Cold Thorn Bone Powder

Unexpectedly, it was not Principal Helena who came first, but Professor Derick.

He apologized profusely, saying that he had promised to introduce the procurement staff of the Star Academy to purchase the Cold Thorn Bone Powder, and this promise was only fulfilled today.

Ina looked around and asked, "Where's the academy's procurement staff? Has he arrived?"

Professor Derick explained, "He'll be here shortly." With that, he sighed, "All jobs in the academy are tough. Please forgive my colleague's tardiness, Miss Ina. The academy's financial situation is not very optimistic, Odom has run to numerous merchant guilds trying to sell the junk in the warehouse."

Ina immediately showed great interest, "The Star Academy is the most famous magic academy in the Silver Empire, the empire's finance should support it heavily, why would it still face a financial squeeze?"

"The empire's finance does allocate funds, and various merchant guilds also sponsor every year." Professor Derick shrugged, "Training mages, as everyone knows, is like pouring tons of gold into the ocean, how much can it raise the sea level? To alleviate this financial pressure, the academy has assigned all students in the fourth grade and above to various tutors, and the funds for the projects have to be figured out by the tutors. If I hadn't climbed a big tree, I would probably be in the same state as Odom." Thinking of this, a smug smile appeared on Professor Derick's face.

Ina had not expected that the Star Academy, with its distinguished reputation, would be so poor privately. "This Mr. Odom, doesn't he just handle the procurement of magical materials needed by the academy?" Ina seemed to have just heard Professor Derick mention something about sales and merchant guilds.

"The new term is about to begin, and I guess the purchase orders for each department have already reached Odom. I guess he really had no other choice but to try and sell those failed and half-finished products in the academy's warehouse."

The failed and semi-finished products of the Magic Academy are not worthless. Some materials can still be extracted and sold, and some potions with insufficient efficacy can also be used reluctantly.

As they were talking, a chubby middle-aged man walked in. He sat down next to Professor Derick, and this was Mr. Odom. Ina guessed that his trip to the merchant guild was not smooth. In such chilly weather, Mr. Odom's forehead was sweating, and he looked very tired.

As soon as he sat down, he ordered a glass of water. Lusen brought the water over, Mr. Odom gulped it down, and then he seemed to regain his strength and said, "My apologies for the rudeness, madam, and Professor Derick. Anyone who has encountered as many setbacks as I have today would not behave any better." Mr. Odom couldn't help but sigh as he recalled the rejections he faced at the merchant guild.

He complained to Professor Derick, "Those smooth-talking merchants! When you want to buy their goods, they blow their products up to the sky. But if you want to sell your own things to them, they will nitpick and degrade your stuff until it's worth nothing."

"I told the people at the Miller Merchant Guild that those failed after-class assignments from the Magical Machinery Department, the fine gold plating and flame cores on them could be removed. But they said, 'You can bring the removed ones over, and we'll take them.' I don't have the time to dismantle each one! Even when I delivered them as a whole, I gave them a lot of extra materials, but the guild still found a way to exploit this, saying 'Since dismantling is difficult, we inevitably need to hire someone specifically to sort and pick. We can only pay you half the price.' A magic apprentice could do this, yet they dare to cut the price by half!" Mr. Odom was livid.

Only after Professor Derick placated him, did he calm down and ask, "When will the mage who wants to sell the Cold Thorn Bone Powder arrive?"

Professor Derick awkwardly said, "Um...she has already arrived, she's Miss Ina in front of you."

Mr. Odom slapped his forehead, "I only saw that you were the owner of this restaurant..."

"Miss Ina has many businesses." Professor Derick quickly covered up for him.

"It's okay," Ina smiled generously, "Your stories are very interesting, can we start our transaction now?"

Odom picked up the Cold Thorn Bone Powder and examined it carefully. He thought that this batch of bone powder was pure and of excellent quality, and indeed met the Star Academy's procurement standard.

"The academy's procurement price for Cold Thorn Bone Powder is 25 silver coins/gram, the demand is 500 grams, so it's 12 gold coins and 50 silver coins. What do you think?" Odom took out a thick account book from his bosom.

Ina expressed approval. When she decided to sell the Cold Thorn Bone Powder, it was because she had just purchased the Fatil Vineyard, and she had only 5 gold coins left, so she was in a hurry to sell some materials to get back some money. She didn't expect it to drag on for so long, and now that the restaurant has a profit on the books, she's not so desperate for the dozen or so gold coins anymore.

Odom quickly flipped to the last page of the account book, paused for a moment, and then flipped back a few pages. The tip of his pen stopped at the bottom of this page, and said, "In honor of Professor Derick, I've moved this transaction to the third page of pending payments."

"Hold on," Ina quickly interrupted him, "The academy's procurement of materials is... on credit?"

Odom looked as if it was a matter of course, "Indeed it is. Didn't Professor Derick tell you in advance?"

Under Ina's gaze, Professor Derick quickly shook his head, "I didn't know about this either." He turned to Odom, "Has the financial situation deteriorated to this extent? When can I get the Lantern Grass I ordered last month?"

Odom replied indifferently, "Hard to say, as soon as possible. It could be next month, or the month after that."

Professor Derick wasn't angry, on the contrary, he seemed relieved, "I've always known about your efficiency, this is an order I placed for the potion class half a year later."

Odom explained, "The academy is very creditworthy, this money will definitely be paid to you as soon as possible."

Ina thought to herself: If it wasn't for your conversation just now, I might have believed your "as soon as possible".

She pondered for a moment, "Actually, I don't necessarily need gold coins to pay for this batch of goods. I'm somewhat interested in the products Mr. Odom was peddling to the merchant guilds."

Odom was overjoyed. He had just come from the merchant guild and had the list of these products with him.

He patted his chest, promising, "I can give Miss Ina a 20% discount on the price listed in the inventory."

Although Odom was under financial stress every day, he was capable enough to sit in this position. The inventory list Ina received was clear, with appropriate estimations and descriptions for all sorts of "failed products" and "semi-finished products".

Ina took Odom's steel pen and started to choose from the list. She suddenly felt the exhilaration of shopping and really wanted to slap the list on the table and say without blinking, "I'll take them all."

The reality wasn't so kind, and what Odom sold wasn't exactly luxury goods. The list definitely contained a lot of worthless junk for Ina, so she had to carefully screen through it.

The first few pages were all sorts of potions and elixirs. The descriptions were filled with professional jargon or traders' slang, so Ina had to ask Odom for detailed explanations.

"Strengthening Potion: Immerse a weapon in it to form a thin film that wraps around the blade and increases the weapon's sharpness. Strengthening degree 2+"

"What does 'strengthening degree 2+' mean?"

With the expert, Professor Derick, sitting next to them, Odom dared not bluff Ina, "A strengthening degree of 2+ can only enhance weapons with a sharpness of less than 2. If you use this strengthening potion on a weapon above this rating, the coating material will be worse than the weapon itself and will actually make the weapon duller."

He stealthily glanced at Ina and added, "The weapons used by professionals, um, are mostly above a sharpness of 3..." This is why the things on this list couldn't be sold. The numerous defects were a nightmare for the merchants, who got a headache whenever they saw this list.

Unexpectedly, Ina wasn't angry, but confirmed, "Normal people can use this potion to enhance their firewood knives or hunting knives, right?"

Why would a mage need to enhance a firewood knife? Odom didn't voice his inner question. He nodded and saw Ina actually check the box next to the strengthening potion. She wanted all ten bottles, Odom's eyes lit up. This was a good sign. If Miss Ina was even willing to buy such low-quality potions, it felt like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

The list continued with various potions: "Hemostatic Potion", "Detoxifying Potion", and "Pain Relieving Potion"... all of them were common supportive potions. As for why they were listed in the failure products, Professor Derick remembered the incident and explained, "I think the quality of the blue vine fruits used in these potions was poor, which greatly reduced their efficacy. The person responsible for the procurement was held accountable. Odom, wasn't it this incident that led to your promotion to your current position?"

Diminished efficacy... Ina looked at the following descriptions and felt that these potions weren't entirely useless. Professionals would use these auxiliary potions in dangerous situations. Perhaps they encountered a strong opponent or were poisoned in the wilderness, so the requirements for the potions were exceptionally high. For example, the hemostatic potion had to take effect within three minutes, reducing the flow of blood to a very low level. However, these potions on the list were slower acting, taking eight to ten minutes to take effect, so they were considered substandard.

But if these potions were in the hands of a regular person, rather than a professional, whether it took 10 minutes or 20 minutes, as long as the person was still alive, they would be useful. These potions were not expensive, and Odom gave a 20% discount. Ina wasn't spending hard cash to buy them but was trading with the surplus of cold thorn bone powder from her restaurant, so she didn't hesitate to check the boxes.

These potions would be a safety net for the daily lives of the Rize people in the Extreme Cold Icefield. If there had been hemostatic potions before, so many people wouldn't have died in hunting accidents each year. But it's no use saying this now, the hemostatic potions were not newly invented. Before Ina came along, the isolated small village of the Rize tribe could not have had access to magical potions. Moreover, their place didn't even have a money economy, they were bartering with passing traders.

Ina waved her hand, almost buying up all the potions on those pages. She turned to the next page, which was filled with magical machinery. Unlike potions, magical machinery could usually be disassembled if it could be assembled, so true failures were rare. Those that appeared on this pending list were either too delicate to disassemble without affecting the most valuable core parts or were already disassembled down to a bare frame, like the ones Odom tried to sell to the Miller Commerce Guild, suggesting they scrape off the previous coating to sell.

Ina admitted that she didn't understand magical machinery as much, so she waved Lusen over and tossed the list to him, "On the page with magical machinery, mark anything you can use."

Lusen, who had been watching from the sidelines, was caught off guard when the list landed in his arms. He thought he didn't have anything to do with this. "Miss Ina, do you need anything? I can help you pick," Lusen held the steel pen, feeling at a loss on where to start.

"Aren't you switching to the Department of Magical Machinery? Choose some that you can use for practice, whether for modification or dismantling for usable parts, surely out of all this magical machinery, there must be something of value."

For his use? Lusen was surprised and honored, and even less daring to just casually mark things.

Seeing Lusen's hesitation, Ina urged, "If the items you choose don't add up to five gold coins, don't bother coming to the Dragon Flame Restaurant tomorrow."

Lusen's body trembled, and he immediately began to write quickly. Ina was finally satisfied, "That's right, Lusen, I have high hopes for you. In the future, if you make achievements in the field of magical machinery, don't refuse my orders."

Grateful, Lusen handed the list back to Ina. Ina flipped through a few more pages, and there were some interesting little things that weren't too valuable. She marked them as well. In the end, she turned to the last page and there were no more items left.

Odom started to calculate the cost. Ina's selections were very accurate, and after applying the 20% discount according to the prices listed, only a few silver coins were left. Ina suggested that Odom could choose some items to offset the price of these few silver coins.

Finally, Odom put away his account book, saying that he could deliver the ordered goods to the restaurant tomorrow.

"A pleasant transaction." Odom extended his hand to Ina.

Ina put her hand in his, "Indeed."