A Snail's Wisdom 4 A Good Deal

Wise Man Satos.h.i.+'s' Shop

Satos.h.i.+ Maru, also known as Wise Man Satos.h.i.+, sold various goods and snacks. Additionally, he served as a sort-of information agent. If you need to find a person, place or want to know what's the recent gossip around town, ask Wise Man Satos.h.i.+.

Kenja took the basket off his head and walked into the store. He carried it toward the counter where Satos.h.i.+ was conversing with a young man.

"Yes, she will be pa.s.sing through here tomorrow. I hear she will be attending this year's entrance exam. It starts an hour past noon, so she will most likely pa.s.s through here several hours beforehand. So if you wish to catch a look, you'd best come early. Otherwise, you'll be stuck standing behind everyone else and miss her."

The customer grabbed his chin and appeared to ponder over how early he should arrive the next day.

"If you would like, I can reserve you a spot on my store's front porch." Satos.h.i.+ gestured to the customer by rubbing his thumb and fingers together.

The excited customer, who could only be one or two years older than Kenja, confirmed their implicit understanding by placing a few coins on the counter without making a sound.

"Thank you, Satos.h.i.+-san. I will see you tomorrow." He clasped his hands in grat.i.tude and bowed before walking out of the store.

Satos.h.i.+ began counting the coins as he picked them up one-by-one.

"Who's coming tomorrow, Satos.h.i.+-san?"

Satos.h.i.+ finished counting the coins and looked at Kenja.

"Oh, it's just you Kenja. Don't surprise your elders like that!"

"It was unintentional Satos.h.i.+-san. My apologies. So…who is coming tomorrow?"

Satos.h.i.+ paused for a few seconds showing a slight hesitation before answering. "Princess Ryu will be pa.s.sing through here on her way to the Flowing River Sect. She intends to cultivate there. In fact, I've heard she has already reached the pinnacle of the Body Tempering stage."

The Body Tempering stage was the first stage of cultivation that one must break through before being considered a 'cultivator'. It involved strengthening the body's muscles and bones to the extent that they could contain Qi without breaking down, thereby increasing one's sensitivity and resonance with the universe's energy. Those with a keen sense for Qi were able to temper their bodies more quickly, and those with tempered bodies could grasp the concept of 'Qi' more easily.

Only after one surpa.s.sed the Body Tempering stage could they be considered cultivators walking the path to Immortality. Until then, they were regular mortals like Satos.h.i.+-san and Kenja.

Kenja grinned at the thought of becoming a sect disciple before the princess. He could then use his seniority to help him befriend an affluent junior. How great would that be?

Having sensed his thoughts, Satos.h.i.+ rolled his eyes. "Are you sure you should be grinning? You've failed the exam two dozen times already."

"Nineteen!"

"You are right. You've only failed nineteen times. Indeed, why was I worried?" Satos.h.i.+'s sarcasm was quite heavy.

Kenja's forehead creased at Satos.h.i.+'s words as if frowning at his implication. "Just for that, you must pay 15 silver coins for every jin."

Satos.h.i.+'s staggered at Kenja's declaration. "That's triple the normal price! Don't let a few teasing words ruin your business sense! Why do you think I will buy from you today when you're being so unreasonable?"

Kenja stared at Satos.h.i.+ with lucid eyes and a charming smile. His disposition became more mature and scholarly, and he placed his hands behind his back in a dignified manner.

'Oh no…' Satos.h.i.+'s eye twitched as he panicked at this sight.

"I have seventeen reasons for you. Are you sure you want me to name them?"

Satos.h.i.+ grimaced at his words. This was not the first time he had seen this pattern, but he persevered, intent on forcing Kenja's hand. "Go on and list them."

"Firstly, I know you haven't bought any normal spirit stones for the past month. Your establishment runs almost entirely on my crushed fragments, so without these stones, you cannot power your cooking tools until you find your previous supplier who is probably still upset with you for switching to my product."

Although spirit tools were meant for those who delve in Qi and cultivation, some households contained one or two low-end spirit tools that were used for their craft or recreation. Satos.h.i.+ himself used his tools to cook many of his goods. Without them, his supply would run out and he wouldn't be able to keep the shop open.

"Secondly, even if you were able to obtain a supplier for your spirit stone needs, it would still cost you five times this price for the same effect, and you know it."

Low-tier spirit stones were not an ordinary commodity. Their use was severely limited in a mortal's hands. a.s.suming one had a tool that required spirit stones, they were still hard-to-find and expensive to buy in bulk. Cultivators held a majority of the spirit stones, and they rarely needed mortal currency or goods. For them, their spirit stones were much more valuable than anything Satos.h.i.+ could offer them. The few suppliers that could procure them were either low-end cultivators that had yet to abstain from worldly desires or powerful mortals with a good amount of influence and backing.

"Thirdly, I am probably the only supplier of crushed spirit stones in the world."

Kenja's words were mostly correct.

Low-tier spirit stones were incredibly resilient. Forget crus.h.i.+ng them, just chipping these stones was an impossible task for mortals and most cultivators. Only an individual who had advanced high enough as a cultivator would be able to crush low-tier spirit stones in this manner. But once one reached such a level, they would have no reason to break or sell spirit stones in such a way, creating the paradox: those who can use them, can't produce them, and those who can produce them, won't use them.

If Kenja had not enticed Vice Elder s.h.i.+rou every morning with target practice, Satos.h.i.+ would have no way of procuring these crushed stones.

"Fourthly, you understand the effectiveness of these crushed spirit stones better than anyone. Normal spirit stones can't compare."

When a spirit tool utilized the power of a regular spirit stone, it did not use all of the spirit stone's Qi. In fact, it was no secret that low-end spirit tools would harness only around 60% of its Qi. Through experimentation and comparison with Satsohi-san's previous supply of spirit stones, Kenja figured out that an increase in surface area from the crushed spirit stones allowed the tools to absorb up to 85% of the Qi inside the spirit stones. The leftover energy would either be lost in the process or remain unsalvageable within the fragments.

By the same logic, a cup of warm water filled with big ice cubes would cool down more slowly than a cup with crushed ice. Spirit tools had a much easier time collecting Qi from the crushed spirit stones, and Satos.h.i.+ began buying from Kenja after seeing these results.

Truthfully, Kenja wondered if crus.h.i.+ng the stones into smaller and smaller pieces would improve their absorption, but he doubted whether the vice elder would willingly start throwing powdered sand at him.

"Fifthly..."

"Alright, alright. Stop!" Satos.h.i.+ interjected exasperatedly.

"But…I wasn't done!" Kenja furrowed his brows and frowned at being stopped prematurely.

"It's fine, I understand. Let's just complete the transaction, okay?" Satos.h.i.+ rolled his eyes once more after turning around to fetch the weighing device.

"Cheer up, Satos.h.i.+-san. It may look like I am taking advantage of you, but in truth, I am doing you a favor."

Satos.h.i.+ was intrigued. "And how is that?"

"Because you've been selling my stock for triple my price. 15 silver for each jin. Now you can triple the new price and sell for 45 silver. And if anyone asks why you raised the price, you can tell them I am charging you more. If they ask me, I will confirm it with your favorite motto, 'Wise Man Satos.h.i.+ never lies!'"

Satos.h.i.+ was shocked hearing Kenja's advice. It was not a secret that he sold Kenja's stock to other store owners and customers, but it did not occur to him to raise the price by the same factor. Instead of profiting ten silver a jin, he would profit thirty silver, and no one could complain. Everyone knew Kenja had a monopoly on these fragments.

"Not only that, but the princess will be pa.s.sing by your store tomorrow. Business will be booming, so naturally, no one can fault you for raising your prices in antic.i.p.ation of the crowd she will bring." Kenja winked at Satos.h.i.+.

Satos.h.i.+ chuckled while shaking his head in disbelief. "You've come a long way from the little boy who used to swipe bread from my shelves. I can no longer tell who is the wise one anymore."

He pointed at his shelves with his thumb.

"Feel free to take as much food with you as you want. My treat!"

Kenja smiled at Satos.h.i.+ before clasping his hands and bowing.