The nobles would be considered kindhearted if they asked for sixty percent of the yields, and they generally asked for eighty percent.
The price of the magic materials in Hollevin was so high that even Roland was affected by the inflation.
Although he could ask the magnates to deliver several types of magic materials to him for practice, the problem was that the Magic Tower needed more magic materials than those required in enchantment.
Many students at the magic school also needed magic materials to learn basic spells.
For example, the Illumination spell required the tails of fireflies, which were worthless and could be found everywhere in summer.
However, the students would need a lot of such tails when they practiced the Illumination spell.
The tails of fireflies that they paid one gold coin for were usually enough for them to use in three months, but the price had been increased by three times, and there wasn’t much stock. They couldn’t buy a lot even if they wanted to.
All the merchants were hoarding.
He had been burnt by the fire he lit up.
Reading the reports that Vivian submitted, Roland heaved a helpless sigh.
Considering for a long time, Roland posted a thread in the forum.
“I’ve learned something during my magic practices recently. I’ll study in seclusion in the next half year. My enchantment business is paused.”
The forum was full of mockery after he posted the thread.
“Tsk. Roland chickened out. How much money have you made by purposefully inflating the market?”
“Almost a thousand gold coins, probably.”
There were lots of similar sarcastic replies.
Of course, there were people who supported him.
“A good kid is a kid who corrects his mistakes. Consider the consequences before you do anything big next time. You’re the most powerful Mage among the players. Everything you do might influence all the other players.”
It was O’Neal, Roland’s friend on the forum, who posted the reply.
“It doesn’t matter. I haven’t gathered my materials yet anyway. I probably can’t in the next half year either.”
“I’ll come to you again half a year from now.”
Several days after the thread was posted, the magic material market in Hollevin finally stabilized, and the overall prices slowly declined.
However, there were still several materials whose prices were still rising.
They were the materials required in auto-repair.
The players were no fools. They knew perfectly well what the real valuable enchantment was.
The other enchantments, including sharpening and weapon fortification, only added attributes, and auto-repair was the only special groundbreaking one.
They could let go of other enchantment materials, but auto-repair was too useful for them to give up.
The players with ultimate equipment, in particular, were still busy collecting materials for auto-repair without stop.
Charles was the player with the greatest earnings of all.
Under his command, the Cornucopia had been collecting the materials for auto-repair.
Now, one-third of the materials in all of Hollevin had been purchased by this guild.
They were also trying to acquire materials for auto-repair from other countries.
When Roland was making the fourteen pieces of equipment for Charles, Douglas came to him during the day of his rest and informed him of Charles’s crazy spending.
He then continued, “Roland, after he monopolized the materials, I’m afraid that Charles will threaten you to work for him with the materials. He’s a man who places his own interests above all.”
Roland waved his hand indifferently.
“I estimate that there are no more than ten people in this world who know auto-repair.” Roland continued after a pause, “And that’s an optimistic estimation. Based on my speculation, there might only be three people who are capable of auto-repair, myself included. So… it won’t matter however many materials Charles hoards. The more materials he has, the more he will have to sell later, and the more losses he will suffer.”
Douglas nodded.
He actually quite admired Roland, as did most of the Mage players.
After all, Roland was a pioneer among the players.
“As long as you know what you’re doing.”
After saying that, Douglas returned to his manor.
It was only a minor incident. In the following half-month, Roland helped Charles enchant his equipment.
His success rate was higher and higher as he got the hang of auto-repair. It only took him 1.3 tries on average before he succeeded.
So, the time cost for the enchantment was significantly shortened.
On the other hand, Roland was better and better at casual spells.
Unhindered Communication, which could only last 14 hours before, had been lengthened to 24 hours.
It was a shame that Roland couldn’t find more models of casual spells, or he would’ve learned them to see if he could have new breakthroughs.
He had almost learned everything that could be learned from auto-repair.
Half a month later, Roland made the delivery to Charles in his Magic Tower.
After examining the equipment, Charles nodded and smiled at Roland opposite him. “The equipment is perfect. I’m very satisfied. You did a great job.”
“Thank you,” said Roland casually.
He felt that Charles seemed even more arrogant than the last time they met.
“Are you really not going to work on any equipment in the next half-year?” asked Charles.
Roland nodded.
He posted the thread in the forum offering to enchant equipment only for free materials to practice with. Now that he got the hang of auto-repair, it was unnecessary for him to work so hard anymore, or the market would be disturbed and other players would hate him.
He had made 480 gold coins from the deals with Douglas and Charles. Plus the additional materials that he didn’t use, he earned at least 700 gold coins.
It was enough for him to fund his magic school for a dozen years even if he didn’t have any other sources of income.
Besides, the taxes of Delpon, the revenues of the Magic Tower’s properties, and the gold coins teleported from the sand statue made up a lot of money every month, so Roland was no longer in danger of poverty.
“What a shame,” Charles said. “You could make more money when you have the best opportunity… There’s no need to bother with the grunting people on the forum. Money itself is a vindication of your capabilities. People will respect you as long as you’re rich. They don’t care how you made the money.”
Roland slightly frowned, but then said, “I’m just tired. Besides, I’ve really learned something, and I need to study it in seclusion without disturbance.”
Charles shook his head and said, “That’s not the right attitude toward wealth. You have to seize opportunities when they appear, or they will slip away.”
Roland stared at him in silence. He felt that the guy wasn’t done yet.
“If you’re only worried about the materials, that’s easy.” As expected, Charles continued, “I’ve asked my guild to purchase the materials for auto-repair. We have more than one-third of all the materials in Hollevin.”
Roland was briefly stunned. “So, the fluctuations of the material prices were caused by you.”
“It was no big deal.” Pride flashed on Charles’ plump face. “I think we can cooperate.”
Roland was stunned for a moment. He suddenly remembered what Douglas told him a dozen days ago.
Was Douglas such a visionary?
“How will we cooperate?” Roland couldn’t help but ask.
“I’ll provide materials.” Charles slightly leaned forward in excitement. “You will be responsible for processing. Then, I’ll sell the equipment to clients. How does it sound? By then, we can monopolize the auto-repair market in Hollevin or even the whole world.”
“Then how much money can I make?”
“I’m responsible for the raw materials, the sales, and marketing.” Charles stared at Roland passionately. “You don’t need to do anything other than processing. How about five gold coins per piece of equipment? The amount can be adjusted according to customer satisfaction.”
Roland was briefly stunned. Then, he began to chuckle.
This Charles was really interesting.
According to him, Roland’s job was truly easy. He didn’t need to do anything except process the equipment to earn five gold coins apiece.
However, the man forgot that Roland was the upper stream of the industry.
Why would I work for you? Even if you have materials, clients, and channels, I am the one who can process the equipment, and I’m not short of money.
Besides, I have my own channels. The players’ forum is exactly one.
Roland shook his head and said, “Sorry, I’m not interested. I’m not really short of money right now.”
Charles seemed rather upset. “Almost all the materials in Hollevin are in my possession. You will have to come to me even if you want to make auto-repair equipment in the future. Also, I don’t believe that you are the only person capable of auto-repair. Like I said, this is not an opportunity you see every day.”
“Then you’re free to look for other people who are capable of the technique,” Roland said peacefully. “I really don’t have any time.”
Charles was even angrier, but then he smiled. “What a shame. You are just an ordinary person who’s too scared to grab the opportunity near at hand anyway. Brother, a real man has to take chances, or he won’t achieve anything in life.”
Roland closed his hands and said, “I think that I will achieve more than you.”
Roland’s face was calm, but the smile on his lips seemed to be mocking him.
Charles was stumped. Then, he was rather enraged.
He stood up and gazed at Roland. Then, he shook his head and left the Magic Tower.
Standing at the window, Roland watched Charles leave the square before the Magic Tower and waved the ring.
Vivian walked in.
Roland said to her, “Ask someone to go to the Guild of Mercenaries. I want information on the Cornucopia. The more detailed, the better.”
