After going through the terms and conditions of the loans, Loki didn’t think he was exaggerating when he said that these people were greedy. But not everyone had the same evaluation of the lenders as he did.
Many of the initiates thought that the offer to borrow 10 energy stones and pay back 11 energy stones in a month was a good offer. This was because they didn’t mind the extra that they would need to repay, which was 1 energy stone.
They only looked at the fact that the extra that they would need to return is 1 energy stone, not the fact that they were borrowing money at an absurd interest rate, and neither did they consider the consequence of not paying back the money.
It was clearly a bad idea to take on loans so early without much information and without a secure way to repay them. This was what Loki thought about the whole thing, but he still lined up to take a loan.
Slav saw this, so he raised his chin high and laughed smugly as he said, "Once a slave, forever a slave. If I had known that you were this poor, I would have offered to buy your worthless life."
There was a group of people who had attached themselves to him. They laughed along with him as if he had just said the greatest joke in the world and as if their lives depended on how hard they could laugh.
All of these people were older than Slav, and there were even some who were twice as old as he was. But they followed him around like ducklings following their mother. They had no shame about being led around by someone the age of their children.
After speaking, Slav left with an air of superiority and self-importance. His group of shameless lackies also left with him. But they made sure to speak loudly as they mocked Loki.
But Loki didn’t let this little interruption stop him from getting a loan that required him to use his body parts as collateral. Not only was he not cautious like the others and limited himself to taking the 10 energy stones loan, but he went wild and took the 100 energy stones loan.
If anything, Slav’s mockery had only encouraged him to get the loan. So instead of hesitating like the others, he was quick to cut himself and put his blood on the contract.
The lender smiled at him and said, "Nice doing business with you. I hope you will return next month for more business."
Loki also smiled at the lender and said, "Nice doing business with you."
The two of them were clearly satisfied with the deal. With the first deal done, the man moved on to the second step. He took Loki to his shop to offer him more ways to earn money and items to spend money on.
Loki was willing to part with his blood to earn more money, but he didn’t want anything to interfere with his cultivation speed for now, and he hadn’t even spent the money he got from the loan, so he shelved the idea for now.
He also refused to have his whole existence examined and valued in order to raise his lending limit. He was greedy, but he didn’t let his greed blind him to the extent that he would allow someone to inspect his energy well and evaluate the value of Fenrir just for money.
Since he already gained money from the loan, he did not agree to do anything else to earn money. Instead, he focused on the things that he could buy to increase his strength rapidly.
Of all the things that he saw, only the cloudy date, a Metac that could be consumed to raise cultivation, interested him. This was because he was only interested in raising his cultivation and acquiring knowledge.
Since he can reverse time, the only things that matter to him are the things he can take back with him through time. Currently, the only things he knows that he can take back with him through time are Metacs, information, and the energy within Fenrir.
This was why he was interested in the cloudy date. Unfortunately, the cloudy date cost 2,000 energy stones and was a consumable that would be lost after a single use.
The cloudy date was a white, round fruit. Once it is used, it will raise his cultivation to the middle of rank 1 instantly.
He gave up on it because it was too expensive. He didn’t think it was worth it to spend so much money on the cloudy date, and wanted to try cultivating on his own first. So he left the man’s shop and decided to look around a bit before going back to cultivate.
The market was arranged around a lane of road that extends from the gate and makes a U-turn back to the gate. So there are two sides of the market with shops placed on both sides of the lane.
As Loki went around, he saw many places where he could spend his money. There were even places for entertainment like gambling shops and prostitution houses. There were also restaurants, bars, and theaters.
He was starved for entertainment, but he didn’t choose to spend his money on these things. His focus was reserved for things that could increase his strength.
The first thing that comes to mind that can increase his strength is his cultivation. The second thing is Metacs. The third thing is weapons.
He already plans to cultivate, so the next thing he can do to increase his strength is to acquire more Metacs or buy weapons.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t buy any Metacs yet because they were all expensive. Their price ranged from 500 energy stones to 1,000. This was even though they were rank 1 Metacs.
He also couldn’t steal the Metacs because most of the shops had security and were manned by people at rank 2 or at the peak of rank 1. After seeing the price of rank 1 Metacs, he understood without being told that he stood no chance of stealing from a rank 2 being.