On the first floor of the shop, after Maximus had just entered the origin domain…
“This should be alright,” Edward said as he stroked his beard.
“Is this enough, Grandpa Edward?” Max asked, imitating Edward and stroking his nonexistent beard.
“Don’t disturb Grandpa. Didn’t you say you’d be a good boy?” Liam said, taking care of the babies while their mothers were on the second floor.
“Max is a very bad boy,” Lyla chimed in jokingly.
“It’s alright. You can just help Grandpa in the shop,” Edward said, not minding them.
Edward operated his token to put the name of the shop and officially complete its registration.
This process was quite easy since the EGCC took care of all the official procedures, requiring him only to agree to all the terms in the token.
…
Outside on the silent street, a bright flash of virtual light disturbed the surroundings.
[CONGRATULATIONS ON THE OPENING OF JEWEL CROWN PAVILION!!!]
This advertisement spread for hundreds of miles around the shop, ensuring enough exposure.
Afterward, there were a few seconds of a light show, made possible by the array in the Silverleaf floating city.
This attracted the attention of all the interested people, who took out their tokens to inquire what this newly opened shop was all about.
Most shop owners just sighed, as it only sold up to tier 5 potions.
There were also customers who were interested in what types of potions were sold in this newly opened shop.
…
In front of the store stood Desmond Ravenclaw, a wealthy second-generation member from a collateral branch of the Ravenclaw family.
Ravenclaw was part of the respected family in Silverleaf City, with a Tier 7 knight patriarch.𝔬𝐕𝗅xt.𝗇t
Desmond was a Tier 5 mage and had recently been running low on high-quality potions.
EGCC only offered a limited quota of high-quality potions.
His monthly quota was only 10 potions, all of which he had already consumed.
So, he went from shop to shop in search of high-quality potions.
Unfortunately, luck was not on his side, as all the high-quality potions had been reserved or bought.
Upon seeing a newly opened potion shop, he thought there must be a few high-quality potions, otherwise, they wouldn’t survive in this market.
…
Desmond entered Jewel Crown Pavilion.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” an alchemy puppet said as he greeted him.
“Oh? Do you sell high-quality potions here?” He was a little disturbed that this shop dared to use an alchemy puppet as a front.
After all, a low-quality alchemy puppet couldn’t handle everything, and one mistake could damage the shop’s reputation.
“Yes, sir. You can come in and take a look,” the puppet replied in a rigid manner.
Edward noticed someone entering but didn’t bother, as he was focused on attending to his young masters.
On the other hand, Desmond was mesmerized by the huge stock of high-quality potions.
“I want to buy all of your stock of Tier 5 Mystic Potions,” Desmond arrogantly said.
Money was not a problem for him; it was the rare resources that he lacked.
“There are currently 1 million Mystic Potions in stock. In total, it will be 1 billion low magic crystals,” the alchemy puppet said emotionlessly.
“O-one billion…” Desmond stuttered, taken aback by the enormous amount.
He had thought there would only be hundreds or thousands of potions, never imagining it would reach a million.
Sure, his family has properties worth hundreds of billions of magic crystals.
However, as a collateral branch, he only received a few million allowances every year.
After a bit of thought, he called for the shopkeeper.
“Is the owner here?” he asked the alchemy puppet.
“What do you need?” Edward replied upon hearing the question.
“Oh, you’re here…” Desmond only just noticed Edward, as he had been immersed in the rare high-quality potions on the shelves.
“This… Can I reserve all your high-quality Mystic Potions?” Desmond said, regaining his senses.
“All one million potions?” the emotionless Edward asked, confirming if he was sure.
“Yes, I need some time to gather such a large amount of money,” Desmond said.
“Alright, you can have all of it after signing a contract,” Edward said, not caring if someone bought all the potions.
He continued to care for his host’s children, paying no further attention to Desmond.
“This is the contract, gentlemen,” the alchemy puppet returned with the contract, interrupting Desmond’s bewildered expression.
“Well…” Desmond absentmindedly signed in the center.
He hadn’t expected that this store would have such an eccentric owner.
Should he at least check if he had the financial ability to pay for these things?
Otherwise, even if he faced backlash from the contract, there would be nothing he could do to recover from such a loss.
Due to his excitement, Desmond didn’t notice, that according to the contract when he renegades the debt, he would be sold into slavery which also amounted to a billion magic crystal
“Is there anything else you need, sir?” the alchemy puppet asked after Desmond signed the contract.
Desmond noticed that only soul-mending potions and blood rejuvenation potions were on the shelves, so he was no longer interested.
After all, those potions were only needed in emergencies, and his family had a quota in the EGCC which was enough for emergencies.
“Are there any other types of potions you sell here?” Desmond inquired.
Who knows if there were any secret potions that were not on shelves?
“There are currently only three types of potions being sold in Jewel Crown Pavilion at the moment. We also have top-grade grade mystic potion” the puppet meticulously replied.
“Top-grade?” Desmond was genuinely shocked this time.
If you could still occasionally buy high-grade potions, then top-grade potions were monopolized by top organizations or families.
His family could also obtain a few of them, but it wasn’t his turn to use them as he was only from a collateral branch.
The difference between high-grade and top-grade potions was on a whole level.
You could only take potions according to your strength; otherwise, the magic energy provided by the potion could cause you to burst.
Top-quality potions were rule-breakers, with effects surpassing their tier.
You can take them without worrying about any complications that might happen.
If that were the only benefit, they wouldn’t be so sought after.
Top-quality potions were blessed by law, and consuming them could have miraculous effects, especially when experiencing a bottleneck in comprehension or cultivation.
Furthermore, taking potions of this quality could provide a solid foundation surpassing that of others.
“How many do you have?! I want to reserve them all!” Desmond suddenly became agitated, almost shouting.
“There are about 100 top-quality mystic potions in stock,” the alchemy puppet stated.
“Hiss… 100?” Desmond hissed in shock.
You see, a top-quality mystic potion cost 1 million magic crystals, a thousand times more expensive than high-quality potions.
As for a Tier 6 Archmage potion, it only cost 100,000 magic crystals.
The price difference reflects the preciousness and rarity of top-quality potions.
As for the Myriad World Mall, it costed Maximus 100 million GP or 100,000 magic crystals.
All in all, these 100 top-quality mystic potions cost him 10 billion GP, plus the 1 million mystic potions, which cost another 100 billion GP.
It almost wiped out all of his past accumulation.
There were also the two other potions, however, he didn’t buy much, each costing only 10 billion GP per batch.
If he didn’t need money urgently because he would settle in the origin domain in a few weeks, he would not recklessly spend his GP so quickly.
“I want them all too!” Desmond decisively declared.
“I’m sorry, sir. Your current debt is already at the maximum. Please pay before making any further reservations,” the puppet said emotionlessly.
“Shopkeeper, can I talk to you for a second?” Desmond asked, knowing that arguing with a low-tier puppet would be useless.
“What?” Edward replied without even looking at him.
“Can I reserve all of your top-quality potions?” Desmond pleaded with a hopeful expression.
After all, top-quality potions were rare to come by.
Although they were much cheaper than the million mystic potions he had just bought, no amount of them could compare to the value of top-quality potions.
If it weren’t for the strict pricing standards of the EGCC, the price of top-quality potions would skyrocket.
“And why should I?” Edward finally looked at him and asked.
The top-quality potions were merely a design in the store to attract customers.
Otherwise, why would Maximus bother to sell top-quality potions?
Selling top-quality potions in large quantities is too troublesome, that he only dared to sell 100 of them.
High-quality potions were enough for him to make a profit.
“Don’t worry, shopkeeper. There’s the Ravenclaw family behind me, so I will surely not default on my debt,” Desmond said sincerely.
“Ravenclaw?” Edward muttered to himself, unaware of what kind of family it is.
[Not enough data on the surroundings…
Possible danger to the host and family…
Initiate mission…
Gathering information…]
A series of runic codes flashed inside Edward’s body, almost causing it to shut down.
Fortunately, being a high-quality puppet, Edward returned to normal after a few seconds.
“No, you should pay your debt first.”