novelraw Chapter 343: The Great Shopping Spree, Lavishly Spending Three Million!
Chapter 343: The Great Shopping Spree, Lavishly Spending Three Million!
Under the staff's guidance, they arrived at the 5th floor of the Oxivis Trading Company building.
This Oxivis Trading Company building had a total of 12 floors. The first 3 floors were relatively conventional areas, selling mostly mid to low-end goods; the vast majority of customers shopped within these three floors.
As for floors 4 to 6, the items stored there were of considerably higher value, basically reaching tens of thousands of gold coins each.
Low-tier Epic Level equipment fell precisely within this price range.
The number of Epic Level equipment pieces the team lacked wasn't actually that high. After tallying it up, there were only seven pieces in total.
This included a new bow for Lin Mo.
Now, while traveling, he often used his Ranger profession skills to kill monsters. Since he used them frequently, it was only natural to start taking them seriously. His original Bow of Hurricane was, after all, only an Exceptional-Grade weapon, which was somewhat lacking. If conditions permitted, Lin Mo certainly wanted to replace it with a better bow.
The new bow he replaced it with was called the "Ice Soul Bow," a low-tier Epic Level weapon.
[Ice Soul Bow]
Equipment Type: Weapon/Bow Grade: Epic (Purple)
Attributes: Durability +170%, Sturdiness +110%
Hidden Attribute: Ice Devourer IV: Agility +25 during combat; arrows shot carry the "Ice Devourer" effect, causing continuous frostbite damage to enemies upon hit, dealing ongoing Ice Element damage while also reducing the target's speed; frostbite and slow effects receive additional amplification in low-temperature environments!
Equipment Skill: Frozen Arrow Rain: Activates the icy power stored within the Ice Soul Bow, firing 10 homing ice arrows that automatically pursue enemies. Upon hitting, they cause damage and apply a "Slow" effect. Multiple hits have a chance to inflict "Freeze."
A fairly standard Epic Level weapon without anything particularly special, but still quite usable. Moreover, since they were heading to snowy mountain regions for adventures next, this bow's attributes could exert extra effects in low-temperature environments, making it quite suitable.
Furthermore, this bow's equipment skill was also excellent... Physical-based professions couldn't use the power of magic, but the equipment skills of many Epic Level items could temporarily grant them the blessing of elemental power. So, having or not having Epic Level equipment still made a huge difference.
As for someone like Lin Mo and his team, who were decked out head-to-toe in Epic Level gear, generally speaking, only those top-tier families could achieve such a thing.
For example, Eve, previously considered one of the top geniuses in the Doria Kingdom, only had one or two pieces of Epic Level equipment on her at the time.
The seven pieces of Epic Level equipment added up to a total price of 390,000 gold coins.
This price was considered quite high, but considering this was the royal capital of a large kingdom and they were purchasing from the Oxivis Trading Company, it was actually quite reasonable.
Although the price wasn't cheap, the quality was guaranteed; the quality of these Epic Level equipment pieces was very good.
After buying the equipment, the team's funds had only been reduced by a fraction. There was still a lot of money left for Lin Mo to splurge.
The next target was naturally elemental reagents. These things provided a very significant boost for magic-based professions. Elemental Affinity could be said to be the most important thing for a Mage besides Mana.
Having sufficiently high Elemental Affinity not only increased spell power and casting speed but also aided one's own understanding and application of that element. To some extent, it could also indirectly improve the speed of practicing skills.
For Lin Mo, although Elemental Affinity held little value for him in practicing skills, the higher his affinity, the more thorough his mastery of the element. This would also make things smoother when performing Dual Casting or researching and using Magic Sword skills.
Coincidentally, he had a lot of money on hand this time, so he planned to buy Advanced elemental reagents for all the commonly used attributes.
Ice, Fire, and Lightning elements were must-buys. Then there was the Light element; he needed to buy that too. Although Lin Mo didn't use Priest skills often, Light Elemental Affinity could also enhance the Paladin profession.
That already made four elements. The remaining Earth, Wind, and Water elements would be set aside for now, to be purchased later when he had more money.
Thinking of these plans, Lin Mo turned to the still-stunned shopping assistant and said, "Your store should have Advanced elemental reagents, right?"
"We do!"
The assistant immediately responded, her speed incredibly fast. "Do you need to purchase Advanced elemental reagents? Please follow me to the 6th floor."
Having watched Lin Mo and his group pick out several pieces of Epic Level equipment in a row, after the initial shock, a wave of wild joy rose in the assistant's heart. After all, they got a small commission for items sold. Although the commission rate was very low, only 0.1%, the value of these Epic Level items was terrifyingly high. Even 0.1% amounted to several hundred gold coins!
Even for a shopping assistant working at the Oxivis Trading Company, this was no small sum of wealth, not to mention this customer was about to go buy even more expensive Advanced elemental reagents.
She quickly led Lin Mo and the others to the 6th floor. The number of items on this floor was noticeably fewer than on the 5th floor, making the overall layout seem somewhat spacious. Each item was individually sealed within a transparent glass cabinet, above which a Protective Magic Array was set up for protection.
Because the number of items wasn't large, Lin Mo spotted the Advanced elemental reagents area at a glance and quickly walked over for a closer look.
Compared to the Intermediate elemental reagents he had consumed before, the Advanced elemental reagents truly lived up to their name, looking very high-end at first glance.
This wasn't just because the packaging used by the Oxivis Trading Company was exquisite; the reagents themselves seemed to emit a faint, glorious glow, looking quite dazzling.
Of course, correspondingly, the price wasn't very beautiful...
The most basic, most average Advanced elemental reagent cost around 200,000 gold coins. The ones before his eyes were clearly better goods; each bottle used top-grade materials, meticulously refined by a Grandmaster-level Alchemist.
A Grandmaster-level Alchemist was an existence equivalent to a Heroic Realm Professional!
And due to the scarcity of this profession, their status was even higher than that of a Heroic Realm Professional.
Within the entire Violet Empire, there were only five Grandmaster-level Alchemists. Three of them belonged to the Oxivis Family—two were family members themselves, and one was in cooperation with the Oxivis Family.
Precisely because of this, the status of the Oxivis Trading Company within the Violet Empire's sphere of influence was unshakable.
"270,000 per bottle..."
"This one over here is even more expensive, 350,000!"
"Heavens..."
Even Flora couldn't help but click her tongue repeatedly upon seeing these prices.
The little nest egg she had saved up over so many years was only a little over a hundred thousand gold coins.
Of course, that was also because she had spent most of her money, converting it into her own strength.
"Expensive things have their reasons. The effects of these reagents are much stronger than ordinary Advanced elemental reagents. If we're buying, we should buy the expensive ones!"
Ellie, however, didn't mind at all. This was a potion for Lin Mo to use, so of course it had to be the best and most expensive.
The shopping assistant nearby also snapped back to reality and immediately began promoting, "This young lady has excellent taste. The elemental reagents in our store are all..."
What followed was a series of introductions, even accompanied by stories.
This set of marketing tactics was actually not bad.
Of course, the main reason was that the goods themselves were genuinely solid and of excellent quality.
Lin Mo carefully selected for a while and, following his earlier train of thought, picked up four bottles of elemental reagents one after another.
The prices were 290,000, 270,000, 350,000, and 630,000 respectively!
The latter two bottles were for the Lightning and Light attributes. The materials were rarer, hence the higher price.
After paying swiftly at the counter on this floor, Lin Mo couldn't wait and immediately borrowed the store's lounge. He opened the Fire element reagent and drank it down.
"Gulp!"
The moment it entered his mouth, he felt a wave of heat. This scorching temperature entering his stomach instantly made Lin Mo's entire body feel feverish.
The powerful Fire element contained within the potion surged into his limbs and bones. Flames rose all around his body, making him look like a man of fire.
It looked somewhat frightening, but in reality, it didn't cause Lin Mo any harm.
His body was just too overpowered. This level of elemental impact could barely be withstood by an ordinary Transcendent Level Mage, let alone him?
Lin Mo didn't feel anything at all.
Soon, that fiery sensation gradually faded. At the same time, Lin Mo also felt some subtle changes occurring within his body.
He took a look at his status panel.
At this moment, his Fire Elemental Affinity had directly skyrocketed from the previous 45.24% to 57.82%!
The improvement this brought wasn't as simple as the literal 12.58%. The higher the Elemental Affinity, the more severe the diminishing returns, but the gains were also greater.
Lin Mo had a feeling that if his Elemental Affinity was high enough, even Triple Casting or three-element skill combinations might be possible!
Truly worthy of a Grandmaster Alchemist's work. This bottle of Advanced elemental reagent almost reached the upper limit of what such reagents could achieve.
Generally speaking, the effect of an Advanced elemental reagent was around 35%. The Intermediate elemental reagents Lin Mo had consumed before were also of good quality; those Intermediate potions had a 26% effect. The Advanced ones only offered a 9% improvement over the Intermediate ones, and after dilution, the actual boost was even less.
But the bottle he just drank had an effect of 43%, so even after dilution, the actual improvement was 12.58%!
This was the meaning of spending more money...
Continue, continue!
After spending, it was only natural to enjoy the results.
Lin Mo proceeded to drink the remaining elemental reagent bottles one after another.
Ice Elemental Affinity increased from 36.125% to 49.25%. Lightning Element, because he had no Magic Stones, relied purely on the reagent's boost with no dilution, rising from 26% to 42%!
Light Element was the same, but the most expensive Light element reagent also had the best effect, directly boosting it to 44%.
This wave of improvement was exhilarating, but it directly cost 1.54 million gold coins, instantly halving the money in hand.
Fortunately, Lin Mo wasn't a miser. In a world with supernatural powers like this, the best use for money was to convert it into strength.
Even if the improvement was small, say only 5%, he wouldn't hesitate.
Next, he still needed to buy Essence Blood Serum!
Essence Blood Serum was also on the 6th floor, in the area next to the Advanced elemental reagents.
This stuff was also expensive, but there wasn't a very clear distinction between high and low quality, so there wouldn't be any significant price premium. Basically, each bottle cost around 300,000.
He bought one bottle each of the Strength-type, Speed-type, and Constitution-type. That was 900,000. He couldn't afford the final Condensed Elixir anymore.
The price of Condensed Elixir was much more expensive than Essence Blood Serum of the same grade, basically double the price, costing 600,000 gold coins.
It was just as well that Lin Mo couldn't drink that stuff right now... If he drank it, his Mana attribute would directly reach the Transcendent Level, and that wouldn't do. He still needed to control the pace, allowing his Warrior and Mage professions to undergo universal promotion simultaneously.
After this round of spending, the original 3.3 million gold coins had dwindled to only 470,000 left. In this wave, he had lavishly spent nearly three million gold coins.
One could only say that for the Adventurer profession, money was truly something you earned fast and spent even faster.
There was no helping it. If you wanted to keep moving up and improving your strength, you had to spend money.
Only those Adventurers without much ambition thought about saving some money to retire early and live a comfortable life.
And those who held such thoughts would see their strength stagnate for long periods, progress slowly, and ultimately, few would meet a good end. They often died on the road while out adventuring to earn money.
"If you don't advance, you regress" was a universal truth most of the time.
After completing his purchases, Lin Mo also received a membership card from the Oxivis Trading Company, and his level directly reached Tier 3.
Starting next week, the first item purchased each week would enjoy a 25% discount, while the rest would receive a 10% discount.
This was also a way to cultivate customer loyalty, gradually getting customers into the habit of spending at the Oxivis Trading Company.
Leaving the Oxivis Trading Company, the sky outside had already darkened.
Everyone returned to the Adventurers' Association and went up to the 10th floor. Starting from here were the lounges prepared for Silver Level and above Adventurers.
Speaking of which, although Lin Mo had gained the qualification to use the lounge at small local Adventurers' Associations after being promoted to Bronze-rank Adventurer, he had never actually used it.
Today was his first time formally using the guild's lounge, although it was really just a pretext. In reality, he would enter his Portable Space once inside.
Truly worthy of the Adventurers' Association in the royal capital of a large kingdom. Pushing the door open, the inside of the lounge was quite luxurious. Although called a lounge, the space inside was actually very spacious, larger than many inn's deluxe single rooms. The facilities were also very complete: bed, sofa, table, including a magic projector. A bookshelf stood to the side, containing some books about the Adventurers' Association and Professionals, as well as some recent newspapers.
There was also a bathroom at the far end of the room, and it was partitioned off.
The table was laden with many snacks, pastries, and alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
Indeed, it was a place only Silver Level Adventurers were qualified to stay in. In terms of comfort, there was almost nothing to criticize.
Of course, compared to Lin Mo's meticulously arranged Portable Space, it was still somewhat inferior...