As Lux was calmly improving his strength, he had no idea that someone was cursing his own stupidity.
"Why the hell did I brag so much?" Complained Harris, the man who couldn't keep his mouth shut. "No, why did I drink so much?" He asked himself before a grin appeared on his face. "8000 Bym each." He giggled like a fool before slowly becoming serious once more.
"It was bound to be known soon enough anyway. However, we have to take advantage of our current knowledge to make the most out of that gate before the shop becomes more popular." He said to himself. Despite being publicly open about many things and not being able to keep things to himself, he wasn't stupid.
Taking out a reusable communication talisman, he immediately called John, the leader of their small group and the guild master once they gathered enough funds to create their own guild.
"John, the store's gonna be known soon enough, we should head there tomorrow morning at the earliest to take as much advantage as we can get. It will be hard afterwards to get as much profit otherwise." He said, knowing that whether he had talked or not, the shop would become popular.
"You're right, I was just about to call you, the others are already aware of it. Joshua and Neil just came back with the girls, we'll meet tomorrow in front of the shop at 7h30. Bring the truck." Replied John as he had already known that it wouldn't stay a secret for long.
——
The following morning, a bit after waking up, Lux took a large piece of paper and after making the system map appear above as a hologram, he started to slowly copy it.
Compared to the map brought by John's group, this one was cleaner, more detailed and the resources were properly inscribed on it. A map worthy of being sold in his shop.
Making a couple of copies using a magic item, made by people of the magical engineering profession, he placed them under the counter and finally unlocked the door on time.
"Hello boss. I brought everyone this time, we're going to explore as much as we can today." Said John as he knew that with their capabilities, they wouldn't be able to harvest much ressources compared to larger groups. As such, they had resigned themselves to keep two guys to continue harvesting the Epnola wood while another one would harvest the Pygmy Leaf. His second profession was herb harvester which allowed him to harvest the herbs with minimal damage and guarantee a better quality.
"Sure. How long are you all going to stay in the gate and do they need to buy information or a proper map?" Asked Lux as he knew that they couldn't tell what type of monster or resources were present in the gate as they had signed a magically binding agreement.
"Can I see the map first?" He asked as he wanted to be sure that it was worth it.
Lux wordlessly showed him a map he had drawn according to the system's details.
"How much?" He asked as he looked at his own which had some drops of blood, was torn up in certain areas and had improper lines.
"10 Bym per percentage, this one has 13.5% on it so 135 Bym." Stated Lux as the top right corner of the map showed its completion rate. "It's the best map we currently have." He explained as John released a sigh of relief.
He had made a small calculation and had confirmed that he wasn't being lied to when he signed the contract. The store had bought his map for 200 for every 0.1% completion which meant 2000 Bym per 1% and the store sold them at 10 Bym per one percent. He'd have to sell 200 maps to get even.
"We'll take three." He decided as he paid 405 Bym for proper maps while throwing his own to the garbage as it really wasn't on the same level.
Keeping one for himself while handing two to two men he had never seen, he once again approached the counter.
"Each of us will enter for eight hours. We're twelve." Said John as he handed 4800 Bym as payment.
"Well, I wish you a good exploration." Said Lux as he got up from behind the counter.
{Gate Creation - Proteus}
With the gate slowly forming, the twelve members of the group readied themselves and entered soon after.
As they left, Lux nodded his head, pretty happy with how the shop was starting. He may not make a lot of money and spend even more but once the exploration of this gate is completed, the money would start entering properly.
"Ding."
Surprised that some other people would enter the shop early in the morning, he saw a group of four, dressed up in combat gear with large bags on their backs.
"Hello boss, we've heard that this is a gate shop with an unexplored gate? We'd like to enter and we'll buy all the information you currently have on the gate." Said the young man as he approached the counter.
"For everything including the map, it will cost a total of 535 Bym. Additionally, if you wish to enter, it is 50 Bym per hour per person." He explained as the man nodded his head.
"Sure here." He replied, seemingly already aware of the entry price as he handed over 1535 Bym. The group would stay five hours.
With this group leaving, a few more appeared but few entered the gate, whether they were present simply to visit the new gate shop or to collect some information, he didn't know. It was however, only at ten that a large number of people appeared.
"Boss, I've brought my people. Do you have any new information and do you have a map?" Asked the same blonde-haired girl from the previous day.
"3 new tier 1 monsters, 2 tier 0 resources and 1 tier 1 resource along with a map that represents 13.5% of the total surface of the celestial body of Proteus."
"I'll take all the information, ten maps and ten hours for thirty people." She said as she waited for the price.
"16,600 Bym." Simply said Lux as she paid readily.
"If you bring back new information or a more developed map, I will buy the unknown information. Do note that if someone brings back the information first, I won't buy it from you." Explained Lux as she nodded her head.
"By the way boss, the name's Nellya Hatch."
"Lux Arden."
As his words fell, the group of thirty entered the portal to explore it and most likely collect as many resources as they possibly could.
With peace coming back into the shop, all that was left was to make sure no problems happened to the portal and prepare for the eventual return of the explorers.
Taking back his book, he simply continued to read and develop his knowledge. As a gate shop owner, if he couldn't even have the most basic understanding of the monster and treasures in those gates, he would be failing at his job.
Considering that he was planning on starting to buy the ressources brought back by the explorers if they didn't need them to resell, he needed an understanding of them to not be cheated out of his money.
With time slowly going on, a few customers came by but except for buying some information on the gate, few truly entered it.
It was only a couple of hours later that the explorers finally started coming back yet with some problems. As Lux looked at the time, he knew that three groups of friends had simply taken a couple of extra hours in the portal without paying for it.
Seeing them ignore him as they continued on their way out of the shop, Lux called out to them.
"According to the time, all of you spent an extra three hours in the gate. It will be three hundred extra Bym each." Said Lux as it was only normal to pay considering he had notified them beforehand.
"What are you talking about? Are you trying to scam us?" Asked the leader of the three groups, a smirk on his face as he simply didn't care for him.
"No. You simply didn't pay your dues." He replied calmly as he knew there was no point in getting angry at it.
"And I'm telling you that we didn't get over the hours paid for so shut up." He said as he turned around and left the shop with his friends.
Seeing them leave, Lux held no intention of going after them or even calling the security of the town to have them arrested for stealing. He would simply not accept them anymore. There was no point getting into a fight with an obviously unreasonable person, especially not for such a small amount of money.
He would simply remember them and ban them from ever entering again. Would that make him look weak? He didn't think so, especially since the losses would exceed the gains of leaving his shop and closing the portal to deal with them. No, he'd make sure they regret. As they say, revenge is always better cold, or something like that.