"Master Silas, the store's inbox is already filled with messages. There are 1,237 messages," Rion beeped as Silas appeared in his store.
"What is the general summary of everything?" Silas asked as he stepped out of the store.
He had to buy as many materials as possible.
"Most of them are asking for the price of each gun, while some are even trying to extend contracts," Rion replied after a brief sweep through the inbox.
"The price is 10k credits. For those who want to offer contracts, schedule an appointment for later today. Make it two hours from now, on chat."
He had factored in the entire time it would take to buy new materials and forge them.
He was sure to have free time in the next two hours.
Before he could continue, he suddenly heard someone screaming from behind.
From the scream, it was obvious that the person was trying to get his attention.
Silas turned back, his silver eyes clashing with the woman's blue ones.
"Such a young boy," the woman said, scrutinizing Silas.
"What do you want?" Silas asked. He was not enjoying the woman's scrutiny.
"My apologies," the woman said, bowing slightly. "I am your neighbor. I own the shop next to you," she added, pointing at her accessory shop.
Silas nodded. "Ohh, okay."
He did not know what to say in the situation.
"You can come later if you are not busy," she added before running back to her shop.
"Weirdo," Silas muttered before continuing towards the shop next to him.
The shop was not too grand, but it was not small either. And when compared to Silas's, it was like a castle.
An attendant quickly walked up to him, her face composed and her steps measured.
"Welcome to CrestHaven, sir. What do you want?" she asked.
"Common-tier aether batteries, how much is each one?" he asked directly.
The lady smiled at his directness.
"It costs 1,500 credits for each one. If you buy up to a hundred, you will get each one for 1,000 credits," she said with practiced ease.
Silas was surprised. 'The previous store sold it to me for 2,000 credits. Why is it so cheap here?' he wondered.
"Okay, give me a hundred then."
'All my hardened money has been spent.' It felt like a knife had pierced through his chest as he thought of it.
"I also need," Silas began, pointing at the other things he needed for the rifle.
He was only using the remaining 11k from his loan. After he bought everything, he was left with just a little over a thousand credits. 'Back to being a pauper,' he sighed.
"Well, the profit margin is incredibly high," Silas consoled himself as he walked out of the store.
"I can earn 500k for every 120k I spend."
He began walking in the direction of the research institute, his steps hurried and quick.
As he walked, he looked into his mind, at the several things being deduced on the altar.
"Since advancing to the Expert rank, my limit has increased from 1 to 5," he muttered, stroking his chin.
Currently, he was only deducing three things, two of which were purely theoretical.
Since he saw the benefits that came with becoming a scientist, he had been aiming to increase his rank to the highest he could.
And to do that, he needed to improve his foundation to a level where he could easily deduce formulas for basic things without wasting the precious space of the deduction altar.
The last spot was dedicated to advancing the cultivation manual.
This time, though, Silas did not want to stop at the next stage; he wanted to create the full manual for the mortal realm.
"I should find a way to make this process automated so I can have time to read more," he muttered, thinking of the slow speed of the manual deduction.
At the current pace, it would take at least 10 years to completely create a full manual.
Silas could not wait that long.
'I only need to read more on cultivation.'
After 12 minutes of walking, Silas finally reached the institution.
He was quickly recognized by the guard from the previous day.
"Good day, sir," he greeted.
Silas greeted him back as he walked past him nervously.
He reached the administrative office again.
It was the same person, same clothes, same posture, same focus. The only difference between yesterday and today was the changed book in his hand.
Silas did not bother to look at him any longer; he directly rented a lab for 5 hours from the robot.
It cost only 250 credits, which Silas paid readily.
Walking into the main area of the institute, he saw labs that numbered in the billions.
Each one was large enough to hold over a thousand people without jampacking it.
All of these were just Bronze-tier labs. Silver and Gold were even further away from there.
Silas reached his assigned lab. The door clicked open as he got closer.
Although it was not the same lab, the entire structure and equipment were exactly the same.
Silas did not dawdle; he quickly got to work.
The lab was filled with smart technologies that helped him work faster.
The burden of making a hundred rifles did not even weigh on him, as he finished everything he needed to in just 50 minutes.
"I only need to assemble them now."
Silas went to sit on his chair. "Rion, when is the meeting starting?"
"In about 3 minutes. I have also created a temporary group and sent the codes to them."
Silas nodded at Rion's efficiency. "It has become much more helpful after advancing to tier 2."
"Then, can you help me buy a book on general knowledge of cultivation at the mortal tier?" he asked curiously.
"Yes, Master Silas."
As it spoke, it began to list all the books it could access and their prices.
The books were separated into two sections: Tier 2 citizen and Tier 1 scientist.
"Not yet, this is for later," Silas said with a smile.
He only wanted to know if it was possible.
Three minutes flew past in the blink of an eye.
"Master Silas, the meeting is about to start."