Spider Serum

Gemini had no intention of selling brooms—at least, not for now.

An eleven-year-old boy suddenly trying to sell the fastest Flying Broomsticks in the world to the owner of the Quidditch Emporium was far too outrageous no matter how one looked at it. Not only would it be impossible to explain, but it would also easily attract the attention of people with ulterior motives.

The wizarding world itself did not have a large population, and Flying Broomsticks were something only the wealthy could afford. Same old problem: too few people, too small a market.

Likewise, he had no intention of buying a broom.

He did not even want to buy the brooms in the Weapon Shop. To him, they were quite expensive. The money he had needed to be spent where it mattered. He did not mind buying snacks or clothes, but brooms were simply too costly. He had no plans to buy one anytime soon.

And the most crucial point was currency.

Products in the Weapon Shop could be paid for with any form of currency. The shop adjusted its prices accordingly based on the social conditions and purchasing power of the currency in the world where it was located.

That meant Gemini could use Pounds Sterling to buy Flying Broomsticks, but in Diagon Alley, he could only use Gold Galleons. And there was a limit to how many Gold Galleons he could exchange for.

He wandered aimlessly through Diagon Alley as the crowds flowed around him, the streets bustling with life.

But whether it was lively or not was secondary to Gemini. What he cared about most was whether there was any way to make money.

Unfortunately, given his current circumstances—there was not.

He then returned to The Leaky Cauldron in disappointment.

There was still over a month until school started. Gemini felt that he ought to start considering how to make some money now. At the very least, he needed to earn a sum before school began.

Just because there were no suitable business opportunities in Diagon Alley did not mean there were none in Muggle society.

It was not as if he had not considered taking a look around places like Knockturn Alley, but it was still too early for him. Who knew what strange methods those shady Dark Wizards possessed?

After thinking it over, Gemini ultimately decided to make Muggle money.

He did not want to keep making small-time deals like before. This time, he planned to sell some real weapons.

But even if his trading partners were Muggles, he could not afford to let his guard down. Gemini still felt he should make thorough preparations before acting. Strength was important, sure, but a flexible mind was the true foundation for survival.

Gemini did not intend to treat magic as his trump card. After all, underage wizards had the Trace on them. Any spell they used would alert the Ministry of Magic. While the rule forbidding underage wizards from using magic did not apply to students before they started school, that did not mean the Ministry would not know.

If he really used something like the Killing Curse, the Ministry of Magic would surely come knocking right away and invite him to vacation in Azkaban.

Since magic was out of the question, Gemini could only start with the Weapon Shop.

He only had a little over twelve thousand Pounds Sterling. That amount could not buy much, so he had to carefully consider what to purchase. The most suitable options were still skill-type products.

Skill-type products could be divided into three categories: learning-type, inheritance-type, and empowerment-type.

For example, if Gemini wanted to learn the Killing Curse.

The learning-type version would be a skill book. Whether he could learn it or not depended entirely on himself.

The inheritance-type version would directly instill the contents of that skill book into his mind and help him learn it immediately. However, he would only gain a basic grasp of the skill. It was merely a starting point, and he would have to walk the rest of the road himself.

The empowerment-type version would directly grant him a complete understanding and full mastery, immediately bringing him to the peak level.

Among the three categories, learning-type was the cheapest, inheritance-type came next, and empowerment-type was the most expensive.

Furthermore, what one learned would produce different effects depending on one's physical condition. For instance, Gemini had previously bought an inheritance-type Six Powers for one thousand Pounds Sterling. When he tried using Soru from the Six Powers, his leg cramped up.

He had not bought any skills since then.

Among the products currently available, there were three that were both the best value and the most tempting: the empowerment-type Genin Gift Package, the Spider Serum, and the Super Soldier Serum.

The eight-thousand-Pounds-Sterling Genin Gift Package included: Genin-level Chakra, refined Chakra extraction technique, Three Body Technique, and basic Shurikenjutsu.

Gemini found this Genin Gift Package especially vexing.

Shouldn't a Genin Gift Package contain Nine-Tails Chakra, a Sage Body, the Rinnegan, and Yin-Yang Release?

Did this Weapon Shop have some kind of misunderstanding about what a Genin was?

Eight thousand Pounds Sterling was the highest price among the three. That was no small sum.

As for the Spider Serum and the Super Soldier Serum, they were ability serums belonging to Spider-Man and Captain America.

The Spider Serum cost four thousand Pounds Sterling, while the Super Soldier Serum cost only two thousand.

That price referred not to research and development costs, but production costs.

After all, there was no reason to make a single customer bear the manufacturer's enormous research expenses. A car dealership could not exactly tell someone buying a car, "Please cover this vehicle's research costs as well. That'll be twenty million dollars, thank you~"

If research costs were included, perhaps even one million Pounds Sterling would not be enough to buy a Super Soldier Serum.

And the reason the two differed in price by a factor of two was not because the Super Soldier Serum was inferior to the Spider Serum.

The Spider Serum worked at the genetic level, enhancing the user by reshaping their genes. The Super Soldier Serum, on the other hand, made one stronger by drawing out one's own potential.

One had greater room for growth, while the other had less. For eleven-year-old Gemini, even if his potential were squeezed dry, it would not increase his abilities by much.

Most importantly, excessively drawing out his potential might even affect his future physical development.

So the two things Gemini wanted most right now were the Genin Gift Package and the Spider Serum, but he was having trouble choosing.

In terms of immediate effects, the Spider Serum would give him a stronger and more noticeable boost in power.

But the Genin Gift Package's value lay in one thing—it could grow.

As Gemini's body matured and his abilities improved, his Chakra reserves could absolutely be raised through training to the level of a Chunin, or even a Jonin. From a long-term perspective, the Genin Gift Package was more suitable.

So Gemini bought the Spider Serum without hesitation.

He was not short-sighted, but if he could not even solve the problems in front of him, he had no right to talk about long-term goals.

After spending four thousand Pounds Sterling on a Spider Serum, he could still spend another eighty Pounds Sterling on two Web-Shooters.

The transparent glass tube was filled with pale red liquid. Gemini stared at the vial in his hand, feeling somewhat hesitant.

Though it was called a serum, according to the Weapon Shop, its effect was essentially the same as Peter Parker being bitten by a spider.

Did he really want to inject this strange-looking liquid into his body?

Gritting his teeth, Gemini plunged the syringe into his arm.

"Perhaps this is what they mean by seeking wealth amid danger..."

A faint sheen of sweat appeared on Gemini's forehead. He was a little nervous. As the medicine entered his body, the veins on his forearm bulged almost instantly.

Then, a thick layer of cold sweat broke out all over his body. Dizziness and nausea followed one after another. Gemini staggered over and braced himself against the edge of the bed, but after holding on for a dozen seconds, his eyes rolled back and he collapsed onto it.

Several minutes later, the bulging veins on Gemini's arm gradually subsided.

On the soft bed, Gemini's face carried a trace of anxiety and pain. He occasionally muttered something under his breath. About an hour later, his breathing finally became completely steady.

(Here is an explanation of the Weapon Shop's pricing in this story.

All weapons sold by the Weapon Shop that have manufacturing costs are priced according to those manufacturing costs. As for things without manufacturing costs, such as Devil Fruits, their prices are adjusted appropriately based on the market value in their respective worlds and the purchasing power of their currencies.

Research and development costs are not considered; only manufacturing costs are.

In other words, even if you spent one hundred million developing a handgun, if each handgun cost fifty to make, the shop would sell it for sixty or seventy. That one hundred million in research funding has absolutely nothing to do with the Weapon Shop.

It is easy to understand. If I sell a car, I cannot ask my customers to cover the research costs for that model, can I?

For example, some readers mentioned The Elder Wand and the Firebolt, saying that their inherent values were unequal, yet The Elder Wand only cost nine Gold Galleons.

As mentioned above, the cost of The Elder Wand was Elder Wand wood from a riverbank, a Thestral tail hair, and the Grim Reaper's craftsmanship fee, totaling nine Gold Galleons—because that was the market price range.

Whether considering its cost or the market price of wands in that world, it was worth around that amount. It would not stop being treated as a wand just because it was powerful. Even if it was a wand made by the Grim Reaper, it could not escape the fact that it was still a wand.

The Firebolt's price was also easy to understand. Goblins' craftsmanship had always been expensive on the market. How expensive? All Gold Galleons were made by goblins, and Gryffindor's sword was forged by goblins as well. Add in the market price of Flying Broomsticks, and that was its price.

The Weapon Shop was only responsible for selling goods. It did not consider the meaning or significance of a weapon itself, pricing it only according to cost or approximate market value. In Britain in the early 1990s, an ordinary handgun could be bought for just over thirty Pounds Sterling, roughly the same price as The Elder Wand, because in Muggle society, where there was demand for it, that was about what its cost and market value were.)