"Big transactions?"
"Yeah," Serena nodded. "The big companies and the major Beastfolk groups had been visiting me these past few days, exchanging their Sand Dollars for Soo drops. Either they’re stocking up, or they’re preparing for something big to happen."
Michael nodded. Only one event came to mind.
The Lunar Celebrations.
As far as he knew, that was the only major event happening in New Sparta. It didn’t just involve the Werewolves, but also most of the human factions intending to put their mark into the general zeitgeist of this new amalgamation of culture.
According to Chief Lupan, there were some deals and alliances being made to this very day, which definitely necessitated some big transactions.
"Hopefully we can catch up," Michael chuckled.
"Don’t worry. Once I get my brothers and sisters on board with the rollercoasters, Sand Dollars will be raining down on our nation that you won’t even know what to do with!"
Serena chuckled to herself, not even realizing that she said ’our’ instead of ’your’.
She had fully accepted herself as a Rebornian at this point, which Michael was very much on board with.
"Oh, but is this going to be okay?" Michael asked, gesturing to the vortex.
"What do you mean?"
"It’s kinda... small, don’t you think?"
’Small?’
Serena looked back at the vortex spinning magically in the water. The hole was about the size of a palm, which was enough to take in about 5,000 Sand Dollars per second—
"No, wait, why does that even matter?!"
Nobody ever complained about the vortex because at the end of the day, as long as it did its job, it didn’t matter if it took a few seconds, to a few minutes.
But Michael seemed too concerned about it.
"Fine, fine." Michael raised his hands in surrender. "I just didn’t want to waste your time since you look busy."
Then, the shadow underneath his feet suddenly expanded into a giant tenebrous circle in front of him, a wooden chest emerging out of it a second later.
And before Serena could even ask the question that seemed to be lingering in her mouth, Michael opened the chest and revealed the shiny mound of Sand Dollars inside. About 1.3 million to be exact.
"Ah...."
Serena was choked. "That’s... that’s... that’s more than a million Sand Dollars!!!"
When she was talking about big transactions a few seconds ago, she was talking about transactions in the hundreds of thousands, at most at a million Sand Dollars at a time. And those were the big names in New Sparta!
And now, Michael seemed to be part of the prestigious league of rich clientele!
Serena never would have thought that that was even possible! Where did he get that kind of money?!
"I’m still saving up the half for later," Michael added nonchalantly.
At this point, Serena didn’t even know why she was surprised. This could only happen to one person, and that was Michael.
"Just... just throw the money in the water. I’ll take care of it," Serena sighed.
Michael did as she said, using magic to create a cascading waterfall effect as he dumped the chest towards the vortex. It greedily swallowed all the Sand Dollars, growing even bigger to accommodate the increased rate.
Still, it took about a minute before every Sand Dollar was consumed, and another minute after that before the vials started shooting out of the vortex like an ATM.
At this point, exactly 130 vials floated around Michael, each one containing a drop of Soo.
It was an amazing sight to see, especially after the drought that he had all these times.
A giant magic circle appeared under these levitating vials before an invisible force uncapped them from the corks.
Then, the clear, viscous drop of liquid inside floated out of the vials, and arced towards his palm.
Soon, these Soo drops joined to form a bigger drop, which funnily enough, was the same size as the water ball he had manifested when he was first reincarnated into this world.
Then, his Drone came out of nowhere and ran through the drop at extremely high speeds!
However, the drops didn’t dissipate into a mist after that collision. Instead, it wrapped around the Drone as if it was a slime trying to digest the metal creature.
That only lasted for a short while before the Drone’s surface began absorbing the drops, before eventually, the Drone turned as dry as a desert.
Michael excitedly looked at the [Drone shop]
[Mithril Artifact: Drone]
[Spirit of Old: 130 drops]
[Vision]
—Camera
——Drone Vision ><
——Shared Vision ><
——Maugnetic Vision = 3
——Beastfolk Vision = ><
——????
[Weapon]
—Unity Firearms
——Unity Gun ><
——Unity Gun Mk. 2 = ><
——Unity Grenade ><
——Unity Grenade = 2
——????
—Aubility
——Switch inventory = 1
——Mini Drone inventory = 2
——????
[Propeller]
—Stealth
——Muffled Propeller ><
——????
—Speed
——Double blades = 1
——????
[Frame]
—Stealth
——Camouflage = 1
——Invisibility ><
——Phase-Through = ><
——????
—Defense
——Unity Shield = 1
——????
[Expansion]
—Drones
——Mini drone ><
——Drone Hive = ><
————Mini Drone = 1
—Morph
——Reduce = ><
——Enlarge = 1
——Shape-Shift = 2
[Pocket Dimension]
—Subspace ><
—Isolated Room = ><
——Expansion = 1+
—New Rooms = 5+
—?????
[Allies]
—Fudge
——Mini Drone Link ><
——Weapon = ><
——Inhabitation = 5
——Aubility = 5
—Sheina
——Mini Drone Link = ><
——Weapon = ><
——Inhabitation = 5
——Aubility = 5
—Jaku
——Mini Drone Link = 1
——Weapon = 1
——Inhabitation = 5
——Aubility = 5
—Umisu
——Mini Drone Link = 1
——Weapon = 1
——Inhabitation = 5
——Aubility = 5
For the first time in his life, Michael wasn’t overwhelmed with difficult choices. He didn’t have to pick between having his Drone be stealthy, or have more firepower. For the first time, he could choose both. He could pick anything he wanted and he’d still have almost a hundred drops left over!
It was a refreshing feeling, one that he would cherish to have forever.
But of course, if he wanted this feeling to last, then he had to earn a lot more Sand Dollars in the future. He shouldn’t be satisfied.
His eyes then hovered over to the [Pocket Dimension] option.
Now, there was an option for him to either buy an expansion for his current one, or to buy another [Isolated Room] entirely.
But what’s the ’+’ on the cost?
[This means that the cost of the upgrade will increase the more you purchase this option.]
Michael tilted his head. So, if I buy the second [Isolated Room] for 5 drops, the third one would cost even more?
[Yes.]
Michael squinted his eyes. "You’re not scamming me are you? Did you increase the prices just because you know I have a lot of money?"
[Negative. The prices for these options are not arbitrarily set by me. The costs come from how much drops are needed to complete the upgrade.]
Michael looked askance. Hmmm... uhuh. Yeah. sure.
Either way, it was still a worthy enough upgrade.
After all, if he could grow another Darkwood in this [Isolated Room], then that was another 200,000 Sand Dollars per month! That was 20 drops. So, it was more than worth it to spend 5 drops on getting another room.
Wait a minute, ChatJK5. How big is the expansion upgrade for the [Isolated Room]? Will it be able to fit another Darkwood?
[You would need to buy three consecutive expansions in order to get enough room for a second Darkwood.]
And how much would that cost in total?
[5 drops.]
Michael shook his head. Now he was sure that ChatJK5 was cheating him!