Chapter 67: Sudden Wealth (Bonus Chapter!)
Slightly different from what Su Mubai had imagined, the attribute gems sold at the Jade House only went up to Level 5 at most.
In fact, this was the case for jewelry processing shops across the entire East Sea City.
Su Mubai had never used his free upgrade ability on these Level 5 gems before, which was why he only now learned that the maximum level for ordinary attribute gems was Level 5.
A Level 1 attribute gem granted 10 points to its corresponding attribute. For each level increased, the attribute value doubled, meaning a Level 5 gem granted a massive 160 points!
However, synthesis required three gems of the same level.
Going from Level 1 to Level 2 had a success rate close to 100%, but beyond that, the success rate dropped lower and lower.
Even for the master jewelry craftsman at the Jade House, the success rate of synthesizing a Level 5 gem using three Level 4 gems was only around 70%.
And that was only because he possessed a wealth of experience and utilized some special materials that increased the success rate.
Beyond Level 5 lay what were known as Brilliant Gems, divided into three tiers, with each tier increasing the corresponding attribute by 1%.
Unless a specific attribute exceeded sixteen thousand points, a Tier 1 Brilliant Gem was actually less cost-effective than an ordinary Level 5 gem.
The most crucial point was that ordinary gems could not be synthesized into Brilliant Gems. Aside from being dropped by creatures of Legendary rank and above, they could only be crafted by Grandmaster jewelry artisans.
Of course, this was not a problem for Su Mubai, as he could easily obtain them through his free upgrade ability.
"Mr. Bai Ye, I can offer 1,500 gold coins for the Level 5 Strength Gem in your hand."
After finishing her explanation, the beautiful young matron looked at Su Mubai with a smile, adding at the end: "This is the industry standard, and it's the highest price I can offer."
Su Mubai remained silent, his gaze sweeping over the price list on the counter.
Level 1 attribute gem: 8 gold coins each.
Level 2 attribute gem: 30 gold coins each.
Level 3 attribute gem: 120 gold coins each.
Level 4 attribute gem: 500 gold coins each.
Level 5 attribute gem: 3,000 gold coins each.
These were just the prices for regular attribute gems. Special gems like critical strike and critical damage multipliers commanded prices five times higher.
The acquisition price offered by the other party was merely a 50% discount.
However, Su Mubai did not care. As long as they were willing to buy, it was pure profit for him.
Buying Level 4 gems, upgrading them to Level 5 for free, and then selling them yielded a profit of 1,000 gold coins per gem.
The only limiting factor to his money-making scheme was the quantity of gems the Jade House currently possessed.
After a moment of thought, Su Mubai looked at the beautiful young matron and asked, "What about Tier 1 Brilliant Gems? What price can you offer?"
"Sir, you really are putting me in a difficult spot."
The beautiful young matron cast a charming, alluring glance at Su Mubai and smiled, "Brilliant Gems are rare resources belonging to the Empire; I wouldn't dare trade in them privately."
"If you truly have any, I suggest sending them directly to the auction house. I'm sure you'll get a very good return."
"I was just asking."
Su Mubai smiled faintly, waved his hand, and placed all the gems on the counter: "Calculate the total, I'm selling all of these to you."
"Oh my, I didn't expect Mr. Bai Ye to deal in such a large quantity."
Seeing so many Level 5 gems, the smile on the beautiful young matron's face deepened, and she immediately began calculating.
"That makes 40 Level 5 attribute gems, 6 Level 5 special gems, 16 Level 2 attribute gems, and 3 Level 2 special gems. Is that correct?"
After finishing the count, the beautiful young matron confirmed the numbers with Su Mubai.
"Correct."
"Very well, the total comes to 105,465 gold coins."
The beautiful young matron immediately initiated the trade, looking as if she was afraid he might change his mind.
Su Mubai smiled slightly and confirmed the transaction.
[You have acquired 105,465 gold coins. Your current balance is 108,625 gold coins.]
While outwardly calm, Su Mubai's heart was practically soaring with excitement.
One hundred thousand gold coins!
Why bother dealing with players?
Wasn't trading with the locals simply amazing?!
Suppressing his inner excitement, he continued, "I need a batch of Level 4 gems. How many do you have here?"
Although the beautiful young matron could not understand why Su Mubai had just sold Level 5 gems only to buy Level 4 ones, who would turn away business that walked right to their door?
She offered a charming smile and replied, "The shop currently has 100 Level 4 attribute gems and 10 Level 4 special gems in stock. I wonder how many Mr. Bai Ye requires?"
"Only this many?"
Su Mubai frowned slightly.
For such a large jewelry processing shop, the inventory was far too small.
"Sir, perhaps you do not realize, but gems are items in constant high demand. The quantity we acquire daily is limited, so we don't hold a massive stock."
"Besides, our primary business is jewelry processing."
Su Mubai suddenly remembered that the Jade House primarily made its money through synthesizing, inlaying, and extracting gems rather than simply buying and selling them raw.
"Fine, I'll take all the Level 4 gems!"
Su Mubai waved his hand grandly. Just as he was about to pay, a thought struck him, and he took out the [East Sea Token] and gave it a brief wave.
"Does this thing get me a discount?"
"Oh my, so you are a distinguished guest of the City Lord."
The beautiful young matron lightly covered her red lips, her eyes filled with shock as her form of address instantly changed: "Lord Bai Ye, given your status, you can enjoy roughly a 20% discount at almost any shop in East Sea City."
A pleasant surprise.
Su Mubai raised an eyebrow, put away the [East Sea Token], transferred all the funds to the other party, and said, "I'll take the entire stock of Level 4 gems, and use the rest of the balance to buy Level 3 gems."
Ten minutes later, Su Mubai packed away a large pile of gems and was escorted by the beautiful young matron to the entrance of the Jade House.
Fortunately, gems could be stacked; otherwise, his current inventory space truly wouldn't have been able to hold them all.
It wasn't until Frost soared away into the sky that the beautiful young matron turned and walked back into the shop, murmuring to herself:
"It seems East Sea City is about to witness the rise of another major figure."
...
"To the next jewelry processing shop."
Sitting on his throne with an excited expression, Su Mubai pointed out the direction for Frost.
Then, he looked at the gems in his inventory and focused his mind.
[Cataclysm]!
"Perform a Tier 1 upgrade!"
Over the next two hours, Su Mubai visited every single jewelry processing shop in East Sea City.
By this time, every piece of equipment on his body was completely inlaid with Level 5 gems.
Even more exaggerating was the amount of gold coins in his inventory, which had now reached a staggering 980,000!
He was just a hair's breadth away from breaking the million mark!
In every shop, the difference in inventory between Level 3 and Level 4 gems was negligible.
Using his initial capital of over 100,000 gold coins, Su Mubai bought from one shop and sold to another, averaging a profit of over 200,000 gold coins from each establishment.
Had it not been for the fact that these shops could only absorb so much inventory, he could have mass-upgraded even more Level 1 and Level 2 gems.
However, doing so would have drawn far too much attention.
The only minor regret was that the gems he had sold couldn't be bought back immediately to repeat the loop.
After all, no matter how many times hands changed, they remained the exact same items.
If he wanted to exploit this free upgrade method again in the future, he would at least have to wait until these jewelry processing shops had sold off the gems he had previously upgraded.
Aside from the gems inlaid in his gear and the 980,000 gold coins, Su Mubai still had over 40 un-upgraded Level 5 attribute gems in his inventory.
This was the total remaining stock of several jewelry processing shops, including the ones he had previously sold to the Jade House, all of which Su Mubai had bought back.
Ignoring the beautiful young matron's puzzled gaze, Su Mubai turned and walked out of the Jade House.
Having upgraded all these gems into Tier 1 Brilliant Gems, Frost had already arrived at their next destination.
The East Sea Auction House!