Free Web NovelChapter 16: Summers Family
The young shopkeeper watched the full one-eighty play out across Cole’s face — hope flickering in, then dying just as quickly. It wasn’t his first time witnessing this. Before Cole, multiple customers had approached his stall, and every single one of them had taken one look at the formation engraved on the sword’s surface, called him a scammer, and walked away. A few of the more aggressive ones had gone straight to the soldiers.
Without another word, the shopkeeper took the sword from Cole’s hands and returned it to its resting place. From start to finish, he hadn’t blamed Cole once.
Cole caught the exhaustion sitting quietly in the young man’s expression and fell silent. Something in his gut pushed back against his earlier instinct. This man didn’t feel like a scammer. Cole had spent his past life surrounded by people of every kind — sycophants, opportunists, flatterers who kissed his boots simply because he had money. That experience had sharpened something in him, a quiet sense for reading people that had never failed him badly.
He paused and directed a thought inward.
Saint AI, scan the formation engraved on the sword’s surface and verify its authenticity.
[Request received. Analyzing the formation engraved on the surface. Error — insufficient data to validate the sword’s authenticity. Please update the records.]
[Switching to secondary data to process user request. The formation carved on the surface channels mana. Probability of it being genuine is very high.]
Cole’s expression sobered the moment he read the second line.
He looked at the young shopkeeper, his earlier sharpness replaced by something closer to respect, and gave a slight bow.
"Shopkeeper, forgive me for my earlier behavior. Allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Cole."
The young shopkeeper blinked, clearly caught off guard. Then, after a breath, he returned the gesture with a small nod.
"No problem, customer. Your reaction was only natural. Anyone would find it suspicious — a sword with a formation engraved on it being sold at such a low price."
Whatever awkward distance had been stretching between the two of them quietly dissolved with those words. They found each other easier to talk to than expected, the conversation settling into a natural rhythm. Neither of them was the type to waste time on pleasantries, and both moved toward business without needing to be prompted.
First things first — Cole purchased the sword for a hundred mana stones, drawing from his savings.
Mana stones were the de facto currency of this world. Naturally occurring and dense with stored energy, they couldn’t be directly absorbed by the human body, but they powered formation arrays, replenished mana potions, and ran the infrastructure of every city in the empire. Highly liquid, universally accepted — a reliable medium of exchange for goods and services across every market.
Perhaps feeling more at ease now, the young shopkeeper introduced himself with a wide smile.
"How rude of me — you’ve already given your name and I haven’t returned the courtesy. Friend, you can call me Ethan. Ethan Summers."
Cole’s lips twitched at the name.
Summers. As in the Summers family from the financial capital. Among the empire’s top cities, each held its own reputation — Blue Moon City was home to the ancient bloodline families, while Soaring Dragon City was the empire’s financial spine, moving hundreds of millions of mana stones across every season. The Summers family was one of the biggest names to come out of Soaring Dragon City, with stores and pavilions spread across the entire empire.
He couldn’t quite connect the humble young man in front of him to that particular colossus.
Ethan noticed Cole hadn’t moved to leave even after completing the purchase. His eyes curved slightly.
"Is there anything else you need, customer?"
"There is, actually." Cole slid a prepared list across the counter. "Can you arrange all of these ingredients for me?"
Ethan picked up the list and read through it carefully, brow creasing as he went. Nine-Turned Lightning Flower. Lightning Essence. Crushed rock powder from stone struck by purple lightning.
"Customer, these ingredients are incredibly difficult to procure. Most of them are found deep inside the Lightning Domain, and even then—"
He scanned Cole up and down. The unspoken question sat right there behind his eyes — can you even afford these? — but he stopped himself, his mother’s voice surfacing from somewhere in the back of his memory. The customer is king. Never underestimate your king.
Cole was no greenhorn. He read the hesitation clearly.
"Don’t worry about whether I can afford them," he said, expression flat and steady. "Just tell me — when can I get them?"
His voice carried a quiet conviction that left little room for debate. He had no other option. He would afford them one way or another.
Some might wonder why he didn’t simply go into the Lightning Domain and collect the ingredients himself. He could. Technically. But that would mean stepping outside the city’s walls with a body already compromised, putting himself in reach of every threat hiding in the dark beyond the safe perimeter. Without the Saint family’s backing, buying was the only path that didn’t end with him bleeding out somewhere remote.
He turned back to Ethan. "How long will it take to gather everything on that list?"
Ethan’s expression turned carefully neutral. "It’s difficult to say precisely. I can’t give you a firm date, but I’ll do my absolute best. You have my word on that."
Cole wanted those ingredients as fast as possible — but he also needed time to gather the capital. He nodded.
"One last question. Do you also buy monster mana cores and other materials?"
"Of course. We buy everything, and we offer competitive prices."
...
Cole turned the two bottles of mana potion over in his hands as he walked, watching the liquid catch the sunlight, the faint golden shimmer inside each bottle rolling like something alive.
Even with the most optimistic estimate, a single batch to refine Blood Calming Potion is going to cost at least several thousand mana stones.
If I emptied everything I have saved right now, I could barely afford one batch of ingredients.
As the heir of one of the ancient families, he had once received generous allowances from his father — mana stones flowing in without much thought. Most of it had burned away fueling his cultivation advances, and what little remained was thin.
His lips pressed into a quiet, humorless line.
"Getting stronger isn’t enough. I need to start thinking about money."
