The exp needed to level up changed from 400,000 to 350,000 after he received the watch as a payment. This was a guess that Caesar made, and it seemed to work. It looked like as long as an item has worth, it can be used as experience. He doesn't need to get paid in money only.
This was a really good thing for him because cash was really easy to burn and it was very hard to store. But things like gold in comparison, were much more durable and much more valuable despite its size.
With this, Caesar was ready to sell the rest of the Joy, which was less than 350 grams left. Thankfully enough, there were a lot of office workers and party goers leaving their work to go and party this night. It was the first big surge of the night.
This was the perfect opportunity to sell his Joy while the Capo gang hasn't sold them any yet. Caesar had to get to the consumers before they went inside the club.
To do this, Caesar stationed himself near the carriages where people were getting dropped off. This was the hottest spot and where the most traffic was located. He went into the corner of the shed, where people were directly dropped off from the carriages.
He didn't have to advertise his product blatantly, he only had to show a little opening where the bright red color of his Joy was visible. This was enough to entice some people to approach him.
"Hey, is that…joy?" a late twenties man approached him. He was in club clothing, fashionable but easy to move around.
"Yeah, I just got this new thing. I heard it's the best thing ever. It makes other Joy feel like trash," Caesar said casually. He had to be effortless about it, make them inquire about it rather than introducing them to it.
"Oh, yeah. I don't believe it," the man answered.
"I didn't believe it at first, either," Caesar said.
The man looked at Caesar's face to see if he was serious about it.
"How about letting me have a taste? Then I'll believe you,"
"I'm quite tight in money. I can't just give this away from free—its 1,000 Parou for 1 gram, you know?!"
"Like I'm paying for some unknown product."
"Good. Cause this is short supply. I heard there's only a few hundred grams left."
The man turned his face away from Caesar and tried to ignore him, but Caesar pulled out a small sample of the Joy in his hands. The man could fully see the beauty of this product, its shine, luster, and its reddishness without any impurities.
The man tried his hardest to ignore Caesar, but his addict-riddled brain couldn't help himself. He quickly turned towards Caesar and spoke to him.
"Fine, give me 1 gram, and I'll try it. If this is not as good as you say, I'll beat you up. I have many friends."
Caesar gave him 1 gram of Joy, but already prepared about 50 grams. He knew that once this man consumed his Joy, then he would inevitably buy more. This was not a guess, but a fact.
The effects were instant and he almost passed out from the refreshing feeling in his mind. He consumed a lot of Joy before, but this was the first time he had ever felt like he was floating off the ground. Before he could even process this feeling, it was gone.
He only had 1 gram, and it was not enough. "Give me more. Give me more!" the man shouted. And sure enough, Caesar gave him the 50 grams. His exaggerated joyous motion, like waving his hands in the air and shaking his head repeatedly, attracted some people who also wanted to feel that kind of ecstasy.
"Guys! You have to try this. This is literal heaven!" the man talked to some people near him as if he already knew them. But they were all random people he didn't know. It doesn't matter though, because their hunger for Joy was the same no matter who.
And soon enough, people started to line up in Caesar's corner to buy some Joy from him. The line became more and more longer, which attracted more attention and advertisement. Caesar didn't even have to do anything.
"Hey, what's this line for?"
"It's for Joy."
"Can't we just but this in the club. We don't have to stand in this line, right?"
"Dude, this thing is the bomb. I already tried it, and like you, I was also skeptical so I only bought a few grams. But when I tasted it, I immediately wanted to buy more. It's unlucky that the line already got this long! Damn my luck!"
Most people, like the guy who just spoke, only bought a few grams to test it. But once they experienced the effects, they wanted more. And once a rumor started that there was only a few hundred grams left, they all became more and more anxious to buy in bulk.
With this kind of hype and commotion, it can't be helped that it would gather the eyes of the Capo gang. The sun had already set and it was supposed to be their peak time, but there were barely any people at their club. Even the ones inside weren't buying any of their Joy.
It didn't take much time to find out what happened as they only had to look outside to see their customers lining on a carriage-waiting shed. Some teenagers wearing a uniform flat cap, commonly used by newspaper boys, strutted into the shed and looked for the perpetrator.
Caesar saw 3 teenagers, all around his age, looking at him menacingly. When he looked at their faces, he recognized all of them. They were all from the orphanage that Caesar was in. And it looked like they also recognized him.
"Caesar?" a boy asked.
"Oh, if it isn't Mitre," Caesar said casually while handing out a packet of Joy to a customer and receiving cash.
Mitre saw this and frowned. "This is the Capo gang's territory. Get out, now."
"Make me," Caesar replied.
Caesar and Mitre were of the same scrawny build, but there were three of them and only one of Caesar. Where does his confidence come from? He took out his flat cap, and his short red hair showed itself. Then, he folded the edges of his cap and showed that it had razors sewn into them.
"Everybody out. Now. Go inside the clubs," Mitre said, purposefully showing the razor cap to the people in the line. He didn't have to say anymore as people who frequented Trough street knew that people who disrespected the Capo gang would end up with a mangled face.
"Too bad. My Joy supply is finished, so come back later." Caesar waved at his customers after depleting all of his pure Joy just at the right time. Yes, that's right. He gained P350,000 in that short amount of time and heard a sound in his mind.
He saw the reward in his mind, and he almost couldn't hide his smile. This thing that he had just gotten will help him tremendously right now, and in the future. But this was not the time to think about this, he still had to deal with this situation.
With the people dispersed, it was only the four of them. "Come with me," Mitre said.
Then, the two teenagers beside him took Caesar's hands and took him captive. They forced him to walk towards a distinct alleyway right beside the club. There was an indistinct door with only a sign that said, 'keep out.'
Mitre knocked on the door 'dug, dugdug, dug.'
Then, it opened from the inside into a basement-like room with only a few electrical lights installed as a light source. Most of the people inside were teenagers either a few years older than Caesar or even younger.
What's surprising was that almost, if not all, of these people were from the orphanage. These were the kids that just suddenly disappeared without a trace, which left Theresa, the foster mother of the orphanage, a lot of trouble trying to find them.
In the middle of the room, the farthest part in the back, was up on a stage. There was a single chair there, where a teenager who had a lot of scars and hardened muscles sat comfortably looking down.
Caesar looked at him and was a little bit surprised to see a collection of words and numbers on his head.
[Ybarra's status]
[Vitality: 29]
[Strength: 30]
[Dexterity: 19]
[Intelligence: 10]
From the looks of it, it seemed that an extra reward for leveling up was the upgraded version of his inspect skill. Before, he could only see his own stats, not others. This was a much more precise way of assessing his enemies just by sight alone.
Even though Ybarra was only barely 20, he looked like he was already a veteran warrior who was on the front lines of many wars and battles. However, despite his scary appearance, everyone in the room looked up to him with a calm look.
Ybarra sized up Caesar and then turned to the side and looked at an unassuming woman sitting with the rest of the group. There was a miniscule moment between them before he nodded towards her.
The woman then walked towards Ybarra and handed him a small bag with red powder in it. This was Joy, pure Joy that only Caesar could make.
"This is yours, right? I was supposed to punish you, but I think we could both benefit more if we worked together. I heard that you only have a small supply, this is because you don't have the people power for production, right? We will help you, in exchange for 50% of the profits," Ybarra said while looking straight at Caesar.
A smile formed in Caesar's face. "You mean manpower, right? I don't need that."
That's right. Caesar doesn't need people to produce his Joy because of his level up reward.
[Automaton unlocked!]