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The trading area was bustling, with people crowding around various stalls, picking out their desired materials.

It didn\'t take long for Charles to find an ice attribute second-tier beast core and a fire attribute second-tier beast core, completing the list of evolution materials for Max except for one fusion heart.

"This is definitely the right place; I just hope the prices aren\'t too outrageous!" he muttered to himself.

"Aurora, it seems like your family is quite well-off. Why do you often work here?" While searching for the fusion heart, Charles suddenly became curious about the girl accompanying him.

Aurora glanced around at the surrounding shops, then back at Charles, unsure how to answer him, so she pretended not to hear anything.

Her gaze drifted over the colorful accessories around, occasionally picking one or two, holding them in her hands to admire.

This floor not only sold various materials but also some accessories, and Aurora used to frequent it for shopping.

"Charles, do you think this hairpin looks nice?" Standing in front of a mirror, Aurora examined a light blue hairpin in her bangs, checking if her makeup was still intact.

But when she turned around, she was taken aback!

Charles had disappeared without her noticing.

"What the..." Aurora puffed her cheeks, her fair face filled with exasperation.

After receiving Charles\'s invitation to go shopping, she had spent a long time choosing from among 30 dresses before leaving home, finally selecting one she was satisfied with, and her makeup had taken nearly an hour.

Yet when Charles met her, he hadn\'t even complimented her once, and now, while they were shopping, he had simply vanished. Who shops like that?

...

Charles\'s gaze swept over the various items around him.

Information flashed before his eyes like a scanner, assessing the details of the products surrounding him.

He could not only identify what each item was called but also clearly see the quality of the materials and the suggested market prices.

"Too bad the store hasn\'t marked any prices; the haggling skills I honed on shopping apps in my past life can\'t be put to use here," Charles sighed with a hint of frustration.

The reason why the \'Front Material Trading Center\' was nicknamed a \'rip-off\' was that most of the materials inside had no marked prices. You had to pick what you wanted and then take it to the cashier for a manual appraisal.

Knowing you want these items gives them the perfect opportunity to charge exorbitant prices.

Yet, many of the rare materials here in Lsengard, and even in the entire Vendantia province, are exclusively sold at Front, and nowhere else. This monopoly allowed them to deliberately overcharge customers.

As Charles\'s eyes passed over a miscellaneous stall, several lines of system information flashed before him.

[Fusion Heart] [Blue Quality]: Harvested from deep within the Alexander Volcano, 3000 kilometers away from Lsengard, contains pure fire attribute energy, ideal for crafting fire attribute equipment, and a necessary component for the evolution of some fire attribute mystical beasts. Suggested market price: 50 silver coins.

Upon seeing the system\'s prompt, Charles\'s heart raced—this was precisely the last material he needed for Max\'s evolution.

However, the thought of the small dark red stone being priced at 50 silver coins made him wince. If it\'s worth that much, who knew how ridiculously high the rip-off shop would mark up its price.

His ferocious beast materials had been listed at the Beast Master Guild for half a day, and he had only earned 150 silver coins so far, still needing to buy two beast cores.

If he didn\'t have enough money, and by the time he managed to gather more, the material might have already been sold, complicating Max\'s advancement.

Securing the fusion heart, Charles was about to head to the cashier when suddenly a big question mark flashed before his eyes.

In his experience, only certain items that required a verifier\'s confirmation or were extremely unique would prompt a "?" indicator.

As Charles looked more closely, the item with the "?" appeared right in front of him on his system screen.

[Map Fragment] [Unknown]: ???

Seeing this familiar prompt, Charles suddenly remembered that during his time in the Ferocious Beast Mountains, near the lair of a Resurrecting Serpent and close to the remains of a group of tomb raiders, he had also found a piece referred to as a \'map fragment.\' He wondered if it could be part of the same map.

However, this was merely a guess. The world was full of treasure maps; who knew if it could actually be pieced together with another?

If the price was right, Charles felt it might be worth taking home to try out. But if the price was exorbitant, he would pass—after all, today\'s main goal was to gather the materials needed for Max\'s advancement, and everything else was secondary.

Packing the two second-tier beast cores and the fusion heart together, along with some other less important items, Charles headed straight to the cashier.

An elderly appraiser with graying hair near the cashier looked over Charles\'s items and slowly held up five fingers.

Charles smiled lightly: "50 silver coins?"

The appraiser nearly dropped his teacup, his eyes bulging like bells: "Young man, are you joking with me? It\'s 5 gold coins, and that\'s firm!"

"What?"

"5 gold coins!"

"You must be robbing me!"

Hearing the exorbitant price quoted by the appraiser, Charles nearly lost his balance. He had heard rumors that the [Front Material Trading Center] was a rip-off, but this was his first personal encounter with their outrageous pricing. The mention of \'five gold coins\' made it impossible for him to hold back his shock.

He now fully understood why monopolistic industries were so profitable. For something like the fusion heart, if not bought here, one would have to travel personally to a location 3000 kilometers away, and that too into an active volcano, to see if they could find one.

The seller was clearly trying to take advantage of him.

Seeing Charles hesitate, the shop clerk seemed very distressed: "Young man, those two beast cores are worth at most 100 silver coins, but that treasure map in your hands, that\'s a priceless artifact. It could potentially hide untold treasures..."

Hearing the clerk\'s relentless spiel, Charles\'s face twitched involuntarily. Even if he were sold for scrap, he doubted he could muster up the five gold coins.

Just as Charles was about to give up, he noticed a young girl standing beside him—Aurora had quietly returned to his side.

Seeing her, Charles grabbed her like a lifeline and pulled her aside.

Startled by Charles\'s sudden grip, Aurora\'s cheeks flushed slightly, but she did not pull away. She glanced at Charles, her fair face tinged with pink, and asked, "What\'s up?"

Charles scratched his head and lowered his voice to nearly a whisper, "They\'re trying to sell me this old sheepskin for five gold coins. Isn\'t that just highway robbery? Didn\'t you say you had an inside channel? Could you please check for me?"

Aurora chuckled at his remark, then confidently took the materials from Charles and approached the cashier.

With a graceful smile, she said, "I\'d like these items, including this piece of sheepskin. How much would that be?"

The clerk glanced at the young girl, his previously slouched posture straightening instantly, and he declared, "500 silver coins!"

Seeing Aurora still seemed unsatisfied and smiling slyly at Charles, he quickly revised his offer, "50 silver coins, everything in your hands, that\'s roughly 10 silver coins each, how does that sound?"

"Cough... If you\'re still short on cash, just make it 10 silver coins!"

From five gold coins.

To 500 silver coins.

To 50 silver coins.

And finally, to 10 silver coins.

Charles had never seen such an unheard-of method of bargaining before!

He wasn\'t suspecting that the items were counterfeit—the system had already provided a suggested market price, and just one second-tier beast core was worth 50 silver coins!

To get all these treasures for just 50 silver coins was an unbelievable bargain!

...

"Aurora, your insider connection is incredibly effective!" Standing at the entrance of the Front Building, Charles\'s face was nearly split with joy.

He ended up feeling too embarrassed to take advantage of the deal for items worth over 200 silver coins and forcefully paid 50 silver coins instead!

He decided from that day on to completely change his view of the \'rip-off shop.\' This place wasn\'t a rip-off at all; it was practically charity!

Seeing Charles\'s delighted expression, Aurora chuckled lightly, her eyes curving into crescents: "I heard the chairman of the Front Group has no sons, only a daughter. Why don\'t you try to get to know her? Marry her one day, and you won\'t just save 50 silver coins—you\'ll own the entire Front Building."

"You\'re joking, right? As if she\'d be interested in me!" Charles laughed, then looked at Aurora somewhat apologetically, "I\'m really sorry, Aurora. I asked you out to hang out, but I ended up focusing on finding materials and left you on your own."

Aurora paused for a moment, then her face brightened with a radiant smile: "It\'s okay, Charles. I was just happy that you asked me to come along."

The evening breeze tousled Aurora\'s long hair, a small blue hairpin nestled in her bangs, and her clear eyes seemed to shimmer with colorful light as she looked at Charles.

Charles was momentarily captivated, but his attention soon returned to the materials in his hands.

With these materials, Max could advance to the second tier before the enrollment ceremony started, and with the capability to face the onslaught of two first-tier mystical beasts, even if Mousie didn\'t participate, he\'d be fully confident!

He leisurely strolled with Aurora, shopping until the sun set, and then they had dinner together. Standing at the crossroads, Charles waved to Aurora: "You\'ve been such a great help today, I don\'t even know how to thank you! If there\'s ever anything you need help with, just ask, as long as it\'s within my capabilities!"

He couldn\'t wait to get home and help Max advance, happily sprinting towards his house.

Watching the exuberant figure of the young man, Aurora smiled quietly to herself and gently kicked a stone on the ground: "What a blockhead... who needs your thanks."

Looking up, a black stretch Maybach slowly pulled up in front of her.

An elderly man in a Front Group official uniform stepped out of the car, bowed slightly to the young girl, and then opened the passenger door...