Chapter 620 – The Tower’s Second Strike
"This Navy Spear is going for either a Legendary Sun Core or a Pure Magma Source. You may begin bidding for it!" Draco announced coldly, gazing at the crowd imperiously.
He was sick and tired of the other contestants wasting his time. Just look, while they were farting about over just a few products, he had already completed 20 floors!
What was even more infuriating was the fact that he wasn't selling your everyday items, but LEGENDARY ITEMS!
Common sense would demand that those should be selling like hotcakes. For those who didn't have the score points, wasn't there a nice and easy way for them to earn it?
Heck, here they were here being mindboggled over less than a hundred of them when Draco had a stock of over a thousand ready to clear…
The crowd was quiet for a while as they looked around uncertainly. Who was going to bid for it now? After all, with the stall owner here, prices would increase and competition might heat up.
…was it still worth it?
Draco saw the hesitation and sneered inwardly. He quickly identified the problem that was likely making these fellows hold out, and knew how to curb stomp it.
"Fine, if nobody wants it this Navy Spear is going to be bought in-house, meaning I will reclaim it and sell it outside the Tower to more willing powers. It will never be put on sale again for the duration of the Tower's session."
Draco lifted the blue-colored spear with wavy motifs on the shaft with an arrogant smirk as he twirled it. "This is your last chance to get it. Once it disappears from your view today, you will NEVER see it again. I will make sure of that."
He then stretched his hand out and held the spear like he was about to drop it like a mic. "Alright, so no bidders for the Navy Spear. It's gonna bought-in then! Going once… going twice…"
"WAIT!!"
Just as Draco was about to place it back into his inventory, a voice full of struggle called out to him. He coldly looked over to see a fellow who was sweating like he was under extreme duress.
"Do you have either of the required items for the bid?" Draco asked coldly.
The fellow flinched but still answered. "N-No, not yet…"
Draco's expression became dark. "So why the hell did you stop me?"
The fellow's eyes darted to the crowd to see if anyone would support him, but he saw that everyone was acting as if he was invisible. He cursed their cowardliness and decided to be ruthless.
"Well, it's just that it'd be a shame for such an item to be wasted. After all, there are many problems with it and this sale." He spoke with a smile.
Draco lowered his hand that held the spear and gazed at the fellow with interest. "Oh? Do enlighten me."
He licked his lips and ignored the looks of warning he was receiving from others.
"Well, firstly, there is the issue of pricing. I agree that Legendary Items are valuable, but you are also asking for Legendary Materials and the like, oftentimes more than one."
The fellow shook his head. "That does not work. The value is not the same. Not only can we directly buy Legendary and Divine Items from the Tower itself, but most of us also come from areas with Grandmasters of Blacksmithing, Enchanting, and Alchemy."
He then shrugged. "Instead of using our score points to redeem Legendary Materials and trade with you, we could just take them out and commission personally tailored Legendary Items. It's not like you're undercutting the Tower either, as your prices are relatively equal in value if we use score points as a basis."
Many in the crowd couldn't help but nod in agreement. While they hadn't wanted to let the obvious cat out of the bag, since it was already done, they could only show their stance.
Eva's eyes narrowed sharply even as Draco beside her frowned with confusion. Eva tapped Draco on the shoulder and sent him a telepathic message. He was startled and opened a screen to check something. When he scrolled through, his face became ugly.
The Tower had drastically reduced the prices of items and had raised the prices of materials!
It wasn't hard to guess who this change was meant to affect.
The Tower seemed to have started paying extra close attention and must have noticed that Draco had only withdrawn materials. He had never redeemed items – as he could make them himself – yet he had never taken more than one material, which led the Tower to make some conclusions.
Since Draco had proven to be outside the Tower's expectation, having an Inner Universe that had allowed him to bring his wives with him, it had to account for the worst possible case.
In this case that would be Draco having a special skill or tool that allowed him to replicate materials indefinitely. As long as he could get his hands on an archetype, he would never run out of it.
So by making materials expensive, it could strangle Draco's ability to fulfill his wishes even with his high score point count.
By doing so, the Tower had also strangled his business. It followed up on its first assumption and took Draco opening shop, yet trading completed items for materials instead of score points as further proof that its hypothesis was correct.
After all, what sane Grandmaster would do such a stupid thing otherwise? They would only sell their Legendary creations for the most exorbitant of prices and to the most powerful, not hand them out like cabbages in exchange for materials… literally materials!!
This was as if some well-dressed bloke would walk up and down the street offering to sell the latest Tesla car with auto-pilot and whatnot in exchange for your car tires, engine parts, or car batteries.
Like, how ridiculous was that?!
Draco had initially expected things to sell like a storm, because this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance, nowhere else would anyone give such a good deal!
He hadn't been wrong. That had exactly been the case during the first few hours of the shop's operation.
People had been crazily redeeming items the shop asked for and bidding like rabid dogs over the items they needed one by one in fear the store owner might regain his sanity at any moment now. If it weren't for the Tower's rules, many would have long since resorted to killing.
However, the Tower had waited until Draco and co were on a particular floor before announcing that there would be price changes, forcing everyone to pause and check it out. Naturally, when they saw the changes, they were shocked, then hesitant.
Should they buy from Draco or buy from the Tower?
This caused hesitation for the majority as they stepped back from the stall and contemplated things by the side. Those who had already eyed various items with greed still bid, but they were less ferocious and more conservative.
Their mentality had shifted from 'God, this is such a good deal!' to 'Well, it's not bad, but I have options'. It was typical for sapient beings, especially in a situation like this.
If the Tower were to raise prices up, their former mentality would return, but artificially keeping it down like this was perfect for dealing damage to Draco.
'This bloody Tower again!' Draco cursed in his mind, his face becoming uglier and uglier by the second. The fellow by the side seemed unable to read the room, not realizing that things were not good, and kept running his mouth.
"Also, apart from the pricing, it kinda feels unnecessary, you know? I mean, we're all in the Tower together and we cannot touch each other."
The fellow then smiled playfully. "But we won't be in the Tower forever, will we? At some point, we're going to all have to leave though the very same exit point."
He wagged his finger playfully, not noticing that some others had stepped back with shifty eyes.
"And there's about a thousand of us and only one of you. Right now, those who buy from you are basically only holding the goodies for those sharper ones waiting to strike later."
Hearing this, many faces in the crowd changed. They gazed at the shop and stepped away, as if it housed something vile and dangerous.
With just a few words, the fellow had practically ruined Draco's business. No one wanted to waste their money only to get beaten up for it later. They might even lose their lives, which was not worth it in their opinion.
Draco heard all this and calmed himself down. He then smiled and withdrew his spear, before doing the same for the less than a hundred Legendary Items remaining on sale.
He then closed the shop and started leaving with Eva in tow. The crowd just looked on speechlessly, as this was not the response they had expected.
Didn't the script call for him to argue back and fight for his rights? Then, after a long and tedious discussion, offer the items for far less in order to secure them as buyers?
While Draco might be willing to leave with a forced smile, Eva was not. She directly blasted out a wave of mental suppression, forcing everyone down to their knees as she floated above them with her Divine Symbol glowing behind her back.
"So to summarize, you think the value of the items are not worth the materials and you assume that you will be robbed of everything anyway, so why not wait until the inevitable battle royale happens to try and fish for benefits, right?"
Eva laughed coldly. "What you wanted to hear from him was that firstly, the prices of the materials were different from those outside, and those prices had only been augmented by the Tower to suppress his business."
"Secondly, that if a battle royale happened, you might not even benefit and might just die, so he would try to work with you his buyers to ensure collective safety, all the while giving you a chance to bargain down since things are not in his favor."
She then stamped her foot in the air, causing a silent shockwave on the mental plane that caused all those kneeling to groan in pain, like her foot was currently pressing on their brains.
"However, you lowlifes do not understand the truth of reality. If the Tower reduces prices, who gives a fuck? Either buy from the Tower and make it feel the pain or buy from Draco, what is there to think about? Show me where else in the world you can trade mere materials for high-quality finished items at values like this?"
"Not to mention, you absolute buffoons, the moment Draco closed his shop and decided not to sell anymore, the prices are gonna shoot right back up. After all, the purpose of lowering them was for this exact result, and the Tower is not in the business to make losses. However, that is for us to laugh about and you to feel regret over." Eva facepalmed as if she couldn't accept their imbecility.
"As for the second thing, you are free to try and gang up on us. But, you morons, don't you think the person who designed this Tower was aware of that scenario? To climb to first place, as shown by Draco, does not require martial power, but talent and skill!"
"In a situation like this where most of you are Rank 5 and we are Rank 3, how is the Tower winner supposed to walk out alive? Who would still come to the Tower if the winner was destined to be torn apart by the losers?"
"Most importantly, and you are unfortunately unaware of this, we are Immortal Adventurers. You will find out what that means when you leave the Tower, but the short version is that we cannot die, not in the way you weaklings do!"
Eva folded her arms with an amused smile. "Besides, do any of you even have the power to make us feel threatened? If your scenario were to occur, any who crossed us would die, until just Draco and those he deems worthy would be able to exit the Tower alive."
She shook her head and released them from the suppression, as many fellows were on the verge of passing out. She then turned and began floating away with her hands folded behind her back.
"Ah, that reminds me, you lot will likely never leave this Tower anyway. Almost forgot about that. Makes your plans even all the more ludicrous." Eva remarked with a startled grin as she recalled this fact.
The various people making up the crowd steadily rose to their feet and looked around, not sure what to make of what had just happened. However, one female voice sounded full of despair as she let out a shriek.
"T-The prices…!"
Many in the crowd were too slow to understand since Eva's punishment had messed up their brains a little, but they soon displayed alarm as they got the gist of what was going on.
They hurriedly checked the exchange list, and many wailings and cruses sounded out. The prices of items had indeed returned to their former high… yet the prices of materials hadn't reduced to their former low!
In other words, those who could only buy materials to trade outside for some favors and money could now trade for less with the same gross amount of score points they had.
Not to mention, the items which had been so cheap and affordable were now locked behind a huge paywall that would make even the top 10 on the rankings feel pain, much less them.
They thought back to Eva's words and could only feel pangs of regret. Legendary Items! Legendary fucking items had been waving their butts at them, yet they had dared to look away, rather gazing at the femboys at the corner who looked cuter on paper, but had sausages under the hood!
Many eyes became vicious, hoping that they could rob the duo of their goods, but then Eva's words once again resounded in their heads. Yeah, it made no sense for the Tower to deposit them all in one place.
After all, they all came from different corners of the world. Wouldn't it only make sense to port everyone back to where they had entered from?!
All of them had used the token to appear at the Tower's subsidiary on their continent, which ported them here, to the main one.
This meant that only those who came from where Draco did would be able to meet him after exiting. The worst part was, no one knew where he came from!!
If so, how were they supposed to gang up on him? No, even if some ganged up and robbed him, what would it have to do with them if Draco didn't originate from their land?
Were they supposed to give the lucky ones moral support from afar? That felt worse than being cucked!
Arriving here, many couldn't help but clutch their chest in pain, feeling like their organs were about to explode from regret and despair. The one fellow who had run his mouth, opted for a very honest reaction.
He just opened his mouth wide and released a fountain of blood. It sprayed left, right, up, and down as if his neck was set on sprinkler mode, until he eventually fainted on the ground with a traumatized expression.
……….
Draco and Eva returned back to their castle. Draco sighed and gazed to the roof, thinking about what to do next. Eva moved over to sit on his lap and gently caressed his hair, an action which he greatly enjoyed in both timelines.
The White-Haired Duo were silent, staying together like this for a long while. Draco eventually opened his eyes and spoke up.
"Whatever, it's their loss. I have enough score points anyway, so let's get on with what we wanted. I'll just cross-check with my Avatar to screen what resources we don't have on the main plane and prioritize those for redemption if my score points are not enough by the final floor."
"Okay, Draco. I'm with you all the way!" Eva replied supportively. The two lovingly gazed into the eyes of each other and seemed to resonate.
Ah, what a lovely scene! If only the words from the mouth of these two Evil Beasts were not lies, how nice would it be?
They knew the Tower was listening in, so they spoke as if they had been defeated and would not follow the beaten path.
They had 'taken the L' as the kids said nowadays, at least in the eyes of the Tower.
But had they? Right now, Draco and Eva were exchanging telepathic messages that if the Tower could hear, it would tremble and close down immediately, fleeing as fast as its foundation could carry it.
Alas… it was ignorant of the fate it would suffer soon, wishing it had been more considerate and less oppressive in its management. However, just like with the crowd still lamenting in the shopping district, the Tower would only feel endless regret when the day came to pass that the Evil Duo would show it why they had earned that nickname.
With that in mind, Draco used about 50,000 score points to redeem some more items. Half were to allow Eva's Tier 1 Sun to evolve to Tier 2, while the other half was for Draco's Inner Universe to make it reach Universe Growth level 1 and Area Expansion level 3.
One would increase their collective combat power and the other would greatly boost their miscellaneous abilities, including energy gathering, ranking up, and crafting.
Also, if the Inner Universe were to expand enough, they might be able to break limits and connect to the main plane anyway. That was something worth looking into later.
First things first, Draco claimed the items he redeemed and then entered the Inner Universe with Eva. Before doing anything else he checked on his babes and his kids, seeing that the Three NPCs Beauties were still alive and still possessed majority of their sanity.
After all, they didn't have three personalities in their head like Eva, so Draco wasn't entirely sure they would come back whole after that debaucherous session.
He then checked on the rest of his family, only to see that everyone was progressing quite good. His second ring kids had stopped giving their mothers much trouble after Draco imparted some bloodline knowledge into them.
Seeing that everything was in order, Draco could naturally peacefully find himself a place to sit while he observed the make-up of these various items. After all, he would be recreating them with Refinement very soon so that they could be consumed at their leisure.
In terms of this illustrious Tradeskill, he had already viciously filled his knowledge banks. Even though he was aiming to have a design of everything, Draco knew that this was not the way forward for this Tradeskill.
What Refinement needed most was just that, constant and unceasing Refinement!