After the slave owners went bankrupt, they all wanted to keep me as a mistress.

It turned out I miscalculated!

Mu Qiu nodded to himself, finally feeling relieved.

That's right!

Hurry up and deduct those extra three million gold coins!

[Host, your system funds should currently be ten million gold coins! We underestimated your account by one million gold coins, I'll make up the difference!]

Mu Qiu's heart skipped a beat, and his anxiety rose again.

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Why are the system funds increasing?"

The system seemed to have guessed that he would have this question, so it quickly explained it to him in his mind.

[Host, check your storage ring, there's something inside!]

"Is there something?"

Mu Qiu raised an eyebrow and probed the storage ring the merchant lady had given him with his mental energy. With a quick scan, he soon discovered a card and a strange purple stone hidden in the corner.

"This is……"

This is a magic crystal card with a stored value of three million gold coins, which can be redeemed at any goblin bank on this continent!

The system thoughtfully provided him with an introduction.

[Host, you're a true business genius! While trading with that merchant lady, you not only received goods for free, but also bought a magic crystal card worth three million gold coins for two and a half million! You've made a profit again!]

Mu Qiu's vision went black, and he collapsed onto the bed.

The hanging heart finally died.

He now finally understood why he had an extra three million gold coins in system funds, and where that inexplicable profit of five hundred thousand came from.

"Is that merchant lady an idiot?! Why does she still have a magic crystal card worth three million gold coins in her storage ring?!"

What was originally a losing proposition suddenly became a guaranteed profit because of this magic crystal card worth three million gold coins.

The key point is that the merchant lady had previously taken out each of her goods and personally displayed them to him.

However, she ultimately packed all these goods into a storage ring in front of everyone.

When Mu Qiu finally accepted the ring, he naturally didn't examine every nook and cranny of it carefully.

He only glanced at it briefly, and after confirming that the merchant had not switched the goods, he put away his storage ring. He did not find the magic crystal card hidden under any of the goods.

Only after he had distributed all the potions and furniture from his storage ring, leaving the entire ring empty, did the magic crystal card in the corner become conspicuous and was immediately spotted by him.

"Was the lady merchant doing this on purpose?"

Mu Qiu even had this suspicion.

Because, what normal person would put a magic crystal card worth three million into a storage ring and not keep it safe, and then give away such a precious storage ring as a free gift?

He even deliberately placed the goods on top of the magic crystal cards, so that unless he personally counted the goods one by one and put them back into the storage ring, he would definitely overlook the magic crystal cards hidden under the goods in the corner.

"It's highly likely that it was intentional, but less likely that the businesswoman was just a very careless and stupid one."

Mu Qiu made a judgment in his mind.

If it's the latter, he just needs to keep the magic crystal card safe and return it to the merchant lady when she comes to visit again.

However, he believes that the latter possibility is really slim.

It's most likely the former—that businesswoman did it on purpose.

Perhaps it was because of his identity as a hero that the witches wanted to befriend him on behalf of the witches, or even hoped to gain his protection.

This magic crystal card with three million gold coins was used to bribe him.

Mu Qiu believes this is the most likely possibility.

His demonic aura was only briefly revealed within the Adventurers' Guild before being concealed.

If there's anything special about him, it's his identity as a hero and the fact that his attitude towards slaves differs from that of other slave owners.

However, Mu Qiu did not want to get involved in this mess.

If there really is a wanted witch nearby, he might offer her a little help, or he might pretend he didn't see her and not report her to the Empire. But it's impossible for him to stand up for witches.

Mu Qiu glanced at his current system funds again and found that the numbers had indeed changed again.

[System Funds: 1000 million gold coins]

Personal Wealth: 1,505,691 Gold Coins

[Loss already incurred: 150 million gold coins]

Profits earned: 558,027 gold coins

Mu Qiu was much more at ease with the extra million in system funds.

He sat up, took out the purple stone from his storage ring, and silently asked in his mind, "This extra million gold coins should be the value of this purple stone, right?"

[Host, you are truly a genius! As you can see, this is a Starshine Stone, which can increase the probability of breakthroughs for high-level professionals above the seventh rank. Furthermore, when using a Starshine Stone to assist in a breakthrough, even if the attempt to forge a Legendary, Epic, or Mythical rank fails, there will be no risk of backlash.]

[What if Starshine Stones were incorporated into one's career path—]

The more starstones used, the longer the resulting staircase will be.

The higher the quality of the starstone used, the more sturdy the resulting staircase will be!

Mu Qiu nodded.

understood.

Legendary and above professionals all want to make themselves longer and tougher, so this thing is the hard currency traded among those legendary and above professionals, right?

That must be incredibly valuable.

Things that can harden ordinary people aren't cheap, so things that can harden legendary professionals must be incredibly expensive.

A low-grade starstone is worth 10,000 gold coins, a mid-grade starstone is worth 50,000 gold coins, a high-grade starstone is worth 200,000 gold coins, and a top-grade starstone is worth over 1 million gold coins.

The starstone in your hand is a top-grade starstone!

[By the way, host, is this your first time seeing a top-grade starstone?]

【whether】

Hearing the system's sweet voice, Mu Qiu's eyelids twitched.

He paused for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Can I not answer this question?"

Mu Qiu has become smarter now.

He discovered that regardless of whether he answered yes or no, the system seemed to give him some kind of reward.

If he doesn't answer the question, will he be able to avoid the system giving him gold bars?

[Okay, host. If you do not respond within ten seconds, the default answer will be 'yes'.]

Mu Qiu: "..."

My heart, which had been hanging in suspense, couldn't be put down.

Mu Qiu randomly selected "yes".

"Yes, this is the first time I've ever seen a top-grade starstone."

【Oh! I guess you haven't seen other shapes of top-grade starstones before. Let me bring one over so I can take a look.】

Wait, wait, wait?! What are you doing with your potion?!

Mu Qiu felt a blur before his eyes, and his right hand suddenly felt heavy, with a heart-shaped purple stone appearing in his palm.

[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have obtained a top-grade Starshine Stone! Your system funds have increased by one million gold coins!]

Mu Qiu lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and looked utterly dejected.

He had been working very hard to lose money, but looking at the system funds that had grown from ten million gold coins to eleven million gold coins, he doubted whether he would ever be able to successfully go bankrupt.

Or... should we just give up?

Mu Qiu even had such a thought in his mind.

Maybe he can earn a lot of gold coins by making a profit?

But at that moment, he heard the system's voice again.

【Ding! 】

[The system has detected that the host's personal wealth exceeds one million gold coins, and the system funds exceed ten million gold coins. Achievement: Investment Master of the Slave Realm!]

Mu Qiu's lips twitched violently.

What a pathetic achievement!

[Congratulations, host, you have obtained an achievement reward—unlocking the items available for exchange in the intermediate shop!]

"Ok?"

Upon hearing this voice, Mu Qiu immediately perked up again.

Mid-range store?

Were the previous options to return to Earth and gain immortality just items available in low-level shops?

He quickly opened the system store, where a row of new options appeared.

[Intermediate Shop (Exchanges can only be made using personal wealth)]

[Immortality - 20 billion gold coins]

[Return to Earth (can carry any magic, items, or creatures) - 20 billion gold coins]

[Fafner's Protection (One of the original hero's inherent abilities, capable of sharing damage from contracted allies with herself; for each additional contracted partner, the total damage received by all allies and herself is halved, with no upper limit.) - 5000 million gold coins]

[The First Strike's Blessing (One of the original hero's inherent abilities, guaranteeing him the first strike in battle; in the event of a surprise attack, all damage and control effects are nullified until he begins to counterattack.) - 3000 million gold coins]

[The Gift of the Pioneer (One of the inherent abilities of the first hero, granting immunity to legendary suppression, domain suppression, saintly suppression, divine suppression, and abyssal suppression, and inflicting all types of suppression on enemies, with the suppression effect maximized by default.) — 2000 million gold.]

【Dawn of Light (One of the original hero's inherent abilities, dispels all control effects on a single target and restores them to full health; no cost to cast, no cooldown) - 1000 million gold】

[The Hero's Privilege (One of the inherent abilities of the first hero, allowing him to open any locked treasure chest and door with his bare hands, and to pass directly through any barrier, as the hero is unhindered) - 300 million gold coins]

[Wrath of the Hero (Even the first hero was no match for the Demon King. All his companions were enslaved by the Demon King. This rage transformed into power. Using this power will increase your strength to twice that of the enemy and unleash a corresponding aura. Duration: 3 seconds. Cooldown: 18 hours.) - 200 million gold coins]

【…】

"This store..."

Mu Qiu was captivated by the dazzling array of exchange options in the store.

nice one!

They are all good stuff!

Mu Qiu wished he could redeem everything in the store in one go!

And this is only a mid-level store, so what good things must be in the high-level stores?

"Losing money, we have to lose a lot of money!"

Mu Qiu's fighting spirit, which had just been extinguished, was instantly rekindled!

Although the system keeps sending him money, it's a good thing!

It only slightly increases the difficulty of going bankrupt. Does it have any impact on him?

Absolutely no impact!

As long as he loses money fast enough, the system can't keep up with the speed at which it issues gold bars, and he can successfully lose all his gold coins and go bankrupt!

Moreover, the more funds the system has, the more personal wealth he will have after bankruptcy!

Then, he could take everything he cherished back to Earth and become an immortal and ageless citizen of his homeland!

"Then, it's time to put investing in Fiona on the agenda!"

Seeing the newly added redemption option in the system store, Mu Qiu was immediately motivated.