"Other larger shops do take Earth currency, but not here," Lysana replied, not showing a hint of hesitation about her stance. "And you do have things of value. In your bag, I can sense something valuable."
"No wonder you approached me," Zane uttered. Removing his backpack, he retrieved the large crystal and placed it on the counter. However, when Lysana reached in, he retreated, forcing her to roll her eyes.
"I won't take your things. There are rules I have to follow."
"I'm glad to hear that," Zane nodded, but he showed no sign of removing his hands from the crystal. Lysana groaned softly, her annoyance evident. However, after seeing Zane's nonchalant gaze, she begrudgingly retrieved a magnifying glass with runes on its handle to observe the crystal.
"A wind-tiger beast core, and its soul is relatively intact. Its market price is 18 mana crystals, but I can offer you 20."
Zane had a deadpan expression on his face, acting as if her words meant nothing.
"Not satisfied? I don't think any shops will give you a better price."
"First of all, what is a Beast Core?"
"I forgot that most of you guys are still ignorant," Lysana muttered, but Zane could still hear her. However, he was not going to offer an opinion since she was correct.
"Once a magical beast dies, a rare phenomenon can occur in which all their mana and soul are condensed into a physical state — the beast core."
"What's its use?"
"Too many to count," Lysana replied. "After being processed, the mana can be directly absorbed. The core can also be used in alchemy, potions, and numerous other professions. And I won't mention the value of a soul; just know, there is never enough."
"As expected, Mages also require resources," Zane thought. From her words, he deduced that there are ways to speed up meditation, and absorbing the processed beast core is one of them. With enough money, a mage could probably buy plenty of these things to assist their training.
"How rare is the beast core?" Zane asked
"Low-level magical beasts have only a 20% chance of condensing a core."
"It seems I'm quite lucky."
Lysana sighed, "Indeed. It's a shame your ignorance made you miss out on a great opportunity."
"What do you mean?"
"Every part of a magical beast is valuable," Lysana explained. "Their skin can be used to make magic scrolls. Their blood is the key ingredient for rune ink. Their tendons can make powerful bows. Their meat and organs can be processed into magic food, and their skeletons are sought after by Necromancers, puppeteers, and even summoners. One corpse is enough to bring you a couple of dozen magic crystals and hundreds of gold coins."
"A shame indeed," Zane sighed. The idea of losing so many resources pained him, but he swiftly calmed down. Life is all about learning from failures and countless experiences. Today, he failed to fully utilize the value of the wind-tiger, but this will not be the case the next time he hunts another magical creature.
"Can you tell me the value of magic crystals? Without any reference, I can't tell whether you've offered me a good price or not."
"The tower's official price for 1 low-grade magic crystal is 1000US dollars."
"Are you saying I can buy magic crystals with Earth currency?"
"Yes, but only 100 per month."
"That's only 100,000$, which is not much for people who are truly wealthy," Zane thought. His fears were coming true; wealthy individuals will still have the advantage.
"What makes the mana crystal so valuable?"
"They are the purest form of mana," Lysana revealed.
"You can absorb it?"
"Among many things," she nodded. The use of mana crystals is too many to count, so she didn't plan on elaborating further. Picking up on her intention, Zane asked something else: "Can I see the gold coins you used?"'
"You're wasting a lot of my time. Are you going to buy something?"
"Since you've indulged all my questions, I don't see why not." Zane didn't know whether the price this mage gave him was the best, but since she was so patient and explained everything, he would not mind even if he suffered a little bit.
"That's more like it," Lysana nodded. Taking out a small bag from one of the many pockets of her robe, she retrieved a gold coin. Zane felt something was odd about the bag, but his attention was soon drawn by the coin. One side contained the engraving of a tower — which looked as imposing even on a coin — and the other an insignia of the face of a red dragon. Zane bit the coin.
"High purity," he thought.
"What's the worth of 1 coin in US dollars?"
"100$."
"So 10 gold coins can buy 1 magic crystal?"
"No."
Zane looked at her. Either his math was wrong — which it was not — or this woman was playing with him.
"Magic crystal — even the lowest grade used by apprentices — is a rare and strategic material. You would need at least 170 gold coins to buy one in the official market and even more in the unofficial one."
"Doesn't that mean it's better to use US dollars or Earth currency?"
"Yes," Lysana nodded before sneering. "However, I can tell you the current exchange exists only as a transition period. It won't be long before the tower only accepts gold, magic crystal, or other minerals and resources as exchange."
"It sounds like mages value gold and other earth minerals, but why is that? Shouldn't they be interested in magical ores? Or is there no such thing?" Zane asked with a frown. After hearing about her words, he couldn't help but think of resource extraction. Earth doesn't have magic crystals, but a great deal of gold. Through this system, the tower will be able to extract a lot of resources from the planet.
"Ordinary ores can be transformed into magical ores by Alchemists," Lysana explained. "Silver can turn into mythril, and gold can turn into divine gold. Both these magical ores are precious due to their high mana conductivity, high density, durability, and malleability. They are used in almost every aspect of any magical civilization."
"I'm right. While the tower is preparing us for the invasion, they have the power to extract resources from this dimension. However, their methods seemed highly inefficient, requiring exchange and price manipulation. Is this because of some rule?" Zane thought.
"Can I mine gold and turn it into coins myself?"
"Yes, but only if they meet our standards," Lysana nodded.
Zane was slightly surprised by this answer. It makes sense for the tower to accept coins created by Earthlings if his theory about them extracting resources is true. However, he thought the tower would request direct access and mining rights to these gold mines, and in exchange, Earthlings would receive a certain percentage in shares, most likely paid in coins.
"There must be rules to restrict them. Otherwise, even if they didn't directly invade and take these resources, they should have plenty of ways to manipulate the situation and force every government to hand them over," Zane analyzed.
The history of colonialism has proven time and time again that the people will use any means necessary to extract resources. And with the tower having utter military dominance over Earth, it would be normal for them to be more forceful in their approach. The only reason they haven't is probably that some rules or a higher power is stopping them.
"Gold and silver are about to become even more valuable," Zane muttered. From jewelry to electrical connectors used in all computerized devices, gold has become a multi-billion-dollar industry. Now, with the arrival of the tower, there will be even more demand.
"You're quite sharp," Lysana muttered, giving him a knowing glance. "Anyway, do we have a deal on the Beast Core?"
"Sure."
"Excellent," she smiled before reaching under the counter to retrieve 20 blue crystals or stones the size of a pigeon egg. Lysana meticulously placed them in a bag the size of a palm before handing it to Zane.
"One stone has such a great amount of mana?" Zane thought. According to a brief calculation, one stone has enough mana comparable to a week of meditation. Moreover, the mana naturally floated into his body with such ease — albeit at a slow rate. "As long as I leave these stones next to me, my mana capacity will naturally increase. Then, how effective would meditation be using these stones?"
"Would you like to buy something else?"
Zane woke up from his thoughts. Now that he was here, it may not be a bad thing to check out the market and discover what kind of resources mages need. However, as he glanced around, he could only complain how poor he was. Technically speaking, 20 mana crystals meant $20,000. However, the cheapest thing in this store costs 5 crystals.
"I really don't know what to buy," Zane thought as he observed even things in his budget. So, he glanced at Lysana and asked: "What do you suggest?" When in doubt, ask someone who knows more. Zane was long past his arrogance days when he believed he knew better than everybody else.
"Hmm?" Lysana muttered softly, not expecting the latter to ask for her advice. "Let me think: your current priority should be to increase your mana capacity. However, the cheapest Meditation Potion costs 57 mana crystals. In that case, you need a way to make money. With your current magical knowledge, it's impossible to learn a profession, leaving the fighting arena or the hunting guild.
"Either of these methods requires a decent mastery of spells and equipment. Spells are too expensive, and it's best to acquire them through the official program. That leaves one thing." Lysana walked to a corner of the shop to pick up a long, brown staff more than five feet tall.
"Try this. I can offer you a 2 mana crystal discount."