(Twin Fang Planet, Just Outside The Venom Lily Bistro, Following The Team Meeting)
After accepting Leo's demand to supply the team with medium-grade stones, Raiden informed everyone that they would be departing for the expedition in exactly three days' time.
Before they departed, each team member also had to visit the Black Serpents Guild headquarters and sign an official contract that would confirm and bind them to all the terms they had discussed in today's meeting.
Everything from the loot splits, mission conditions, survival clauses, and resource sponsorship was going to be mentioned in the contract, leaving no room for ambiguity, so that everyone knew exactly what they were getting themselves into once the expedition began.
It was a formality, but one that ensured everyone stayed aligned once they entered the time-stilled world, as it was the most efficient way to minimize confusion, and future disputes before they even arose.
Leo didn't object. In fact, he barely nodded at all when Raiden explained the technicalities, as his mind already began drifting elsewhere.
Because even as the group stood, scattered, and drifted out of the Venom Lily Bistro with casual goodbyes and murmured parting jokes, Leo had much darker thoughts clouding his mind.
He knew very well that his alliance with this team was doomed to fail from the start.
After all, unlike the team, he wasn't participating in this expedition for the money, and was more interested in the opportunity to enter the vault.
And for that, it was inevitable that, toward the end of the expedition, he would have to betray and kill them all, ensuring he was the sole survivor and final decision-maker when the time came to claim the rewards.
As he simply had no use for a billion MP and would rather just take the chance to enter the vault, so that he could steal the scroll and quickly become the next Dragon.
'I'll separate from them early if they start losing their minds… or I'll kill the survivors at the end and take everything for myself,' Leo thought, already certain that he wasn't going to walk out of the Time-Stilled World with the same people he entered with.
Aside from Bob and Raiden, he felt confident in his ability to dispatch the others without much trouble. And as for those two— he intended to kill them too, if the world itself didn't do the job first.
Hence, while the others shared goodbyes, he simply slipped away without fanfare, making his way towards the Twin-Fang cities central commercial ring, where the best merchant shops were located.
His goal was simple, as he wanted to secure every resource necessary to survive alone inside the Time-Stilled World.
As although Raiden had promised to supply the essentials, Leo had no intention of relying on anyone but himself.
If the time came to double-cross the team early, he wanted to be fully equipped to walk the rest of the path alone and live to claim the reward and hence he made his preparations with that grim future already in mind.
—--
(Twin Fang Planet, Central Commercial Ring, Merchant Sector)
Leo chose to visit the Orange Panthers merchant store to make his purchase, as it had the reputation to sell the best quality products, although slightly overpriced compared to the rest of the market.
The store interior was clean and the shopping atmosphere was silent, as apart from him there was only one other customer currently browsing items.
The soft scent of tonic herbs lingered in the air, and a group of respectful staff members bowed at him as he entered.
Before him stood rows upon rows of shelves stood neatly aligned, each displaying a different category of item— healing salves, bone binders, mana infusions, detox syrups, compressed rations, portable filters, enchanted bandages, elemental fire suppressants, and dozens of other adventurer-grade supplies.
Leo took one glance across the organized layout, noting how each row was divided not just by type but by grade, as there seemed to be a clear transition from the cheap stuff near the door to the premium wares locked behind a single mana barrier at the far end of the hall.
"Sir, how can I assist you today? Are you shopping for a particular expedition or—" A staff member politely asked, approaching him with a smile, however, Leo cut him off rather coldly.
"I'm okay," he replied without glancing at the staff. "Just looking around."
The assistant hesitated, then bowed slightly and stepped away as Leo turned his attention back to the shelves.
A basic healing potion, sealed in a small, pale blue in vial was priced at just 30 MP.
But just a row over, the intermediate version gleamed a brighter shade of blue, and was sealed in a taller glass bottle that was marked at 3,000.
Whereas finally, at the far end, under protective casing, stood three bottles of high-grade healing potions, a pure sky blue in hue, but each bottle priced at 30,000 MP.
'So the price rises exponentially with grade…' Leo realized, as he sighed and picked up all three, before also picking up 5 bottles of intermediate grade healing potions and placing them in his shopping cart.
Next, his eyes shifted next to the bone regeneration segment. The cheap ones were barely more than flavored sugar water, but the highest-grade vial, sealed with two bands and a spell-locked cork, looked promising, as he picked up one.
Two high grade stamina potions joined the pile next. Then a dozen mana regeneration potions, a series of ointments and burn treatments, a small box of bandage kits, and three vials labeled "Hemoclot" that were marketed to halt bleeding instantly through mana-pulsed application.
Then he made his way down the center aisle and reached the mana stone counter.
Most shelves were filled with low-grade, misty stones, faintly pulsing. But near the top shelf, protected beneath a silent alarm seal, sat two high-grade mana stones. They were crystal clear with a deep swirling core, priced at 50,000 MP each.
He took both.
The weight of his selections was evident as when he eventually approached the billing counter, the shopkeeper behind it looked up, bored at first, then froze as he began scanning the items one by one.
Potion after potion, stone after stone, the register tally rose higher and higher until it finally halted at 503,600 MP.
The man's fingers visibly trembled.
"S-sir," he stammered, adjusting his spectacles. "Would you prefer a private lounge while we process this? We usually don't have transactions of this scale outside of bulk orders…"
"No need," Leo replied coolly as he pulled out a cashier's cheque and slid it across the counter.
The shopkeeper examined it with both his eyes and a mana-verification crystal, and the moment it cleared, his entire demeanor changed.
"Thank you very much for your patronage, Mr. Skyshard. If there's anything else we can assist you with today—"
Leo raised a hand, then paused for a moment before speaking again.
"Do you deal in poison formulas?"
The shopkeeper blinked, then nodded quickly.
"We do. Though such matters are processed through the Poisoner's Union. Typically, we pay a signing fee based on the formula's grade, effectiveness, and ease of replication. If it's approved for market use, you receive ten percent royalty on all future sales. Do you have something you wish to submit for assessment?" He asked, as Leo pulled a folded sheet of parchment from his inner pocket and placed it on the counter, neatly pressing it down.
"Check this out. Let me know how much I'll be paid for the patent," he said as the man took the paper carefully, as if it were made of fragile glass, and slid it into a rune-inscribed case, nodding with a touch of awe.
"Of course. Please return in two days. Our alchemists will evaluate it thoroughly."
Leo gave a faint nod, turned on his heel, and stepped back out into the street without another word.
He had been spending heavily, and while his reserves could handle it for now, monetizing the poison formula could just secure him a fallback stream for the future.
It was for this reason that he decided to hand over the poison formula he received from Severus at Rodova, hoping that it would generate a passive stream of income.
'Two days? Let's see how much I can make from this formula…. As depending on how much I get, I may shop some more' He thought, as he moved to the next shop to buy some food and general resources.