The moment her footsteps faded, I dissolved the Avatar. My consciousness snapped back into the cold, hard crystal.
"Whew," I thought. "That was closer than a Q4 earnings call."
"Boss?" Gub peered at the crystal. "Metal lady gone?"
"She’s gone, Gub. We’re still in business."
I looked at my status. The encounter hadn't cost me much mana, but it had cost me time. And Seraphina was just a symptom. The real disease was the debt.
And speaking of debt...
A new notification pinged in my vision.
System Alert:
Interest Rate Adjustment.
Due to Market Volatility (Paladin Presence Detected), your daily interest rate has been increased to 55%.
Message from Creditor: "High risk requires high returns. Have a blessed day."
I felt a surge of cold, calculated rage. It was the Church. Bishop Vane. He was tracking the risk factors and adjusting the rates in real-time. He knew Seraphina had been here, and he was squeezing me.
"Gub," I said, my voice vibrating deep in the stone floor.
"Yes, Boss?"
"We need to expand. The tourist trap isn't enough."
I pulled up the blueprints for the dungeon. I looked at the stats of the local village. I looked at the "Needs" of the adventurers.
They didn't just need experience points. They needed stuff. Potions. Buffs. Gear. And the Church was charging them a fortune for it.
If I couldn't beat the Church with force, and I couldn't pay off the debt... I had to undercut them.
"We’re going to start a side hustle," I told the goblins. "Go to the forest. Gather every herb you can find. We’re entering the pharmaceutical industry."
It was time to introduce this world to the concept of generic drugs.
ns216.73.216.10da2
and then Add to home screen.