Who Says I'm Not a Proper Adventurer?
Chapter 37: Earning 25 Silver Coins a Day

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Earning 25 Silver Coins a Day

’This has been incredibly rewarding...’

The path to improving his Attributes was set. Now all that was left was the grind.

As for Skills...

Lance re-examined the requirements for the [Pale Guard] Profession.

Weapon Skills and Fighting Skill were manageable. As long as he was willing to spend time grinding, or pay for an instructor, he could eventually hone them to the required level.

The only thing left was the Breathing Combat Technique.

This was one of the Secret Skills, not some common item you could buy on the open market.

However, Lance wasn’t too worried.

He clearly remembered glimpsing this type of Skill on the Merit exchange list at the Adventurer’s Guild.

Although the required Merit Points were high, he had genuinely saved people during the joint sweep mission and had also helped the Vanguard Team clear out Goblins.

Since that powerful expert named Gareth had promised to report his deeds accurately, he should receive a good amount of Merit. He might just have enough to exchange for it then.

He ran through his career plans in his mind once more, confirming he hadn’t missed anything.

But he had a nagging feeling he’d forgotten something today.

’What was it...?’

As Lance mumbled the words aloud, a figure with braided hair and round glasses suddenly appeared in his mind.

"Crap!"

Lance slapped his thigh with a sharp SMACK.

The moment he got back, his mind had been blown by the [Pale Guard] Heroic Profession. He’d been so obsessed with how to meet its ridiculous requirements that he had completely forgotten about making money.

He hadn’t had a chance to ask Flora about the results for the hemostatic ointment.

That was a major issue concerning his coin purse.

He subconsciously turned to look out the window.

By now, the streets outside were pitch-black, with only the faint glow of lanterns from a distant patrol.

At this hour, Flora was probably already asleep.

’Looks like I’ll have to go first thing tomorrow morning.’

Lance rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

But he could at least calculate his potential profits for now.

On the way back, he hadn’t been idle in the cart transporting the wounded. He had specifically chatted up the accompanying Guild physician and a few of the lightly injured to get some information.

The data he gathered was staggering.

On this day alone, the combat intensity of the Vanguard Team was terrifyingly high.

Just a few small squads had consumed over a hundred standard units of hemostatic medicine.

And that was just the appetizer.

When the two subsequent waves of main forces pressed forward, hundreds of Adventurers would be ground into mincemeat with Demons in the forest.

The consumption of hemostatic medicine would definitely reach a terrifyingly astronomical figure.

’The market is huge. There’s no way to satisfy all of it.’

Lance chewed on the end of his quill, calculating rapidly on a piece of paper.

He didn’t need to worry about whether his production could meet market demand, because even if he worked himself to death in front of his crucible, he couldn’t fill this massive gap.

All he had to do was force his way in and snatch his own small piece of the pie.

Lance began to calculate his maximum production capacity.

He had tested it repeatedly while crafting last night. The system’s "Research Bonus" determination was very rigid.

He had to personally complete the entire, continuous process from raw material processing to final concoction for the produced ointment to receive that miraculous Effect bonus.

This ruled out the possibility of him running multiple crucibles at once in an assembly-line fashion.

’Total production time for a single batch is 35 minutes...’

Lance wrote a number on the paper, paused in thought, then crossed it out and changed it to 40 minutes.

’I have to leave some margin for error.’

Based on the capacity of his small crucible, a single batch could produce about 8 standard jars of ointment.

If he went all out, doing nothing but making medicine for twelve straight hours a day aside from eating and sleeping, he could probably make 18 batches in 12 hours.

Multiplying them...

’144 jars.’

Lance looked at the number and nodded in satisfaction.

That was his current daily production limit.

Next was cost control.

Since the ointment’s potency came mainly from his system’s bonus, rather than expensive raw materials, he could totally cut some corners on the ingredients.

For example, he could use cheaper biological grease instead of expensive Alchemy Oil as the base and reduce the amount of supplementary herbs.

As long as he used enough of the core ingredient, Blood Coagulation Moss, the final product’s Effect would still blow the Ordinary stuff on the market out of the water.

After some careful calculation, Lance managed to compress the cost of each jar of ointment down to about 7.5 Copper Coins.

And based on his previous estimates, setting the price of this special ointment at 25 Copper Coins would be more than fair.

The net profit for each jar sold would be 17.5 Copper Coins.

The quill in Lance’s hand flew across the paper, finally arriving at a grand total.

’2,520 Copper Coins...’

Lance stared at the number, his breathing growing a little heavier.

Converted to Silver Coins, that was a full 25 coins!

A net profit of 25 Silver Coins a day!

He had to remember, as that miserable Copyist, he’d worked himself to the bone for a whole month just to earn 16 Silver Coins.

Now, he could earn a month and a half’s salary in just one day.

’Is this the allure of war profiteering?’

And he could even think more long-term.

Even after this joint sweep mission ended, as long as his ointment made a name for itself, even if he only sold it steadily through the apothecary shop channel, with sales at just one-third of the wartime volume, he would only need to spend four hours a day making it.

That would still be a stable income of 6 Silver Coins per day.

Over a month, that would be 180 Silver Coins, almost 2 Gold Coins!

And this was money he could earn safely and steadily, without having to risk his life in the Underground City or face Goblins and Gnolls.

’It’s an absolute gold mine...’

Lance stared at the glittering future on the paper, his eyes shining as if they were glowing.

There were at least five days left before the joint sweep mission ended.

These five days were a golden opportunity to just pick up money off the ground.

He wished he could rush out right now, drag Flora out of bed, and talk about a partnership.

Lance blew out the kerosene lamp and lay down on his bed.

In the darkness, he couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across his face.

The Heroic Profession, Ostrara, the Sub-human young lady... they all seemed to be beckoning to him.

First thing tomorrow morning, he had to find Flora immediately!

What Lance didn’t notice was that his former self would never have forgotten about making money.

But today, through his Talent, he had opened the door to a new world. Perhaps his life was about to change because of it.

...

Meanwhile, in Gray Rock Town, the lights were still burning brightly in the spacious Guild Master’s office on the third floor of the Adventurer’s Guild.

The room was about eighty square meters, its decor rather rugged, with few luxurious furnishings.

In the center of the room stood a massive, solid wood sand table, on which a detailed topographical map of Copper Creek Forest was drawn.

At this moment, the map was densely packed with small flags.

The red ones represented Demon movements, while the Blue ones represented the positions of the Adventurer squads.