You Came Prepared, Didn't You?

Iver and his two companions sat at the table and waited. Soon, Hypatia brought over three cups of coffee.

She looked so young that one might worry whether she could even lift three cups of coffee.

"Did Chunbai explain the specific rules to you?"

Standing on the small steps next to the table, Hypatia distributed coffee to the three of them while asking them questions.

"I think I know. Limited time offer... right?"

Iver confirmed. "But you can tell them again."

Hypatia nodded, then looked directly at Sherlock, who was also on the Path of Wisdom: "From the moment you drink your first sip of coffee, you will be able to see another world, and you will also be able to see those hidden occult texts. Once you drink the coffee, you will be unable to talk to anyone else."

"Each cup of coffee is valid for about an hour. It costs 500 gold coins. You can stay here until you leave the shop, at which point the transaction is complete. You can wait for the illusion to end before taking another sip, and use the break time to take notes. Or you can drink it all at once, which will make it a continuous hour. You can read as much as you want during this hour, or you can choose to copy it."

The young elf puffed out its chest with pride. "All the Grimoire and scriptures here cannot be bought outside. As for finding books, it's very simple... just follow your instincts. Once you enter the illusion, the book that resonates with you best will shine in your eyes."

Upon hearing this, Sherlock first turned his head to look at Iver.

After Iver nodded, he took a sip of coffee without thinking.

Sherlock covered his forehead. After a brief moment of dizziness, he got up with some surprise, looked around, paused for a moment in astonishment at Hypatia, bowed slightly, and walked towards the bookshelf.

Immediately afterwards, Lily also drank the cup of coffee in front of her.

After they all got up and left, Iver looked at Hypatia.

"Ms. Hypatia, what would be the price if I wanted to buy out a particular book?"

"Buyout?"

Hypatia asked with great interest, "Should we just buy it?"

"Yes, it's not an illusion. It's the physical form of that book, the real Grimoire."

"Iver replied."

Although there are Grimoire here, you can basically only see the cover.

Because Grimoire have a unique transmission method—they must be read continuously and can induce hallucinations—and those who have already gone mad cannot go mad again, they become unable to understand Grimoire after drinking the coffee called "Paradox: Reality and Psychedelia." Other esoteric texts, however, can be learned from them.

The collection here is incomplete, but very rare. It features a single, unique book, all collected by Hypatia from the Dream Realm over the years.

Which one?

"It's not decided yet, let's see who chooses first."

"No matter which one it is, it will be very expensive if you want to buy it permanently. All of them are unique copies."

Hypatia smiled and spread out his right hand, "50,000 gold coins per book, cash only. This is a special offer, the price might go up next time."

"Fifty thousand?"

Iver confirmed, "Are you referring to 50,000 Stibium Gold Coins?"

"That's right. In terms of White Crown Coin, it's equivalent to about 80,000."

Hypatia leaned against the table in front of Iver, lightly tapping his chin with his right hand.

Although she looks like a young girl, her movements are like those of a noblewoman. Such childish yet mature behavior has no charm whatsoever, but is rather laughable.

She said slowly and deliberately, "However, there is another option."

"If you do me a small favor, I'll give you this book, worth 80,000 White Crown Coin, how about it?"

"No need."

As he spoke, Iver picked up his briefcase, placed it on the table, and opened it.

Inside were stacks of large silver banknotes, printed with crossed scepters and swords, with a white crown placed in front of them. These were also known as Knight Bonds. In the early days of ancient Avalon, a certain amount of White Crown Coin could be used to hire a knight to serve for a period of time or to do a task for the knight.

Under Hypatia's surprised gaze, Iver took a small stack from inside. "There's a total of 250,000 here. I'll take 10,000, leaving 240,000. I'll buy three books... Would you like to count them?"

"... No need."

Hypatia doesn't even need to count the money; she can tell how much money is left just by glancing at it.

She asked, somewhat unwillingly, "Aren't you going to ask me what I asked you to do?"

Iver smiled gently and nodded, "Yes, I won't ask. Once you know something, it's hard to extricate yourself from it. The effort required for a mission worth 80,000 White Crown Coin must exceed the value of those 80,000 White Crown Coin. Compared to time, I still have more money."

"... You came prepared, kid."

Hypatia closed his suitcase with a hint of resignation and accepted the money. "Fine... whatever, you're Grey's friends anyway. Take whatever you like. Consider these three cups of coffee a gift from me."

"Wouldn't you like to give me some free gifts?"

Iver asked with a grin, "In a typical store, customers who make large payments usually need something, right? Even if they pay in installments, they still need a gift for holidays, don't they... With this 200,000+, would you like to add something else?"

He came here initially just to conduct an experiment.

In the game, Hypatia's storyline also involves spending 80,000, hence Hypatia is also known as Haibasha (meaning "Haibasha, the Eight-Thousand"). Later, during the main storyline of the Calamity Demon Dragon, the player and Iver were saved by Haibasha transforming into a mature woman... making her a powerful ally NPC.

She Tai Yi from Vivian. Although she was reincarnated, she still followed the Path of Wisdom. Therefore, she did not lose much power.

—Her reincarnation is more akin to a complete overhaul; she broke away from the Geometric Angel and intended to become a Celestial Celestial through her own power. This is very similar to the trajectory of the Silver Crowned Dragon.

She demanded 80,000, and if the player couldn't give it to her, they would have to run a very troublesome long-term quest for her—which, naturally, the player couldn't give.

Because the player's inventory carrying limit is only 9999 White Crown Coin, it's impossible to pay 80,000. In other words, this is actually similar to the bicycle quest in Pokémon, where the price is unattainable from the beginning and can only be obtained by completing the quest.

Strictly speaking, this is Anniversary Event Quest in Hypatia.

You can choose three Grimoire from her. All Grimoire that have appeared in the gacha pool but were not limited to those that entered the pool within the last two months can be selected—this is an anniversary event that started in the third year, and each year an additional manual is added to the inventory. It's essentially like getting a Grimoire of the highest rarity for free.

The second and third books will offer extra gifts under the pretext of "cumulative spending of 100,000" and "cumulative spending of 200,000" respectively—but it's the same as before, because players can't actually pay for them. So, nominally it's cumulative spending, but in reality it's a reputation reward.

Iver was too lazy to run that long quest that required traveling back and forth between several countries, so he decided to just take the money and give it a try.

He brought so much money mainly to give Hypatia 80,000 as a trial.

She actually accepted it.

"... Okay, that works too."

Hypatia sighed, looking somewhat helpless. "But I'm only selling these three books. If you want to come again, you'll have to do some things for me... To be honest, I'm not that short of money, but rather I need people to run errands. I'm not greedy; I just asked you for 80,000 to stop you. I didn't expect..."

I didn't expect they could actually afford it.

She glanced at Iver, then at Lily.

Was it the guidance of the "Prophet"...? No, it doesn't seem to be her. She appears to be the successor of the Gray Angel...

"As for the gifts, I plan to give you two. Consider them as cumulative spending rewards of 100,000 White Crown Coin and 200,000 White Crown Coin. For the 100,000 reward, I can give you a rare occult Grimoire; for the 200,000 reward, I can give you a piece of equipment."

Hypatia pondered, "But I don't have many collections here... Shall I make a list for you? Or would you like some recommendations?"

"Give her a weapon."

Iver pointed at Lily: "You can decide what to give. As for the books... I'll pick some myself?"

"Yes. You can take any of them without the 'Secret Sutta' suffix. Or you can ask them later... Take one, and you can come back and read the rest whenever you want. Books other than Grimoire don't seem to take up that much time."

Hypatia nodded.

The implication is that she admitted that the Grimoire she stored here were just a gimmick.

She does have the items, but it's mainly for showing off; she doesn't actually intend to lend them to you. However, she's willing to share some lower-end items—that's roughly her idea.

"Thank you for your help."

Iver answered respectfully.

He then drank the hallucinogenic coffee without hesitation.