to become targets because they had treasures worthy of greed.

He nodded at Lia and entered the room. It closed after he entered, and he felt a barrier opening, blocking the outside from prying here.

Noah had been in the appraisal room for an hour. When he exited, he had a cheerful expression on his face.

He looked down at the message on his smartwatch:

[Credited one million Elsha to your ID.]

'So good to be rich..'

Elsha was a common currency used by runners. One Elsha was a hundred normal credits.

A single dungeon run allowed him to gather money for thousands of dungeons in his previous city.

Noah knew the reason he received such an amount of money was because of the higher rank of monsters in the dungeon and the quality of the dungeon in Zenith.

In the outside world, to run such a dungeon, he might have to pay hundreds of thousands of credits.

Again, Modrich's words came to his mind:

"Everyone is telling the world is unbiased. Talent and hard work determine the fate of those in it.

Delusional!

Can a talented person on a backwater planet reach the level of a useless son of a Duke with unlimited resources?

Yes, if he gets a powerful teacher or falls into a one-in-a-billion chance... That's Luck.

Luck is a spell... a spell that determines one's future.

So don't call the world unbiased.

In my opinion, it's the most biased and nepotistic being."

Noah also shared the same beliefs. If he hadn't met Aunt Mira and gotten a chance to work for Master Evlin, what would he be doing now?

If Master Evlin, Aunt Mira, and Uncle Chen hadn't sponsored him, what would his fate be?

Would hard work solve that void that countless called 'luck'?

"A big no..."

Perhaps hard work might help one tremendously, but that 'tremendous' needed a fuel called Luck.

Noah was thankful. To whatever being cast the spell of luck on him.

'Sizzle'

'What now?'

'Sizzle'

'You are my luck?'

'Sizzle'

'That's I have to disagree. Perhaps I may be your luck.'

'SIZZLE'

'Don't shout...'

Thundrith seemed to be a little narcissistic. Noah decided to teach him how to be grounded.

A super-talented, infinitely lucky person like him had to train his blood from becoming arrogant, right?

With a plan in mind, he called another taxi and first went to the medical faculty to bandage.

After that, he walked to his apartment, enjoying the setting dual sun in the sky.

The next day, he might see a new sun as Zenith always moved in the opposite direction of the universe, like a being trying to break free from the conventional way of fate.

Like him...

A person born with inverse mana...

A person graded as impossible by the system AI...

A person with infinite luck...

'Sizzle'

'What do you mean by debatable? Thundrith, are you perhaps mocking me?'

'Sifuckle'

'What's that again?'

Noah glanced ahead. There he saw a woman. She wore oversized glasses on her face, her eyes moving as she flipped a page of the book in her hands.

Silver hair that cascaded down her shoulders shimmered with the rays of the setting sun.

She paused, looking sideways, towards his direction.

Their eyes locked...

Time seemed to slow down a bit as, with a deliberate feigning of surprise that even a child could understand, she exclaimed,

"Oh, ya dungeon boy?"

The woman he saw at the entrance of the dungeon now stood before his apartment with the same harmless smile as ever.

Why?

A heartbeat, then another. That quickly became a torrent.

What did she want?

Perhaps?

'Did she fall in my looks? She can't. I am still minor.'

'Sizzle.'

'Can't run...'

'Sizzle'

'Fight? Can we win?'

'Sizzle'

'Same. We are doomed. It seems your luck is not really luck, Thundrith.'

That luck... he shamelessly called infinite seemed to be broken at this moment.

Perhaps the mighty spell of that being failed this time.

"Hello... what a surprise." He could only follow the act she presented as reality.

'Sizzle?'

'Thundrith, no way I open my legs for her…'

'Sizzle 😔'