At Meraki's technical seminar, their original target had also been Solas Barefoot. Someone had even proposed hiring a famous void explorer or a mentor from Wizard University to endorse them in an advertisement.
The advertisement could show a wizard who had saved Magic Stones for ages and sold every pair of Solas Barefoot wizard shoes he owned, all to buy one pair of Meraki Magicstep's Second-Ring Wizard shoes.
At the seminar, Meraki's Second-Ring Wizards were also preparing to launch another major wizard sporting competition aimed squarely at Solas Barefoot.
But soon, someone at the seminar discovered that the Augustus Wizard Shoe Store Alliance had listed a pair of wizard shoes for one million Magic Stones.
Meraki's Moon-Ring supervisor looked puzzled.
"How did they pull that off? Their costs are far too low, aren't they?"
He thought for a moment.
"But Solas Barefoot should be the one in the most trouble right now."
"Who would've thought a mouse would barge into the fight between our two shop alliances? At first, it was too small to care about. Then it grew enough to warrant a glance. And now it's broken into the Second-Ring market."
"Let's see how many people buy these Second-Ring Wizard shoes."
"Let's hope it's not many, or we'll have a problem. Golden Crown Mountain... Tsk. If he didn't have Golden Crown Mountain behind him, dealing with him would be much simpler. Damn it, he's no nobody. He belongs to the Red Dragon Throne's Academic Lineage. Sigh."
In the magic carriage returning to Golden Crown Mountain, Locke considered his position. With the reputation I gained at the Silent Grail, early sales should have a solid foundation.
I'll test the waters in the Second-Ring Wizard shoe market first. If it pays off, I can release a second product, then a third.