Chapter 928: Alternate Timeline: Negotiations

The number struck her like cold water to the face.

Two hundred and fifty thousand gold coins.

That was enough wealth to make merchants bow lower, nobles smile wider, and thieves dream sweeter.

Kiara shook her head vigorously.

"No chance."

She jabbed a finger at the floating screen.

"There is absolutely no way I am spending that much money just to wake up one old man."

Her eyes drifted toward Caleb Crescent. He lay there peacefully, snoring faintly, completely unaware that his worth was currently being debated like a horse in a marketplace.

Kiara snorted. She waved at the system again.

"Abandon the Quest. I will deliver him to the palace and walk away. If the royal family wants to deal with this mess, let them do it. If Edward Crescent is exposed, wonderful. If not, that is their problem, not mine."

For a brief moment, silence filled the room.

Then the system spoke again.

[Ding! Accepting the offer will unlock the Credit Limit and the Unique Items section in the Store.]

Kiara froze.

The irritation on her face faded.

Her eyes sharpened.

"Credit Limit?" she repeated slowly. "Unique Items?"

Her tone changed.

The anger remained, but now it had company.

Curiosity.

and temptation.

Kiara crossed her arms and leaned forward.

"Explain."

The system responded with mechanical precision.

[Ding! Upon unlocking the Credit Limit, the host may purchase items from the store and pay later at an interest rate of 0.1% per day.]

[Based on the host’s repayment history, the credit limit will gradually increase.]

[For every 10 credits repaid, the credit limit will increase by 1 credit the following day.]

[As a beginner, the host will receive a starting credit limit of 100,000 credits.]

[The Unique Items section is part of Unique Weapons. Upon unlocking it, the host may purchase unique items not listed in the standard Items section, though most unique weapons will remain unavailable.]

Kiara sat back slowly, and a slow smile crept across her face.

"So," she murmured, "Basically, you are offering me a credit card."

The system said nothing.

Kiara tapped her fingers on the armrest. The temptation was immediate and profound.

A hundred thousand credits.

The ability to buy now and pay later.

Access to unique items.

It was as though the system had quietly opened a hidden door in the store and invited her into a chamber filled with treasures.

Of course, the floor of that chamber was made of debt. And debt, she knew, was like quicksand.

It felt soft when you stepped in. The danger only became obvious when you tried to step out.

Still, Kiara was not frightened. She had confidence in her ability to earn money. Gold coins were already flowing into her hands from every direction.

She reviewed her finances carefully.

Icarus Veyne had advanced her 300,000 gold coins. Of that amount, 42,000 had served as the twenty percent deposit for the first order. From the remaining 258,000, she had delivered goods worth 175,000 gold coins in the second order, including ten rocket launchers and one hundred warheads.

Her sixty percent share from that transaction alone exceeded 100,000 gold coins.

More than 120,000 gold coins still remained unaccounted for.

From the Second Prince, she had earned another 18,000 gold coins.

Although she had placed advance payments totaling more than 30,000 gold coins for rare materials and a 1,500-carat ether ore, those items had not yet been delivered.

Together with her personal funds, she possessed more than 400,000 gold coins.

The money was there.

But spending 250,000 gold coins in one stroke would squeeze her future operations like a fist around the throat.

This new offer changed everything.

It was as though the system had said, "Keep your gold. Borrow mine."

Kiara’s eyes gleamed.

She also understood the danger.

If she borrowed 20,000 credits, equivalent to 100,000 gold coins, the first day’s interest would be 100 gold coins.

The next day, the interest would grow slightly.

Then again.

And again.

Tiny increments, almost invisible at first, like termites in the beams of a house.

One day, you noticed nothing.

Months later, the roof collapsed.

Even so, the opportunity was too good to ignore.

Kiara had no intention of spending recklessly. She would treat every earned gold coin as ammunition to pay down the debt. Still, she was not willing to accept the system’s first offer without negotiation.

By now, she understood the system better. It was like a stubborn trader. When it wanted something, it always left room to bargain.

The divine sword exchange had taught her that.

The awakening events had taught her that.

The system never gave its best price first.

Kiara narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "The starting limit is not enough," she said.

She spoke calmly, like a merchant seated across a lacquered table. "Once you deduct 50,000 credits for the purification stone, I will have only 50,000 credits remaining, and my account currently holds zero credits."

She lifted a finger. "So let us be practical. Give me a 200,000-credit limit."

The answer came immediately.

[Ding! 200,000 credits are equivalent to 1,000,000 gold coins. The host has not yet earned such an amount. Proposal rejected.]

Kiara clicked her tongue.

"Too ambitious."

She leaned back and thought.

The deal with Icarus Veyne.

The large transaction with the Second Prince.

Compensation from noble houses.

Sales of beast corpses.

All of it counted as economic activity.

Even if some of those transactions had not contributed to quest progress, the system had clearly recognized them during its rank upgrades.

That meant they mattered.

Kiara’s eyes brightened.

"There it is."

She looked up.

"My cumulative transactions exceed five hundred thousand gold coins," she said firmly. "The first transaction with the Second Prince alone was worth five hundred thousand. Then there were additional transactions exceeding one hundred thousand gold coins."

She crossed her arms.

"The system has already acknowledged these transactions. Therefore, my request is justified."

This time, the system did not respond at once.

Ten seconds passed.

The silence stretched.

Kiara waited with the stillness of a gambler watching dice roll across the table.

Finally, the notification appeared.

[Ding! 160,000 credit limit. Deal or no deal?]

Kiara’s face lit up. A triumphant smile spread across her lips.

"Deal."

The answer had barely left her mouth when a platinum-grade purification stone appeared in her inventory, cool and solid, like a promise finally placed in her hands.

Then, one after another, new notifications began to appear.