Mixed Blessing System

"Boss! Boss! I believe that fellow you warned us about is negotiating in our building!" The young man who had attended to Lothur a few moments ago said this to the person in charge of the Sector-1 Business House.

Upon hearing that, a middle-aged man took his eyes off the papers on the table he was working on and looked in the direction of that shouting young man.

Seeing that young man dressed in the uniform of that establishment standing beside the entrance door of that office, that member of the Morning Star Academy frowned his eyebrows and stood up from where he was. "Are you sure?" He asked in a grave tone.

"Yes, I attended him myself." That young man nodded his head, promptly giving details about Lothur. "He has long silver hair and an appearance capable of irritating even eunuchs."

"He also seems to have no cultivation, just like the person the boss is looking for."

"Oh? And where is he now?"

"He just walked into one of the collective trading rooms."

"Well, tell the people in charge of that area not to sell any of his items. And if he shows interest in buying anything, set people on our side to negotiate directly with the owners of the items of interest to him."

"That's..."

That man then looked at this student who was still standing around and asked in a cold tone. "What do you still want here? Go carry out my orders!"

"But, how are we going to justify that? If this person denounces us..."

"Don't overthink about it. Of course, we can't refuse to serve any student, but we are not obliged to give priority to anyone..." That middle-aged guy, who had a wicked look, smiled and said. "The staff downstairs will know what to do."

"OK!"

After that, that strange-looking man continued to stare in the direction of the part where the young man from before had left. 'The good-for-nothing of the Frost family, huh?'

'I don't know how you've managed to annoy young master Merten, but since you've come to my domain, I'll get in your way as much as possible.'

...

Meanwhile, Lothur had finally reached the place where he could put his items up for sale.

At that place indicated earlier by that young student, Lothur found an area that looked like a store, with several side structures where various items were on display.

But while the walls had many items to attract the attention of the people passing by, there was a large circular area in the center of the place with several small tables. Next to each table was a small board with the names of the items being traded by the people there.

And while some people were waiting for interested parties to approach their chairs, most had at least one person already debating about the prices of the trade items and their characteristics.

"Your Marrow Cleansing Pill is only 50% pure. I won't pay more than 100 bronze coins per unit."

"Tsk!"

"If I go to sell my pills in the city, I can get at least 120. So, increase your offer, or I won't waste my time with you anymore."

...

"Hey, how about we trade your Red Bear skin with my Winged Serpent Leather?"

"No, I'm in search of coins..."

Lothur watched the surroundings with interest, finding how this place operated differently than he expected.

But as he watched in silence, one of this place's several officials finally called out to him.

"My friend, sorry for the delay. We are facing some technical problems today..." A short, thin man smiled as he said this, having made Lothur wait for a few minutes after he arrived at this place.

As soon as he entered this place, Lothur handed over the items he intended to sell to be checked by the employees in this area. But even though he found several officials free, he had still been asked to wait for a few moments...

"All right." Lothur took no notice of such a thing and went straight to the point. "What is the difference in the items being traded directly in this place," He pointed to that circular area. "And these others?" He pointed to one of the shelves there.

That person then replied. "Well, when you want to sell something here, you can just sit in one of those places to advertise your item. Then, if someone interested is in the vicinity, you can quickly trade such a thing without delay or fees."

"However, people are not always interested in every kind of item. So, we make available the possibility for our students to leave their items here to let other students know that someone is selling them."

"Those are the items on these shelves." He made a hand gesture showing some weapons that were around.

"In this second case, you need to pay a fee of 10% of the sale value of your items to leave them to sample here. Then, of course, we will sell it for you and notify you of the sale when it happens."

"This option has the advantage of convenience but some disadvantages. You get fewer coins, you run the risk of not being able to negotiate a better deal with the buyer, and you may have to wait days or weeks to get your items sold."

"I see..." Lothur looked again in the direction of those negotiating there and saw the last available seats being occupied by several people who had just arrived there.

One moment there were more than 15 seats available there for students like Lothur to try to advertise their items, and then, the next second, all the spaces had been taken.

Seeing this, Lothur asked. "What happens if there are no seats available in that area?" He pointed to that now crowded place.

"We don't have anything to do. Here we follow the order of arrival, and no student has preference over others." That thin man spread his arms in a wailing expression. "If any student decides to stay here for 2 hours, 6 hours, we can't kick him out..."

"Then, other interested parties have to wait."

Hearing this, Lothur felt a little frustrated, regretting his bad luck arriving at this place at such a busy time...

'I'm going to wait for 20 minutes. Then, if no one gives me room in this damn place, I'll leave those parts of the Giant Tropical Spider here.' He closed his eyes, thinking he could not waste too much time waiting.

In his opinion, 10% was a lot. But his time was much more valuable. After all, he had too many things to do in Sector-1 to get his promotion to Sector-2. So, he was willing to accept the disadvantages of opting for that second option of that place.

p ...

After 20 minutes, no one left that area, and Lothur finally lost his patience.

He went next to the same individual as before and said. "Hey, I'm not going to wait. I want to leave my items here for this place to sell them."

"Oh? Hehe, I understand."

"Well, you just need to hand me what you want to sell, and I will arrange a place on our shelves."

"Hmm, here it is." Lothur handed over the remaining parts of that spider he killed just before making a quick registration at that place, leaving his data behind.

Finally, he departed that place with one less weight on his shoulders, confident that he could get his coins in a short time.

So, he made his way to the library, where he intended to read a bit about what he had discussed earlier with Anneke before it was time for him to go to lunch with Elke.

...

After eating with the beautiful Elke, Lothur and this woman did not waste much time and went to her room in the local dormitory.

As they walked towards that place of their own, Elke did not ignore something she had heard from one of her friends and asked. "Lothur, I heard that Alric's cousin challenged you. Is that true?"

"Hmm, a guy named Merten challenged me, but the period he gave me has passed," Lothur replied without showing much concern about it.

"That..."

"Lothur, this is serious! You shouldn't take it so casually! Merten won't forget about it and will find ways to bother you!"

"Don't you know that people like him have a lot of influence in the academy?" She looked at him thoughtfully, squeezing one of his arms to get his attention.

"I know that, but doing what he wanted would only bring me harm..."

"Why? Wouldn't it be better if you fought him as the others challenged and continued your routine?" She asked, still not understanding why he was hiding. "At least he could forget about you and not challenge you in the competition for the Secret Realm slots."

Hearing such a thing, Lothur smiled and moved closer to one of Elke's ears. "Don't worry. If he does that, he's the one who will lose the Secret Realm slot, not me."

...