Chapter 477: Price Increase
Ning Zhou glanced at Grantham, but didn't start the day's sales right away. Instead, he walked into the shop and found Richie Burke.
Inside, everything had already been arranged neatly. Just as Zhou Ning had envisioned, the place was divided into two sections: an alchemy shop and an equipment shop. The alchemy shop mainly sold various alchemy potions and products. Aside from what Zhou Ning supplied personally, the shop had also hired two intermediate alchemists.
The equipment shop carried all kinds of gear and items crafted by Ignatius Woods. Zhou Ning also provided some basic firearms and ordinary equipment for sale.
When Zhou Ning walked in, the northern pirate was playing Weather Cards with a few men. Ignatius Woods was there as well, sitting gloomily in a separate booth crafting extraordinary items. Compared to before, the dark and fallen aura around him had slightly faded.
Seeing Zhou Ning, Richie Burke put down his cards and grinned. "The shop is ready. We can open anytime. Just say the word."
"Tomorrow, then. I'll bring you more stock later," Zhou Ning said casually.
"I came to you for something else."
He tapped the edge of the long table with his finger. A large number of potions and equipment spilled out instantly, covering the entire tabletop.
The scene reminded him of when he had first transmigrated to the Apocalypse Continent, when the healing potions he crafted had also filled an entire table. He couldn't help feeling nostalgic. He wondered how Professor Weasley and the others were doing now.
"What is it?" For some reason, Richie Burke instinctively felt that another colleague might be doomed.
"Help me find a pirate named Cotton Benson. I'm planning to hunt him," Zhou Ning said with a smile.
His answer immediately drew the attention of the pirates nearby. They exchanged looks, trembling, each of them shuddering at the same time.
"All right, give me two days at most." Richie Burke nodded enthusiastically and silently lit a candle for Cotton Benson in his heart. He'd heard of the man—an infamous pirate with a 9,000-Vecktas bounty, once someone far out of his reach. Being an informant and watching someone stronger than him suffer… that feeling was pretty good.
If he weren't so tall and burly, Richie Burke somehow reminded Zhou Ning of Jia Gui from Underground Traffic Station… Zhou Ning suppressed a laugh, walked out of the shop, and began the day's business as usual.
He saw Grantham waiting at the door, eyes practically burning holes through the entrance. He was surrounded by a whole ring of people, every one of them itching to get in.
Anyone who didn't know better would think they were debt collectors blocking the door.
Without thinking, Zhou Ning nudged Grantham's favorability bar left by one notch. "Move aside. Don't block the entrance."
"Wayne Sturwell's favorability toward you has decreased by 5."
"Wayne Sturwell has opened his personal shop to you."
Grantham: ??????
He quickly stepped back, startled. That strict? Blocking the door costs five favorability points?
Yesterday, Wayne Sturwell had said he would bring extra surprises today, and the forum had exploded. So the moment Grantham stepped off the steam train, he rushed here, wanting the earliest advantage.
He never expected to get hit with a –5 the moment he arrived. But that was fine—with my brilliance, I'll earn it back in no time!
Confident, Grantham opened the shop list, eyes widening at the new skills and equipment laid out—exactly like what had been shown on the forum.
"Plenty of good stuff."
Front and center were the most eye-catching items: the Stone Ghost Mask priced at 60 Vecktas, and the Devil Fruit priced at 1,920 Vecktas. Huh—what's this? Lucky Clover? Why does it look different from what was posted on the forum?
The current effect showed that each use granted five minutes of strong good luck, and only eight uses existed. The price ranged from 20 to 100 Vecktas. I'll buy them all!
Whoa—there was another new item: the Lanling King Mask! An extra equipment slot item, one that didn't occupy the helmet slot. But its price was 38,400 Vecktas, worth over seven million!
But since the mask dispelled all negative status effects for the entire team, it was clearly a strategic item. Considering that the championship prize exceeded 70 million, the cost was absolutely worth it.
He had underestimated Wayne Sturwell. This NPC was definitely powerful enough to become a late-game monster.
Thinking that, Grantham picked out several universal skills he had long dreamed of. When he flipped to the next page to buy the Starry Sky Guild Invitation, he noticed the price wasn't the original 500 Vecktas—it was now 600!
Wait. Why did all his prices seem higher than what was listed on the forum? Had the prices gone up?
Watching the invitation's stock drop rapidly, Grantham panicked. He couldn't waste time wondering. He had wanted one forever—getting into dungeons even a day earlier meant taking off earlier.
After buying it, he immediately asked someone nearby, "How much did your invitation cost?"
"Five hundred!" The answer stunned him.
He looked again—he could swear Wayne Sturwell had just given him a faint, amused glance.
What? Is it because I'm ugly? Grantham asked several more people, but every answer was the same—500 Vecktas. He began questioning his entire existence.
Zhou Ning quietly withdrew his gaze, smiling to himself. This guy had wronged him for too long. It was about time he had a taste of his own medicine.
But he only intended to teach him a small lesson. In a way, Grantham was still a very high-quality leek.
Just then, the other players noticed the Lanling King Mask and instantly went wild. Professional players in particular were just like Grantham—they saw its value at first glance.
Unfortunately, with its price set at 32,000 Vecktas, even most top guilds couldn't afford it. Their recent expenses had been too heavy, and the amount of Vecktas circulating in the market kept shrinking. The exchange rate had risen back to 1:300, and sometimes there wasn't even enough currency to buy.
[Player Sugar Mountain Bro bought your Lanling King Mask. You gained 32,000 Vecktas.]
Zhou Ning was startled.
He had priced it at 32,000 Vecktas. Originally he had thought that among all the players here, only Sunken Star Beneath the Water had enough wealth to buy it. But to his surprise, the one who purchased it was Sugar Mountain Bro. Seeing the name, Zhou Ning immediately understood. Sugar Mountain Bro was the well-known president of the major guild "Super Sweet Candy." With their financial backing, it wasn't strange to scrape together enough money for it.
"It's gone already?" Sunken Star Beneath the Water slumped, devastated. He had just finished exchanging for currency and blamed his own slow hands.
Time passed quickly. The weather in Nathaniell shifted from snow to clear skies and back to snow again. It wasn't until around 4 p.m. that Zhou Ning finally decided to pack up for the day.
He glanced at his panel and even he was startled—today's income was greater than yesterday's, reaching 490 million experience points!
His savings once again broke the 100,000-Vecktas mark, putting him close to affording another Mundane Template.
He had also tested the players' method of eliminating negative luck from the Lucky Clover, and it worked. He had used it three times, changing his luck from +1 to –2. After selling all eight uses, his luck returned to +1.
The players really pulled their weight!
…
Even though Zhou Ning spent the next night exploring Orchid Road again, he still found nothing. The strange knocking continued, and the faint trace of divinity was still present, but he couldn't pinpoint a direction. He still hadn't seen that black-furred creature again. But fortunately, the third day of business brought another pleasant surprise.
Even though the experience was slightly lower, he still earned a massive 410 million. After three days of sales, his total experience gain had skyrocketed to over 1.2 billion. His reserves were now at 900 million. If he repeated this two more times and dumped it all into levels, he would be close to hitting the level-90 bottleneck.
Meanwhile, the first Professional League's main event had officially begun with fiery intensity. A total of 36 domestic and international teams and individuals were divided into two groups, A and B, to battle it out. Apocalypse Forecast released its latest episode analyzing the tournament's trends and major NPC stories. It drew overwhelming attention, achieving a terrifying 26.4% viewership—practically a global phenomenon.
That evening, after Zhou Ning wrapped up business and returned home, he opened the video.
He cared a great deal about this first Professional League.
This episode of Apocalypse Forecast featured XB and Qingbai Wild Sake as guests. The comments were flooding the screen, and the ninety-minute episode was packed to the brim with solid content.
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