The weapons I forge are absolutely flawless.

He tried to exhaust Wiener's stamina with ground techniques, waiting for an opening to appear.

The two emblem bearers lay on the ground, locked in a brutal fight, their blows landing squarely on each other.

Unfortunately, although the Thief's Blade Armor is armor, it is classified as a sword. In addition to its indestructible main body, its joints are as sharp as blades.

In the end, only Raphael, who was left with nothing, suffered the consequences.

"Watch out!" Viner warned, then delivered an elbow strike to Raphael's chest.

Raphael did not understand what Wiener meant, and still raised his arm to block, resulting in a cut on his arm.

Blood slowly seeped from the wound, staining his arm and the ground red.

Having learned his lesson, Raphael stopped exchanging punches with Viner and instead grabbed his waist and slammed him to the side.

"Oh!"

Amidst the blood and dust, Raphael successfully threw Viner to the ground, but he knew his opponent still had the strength to fight back, so he couldn't stop.

"Boom--boom--"

He threw his opponent down one after another, giving him no chance to catch his breath.

Just as Raphael was about to lift Viner over his head, preparing to throw him out of the arena in one go...

Wiener moved.

With her arms wrapped around Raphael's already injured arms, she straightened her legs and wrapped them behind his head, then crossed and tightened them, completely locking Raphael's head and neck.

Whether you call it sticky candy or a lock, no matter how much the other struggles, Venere clings to it tightly.

Before long, Raphael's face turned pale from lack of oxygen, then ashen, and finally he lost consciousness and collapsed.

Wiener reversed the situation by performing a triangular twist.

Chapter 113 Credit Freedom

The two fell to the ground almost simultaneously.

A moment later, Venere struggled to get up from the ground.

After confirming that Rafael had completely lost consciousness, the referee announced the winner of the match.

The match didn't last long, and the skills displayed weren't particularly impressive.

It is precisely this primal, wild collision that is most likely to get people's blood pumping.

Even the audience members who had been shouting the loudest earlier fell silent.

Everyone applauded the two contestants on stage.

Why not watch this intense, head-to-head competition instead of watching a reverse speedrun of a turtle shell?

As Wiener prepared to leave the stage amidst applause, paramedics rushed onto the stage to take Raphael to the infirmary.

Just as they were about to lift Raphael onto the stretcher, Raphael, who had been unconscious, suddenly jumped up.

"Woo-"

Raphael shook his head, seemingly feeling he wasn't quite awake yet, and then slapped the back of his head hard with his right hand.

"Come on, shall we... finish this?"

Raphael only realized he had lost the match after paramedics whispered a reminder in his ear.

"Tsk, I'll just have to try again next time. I won't let the same move knock me down twice!"

Raphael was not affected by his defeat at all, and his cheerful voice reached Viner's ears.

The arm that was injured in the previous battle had already scabbed over before it could be treated, demonstrating an astonishing ability to recover.

“Then I’ll give you some new work next time I have the chance,” Viner replied.

......

In the fifth match, Wiener won easily once again.

Savvy viewers left after watching the fourth match, but there were always those who refused to believe it would be as exciting as the fifth match between Mikazuki and Raphael.

In the end, twenty minutes of his life were wasted.

After securing a complete victory, Viner didn't rush back to his dormitory but instead headed to Market Street.

One reason is that the competition ended too early today, and going back at this time would make it easy for people to see that we are heading towards the Alchemy Institute.

Another reason was that Anna had messaged him beforehand, inviting him to "divide the spoils."

Wiener pushed open the shop door and, seeing Anna with a customer, warmly came up to greet her.

"Welcome! How can I help you?"

While his gaze seemed to be looking directly at the guest as a sign of respect, he had actually been sizing up Wiener long beforehand.

This iconic weapon case must be the Mikazuki that's been making headlines lately, Anna thought.

She was unaware that Mikazuki was Venus.

"Where is the fitting room?" Vena didn't rush to reveal her identity.

Before buying equipment, you always have to try it on to see if it fits, so stores always have fitting rooms available for customers.

“Uh, the fitting room is over here.” Anna pointed behind a small door. “What would you like to try on, customer? I can get it for you.”

"No need."

Vina went into the fitting room and drew the curtain.

He opened the weapon case behind him, and with a thought, the Thief's Armor instantly disintegrated into its parts and placed them into the case.

"Luckily, the space we reserved was large enough," Viner said thankfully.

After putting away the weapon case, Venere didn't rush to carry it on his back but walked straight out of the fitting room.

Perhaps it was because Vina's behavior after entering the store was too strange that Anna was uneasy, so she stood at the door and waited.

"it's me."

As he said this, Venere had already removed the alchemical mask from his face.

"Vina? She just went in..."

"It was me too. But just keep it to yourself, don't tell anyone."

"Tsk, I thought I was going to get another big client, but it turns out he's just here to split the profits." Anna said with a disappointed expression.

"Didn't you send me?" Viner said helplessly.

"Do you want to see when I sent you the message?" Anna rolled her eyes at Vena, annoyed. "You didn't even send a message before you came."

"Definitely next time."

I've heard you say that so many times!

Anna led Vina to the coffee table and asked her to wait a moment. Soon after, she returned with tea leaves and what appeared to be an account book.

"This is the sales revenue of the patents you provided before. Take a look for yourself, and don't say I cheated you."

Anna threw the ledger in front of Viner and then started boiling water to make tea.

Wiener took the ledger and glanced at it casually.

One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand.

How many?

The number was so outrageous that Wiener almost dropped the ledger in his hand.

"Are you kidding me?" Viner still couldn't believe the numbers on the ledger.

Ignoring the remainder, the first ten-thousands digit starts with "3".

In other words, excluding costs, and calculating at a rate of 10%, Wiener could earn close to 3,000 credits.

If he gets these credits smoothly, it will instantly elevate Wiener from a comfortable life to one of financial freedom.

"Even if you squeezed every last drop out of the first-year students, you still wouldn't earn this many credits, would you?"

Wiener closed the ledger, his expression momentarily frozen in shock.

Anna had already guessed that Venus would react this way, and handed him the tea she had prepared.

"First-year students certainly can't afford that many credits, but who says they can only be sold to freshmen?"

This is a misjudgment caused by habitual thinking.

Wiener believed that the rusty armor he had created was an effective tool for the newcomers to conquer the current dungeons.

However, due to the sacrifice of Raylian, most new players were unable to participate in dungeon raids, which inevitably led to a significant drop in sales.

That's why Venere didn't take Anna's message seriously at first.

"Slimes aren't a specialty of the first level of the dungeon," Anna said without keeping anyone in suspense.

"The name 'Rust Sheath' doesn't sound very good, so we've renamed it 'Safety Sheath'."

"Pfft—" When Vina, who was trying to hide her feelings by drinking tea, heard the new name, she spat out her tea.

Fortunately, he realized what was happening and turned his head to spray it on the ground.

"...What's up?"

"It's alright, please continue."

“We produced a batch on a trial basis and sold it in the Land of Origin. The response was good, so we expanded production,” Anna continued.

"It just so happens that the Black Eagles encountered a slime swarm during their expedition to the fourth level of the dungeon. Most of the credits they earned were paid by the Black Eagles. They won't be so lucky in the future."

It also doubles the durability against slime-type enemies.

The entry-level weapon, which costs 20-30 credits to build at level D, has only had its cost reduced by half.

However, when applied to a C-rank weapon that costs hundreds of credits to build, the significance is entirely different.

The Black Eagles Expedition emptied the entire inventory of the Merchant Guild in one go, which led to such an outrageous profit.

But if you can do this, others can naturally do it too.

Just a few days after its release, counterfeit versions of the "condom" appeared, clearly indicating a price war was about to begin.

If the merchant guild, which has just reached a deal with the Black Eagles, were to arbitrarily lower the price, it would be a slap in the face to both parties.

They could only rely on the reputation of the Chamber of Commerce to insist that their "condoms" were more authentic and of better quality.

Nevertheless, sales have declined significantly.

But Anna is not the kind of person who would suffer in silence.

Chapter 114 The Destiny of Swords

It's true that the Chamber of Commerce wouldn't lower itself to engage in a price war with the other party, but that doesn't mean Anna can find other ways to attack.

The biggest advantage of rust-resistant sleeves as a commodity is their low cost.

The blueprints provided by Wiener allowed the Chamber of Commerce to reduce its research and development costs to the limit, and the raw materials used were even the scraps from the ore refining process.

Rounding it off, it's practically a risk-free business.

But other manufacturers' imitations are different. In order to test the parameters and effects of the rusted sleeve, they first need to gather skilled craftsmen to conduct destructive tests.

By the time they realized what was happening, Anna had already taken away all the raw iron ore in the surrounding market, cutting off their source of materials at the source.

With most first-year students now forbidden from entering the dungeon, they either transport supplies from farther away or hire older students to mine them.

Either way, their costs will increase exponentially.

Moreover, one clause in the deal between Anna and the Black Eagles class stipulated that the Merchant Guild would have the right to know immediately after the Black Eagles class overcame the slime frenzy.

At that time, the Chamber of Commerce will completely stop producing rusted sleeves and use the remaining inventory to wage a thorough price war with the other party to see who will have the last laugh.

"Your smile is so sinister."

"Really? I was just thinking about happy things."

"Whatever makes you happy." Viner rubbed his hands together. "So, what about the credits? I've never seen so many credits in my life."