Chapter 24: Leo's Advice, Bartering

One o'clock in the afternoon.

Lunch had just ended, and Adrian was organizing goods in the shop.

As he worked, he thought about the future development of the beast feed shop.

Violet's Spirit Dew had created a "cast a brick to attract jade" effect. In the future, if more customers were drawn to the shop, they would more or less buy something while they were there.

But right now, aside from Spirit Dew, the second most valuable thing in the shop was Purple Starvine—and Purple Starvine was not even a graded product.

Its price was ordinary. Over time, this would waste the side effects brought by Spirit Dew.

The beast feed shop would soon upgrade to a Two-Star Beast Feed Shop.

By then, the product structure of the shop would absolutely need to be rebuilt.

Adrian had always worried about the shop. There was no other reason—it was the fruit of his parents' hard work over more than ten years.

This small beast feed shop was also the warm little home that had accompanied his growth.

Expansion, introducing new products, even buying new business-type beasts—these plans were forming in his mind in an orderly way.

At that moment, a somewhat familiar voice came from behind him.

"Adrian, why are you here too?"

Adrian turned and saw Leo, still wearing his gold-rimmed glasses and a T-shirt printed with four beasts.

One was the Phantom Dream Butterfly, Violet, occupying the center.

The other three beasts were the Mist Spirit Spider, Goldie, and two that should be his contracted beasts. Those three looked slightly smaller than Violet.

Thinking of all the messages Leo had sent him these past two days, and of how he had probably come today for Violet and to buy Spirit Dew, Adrian suddenly thought of a lyric—the one who cannot get is always restless, while the one who is favored has nothing to fear.

Leo might be careless, but he was not stupid.

Before Adrian could answer, he had already guessed.

"All right, you little rascal. This beast feed shop is your family's, isn't it?" He looked at the sign, then at the work apron Adrian was wearing. "Then yesterday you still sent me a message saying 'waiting for your good news,' with an excited emoji."

"I was wondering why a kid as steady as a middle-aged man suddenly sent cute emojis."

Adrian smiled too. "I saw you were troubled by love lately, so I wanted to lighten the mood."

Leo pressed a hand to his forehead. "Don't mock me. That was all for study and research. It is the duty of a Two-Star Breeder!"

"All right, no more joking. Since this Spirit Dew is your family's, I won't use all my prepared sales talk. Let's get straight to business and talk openly."

"Mm, Senior Leo, let's go upstairs to talk," Adrian said.

Normally, he would never invite a guest upstairs. That was private space. But Leo, even though they had only known each other for two days, had already earned Adrian's recognition in his heart.

Second-floor hall.

"Your Purple Starvines are growing really well," Leo said with a smile. "I'll buy some later and plant them in Violet's home. They're purple, so it should like them."

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Realizing he had gone off topic, Leo immediately straightened up. "Adrian, you know why I came today. But now that I know Spirit Dew is yours, I also want to give you some sincere advice."

"Please go ahead, Senior," Adrian said quietly.

"I analyzed this product carefully yesterday against the three points described by the Four-Star Researcher. In the Exceptional product category, it is in a class of its own."

"If you only talked about the recovery and healing effects, there would still be some Commander-Lower competitors."

"But adding the ability to slowly remove hidden injuries—that kind of product usually only appears at rare Commander-Upper quality."

"Of course, Spirit Dew is still fundamentally an Exceptional-quality product, so in terms of effect, it cannot compare to those."

"But what makes it unique is that it combines three effects in one."

"The Beast Tamers' League's official appraisal has price guidelines. Exceptional-quality products cannot exceed a certain crown price. Yours is probably already the highest-priced Exceptional-quality product on the market. It is a precedent."

"That means its value is absolutely not limited to this."

Adrian listened carefully. Leo's words matched part of his own thinking from yesterday.

Leo continued, "This kind of product also has a unique advantage—higher output."

"Lower-quality products are easier to produce than higher-quality ones. That is logical. Even if Spirit Dew has competitors, those competitors are more expensive and harder to buy. Doesn't that again reflect Spirit Dew's value?"

"Commodity prices never correspond only to the product's value. They also correspond to market demand and the product's uniqueness."

"Not to mention your Spirit Dew itself tastes good. Both humans and beasts can take it. For insect-type and plant-type beasts, it has an extreme attraction."

"By now, some merchants have probably already approached you, right? Tell me your thoughts first." As Leo spoke, he seemed to completely forget that he had come to buy Spirit Dew himself.

He was already standing entirely from Adrian's perspective as a merchant, helping him open his view.

Following Leo's line of thought, Adrian also expressed the ideas he had sorted out today:

"The amount of Spirit Dew my family can produce each day is not large. I have several plans."

"First, I will still sell Spirit Dew regularly and in fixed quantities in my online shop at the price set by the Beast Tamers' League. This can open the market and let more people know that my shop, Vale's Beast Feed, has this excellent product."

"Second, I plan to keep some for my own use. After all, for a new beast tamer like me, this product is very effective in raising beasts."

"Third, I also plan to cooperate with merchants. But I have already decided—I do not plan to be only a supplier. I only want to use broader platforms to spread the name of Spirit Dew."

"Not only that, merchants can only sell products reprocessed using Spirit Dew as a raw material. The raw Spirit Dew can only be sold exclusively by my beast feed shop."

"Finally, stock is also important. I can sell to offline customers, like you, Senior Leo, or people with high demand."

"You also said, Senior, that demand can sometimes bring higher returns—returns beyond the product itself."

Hearing Adrian's organized and logical thoughts, Leo was stunned for a moment. He would never have thought this comprehensively.

"Adrian, from now on, don't call me senior anymore…" He scratched his head. "Why do I feel like in front of you, I'm just a kid who hasn't experienced society? When you call me senior, I always feel like you're mocking me."

"I've felt this way since the day before yesterday."

"From now on, let's just call each other by name."

"Your logic is completely right. If you want to develop your own shop, exclusivity is a label you must establish."

"Cooperation with shops can naturally be more refined too. But my family is not in business. We follow the breeder path. So I can't give you too many detailed suggestions off the top of my head."

"If you need, I can find someone in my family who is more skilled in business and get you better advice."

"However, there is one more thing you overlooked."

Leo paused, deliberately building suspense.

"Money is the foundation we beast tamers and breeders need. But beasts and ourselves are the core that ultimately builds the tower of strength."

"And the many precious materials, tools, instruments, arts, and equipment bought with money are the skeleton of that tower."

"This world has many rich people. But there are also many things money cannot buy."

"A material like yours—when you lack money, you can sell it directly."

"But if you do not lack money, the best way is to barter."

Hearing this, Adrian's eyes lit up.

Did he lack money? Yes, he still did.

But his vision could indeed be more long-term.

Money could trap him for a while, but it would not become his major problem in the future.

Good things that could not be bought with money, only traded for, were the real treasures.

"I had already planned to double the price for this Spirit Dew—buy it at sixty thousand crowns per ten drops, or even eighty thousand."

"But you are a good brother, someone fated to me."

"I just had a sudden idea. I thought of something good."

"Something that can let plant-type beasts produce a higher proportion of products without harm."

With that, he directly took out a gem-shaped stone shining with pure green light. Its faint glow was very beautiful.

The surging life force hit Adrian in the face.

Leo wanted to use something this precious to trade for Spirit Dew?