Chapter 409: The results of opening once again Only two units of Luxury Smoothie were sold during this initial wave. Duke Ashford purchased one for himself after long deliberation, recognising that the hundred percent attribute boost for an hour plus the permanent thirty-point increases to strength and agility would be invaluable for emergency situations. The small chance of awakening a dormant skill or levelling up a skill was also incredibly alluring to him. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎 Marquess Ravenswood purchased the second unit for her daughter, viewing it as an investment in the next generation’s potential. "If she’s fortunate enough to awaken a dormant skill, it could define her entire future," she reasoned. The other nobles examined the Luxury Smoothie with obvious desire, but ultimately couldn’t justify the enormous expense for a single consumable, no matter how powerful. As the transaction period wound down and nobles prepared to depart, many expressed frustration at having depleted their immediately available funds before purchasing everything they wanted. "I brought twenty thousand golden coins, thinking it would be more than sufficient," Duke Ashford admitted with rueful amusement. "But I could easily spend double that if I had access to more liquid capital." Countess Blackwood nodded agreement. "I wanted to purchase Luxury Smoothies for my entire family, but at five thousand each, I simply don’t have enough available funds without liquidating some assets first." Several nobles began discussing plans to return home, sell various items from their collections, liquidate property holdings, or access family vaults to acquire more purchasing power. "I’ll be back tomorrow with additional funds," Viscount Thornheart promised. "I have several masterwork weapons I can sell to other collectors." Noah immediately saw an opportunity and stopped them before they could leave. "Wait—we don’t necessarily need to deal exclusively in golden coins. If you have items of good value to me, we can reach an exchange agreement instead. It doesn’t even need to be of perfectly equal value. I’m willing to be flexible on pricing if the items interest me." Hearing that, the nobles’ expressions transformed from disappointment to excitement. Many of them possessed valuable artifacts, rare materials, magical components, and other treasures that they would gladly trade rather than going through the lengthy process of converting them to liquid currency. "What kinds of items would interest you, Baron Carter?" Duke Ashford asked eagerly, his mind already cataloging his family’s extensive collections. Noah considered carefully. "Rare magical materials, exotic beast evolution components from powerful creatures, ancient texts or knowledge that might be valuable, high-quality weapons or armor, enchanted artifacts—basically anything that has intrinsic value or utility. I’m open to evaluating whatever you might offer." Marquess Ravenswood’s eyes lit up. "I have a collection of master-rank beast cores from creatures my family has hunted over generations. They’ve been sitting in our vault because we lacked proper craftsmen to utilize them effectively. Would those interest you?" Noah pondered for a moment before shaking his head. "Not quite what i’m looking for. If you want to trade in beast cores, you would have to bring me the equivalent of the item’s price." Ravenwood’s eyes lit up. "That’s not a problem," Cores were sort of hard to sell. If Noah accepted them as payments, then they would have much, much more capital to use for buying more powerful consumables. Viscount Thornheart added, "I possess several rare alchemical herbs from my family’s private gardens—some of them are centuries old and supposedly have miraculous properties, though we’ve never had alchemists skilled enough to process them properly." "Those would definitely interest me," Noah said with genuine enthusiasm. Countess Blackwood smiled. "I have an extensive collection of ancient texts my grandfather acquired from a fallen noble house. Magical grimoires and technique manuals. Most are gathering dust because our family specialises in martial arts rather than complex magic." "Knowledge is always valuable," Noah replied. "I’d be happy to evaluate those texts." The nobles began eagerly discussing what they could bring for trade, their earlier frustration completely replaced by excitement at this new opportunity. The barter system opened up possibilities that pure currency transactions couldn’t match, allowing them to access Noah’s miraculous items using wealth that existed in forms other than gold coins. "I’ll return later this afternoon with my family’s beast core collection," Marquess Ravenswood promised. "We can negotiate values then." "I’ll bring a selection of our rarest herbs and magical plants," Viscount Thornheart added. Duke Ashford nodded decisively. "I’ll have my steward compile a list of artefacts and treasures we’d be willing to trade. Suddenly, I can afford far more than my liquid capital would have allowed." As the major nobles departed, each making plans to return with valuable items for barter, Noah felt satisfied with how the day’s business had unfolded. He had sold his remaining tier 1 inventory for 13,000 golden coins total ($1,300,000). His tier 2 premium items had generated an additional 56,000 golden coins ($5,600,000) from the sales of Rose Candy, Herb Tea, Instant Coffee, and Luxury Smoothies. Total revenue for this single business day: 99,000 golden coins, equivalent to $9,900,000. And later today would bring even more business through the barter system, plus the implementation of his partnership with King Aldric and the instalment payment plans. The shop was becoming exactly what Noah had envisioned—a destination that attracted wealth and power from across the kingdom, providing him with both financial resources and political influence that would prove essential for the conflicts ahead. His automaker’s progress was looking good. Tier 2 Premium Items: — [Auto-InstantCoffee: Level: 1 | 0.5/ Hr | Max Stock: 12 | 56/100 EXP] - 3 Remining — [Auto-HerbTea: Level: 1 | 0.5/ Hr | Max Stock: 12 | 56/100 EXP] - 3 Remaining — [Auto-RoseCandy: Level: 1 | 0.5/ Hr | Max Stock: 12 | 27/100 EXP] - SOLD OUT — [Auto-LuxurySmoothie: Level: 1 | 0.5/ Hr | Max Stock: 12 | 6/100 EXP] - 9 Remaining — Host: Noah Carter Age: 28 Shop Level: 2 Daily Revenue: $2,153,000 (or equivalent) Current Assets: $37,463,040 Shop Points: 33,490 Attributes: Strength: 1080, Vitality: 1680, Intelligence: 1080, Agility: 1080 Skills: [Level 20:] Mana Control, Aura, Wind Manipulation, Body Tempering, Swordsmanship, Fire Manipulation [Level 5:] Photographic Memory, [Level 4:] Programming, Finance [Level 3:] Surviving on Ramen, Cooking, Gaming —