21. The Fourth Volume Has Been Unlocked

Around 2 pm, Ryūhei returned to Liyue Harbor with his completed commissions. When he checked the points earned, the point limit was enough to unlock the third volume of both of his mangas. In fact, the points earned from the One Piece manga have reached nearly a thousand.

[Point limit:

Dragon Ball (650/1000)

One Piece (900/1000)]

"As expected. One Piece is very popular because many people know Beidou as the pirate captain." Then, he held his chin while pondering. "There's no doubt. Another manga that can become instantly famous is Shokugeki no Sōma because there are many recipes that chefs from various nations can't miss."

Ryūhei had never read the manga or watched the anime. But from the description, it was a manga about something like a cooking competition at an academy. So he was sure that it was a manga that would present many kinds of dishes from all over the country on Earth.

And more importantly, he should at least keep drawing One Piece and Dragon Ball before drawing another manga.

If he calculated his manga drawing speed and the number of days it took, he could finish at least 4 manga volumes in a week. Even then, he still got at least a day off.

So, suppose he unlocked a new manga from the market system, he could still handle it.

Ryūhei's shop already came into his view. Oddly enough, Atsuko seemed troubled by something. So, Ryūhei increased his pace toward his own shop.

"What happened, Atsuko?"

"Ah, boss."

Ryūhei sensed that Xingqiu wasn't in his shop. In front of Atsuko is a tall man around 186 cm with brown-colored hair and blue eyes. He wears the typical Snezhnayan outfit alongside a pair of brown leather gloves, a pair of black glasses, and a brown cap.

Ryūhei was slightly familiar with the faces of the people from that nation as they seemed to appear everywhere.

"Hello, I'm glad to see you." The man greeted Ryūhei politely.

"How glad?"

The man was stunned to hear Ryūhei's unexpected response. But then, he put a smile on his face.

"Very glad, very glad."

Honestly, Ryūhei didn't want to deal with Snezhnayan since they were so suspicious and disliked by many. They also often make shady deals behind many people's backs.

But, at the very least, he had to know why this man had stopped by his shop without buying something.

"Then, why did you bother my employee? If you don't want to buy something, I need to ask you to move out!" Ryūhei sent him away respectfully. However, the man did not budge. With his professional smile, he introduced himself, even though Ryūhei had asked him to leave.

"Let me introduce myself. I am Andrei, the account manager at the Northland Bank. I see that you are opening a business, but I see that your furniture is self-made. If you wish, as a manager of the Northland Bank, I will offer you a loan. And I can assure you that our interest rates are better than any of the local lenders you'll find around Liyue."

Upon hearing the purpose of the man named Andrei, Ryūhei thought for a moment and asked how much money he could borrow along with the interest.

"Can we talk inside? It's a bit awkward if I explain in the middle of the street."

"Come to think of it, not everyone from Snezhnaya is bad. Every human is like that. Good or bad of a person is just a thing seen from other people's point of view." Ryūhei said to himself.

Therefore, Ryūhei didn't need to judge whether Andrei was the same as the other Snezhnayans or not. At the very least, Ryūhei should still be wary of Andrei. Besides that, maybe he could also learn a little about Snezhnaya from Andrei's mouth or from where he works.

After coming in and inviting Andrei to sit down, they introduced themselves before Ryūhei asked about the loan Andrei mentioned earlier. Andrei briefly explained it by showing the list of loans. It says how much the loan is and how long the repayment will be. And each loan also has varying interest rates.

"This is interesting. The interest is lower than I expected." Based on what he read from the list, the loan interest was set at 6-9%.

Ryūhei turned to Andrei.

"This piqued my interest. Though, I don't need it."

Andrei was a little bit disappointed. To his surprise, he heard Ryūhei continue.

"But, I might need it when I open my shop in another nation."

Andrei lit his eyes. Truth to be told, Andrei saw the prospect of Ryūhei's shop. He could see how good the book called manga which at that time was being read by the two kids.

He saw the manga was printed in full color with the Manga Impact mark embossed at the bottom right of each page, indicating the quality of the print. When he asked the two kids, they said the owner of the Manga Impact shop had created the manga.

He had his doubts at first. If the owner of the manga shop was the one who created the manga, then where did he choose the printing service?

After collecting all of the information, no printing service was able to print a book with full-colored pages. Also, the manga bought from that shop was fully colored. So he conjectured that the owner of that shop had his own method to print the manga.

That's why Andrei is at Manga Impact because he saw a potential customer from the owner of the manga shop.

"If you said so, then I must excuse myself and wait for you in the Northland Bank. Here is my business card. Feel free to find me for help with any matters you'd like to take care of."

And hearing that Ryūhei didn't need the loan for now, Andrei gave him his business card. And then, he excused himself. At the very least, he got a positive answer from Ryūhei. And it was enough for him.

After Andrei had left, Ryūhei called out to Atsuko.

"How do you feel interacting with customers at Liyue?"

"I-It's nerve-wracking, boss."

"Well, you have to get used to it. If you restrict yourself with your fear of communicating, when will you improve? I don't want to brag, but I'll give you an example. I opened this shop within a day of arriving at Liyue Harbor. And I don't even need Mora to buy this building. Do you know why?"

Atsuko was utterly dumbfounded hearing what Ryūhei said. After a moment, she shook her head.

Ryūhei opened his mouth.

"By communicating. In essence, I'm using my communication skills to attract someone who likes something related to the store I'm about to open. Of course, I also showed off my talent for drawing." Ryūhei said. "Even if you can't follow my path, at least you have an idea of how important communication is. And on top of that, you have to be able to make use of anything if you want to run a business."

Just as Ryūhei took advantage of Xingqiu's finances. Xingqiu might do the same. However, even if Xingqiu seemed to want to use him, whether it was wanting to get him to join the Guhua clan, or just selling his work in the manga shop. Still, Ryūhei would be the one to benefit from the situation. After all, Xingqiu already made an oath to never betray their brotherhoods.

Also, Ryūhei said that because of his experience in his previous life. Many people in his old life had good scores on tests and even graduated from college, but their communication skills were so poor that it was difficult for them to find work. Meanwhile, Ryūhei himself used to rely on his talents in drawing and playing musical instruments. However, when added to the way he communicates and how he took advantage of media-sharing websites, he becomes more well-known despite having dropped out of high school.

That's why he told Atsuko that communication is very important.

"Right, Atsuko. I'm going to the Adventurers' Guild for a moment. After that, you can rest and use the Mora to buy something to eat."

Ryūhei left for a moment.

And about 5 minutes later, Ryūhei returned to his shop, then told Atsuko to take a break by giving her Mora to buy food.

Just as Ryūhei was about to relax, a notification with a robotic tone sounded in his head.

[The host received appreciation from several readers:

Appreciation from Little Meng: 50 points (One Piece)

Appreciation from Little Fei: 50 points (One Piece)

The fourth volume of the One Piece manga has been unlocked

Unlocking the fourth volume of One Piece manga will give the host 10 times bonus points.

Appreciation from Little Lulu: 50 points (One Piece)]

[Point limit:

Dragon Ball (650/1000)

One Piece (1050/2000)]

"Fourth already? That's quite fast." Ryūhei muttered in surprise. Looks like he'll be working hard starting tonight.