Chapter 63: Lucrative

A moment later, the Wind Wolf Express pulled to a stop beside the road.

Winters Tower stood ahead of them.

Ryan let out a slow breath, forcing the anger burning in his chest back under control.

Then he stepped out.

He was dressed entirely in black tonight—a new night suit, Ultimate-Grade Origin Realm Godly Travel Boots, and a veil of gray energy that clung to his body like mist.

It concealed most of his features.

Anyone who looked at him would see little more than a shadowy figure wrapped in an indistinct aura.

The effect was surprisingly intimidating.

Ryan hadn’t even bothered to show his Winters Token, yet the attendants near the entrance instinctively stepped aside.

Some even lowered their heads respectfully as he passed.

Ryan couldn’t help but smile. ’So much for judging people by what’s on the inside.’

Apparently, a good outfit and a little mystery went a long way.

This was only his second visit to Winters Tower, but it already felt familiar.

More importantly, Ryan himself was different from the man who had walked through these doors the first time.

His strength had increased. His wealth had increased.

And whatever nervousness he’d felt during his first visit was gone.

He crossed the first-floor display hall without trouble and headed toward the antique wooden staircase leading to the VIP section.

A young receptionist noticed him approaching.

She had been fighting sleep for most of her shift, and her first instinct was to stop the strange man in black before he wandered somewhere he didn’t belong.

Then Ryan produced his Winters Token.

Her eyes widened. ’A limited-edition Winters Token. Oh.’

She immediately straightened. "Please, this way."

Her previous sleepiness disappeared as if it had never existed.

She hurriedly escorted Ryan upstairs and into one of the VIP reception rooms.

After seating him, she brewed a pot of Cloud Mist Clear Tea and quickly left to find Elena.

Ryan watched her disappear through the doorway and chuckled softly.

He wasn’t offended..If anything, he found the whole thing amusing.

He picked up the teacup, brushed the floating leaves aside with the lid, and took a leisurely sip.

The tea was fragrant and faintly sweet. Not bad.

He had barely finished his first cup when—

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The door opened.

"Ryan?"

Elena stepped inside.

For a moment, she simply stared at the shadowy figure sitting across the room.

Then recognition dawned. A warm smile spread across her face as she walked over and took the seat opposite him.

"You’re here early. Is everything alright?"

The gray aura surrounding Ryan made his appearance difficult to discern. Anyone below the Origin Ascendant Realm would have trouble seeing more than a blurred silhouette.

Elena hadn’t recognized him immediately.

But when her receptionist told her that the visitor possessed a Winters Token and had specifically asked for her, she’d already had a pretty good idea who it was.

She hadn’t expected him to return so soon.

And, despite herself, she was pleased to see him.

"Everything’s fine." Ryan smiled. "I’m just busy today. Figured I’d get an early start."

He reached toward his spatial ring and fed it a trace of Origin Energy.

A flash of white light filled the room. With a casual wave of his hand, he emptied his haul onto the table.

Several treasures appeared in neat rows.

[Top Grade Tier 1 Pills: Toad Detox Powder ×2, Clear Breeze Spirit Dew ×1]

[Top Grade Tier 2 Pills: Fetal Knot Pill ×1, Soul Nourishing Water ×1]

[Medium Grade Profound Tier Combat Weapons: Blazing Blade ×1, Frost Sword ×1]

[Superior Grade Origin Realm Secret Treasure: Mystic Tortoise Shield ×1]

[Ultimate Grade Origin Realm Secret Treasure: Mystic Shadow Mask ×1]

[D-Grade Top-Tier Bloodline Essence: Iron Clad ×1]

Ryan leaned back. "These are the goods."

A faint grin tugged at his lips. "I told you I’d come looking for you whenever I had something good."

Elena blinked. "Come looking for me?"

A faint blush touched her cheeks. She covered it with a small smile before turning her attention to the treasures.

Her expression immediately changed. "That’s quite a haul."

She leaned forward, examining the items one by one.

"Almost everything here is exceptional."

After a moment, she looked back at Ryan. "Normally, Winters Tower buys goods at fifty to sixty percent of their market value. But you’re a VIP of the Winters Family."

She smiled. "I’ll give you seventy percent."

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "Seventy?"

"Seventy." She nodded. "Fair?"

Ryan considered it for barely a second. "Fair."

He had no reason to complain. He didn’t have to pay for a storefront, hire employees, or spend days waiting for individual buyers.

He could hand everything over now and walk away with a large amount of Origin Stones.

Seventy percent was more than reasonable.

While Elena began inspecting the treasures, Ryan quietly watched her work.

Over the past few days, Elena had learned quite a bit about him.

Not because she’d personally investigated him, but because the Winters Family’s intelligence network was everywhere.

She knew about Wesley Sterling’s death in the slums.

She knew Ryan had rushed to Winters Manor to purchase a residence.

And after seeing the rumors spreading across Ashfall City today, she’d pieced together the conflict between Ryan and the Sterling Family.

The conclusion wasn’t difficult to reach. Ryan was clearly the weaker party.

Yet he’d still chosen to stand his ground. That had surprised her.

More than that, she’d found herself respecting him for it.

She couldn’t help wondering what she would have done in his position.

Probably not the same thing. Most of the young men she’d grown up around had powerful families behind them. Their names opened doors before they ever had to knock.

Ryan was different. He didn’t seem interested in relying on anyone.

Originally, Elena’s interest in him had been almost entirely because of the mysterious expert standing behind him.

Now, she wasn’t so sure. The more she learned about Ryan, the more she understood why someone like that expert would take him as a disciple.

Power wasn’t built on talent alone. Sometimes, it was built on the kind of stubbornness that refused to bend when everything else told you to break.

And that kind of person was rare.

Elena herself was hardly ordinary. She was beautiful, composed, and exceptionally talented at managing the Winters family’s business interests.

Despite her young age, the Winters Family Head had already entrusted her with Winters Tower—one of the family’s most important commercial properties.

She was also considered one of the leading candidates to inherit the family position someday.

Naturally, she had never lacked suitors.

Young nobles with powerful Bloodlines, impressive cultivation, and influential families had pursued her for years.

She had rejected every one of them. Usually without a second thought.

If those men could see the faint blush on her face now, they would probably lose their minds.

Ryan, fortunately, had no idea what was going through her head.

His attention was on the numbers.

"Seventy percent acquisition." He nodded. "Let’s do it."

Elena smiled and began calculating. "Tier 1 pills normally sell for two, four, eight, and twenty Low-Grade Origin Stones depending on whether they’re Low, Medium, Superior, or Ultimate Grade."

She counted the three pills. "That puts these three at forty-two Low-Grade Origin Stones."

She moved to the Tier 2 pills. "Tier 2 pills generally sell for twenty, forty, eighty, and two hundred Low-Grade Origin Stones."

Her fingers paused over the Fetal Knot Pill. "But these two are different."

She picked up the Fetal Knot Pill. "Fetal Knot Pills and Soul Nourishing Water are both rare. We frequently run out of them."

She looked at Ryan. "Each would normally sell for at least three hundred Low-Grade Origin Stones."

"Since we’re buying them from you at seventy percent, we’ll value the two at four hundred and twenty combined."

Next came the weapons.

"Profound Tier artifacts sell for three hundred, six hundred, twelve hundred, and twenty-five hundred Low-Grade Origin Stones for Low, Medium, Superior, and Ultimate Grade respectively."

She glanced over the weapons. "Two Medium Grade, one Superior, and one Ultimate."

She calculated quickly. "Three thousand four hundred and thirty."

Finally, she picked up the Bloodline Essence. "D-Grade Bloodline Essences sell for three hundred, one thousand, and three thousand Low-Grade Origin Stones depending on their quality."

She examined the Iron Clad Bloodline Essence. "This is Top-Tier."

She smiled. "At seventy percent, that’s two thousand one hundred."

Elena finished her calculations and looked up. "That brings everything to five thousand nine hundred and ninety-two Low-Grade Origin Stones."

She paused. "I’ll round it up to six thousand."

Ryan stared at her for a moment. Then he smiled. "Six thousand sounds good."

He leaned back in his chair. "Deal."

Inside, however, Ryan was practically laughing.

Six thousand Low-Grade Origin Stones. Yesterday, he’d nearly died.

Today, the junk he’d fed into the Boundless Creation Furnace had turned into a fortune.

’What a ridiculous profit margin.’ He’d spent practically nothing.

Broken materials. Discarded pills. Damaged treasures.

The Boundless Creation Furnace had turned them into valuable goods, and Winters Tower had just converted those goods into six thousand Origin Stones.

It was almost absurd. Ryan’s gaze drifted toward the treasures on the table.

Then another thought surfaced.

Wait. Why was he selling everything to someone else?

Sure, Winters Tower was giving him seventy percent because of his VIP status and the quality of his goods.

But that wouldn’t always be the case.

A treasure house needed its own profit margin.

Which meant Ryan was leaving a considerable amount of money on the table.

His eyes narrowed slightly. ’What if I opened my own store?’

The idea grew more interesting the longer he thought about it.

He wouldn’t need to rely on Winters Tower. He could sell the treasures himself at market value.

And if the Boundless Creation Furnace continued producing valuable items...

He wouldn’t even have to worry about finding goods to sell.

All he needed was a steady supply of discarded pills, broken treasures, and other worthless materials.

Feed the junk into the furnace. Take out the treasures. Sell them and repeat.

Ryan’s lips slowly curled upward. ’Maybe a general store isn’t such a bad idea.’

If he played his cards right, it could become another source of income.

And unlike cultivation, he wouldn’t need to personally fight for every Origin Stone.

He could build something that worked for him.

Ryan glanced at Elena as this thought came to mind, ’How difficult would it be to open a general store in Ashfall City?’

He considered asking her but decided against it on second thought...

Ryan considered the idea of opening a shop for a long moment.

It wasn’t impossible.

But the more he thought about it, the more problems surfaced.

Shops in Ashfall City weren’t cheap, and prime locations came with even steeper rents. His current strength was still too low, while his supply of Origin Stones remained painfully limited.

Then there was the Sterling Family.

His conflict with them hadn’t been resolved yet. Opening a business meant establishing roots, attracting attention, and potentially making himself even easier to find.

A shop also couldn’t be placed just anywhere. Location mattered.

There were simply too many variables.

After weighing the idea again and again, Ryan finally decided to put it aside.

For now. He’d revisit it once he had more strength, more capital, and fewer enemies breathing down his neck.

"Alright, then. I’m glad you’re satisfied."

Elena had no idea what was going through his mind.

She smiled softly, reached into her spatial ring, and pulled out an exquisite brocade pouch.

She placed it on the table and slid it toward him.

"There are six thousand Low-Grade Origin Stones inside. You can count them if you’d like."

Ryan picked up the pouch.

"Thank you."

Elena smiled.

She was quite pleased with the transaction herself.

Even after purchasing the goods at a thirty-percent discount, Winters Tower would still make a considerable profit.

The Ultimate-Grade Origin Realm pills, Ultimate-Grade Origin Realm artifacts, and D-Grade Top-Tier Bloodline Essence were particularly valuable.

They were practical, highly sought-after resources that Winters Tower frequently struggled to keep in stock.