Chapter 9: Just five hundred million
The next morning.
Erik stood before a building over thirty stories tall, lifting his head to look at the emblem of a silver sword crossed with a blue spirit stone at the top of the building.
This was the Silver Moon Commercial Center, one of the largest shopping districts in the city dedicated to Awakened.
Unlike an ordinary shopping mall, most of the stores here sold items related to combat and cultivation. From weapons, armor, recovery potions, and Energy Crystals to materials brought out from the Trial Space, almost anything could be found.
Tomorrow, Erik and Elowen would enter their first Trial Space.
Although Elowen still persistently believed that he only needed to stay home and wait for her to bring the Awakening Fruit back, Erik had absolutely no intention of accepting that arrangement.
This was his path of cultivation.
He couldn’t let a woman he had only just met enter a dangerous place alone to fight in his place.
Not to mention, the Incubus System along with the Primordial Incubus talent had both already been activated. As long as he cleared the first trial and opened the Heaven Gate, his future would surely be completely different from before.
Suffering a bit right now was fine.
As long as he prepared a few cheap pieces of equipment and managed to survive the early stage, later on he would surely have the chance to trade up for better things.
Erik lowered his head to look at the balance in his personal account.
After the Connection Center refunded the entire pairing fee for Saraya, plus the compensation, the amount of money in his account had finally passed one million credit points.
For an ordinary person, that was already no small sum.
But at a place that specialized in selling equipment for Awakened, one million credit points really wasn’t worth much.
"Let’s go in."
Elowen, standing beside him, said in a soft voice.
Today she wasn’t wearing the cream-white dress from yesterday, but had changed into a light blue long dress that was simple in design yet extremely refined. The waist was cinched neatly, accentuating the full figure along with the gentle aura of a mature Elf woman.
Her long silver hair was tied low behind her back, her pointed ears peeking out from within the soft strands. On her wrist was a slender silver bracelet, without overly showy ornamentation, but on closer inspection one would see it was covered with magic lines so tiny they were nearly impossible to make out.
Erik nodded.
The moment the two of them stepped onto the first floor, he saw countless luxurious stores along with price tags that made the corner of his eye twitch slightly.
A rank F sword hung in the glass case on the left was priced at two hundred and eighty thousand credit points.
A set of leather armor made from Gray Wolf hide cost four hundred and fifty thousand.
Even a low-grade recovery potion required fifty thousand credit points.
Erik silently calculated for a moment.
With his current money, he could buy a rank F sword, a relatively cheap set of armor, along with a few potions.
If he economized a little more and chose used equipment, he could even prepare additional food and survival tools.
"Ordinary equipment on the first floor is enough."
As Erik spoke, he was about to head toward the store on the left.
But his hand was immediately grasped by Elowen.
"Not this way."
"Hm?"
Elowen pulled him toward the magic elevator in the middle of the great hall.
Erik was a little surprised but still followed her.
The two of them stepped into the elevator. Elowen touched her finger to the control panel and selected the twenty-sixth floor.
Erik looked at the glowing number, and a bad premonition immediately rose in his heart.
According to the introduction board outside, floors one through ten were the ordinary equipment zone. Floors eleven through twenty were the high-end zone for Awakened with stable incomes.
And from floor twenty-one and up...
That was the area for VIP customers.
The stores there didn’t sell mass-produced equipment. Most of the items were custom-made, or rare spoils of war brought out from high-level Trial Spaces.
The prices, of course, went without saying.
"Elowen."
"Yes?"
"We only need to buy a few things for the first trial."
"I know."
"Then why go up to the twenty-sixth floor?"
Elowen tilted her head to look at him.
"Because the equipment there is better."
Erik was silent for two seconds, then lowered his voice: "The stuff there is also more expensive."
"It’s fine."
"I’ve already looked at the price tags. Even a slightly good set of armor can go up to several million. Some items are even in the tens of millions."
Elowen nodded gently.
"That’s right."
Erik looked at her calm appearance and felt that the two of them didn’t seem to be talking about the same problem.
"What I mean is there’s no need to buy anything that expensive." He patiently explained: "This is only the first Trial Space. Ordinary equipment is enough to use."
He had died once, and had also lived in poverty in this world for five whole years.
Erik didn’t have the habit of spending money just for show.
Not to mention, he had awakened the Incubus System along with the rank SSS talent. As long as he stayed alive, his future would surely not be lacking in good equipment.
Toughing it out a bit now and using ordinary equipment to clear the first trial was enough.
Elowen looked at him for a while, then said in a soft voice:
"But I don’t want you to suffer."
The sentence was so natural that it made Erik pause slightly.
Elowen continued: "Good equipment can reduce danger. Even if it can only add a little bit of survivability, the money spent isn’t wasted."
"But..."
"Don’t worry."
Elowen gently squeezed the hand holding his.
"I have enough money."
Ding!
The elevator door opened.
Before Erik was a spacious corridor paved with white stone, with only a few stores on either side, but each store was more luxurious than the entire first floor combined.
There were no calls hawking goods.
There was no crowd jostling.
Even the lighting was softer, and in the air there was a faint fragrance that helped relax the spirit.
Elowen led him to the largest store at the end of the corridor.
On the black sign above the door were only two simple silver characters.
Moonlight.
The two women in uniform standing before the door changed their expressions the moment they saw Elowen.
Both bowed deeply at the same time.
"Welcome, Miss Elowen."
The respectful voices rang out almost simultaneously.
Erik’s steps hitched slightly.
Elowen only nodded gently, her expression so calm it was as if she had long grown used to this scene.
Another female staff member inside the store quickly walked over. She had brown hair pinned up neatly behind her head, and on her chest she wore a gold manager’s badge.
When she saw Elowen, she immediately lowered her head.
"Miss, you came today without notice in advance. I’m truly sorry we haven’t prepared to receive you."
"No need to trouble yourself."
Elowen pulled Erik inside.
"I’ve brought my partner to buy equipment."
The moment the three words "my partner" rang out, all the nearby staff unconsciously lifted their heads to look at Erik.
Their gazes were first astonished, then quickly became far more respectful.
The female manager immediately bowed to Erik.
"Welcome, sir."
Erik looked at everyone’s respectful attitude and felt more and more that something was off.
He leaned in close to Elowen and lowered his voice to ask:
"Are you a regular customer here?"
Elowen blinked.
"You could put it that way."
Erik glanced at the staff still standing at attention around them.
An ordinary regular customer wouldn’t be called Miss by all the staff.
But before he could ask further, Elowen had turned to the female manager.
"Bring out the best equipment suited to Erik."
The female manager immediately replied:
"Yes, Miss."
She turned to the two nearby female staff.
"Open reception room number one. Bring the entire catalog of the highest-grade personal equipment."
"Yes."
The two female staff quickly stepped over beside Erik, their attitude so respectful that it left him a bit unaccustomed to it.
"Sir, please follow us."
Erik didn’t immediately move.
He turned to look at Elowen.
"Hold on."
Elowen stopped.
Erik leaned in a bit closer to her again and quietly asked: "Just what is your relationship with this store?"
Elowen calmly answered:
"This commercial center belongs to my family."
Erik’s mouth fell open.
For a few seconds, he even thought he had misheard.
"The entire building?"
"That’s right."
"Thirty-two floors?"
"That’s right."
Erik looked at her gentle face that held no intention of showing off at all, and for a moment didn’t know how to react.
From the time he met Elowen up until now, she had never once presented herself as someone wealthy.
Yesterday she had brought an extremely rare space bracelet, and Erik had assumed it was the most important asset she had saved up over many years to obtain.
Now it seemed he had greatly underestimated her circumstances.
"Your family... is very rich?"
Elowen thought for a moment, seeming to weigh how she should answer.
"My mother is a high-level Elf Healer."
Erik immediately understood part of it.
Elves were already a rare race to begin with, and a healing talent was even harder to find.
A low-level Healer only needed to join a team of Awakened to receive an extremely high level of compensation. A high-level Healer could not only treat ordinary wounds, but could also restore energy meridians, purify toxins from the Otherworld, and even handle injuries caused by skill backlash.
Every time they lent a hand, the treatment fee was a figure an ordinary person couldn’t imagine.
Elowen continued:
"My mother currently owns four commercial centers for Awakened and one private hospital."
She paused slightly, then added:
"That hospital mainly serves high-level Awakened, so the treatment fees are quite expensive."
Erik: "..."
Four commercial centers.
One high-class hospital.
This was no longer "quite rich."
Elowen’s family clearly belonged to a class that he had previously only been able to see on the news.
Erik suddenly recalled what had happened this morning.
Because he didn’t want to spend money calling a magic car, he had led Elowen to squeeze onto a public bus packed full of people.
On the way, she had even been jostled by a few passengers to the point of almost being pressed against him. In the end Erik had to stand behind her, using his body to block the crowd so she could have a little breathing room.
At the time Elowen hadn’t complained at all.
She had even smiled the whole way.
Erik grimaced.
"I’m sorry."
Elowen was slightly stunned.
"Why are you apologizing?"
"Just now I even made you squeeze onto a bus with me."
Elowen looked at the awkward expression on his face, and the corner of her mouth immediately curled up.
She took the initiative to hold Erik’s hand, her soft fingers interlacing with his.
"It’s fine."
"But with your circumstances..."
"I’ve never ridden a bus before."
Erik looked at her.
Elowen smiled, her jade-green eyes gently curving.
"It was a rather interesting experience."
She squeezed his hand slightly.
"What’s more, I got to understand a bit more about your life."
Erik was silent.
She didn’t say that she was enduring it for his sake.
Nor did she make him feel inferior for not having money.
Elowen simply treated squeezing onto a crowded bus as an experience to understand him better.
That feeling made the awkwardness in Erik’s heart quickly dissolve away.
He looked at the hand holding his, then suddenly remembered something else.
"Elowen."
"Yes?"
"That bank card you gave me yesterday..."
Elowen tilted her head.
"Is there some problem with it?"
"Just how much money is inside it?"
Yesterday he had only looked at the card but hadn’t checked the balance.
At the time, the thing that had astonished him most was the space bracelet that was five meters on each side. Afterward Elowen had said that all the assets in the card were being handed over to him, which made him even less willing to use it carelessly.
Now that he knew her family circumstances, Erik felt he needed to ask clearly.
Elowen answered with a completely composed expression:
"Not much."
Erik secretly let out a sigh of relief.
At least she still had a concept of money.
"Specifically how much?"
"Only five hundred million credit points."
Erik: "..."
He felt that he might have misheard yet again.
"How much?"
"Five hundred million."
Elowen repeated, her voice still as gentle as if she were talking about five hundred credit points.
"That’s my personal spending account. Every month I transfer another one hundred million into the card."
She thought for a moment, then earnestly added:
"If you use it all up, just tell me. I’ll transfer more."
Erik looked at Elowen.
Then, he looked at the high-end equipment area before him.
Finally, he lowered his head to look at the cheap shoes he had worn for two whole years.
At this moment, Erik suddenly realized a truth.
He hadn’t just signed a contract with a Rank D Succubus who had ninety-six percent compatibility.
It seemed he had also inadvertently married a great young miss so rich that she had absolutely no concept of money.
Erik: "..."