Spider Serum

Gemini had no intention of selling broomsticks – not at least for now.

The idea of an eleven-year-old boy suddenly trying to hawk the world's fastest flying broomsticks to the owner of a Quidditch emporium was, to say the least, too preposterous to explain and too likely to attract unwanted attention from unscrupulous individuals.

The wizarding world itself had a small population, and flying broomsticks were only affordable for the wealthy. Again, the population was too small, and the market too limited.

Similarly, he had no intention of buying a broomstick.

He didn't even want to buy a broomstick from the weapons shop. For him right now, it was too expensive. The money he had on hand naturally needed to be spent wisely. He didn't mind spending on snacks and clothes, but buying a broomstick was still too costly. He had no plans to buy one in the short term.

And the most crucial point was: currency.

The items in the weapons shop could be paid for with any form of currency. The shop adjusted prices accordingly based on the social conditions and purchasing power of the currency in the respective world.

This meant Gemini could buy a flying broomstick with British Pounds, but in Diagon Alley, he could only use Galleons, and there was a limit to the exchange amount of Galleons.

He wandered aimlessly through Diagon Alley, the crowds coming and going around him, a lively scene.

However, for Gemini, whether it was lively or not was secondary. What he cared about most was whether there was a way to make money.

Unfortunately, given his current situation – there wasn't.

Then, dejected, he returned to The Leaky Cauldron.

With over a month left before school started, Gemini felt he should really consider earning some money. At least before school began, he should make a bit.

Just because there were no suitable business opportunities in Diagon Alley didn't mean the Muggle society didn't have any.

It wasn't that he hadn't considered checking out shady places like Knockturn Alley, but it was still too early for him. Who knew what strange methods those unsavory dark wizards employed.

After much thought, Gemini decided to earn Muggle money.

He didn't want to dabble in small ventures like before. This time, he planned to sell some real weaponry.

However, even though his trading partners were Muggles, he couldn't afford to be careless. Gemini still felt he should be fully prepared before taking action. Strength was important, yes, but a sharp mind was the foundation of survival.

Gemini didn't plan to use Magic as his trump card. After all, underage wizards had trace spells on them. If he used any spells, the Ministry of Magic would react. Although the rule that underage wizards couldn't use Magic didn't apply to students before they enrolled, it didn't mean the Ministry of Magic was unaware.

If he were to use something like the Killing Curse, the Ministry of Magic would definitely come knocking on his door to invite him for a vacation in Azkaban.

Since Magic couldn't be used, Gemini had no choice but to start with the weapons shop.

He only had a little over £12,000 on hand. This amount could buy limited items, so he had to consider carefully what to purchase. The most suitable items would be skill-based goods.

Skill-based goods could be divided into three major categories: learning, inheritance, and direct infusion.

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

The learning type would be a skill book, and whether he could learn it would depend entirely on himself.

The inheritance type would directly implant the skill book into his mind, helping him learn it directly. However, it would only provide a basic grasp of the skill, serving as a starting point, and the rest of the journey would be up to him.

The direct infusion type would help him understand it thoroughly and master it completely, reaching peak proficiency.

Among the three categories, the learning type was the cheapest, inheritance was second, and direct infusion was the most expensive.

Furthermore, the acquired skills would produce different effects depending on one's physical condition. For instance, Gemini had previously purchased an inheritance-type Six Powers, costing £1,000, and then tried using 'Soru' from the Six Powers, resulting in a leg cramp.

After that, he hadn't bought any more skills.

From the currently available options, the three most practical and enticing items were: the direct infusion Genin Gift Package, and the product-type Spider Serum and Super Soldier Serum.

The Genin Gift Package, priced at £8,000, included: Genin-level Chakra, Refined Chakra Extraction Technique, Three Body Technique, and Basic Shurikenjutsu.

Regarding this Genin Gift Package, Gemini felt quite perplexed.

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

This weapons shop must have a misunderstanding of what a Genin is!

£8,000 was the highest among these three, which was not a small sum.

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

The Spider Serum cost £4,000, while the Super Soldier Serum was only £2,000.

This price referred to the cost price, not the research and development cost.

After all, it was unreasonable for a single customer to bear the manufacturer's enormous research expenses. A 4S dealership couldn't possibly say to a car buyer: "Please bear the research expenses for this car, totaling twenty million US dollars, thank you~"

If it were the R&D price, then perhaps £1 million wouldn't even buy one Super Soldier Serum.

The reason the prices differed by a factor of two wasn't that the Super Soldier Serum was inferior to the Spider Serum.

The Spider Serum acted on a genetic level, enhancing the body by reshaping genes, while the Super Soldier Serum strengthened the user by unlocking their inherent potential.

One had higher room for growth, while the other had lower room for growth. For Gemini, who was only eleven years old, even exhausting his potential wouldn't bring about significant improvements.

The most crucial point was that over-exploiting one's potential might even affect future physical development.

Therefore, Gemini was most tempted by the Genin Gift Package and the Spider Serum, but he was having trouble choosing.

In terms of effects, the Spider Serum would provide a more potent and noticeable increase in strength for him at the moment.

But the value of the Genin Gift Package lay in the fact that it was scalable.

As Gemini's body grew and his abilities improved, his Chakra reserves could completely increase to Chunin or even Jonin levels through his own training. In the long run, the Genin Gift Package seemed more suitable.

So, Gemini unhesitatingly purchased the Spider Serum.

He wasn't exactly shortsighted, but if he couldn't even handle the current situation, he wouldn't be qualified to talk about long-term goals.

For four thousand Galleons, he could buy a Spider Serum, and then spend another eighty Galleons on two Web-Shooters.

Inside the transparent glass tube was a pale red liquid. Gemini looked at the reagent in his hand, feeling a bit hesitant.

While it was called a serum, according to the weapon shop, it was the same as the effect Peter Parker got from being bitten by a spider.

Should he inject this bizarre-looking liquid into his body or not?

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

"They say fortune favors the bold... perhaps that's me?"

Gemini's forehead was beaded with sweat. He was a little nervous. As the serum entered his body, his forearm veins bulged almost instantly.

Immediately after, he broke out in a heavy cold sweat, followed by dizziness and nausea. Stumbling, he grabbed the edge of the bed. After holding on for about ten seconds, Gemini's eyelids finally rolled back, and he fainted on the bed.

A few minutes later, the bulging veins on Gemini's arm slowly subsided.

On the soft, large bed, Gemini's face showed a hint of anxiety and pain. He occasionally mumbled something softly. About an hour later, Gemini's breathing finally stabilized completely.

(A note on the pricing of the weapon shop in this book.

Weapons sold in the weapon shop that have manufacturing costs are all priced according to their manufacturing cost. For those without manufacturing costs, like Devil Fruits, the prices are adjusted appropriately based on the market price and currency purchasing power in their respective worlds.

Furthermore, research and development costs are not considered, only manufacturing costs.

In other words, even if you spend a hundred million to develop a handgun, and each handgun costs fifty yuan to manufacture, the shop will sell it for sixty or seventy yuan. The hundred million in R&D funds has nothing to do with the weapon shop.

This is easy to understand. I sell cars, but you can't say I'm making my customers pay for the car's R&D expenses, right?

Another point some readers bring up is the Elder Wand and the Firebolt, saying their values are not equivalent, yet the Elder Wand only costs nine Galleons.

As mentioned above, the cost of the Elder Wand is a rowan branch from by the river, a single Thestral tail hair, and the Grim Reaper's craftsmanship fee, totaling nine Galleons—because that's within the market price range.

Considering both its cost and its market price in this world, it's around that price. It's not that because it has powerful abilities, it's no longer considered a wand. Even a wand made by the Grim Reaper cannot escape the fact that it is a wand.

The price of the Firebolt is also easy to understand. Goblin craftsmanship has always been expensive in the market. How expensive? All Gold Galleons are made by Goblins, and the Sword of Gryffindor was also forged by Goblins. Coupled with the market price of flying broomsticks, that's its price.

The weapon shop is only responsible for selling goods; it doesn't consider the intrinsic meaning of the weapon, only pricing it based on cost or approximate market price. In the early 1990s in Britain, a normal handgun could be bought for over thirty pounds, similar to the price of the Elder Wand, because in the Muggle society where there was demand, its cost and market value were roughly the same.)