Gaia had no idea either, but he had already made up his mind before coming, so as soon as Steward asked the question, Gaia confidently held up one finger.

"One thousand gold coins?" Steward asked tentatively.

Even though Gaia had mentally prepared himself in advance, hearing the price of one thousand gold coins so suddenly still shocked him, and surprise immediately showed in his eyes.

Gaia secretly thought this was bad—he couldn't let this old fox see through him. His mind raced, and he quickly came up with a way to cover it up. After the initial shock, his eyes flashed with genuine anger. Gaia stepped forward, grabbed the bundle, and walked out without looking back, clearly meaning: your price is an insult to me.

Steward hurried to stop him. "Sir, sir, please don't be hasty. If you think it's too little, we can negotiate further. I understand, you want ten thousand gold coins." Gaia snorted, standing at the door with his bundle, giving the other man a cold look.

Steward looked troubled. "But ten thousand gold coins is really too high..." He glanced at Gaia and said, "How about three thousand gold coins? That's the most we can offer. I suppose you came to us to avoid trouble, and we need to make a little profit too."

Steward's meaning was clear: the price they offered would definitely be on the low side.

Gaia thought for a moment and decided to take a gamble. "Five thousand gold coins. Not a single copper less, or I won't sell."

Steward: "Sir, five thousand gold coins is really too much..." Gaia shook off his hand and made to leave, but Steward didn't try to stop him: "Sir, you can sell it elsewhere, but nowhere will be as safe as here. Three thousand gold coins, that's really the best we can do."

Gaia had already stepped out the door, and Steward still made no move to call him back. Gaia's heart sank: he had outsmarted himself. Three thousand gold coins was actually quite a lot; for Greenland, it was a godsend. If this didn't work, he'd have to try selling it at the adventurers' tavern, but that would definitely bring a heap of trouble...

Gaia was about to walk through the passageway and into the main hall when the steward who had received him earlier suddenly blocked his way. Gaia was startled, but the steward smiled and said, "Sir, Steward has agreed—five thousand gold coins, we'll buy it." Gaia let out a long sigh of relief.

...

With a pouch containing one hundred gold coins and a Magic Dragon Bank crystal card loaded with four thousand nine hundred gold coins, Gaia hurried off to a magic shop to buy an alchemical injector. Then he circled the town a few times to make sure he wasn't being followed before heading to the north gate, where Roy was waiting for him as arranged. As soon as they met, Gaia immediately snatched his coat from Roy and put it on. Once he relaxed, he realized just how frozen and stiff he was.

Inside the Modo Auction House, Steward's eyebrows were dancing with excitement. "A top-grade level-seven Cracked Steel Demon Battle Double Armor—haha, five thousand gold coins! It's a bit expensive, but worth every penny. Prepare the finest gift box and package it up. I want to present this top-tier armor to the lord!"

Gaia and Roy braved the still-biting early spring northern wind, wandering the edge of the frozen tundra for two days before daring to return to Greenland. It wasn't that he was overly cautious, but Gaia knew full well how weak he was right now—one careless move could spell disaster.

On the way, Roy tried to return that gold coin to Gaia, which made Gaia see this honest young man in a new light. He wanted to reward Roy with the coin, but the boy stubbornly refused to accept it and forced it back into Gaia's hand. This made Gaia feel that, though the youth was naive, his sincere heart was far better than those honey-tongued, backstabbing types in the imperial capital—a trustworthy and promising seedling.

He wanted to take revenge on his father, who controlled the Gangelo family—one of the four great houses of the Shenglong Dynasty's vampires—in the imperial capital. He couldn't do it alone; he needed his own team.

This trip to Modo not only solved his financial problems, but also made him realize the gap between Greenland and Modo. If he wanted to compete with Modo, his previous plans were definitely insufficient.

During those two days on the frozen tundra, he had already devised a complete plan in his mind. Now it was time to take the first step.

In his shabby lord's manor, Gaia summoned the city administrator Strong, with the honest youth Roy standing by his side, and announced his decision to them.

"Lord Strong, Greenland needs more than just shops and taverns that provide basic supplies—we need more facilities. Calculate right away how much it would cost to build a high-level adventurer supply camp."

The honest city administrator immediately carried out the lord's order, not even pausing to consider whether the lord actually had that much money.

In fact, Gaia had come to Greenland as the son of the head of the Sion family. Although no one understood why the Sion family head would send his son to such a godforsaken place, everyone believed that as a direct descendant of the Gangelo family—one of the four great clans of the dynasty—he surely wouldn't be short of gold coins.