I Level Up With In-app Purchases

I Raise With In-app Purchases – 4

EP.4 Money Ghost (3)

The advantage of unique equipment is that it’s absolutely superior in terms of abilities.

However, the downside?

‘It’s exclusive to SSR characters, so no matter how good the ability is, I can’t use it.’

Unique equipment Identifies its owners.

If someone other than the owner uses it, it’s nothing more than scrap metal.

Even though I summoned this item by spending money!

‘It’s unfair to me.’

Thanks to that, despite pulling unique equipment, I had to stash it away in the warehouse like a picture-perfect decoration.

The fact that I can draw SSR characters is proof that these beloved items will finally fetch their worth.

‘All SSR characters are from well-off noble backgrounds. To them, unique equipment is an essential item they must possess.’

That’s the thing.

If I were to sell this mere collection of unique equipment to those guys at a high price?

‘It seems like I could sell this for a hefty price.’

To me, these are useless pieces of equipment, but to SSR characters, their significance changes entirely.

No matter where else they look, they won’t find weapons as perfectly suited to them as the unique equipment I possess.

‘My plans could completely change. It might even turn out better than planned.’

Selling unique equipment to nobles depends on my skill.

And I knew very well how significant unique equipment was for these characters.

‘Seeing equipment perfectly suited for oneself, and yet nobles would be frugal? Of course, there might be such people. But at least SSR characters wouldn’t be like that.’

The higher the nobility, the less they hold back on equipment.

It meant I wouldn’t have to worry about making a living by opening a general store and selling the items I’ve obtained through summoning so far.

‘But still, I should open a general store.’

I ran away from home when I was young and wandered until I turned 30.

So now, traveling around had become tiresome.

‘Selling unique equipment is one thing, and opening the planned general store is another.’

But the fact that this general store would serve as a ‘stable shelter’ rather than a means to ‘earn money’ was different from the plan I had so far.

Of course, to accomplish all these plans, there was one thing I absolutely had to do.

“…Summon.”

I have to, right?

Summon an SSR character to sell the unique equipment.

That was the first thing I had to do.

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Hero Summoning.

Until now, the only thing I could do in the shop window was item draw.

These items did help a lot in my mercenary life, but it was unavoidable to get annoyed every time a unique equipment came out.

With this unique equipment, I could wield much more powerful abilities than now, but since the unique equipment didn’t lend me its strength, it was frustrating.

But now, this troublesome unique equipment had turned into an immense ‘fortune’.

‘I need an SSR.’

The problem is, I have to sell this equipment, but as of now, there isn’t a single SSR character in this world.

After wandering around the vicinity of the academy, there wasn’t a single familiar face, perhaps because I hadn’t summoned anyone yet.

‘How much do I have to use before an SSR appears?’

It was the first task to pull an SSR, so I was tense.

I had saved up a lot of money while living as a mercenary, but having experienced hero summoning, I knew how quickly this money could be spent.

‘How much I’ve done to gather this money….’

For my plan to proceed, an SSR had to appear.

Once an SSR appeared, I would sell the unique equipment to that person, create seed money to summon another SSR with the sale amount.

If this cycle continued, I wouldn’t have to worry about money and could summon SSR characters and live well.

‘But if things go horribly wrong?’

If I couldn’t pull an SSR and ended up emptying all the money I’ve saved.

I’d have to gather money again to summon an SSR character.

As you know, to put money in the shop window, monster materials are needed.

‘Even if I’ve quit being a mercenary, where would I get monster materials from?’

Things could get this twisted if they wanted to.

So, I had to button up better than anyone else.

“Let’s give it a try.”

The hero summon that was unlocked when I entered the Academy City.

My fingers were itching to summon an SSR character.

I didn’t know who would be summoned first, but I hoped it would be a character from a very wealthy background.

“Here we go.”

The first hero summon.

If it’s the first summon, there would at least be an event or something, but there was nothing of that sort, no kindness shown.

It was solely a situation where I had to pull SSR characters based on luck.

If only there were scrolls that boosted luck in drawing items, wouldn’t that have been great?

I press the summon button while gazing at the luxurious cityscape of Trigger Academy.

If the heavens took pity on me, who had suffered for so long, they’d grant me an SSR character.

– Flash!!! –

And the heavens laughed at me.

“Darn it!”

The list of heroes being summoned consists of R, SR, and SSR grades.

To be honest, R and SR grades only serve as mere business cards in terms of worth.

SSR characters were the ones crucial for progressing through the game’s main scenarios.

We attributed this to the difference in birth, and indeed, at Trigger Academy, it was impossible to overcome this difference.

‘There’s just too much that only SSR characters have.’

Firstly, unique equipment.

Since it’s exclusive to SSR characters, there’s no such thing as unique equipment for R or SR grade characters.

But discrimination doesn’t end there.

SSR characters have what’s called personal scenarios.

And depending on how difficult they’ve cleared these personal scenarios, their basic stats differ.

R or SR grades don’t even have personal scenarios, making it a game with tremendous discrimination.

However, gamers didn’t take issue with this.

After all, R and SR grades were only temporary use.

“No… not R grades again.”

R grades were raining down from the sky.

An unnecessarily flashy summoning effect.

The true taste of hero summoning was awaiting me.

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Arriving at the Academy City, the only thing on my to-do list wasn’t just pulling SSR characters.

There were plenty of other things to do.

Although I still hadn’t fully recovered from the aftermath of the spicy taste of SSR summoning, I couldn’t postpone what needed to be done.

Entering the real estate shop, my response to the question about what I was seeking was straightforward.

“I’m considering opening a general store. Do you have any suitable buildings?”

“Huh? A general store? I wouldn’t recommend that.”

But somehow, the initial response was crooked.

The recommendation was against opening a general store.

“Why is that?”

“The job itself of running a general store isn’t a big problem. But here, Ash General Store has a tight grip on Academy students.”

An old man who looked to be at least in their 80s pushed up their glasses and continued.

“Even if it’s Ash General Store, I am aware. Nonetheless, it doesn’t matter.”

Ash General Store.

I’ve used that store even in the game.

It wasn’t surprising that the store dominated the business of general stores in the Academy.

“Huh? It doesn’t matter?”

“Yes.”

I simply needed my own place.

“Ha! And you plan to do business? If you’re starting, you should choose a promising occupation where your money won’t be wasted!”

“I’m not doing this to earn money.”

I’ll earn money through other means.

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

It seemed bewildering that someone aiming to do business had no intention of making money.

“These are my conditions. Find a place as close to the Academy as possible, even if it’s less populated. Get me such a place. I’d prefer the storage to be on the second floor, with the first floor as a general store and the second floor as my living space.”

“As close to the Academy as possible, even if it’s less populated… You’re quite peculiar. I’ll say it again, even if it’s close to the Academy, it won’t do well for business.”

“I understand it fully. Oh! And if I could also obtain a merchant license, that would be great.”

“Did you intend to find a shop without that?”

“Isn’t it about acquiring whatever you need? Can you make it happen?”

Surprisingly, the old man remained cool and said it could be done, glancing through his glasses once more.

“It’s possible. But won’t you regret opening a general store? Even if you come later to dissuade me, it’ll be useless.”

“It doesn’t matter. At least I won’t cause any trouble here.”

There was no reason to cause trouble in the first place.

Only one SSR character.

Even though I succeeded in summoning just one, that alone was enough.

Now, I don’t need to worry about money.

“It might take a few days. You’ll need to put in some effort to find the property you want.”

“How long specifically do you think it will take?”

Having pulled an SSR character, I wanted to complete the transaction as quickly as possible.

The issue was conducting trades without a merchant license, which involved taking risks.

So, I intended to purchase a merchant license and secure the location for the general store before making the transaction, but it seemed it might take longer than anticipated, which was surprising.

“It might be faster or slower than what you think. It all depends on circumstances.”

Observing the composed demeanour of the Old man, it seemed that securing a place wouldn’t happen in just a day or two.

Ultimately, to make the most of the empty time, I had to make one choice.

“Let’s start with the trade.”

That meant immediately selling the unique equipment to an SSR character.