CHAPTER 20: 20. THE PRICE INCREASED

Riki lay down on the sofa in the living room of his apartment.

His eyes closed as he enjoyed the breeze blowing in from the wide-open balcony door.

There were so many things happening that morning. It seemed never-ending. When did his life become so full of drama? If Riki thought about it, maybe it started when his father was accused?

After his father was accused and died, Riki’s life slowly turned into a living hell. Even after the system’s assistance arrived, his life was still far from easy.

But... of course, it was easier than before. Having many problems while holding onto a lot of money was far better.

[Since you refused to choose between Angeline, Liz, and Hannah, you must reconsider your choice.]

[You have plenty of time to decide; there’s no need to rush.]

Riki furrowed his brow, displeased with what the system said. No, it wasn’t the part about having to choose, but...

"Come on, remove Hannah’s option there; I won’t choose her no matter what. I have my pride; why would I go back to her? Even if she’s not at fault, I won’t go back to her. It’s like eating your own words, right?" Riki muttered to himself in the apartment. He felt crazy for complaining, but there was no one else there with him.

He wasn’t used to the system yet.

[Just consider it a formality]

"But you’re the one who directed me to date Angeline, so why do I have to choose now? What’s the point of that?" Riki asked. He just felt it was unfair. Because he had previously been given the mission to date Angeline, but now he suddenly had to choose again.

[As Angeline said, she doesn’t want to date a young man who doesn’t like her. It might seem trivial to you, but for Angeline, it would hurt her heart]

Riki was surprised to hear that. Why hadn’t he thought of that? Well, he couldn’t understand women’s feelings. Wasn’t that why Hannah cheated?

"Then I’ll think about it again..."

After that, Riki was speechless, though in his mind, there were many things he was thinking about right now.

On one hand, he was happy about starting a business with Evan. On the other hand, he was sad about what Liz was going through.

If only Liz had said earlier that she liked Riki... no.

How could Riki expect Liz to express her feelings first? Riki was truly out of touch if he expected something like that.

"Oh, by the way, you mentioned a system store earlier? What’s that?"

[Opening a system store]

[You can purchase anything available in the system store using system points or money]

Riki stared at the system screen seriously. Looking at each item for sale there, he became confused.

There didn’t seem to be any human-friendly items for sale there.

Healing potion?

Blue rose potion?

Antidote potion?

[You can touch the item if you are confused, there will be an explanation there]

Riki touched the blue rose potion because it was very unique. There was a picture of the item on the system screen, complete with its price, one system point, or $100.

The blue rose potion was in the form of a glass bottle shaped like a rosebud, containing a sparkling light blue liquid.

The blue rose potion is made from blue roses that grow on the Fairitopia continent. It has beauty benefits, such as brightening and nourishing the skin when used for bathing. When consumed, it helps reduce unnecessary fat in the body.

After carefully reading about the blue rose potion, Riki purchased ten bottles.

[You have purchased ten bottles of blue rose potion. This is your first purchase!]

[The store system is gifting you two bottles of strength-enhancing potion for free!]

Riki’s eyes widened. He had no idea there was such a thing as a strength-enhancing potion. But after he found it, it turned out to be locked.

What a bummer.

However, Riki could see the item’s information.

The strength-enhancing potion is a potion that can be used by anyone without any side effects. It can be drunk normally, but it’s more effective if taken before exercising.

Very interesting, Riki will use it later or tomorrow.

Then... Riki will send the blue rose potion to Liz. Coincidentally, Liz likes roses, right?

Oh! Should Riki give her roses too? But instead of a bouquet, it’s probably better to send live flowers.

The fatigue that had previously come over him vanished instantly. Riki was busy preparing the gift he would send to Liz.

One hour passed.

[The second mission has arrived! Do you want to take it on?]

Riki glanced at his system screen and asked, "What mission? Don’t make it too difficult, okay?"

[The system cannot guarantee that a mission system found it easy will also be easy for you]

Riki felt offended by the system’s response.

After placing the special spicy chicken curry he had made for lunch on the table, he sat down calmly at the dining table.

"Alright, what’s the mission?"

[Sell some of your Vircoins now! Remember, you can’t sell all of them]

Riki furrowed his brow, "Won’t you said earlier if the price goes up later?" Riki asked.

Despite that, he was quite relieved to finally be rid of the Vircoin burden. He didn’t particularly like digital coins like that, as most were scams.

But when Riki was about to sell half of his coins, he was quite surprised.

"What’s this? Why is the price—it’s impossible!"

Riki was sure the Vircoin price was still $0.5 yesterday, but now it had changed to $60! It was completely unreasonable.

Of course, Riki was very happy!

"Will it go up again?" Riki asked.

[Didn’t the system say it would rise until next year?]

"But why should I sell it now? Why not just keep it?"

[If you sell it now, you’ll receive a business skill bonus. With this skill, any business you run will succeed, even if you don’t understand business at all. You’ll also get an additional +5 to all stats]

[But if you don’t sell it, you won’t receive any penalties.]

Wait a moment... it seems this mission is a test for Riki.

If he doesn’t sell the Vircoin, he might gain even greater profits in the future. But for him, the most important thing right now is the business skill.

Riki doesn’t fully understand business, but he can run a business without fear if he has the business skill.

"I’ll sell it..."

[A wise choice!]

With trembling hands, Riki sells 30,000 Vircoin.

He feels regretful, but he must obtain that business skill.

[You’ve completed the mission! You’ve obtained business skills! And +5 to all stats has been added]

[You’ve also gained 5 points]

Those 30,000 Vircoins have now turned into 1,800,000!

But Riki still feels regretful; he should have been able to get even more later.

But it’s okay.

Money can be regained because Riki still has his system.

***

"LIZ!! OPEN THE DOOR!" Kaivan’s shout, banging on Liz’s door, sounded very loud.

Liz, who was lying down at the time, still feeling upset about this morning’s incident, had no choice but to open her door. If she didn’t, Kaivan might break down the door and damage it.

Kaivan’s sour face was immediately visible as soon as she opened the door.

"What’s wrong?" Liz asked.

"There’s a large package for you outside, from Riki."

Liz furrowed her brow, "Riki? Why is he sending me a package?"

Kaivan sighed lazily, "How should I know? Maybe he feels guilty toward you. Besides, why do you even like him? You know you’re not as beautiful as Angeline—"

SMACK!

Kaivan’s eyes widened in disbelief as Liz slapped his cheek. Kaivan remained silent, seeing how angry Liz was at that moment.

"I was just joking..." Kaivan muttered, not expecting his sister to take his joke seriously.

"Kaivan, there are many things that cannot be used as jokes, and you have to consider the situation first. I am very offended by what you said. It’s not that I hate Angeline, I love her, but I don’t like being compared like that. You wouldn’t like it if I said Zeno was much better than you, would you? Never mind, I’ll go downstairs first."

Kaivan remained silent as his sister descended the stairs. He felt very guilty toward Liz.

After all, he had only wanted to tell her that Angeline and Riki had decided to stop dating. Though Kaivan didn’t know the reason, he thought it would make Liz happy.

But it turned out that Kaivan had already messed things up before he could even say anything.

Liz saw a large cardboard box on her front yard.

The housekeeper came with a box cutter so Liz could open it.

Once everything was open, Liz was very surprised to see a large pot of roses, complete with Lilas roses inside.

The roses were in full bloom, a light purple color, more like lilac. They were absolutely beautiful.

Besides the roses, there was also a small box there. Liz picked it up and opened it slowly.

Her brow furrowed as she saw the cute little bottles shaped like rose buds, containing a shimmering light blue liquid.

There was also detailed information about the bottles there.

"To reduce fat and can be used for soaking?" Liz muttered in confusion.

Then she turned to her servant, "Please take this rose pot to the rose garden, okay? Don’t place it in a sunny spot; put it in a shady area."

"Yes, ma’am."

Liz returned to her room. Kaivan had already left.

But Liz didn’t care; she wanted to use the bottles right away.

Riki had written in his notes that they could only be used twice a day.

So, since it was already afternoon, Liz would use them for her bath. And she would drink them before going to sleep later.

The girl didn’t know that she would wake up with a new body the next day.

"AAAAAAA!!!! W-what is... this... me?"