Chapter 65: Negotiation

Flower Flame Month, 16th.

Phil Potion Shop.

In the storefront, which could accommodate more than a dozen people without feeling crowded, people were coming and going.

Clearly, the potion market had been extremely prosperous during this period and had entered a "peak sales season."

All of this was thanks to the anomalies outside the city.

Most people regarded the anomalies outside the city as an opportunity, and many people from other places even rushed over specifically to "strike gold."

After all, in ordinary times, if one wanted to hunt leyline creatures, one had to go deep into dangerous primeval forests.

The edges of forests near human cities rarely had leyline creatures.

But now, in the forests outside Hogen City, leyline creatures were frequently seen.

This kind of hunting activity, which had a retreat path and much higher safety, was almost like picking up money for many mages who used hunting leyline creatures as their main source of income.

And the increase in hunting activities also caused the abnormal prosperity of Hogen City's potion market.

There were three or four clerks in the shop busy greeting customers.

Gao De waited on the side for a short while, and when one of the clerks became free, he immediately squeezed in.

"I want to see Mr. Oliver, please help me announce it." Gao De said.

The clerk was slightly startled upon hearing this, and after seeing clearly that it was Gao De, he immediately reacted, and the smile on his face became obsequious.

"Please wait a moment."

He immediately climbed up the stairs to the second floor, and after a while, he hurried down again.

"Mr. Oliver is waiting for you upstairs, please come with me." He greeted enthusiastically while leading Gao De to the second floor.

Upstairs, compared to downstairs, was not as spacious, with only a few rooms.

The clerk led Gao De to the innermost door, "This is the VIP room where Mr. Oliver receives distinguished guests. I've brought you here, you can go in yourself."

After saying this, the clerk consciously retreated.

Gao De knocked on the door with a calm expression.

"Come in." Mr. Oliver's steady voice came out.

Gao De pushed open the door and saw Mr. Oliver sitting behind a large Phoebe zhennan table in the luxuriously decorated VIP room.

He was lowering his head, writing something on paper with a quill.

After entering the door, Gao De didn't speak, patiently waiting for Oliver to finish what he was doing.

Was there really anything so urgent that he couldn't stop even when entertaining a guest? Clearly not.

It was just to create psychological pressure on him.

If he couldn't hold his temper and spoke first, he would subconsciously carry a sense of guilt for interrupting someone else's work, and in the subsequent discussion, he would already be a step behind before even starting.

Gao De looked around the VIP room with great interest.

It could be seen that the decorative materials in the room were extremely precious, and even the green plants used as decorations were extremely precious golden-thread lotuses.

But what shocked Gao De the most was the huge rhombic magic crystal, estimated to be over five kilograms, placed on the Phoebe zhennan table.

Magic crystals are one of the most precious mineral resources in this world.

Magic crystals contain astonishing energy, and almost all magical facilities cannot function without the power supply of magic crystals.

And such a regular and huge natural magic crystal, the price would likely be over a hundred gold coins, yet it was placed on the table as a decoration.

In other words, a decoration worth 100,000 was placed right before Gao De's eyes.

Truly extravagant.

And truly stingy.

A magic crystal worth over a hundred gold coins was placed on the desktop as a decoration to show status.

Yet he only offered a low price of two hundred gold coins for the Seda Herb Garden, which had been operating for more than a decade.

Knowing Gao De had entered the door, Oliver, who was writing with his head down, waited for a full two or three minutes before putting down the pen in his hand and looking up at Gao De.

"What's the matter today? Have you thought it through?"

Gao De nodded, "I have thought about it carefully. It is indeed a rare opportunity to join the Phil Potion Shop, and it would be hard to have it again if missed. I think even if Master Seda came back and knew about this decision, he wouldn't have any objections."

"So, I agree to your proposal and am willing to transfer the Seda Herb Garden to you." "A wise decision." Oliver praised, seemingly very satisfied with Gao De's sensibility.

"However..." Here, Gao De continued.

"However what?" Oliver frowned, looking at Gao De with a gaze that made one's hair stand on end, invisibly giving people a sense of oppression.

"Need to add money!" Gao De gritted his teeth and said "with difficulty."

"Two hundred gold coins is really too low. Master Seda didn't even pay this price when he bought this herb garden. If he comes back and knows that I transferred the herb garden at this price, he will definitely punish me."

"Is that so?" Oliver narrowed his eyes and looked at Gao De, laughing, revealing a sense of seeing through but not saying it.

"If you really say so, it does seem a bit low. If you are blamed by Master Seda because of this, I would also feel bad."

While speaking, Oliver stood up from behind the Phoebe zhennan table, grabbed the paper he had just written on, and handed it to Gao De.

"Sign this contract," the wrinkles on his face, like withered tree bark, shook, "I'll add another hundred gold coins for you."

Gao De's heart moved, and he took the contract calmly, his eyes scanning the contract.

The content was actually very simple.

It was for Gao De to join the Phil Potion Shop and prepare potions for the Phil Potion Shop.

The Phil Potion Shop would provide resources to cultivate him to a certain extent.

In addition, in the contract, he offered Gao De a base salary of 10 gold coins per month, and a commission of half a percent of the profit after each batch of potions prepared was sold.

Calculated based on preparing one batch of primary spider venom potion every day and selling them all, Gao De could get over 12.5 gold coins a month.

Although it couldn't compare to the monthly income of the herb garden, it was better in that it was a steady income regardless of drought or flood, and there was no need to worry about sales, nor did he need to manage the herbs himself.

Of course, this was evaluated based on Gao De's current level of potion science.

As his potion level improved, the gap between this "salary" and the income he could generate by operating the herb garden himself would also become larger and larger.

If the Phil Potion Shop could adjust the treatment in time according to Gao De's potion level, it would be a relatively reasonable treaty.

And the problem was, clearly, it couldn't.

Because the term on the contract was clearly written as "20 years"! If Gao De didn't want to make medicine for the Phil Potion Shop anymore within 20 years, he could terminate the contract in advance.

But for every year terminated in advance, he needed to pay the Phil Potion Shop a breach of contract fee of 100 Saint Xi En gold coins per year.

Terminating the contract ten years in advance would be 1000 Saint Xi En gold coins.

Gao De frowned, directly expressing his dissatisfaction, "Is this contract term too long? And this termination fee is also too high."

"Hehe..." Oliver laughed without smiling, "How is twenty years long? Twenty years later you will only be in your thirties, in your prime, why worry about twenty years being too long."

"Besides, this contract won't be set in stone. If your medicine-making level improves quickly, I will also appropriately increase your treatment and re-sign the contract with you then."

A merchant's guarantee, without a signed paper contract, should not be taken seriously for a single word.

Gao De did indeed do just that, sneering in his heart, not believing a word of it.

Over here, Oliver continued to hold forth: "As for the contract termination fee, once you become an alchemist at this shop, the shop will invest a great deal of energy and cost into training you."

"If we don't raise the termination fee, once your level improves and you've spread your wings, you could easily pay the fee and run off to work at another potion shop. Wouldn't we then be the fools, doing the work for someone else's benefit?"

"Besides, setting aside the termination fee, once this contract is signed, you'll have 300 gold in your pocket," Oliver added meaningfully, giving Gao De a subtle hint.

Upon hearing this, Gao De fell into a long silence, a conflicted expression on his face, as if he were deep in thought.

Seeing this, a flash of self-satisfaction crossed Oliver's eyes.

He was an old hand at business, having bargained countless times.

How could he not understand that once the other party showed this expression, the deal was basically done.

Sure enough, a moment later, Gao De suddenly raised his head, "Then what about the other apprentices in the herb garden? Why is there only a contract for me? What about theirs?"

"Our Phil Potion Shop doesn't sign contracts with everyone. Only for someone with your ability do we specially draft a contract," Oliver said calmly.

"Rest assured, since I am paying a high price to acquire the Seda Herb Garden, I will naturally continue to employ the people in the garden."

It was like the final straw that broke the camel's back; upon hearing Oliver's guarantee, Gao De seemed to have made up his mind, "Fine."

"However, I cannot produce the land deed and house deed for the time being."

(End of chapter)