"Welco to the Noren Trading Company."
The mont they stepped inside, two very beautiful, formally dressed attendants bowed slightly to them.
Their professional bearing was clearly not what one would expect from ordinary shop staff;
they seed like they’d co from noble families.
For a mont, Lin Mo felt as if he had been transported back to the days he’d briefly stayed at the City Lord's Mansion in Silverstream City.
Just like that, the impression of this alchemy shop instantly rose in status.
Looking at the décor, four words ca to mind: splendid and magnificent.
It was not the gaudy kind of gold-and-glitter luxury, but a carefully considered elegance: lavish without ostentation, refined without being pretentious.
Every layout choice gave off a comfortable vibe.
The owner of this shop was definitely soone impressive.
"Guests, may I help you with anything?"
Barely two or three seconds after they entered, a sales assistant hurried over, equally professionally trained, every gesture and expression spot on.
"We plan to purchase one bottle of a basic ice elental reagent, and one exceptional-grade fire elent magic stone and one exceptional-grade ice elent magic stone."
So far, Lin Mo's magic leaned mainly on ice.
Also, his mithril gloves could only accept two magic stones, and many staves could only fit one.
Aside from special items like gloves, weapons that can slot multiple magic stones usually require specially designed channels in the weapon’s circuit — sothing rarely done and most likely custom-ordered.
That would be a consideration for forging more advanced weapons in the future.
But not now…
At the mont, what Lin Mo could think about first was forging a better pair of mithril gloves.
Two magic stones would be about enough. Adding more slots ant either he couldn’t afford so many magic stones, or the benefit wouldn’t be as significant as the ice and fire attributes.
"Alright, please follow ."
The sales assistant nodded and led them further into the shop.
"This is it... For the basic ice elental reagent you requested, our shop offers several qualities."
"For example, this one was made by an Alchemy Master;
it increases ice elental affinity by 13% and costs 800 gold coins."
"This one was produced by a Senior Alchemist;
it increases ice elental affinity by about 12% and costs 700 gold coins."
"And this one over here was made by a Veteran Alchemist;
it only increases ice elental affinity by about 11% and costs 600 gold coins."
.......
The assistant detailed everything thoroughly, explaining the effects and prices plainly.
Most importantly, the prices were shockingly cheap — almost unreasonable!
Lin Mo recalled that his first elental reagent had been a fire reagent from an Alchemy Master he obtained in a secret realm.
Back then he was in Roland Town, where the town’s alchemist, Ms. Yulian, had offered 800 gold coins as the purchase price.
But that was Roland Town — a remote, underdeveloped town under the Empire.
This place, however, was the Royal Capital!
As everyone knew, the more developed and larger the area, the higher the hidden costs for businesses — rent, decoration, and labor costs would be far higher in the capital than in Roland Town.
Yet the elental reagent price was the sa. That didn’t make sense at all.
Judging by the shop’s size, exquisite decoration, and staff professionalism, one could imagine how much investnt it cost to achieve this.
Selling such a reagent for 800 gold coins could hardly be considered profitable.
If the sa item were sold at the established Morin shop in the capital, the price would be at least 1,200 gold coins!
And although Morin’s shop was also high-end, it still lagged noticeably behind this Noren Trading Company.
This abnormal situation made Lin Mo quickly suspect sothing.
It seed Noren Trading Company, as a rising star, wanted to challenge Morin’s influence.
They must have launched this massive initial campaign to sell close to cost at opening — in short, a price war to squeeze and seize Morin’s market share.
Lin Mo didn’t care much about these affairs, but regardless, the “battle” between the two trading companies was directly benefiting him.
"We’ll take the one made by the Alchemy Master."
"Very well, please wait a mont. Soone will pack it for you. Now, please co with to the third floor to choose your magic stones."
Lin Mo nodded and followed the attendants to the shop’s third floor.
The goods here were decidedly more upscale than on the first floor.
Stock density was lower;
underneath each item sat a plaque detailing its material source, maker, and exact effects.
Professionalism was at full display.
Lin Mo imdiately spotted a bottle of advanced strength potion.
It cost 1,800 gold coins and increased Strength by 25 points for 300 seconds, and apart from not being usable consecutively in the short term, it had virtually no side effects!
The price was again outrageously low.
What did 25 Strength an?
Even for an Elite-level adventurer, that was essentially a direct one-step increase in combat power!
And the duration wasn’t short — five minutes. Against a forrly evenly matched opponent, suddenly boosting one’s power level for five minutes, or even two to three minutes, would be enough to utterly defeat them.
Of course, despite the shop’s low prices, such a potion was still expensive.
1,800 gold coins wasn’t pocket change;
it would typically be reserved for life-or-death monts, not casual use — except for kids from truly wealthy families.
As his gaze moved past that potion, Lin Mo saw many other similar or better alchemical reagents.
This shop’s resources were substantial!
Money aside, obtaining these goods alone was no easy feat.
The backing for Noren Trading Company was probably no less powerful than that of the arrogant Duke Morin.
Who in the Doria Kingdom could possibly be more powerful than that overbearing Duke Morin...
Could it be that the royal family had opened the shop themselves?
Lost in thought, Lin Mo soon arrived at the counter that displayed the magic stones.
"The exceptional-grade fire elent magic stones and ice elent magic stones you requested are limited in stock... there are thirteen fire elent magic stones and only seven ice elent magic stones available. You may choose."
"Limited... only..."
Who were they kidding?
These were exceptional-grade magic stones, not stall trinkets!
Still, having choices was a good thing — Lin Mo’s appraisal skills could finally be put to use.
.....
Well, not really.
After a round of appraisal, Lin Mo reached a conclusion.
This shop was too professional, and too conscientious.
Every magic stone’s label information was absolutely accurate, with no errors, and the prices matched the stones’ quality and effects — largely reasonable, though top-tier items understandably carried a premium.
He only needed to choose based on his available funds.
Since he ca all this way, he wasn’t going to buy inferior items.
But Lin Mo also didn’t plan to overpay for top-tier stones, so he settled on so high-quality but not overpriced pieces.
"I’ll take this one and this one..."
"Very well."
The sales assistant nodded. "The fire elent magic stone forged using the core of a Blazing Fla Lion is from a Senior Alchemist and costs 3,900 gold coins;
the ice elent magic stone forged from Frost Crystal is also from a Senior Alchemist and costs 4,100 gold coins. The total is 8,000 gold coins. With the elental reagent, your total cos to 8,800 gold coins, which automatically makes you a Level 1 VIP of our store and awards you equivalent points."
Goodness, they even had a VIP system and points rewards?
Lin Mo was surprised — the shop owner really knew what he was doing.
Probably one of those worldly, experienced middle-aged businessn with deep comrcial expertise.
"So what do the VIP status and points do?"
Lin Mo asked curiously.
"The VIP status and accumulated points are permanent promotional programs we offer to thank adventurers for their support. Being a VIP allows you to enjoy certain discounts when purchasing items. As a Level 1 VIP, your current discount is 5% off, aning you pay 95% of the listed price."
"And higher levels?"
"Level 2 VIP gets a 10% discount;
Level 3 VIP gets a 15% discount;
the highest Level 5 VIP receives a 30% discount."
"No Level 4?"
"That’s right. Level 3 is the highest ordinary VIP level. Level 5 is reserved for custors with extraordinarily large spending or special cases, and it is granted personally by our founder."
They had quite the system.
"And the points?"
"Points have three current uses. First, they can be used to offset paynts — every 30 points deducts 1 gold coin."
So a modest additional discount — not bad.
"The second use is for consultation with our Senior Alchemists or Alchemy Masters for problem-solving or to commission custom alchemical items."
"The third use is during our limited points-exchange days on the 8th and 18th of each month, when points can be exchanged for selected goods. The exchange items are limited each day, so if you’re interested, co early."
"What can be exchanged? Give an example."
Lin Mo asked with interest.
"For example, recently on our exchange day, 5,000 points could be traded for an advanced strength potion, and 12,000 points could be exchanged for an advanced magic stone."
Holy crap!
Lin Mo was stunned. He’d thought the points would only be redeemable for junk like in so stingy shops back on Blue Star, but this was generous.
An advanced strength potion was worth 1,800 gold coins, and it could be redeed for just 5,000 points...
Now he understood what real largesse looked like.
No wonder Noren Trading Company had exploded in popularity — this series of extravagant promotional strategies was a crushing blow to competing alchemy shops.
"Guest, your goods are packed. Please proceed to the counter downstairs to pay."
Lin Mo nodded and went to the first floor to pay the discounted 8,360 gold coins.
Their purchases were placed in very exquisite boxes, the exterior engraved with the na "Noren" and a carefully designed logo.
"Guest, here are your items. Please take them."
The assistant handed Lin Mo a shopping bag containing the boxes.
He nodded and prepared to leave.
"Sherfilia?"
He glanced curiously at the maid who seed to be in a daze. "What is it?"
"No, nothing. Let’s go, Master."
Sherfilia shook her head and followed his steps.
"Goodbye, guests, and thank you for visiting..."
After leaving the shop, they took seats at a nearby teahouse to rest for a while.
Lin Mo took out the basic ice elental reagent and handed it to Ellie.
The little wolf-girl took the reagent, inspected it curiously, then opened the cork and sniffed carefully, imdiately wrinkling her cute face.
"Ugh~ so bitter!"
Indeed, alchemical reagents were, at the end of the day, dicines — they were hardly going to taste pleasant.
It wasn’t terrible, but Ellie, as a Half-Orc, had heightened sll and taste, and was therefore particularly sensitive to unpleasant flavors.
Still, she pinched her nose and downed the reagent in one gulp.
After swallowing, she stuck out her tongue and exhaled in a little huff.
Just then, the shop’s tea arrived. Ellie took it and drank it down at once.
Lin Mo shook his head helplessly. "It can’t be that bad, can it?"
She hadn’t reacted that strongly to worse-tasting things before.
He took out the two boxes containing the magic stones and opened them. A powerful magical aura radiated from the stones.
Compared to the ones he currently had, these were far stronger.
Lin Mo checked the information on the two stones again.
[Fla Magic Stone] (Exceptional-Grade): Forged using the core of the Blazing Fla Lion as material;
increases fire elental affinity by 26%, grants 8 Mana when using fire elent magic, and can store a portion of fire elental Mana.
Indeed, this thing could also increase Mana when releasing fire magic and had a storage function.
This storage effect was like the Fla Ring on his hand: you could normally inject Mana into it that had resonated with the fire elent, and then draw on that Mana later when casting fire elental spells.
The stone’s inherent effect was quite good.
His old stone had provided 13% affinity;
this one provided 26% — exactly double.
Lin Mo quickly installed the new stone and checked his status panel.
Before changing stones, his fire elental affinity had been 35%.
The composition had been the 13% fire magic stone plus 26% from the elental reagent.
He had previously obtained an interdiate fire elental reagent in a secret realm;
that was the only interdiate reagent he’d used.
13% plus 26% had beco 35% after decay. So what would 26% plus 26% be?
Lin Mo glanced at his panel.
Fire Elental Affinity: 45.24%
It had increased by a little more than 10%.
At the sa ti, Lin Mo had pretty much figured out the decay thod for elental affinity.
Next, he tested the ice attribute.
First, the ice elent magic stone’s attributes.
[Frost Magic Stone] (Exceptional-Grade): Forged using Frost Crystal as material;
increases ice elental affinity by 27%, grants 9 Mana when using ice elent magic, and can store a portion of ice elental Mana.
The ice stone’s attributes were similar to the fire stone, but the affinity was 1% higher and Mana bonus 1 point greater. It seed Frost Crystal made slightly better stones than Blazing Fla Lion cores, hence the 200 gold coin price difference.
Previously his ice elent was 16% plus 12.5% — where 16% ca from the old stone — and it had shown as 26.5%. After switching to the new stone...
Ice Elental Affinity: 36.125%
As expected.
Lin Mo confird the decay formula for elental affinity completely.
For example, if two affinities were each 20%, the actual combined effect would be 100% - [(100% - 20%) × (100% - 20%)], aning 1 - (0.8 × 0.8) = 0.36.
The result is 36%.
Using this formula produced results that matched his current case exactly.
In short, after replacing the magic stones, both of his elental affinities rose by about 10%.
Lin Mo tried channeling Mana, and indeed it flowed noticeably more smoothly than before.
Elental affinity affects not only skill power, but also elental resonance and spellcasting speed.
These two factors are sotis as important as raw power.
Especially so powerful spells that require longer charge tis — higher elental affinity can significantly shorten the required charging duration.
"Alright, next stop: Preston Smithy."
After a brief rest and finishing his tea, Lin Mo led the group onward.
There was one more thing to do today...
Shortly after Lin Mo and the others left the Noren Trading Company, on the top floor of the company a hot-blooded maid knocked on the door before her.
"Respected Miss Noren..."
She looked around the luxurious room. A petite young girl sat in an armchair that was almost too big for her.
"The person you were interested in has arrived in the Royal Capital."
"Oh?"
Noren looked up with a curious expression.
"They’re all here?"
"Yes. Miss Finnie, Sherfilia, and that man... In addition, there’s a Half-Orc with them."
"Half-Orc?"
Noren was montarily taken aback, then shook her head and didn't mind it much.
"Play back the magical image. I want to see them myself..."
"Yes!"
Monts later, a light projection constructed of Mana appeared before her. Noren watched the image of a golden-haired girl and beside her a tall, handso black-haired man.
"Interesting, very interesting..."
A faint, mischievous smile curved Noren's delicate face. "Is he the one who’s captured my useless sister’s heart so completely, to the point of losing herself?"
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