“Alright, give me a large plate, the biggest one!”

“Okay, senior, but since red-blood tiger meat is a special extra dish, I’ll need you to pay first. A large plate of red-blood tiger meat costs three gold coins, and the rest of the meat dishes total eleven silver coins.”

“Hmm, swipe the card.”

William Carter responded and handed over his student card.

At the same time, he couldn’t help but marvel at how expensive the meat of these fierce beasts was.

Beef, pork, and other meats—several plates together only cost eleven silver coins, but a single plate of red-blood tiger meat was three gold coins. You have to know, one hundred silver coins is equivalent to just one gold coin.

The poor study literature, the rich practice martial arts.

Martial arts cultivation truly isn’t a path ordinary people can take.

It’s said that some wealthy noble heirs eat fierce beast meat as their main course every day. That means, on average, each person consumes at least five gold coins a day—over eighteen hundred gold coins a year.

In this world, the purchasing power of one gold coin is roughly equivalent to one thousand alliance coins in William Carter’s previous world. Eighteen hundred gold coins is a whopping 1.8 million. A single family member would need to spend 1.8 million a year just to replenish their vital energy and blood. No wonder they all become high-level martial artists so early.

Those people are always able to occupy the top of the pyramid with their powerful strength, maintaining their noble status and position, enslaving the masses, and this is directly related to the wealth of their families.

Chapter 10: Retainer Mark Thompson

Fierce beasts truly live up to their name—the vital energy contained in their flesh is indeed powerful. Just one large plate of red-blood tiger meat, and I feel like all the energy and blood I used up in today’s training has been fully replenished. What’s more, the concentration of energy and blood in my body has even increased a little. The improvement isn’t huge, but if this continues day after day, the advantage will be significant...

Soon, William Carter had finished his meal.

“But, red-blood tiger meat is just too expensive. One meal costs three gold coins. In my previous life, that would be three thousand alliance coins. Although the The Carter Family behind this body is a large family, it’s nothing compared to noble families like the Xifeng family in Bishui City. Counting all the real estate, the entire The Carter Family is worth at most around a hundred thousand gold coins. My monthly expenses are only ten gold coins, which is already equivalent to a year’s salary for a high-income worker. Wanting to eat red-blood tiger meat every day is just a drop in the bucket.”

The poor study literature, the rich practice martial arts.

Without enough rare treasures, without enough money, laying a solid foundation and cultivating to higher realms is unimaginably difficult.

“William Carter?”

Just as William Carter finished dinner and was about to refine the energy contained in the red-blood tiger meat, a voice sounded beside him. Immediately after, a man who looked about twenty-six or twenty-seven sat down across from him.

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Mark Thompson, retainer of Count Haino, secretary of the Xuan Zhong Advanced Swordsman Academy, and a high-level swordsman awarded a medal by the kingdom.”

William Carter looked up at the young man who had sat down in front of him without permission, but said nothing.

Mark Thompson didn’t mind William Carter’s attitude—or rather, he didn’t care at all about the attitude of a sixteen-year-old boy in front of him.

“About what Miss Hailin’er said as a joke, let me clarify first. Miss Hailin’er only said those things to solve the problem at hand and get rid of Samuel Grant’s pestering. I’m sure you won’t take it to heart. Oh, and even if you do, it doesn’t matter. With your genius martial arts mind, you must realize the huge gap between yourself and Miss Hailin’er. The main reason I’m here is to explain that it was a special situation at the time, and Miss Hailin’er’s purpose was just to use you as a shield. As for any trouble this may have caused you, we sincerely apologize. For this, we will also offer you some compensation.”

Mark Thompson paused, but didn’t give William Carter a chance to speak: “We’ve listed two compensation options. The first is for you to join our Hainuo family and become Miss Hailin’er’s attendant, accompanying her in her studies at the academy. This way, your dueling opponent Samuel Grant naturally won’t bother you anymore—otherwise, he’d be upsetting Miss Hailin’er. Although you’re only a high-level martial artist and it’s a bit unfit for you to be Miss Hailin’er’s attendant, you’re only sixteen and seem to have some potential, so we won’t set the bar too high for you...

“The second option: we give you five hundred gold coins, and you leave Xuan Zhong Advanced Swordsman Academy. As someone from a wealthy merchant family who reached high-level martial artist at just sixteen, your talent isn’t bad. I’m sure other academies would be happy to take you in after you leave Xuan Zhong. Five hundred gold coins—after paying one hundred and twenty gold coins in tuition, you’ll have three hundred and eighty gold coins left. That should be a huge sum for you, equivalent to three years of pocket money, enough for you to spend freely for a while. At the same time, you won’t have to die under Samuel Grant’s sword and leave a small knot in the kind-hearted Miss Hailin’er’s heart.”