"It's not much, actually I'm just short a few water-element beast cores."
As Ethan spoke, he spread out his hand and held up five fingers.
Seeing this, Mr. White finally wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, "That's fine, just five short, that's not much!"
As he spoke, five water-element beast cores appeared in Mr. White's hand.
After Ethan took the water-element beast cores, he grinned and said, "Mr. White, not five, it's fifty."
"Ah?", Mr. White froze on the spot, "Why didn't you say it clearly?"
"Hehe! Well, before I even got the chance to say anything, Mr. White, you were already being so generous and gave them to me."
'Heh! If I'd said it straight from the start, would you really have been willing to give?'
'What is this called?'
'This is called the art of speaking.'
'It's like when someone asks you to lend them money. If they open their mouth and ask for five hundred right away, you might not lend it.'
'But if they only ask for fifty, most people would still lend it.'
'And then… after you take out fifty and lend it to them, that person adds another line, "I forgot to bring money when I went out. I'm short exactly one hundred fifty for what I need to buy. Can you lend me a bit more? I'll pay you both amounts back together when I get home."'
'But when you actually lend it, that person either disappears, or when you ask them to repay the money, they'll say something like this: "I've been a bit tight on cash lately, my salary will come in a couple of days. Can you lend me another three hundred? When the time comes, I'll return it with interest, like 550 in total."'
'And at that point… most people, just to get their original principal back, will still lend it.'
'A small number of people, tempted by that bit of interest, will also lend it.'
'But can this money really be recovered?'
'That just comes down to… betting on the other person's character.'
"One beast core sells for nearly a thousand dragon coins on the market. These forty-five come to forty-five thousand dragon coins," Mr. White started counting on his fingers with a pained expression, "Lord Ethan, your idea is a bit expensive."
"Can our relationship be calculated like that?"
Ethan pulled Mr. White close and said, "Look, one ice gall costs a thousand. Your whole team has eaten how many of my ice galls? Even your brother Omar, I had someone bring him a bowl too. Did you see me calculating money with you?"
"I…"
Mr. White really wanted to say, 'Damn it, your bowl only had two or three tiny bits of ice gall meat in it, and the rest was basically soup, do you think I didn't notice?'
But for the sake of maintaining harmony between both sides, and for the upcoming cooperation in the business district, Mr. White could only obediently take out forty-five more water-element beast cores and say, "Fifty it is, then. But let's be clear, fifty water-element beast cores, no more than that."
"Of course! Of course!"
Ethan smiled as he accepted the fifty water-element beast cores and said, "Fifty water-element beast cores is enough. For the rest, I'm just a bit short on earth-element and wood-element ones."
Although Ethan already had enough beast cores of other elements to upgrade the hot spring, his manor still had so many things that hadn't been upgraded.
How could he let such a good opportunity slip by?
"What?", Mr. White looked completely dumbfounded, "So everything you were talking about earlier was only about water-element beast cores?"
"Hehe! Yeah. After all, for such a huge project, how could it only use water-element beast cores?", Ethan rubbed his hands together and said, "But I can guarantee the results won't disappoint you. If you're not satisfied, full refund, how about that?"
'Isn't this just marketing tactics?'
'I'm a dignified Earthling, how could I lose to a merchant from this primitive planet?'
Sure enough… the moment Mr. White heard "full refund," he immediately nodded and said, "Alright! For the sake of my business district, just tell me what you need."
"Not your business district, but one that we need to build together," Ethan immediately added, "Fifty earth-element beast cores, twenty wood-element beast cores. As for fire-element… forget it, there's some in the ice galls anyway. But I'm also short on high-grade stone, I need one hundred pieces of high-grade stone, and another one hundred high-grade wood."
"So many?", Mr. White was shocked when he heard this.
"Of course! What we're building is a high-end business district, not some roadside stall-level one, okay?", Ethan brought up the term "top-tier magic modifier" mentioned earlier by Nostradamus and continued to bluff, "You have to know, this hot spring complex of mine is made using a magic modification scroll crafted by a top-tier magic modifier. This amount of materials is already considered little! Anyway, same thing, if you're not satisfied with the result, I'll give you a full refund!"
Ethan was quite confident in the system's products.
After all, from before until now, everything the system had produced had never disappointed him, a modern person. Let alone the aesthetic of a native merchant, how could it not amaze him?
"A top-tier magic modifier?", Mr. White's pupils shrank, "Could it be a work of the Five Elements Magic Modifier?"
"Five Elements?"
Ethan didn't know who that was, but things like gold, wood, water, fire, and earth beast cores, weren't they exactly the same as the Five Elements?
'Calling it a work of the Five Elements doesn't seem wrong.'
"Mm, that's right," Ethan nodded, "It's a work by Master Five Elements."
"No wonder it needs so many materials," Mr. White nodded seriously, then waved his hand, and a pile of materials appeared on the empty ground in front of Ethan, "Alright then, I also want to see Master Five Elements' work."
"Got it!"
Ethan collected Mr. White's materials and was just about to upgrade, but then felt that doing it so plainly wouldn't have enough flair.
After all, this was a work by Master Five Elements.
So Ethan raised an eyebrow and said, "Mr. White, how about you close your eyes for a moment?"
"Oh right! The magic modification scroll will emit dazzling white light," Mr. White thought for a moment, then continued, "Lord Ethan, wait a second. I missed Master Five Elements' upgrade show earlier, I can't miss it again now."
As he spoke, Mr. White took out a pitch-black object and put it over his eyes.
At the same time, he showed it off to Ethan and said, "Lord Ethan, see this? This is a legendary anti-glare treasure, made using ink crystal, with frames forged from ore on both sides. Don't I look super handsome wearing it?"
"Uh…"
Ethan looked at what Mr. White was wearing on his eyes, speechless.
'Isn't this just sunglasses?'
'And the kind that costs ten yuan a pair on Amamzon, what's there to be proud of?'
'I even have a pair of Ray Ban glasses, did I brag about it?'
"Handsome, super handsome!"
Ethan praised him emphatically, after all, this guy was the big spender.
As long as the big spender is happy, what rewards wouldn't come?
"Hehe! I knew it, no one can resist an ink crystal anti-glare device," Mr. White snapped his fingers proudly, "Alright, Lord Ethan, you can start using the modification scroll now."
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