NOVEL WEB Chapter 16: System is a Friendly Capitalist
Back at the empty cave, under the dim light, Lin Fang sat cross-legged before the inventory screen. The black egg with golden swirl, Nemesis's summoning token, rested silently in the inventory. It pulsed softly, almost as if it had a will of its own.
"Mythical Grade, Quasi God Tier Potential"
He exhaled deeply.
"I want to hatch you," he muttered. "So badly."
His fingers hovered just above the Hatch option. His thumb twitched.
But then, he pulled back, fighting his urges.
"Not now," he said to himself, more firmly this time. "You have to wait a bit. If I hatch it now, high chance that Li Changfeng fellow might sense it. I don't know whether he is a monster tamer or a hunter, but the fact that he guards a place like this itself tells of his capability. There's no need to be in a hurry. But, there is still more than ten minutes left. What should I do at this time? Hmm?"
However, the temptation to hatch has filled his head. To distract himself, Lin Fang turned to what he always did when he had money.
Shopping, of course.
He opened the Summoner's Shop and glanced at his balance.
[Coins: 100,088]
"Okay, time to splurge."
*Ding!
[100 Luminous Panda Eggs were purchased. 10,000 coins were deducted.]
[50 Thunder Eagle Eggs were purchased. 10,000 coins were deducted.]
[Blood Coagulation Pill has been purchased. 3000 coins were deducted.]
Just in case, he thought.
Next were the Growth Pills.
He tapped on the bulk-buy once again.
*Ding!
[30 Growth Pills were purchased. 15,000 coins were deducted.]
"With 30 of these, I can maximize Po's level. Or maybe, just turn both Po and Lei Fei into Lord Tiers."
[Coins Remaining: 62,008]
"And just like that, I spent over 38,000 coins, which is like 3.8 million credits…" Taking a breath, "But, I'm still not done yet."
As he murmured, Lin Lin Fang indeed wasn't done yet with the shopping.
Closing the Summoner's shop, he went on clicking the Lottery Wheel.
He cracked his knuckles, his eyes narrowing on the beast shards. "Alright… let's get that lion too."
He tapped the X11 Draw.
Then again.
And again.
Over the following couple of minutes, Lin Fang burned through 3,000 coins, drawing x11 tickets, six times in a row, until he achieved his goal.
Each time, a cascade of rewards filled the screen.
The results:
112x Winged Lion Shards 837 Coins
A wide grin spread across his face as he assimilated the shards at once.
Ding!
[White Winged Lion Egg has been added to Inventory.]
[Winged Lion added to Summoner's Shop.]
[New Item unlocked: Jade Spirit Tonic]
He opened the shop again and clicked on the new entry.
There it was, shining just beneath the Thunder Eagle egg:
Winged Lion Egg
Grade: Epic
Element: Fire/Wind
Potential: Lv 50 (King Tier)
Price: 500 Coins
"Hmm… Level 50 and Epic grade? It's just like that horse spirit…" Lin Fang's eyes lowered to the price. "500 coins, huh… that's about 50,000 credits. On a 50% profit margin, I can sell it for 75,000 credits. But if Thunder Eagle can be sold for 100,000 credits as I put, then I can sell this for atleast 300,000 credits instead. After all, this is a cooler mount. And rich guys love to show off." It was then that something else clicked in his mind. "Wait a second… if the sellable version is a king tier, then…"
Lin Fang's gaze hurriedly shifted away from the shop and back toward his inventory.
He tapped the White Winged Lion's summoning token.
Its stats glowed in bold text:
White Winged Lion
Element: Fire, Wind
Grade: Legendary
Potential: Lv. 60 (Emperor Tier)
"Oh, yes, I knew it. I get the better ones," he mused, "while the shop gets the diluted versions for mass sale… This confirms the theory."
A hidden feature of the system, perhaps. Something designed to let him profit but still maintain his edge. A crooked grin curled on his lips. "System knows capitalism, indeed," he muttered. "Okay, let's go back… There is one last thing to check around."
He scrolled back to the Summoner's Shop, eyes falling on the newest addition:
[Jade Spirit Tonic]
Cost: 1,000 Coins
Effect: Cures any internal injury, toxin, or lingering ailment in monsters under Level 50. Partial effectiveness for those above Level 50.
"Oh, this is surprising." He stared at the 3d illustration of a subtle, polished green vial shimmering on the screen. Its details are not as flashy as the growth pills. Not as drastic as the Blood Coagulation Pill. But it appeared far more… practical.
Lin Fang narrowed his eyes. "This is like a healing potion, but it can remove any effect that is hurting the pet. Hmm… for such an effect, 1000 coins should be an apt price, but expensive for normal ailments like cold and fever that go on their… own… hmm… fever… when I think about fever… I remember…"
And immediately, an image flickered in his mind, the white cat on the receptionist's desk that was suffering from Moonpaw fever. For the world, it can be considered a terminal illness, but he clearly remembered the system mentioning it as an internal ailment.
His brows furrowed. "This means this vial can cure that cat."
His fingers hovered over the Purchase button as such a thought came to his head.
But then, a moment after, hesitation crept into his mind.
"One thousand coins," he whispered. "That's a hundred thousand credits…"
Not only was that enough to live decently in a rental apartment in the suburbs for a decade, but it could also hatch dozens of panda eggs, feed Po growth potions for weeks, or even spin the lottery.
If he had to outright compare how big a hundred thousand credits were to him, he was basically renting a shared room apartment for 400 credits a month.
And who was Li Xue?
Just a stranger. A charming one, yes. But he wasn't stupid. He wasn't a rich brat to just splurge such money on girls just because they were beautiful.
In the end, he backed away from the Buy button. "Sorry, Miss Li. Maybe when I'm filthy rich." He muttered under his breath.
He exhaled slowly, closing the shop.
Meanwhile, outside the Spirit Valley, Zhi Yan stood at the grassy hill's edge, her arms crossed tight over her chest. Her lips pressed into a thin line as her eyes bore into the cave opening.
It had been nearly fifteen minutes since Lin Fang disappeared into that dark cave-like borrow where an evil spirit is imprisoned. And he had yet to emerge.
Every tick of the watch made her heart beat just a little faster.
Her fingers curled. "How much time is left?" she asked.
Li Chengfeng stood silently beside her, arms behind his back. "Only a few minutes more," he said.
Zhi Yan nodded, her eyes fixated on the cave.
She was determined to rush inside once the hour had passed, but Lin Fang didn't return. But four minutes later, without even Li Changfeng mentioning the time limit, a faint tremble of wind blew past her ear.
A soft light glowed near the mouth of the cave, Lin Fang's body flickered, and in a blink, he reappeared beside Zhi Yan and Li Chengfeng.
His feet touched the ground lightly. His expression? One of slight confusion, like a man awoken mid-dream.
"Huh…?"
Zhi Yan stepped toward him instantly, eyes widening in quiet panic before relaxing in relief. "You're… alright?"
Lin Fang nodded slowly, his eyes filled with a bit of confusion. "Yeah… of course. What could happen to me?" As he looked around, he mumbled in realization. "So, this is what it means by 1-hour time limit. It's not that I have to come out before the time limit, but I will be forcefully kicked out of the valley."
Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng's face lit up, for a fleeting moment, but quickly flattened again as he squinted at Lin Fang. Then his gaze scanned around Lin Fang's aura, head, and chest. He clicked his tongue with dramatic disappointment.
"Tch. Nothing."
He let out a deep, exaggerated sigh.
"And here I was hoping you might actually have an innate soul. What a waste of an hour… and worse, a total waste of good tension. I've sobered up completely."
He rubbed his temples. "I hate sobering up."
Lin Fang gave a sheepish smile, tilting his head slightly. "Sorry about that, Elder…"
Li Chengfeng waved him off without looking. "Anyway, hour's up. You didn't bring anything back. So I'll give you the best advice I can as an old drunk who's seen too much of this world: give up. You won't pass the Monster Tamer exam without a soul-bound monster. Choose another path. There are other ways to live."
Lin Fang didn't reply. He only gave a polite bow, turned on his heel, and walked toward the dark cave behind him.
Zhi Yan hesitated but quickly followed him after giving a bow. As soon as they walked in, they reappeared in the real world, at the bottom of the staircase, surrounded by cobwebs.
As they climbed the old staircase back up toward the ground floor, the light from above cast shadows across Lin Fang's face, half swallowed in gloom, half burning with something that wasn't frustration.
Zhi Yan peeked at him out of the corner of her eye. His back was stiff, and his steps were even as if he was struggling to maintain calmness. In reality, he wasn't trying to maintain calmness to hide his frustration, but to hide his excitement.
"It's alright, you know," she said softly, her voice echoing faintly against the empty hall, trying to console him. "You can still work hard and become a successful businessman."
Lin Fang didn't look at her. His voice came out even, almost detached. "Who said I'm giving up? I'm not giving up."
His fingers were clenched in his sleeves, knuckles pale from pressure.
"Not until I see a clear defeat."
Zhi Yan's heart skipped a beat at those words. She didn't offer any reply to that and silently followed.