After confirming the bidding price for the Swift Arrows, Kaizen couldn’t close his mouth. Meanwhile, he could hear the voices of the other people in the store looking at him.

“Isn’t he that guy who was in the square and could barely walk? Ah, bro, what is he doing now? His mouth is totally open.”

“Ew~! His saliva is splattering!”

“He must probably be a virgin, what a shame… Acting like that in public.”

“Arghhh… Uhhh~!”

Kaizen tried to close his mouth, but that wasn’t easy while those figures stood before him.

[Primal Swift Arrow (32 pieces).]

[Bidding price: 60 bronze coins per piece.]

[Mutant Swift Arrow (3 pieces).]

[Bidding price: 500 silver coins per piece.]

The Mutant Classification arrows sold hundreds of times their normal market price.

“Eh… Uh… Ack…”

He opened the game interface with a trembling hand, then clicked on the calculator part, a function that every user had access to because the math he did in his head seemed too absurd to be correct. 3×500=?

“… 1,500 silver coins.”

100 silver was 1 gold. 1500 silver meant 15 gold coins. For reference, each gold coin is worth around $10 in cash.𝓞𝒱𝐞𝔩xt.𝗇𝓔t

‘I created those 35 arrows in about a day, didn’t I?’

With simple math, Kaizen soon realized that by making $150 in a single day as a blacksmith, he earned the equivalent of two people working for the insurance company.

“Ha… Hahaha!”

He was thrilled. An uncontrollable laugh came out of his mouth.

“Puahahahat!”

“A-that guy has gone crazy for sure.”

“Let’s get out of here… That dude is scaring me.”

“His mother must be the only female contact on his phone.”

No, Kaizen would not be discouraged by these futile comments. At that moment, he could still smile even while hearing such insults. Now, he could see a path in his life taking shape.

In the future, Kaizen would not need to go after manual labor jobs. It would be more profitable for him to make money from items he creates in the game. In fact, a profession that gives the player the possibility of being able to make items is like a golden goose.

Unlike all the other users, who are required to pay a blacksmith to forge the items in the diagrams and also need to collect all the items needed to make the item, Kaizen could forge any item for himself without having to spend a dime on blacksmiths. Soon he would learn which items are the most profitable and sell them by the thousands, earning rivers of gold coins.

Kaizen could already imagine himself swimming in a pool of money.

‘Debts? I’ll use the game to pay off every one of them!’

He formed a fist and shuddered as the auctioneer at the counter gave out the gold coins. However, Kaizen soon noticed there was money missing.

“Why did you give me only 12 gold coins and 94 silver coins?”

The auction house manager smiled upon hearing the question.

“The amount was reduced because of the sales commission. Is this your first time working with us?”

Kaizen nodded with an angry frown on his forehead.

“Oh! Sir, usually the commission rate for normal items is only 8%, but the ones you sold are rare Mutant level ones. There is a 15% commission on the sale of Mutant Rank items. Thank you for using our services.”

‘How much is the commission rate for Epic, Mythic and Sacred rank items?” Kaizen wondered.

Suddenly, the auction house and the Happy Life Hospital looked like identical comporations. The exploitation through absurd fees was the same in real life as in Rise Online.

“Shit… I wish I could exploit the weak too…”

Tears almost flowed from Kaizen’s as he thought about the 15% commission. He definitely needed to find a method to be able to open a stall or a store to avoid using the auction house in the future.

When he took the money, he wondered if he should use it to buy good armor or if he should already convert it to dollars and transfer it to his bank account. It was a valid question since he purchased the Rise Online license for $150 on Friday, and if he had already converted all the money he had, he would technically already be in profit.

However, a sudden thought, almost involuntary, pushed that thought away, giving way to doubt that Kaizen had not formulated before.

‘I wonder how much the Dagger of Obsession is worth? It’s also a Mutant item, so it must be worth a lot. A few golds coin? No, it must be worth tens of gold. If a single arrow is worth 5, a weapon must be worth a lot more…’

Usually, someone who didn’t have millions of dollars in debt wouldn’t even consider the possibility of selling such a fine item in the Early-game, not to mention that the dagger was the masterpiece of Therkara Ironstone’s afterlife, a weapon forged by her obsession with blacksmithing. But Kaizen had a family to take care of and bills to pay. Besides, it could be a long time before the day came that he could use the dagger due to the level lock.

‘Can I…?’

As he pondered this on his way out of the auction house, a movie of memories of Kaizen’s time with Therkara flashed through his mind.

Finally, he decided it was not yet a time to think about something as desperate as selling his strongest item. Moreover, he felt that he would be unable to forgive himself if he did that.

Kaizen looked at the icon on his interface that indicated that he now had 15 gold and 5 silver coins and decided that the best decision for the future would be to invest this money in himself. He was just starting out in Rise Online, withdrawing all the money he had would be a shot in the foot.

“Well, then it’s time to go shopping. I should also find a place to sell some things, I won’t be able to go hunting tomorrow if I’m on weight debuff.”

That being the case, Kaizen started walking around the mall looking for an armor store. He would also be happy if he could find a warehouse to be able to sell some items before he bought something, so he would have more money.

This time, he was not as proud as he was looking for the auction house. He decided to ask someone about where he could find a place to sell ores and monster drops. The first person he encountered while wandering around was a woman who was closing a store, so he asked her about it.

At first, the woman seemed confused by the question, having thought that this sort of thing was common knowledge, but soon replied:

“Strange, if you want to sell ores, I believe any blacksmith would be happy to see you because ores provided by the Adventurers Association are more expensive. By the way, if you want to sell monster drops to someone, the Adventurers Association is the best option around here. I hope I have helped you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go home. Have a good night.”

“Okay, thanks for the info!” Kaizen thanked the woman and watched her walk away down the street. “No doubt, the NPCs in this game are very helpful… Adventurers’ Association, eh? So, that’s what I’ll be looking for.”

…

Edited by: DrHitsuji

If you want to see original illustrations of Rise Online characters, consider helping me on pa treon: Pa treon.com/NandoFalske

More character images in:

https:///bpqq9u4gS8

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