Chapter 2835: Currency Standards and the Aftermath of the Three-Year Agreement

On the way back to the Tower of Time from the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce shop, the female Mages led by Gina and Jin Mu's group shared a portion of the road, and as they walked together, they inevitably began to chat about the Mingshui Gold Coin of the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce.

"What do you think the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce is actually aiming for by doing this? They spare no cost to produce such refined gold coins, and then even offer discounts when others use them; I really can't figure it out."

Hui, the youngest among them, spoke first. In truth, when they first heard of this, they had suspected it was a rumor, but such things were not difficult to verify, and it was easy to confirm the truth.

It was just that the total value of items Hui and the others had previously purchased from the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce was not very high, but what they hadn't expected was that even items like Communication Magic Tools could be discounted. Judging by the group's spending today, they had saved over two thousand Gold Coins directly.

Such a large sum of money was not a small amount even for an Advanced Rank Mage, let alone the fact that there wasn't a single Advanced Rank Mage among them; even Jin Mu, who was the closest, still had two years of accumulation to go!

The most critical point was that today, it wasn't just them using Mingshui Gold Coins for purchases; the vast majority of other buyers were also using Mingshui Gold Coins. For every item sold, they lost 400 Gold Coins. With the flow of people today, they must have lost at least tens of thousands.

Moreover, Hui did not believe that the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce only offered such discounts in the Yi Ao Le Mu Ling; they were surely doing the same in other places, and there was no sign of it stopping.

Calculating it this way, the cost involved might be an immeasurable figure.

"I don't know what we are aiming for either, but do you think we would always suffer a loss? If there were no inside story, you would know; after all, it is one of the few small chambers of commerce in Netheril, and they wouldn't even understand that simple logic."

Hui had a special background. Although his knowledge had grown significantly before joining the Pure White Tower, he had no channels to know the secrets of such a small chamber of commerce.

"That shouldn't be it. Even if the president of the Gina Chamber of Commerce is a councilor, are there not many other councilors? Would other councilors allow Lady Zhenna to monopolize such a large benefit? Even if the benefits were negotiated in advance, why must it be the Gina Gold Coin?"

But the people had already left, and he was not from the Mystery Tower, so it was not good to chase after them. However, he felt a strong curiosity about the "three-year agreement" the female Mage had just mentioned; why did Hui's expression change as soon as that topic was brought up?

At the mention of this, Hui's expression, which had originally carried a smile, suddenly stiffened. The three-year agreement the female Mage mentioned happened five years ago at the Savile Territory Arcane Competition, where he had lost to Xia Shao in a Spell Duel.

Monopolizing the currency standard could indeed bring huge benefits, but it was mostly monetary. However, the Gina Gold Coin was imprinted with the portrait of Lady Zhenna; this kind of intangible prestige might be the greatest gain from such monopolistic behavior.

"Sigh!"

Crack, crack—three more strikes reopened the embarrassing memory Hui had almost forgotten. As an eyewitness to that event, Vinak could not help but rub his twitching brow.

Thus, he had spoken without thinking and set a three-year agreement, promising to go to the Tower of Time to challenge him again in three years. At the time, he thought he would surely be able to defeat Xia Shao in three years, but he hadn't expected—

One of the female Mages seemed to have suddenly thought of something, and staring at Hui with eyes full of curiosity, she asked: "I heard that Mage Hui once had a Spell Duel with that Lord Xia Shao back then, and there was even a three-year agreement. Did you meet again later?"

"Ming Shui, if we really want to talk about that, it's a long story. Come, let's talk slowly on the way."

"This matter has actually been on my mind for a long time. Over the past two years, I've known that many people have been discussing this in private. I heard it and pretended not to hear it. Vinak, don't think I don't know that you've spread it too!"

It was a female Mage who had come out with Ruier who offered her own view: "I think the Gina Chamber of Commerce might be trying to compete for the Netheril currency standard. Monopolizing the standard would certainly bring huge benefits, but that is something that can only be seen after the monopoly is established; now might still be the investment stage."

Very soon, the two groups reached a fork in the road. From here on, the paths to the Mystery Tower and the Pure White High Tower were different, but just before they parted ways, the group happened to be talking about the Tower of Time's Communication Magic Tool.

Hui took a deep breath and decided to face his past. Unless he truly fled to the Underdark in the future, as long as he remained in Netheril, he would never be able to avoid this topic. Rather than letting himself feel awkward, it was better to face it calmly.

At this moment, Ruier also saw that the atmosphere was wrong, hurriedly pulled the female Mage, said sorry to Hui, and then waved goodbye and left quickly.

Thinking this way, he walked to Ming Shui's side, grabbed the other person's shoulder and shook it gently, then explained as they walked—

The group discussed back and forth but could not reach a conclusion that could convince everyone, but what was certain was that the Gina Chamber of Commerce's behavior was definitely not without profit.

Hearing this, Ming Shui's eyes also flashed with a hint of embarrassment. However, Hui did not delve further into this topic but continued to explain the origin of the "three-year agreement."

After those female Mages had all left, Vinak was about to comfort Hui, but the youngest, Ming Shui, seemed completely unaware of anything and was still wondering why they had left so suddenly; he hadn't even said goodbye to them yet!

Now, thinking of this, Hui wished he could turn his toes into Adamantine to dig through the Surface, then hide all the way to the Underdark, never to return to the Surface again.

From the Savile Territory Arcane Competition to the other two Pioneers of the Pure White High Tower, who were the winners of that Arcane Competition besides Xia Shao.

If the interests of all parties had already been negotiated, then they could have clearly made a more "neutral" gold coin; why did it have to be the Gina Gold Coin imprinted with Lady Zhenna's portrait?

For a moment, he didn't know how to comfort Hui. He felt that this matter would likely become a hurdle in Hui's heart that he would never be able to overcome.

"What is this three-year agreement that Lily just mentioned? Hui, do you know that Lord Xia Shao from the Nan Jing? How come you haven't mentioned it before?"

But at the time, he was very unconvinced by the result, believing that a "old" Mage in his twenties had won entirely by relying on experience, while he was still two years away from his 16th birthday.

In fact, if it weren't for that past with Xia Shao, he wouldn't have deliberately paid attention to the other person in his daily life. Now, he could completely say that he was the person who understood Xia Shao best among those below the Advanced Rank Mages of the Pure White High Tower!

Of course, this also included some of Xia Shao's deeds, but Xia Shao's many deeds over these years had long since spread throughout the Pure White High Tower; Hui only gave a brief introduction, and he himself did not know many of the actual inside stories.