Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?
Chapter 548 - 376 What Has Sain Brought to Ordinary People?

Chapter 548: Chapter 376 What Has Sain Brought to Ordinary People?

Adventure supplies commercial street, here is bound to be one of the hottest locations in any city with a large number of adventurers.

Blacksmith shops, tool shops, potion shops, enchantment workshops... regardless of which city’s adventure supplies commercial street, well-known stores will inevitably appear as if through a formula.

All kinds of shops combine to form an indestructible logistical team for adventurers.

Although it looks peaceful, at times, the competition between shops both overt and covert is quite fierce.

"Why is business getting worse and worse lately..."

A middle-aged owner sat worriedly at the shop door, looking at the scattered pedestrians on the street, shouting:

"Where have all the adventurers gone since a few days ago, where are they!"

His name is Capon, the owner of a potion shop in Bed City.

Although he only knows the basics of potion knowledge, he has money, and with money, he can hire pharmacists with enough professional knowledge to concoct potions.

Counting on this street alone, there are three potion shops, and there are other potion shops on other streets, so when counted, the competition pressure is actually very great.

But he seized an opportunity: he defined his main service target group, he specifically sold potions to the lower-end and ordinary people, whose core requirement is cheap, sometimes even low-tier potions need to be watered down, so Capon sells watered-down goods with peace of mind, and his reputation is even quite good.

Among the entire street, it counts as one of the better-performing shops.

However, all this changed with the appearance of Sain Dungeon.

At first, with the old dungeon undergoing new mutations, this prompted everyone to eagerly enter it for exploration, and the demand for potions naturally increased, so his potion shop’s business boomed as he silently praised Sain in his heart.

This phenomenon continued until the appearance of Fran Fort.

The appearance of Fran Fort signified the transition of Sain Dungeon from ordinary to affluent, with rewards no longer needing to be controlled in quantity as before, becoming more generous.

And the special products from Fran Fort: a large number of red Moss Balls that inhibit bleeding wounds, purple Moss Balls that detoxify common poisons, and deep purple Moss Balls that detoxify potent poisons, wiped out the detoxification potion and blood coagulation agent businesses of all potion shops in Bed City in one wave.

At that time, Capon cursed Sain for days, because he happened to have just brought in a large batch of detoxification potion, almost bankrupting him because of Fran Fort.

Later, he recovered because he could still sell other potions, Life Healing Potion and Spirit Healing Potion were always a must-have for adventurers, with the largest sales, so it was through these that he survived the crisis.

But he didn’t enjoy peaceful days for long before he suddenly discovered something:

Life Healing Potions were not selling anymore!

He ran all over the city to investigate, found that all shops, not only potion shops, anything related to healing saw a drop in sales. The businesses targeting mid to high-end adventurers didn’t decline very noticeably, but his kind of low-end shop saw sales volume cut in half consecutively.

Why? Aren’t Healing Potions a necessity for adventurers, what can you do without Healing Potions?

Until he found an old customer to inquire, only then did he discover the reason.

That time coincided with Sain Dungeon reducing the spiritual power required for adventurers to resurrect at the bonfire, and also marked Sain Dungeon’s complete transition to prosperity, multiple Teleportation Gates opened, the number of adventurers pouring in greatly increased, and many ingredients appeared in the gourmet area.

That old customer of Capon’s, while gnawing on a grilled Life Perch and scratching a slowly healing wound, said:

"Nowadays, when we get hurt, we typically just go to the food area to eat some ingredients, so the demand for Healing Potions isn’t that high when adventuring."

"Why not, what if there’s no time to find food? Don’t you drink potions during battle?" Capon was baffled.

The old customer said earnestly:

"For someone like me, it’s either not getting hurt in Sain Dungeon or dying directly, the monsters there are too strong, there’s no way I could be left in the kind of situation where I was injured but not dead, just needing a Healing Potion."

"Huh?"

"Also, boss, if I really were in that kind of situation, I’d actually prefer to just commit suicide."

"Huh??"

"Suicide can resurrect at the bonfire, all the injuries would be fully healed, although the downside might be having headaches that keep you up at night, but saying a prayer with the Priest and drinking some watered down Spiritual Recovery Potion would more or less get through it, and when you tally it all up, suicide is more cost-effective than using Healing Potions."

"Huh???"

Even when returning inside his own shop, Capon still had his mouth wide open.

It took him a long time to realize that his primary low-end clients... had found a more cost-effective "shop."

No matter how shockingly low he sets the prices, no matter what ingenious promotional activities he comes up with, his opponent is an entire vibrant dungeon.

Capon felt like a ghost named Sain lingered over Bed City, making him feel uneasy all over.

Later, Bed’s family used various Moss Balls and even ingredients produced by Sain to develop corresponding functional potions, with prices equal to those of similar quality and function, but the effectiveness increased by about twenty percent on average. All potion shops in Bed City joined in, and only then did they get through the winter of the potion industry.

But Capon’s days were still difficult because he lost the most significant chunk of his low-end customer base, switching to selling Sain’s products also made it hard to win customers back.

If they won’t sell, they won’t sell, just selling Spirit Healing Potion can still get by, taking advantage of this time to quickly invest in other industries like the currently trendy gourmet restaurant business, which seems pretty good.

Then, after a period of stable days, the sales of Spirit Healing Potions dropped a bit, but fortunately, they’re not completely unsellable.

This time, Capon learned to calmly accept reality, but couldn’t help shouting when he found out the reason:

"What do you mean by Spiritual Enhancement through the Fire Injection Secret Ceremony?"

He hired adventurers to perform a Fire Injection Secret Ceremony for himself, and after experiencing the effects of Spiritual Enhancement post-ceremony, he couldn’t help but lament:

"No wonder I can’t make money."

After this ordeal, Capon’s apothecary became rather ordinary.

Like every drugstore in Bed City, he had potions related to Sain in his shop, business wasn’t as booming as before, but at least life returned to stability.

Carts full of potions stopped and departed at the shop’s entrance, boxes of potions were moved into the store, baskets of empty bottles were taken away by recyclers, adventurers came in and out of the apothecary, time quietly passed by, days went by one after another, and the years were relatively tranquil.

Capon liked to greet customers while sitting at his apothecary’s entrance; sometimes he couldn’t help but wonder: what did the appearance of Sain Dungeon bring to ordinary folks like him who could never clear a dungeon?

Street bard were singing ballads for Fran Undead Team to earn copper coins, and at the alley entrance, kids wearing Curse Frog and Gollum masks jumped out and scared people.

Unsure which attendant was arguing about which was stronger, the Golden Lion or the Blast Scale Dragon, the butcher chimed in saying he thought the Herbivorous Dragon’s meat was the tastiest, and the Elu cat was the cutest.

The housewife, choosing ingredients, directly skipped adventurer-specific special effect ingredients, and was negotiating with the shopkeeper whether the somewhat dry Horned Lion sponge cake could be sold cheaper. Her daughter wearing a little pot floral wreath ran to hug her and plead, thus earning a Cocoa Sauce Mushroom as a small reward, along with a kiss on the forehead.

It seemed like, life had gotten a bit more interesting, right?

...

Reflective time ended.

"So where have all the adventurers disappeared to these days, hey!"

Although Capon could tolerate a decline in potion sales, he couldn’t accept having absolutely no customers!

All the shop owners on the street came out to respond to him, everyone was complaining about the decrease in customer flow these days, wondering where all the adventurers went.

It was as if the heavens were responding to them, noisy sounds came from the end of the street, followed by rumbling footsteps.

The startled owners initially thought it was robbers coming in to raid, but the bold ones upon closer inspection found that the rushing flood was unexpectedly... adventurers!?

"What is this, a running competition?"

"But their expressions are way too scary!"

Those sprinting adventurers all had pale faces, like undead climbing out of dungeons; some appeared emaciated as if tortured, bodies swaying as if drunk, spirits lacking vigor, yet the remaining spiritual power within them supported their run back to Bed City.

A sharp-eyed owner immediately recognized them, these people were the adventurers who had gone missing these past few days.

There were rumors they seemed to have entered some place called, Yanor Londo? A Painting World or something.

Unlike other Painting Worlds which appear singly, Yanor Londo appeared in large numbers, sparking widespread discussion, with consensus that Yanor Londo must be an especially unique and precious Painting World!

It surely hides extremely rare secrets and treasures, otherwise it wouldn’t have attracted so many adventurers to enter, this unusual situation deserves everyone’s attention!

"The adventurer running in the lead looks really familiar, hiss, could it be Luluwo from Skyrim Strategy Group?"

At that moment, Capon and Luluwo locked eyes, the latter dashed into the apothecary, grabbed his shoulders and asked:

"Spirit Healing Potion, I need Spirit Healing Potion!"

Luluwo had very dark circles under her eyes, appearing thinner, her eyes flickering with desperation for the Spirit Healing Potion.

Because if she didn’t drink some soon, her spirit might not hold out.

After ’dying’ out from the Painting World, headaches wouldn’t stop, she was out of supplies and even lacked the Humanity for Fire Injection, so she quickly ran back to Bed City, only to find all places offering spiritual soothing services, hospitals, and churches were full, she and others who couldn’t get a spot could only come and buy potions to drink.

And judging by the upcoming situation, it’s likely that potions are also going to run dry.

The entire street saw a rush for Spirit Healing Potions, and Capon’s shop was no exception.

After days without business, having such exaggerated business at once, he was stunned, and was then snapped out by anxious adventurers shaking him.

"Oh, oh, please wait, I’ll head to the warehouse to get potions."

"Don’t, we’ll go with you!"

Once all stock of potions was sold, adventurers regained some spirit after drinking, while those who couldn’t buy any ran out seeking other opportunities.

It was only at this point that Capon had the time to ask what on earth happened, what adventurers had encountered.

Luluwo, touching her potion-inflated belly, sighed deeply and with resentment said:

"An unprecedented cruel and inhumane ordeal."