thenovelthief Chapter 1079: Financial Optimization
Chapter 1079: Financial Optimization
"D-29... these skills..." Luca whispered faintly while clutching at his chest in overwhelming joy.
The way his face practically radiated with a unique ethereal glow—one that could likely only ever be found on the faces of top-tier money-grubbers encountering the concept of discounts—left everyone around him deeply confused about what exactly was happening.
"Host! These were among the primary reasons why I arrived at my earlier conclusion!" D-29 proudly declared at last, finally unveiling the haul it had returned with. The projection flickered dramatically, almost like a mastermind revealing the culmination of some elaborate master plan.
"Just imagine it!" the little system continued passionately. "What if we had continued purchasing items from the Trove before the expenditures started counting toward the skill requirements?! Wouldn’t that have been an incredible waste?!"
Gasp!
The little manager-of-managers sounded alarmingly dramatic and impossibly proud of itself as its Host reacted as expected.
Unfortunately, Luca—the Empire’s ultimate penny-pinching noble—was currently far too overwhelmed by fanatic devotion to notice how horrifying the interaction between himself and D-29 actually looked from an outsider’s perspective.
Meanwhile, everyone else stared at the pair in genuine shock and disbelief.
Because honestly, the two looked moments away from skipping hand-in-hand through a field of flowers while singing about financial optimization.
Finally, one sensible adjutant stepped in to break the increasingly concerning atmosphere.
"Luca..." Kyle called carefully while looking between the glowing cadet and the floating prompts. "What exactly is happening here?"
At that, Luca immediately whipped his head toward Kyle.
His golden eyes flashed with absolute joy.
"Hope," Luca declared emotionally.
"We’ve just been given hope!"
"..."
"..."
__
Well, honestly, what else was the rest of the group expecting?
There were only a very select number of things in existence capable of drawing out this kind of reaction from Luca Kyros.
Sure, the golden-eyed cadet was genuinely easy to please and carried enough gratitude in his heart to appreciate even small acts of kindness.
But a reaction bordering on maniacal bliss?
That level of emotional devastation could usually only be caused by two things.
His husband.
And financial benefits.
Thus, after finally seeing the reason behind Luca’s current condition, the others, somehow, weren’t particularly surprised anymore.
The flustered yet visibly energized dungeon owner finally spoke up while practically glowing with excitement.
"Isn’t it amazing?" Luca asked emotionally. "Just imagine how much CP we’d be able to save in the long run!"
"It’s unfortunate that our earlier spending didn’t count toward the requirements," he continued rapidly, "but even if we only keep purchasing necessities from now on, we’d still benefit tremendously!"
Luca looked genuinely thrilled.
Surprisingly though, two different people asked the exact same question at the same time.
"How much is the maximum discount?"
"..."
Ollie blinked.
Then Marquis Osmond Mylor blinked as well.
Father and son stared at each other in surprise after realizing they had spoken in perfect sync.
But unlike the startled Marquis, Ollie immediately broke into a delighted grin because, apparently, he had instinctively asked the correct question. Truly befitting someone who was now a family man.
Thankfully, the others couldn’t see the odd expression on the blonde’s face as they all focused on Luca’s sudden jolt.
"!!!"
"Ah!"
"Come to think of it, I immediately swiped to the next page without checking!"
The dungeon owner hurriedly navigated back through the prompts.
And then—
He froze once more.
Because staring back at him was the final listed discount percentage.
30%.
"..."
"..."
Safe to say, Luca almost ascended on the spot.
Sure to get there, they would have to suffer through the growing pains outlined here—
[UNLOCK DISCOUNT LEVEL 1: 10% DISCOUNT]
[1 / 5,000,000 CP]
[UNLOCK DISCOUNT LEVEL 2: 15% DISCOUNT]
[1 / 10,000,000 CP]
[UNLOCK DISCOUNT LEVEL 3: 20% DISCOUNT]
[1 / 20,000,000 CP]
[UNLOCK DISCOUNT LEVEL 4: 25% DISCOUNT]
[1 / 30,000,000 CP]
[UNLOCK DISCOUNT LEVEL 5: 30% DISCOUNT]
[1 / 40,000,000 CP]
But in the end, wouldn’t it all be worth it?
At this point, one would think Luca had completely forgotten about the problems tormenting him earlier that morning.
But perhaps the sheer shock of seeing the first fifty million CP had forced him to accept that there were, apparently, even more horrifying decimal places waiting beyond that... So much so that his reactions were very different now.
"Oh my goodness..." Luca whispered faintly. "This is really something else..."
Honestly, the expression on his face had become slightly crazed.
Not murderous-crazed, but definitely something that would be unsettling for those who only knew Luca as the delicate flower boy.
For right now, this was a beautiful man who was most definitely unstoppable.
And said man suddenly remembered something important, abruptly turning to his equally handsome partner.
"Husband!" the golden-eyed cadet called emotionally. "You were right! There really was nothing to worry about!"
Luca looked at Xavier with such pure affection and gratitude that the Imperial Prince genuinely had to bite lightly against his lower lip to maintain composure.
But if his little wife was happy, even if looking rather alarming, then the wolfish and extremely indulgent Prince supposed it was perfectly fine.
However, before everyone could recover from one hell of an emotional rollercoaster, the suddenly energized Luca jolted once more like an overexcited chipmunk that had just stumbled upon hidden treasure.
"Everyone!" Luca exclaimed hurriedly. "There’s actually more because there were three skills listed so far!"
"!!!"
At that, everyone immediately focused again.
Luca quickly pulled up the remaining pages, then enthusiastically presented the other two skills to the group.
And for a moment—
Everyone simply stared silently at the floating prompts as they read through them.
[VENDING:]
[SKILL INFORMATION: Allows the user to sell goods through the Trove for their assessed CP value. Final sale value may be influenced by the Overcharge skill. The maximum number of distinct items that can be sold simultaneously is equal to two plus the current skill level.
All listed items must remain available for sale for 72 hours before they can be removed, replaced, or replenished. Discount-type skills cannot be applied to goods sold through Vending. Final prices are always rounded up and have a minimum value of 0 CP.]
[MAX LEVEL: 10]
[ADDITIONAL SKILL LEVELS ARE UNLOCKED BY EARNING CP THROUGH SALES MADE ON THE TROVE.]
[UNLOCK VENDING LEVEL 1: 3 ITEMS]
[REQUIREMENTS: ACCESS TO BRIDGE PHASE I]
[UNLOCK VENDING LEVEL 2: 4 ITEMS]
[1 / 10,000,000 CP]
The description of the skill [VENDING] was lengthy, identifying what was required to unlock each skill level until the maximum Vending level 10, where one could vend 2+12 items after spending 50 million CP.
However, what was notable was that, unlike the skill [DISCOUNT], which required spending to level up, this one required earning through sales proceeds.
Yes. Sales proceeds.
Imagine that?
And while the amount needed to level seemed daunting, after realizing that there was a way to speed it up, Luca certainly thought it wasn’t so bad. And that was all thanks to this one.
[OVERCHARGE:]
[SKILL INFORMATION: Allows for selling items through the Trove at increased prices. The overcharge rate is based on skill level. Final prices are always rounded up and have a minimum value of 0 CP.]
[MAX LEVEL: 5]
[SKILL LEVELS ARE UNLOCKED BY EARNING CP THROUGH SALES MADE ON THE TROVE.]
[UNLOCK OVERCHARGE LEVEL 1: 10% DISCOUNT]
[1 / 5,000,000 CP]
Similar to the skill [DISCOUNT], the overcharge rate appeared capable of reaching up to 30%, which immediately had Luca clapping in delight.
Unfortunately, while the dungeon owner was busy celebrating the financial implications, the others were far more focused on what the projected descriptions actually implied. There was simply too much packed into those few lines, enough to make several of the Empire’s leaders gradually furrow their brows.
Because beyond the obvious profit potential, the experienced adults in the group couldn’t help but think about the logistics, the possible objectives, and what this kind of system truly implied.
Something this intricate couldn’t possibly be a coincidence, no?
__
Xavier, for one, was wondering who the market for this would be.
See, it was understandable that the Trove would sell things because there was Luca—or more specifically, the dungeon owner—as the consumer within that system...
And if their initial assessment that CP eventually converted into the spiritual energy needed to sustain the dungeon was correct, then allowing Luca to obtain more goods in exchange for more CP would’ve been an entirely logical mechanic.
But... Luca getting paid CP for goods instead?
That was an entirely different matter altogether.
Don’t even get started on the fact that the prices of the items sold would be assessed by the Trove through unspecified metrics, but they could even be removed, replaced, or replenished like some sort of consignment inventory.
Just what use would the Trove have for those goods?
Or was it meant to be resold back to them?
But that didn’t seem efficient for a place seemingly engineered like this dungeon space.
Then again, if the Imperial Prince were being honest, what really captured his attention was the requirement to unlock the level 1 skill of [VENDING].
[REQUIREMENTS: ACCESS TO BRIDGE PHASE I]
It wasn’t asking for CP, but was instead requiring access to that dubious fixture.
The Prince took a deep breath as he thought about this, but in truth, he wasn’t the only one who noticed something unusual. After all, even Marquis Mylor noticed a particularly interesting word that merchants like him would look for.
And that was the word "through."
Not "to," but "through" the Trove.
Which then raised one very troubling question: who exactly were they selling to?