Chapter 17: Felt the Pinch

Andrew finally understood why the Sand Beast he bought had such strong mana fluctuations.

Andrew felt both amused and annoyed.

He shook his head and sighed with a bitter smile.

After all, this was really embarrassing.

Although Andrew’s Merchant Rank was much higher than Fatty Lei’s, he was still in the low-level merchant class.

Here, we had to talk about the ranking system for merchants in the Dimensional Trading System.

According to the Dimensional Trading System, merchants were divided into ten tiers.

Each tier was divided into one hundred levels, forming the strict ranking system for Dimensional Merchants.

For merchants, tiers were the goals they worked hard to achieve.

Because in the rules of the Trading System, only by increasing their tier could they trade with merchants from higher-level Dimensional Planes.

For example, first-tier merchants, like Fatty Lei, could only trade in various low-level Dimensional Planes with goods that were not very valuable.

As a first-tier merchant, it was impossible to trade with merchants from high-level Dimensional Planes.

After all, people like Fatty Lei were like street vendors, while high-level merchants were like huge international trusts.

Imagine a street vendor saying to the CEO of a multinational trust, “Hey, buddy, I have something you need.”

But the thing the vendor was selling, the CEO also sold, and the CEO’s product was even better.

The result was obvious.

So the System made a rule: each class could only trade with Dimensional Planes of relatively similar tiers.

Of course, high-tier merchants could trade with low-tier merchants; the System did not restrict that.

The Magic Apprentice Andrew was an eighty-level first-tier merchant.

Compared to the unlucky Fatty Lei, he was someone Fatty Lei had to look up to.

But… that was only when compared to newcomers like Fatty Lei.

If compared to those high-tier merchants, Andrew was still a small, pitiable figure.

As a first-tier eighty-level merchant, Andrew’s life was not very easy.

After all, his tier was too low, so he was not very wealthy.

This time, he bought a Sand Beast from Fatty Lei, hoping to find a treasure.

He planned to resell it and make a profit.

Unfortunately, he misjudged it this time.

The Sand Beast he bought was actually just a decoration.

Andrew had to pay monthly taxes corresponding to his rank, and after all the deductions, he did not have much “savings” left.

So this loss of 250 Credit Points really made him feel the pinch.

Andrew walked to his wooden desk and sat down, staring outside blankly.

“That Mr. Odin’s World, even the sand contained mana fluctuations.

It was truly enviable, but sadly, his World belonged to a Technological Dimension.”

Andrew sighed deeply.

“It’s such a pity that these sand grains, which contained huge mana, came to my World and had their mana forcibly dissipated due to the rules.”

Thinking about this, Andrew felt very regretful.

“If I could make good use of the mana on these sand grains, maybe I could become a high priest of the Empire in the future.”

Andrew let out a long sigh.

The sigh was full of helplessness.

“Beep beep beep!”

At that moment, a beeping sound came from the drawer of Andrew’s wooden desk.

“A customer is here. I hope I can earn back those 250 Credit Points.”

Andrew perked up.

Swoosh!

Andrew opened the drawer.

Inside lay a transparent Crystal.

At that moment, an image of stars was forming inside the transparent Crystal.

“Hi~ I’m Andrew. What can I do for you?”

Without even seeing who it was, Andrew put on a smile and waved as he asked.

“Mr. Andrew? I’m Odin. We made a transaction about half a day ago. Have you forgotten?”

On the other side, Fatty Lei twitched his lips at Andrew’s formal, fake smile.

“Uh!”

After hearing Fatty Lei’s words, Andrew was stunned for a moment.

Then he focused his gaze on the Crystal.

“Mr. Odin, what brought you to me?”

Andrew was very curious about Fatty Lei contacting him.

“Didn’t I owe him zero Credit Points?”

Andrew thought Fatty Lei might be contacting him for that reason.

“It’s like this.”

Fatty Lei first bowed slightly to Andrew, then said, “I’m not here for any other reason. I mainly want to buy some supplies I need from you.”

Fatty Lei smiled as he explained his purpose.

“Whew~”

Andrew raised his hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Just now, Andrew had imagined countless possibilities in his mind.

For example, Fatty Lei caught another Sand Beast and wanted to sell it to him.

But he never expected that Fatty Lei would come to him to buy something.

Andrew glanced at the upper right corner of the Crystal, where the System showed Fatty Lei’s rank information.

Tier: None.

Level: None.

No wonder Andrew thought Fatty Lei wouldn’t buy anything; Fatty Lei’s level was just too low.

So when Fatty Lei said he wanted to buy something from him, Andrew didn’t take it seriously at all.

“So, Mr. Odin, what item of mine has caught your interest?”

Even though Andrew didn’t take it seriously, he wouldn’t do anything to offend people.

Fatty Lei might be low-level today, but no one could guarantee he would stay that way forever.

Andrew was no fool; he wouldn’t do things that could make enemies.

So even though Andrew thought Fatty Lei couldn’t afford the items he had listed for sale, he still greeted him with a smile to avoid offending him.

“Mr. Andrew, actually, it’s not the listed items in your Trading Space that I’m interested in.

I want to buy something else, but I’m not sure if you…”

Fatty Lei was a bit uncertain whether Andrew would do this unprofitable business with him.

After all, his Intelligent Butler Wangcai had failed hundreds of times in communications with other merchants.

So although Fatty Lei had hopes for Andrew, he wasn’t sure if the other party would agree to trade with him.

Fatty Lei felt very anxious as he looked at Andrew on the display.

“Oh~ Mr. Odin, you need to tell me exactly what goods you require before I can make a decision.

If you don’t even tell me the goods, do you expect me to sell myself to you?”

Seeing Fatty Lei hesitate, Andrew made a small joke, one he thought was quite funny.

“Heh~ hehe!”

Although Andrew’s joke-telling skills were poor, Fatty Lei still cooperated by laughing foolishly.

“Actually, it’s like this.”

After laughing for a while, Fatty Lei got to the point.

“Right now, I need to buy some food and drinking water. So, I wonder if Mr. Andrew would be willing to make this deal with me?”

After saying this, Fatty Lei looked nervously at Andrew.

“Hmm~~~”

Andrew rested his chin on his hand and thought for a moment.

“How much do you need?”

Fatty Lei shook his head.

“I only need enough food and drinking water for one person.”

Before Andrew could refuse, Fatty Lei continued, “I’m a newcomer, and my rank isn’t very high.

Actually, I didn’t want to trouble you, but none of the other merchants are willing to make this deal with me.

So after thinking it over, I could only come to you.”

Fatty Lei’s eyes flickered… flickered…

“Just looking at you, I can tell you’re a kind-hearted person.

Besides, we’ve already made one transaction.

We could say we know each other, so that’s why I came to trouble you.”

Fatty Lei looked very sincerely at Andrew as he spoke.

“Enough food and drinking water for one person for a month?

That’s not a problem.

It’s just a bit troublesome.

No wonder the other merchants didn’t want to do this business with you; there’s no profit in it for them.”

Andrew shrugged and spread his hands outward.

“Mr. Andrew, please name your price.

Food and drinking water are very common things in your World.

Actually, in our World, they’re very common too.

It’s just that, for certain reasons, I need food and water now.

So I hope the price you quote won’t be too high…”

Fatty Lei clasped his hands together and kept making gestures to Andrew.

“Don’t worry. As you said, these things are basically worthless.

Considering we’ve traded once and already know each other, I’ll help you out.

Let’s consider it building a friendship for future cooperation.”

Seeing Fatty Lei’s pitiful look, Andrew shook his head and spoke.

“Thank you so much! Really, thank you so much!”

“Mr. Odin, please wait a moment. I’ll go prepare.”

Then Andrew went out to buy the food.

Meanwhile, inside the Trading Space, Fatty Lei was chatting with his Intelligent Butler Wangcai.

“What price do you think Andrew will finally give us?”

Wangcai calculated using his program and said, “Master, I really can’t judge that.

But logically, it should be within thirty Credit Points.

If the price is within that range, I think we can accept it.”

Wangcai said to Fatty Lei.

With his hands behind his back, Fatty Lei paced back and forth in front of the computer.

“I hope so. I think thirty Credit Points is still a lot.

After all, we only have 250 Credit Points total right now.

Just thinking about it makes me feel the pinch.”

Fatty Lei stopped walking, gritted his teeth, and grunted to his Intelligent Butler.