SanLyfe: Someone pinged me that there was booze and decent food in the Game Store? I don't see it.

Canton_fancy2: I was wondering the same. There are too many sellers to swipe through. Anyone got the seller's username I can DM?

IronPeach: There was alcohol?? LOLLLL I wouldn't trust that moonshine shit. Just stick to the stuff in the Games.

SanLyfe: Nah. The booze where I'm at is unspeakable, and I was hoping to sway a few characters with some decent liquor.

Canton_fancy2: Forget alcohol. The Game I'm playing doesn't even have food. It's all bloody sand dunes and bugs. I'm stuck buying those damn rations from the store.

Piheif805: @Canton_fancy2 you missed out. There was actual food being sold, but it's all been sold out.

Canton_fancy2: Aghhh, damn it. I miss that one player that used to make and sell those sandwiches. Whatever happened to him?

IronPeach: LMAO. Probably realized he could earn more by just playing??

Canton_fancy2: True.

Canton_fancy2: @Piheif805 do you recall what was the username? I'll DM him.

Piheif805: Player0.4

Canton_fancy2: …. Error. I got an error message when I pinged them.

SanLyfe: Same. That's weird. I've been blocked before but have never seen an error message.

GreenNoodle: Ya know, the stuff Player0.4 sold was weird too. Anyone here play Adovoria's Fall?

Canton_fancy2: No way. I'll take dunes and bugs over that unbeatable long-ass game.

GreenNoodle: Well, two of the items I remember from playing Adovoria's Fall were the Dragon's Breath Brew and the Totus Elixer. Same ones Player0.4 put up for sale. They were popular in the Game among the soldiers.

SanLyfe: You're saying that's where Player0.4 sourced them?

GreenNoodle: Yes, but that's not what's weird. It's the quantity.

Piheif805: Ya know, I was wondering that too. I thought they had done a setup like that guy selling sandwiches, but if they exist premade within a Game, the quantity doesn't make sense.

IronPeach: ??? Explain.

Piheif805: Have you ever sold items you took from a Game?

IronPeach: No shit. Everyone has.

Piheif805: You probably haven't hit the limit, but the System of each Game imposes one. They generally frown on Players coming in and mining a Game for its resources instead of actually trying to beat it.

SanLyfe: Ha! If there weren't a limit, there would be realms with nothing remaining in them except dust.

IronPeach: And Player0.4 exceeded it?

Piheif805: Yes. He had well over 300 bottles of just Dragon's Breath Brew when I logged on.

GreenNoodle: It was 480 when I came on, so likely he had more than that for sale.

IronPeach: How's that possible??

GreenNoodle: *shurg* I'm this chat because I was hoping someone else had an idea.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

<< System, please explain the number of Nexus coins. This is far more than I expected. >>

I shut the bedroom door behind me and walked over to the window on the other side of the room.

Thanks to the Whispering Necklace, I could talk with the System anywhere I was without speaking out loud. This has been of tremendous help because I didn't have to hide away or risk looking like a madman talking to himself.

However, although I avoided the pitfall of appearing to be talking to myself, I realized that to the casual observer, it still appeared that I was staring into thin air. It wasn't nearly as concerning, but if someone observed me for long enough, they'd catch on that something was off.

And the last thing I need is any more people like Chase Daylan on my heels. Or worse.

I pulled out the Wobbly Pebble and moved about the mishappen and squishy rock in my hand. It had little purpose, but it did make for a half-decent stress ball.

[ Hello Luca, congratulations on your earnings! A large chunk of your inventory has been sold out. ]

[ As for the difference in expected earnings, as explained before, to prevent market manipulation, the Game Store will set the costs based on fair market values. ]

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"And I suppose the value of the goods I placed for sale had increased?" I asked.

[ Bingo. You are most correct, Luca. You have evaded going to your accounting lesson, but it appears you understand how markets and currents adjust as it is. ]

I frowned at this.

The System always made fun of me, but it didn't comment on something for no reason at all.

Should I attend my accounting lessons in the future too?

I lightly tossed the Wobbly Pebble up, just high enough that its randomness didn't cause it to dive in a direction I couldn't grab it. It wobbled slightly right, and I grabbed it before it could hit the window.

Yes. It made sense to attend the lessons, especially if I was going to take over the Frey merchant Guild and was planning to continue expanding my reach within the Game Store.

"Peep!"

What did the System say?

Leona fluttered off my head and settled on the window sill. I had clued her in on the surprising finding on the way over to my room.

"Apparently, what I put up in the Game Store has practically sold out, and the market price for the goods has been increased based on market value," I explained to her.

I tossed the Wobbly Pebble again, but instead of it going up, it seemed to drop instead. I buckled my knees and stretched out my left arm to grab it before it hit the floor.

How does it do that?

I inspected the misshapen rock, but there weren't any clues from its appearance.

Maybe I can have Leonard Jarbez take a look at it?

I recalled that he had a Magica Inventor Skill that said he had an aptitude for reverse engineering. I didn’t know if the Wobbly Pebble had any magical attributes, but it was worth a shot, at least.

"System, can you pull up what my inventory is and at what prices the goods sold toward the end?" I straightened up and leaned against the window, holding the Wobbly Pebble in my hand.

The original pricing of a Dragon's Breath Brew was 10 Nexus Coins, a Totus Elixer went for 7 Nexus Coins, and the different cartons of perishable food sold for two.

Perhaps there was something that the Players of other Games valued more than others? Bonus points if it was relatively easy for me to continue to source.

The blue screen expanded.

[ The current inventory is as follows:

Dragon's Breath Brew: sold out

Totus Elixer: 792 units remaining

Perishable Food: sold out ]

I had put 816 units of the Totus Elixer up for sale, so only 24 units had sold. It was a pretty good elixir for a stressed-out and drained mind; however, having seen all the health potions and other elixirs up for sale in the Game Store, I wasn't surprised that it was not as popular.

Still, having sold 24 units within such a short period of time isn't too shabby. And if it doesn't sell, I'll be able to offload it in my world in two weeks anyhow.

What was surprising was how well the Dragon's Brew and Perishable Food did. They had completely sold out within a little over an hour.

"I reckoned that there might be a gap in the market, but I had no idea it would do so well…." I muttered.

I suspected that the Dragon's Brew would do well, given how most people enjoyed alcohol. And I had noted that apart from what appeared like some crusty bread that looked like a brick, there really wasn't much in the way of consumables, which was why I had put the food and alcohol up for sale in the first place. Still, the result was shocking.

"System, are other Games lacking in food or something?" I asked.

My own world was suffering from the pollution of the earth, and viable farmland was a scarce resource, so it wasn't outside the realm of imagination that perhaps other realms were experiencing issues too.

[ I cannot comment on other realms apart from the information provided by Players, but based on some commentary I heard, Players that played Adovoria's Fall have expressed positive emotions regarding the food available to them in this Game. ]

I frowned.

Just what did these other realms look like? And what were other Players like?

Another blue screen appeared.

[ As for the final market rate per item was as follows:

Dragon's Breath Brew: 22 Nexus Coins

Totus Elixer: 7 Nexus Coins

Perishable Food: 2-14 Nexus Coins ]

Hmm?

As expected, the Totus Elixer had stayed the same in price. The Dragon's breath was a happy surprise, having more than doubled in market value. However, the 7x increase in Perishable Food piqued my interest the most.

"System, expand on the Perishable Food Cartons; what was it that sold for 14 Nexus Coins?"

The cartons were filled with different food, and the Game Store had broken them out into several groups depending on their contents.

[ Perishable Food Carton G Containing:

Layfair's Cheese Wheels (Compact, individually wrapped cheese rounds)

Journeyman's Jerky (Dried and seasoned meat strips)

Ashford Bakery's Artisanal Biscuits (Handcrafted buttery biscuits) ]

Ah.

The cheese and jerky were decent, especially compared to the alternative available in the Game Store. Still, knowing their taste, I suspected the Ashford Bakery biscuits were spiking the value.

I didn't know my family was currently sourcing goods from the Ashford Bakery, or perhaps they were selling it indirectly. Still, there was certainly more business opportunities to be had in the future if there was demand on the Game Store.

"Peep!"

What are you going to do now with all those coins?

I pulled up the Game Store market and swiped through the items on sale.

"I can't exchange Nexus Coins for Duex Coins, so I'll have to find something to purchase and resell in my world if I want to make a true profit," I told Leona.

"Maybe shovels."

I paused, looking at a slew of different types of shovels in the Game Store. There were hundreds of them. There were shiny ones, rusted ones, and many that appeared more intended as a type of weapon than an actual shovel. Looking at the pricing, they were obviously not considered as being worth much, either, most costing the same as a useless Wobbly Pebble.

I couldn't fully see the names of the other sellers, with a portion being blocked out, but it seemed as if everyone and anyone sold shovels. There were other items like that. Basic weapons were cheap—so cheap, in fact, that I could probably bankroll the equipment for a small army with what was in the Game Store.

I gazed out my window at the blue sky. The sun had lowered in the sky by now.

Supply, demand… and the market.

There was a high supply in the Game Store. And demand was there in my world for these items. But the market was only accessible to Players who apparently only valued the more intricate and magic-intensive equipment. A basic sword and shield had little to no worth.

"Peep!"

Why shovels?

I smiled down at Leona.

"There will be a discovery that will have everyone across the continent hurrying to strike it rich. And they're going to need shovels," I explained.

But the real money was in providing the shovels rather than being one of those digging for riches.

I turned my attention back to the Game Store. "But that won't be for another two months or so. I might as well find something I can move quickly for now instead."

What will you buy instead in that case?

I crossed my arms.

I didn't know enough about the Frey Merchant Guild during this time period.

Apart from the perishable and unsellable goods that I had taken under my wing, what were we trading today?

"No use guessing," I sighed. "I'll go see Louis to see what our ledgers are indicating and what we could benefit from selling more of."

I knew our business was doing exceptionally well the past few years. But just what exactly helped drive the profits? I was murky about the details.

I rubbed my temples. For some reason, I felt a headache coming on.