Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Spendthrift Necromancer (18)

Ulfawlu ForestChoi Yuna of the Alchemist Guild.

She was truly lucky.

Even after the company that had placed a massive order went under, she'd found a rich buyer to take the elixirs off her hands.

And she was quick to act.

After selling off every last lowest-grade elixir, she immediately began mass-producing the next tier, low-grade elixirs, despite having received no additional order.

Because of Kim Minwoo, who had left his information with her.

He had bought a truly ridiculous number of lowest-grade elixirs.

Then one day, he'd probably buy a ridiculous number of low-grade elixirs too.

Obsessed with results, she had raced ahead based on that one assumption.‘Holding out paid off!’A bold decision made with the future in mind.

The payoff came much sooner than expected.―This is Kim Minwoo. If you have low-grade elixirs, I'll buy all of them.

A simple text message.

The instant she saw it, she shouted.

Eureka!―We have eight hundred total…….―Give me all of them.

The reply came back without a hint of hesitation.

As expected of a man with insane wealth.

At this point, she almost felt like Geumseong going bankrupt had been a blessing.

Thanks to that, she'd stocked up on low-grade elixirs and managed to secure an ultra-premium customer!

She came out to a café for the direct transaction.

Before long, Kim Minwoo appeared.

“Oh my, you're here!”

Choi Yuna waved with a sweet voice.

“The goods?”

“Here.”

She transferred every low-grade elixir in her inventory to him.

These elixirs boasted a terrifying average price of 300 million won each.

“Received. I deposited 240 billion won into the guild account.”

“Th-Thank you.”

Choi Yuna swallowed hard as she replied. Even most companies would struggle to wire this much money in one lump sum.

As expected of Kim Minwoo.

After waiting briefly, a text came in.[Dad]―Our daughter worked hard. ^^She grinned and tapped her phone.[Yuna]―Haha. It's nothing, I need to talk with the customer now…….[Dad]― Right, the customer comes first. Do your best. (Rabbit cheering emoticon)

For her taciturn father to send an emoticon.

She'd definitely produced results today.

Coffee was placed in front of them.

Kim Minwoo took a sip and said.

“You're quick to act. You made these in advance, didn't you?”

“Yes, I thought you'd place another order.”

“I like that attitude.”

“Hehe…… Do you perhaps plan on using intermediate-grade elixirs too……?”

Choi Yuna asked carefully.

Just like equipment and Skill Books.

Elixir prices shot up dramatically with each grade.

Intermediate-grade elixirs cost one billion each.

If he bought around eight hundred again like this?

That would be 800 billion won.

Even for her, producing that much in advance was an enormous burden. If he didn't order them afterward, her life would genuinely be ruined.

Even her father, the guild master, would struggle to deal with an amount like that.

“I'll need them.”

At those words, she gulped and stared at Minwoo with desperate eyes.

Please.

That.

Order it from me.

Please say it…….

Kim Minwoo remained silent for a moment before speaking.

“I plan on placing bulk orders whenever I need them, like now. But there's one problem.”

“A problem……?”

“Since I receive money as I go, giving you an advance payment is a little difficult. I also don't know exactly when I'll purchase them. I need to gain quite a few levels first.”

“Ah…… I see.”

“Yes.”

Silence followed.

Choi Yuna realized.

This was a crossroads.

At a glance, there were plenty of problems with signing a bulk contract.

Advance payment? None.

Purchase date? Unknown.

Still want to trust me and stockpile the goods first?

That was what Kim Minwoo was asking.

“……

Deal.”

“Deal?”

“Deal!”

Choi Yuna squeezed her eyes shut and shouted. She'd figure out some way to secure the budget for making the elixirs.

This was a contract she had to win.

And wasn't he the man who'd broken a world record!

Gaining some levels would be easy for him.

As for the money…….

If he was going to work hard doing advertisements, surely he'd make it somehow. Choi Yuna decided to believe in Ilseong's power.

“Then prepare this same amount in intermediate-grade from now on.”

“……

Yes.”

“Don't look so miserable. In exchange, I'll pay full price without haggling when I buy.”

“Yes!”

The contract was sealed.* * *‘That's one problem handled.’Even for Kim Minwoo, it wouldn't be easy to find someone willing to produce 800 billion won worth of elixirs without collateral.

That was exactly why he'd established a relationship with Choi Yuna.

Otherwise, when he reached Level 101 and the D-rank range where he'd need intermediate-grade elixirs, he'd have to wait a long time for them to be produced.

True to someone blinded by performance, she'd accepted instantly.

Her father was the guild master, so she'd somehow make it happen.‘The problem starts with high-grade.’From there, the real uphill climb began.

Producing them in advance would push the unit into multiple trillions.

Strictly speaking, though, Kim Minwoo was the unusual one.

Talentless.

Thanks to his insane lack of physical talent, he consumed an enormous number of elixirs compared to everyone else.‘Normally around two hundred would be enough.’Achieving an S-rank accomplishment usually meant someone was talented too.

For those people, it was common for a single elixir to raise a stat by 2 instead of 1.‘But even those guys start running into investment limits at high-grade.’An ordinary super rookie usually used elixirs up through low-grade.

Up to that point, government or major organizational support was enough to make it feasible.

Two hundred lowest-grade and two hundred low-grade.

Average investment around 80 billion won.

Not impossible.

And from intermediate-grade onward.‘That's where the real sorting begins.’To keep juicing with elixirs, you had to spend roughly 200 billion won.

At that point, it started becoming burdensome.

Only super rookies who had already produced some huge result received investment that far.‘And from high-grade onward…….’If a government or major organization invested this far?

That meant they were a true mega rookie.

High-grade elixirs cost around three billion won each.Just two hundred would mean pouring in around 600 to 700 billion won.

Pure elixir investment alone would approach a trillion.

Isabella was the classic example of that kind of Awakened.‘And she still lost to me.’Still, she was pretty impressive for a human.

Anyway.

He'd think about high-grade when the time came.

There was still a fair amount of time before he reached that bracket.

While thinking, he arrived at the auction house.[Accessing Skill Book Marketplace.][Search Level: 51~6

0. Class: Necromancer.][Searching with those conditions.][Summon Skeleton Mage(E)][Restriction: Necromancer, Level 51 or higher][Price: 6 million won.]‘Oh.’The price was exactly three times higher than Summon Skeleton.‘Well, that's reasonable.’Items also roughly tripled in price at the next grade.

If anything, because Necromancer was unpopular, you could say it had only tripled.

One fortunate thing was that the auction house basically prevented resale.

What if resale were allowed?

He could guarantee Necromancer-related Skill Book prices would be far higher than they were now.

Hoarders would've appeared.

There was a guy throwing money around and sweeping up every related Skill Book. How could they resist?‘Well, if that happened, I'd just sweep other countries instead of Korea.’Items listed at auction weren't pooled globally, only within each country.

Then anyone hoarding unpopular Skill Books would've gotten crushed.

Since that possibility was blocked from the start, you could call it a win-win.

He immediately bought every listing.[Purchasing all 53 Skill Books…….][Your inventory contains multiple copies of the same Skill Book…….]

He dismissed the messages.

There was nothing he could do with such a tiny number anyway.

He'd finish shopping first and roll them all at once.

He checked Skill Book prices.‘Average prices haven't jumped that much.’Even without outright hoarding, average Skill Book prices could still rise.

After all, unlike before, sellers now knew a massive buyer named Kim Minwoo was waiting.

No one knew when he'd come, but when he did, he'd probably sweep the entire Skill Book market again.

Naturally, people would start raising prices little by little with that thought in mind.‘Around 5%?’There was a slight bubble.

But this much was understandable.

If it had been over 10%, even he might have gone shopping overseas.

Not because it was too expensive.

It would just piss him off.

A punishment for being greedy, so to speak.

Maybe that was why there were traces of everyone carefully testing the line.‘Well, this much is cute.’After chuckling.

“Everything under 20 million, E-rank, Level 50 or lower. One more condition. Only items whose recent price fluctuation is within 5%.”

It was time to show suppliers where the line was.

I'll allow exactly a 5% premium.‘Raise it more than that and you get the unsold beam.’For reference, even unsold listings still lost the 10% fee.

If you lost the pricing game, you deserved to get hit.

He needed to send this signal at least once to prevent Skill Book inflation. Otherwise, from D-rank onward, he'd have to tour foreign markets.

[Purchasing 8,424 applicable listings.][Purchase completed!][126.36 billion won withdrawn…….][An additional 10% withdrawn as commission…….]

“Whew, walking the righteous path truly isn't easy.”

It really wasn't.

Starting from E-rank, the numbers were already in the hundreds of billions.

By C-rank, they'd probably be in the trillions.

A difficult road.

But only by building things up step by step like this could he become a truly proper Awakened.‘At least there's still supply.’By A-rank, the market would probably dry up completely.

The higher you went, the fewer Awakened there were, and the decline was exponential.

At that point, even touring auction houses around the world might not be enough to attempt +9.

If enhancement blew up midway and there were no more listings, game over.

Probably something like that.

While running Skill Book synthesis, he purchased equipment for his Mages.

Skeleton Mages also started as Level 1 baby Mages when summoned.

Since it was low-level equipment, it wasn't outrageously expensive.

Like the Black Heart Set, roughly 200 million won per Mage.

He bought 250 sets with some room to spare.

There simply weren't any more available.

Finally, premium equipment setups for Cedric and himself for the next level bracket.

Together, those cost around 15 billion won.

After finishing his shopping, Kim Minwoo began grinding Skill Books.* * *Ulfawlu Forest.

Clear Difficulty: 90 points.

It was notorious for its difficulty, but unlike the Tomb of Osiris, Awakened crowded its entrance.

Unlike the roaches in the tomb, nothing from the gorillas, the main monsters here, went to waste.

Their tough hides were used to craft armor, and their bones to process weapons.

In particular, the Thunder Staff dropped by the boss, Ulfaru, was a premium item worth three billion won.Three billion meant even a five-person party would get 600 million each.

A true jackpot.

The drop rate was low, but for Awakened, the important thing was that the possibility existed at all.

Today too, soldiers at the entrance busily handed out entry permits.

“Yes. Identity confirmed. Here's your entry permit. Live long. Next?”

The soldier looked up at the Awakened before him. A moderately wrinkled face with patchy stubble.

For some reason, he looked seasoned from the moment you saw him.

“You're alone?”

Nod.

At that, the soldier nodded too. Being alone wasn't particularly strange.

Gates with jackpot potential occasionally attracted high-level Awakened attempting solo clears.

After all, if you got the item, the earnings were better than clearing a Gate of your own rank.

“Please show your ID. Yes. D-rank Awakened Park Cheolwoong. Confirmed. Here's your entry permit. Live long.”

“You too, soldier.”

The voice sounded oddly familiar.

The soldier tilted his head slightly, then moved on to the next party.

And so Park Cheolwoong, no, Kim Minwoo, approached the Gate.[Ulfawlu Forest][Rank: E]

Right in front of the Gate.

A soldier and one Awakened stood there.

“Five people right now. Go in.”

A party entered the Gate. The Gate shone briefly before dimming again.

“You can go in now too, sir.”

Kim Minwoo nodded and jumped toward the Gate.

Then.

Srrrk.

A transparent human-shaped figure slipped into the glowing Gate.

There was an Awakened assigned to surveillance, but the movement was stealthy enough to escape even a D-rank's notice.

Then the Gate went dark.