The next morning.
The morning sun draped a thin golden veil over the small wooden cabin, and the chirping of birds was light and cheerful.
"HYAH, HYAH..."
In the overgrown yard, Furen had cleared a small corner and was now meticulously swinging his sword.
He gripped the hilt with both hands. His movements weren’t fast, nor were they flashy or clever—just the most basic sequence of slash, parry, turn, and slash again, repeated over and over.
Before this, he had already run a full three miles around the cabin, plus one hundred push-ups and two hundred squat jumps.
Although the training intensity wasn’t particularly high, he had persisted day after day for several years, never stopping for wind or rain.
Ten Lu Weis probably couldn’t match that kind of willpower.
"Haaaah..."
About ten minutes later, his morning training for the day was over.
Furen came to a stop, sheathed his longsword, and wiped the sweat from his chin.
Looking back at the cabin behind him, he scratched his head, hesitating on whether to wake Lu Wei.
From an etiquette standpoint, it was extremely rude for a guest to wake his host without permission.
The problem was, Furen was really hungry right now.
And he had no money for breakfast...
At this thought, he couldn’t help but clench his fist and say angrily,
"Damn that thief!"
"When I catch him, I’ll make him pay!"
...
...
Meanwhile, as a hungry Furen was cursing, Lu Wei was still fast asleep in bed.
In his previous life, as a corporate drone with a three-hour commute, he had always maintained the "good habit" of waking up early.
After transmigrating, this habit had only intensified.
After all, there was no internet, no computers, and no phones here. The nightlife was utterly barren.
Aside from passing the time at taverns and brothels, there were no other activities.
But Lu Wei had no money, so his only option was to go to bed early every day and wake up naturally the next morning.
The reason he’d overslept today was that he had practiced "Stealth" until the wee hours of the morning and was completely exhausted.
’Looks like I’ll have to be more careful from now on.’
’That cultivation method from the xianxia novels of my past life—cultivating until you’re completely drained—doesn’t work here. In fact, it’s really harmful to the body.’
’I don’t think I was ever this tired, not even back when I pulled three all-nighters for a raid launch.’
Groggily opening his eyes to the sound of Furen’s calls, Lu Wei sat up. He recalled the feeling from last night and couldn’t help but feel a lingering sense of fear.
Many people assume that "Magic Power" is the "True Qi" of this Fantasy World—a type of energy that a Caster possesses intrinsically.
But that’s not actually the case.
In reality, most Casters in this world don’t possess Magic Power. Instead, through study and training, they learn to perceive, touch, and shape the Magic Net—
an invisible, multidimensional, and omnipresent web of magical energy woven and maintained by Mistral, the Magic Goddess.
This, in turn, creates specific Magic Effects.
Depending on the difficulty of the spell, this process consumes a certain amount of the Caster’s Spiritual Power.
Perhaps because the term "Spiritual Power" overlaps a bit with "Divine Power," the source of a Priest’s abilities, or maybe because it just doesn’t sound direct enough, most people are still in the habit of calling it "Magic Power."
Yes, it’s a bit complicated.
If you can’t be bothered to think about it, you can just think of it as the "Mana Bar" from a video game.
In any case, with his Intelligence Attribute boosted to a high 13 points by the Soul Pendant he wore, Lu Wei’s Magic Power Value was around 25.
Based on the Stealth Skill’s consumption rate of "one point every ten minutes," he could remain in Stealth for four hours straight.
After that, he would exhaust his energy and fall into a muddled, dazed state.
That’s what happened to Lu Wei last night; it was as if his brain had been forced to shut down.
And to recover, aside from taking potions, sleep was absolutely the best method for an Ordinary person.
’I feel like I could sleep for another ten hours.’
’But I have so much to do today. Sigh.’
Sighing, Lu Wei reluctantly got dressed and out of bed, only then noticing that Furen’s shirt was soaked through.
"What happened to you? Is it raining outside?"
"Ah, no, I was just training."
"Right. Grab your things. We’ll go get supplies first, and on the way, we’ll ask Clara if she’s heard anything about the thief’s whereabouts. Then we’re heading into the forest."
"Uh... aren’t we eating breakfast?"
"We could, but there’s no need."
Turning back to look at the bewildered Furen, Lu Wei said with a perfectly straight face,
"Wilderness Survival, Lesson Two: learn to endure hunger."
...
...
"Good morning, Mr. Yor!"
Half an hour later, Lu Wei and Furen walked into Old Yor’s general store.
The latter was arranging goods on a shelf and couldn’t help but frown when he saw them enter.
"Good morning. But I don’t have any trash for you to throw out today."
"No, no, you’ve misunderstood. I’m here to pay for the goods."
Under Old Yor’s astonished gaze, Lu Wei took the single Silver Coin he had from his coin pouch.
"I calculated it. The goods you sold me on credit the day before yesterday were worth about 95 Copper Coins. Is that right?"
"If it’s not enough, I can give you more."
"..."
’This kid... he’s actually so upright!’
His mouth fell slightly agape. Staring at the Silver Coin on the counter, Old Yor was thoroughly shocked.
The day before, he had only helped Lu Wei out because he felt sorry for him, and also to curry a bit of favor with the gods.
He never expected Lu Wei to actually pay him back.
’Not bad at all!’
’Given time, this kid will definitely become a merchant who, though perhaps destitute, will surely be respected!’
’Just like his father!’
"That’s right, 95 Copper Coins."
After a moment’s pause, Old Yor silently took the Silver Coin and counted out five Copper Coins to hand back to Lu Wei.
He knew Lu Wei was still struggling financially, but he didn’t say anything like, "You don’t need to pay me back."
Keeping business as business and personal matters separate—that was the greatest respect one could show a true merchant.
Gazing at Lu Wei with a pleased and benevolent expression, Old Yor nodded slightly, feeling deeply that he had made the right decision two days ago.
However, in the very next second, Lu Wei smiled and continued,
"Mr. Yor, I also need to buy some new goods on credit."
"About two silver coins’ worth should be enough. It would be best to include more medicine."
"Just like this time, I’ll come back to pay for them in a few days."
"..."
Old Yor: ?
...
...
Ten-odd minutes later.
After concluding that Lu Wei probably wasn’t "casting a long line to catch a big fish," Old Yor still packed him a full bag of goods.
"A total of 2 Silver Coins and 13 Copper Coins."
Glaring at Lu Wei, he grumbled, "This is the last time. I’ll never sell you goods on credit again."
"No problem. I think I’ll have enough savings by next time."
Lu Wei nodded, cheerfully stuffing the goods into Furen’s backpack before asking humbly,
"Oh, right, Mr. Yor, I have some business matters I’d like to ask your advice on."
"Spit it out!"
"Okay, okay, it’s like this..."
No matter what you’re doing, it never hurts to ask for advice from others.
Especially from an experienced old merchant like Old Yor.
So, Lu Wei quickly explained his idea of "setting up a stall inside the forest" and his motivations for doing so, hoping Old Yor would offer some advice.
He had thought such a brilliant business idea would surely leave Old Yor stunned.
But who would have thought that after hearing it, the old man would look completely unfazed, as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.
It was as if he didn’t think it was a big deal at all.
"Mr. Yor, don’t you think my idea is very creative...?"
"Creative?"
Old Yor shot him a sidelong glance and said dismissively, "You think you’re the only one who could come up with that? Countless freelance merchants were doing it long before you."
Lu Wei was taken aback. "Huh? Then why aren’t there any in Gelan Forest?"
"Because the profits are too low, of course."
Old Yor explained with some impatience, "Gelan Forest is the lowest-level Adventurer’s Land. A lot of people go in and out every day, but almost all of them are broke newbies."
"Because of that, there’s not much profit in either buying back equipment or selling medicine—three or four times the cost, at most."
"But the Middle to High Level Adventurer’s Lands are a completely different story."
"More than half of the people who venture there are Professionals, or seasoned veterans with one or two Combat Skills under their belt."
"Not only do these people have money, but they’re also exceptionally cautious. They understand that their lives are more important than money. They’re not like the many newbies who try to save a little cash by skimping on supplies, only to lose both their lives and their fortunes."
"So naturally, it’s easier to make money off them."
"Normally, as long as a freelance merchant can sell their goods and make it out alive, they can make at least a tenfold profit on a single trip."
"When the risks are comparable, but the profits are so vastly different, of course no one is going to come to a place like Gelan Forest."
Shaking his head, Old Yor quickly finished his explanation.
His logic was tight, his points were clear, and he even had data to back it up. He had clearly done in-depth research on the topic before.
It was utterly convincing.
However, this didn’t cool Lu Wei’s enthusiasm.
In fact, it made him even more excited.
’Holy crap! A tenfold profit!’
’Doesn’t that mean I could make a huge profit easily, even without running into a sucker like Furen?’
Glancing at the shocked Furen beside him, Lu Wei quickly calmed down after his initial excitement.
After all, he didn’t have the power to set up a stall in a Middle to High Level Adventurer’s Land yet.
Besides, Gelan Forest happened to have no competitors.
So...
"Mr. Yor, I’m already quite satisfied with a few times’ profit."
A moment later, Lu Wei humbly asked, "But the issue of finding customers isn’t so easy to solve. Do you have any suggestions?"
"You’re only setting up a stall on the outskirts of the forest. Of course you don’t have customers."
Although Old Yor’s tone grew more annoyed, he didn’t hold back, grumbling out a solution.
"Go as deep as you can, then find a water source or a place with convenient access. Make that your permanent place of business."
"After a while, once the Adventurers all know there’s a freelance merchant there, they’ll come to you on their own."