The nervous people were the ones who had little to no progress during the entire day of cultivation. They already knew that they were lagging behind, so it didn’t take much mental power to come to the conclusion that they were likely to die in a month’s time.
Muni knew what they were thinking about, so he said, "I know some of you have poor talent and didn’t do well. To you people, I say, don’t give up because all hope is not lost."
"As I said earlier, hard work can make up for lacking talent. In order to give you the opportunity to make good use of your diligence, I will grant you access to the market today and open the hunting grounds after you guys have acquired Metacs and can use them with some proficiency."
"You can use the market and the hunting grounds to earn energy stones that you can use to supplement your lacking talent. That way, you won’t lose out to your more talented peers."
Everyone became excited when they heard that they could earn money to speed up their cultivation. Loki was also excited to explore, gain more resources, and acquire more information.
But some people in the group, like Slav, sneered at their poor mates and looked down on them for being excited at the prospect of earning money. They thought that working to earn money was a waste of time when they could be spending that time cultivating.
Of course, people like Slav had money. They had more money than they needed, so they didn’t consider earning more money to be important.
That’s why Slav thought inwardly to himself with smugness and pride, "If you need to work to earn money, then you’ve already lost."
It was one thing for Slav to look down on them, but Muni himself wasn’t optimistic about them. He looked at the excited people and shook his head inwardly while thinking to himself, "These are the ones who will be eaten alive."
But he didn’t voice his thoughts. He continued to instruct them as he said, "It is currently 4 pm. You have till 8 pm to return to your lodgings. If you do not return to your lodgings on time, you will be punished with a fine. I don’t think it is possible, but if you manage to escape, you will be captured and fed to beasts."
After warning them, he led them out of the class to the market. On the way there, he told them more rules to follow, such as how the market still counted as sect grounds, so no fighting or killing was allowed.
He also said that stealing wasn’t allowed. Loki listened to the so-called rules with one ear and let them leave his mind through the other ear without allowing them to take root.
Instead of taking the rules seriously, his mind was focused on coming up with various ways to break them to his advantage.
According to Loki’s observation, the lodgings and accommodations of the initiates were in a circle of land attached to a larger circle called the trainee area. The market and the hunting grounds are also circles of land attached to the training area.
The training area is where they had their class earlier. As for the place where they awakened, that is in an enclosure beyond the training area. So the training area is a circle of land attached to the awakening area, while the lodging, market, and hunting grounds are attached to the training area.
He calls them circles of land because they seemed to be enclosed by an invisible barrier. So they are enclosures, but they are not necessarily circular pieces of land.
They could be in the shape of a square. He couldn’t be sure because he had not been able to explore every corner yet. But one thing he was sure of was that every enclosure was separated from the next by a gate, and one would need authorization to pass through the gates.
Muni took them through the gates to the market and left them there. As soon as he left, many people swarmed the group of initiates.
These people varied in size, age, sex, and appearance. But one thing they all had in common was that they were all offering a way for the initiates to earn money.
Some of them were offering job opportunities such as mining, blacksmith apprenticeship, tanning skin, corpse treatment, and many more. Some were even offering to buy the blood of the initiates.
But the most popular offer was the offer for loans. There were many people offering loans to the initiates. The terms they offered for the loans varied, but every offer that Loki saw made his eyes pop in shock.
After getting over bus shock, he smiled and said to himself, "These people are greedy. I like it."
The maximum amount that could be loaned varied from person to person. At the highest side, the amount that could be borrowed was 100 energy stones. But it had an interest rate of 3% per month or 36% per year.
As if this wasn’t bad enough, there were offers to loan as small as 10 energy stones with an interest rate of 10% per month or 120% per year.
No matter how high or low the interest rate, all of them wanted the blood, flesh, skin, bones, and souls of the initiates as collateral. That way, if they default on a loan, the lenders will be free to take the value of the loan from their bodies.
To top it off, one cannot repay the loan until after one month of borrowing. That means, they can only repay the principal together with the first month of interest.
After that, it was stated that if one couldn’t repay the loan after one year, the principal would be doubled. This would continue for every year until the monthly interest can no longer be paid. Then the debtor will be disassembled into various parts and organs, and sold off.