Money.
It was currently Soren's number one problem.
At first, he hadn't been worried about money thanks to his status as a noble, and a Count at that.
But only a month later did Soren find out that he was an abandoned child; thus, he was unable to get any support from his family.
There was also the fact that after the letter and meeting with Louise, he was even more hesitant to reach out to the Arden family.
Due to these factors, he began saving all his money in case of any future problems that might arise.
Luckily, he wasn't entirely broke.
Stellaris Academy provides students with a modest amount of funds each semester for daily living expenses.
Still, the amount is so minuscule that there is little to no money left over after covering these necessities.
In TKS, the amount of gold required to completely max out a fresh character was roughly 3 million.
In Ivansia, however, 3 million gold was about a third of the amount that the entire kingdom of Fialova made in a single year.
Beyond that, currency here was split into more than just gold.
Instead, it went like so:
Copper → Silver → Gold → Platinum
100 Copper = 1 Silver
100 Silver = 1 Gold
100 Gold = 1 Platinum
How much money did Soren currently have on hand?
5 silver and 30 copper.
On the surface, it was a decent amount, enough for a couple of months of living expenses, but there was almost nothing left over after that.
What was the solution to this?
Soren grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, then started scribbling down the thoughts circling in his brain.
After a few days of heavy thought, there were three main ways to make money that Soren had come up with.
1 - Working
2 - Dungeon Diving
3 - Game Knowledge
The first idea, working.
Soren was strongly opposed to this idea for obvious reasons.
Not only would this drastically reduce the time he could devote to improving his stats and skills, but he also simply didn't like the idea of working this early into his transmigration.
There was also the fact that it was an implausible option in any case.
At Stellaris Academy, students are permitted to hold part-time jobs, but they must first obtain permission from their class's professor.
In the first place, that option was primarily available for students from more modest backgrounds who had to support their families or simply needed more financial assistance; a noble working a commoner's job would be seen as a disgrace to their family.
'Not that I really care.'
After finding out about Sofia Arden's actions, he had already given up on caring about his noble status, essentially thinking of himself as a slightly more fortunate commoner, so if he were desperate, he would still get a part-time job no matter how people looked at him.
For now, though, it wasn't an option he wanted to consider, so he scribbled it out and moved on.
Next was exploring dungeons.
Thanks to TKS and his unique skill working in synergy, he knew an obscene amount of dungeon locations, many of which were still undiscovered at this point in time, but at this moment, that information was essentially useless.
He could go and report some of the dungeons he knew for short-term profit, but doing so would not only give away all the items and experience he could gain but also make Alex weaker as a side effect.
If Soren were strong enough, he would've chosen this option without hesitation.
But alas, he was still only a class F student.
If he had a party, he thought there might be a chance of clearing some of the early-game dungeons he knew about, but the only people he knew were Felix, Lilliana and Louise.
On the surface, they were all powerful people, but to Soren, that was the problem.
Because they were so strong, Soren would hardly be able to do anything in the dungeons.
While someone like Louise may not, being family, it would be stupid to expect Felix or even Lilliana not to ask for more rewards when essentially carrying him.
There was also the fact that if he got carried, he wouldn't be able to make use of one of the main reasons for exploring dungeons in the first place, which was gaining experience.
All of this left him with the final option on the paper in front of him.
– Game Knowledge
Using his knowledge of TKS.
There were many ways to do this, thanks to the vast amount of content in the game, but there were two major ones at the moment.
Stocks and Gambling.
By going to the guild exchange, you could buy stocks for specific guilds or knight orders and depending on the progress of the story, they would fall or rise.
There was a considerable risk in this, thanks to the inability to predict it, but Soren already had a solution to mitigate the risk.
[Library of Memories]
He had already completely memorised every stock that would rise or fall and at what point in the story they would do so.
Ultimately, stocks proved to be a very safe option, but there was still an issue even there.
'I don't have enough money.'
Although stocks were an easy way for Soren to make money, they also required a lot of time and initial capital to get started, which led him to explore another easy way to make money.
Gambling.
Being a gacha game, there was already a lot of gambling in TKS, but for some unexplainable reason, the developers decided to add an entire side story based on gambling dens, which unlocked the ability to raise familiars you obtained during your time at the academy and have them participate in minigames to bet on.
Obviously, Soren lacked familiars, but that didn't matter in this case.
He wasn't in a game where he was locked behind requirements to access areas; nothing was stopping him from going to the gambling den and using his memories to bet on the winning familiars.
'Which location should I go to, though?'
"Hmm…"
After a few moments of thought, Soren abruptly stood up, took a cloak from his inventory and put it on before leaving his dorm room.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
"Come back soon, honey."
The mature-looking woman waved as she turned to re-enter the building.
"Of cour—"
His words stopped as he made eye contact with someone he recognised.
"..."
"..."
Standing before him was a familiar person to Felix.
It was a boy who at first glance could easily be mistaken for a girl, with pure-white hair and warm red eyes.
Soren looked at Felix for a moment before looking at the building behind him.
A sign caught Soren's attention, and he read it aloud.
"Mother's Bakery…"
"..."
Felix stood there, trying to figure out what to say, profusely sweating as Soren began piecing everything together.
"Listen… Soren…"
"Uh-huh..?"
"Is- Is this even something I can explain..?"
Soren grinned as he spoke his following words.
"So did you enjoy your time at Mother's Bakery?"
The moment those words left his mouth, Felix covered his flushed face.
"Please… forget about this…"
'This is fun.'
Soren couldn't help but smirk seeing Felix so deflated for once.
In all honesty, he didn't care about what Felix had been doing; they were both adults after all, but he couldn't help himself from making fun of his friend for going to such an embarrassing place.
Then, as if realising something, Felix sprang back to life.
"Wait, what are you doing here, Soren?"
Soren found it difficult to hold back the laugh that was threatening to spill at Felix's desperate attempt to change the conversation.
"I'm here to gamble, obviously."
The place that Soren and Felix were both standing in was a red-light district, not too far from Stellaris Academy.
Of course, such an area was shunned by the haughty nobles that attended the academy, but that didn't mean the red-light district itself was unpopular.
Usually, however, Soren wouldn't even set foot in such a location; he wasn't a prude or anything of the sort, he just wasn't a fan of the services offered personally.
"...Why do you sound so proud of that?"
"Well, it's better than being found walking out of a brothel called Mother's Bakery, isn't it?"
"...Fine, whatever."
"Heh."
Soren pulled the pocket watch from his inventory and checked the time before turning back to Felix.
"I'm off then, have fun—"
But just as he was about to start walking, a thought came to mind.
He looked at Felix once more and then asked him.
"—Wanna come with?"
When thinking about the place that he was about to go, Soren realised that someone like Felix could be helpful, and unlike the dilemma he had with taking him to dungeons, he wouldn't need to do such a thing here, as Felix could easily earn money too.
"Why, though?" Felix asked.
"Why not?"
After a few seconds of thinking, Felix shrugged and answered.
"Sure, I don't have much else to do anyway."
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
"This is where you're going to gamble…?"
Upon seeing their destination, Felix seemed taken aback.
Soren could understand why.
Before them stood a building, roughly as large as three houses put together, but the building itself was pretty worn down.
Even just getting there required them to go down many sketchy alleyways.
'To be honest, it's a little scary.'
'I'm glad I brought him along.'
Then Soren turned to Felix, smiling widely.
"Yup, and I'm gonna make a shit ton today, so follow my lead."
"..."
Felix's gaze at Soren was filled with pity, as if he were looking at some hopeless addict.
Soren wanted to correct Felix's misunderstanding by telling him it wasn't really gambling since he already knew all of the correct answers, but he couldn't bring himself to refute Felix at the moment.
'To be honest, he's not exactly wrong.'
Back on earth, while not at the level of an addict, he did enjoy gambling quite a bit, even outside of gacha games.
'Plus I'm here to bet all of my money.'
He had brought his entire savings, which consisted of 5 silver and 30 copper coins, with him to gamble.
'The more I think, the worse I feel…'
Soren sighed, then tossed a cloak at Felix.
"Put this on, then let's just go in."
Felix nodded, not bothering to ask why before putting the cloak on.
They then stepped forward and pushed the door open.
Creeeaaaakkk
The wooden door opened loudly, and both Felix and Soren entered the rundown building.
Soren immediately scrunched his nose at the overwhelming smell that invaded his nostrils.
"Ugh, it smells like shit." Felix pinched his nose, his face filled with disgust.
From the entrance alone, the smell of tobacco, alcohol and blood was pungent.
Soren also thought that there were likely even worse things included in the smell, but didn't bother to investigate and instead walked over to the bar.
"I'm here to play."
The muscular man looked at Soren for a moment before gesturing at the door behind him with his head.
While walking down the stairs, Felix started asking things he had been curious about since earlier.
To him, what Soren was doing made no sense.
He had known Soren wasn't like other nobles since the day he met him, but his current actions were those that even most commoner students would frown upon.
"Hey Soren, don't take this the wrong way, but why are you even here? If you just wanted to gamble, there are plenty of places made for nobles."
Soren stopped for a moment, biting his thumb, thinking of how to respond to Felix.
He was aware of how strange his current actions would seem, given his status.
"...Let's just say I've been disowned."
Felix's eyes widened at the sudden information drop, but his questions didn't stop there.
"But why here? As I said before, if you wanted to gamble, the places made for nobles are a lot safer than some sketchy place like this."
Soren felt that there was no point in hiding his intentions, so he opened his mouth.
"This is the easiest place for me to make money. If you trust me, simply follow my lead and you'll see what I mean. I didn't come here without a plan."
He had no hesitation with the idea of letting Felix make some extra money here, given the fact that he had dragged him along just in case anything went wrong.
"...I'll think about it."
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Soren flung open another door and walked straight over to the giant blackboard, scanning it in its entirety.
[Familiar Ring]
Odds:
Aquafin - 3/1
Urin - 4/1
.
Irina - 7/1
Cephalos - 18/1
.
'Perfect.'
It was exactly as it was in his memories.
Same odds, same familiars.
"So who are you betting on?"
"The first round is Irina. She'll look like she's losing at first, but then she'll suddenly turn it around at the last minute, winning her the round. Then second is Ophen, third is—"
Important information started flowing from Soren's mouth until he quickly stopped himself, making Felix look at him suspiciously.
"—In short, I know the right answers, so if you want to make some money, just follow me."
Not bothering to wait for a response, Soren turned towards the counter and placed his entire pouch down in front of him.
"5 silver 30 copper on Irina."
The man at the counter didn't bother with any niceties such as asking if he was sure; instead, he hastily took the pouch before Soren could rethink his choice and handed him a ticket.
Ticket in hand, Soren brushed past the indecisive Felix before finding a seat near the arena.
A few seconds later…
Step step
"Did you bet too?"
Felix ruffled his own hair and let out a deep sigh.
"Hahhh… Yeah, you were so confident that I decided to just go for it. I have a decent amount of money saved anyway."
"You'll be thanking me soon enough."
Soren directed his attention to the arena, where two familiars were facing each other.
————「❤︎」————