Suddenly Rich

"Do you think you're some kind of giant winged lizard? If that's what you want, I can help you exchange them. The current market rates are 1:61 for high-grade to mid-grade and 1:47 for mid-grade to low-grade." Wang Hai knew the market for High-Energy Crystals very well. The exchange rates between grades were never fixed. How could a situation like One Gold Coin to One Hundred Silver Coins ever happen?

The rates fluctuated a little with market conditions. Unless something major happened, they wouldn't shift by much.

"What about exchanging low-grade for higher-grade?"

"51:1 and 74:1."

"That's highway robbery!"

"Of course! Who would exchange high-grade High-Energy Crystals for no reason? The ordinary mid- and low-grade stuff is what circulates on the market." Wang Hai rolled his eyes and said matter-of-factly, "So don't exchange them unless you have to... You'll lose out."

"And I guarantee that if you take even one high-grade High-Energy Crystal out and show it off, you'll find out what trouble means in less than half a day."

"Holy crap, is this stuff really worth that much?"

Should I find some time to discuss this with that Yakumo Yukari?

"What do you think? A Bountiful Mine can't produce many high-grade crystals in a year. More than eighty percent are ordinary low-grade ones. If over ten percent are mid-grade, that's already considered a Good Mine. This stuff is incredibly rare. I don't know what got into Elder Zhuo, but he actually paid such a huge price to buy it."

"Are you jealous?" Jiu Ming glanced at him.

"Tsk, tsk. Believe me, if you were weak and word got out that you had this stuff, it wouldn't be long before some teacher at this school started thinking about killing you, then hiding somewhere to live the good life."

Wang Hai clicked his tongue. Honestly, he was green with envy. He himself had barely ever even laid hands on High-Energy Crystals of this grade!

"Oh, I see. Anyway, I'll leave the exchange to you. Want me to give you the leftover change?"

"...I really don't know what goes through your head." Wang Hai waved a hand and caught the High-Energy Crystals Jiu Ming tossed him. He said no more. "Wait here."

Before long, Wang Hai carried over a large box. "The box is included. Ordinary High-Energy Crystals slowly lose their energy if you just leave them lying around. This box is made of Insulating Material, so they'll be fine inside. I'll round it to 2,900 Low-Grade High-Energy Crystals."

"Heh, I thought it'd be 2,800." Jiu Ming put a hand on the box, and the whole thing immediately turned into a Sealed Card. Its name... well.

Name: Box Full of High-Energy Crystals...

All right, simple and clear.

Watching Jiu Ming swagger away, Wang Hai's mouth twitched violently. What the hell...!

"Elder Zhuo, you really trust him that much?" Wang Hai didn't think Jiu Ming would cheat them, but this was such a huge deal that he couldn't help worrying.

"Elder Zhuo?" After a long pause with no answer, Wang Hai's expression darkened. Looking closer, he saw that the old man had already become engrossed in his novel again!

"Don't bother me. I'm at the good part!" Elder Zhuo waved a hand, and the hand Wang Hai had reached out to snatch the book with was smacked aside.

"I'm telling you, Elder Zhuo..."

"Good grief, you young people are so impatient. Why not just test whether it's real?" Elder Zhuo waved him off impatiently and slapped a Sealed Card onto the table. "As it happens, I need you to run an errand for me. And now... isn't this the perfect opportunity?"

As he spoke, Wang Hai's expression changed. The moment he tried to turn and run, a thin, dry hand grabbed him. He struggled with all his might, but the hand didn't even tremble. Elder Zhuo grinned at him, showing a neat row of white teeth. "Come on, Xiao Wang. Help me deliver something."

...The old man had taken down a burly guy...

"Elder Zhuo... I was nearly beaten to death!" The next day, Wang Hai came storming over to settle accounts with Elder Zhuo, but the old man was perfectly calm.

"Xiao Wang, you're back. Did you deliver it?"

"...Of course!" Wang Hai's mouth twitched hard. Being forcibly tossed into the Gap yesterday had been so damn terrifying. The dense mass of red eyes in there had nearly scared him to death, and the moment he came out, he'd been hit with a barrage of attacks from the other side.

They'd taken him for an unidentified attacker. After a lot of explaining and a sound beating, he'd finally managed to clear things up.

That card, which looked like something from a children's card game, was actually real. Elder Zhuo really had sent him to another city with something like Instant Thousand Miles... Suddenly, it felt like such a waste. A round trip by public transport would've cost him a little money, but the old man's stunt had used up three high-grade Energy Crystals. Converted into cash, that'd be at least several million! Damn it!

"Then that's settled. It took a bit more energy than I'd like, but this old man can take it... Hmm." Elder Zhuo rubbed his chin, seeming to ponder something. "Xiao Wang, don't leave. We still haven't done what we agreed on yesterday."

"What!? I have a date. I'm leaving now." Wang Hai's mouth twitched as he hurriedly came up with an excuse.

"Cut the nonsense. It's too late to say anything now."

Hmm, one, two, three... Jiu Ming looked at the huge pile of sparkling High-Energy Crystals before him, his eyes narrowed. Because he was a Soul Body, the energy slowly leaking from that pile felt incredibly soothing...

He couldn't absorb it actively like the Ability Users in this world, but passively... Maybe he should make himself a Crystal Bed out of High-Energy Crystals sometime!

He might as well indulge in something tacky for once. He hadn't enjoyed much while alive, and no one had burned him any paper money after he died... Oh, maybe his family in the other world had. Well, if it couldn't reach him, it was no use. And even if it did, could he buy anything with it?

He picked out fifty High-Energy Crystals worth only 20 "Source" each and tossed them into the Mysterious Shop. Somehow, he felt that keeping his stored "Source" low was better than letting it shoot way up all at once.

With the sort of experience he'd had, Jiu Ming felt like he was gaming the system. His predecessors might have run into the same situation. Some of them might've been even more unscrupulous and thick-skinned, and done a better job of it than he had.

So, given all that... he'd better be careful. Besides, there was no need to worry about anyone stealing these while they were here. Hmm, it really did seem worth making a sparkling pile of High-Energy Crystals into a place to sleep.

He shoved a huge pile of High-Energy Crystals under the sofa cushion where he often slept. He'd definitely sleep well tonight!

"Yoo-hoo!!!"

Maybe he'd slept too comfortably; Jiu Ming's body clock had gotten thrown off. The lights inside the Mysterious Shop weren't dazzling, and they were usually controlled through Jiu Ming's permissions, so without the faint glow that came after the lights were "turned off," it was just like night.

If Jiu Ming wanted, it could be dark all the time.

So, well, he'd overslept a little. He hadn't even noticed the new "guests" at first, until someone planted a heavy foot on his stomach!

"Mm...?"

Acting on instinct, Jiu Ming grabbed the foot pressing down on him and lightly flung it to one side... He swore afterward that he'd only given it a light, half-asleep toss on instinct!

Jiu Ming hadn't woken up because he'd been stepped on. He'd woken to a noisy commotion and an enraged roar.

He opened his eyes, marveling that he'd never slept so comfortably, then sat up just in time to see a pink fist swing toward his eye socket. He raised a hand and blocked it with ease!

Then he tilted his head slightly, drowsily glanced at the view beneath her skirt, and easily dodged the leg kicking toward his head.

"...What did I just do?"

"How dare you throw me!!!" The moment Jiu Ming finished speaking, an enraged roar rang beside his ear. "And then you have the nerve to act like you don't know what happened!!"

Jiu Ming was wide awake now.

"!?" The scene before him made his eyes widen. He even rubbed them hard. "Am I still asleep? Did they come here as a group?"

The boy with the goofy-looking face now had the corner of his mouth twitching. Remembering how Jiu Ming had just tossed Suzumiya Haruhi aside on instinct, as if she were an ant, and seeing him now ignore her angry shouting, he wondered whether this place would be reduced to ashes by Haruhi's wrath.

So this was the place Suzumiya Haruhi had mentioned?

And the "ghost shopkeeper" here...?

Oh, now he looked more like a lazy, useless couch potato!

Huh!? What was that!? Jewels? The goofy-faced boy's eye twitched when he spotted a few scattered High-Energy Crystals on the floor. No way. You couldn't just leave them lying around like that. They had to be marbles.

"Yuki, those are marbles, right?" Kyon asked the strange Three-No Girl beside him, trying to convince himself.

"Crystals containing special energy. They can be used as an energy source. Their value is tens of thousands of times that of marbles..."

"...Got it." A few drops of cold sweat trickled down his forehead. After Nagato Yuki's brief explanation, he had some idea of what they were worth. What really made him break into a sweat was the edge of a row of those "marbles" tucked beneath the sofa cushion Jiu Ming had been lying on... He'd even knocked a few loose when he sat up!

I'd rather be this useless couch potato!

"I suddenly feel like a person's fate is decided the moment they're born..." Kyon sighed deeply. He now wanted to lift that accursed sofa cushion and see just how many of those "marbles" were hidden beneath it—the kind of "marbles" that made "poor people" like him want to rob the place!

"You... How is that possible?" After making sure he really was awake, Jiu Ming stared in disbelief at the displeased girl standing before him with her hands on her hips. This was their second meeting. In theory, a second meeting should have been absolutely impossible!!

"How did you end up here again... and in a group!?"

"Heh heh! Through sheer perseverance, of course!!" As she said this, Jiu Ming noticed the others behind her looking immensely relieved. It seemed they'd had a rough time lately.

Who knew how many times a day they'd had to open doors, climb up and down stairs, and run through all sorts of strange places... Ha, he almost felt sorry for them.