Earning a place on the Golden Exchange List was indeed a marvelous turn of events. Usually, only the most well established factions with years of experience earned the right to be placed on such a list.
The Golden Exchange List wasn't just a small honor, it also came with many tangible benefits.
For one, the taxes they would have to pay was lessened by more than half. Whereas 65% of their profits would have had to be handed over previously, now they would only have to give up 30%. Though this was still higher than the 20% stores had to give up, they had one added benefit the stores didn't have.
All items on the Golden Exchange List were products Valiant Heart Mountain had recognized personally. As a result, aside from orders from the students, their faction would also receive bulk orders from the organization as well.
These bulk orders were where the true money was waiting to be made. It was still unknown if a product would become popular amongst students even if it made the Golden Exchange List. But, these bulk orders would guarantee a large sum of merit points to be paid in advance.
This influx of merit points would allow a faction the breathing room it needed to experiment with other creations and also gather enough resources to fulfill their orders. Even if Valiant Heart Mountain only ordered once, it was enough to give a faction a great kickstart as long as they took advantage of it.
For them to gain such an honor while presenting their first products… How could Kaela not be excited?!
The young faction leader couldn't help but beam, her smile spreading from ear to ear.
Jac took the samples to be tested and they would learn of the results in just a few hours. She couldn't help but be ecstatic.
Unfortunately, for some reason, Leonel couldn't find it within himself to be happy.
'If something is going to go wrong, now would be the time…'
Their samples had been taken away to be tested by the old timers. If nothing went wrong, maybe Leonel would really have to admit that he was just being paranoid.
But, what happened next left him stunned.
Barely half an hour later, Elder Beinala came back with a smiling face and officially announced the matters.
The team could no longer hold back their excitement. Even Thilly who was always expressionless had his lip curl ever so slightly. In fact, Radlis, who had been running around getting them refreshments also beamed.
Though, whether he was smiling because he was happy about their success, or the bounciness of Kaela's chest as she celebrated… Well, maybe only he knew the answer to that.
Jac chuckled. "Don't celebrate too early, this is where the real challenge begins. The organization has ordered 500 Polished Grenades and Elite Polished Grenades. On top of that, we also want 100 of each type of Mending Armor. Can you do it?"
Kaela's eyes brightened. "Of course, of course!"
Though she didn't say this, in the past month, they had already made more than ten times this number. Handing over such an amount was child's play, mostly due to Leonel. She could only say that that young man was a monster.
She remembered the first time she watched Leonel Craft 20 Elite Polished Grenades at once. She had only recently been able to pick her jaw up from the floor.
Plus, the organization never set deadlines for their bulk orders. Even if they took half a year, it wouldn't be a problem. This could only be considered to be a medium sized order.
"Good, good. Your merits will be transferred over immediately. You've done well, I hope to see more in the future."
With those final words, Beinala and his wives left to Valiant Hall. And, true to their words, someone soon came to take the massive crates Rum had been holding away.
Kaela almost squealed with delight when she saw the merit points flood her identification ring. She felt as though she was floating on a cloud.
"Leonel." She turned toward the man with a hint of moistness in her eyes.
Leonel hid his worry and smiled back. "Don't look at me that way or else your fan club would think I did you wrong."
Kaela sputtered with laughter. "What fan club, stop teasing me. Here."
Kaela touched her ring to Leonel's, causing over 80% of the merit points to flood over.
"I don't know why you insisted on handing over all the credit to our Faction, but as promised, here are your merits."
Leonel blinked. "This… Seems to be more than we agreed upon, no?"
They had made 15 750 merit points after their bulk sale, but Kaela had given Leonel more than 12 000 in one sweep when they had only agreed to a 40/60 split with Leonel receiving 40.
This wasn't only because Leonel was kind hearted, but rather because he was providing none of the materials. Plus, there was just one of him and six other members excluding Radlis and including Kaela. He thought that taking 40% was already asking for a lot.
However, he had no choice but to ask for this. As soft as he was, he couldn't forget the reason he came here in the first place… And that was for the sake of Aina. Not just for her sake, but specifically to cure her curse.
Without resources, he couldn't do this. And, the best resource to have in this place were merits.
Kaela smiled. "Consider it a down payment for the future. I can tell that you probably won't be here for long, but I hope that during the time you are here, that you'll stay with us."
Leonel raised his brows before grinning.
"That, you don't have to worry about. Who would want a castaway like me anyway?"
The team looked toward one another and burst into a fit of laughter.
"Let's go celebrate!" Kaela happily shouted. "Dinner's on the newly minted rich tycoon!"
Leonel coughed. It seemed that Kaela hadn't reformed from her money grubber ways just yet despite her generosity.
However, he didn't fight it. He might as well…
Just as Leonel was about to accept, his eyes flashed. He pulled out a talisman from his spatial ring, a happy light shining in his eye.
Aina had contacted him.