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Chapter 372 An Unusual Encounter

This time, Kevin was meeting a stranger unlike Dina, whom he had met previously. They had only conversed on the CA's site, and both agreed to meet in person since the seller was also from the city.

Arriving at the designated spot, a cafe slightly less classy than where he met Dina, Kevin scanned the surroundings. He glanced at the photo of a middle-aged man with a long, handsome beard on his watch, then searched among the customers to find his seller.

Kevin spotted the man he was supposed to meet sitting in a corner booth, sipping on a cup of coffee. He approached cautiously, noting the serious expression on the man's face as he waited.

"Hello, are you Mark?" Kevin asked as he reached the table, extending his hand in greeting.

The man looked up, sizing Kevin up for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, you must be Kevin. Have a seat."

Kevin took the seat opposite Mark, glancing around briefly to ensure privacy before speaking. "Nice to meet you. Thanks for agreeing to meet."

Mark nodded curtly. "Let's get down to business. You're interested in the mid Earth-grade cultivation technique I posted?"

"Yes, exactly," Kevin replied, maintaining a business-like tone. "May I take a look?"

Mark reached into his bag and pulled out a worn leather-bound journal. "Go ahead." He slid it across the table to Kevin, who picked it up and flipped through the pages.

The technique was named Gaia's Embrace, which immediately led Kevin to think it involved earth elements. As he flipped through the worn pages, each meticulously handwritten in different languages, he noted the incompleteness of the text. Cultivation techniques, once completed, typically transcended language barriers into a universal cultivation language, but this one remained fragmented.

Kevin furrowed his brow, puzzled. "It's incomplete."

"Yeah, unfortunately. If it were complete, it would likely be classified as high Earth grade or even higher," Mark confirmed, leaning forward. "My friend began developing it, focusing on body strengthening techniques, but he passed away before finishing. I wouldn't be selling it if I didn't need the funds. Offer me 8 million units, and it's yours."

Kevin wasn't surprised by the offered price of 8 million units, which was significantly lower than the lowest technique on the market. However, the incomplete technique couldn't be practiced by others, and Kevin suspected the seller was trying to evoke an emotional response by claiming it belonged to his deceased friend.

Therefore, he politely refused the offer. Mark nodded in understanding, took back his book, and left without another word, not even offering a farewell to Kevin, who found himself free sooner than he had anticipated.

"That was strange," Kevin remarked as he settled the bill, not just his own but Mark's as well, who had departed without even paying. Now free from the unexpected encounter, Kevin decided to cancel his house hunting plans for the day. Evening was approaching, so he headed back to the store, anticipating Riya and Lora's arrival as promised.

"Well, let's hope they show up," he thought to himself with a smirk. From now on, he resolved not to continue giving them spending money so freely.

As Kevin returned to the store, he found Amy and Sia tidying up after a steady stream of customers. The familiar buzz of activity greeted him as he walked in, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction seeing the store bustling with patrons.

"Hey, Kevin, you're back early," Amy remarked, glancing up from where she was rearranging some shelves.

"Yeah, had to cancel some plans," Kevin replied casually as he moved behind the counter, addressing Chloe, the newest employee. "So, how's the job treating you? Learning anything new?"

Chloe, still trying to absorb the product information from the labels, turned to him with tired eyes and nodded. "It's exhausting trying to remember all of this."

"A job wouldn't be a job if it didn't wear you out," Kevin remarked, settling into his seat behind the counter. Sia, who had just finished with a customer, patted Chloe on the shoulder reassuringly. "You should consider yourself lucky; this is way better than what your mother and I used to do."

"She's right. You wouldn't have lasted a day in her old jobs," Kevin added, reminiscing about the challenging work he initially faced upon arriving in this world.

He considered himself fortunate that his stint had been brief, aided by the system's efficiency in mining valuable crystals swiftly. This enabled him to accumulate the necessary funds for his inaugural expedition to the hunting grounds.

"Enough about that, let's see how much you three earned for me today," Kevin said, glancing at his watch while mentally checking the system panel.

His face lit up with a bright smile as he read the numbers: 35,533 omnitokens. He had earned about 5,000 omnitokens today alone, and it wasn't even nighttime yet.

"Just like this, it'll only take two more days," Kevin thought optimistically. If the store continued to earn at this rate, he'd soon be able to afford the Essence Extractor from the system, fulfilling the first requirement for the store upgrade.

However, his excitement quickly turned to concern as he surveyed the shelves, noticing they looked emptier than before. "I need to restock them," he muttered to himself, realizing that the products he had brought back from Den, which had been in high demand, were selling out rapidly.

He couldn't replenish them now since he wouldn't be returning to Den anytime soon. Even if he did, it would be a while before he could restock. However, he could take advantage of this momentum to sell more by filling the shelves with local products, capitalizing on the current demand.