Chapter 36: A Strategic Sale

After leaving the alchemy shop, I walked along the street. The evening was quite lively. My mood was excellent. With two hundred portions of incense, even if I bought them for two hundred credits each and then raised the price by ten credits per portion, I could still earn two thousand!

However, I wasn’t about to be so benevolent.

Incense prices had soared to 700 credits today, with premium varieties costing even more. This was practically forcing new students to their limits, considering they only had a total of 1000 credits. At most, they could afford one portion, but would a single portion even be effective? Its utility would be minimal, meaning those with average talent would likely have to borrow.

Could they even borrow it, though? After all, lending money depended on the borrower’s ability to repay. If a student accumulated debt only to be eliminated and sent back to the servant army, wouldn’t the lender suffer a complete loss?

Or perhaps, if they owed credits, they would be forced to repay them before being relegated to the servant army?

I wasn’t particularly concerned with these details; after all, it wasn’t my money they were owing.

My immediate concern was figuring out how to inform my classmates that I had incense available at a low price.

The best approach was to contact Air, the class president. I could delegate everything to her, allowing her to build rapport within the class while I earned credits. This would also further strengthen my relationship with her.

It was crucial to increase my standing in her eyes. If she truly viewed me as a useless slacker, our relationship would inevitably fracture. Therefore, demonstrating my value was essential to maintaining our connection.

Only if the class president effectively led the class and secured benefits for everyone could I also indirectly profit.

If the goal was for Air to be the sole voice of authority in the class, then Long Shi was the greatest impediment.

When he had provoked me previously, I had wanted to eliminate him. However, a person of such formidable strength, if utilized properly, could be of immense value during the early stages of the class. Consequently, I was now somewhat reluctant to part with him.

The challenge lay in making him an asset to the class, which seemed incredibly difficult—at least for now, I had no viable method. Thus, my current strategy remained to find a way to eliminate him, or at the very least, prevent him from becoming a hindrance to the class.

Lost in thought, I headed towards my dormitory, pulling out my phone to contact my esteemed class president.

[Ren: Air, do you have a moment? I want to discuss something with you, it’s about the incense.]

I gazed at the sent message, a smile curving my lips. ‘Saint Istam Air, I’m delivering a boon to you.’

Yet, after a short wait, there was still no reply. I frowned slightly. ‘Was she busy? What could she possibly be occupied with at this hour?’

Since she wasn’t responding, I decided not to wait any longer.

I arrived at my dormitory, opened the door, and then closed it behind me.

It was time for cultivation!

After all, I had acquired the Basic Meditation Method; I should at least give it a try.

I retrieved the handwritten manuscript I had put away earlier. Though the handwriting was a bit scrawled, it was still legible.

In contrast to the incomprehensible instructions on how to enter meditation described in the introductory method, the Basic Meditation Method was straightforward. It was packed with practical advice, teaching how to enhance spiritual power during meditation and how to condense more threads of spiritual energy.

I didn’t need to worry about condensing threads of spiritual energy. My primary concern was increasing my spiritual power limit, which was my current weakness.

The enhancement of spiritual power was a slow process, or rather, it was incredibly slow when relying solely on oneself. Therefore, meditation often required external aids, the simplest being alchemical products like spiritual power potions. However, the effects of these potions would gradually diminish as the body adapted to them, weakening their ability to stimulate spiritual growth.

Another aid was incense. This supplementary item, which improved the quality of meditation, was naturally less direct than potions that stimulated spiritual power. Consequently, it could be used long-term without fear of losing its effectiveness, as it merely enhanced meditation quality and indirectly provided a slight boost to spiritual power, thus avoiding issues of bodily adaptation or diminishing returns.

Such was the true value of incense. Only now did I truly appreciate this alchemical product once more.

‘Perhaps I should keep some for myself?’

I quickly dismissed the thought. ‘First, earn credits!’ After the assessment, the price of incense would likely gradually return to normal. Until then, I wouldn’t need much incense, so converting it into credits would be far more beneficial.

These credits could be used for various purposes, whether to purchase extraordinary materials or for other needs.

For instance, the books and knowledge within the library, as Qieluo had mentioned, all required credits. If I wished to grow stronger, I naturally couldn’t do without that knowledge.

Regardless, it was time to meditate.

I had initially planned to use the incense, but realizing I lacked an incense burner, I decided against it for now.

After all, I was merely experimenting with the Basic Meditation Method’s effects; I didn’t expect any substantial improvement in a single night.

The method for enhancing spiritual power described in the meditation technique became even more abstract for me, owing to my lucid dreaming abilities.

I could only continuously ‘coax’ the stars, following my intuition to trace new orbits for them. The paths of the stars symbolized my spiritual power, and the condensed star-trails represented threads of spiritual energy.

Once a star ran stably along its designated orbit, it signified that a single unit of spiritual power had been attained. This training method was monotonous, yet I held a significant advantage, as I didn’t need to expend energy to maintain my meditative state.

Steadily improving my spiritual power in this methodical way, though somewhat tedious, left me quite satisfied.

[Physique: 2.1 Spirit: 3.5]

After a while, I exited my meditative state. While the main display showed no increase in my spiritual power, the detailed data indicated a subtle fluctuation, a minute improvement that hadn’t yet reached the threshold for a numerical change.

If it truly yielded no results, I would have to devise another strategy. After all, my control over the meditation space was far more liberated than what was described in the meditation method, and I certainly wouldn’t allow myself to be constrained by it.

Instinctively, I picked up my phone to check if she had replied.

[Air: Apologies, I was busy just now. Is there something you needed?]

[Air: Are you there?]

[Air: Is this about the incense? I’m handling it. I’ve already had someone contact the material shop staff, but the results aren’t very promising.]

[Air: Do you have something going on? Should I come find you?]

[Air: If you see this, please reply when you have a moment.]

I looked at the messages she had sent. ‘Had I ghosted her this time? Never mind, she was the one who hadn’t replied in time first. The fault wasn’t mine.’

[Ren: My apologies, Air. I was meditating just now and didn’t notice the messages. I’m truly sorry for the delayed reply.]

[Ren: I was just inquiring about buying incense. I have an upperclassman who’s willing to sell us incense at a low price, but the quantity is limited, only about two hundred portions.]

I didn’t have to wait long before she replied. ‘It seems she’s finished with her tasks?’

[Air: Are you sure?]

[Air: Be careful they don’t try to pass off ordinary incense as meditation incense. Some of our classmates have already fallen for that trick. Ordinary incense has almost no effect on meditation.]

Reading Air’s words, I was somewhat surprised. ‘So, there were even counterfeit goods being sold at the Witch Academy?’