Steam Discount

Roel had always thought that the items sold at the Gold Coin Shop were extremely bizarre, ranging from the earlier bloodline enhancement item to this serum. Their side effects were so adverse that it really made him wonder who, in their right mind, would consume them.

In order not to die from consuming a 500 gold coin enhancement serum, one had to fork out an additional 1500 gold coins?

Heh, what a smartass! Is there a worse case of predatory marketing out there in the world? If it's dangerous, why don't you just mix the two serums together before selling them then?!

Roel heaved a deep sigh before he began to look into this 'Lobor' place. It turned out that there was no such place inside the Theocracy, so Roel chose to ask the home tutor who taught him culture and geography about it.

"Young master, there is a place called Lobor in the world, but it's located inside the Austine Empire, and I don't recall any battle ever having occurred there. Perhaps, you might have remembered wrongly?" replied the white-haired, white-bearded old scholar, Flori.

Flori was extremely knowledgeable, due to having spent his younger years touring the world, which was also why he was eventually recruited as Roel's tutor. However, the eyes that he directed toward Roel were filled with disdain.

He felt that this wastrel of a scion had simply heard of some rumors about Lobor somewhere and wanted to bring it up to test him, and if he failed to answer the question, the latter would use this matter to kick up a huge fuss.

"… I see. Since that's the case, let's proceed with the lesson then, Mister Flori."

Surprisingly, Roel didn't make use of this opportunity to kick up a fuss. On the contrary, Roel listened attentively during the entire lesson, though he asked quite a bizarre question after the lesson ended.

"Mister Flori, are there still any world maps remaining from before the Third Epoch?"

"Maps before the Spirit Cataclysm of the Capital? I don't think you'll be able to find any of those in the open markets. Maps are very valuable, you see. If you're looking for a map from over a thousand years ago… I'd say that the only people who could possibly have them are the royal families of each country."

"Ah, I understand."

With a nod, Roel bade this bad-tempered old scholar farewell as he wondered if this 'Lobor' mentioned by the System was a place existing long before the Third Epoch.

The migration to the west prior to the inception of the Third Epoch had dealt a huge blow to human culture. Many historical records went missing during that period of time, leaving behind huge gaps in known history. Even a wartorn area which had created quite a formidable serum ended up being forgotten by the world.

"A civilization that has already been forgotten, is it?"

Roel muttered as he suddenly felt a little forlorn.

Perhaps he might be the only one in the world who knew about the war torn Lobor and the bizarre but potent serums that Loborians created.

"Forget it. There's no point thinking so much into it. What I should really be thinking of is how I can raise the money to buy the goods."

It was no time for Roel to be getting sentimental. He needed to quickly raise the money so that he could buy the two serums within one month. There was a legitimate reason why he was in such a rush.

[Monthly Special Discounts—50% OFF!

Lobor Enhancement Serum Type II

Price: 250 Gold Coins

Lobor Cooling Serum

Price: 750 Gold Coins]

"…"

It's a time-limited sale at 50% off! I'd be saving a whopping 1000 gold coins!

What a coincidence it was that the discounts were on the items that Roel really wanted to get! Even though the price was still exorbitant, so far, he hadn't heard of any similar medicine being sold within the Theocracy or any other country, so it was likely to be one-of-a-kind.

The items in the Gold Coin Shop would refresh once every month, and there would only be a couple of items that would be discounted every single time. If he were to miss this opportunity, he might never get a chance to buy them ever again!

He would be a fool if he didn't make full use of this discount!

That being said, 1000 gold coins went far beyond what Roel could afford. One must know that his monthly pocket money was just 20 gold coins! Even if he tried asking Carter for more money, he could probably only get an additional 100 gold coins at most.

It should be noted that Carter, as the vice commander of the Holy Knight Order, had a monthly salary of several hundred gold coins, and an ordinary official working in the Holy Capital only earned around 100 gold coins every month.

And this was considering the inflation of wages due to the high cost of living inside the Holy Capital!

What else can I do then? Should I try robbing a bank or something?

Roel racked his brain to think of a solution, and he finally thought of something: Kickstarter!

It was not as if Roel really had nothing on him at the moment. He did possess the key to a treasure chest known as the System, but he was just lacking the money to get the treasures out from within.

As expensive as the items in the Gold Coin Shop were, they were all good stuff. At the very least, the items provided by the System were still quite reliable, since the side effects were stated very clearly in advance. Furthermore, some of them were even antiques from more than a thousand years ago, making them priceless treasures!

To be honest, Roel would prefer not to do this if there were any other options. It went without saying that he wasn't so foolish as to sell the more dangerous items, but the items generally sold in the System were quite potent. There was no telling if it would lead to some unintended consequences.

But well, there was no other choice right now. Time-limited discounts held an irresistible charm that made a person feel as if he would regret it for life once missed, not to mention that the discounts were on the two items that Roel needed too!

After convincing himself that this was absolutely necessary, Roel moved on to think of the next question—who should he raise funds from?

He needed to find a rich and reliable buyer he could trust. He didn't want to be scammed into an unprofitable deal, and neither did he want to reveal any personal information. There was one person that he immediately thought of that met all of these conditions—Carter.

Good things should, of course, be consumed internally!

If it was selling to his own father, Roel would be willing to bring out even the most potent items in the Gold Coin Shop. However, the issue was that it would be hard for him to explain where he got these items from, and it didn't seem likely that Carter would have any use for most of those sinister-looking stuff.

On top of that, most of the items had some degree of danger when using or consuming them, due to the extreme side effects. It would be horrible if he were to land his father in a bad position due to them.

In the end, Roel still felt that it would be safer to sell them to an outsider. It was best not to implicate the Ascart House in the transaction of these dangerous items at all.

If so, he only had a few choices.

The supply chains in this world weren't as developed as his previous world, so there were few who could afford to dabble in these high-value transactions. All in all, Roel placed them into three categories:

First, the other nobles. This was beyond Roel's means at the moment, since he had no reliable connections in the circle of nobles.

Second, the traveling merchant parties that would drop by Ascart City every year. These merchants varied greatly in their financial abilities, and their traveling schedules weren't fixed.

Last but not least, the merchants that were already operating in Ascart City. Of them all, there was only one merchant company that Roel could think of that was trustworthy and had the financial ability to purchase Roel's goods.

And that was the largest merchant organization on the Sia Continent, an organization that spanned across huge swathes of land, the Sorofya Merchant Association.