Dual Realm Exchange System

Space settled around Damian as he stepped through the Permanent Realm Passage and reappeared inside his Rosewood Town residence.

The contrast was extreme.

Only moments ago, he had been standing inside a command tent surrounded by wounded cultivators, Corpse Qi, miserable casualty reports and a battlefield that seemed to chew through Body Tempering disciples as casually as a man ate melon seeds.

Now there was clean furniture, warm afternoon sunlight and absolutely nobody screaming because their leg needed to be amputated.

So, was this how battlefield decompression was felt?

Damian left the room and quickly encountered Stella and Ronan, both of whom reacted immediately upon seeing him.

”You’re back already?” Ronan questioned.

”Temporarily. Something came up.” Damian replied before looking toward Stella.

”Where’s Vivienne?”

”Last I heard, checking the shop accounts.” Stella replied with a slight frown.

”Good, send for her. I need her here immediately.” Damian instructed calmly.

Vivienne arrived in a carriage less than half an hour later, and the moment she entered Damian’s cottage, he could already tell that something had happened.

She was a usually rather well-composed young lady, but today, the young steward looked as though she had spent two days attempting to personally supervise a natural disaster.

”Lord Damian!” She cried out, like a kitten seeing its parent after being lost for hours.

”That bad huh?” Damian muttered with a knowing smile.

Vivienne took a breath. ”The shop is nearly sold out!”

Damian blinked.

”...Already?”

”Nearly, Lord Damian! Tana and Kevin have been restricting purchases since yesterday, and even that has barely slowed demand. The employees are overwhelmed by the number of customers entering Central Lane.” Vivienne reported with a look of suppressed excitement.

Damian rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

The shop had only been open for two days, so...

”What are people buying?” He asked succinctly.

”Almost everything, but the customer profile changed very quickly. At first we received common townspeople, merchants and curious residents because of the opening spectacle and rumors. Now most of the serious buyers are Journeyman Adventurers, Mages, Enchanters, professional craftsmen and representatives purchasing on behalf of larger groups.”

That made considerably more sense as Damian’s items were priced in silver at the lowest, and many were in tens and hundreds of gold coins.

Vivienne continued rapidly. ”The Spirit Gathering Arrays attracted Mages almost immediately. The Warning Arrays are being bought by Adventurer groups, caravan operators and exploration companies. Light Body Talismans have become popular among scouts and lower-level Adventurers.”

She visibly struggled not to start speaking faster. ”The Spirit Rice is almost gone, and Formation Ink is worse! Once several Enchanters discovered that it conducts magical energy more efficiently than ordinary inscription ink, people began buying entire jars! We had to impose stricter limits.”

Damian rubbed his chin.

Of course.

The flashy products had drawn attention, but the boring industrial goods were disappearing fastest.

That was exactly how real markets behaved.

A miracle formation might make headlines, but consumable material used every single working day made the real money.

Guess who was richer, an average mineral water company or a luxury brand shop?

”What’s the current balance?” Damian asked with interest.

Vivienne immediately opened the ledger she had brought with her.

The calculations had required a lot of accounting work because a few of Damian’s cheaper stock categories were voluminous, but the rest were easy enough.

For example, around half of the expensive arrays and formations had already moved!

Fifty Spirit Gathering Arrays alone represented 3,750 Gold Coins at 75 Gold each, sixty Golden Shield Arrays added another 1,080 Gold, and approximately one hundred Warning Arrays contributed 500 Gold more.

The medium-priced talismans had moved much more slowly, with roughly ninety percent still remaining. Even so, the sold Purification Talismans and Light Body Talismans added another respectable amount.

Then came Grain Avoidance Pills, Spirit Rice, Formation Ink and other cheaper goods whose individual prices were far smaller but whose sales volume was ridiculous.

After the Rosewood Town Council’s market levy, Viscount James Rutger’s territorial tax and Rastia Kingdom’s sovereign commerce tax were deducted, the first cleared settlement left the shop account sitting at roughly...

”5,193 Gold Coins,” Vivienne finished.

Silence emerged as Damian and Ronan stared at Vivienne, while Stella slowly turned toward Damian.

”...How long did you say this shop has been open again?” Ronan asked incredulously.

”About 2 days give or take.” Damian answered dryly.

The older warrior looked genuinely baffled, as if you were not only telling him pigs could fly, but showing him a flying pig in the sky and telling him to believe it.

Absurd!

Indeed, Damian had known the theoretical inventory value was enormous.

But knowing it and seeing over five thousand Gold sitting as actual realized sales were two different experiences.

His original fifty-Gold loan from the Caurelian Continental Bank had once seemed like absurd wealth.

Now his business had generated more than one hundred times that amount in roughly forty-eight hours.

Damian shook his head rapidly and cleared his jumbled thoughts.

”Alright, I’ll need you to handle three things Vivienne.”

Vivienne immediately straightened. ”Yes, Lord Damian!”

”First, extend the Central Lane lease to six months.”

The existing month was already paid, so securing another five months at five Gold monthly was almost insulting compared to their present revenue.

Twenty-five Gold?

Pffft, Pocket change!

”Second...”

He opened his Exchange Storage, and goods began appearing, from boxes to jars, bundled talismans, Spirit Rice, formation materials, pills, array components and containers of miscellaneous Shengyuan merchandise.

The pile expanded across the cottage floor until Vivienne took several steps backward.

Then, it continued!

Stella’s eyes widened with horror as Ronan swore creatively.

Damian had only carried roughly a tenth of the enormous purchase he made from the Evergreen Sect when his Exchange Storage filled, yet even that amount was approximately five times larger than the first batch used to stock his Central Lane shop.

By the time he stopped unloading, the room looked like a warehouse had suffered an explosion.

”Restock the shop with this.”

Vivienne stared speechlessly at the mountain.

”...All of it?”

”As much as makes sense. Keep strategic stock back, maintain customer limits and don’t let anyone corner the market.” Damian instructed while scratching his chin.

Vivienne slowly nodded. ”I will do my best, Lord Damian!”

”Third, we’re buying some supplies.”

That finally sounded normal until Damian ruined it by continuing.

”I need approximately five thousand Vial-grade potions. Three thousand Vials of Healing, one thousand Vials of Restoration and one thousand Vials of Vigor.”

Vivienne’s eyes widened. ”F-Five thousand?”

”Yes. Also acquire three hundred liters of Basic Holy Water.” Damian added with a snap of his fingers.

Her expression became blank. ”Three... hundred liters?”

”And bulk quantities of useful specialty consumables like Potions of Growth, Potions of Comprehension or anything else from the same suppliers that we previously bought from. Don’t bankrupt one merchant if it can be avoided, so spread orders between competent suppliers.” Damian added casually.

Vivienne stared at him for several seconds, then started writing furiously.

”Lord Damian, we will need transport, porters, additional temporary workers at the shop and secure storage.” She reported after doing some calculations.

”Hire the transport and porters, hire the temporary workers and rent storage if necessary.” Damian answered with a wave of his hand.

Vivienne finally looked up from her board with surprise, only to see Damian smiling.

”We have money now, so let’s use it, eh?”

That sentence seemed to unlock something in the young woman as she immediately rushed back outside, commandeered the waiting carriage and began organizing the operation.

Within an hour, hired carts and temporary workers started appearing around the cottage.

Stella planted herself beside the growing merchandise piles with both arms folded.

”I’ll supervise the loading and transport.”

Damian looked amused. ”You don’t trust them?”

”I trust people perfectly well when they know someone with a greatsword is counting the boxes.” Stella replied coldly.

A simple spell, but quite unbreakable.

Ronan rolled his shoulders. ”I’ll handle the potion suppliers. Sitting here watching people carry crates sounds miserable.”

”Don’t drink anything you’re transporting.” Damian warned with a look.

Ronan looked offended. ”I possess standards!”

Stella glanced at him with disdain. ”No, you don’t! I’ve seen you drink Orcish Rum before, that blasted pig swill!”

Ronan shamelessly ignored her and left.

For the first time since entering Willowbank Front, Damian finally had several uninterrupted minutes, so he sat down and sighed tiredly.

Then something clicked inside his head.

Wait a gosh darn minute, his Qi Condensation quest reward!

Damian’s eyes widened. ”...I completely forgot.”

The Optional Side Quest he triggered after acquiring Qi Condensation techniques had already been completed the moment he entered Qi Condensation Level 1.

And in the chaos of testing products, meeting Shen Xueyi, visiting the medicinal gardens, treating Corpse Qi victims, kissing Mu Qingyao and flying directly into a battlefield...

He had barely examined the reward.

.

Damian opened the Special Power as a blue interface unfolded before him.

[Special Power: Supreme Synthesis

Effect 1: dismantles a finished or semi-finished item into its recognized constituent raw materials.

Effect 2: combines compatible raw materials into a finished or semi-finished item. Production may follow a recognized recipe or process supplied materials through free synthesis.

Effect 3: combines ten identical compatible items into one corresponding item of the next recognized tier.

Effect 4: separates one compatible item into ten corresponding items of the immediately lower recognized tier.

Success Rate: 100%.

Production Rule: Every synthesis produces a completed result. Incorrect, incompatible or unsuitable material combinations may produce waste products, toxins, poisons or other undesirable results rather than a useful item.

Valid Realms: Valoria / Shengyuan.]

Damian slowly leaned forward. ”Oh boy...”

That was...

Simple.

Almost suspiciously simple.

Which, given his experience with the Dual-Realm Exchange System, probably meant horrifying in practical value.

Damian immediately began testing.

He selected a Grain Avoidance Pill from the merchandise pile and activated .

The pill vanished.

In its place appeared several neatly separated portions of processed herbal material, refined medicinal substances and minor supporting ingredients.

Nothing looked destroyed nor did anything appear missing.

The System had taken a finished pill and reverse-engineered it into its usable components with perfect efficiency.

Damian’s expression sharpened. ”So manufacturing recycling with no labor cost?”

That alone was ridiculous.

He selected the recovered ingredients and became available immediately.

Because the source item had just been deconstructed, its recognized composition was already available as a valid recipe.

Damian confirmed his choice and the separated materials vanished.

A second later, one perfectly intact Grain Avoidance Pill appeared.

Damian picked it up and sniffed, licked and threw it down the hatch.

It was the same thing, just with no furnace, no Alchemist, no failed batch and no weeks learning temperature control while an elderly master roared in his ears about pill purity.

The procedure was simple enough. Raw materials went in, and the finished product came out.

The one caveat was obvious from the power’s rules.

A hundred-percent success rate did not mean a hundred-percent chance of getting something useful.

If Damian dumped random ingredients together, the System would still successfully make ’something’.

That something could simply be garbage.

Or poison. Most likely poison.

”Basically, it never fails the manufacturing process. It just allows me to successfully manufacture bad decisions.”

Tsk, tsk, life truly imitates art.

Damian moved to the third function, and ten Vials of Healing appeared on the table.

[10 × Vial of Healing detected.]

[ available.]

[Result: 1 × Draught of Healing.]

Damian confirmed, causing all ten bottles to vanish as one larger potion appeared in their place.

He lifted it and inspected it.

The liquid possessed the richer magical density he already associated with Draught-grade medicine.

Damian’s eyebrows climbed. ”No fucking way.”

Ten lower-tier healing potions had become one higher-tier potion, a genuine Draught of Healing!

Then there was the final function.

.

Damian selected the Draught he had just created.

[1 × Draught of Healing detected.]

[ available.]

[Result: 10 × Vial of Healing.]

Confirming caused the Draught to disappear as ten familiar Vials materialized across the table.

Damian counted them.

Ten vials, exactly what he started with.

He became very quiet.

Upgrade and descent were perfectly reversible.

That meant inventory no longer had to remain trapped in whichever tier he purchased.

Ten Vials could become one Draught when concentrated healing was needed.

One Draught could become ten Vials when coverage mattered more than individual potency.

The same principle could theoretically apply to every compatible tiered product recognized by the System.

And that was before considering or .

There was also what would happen when he began feeding materials from one world into recipes developed in the other.

Damian slowly looked toward the mountains of Shengyuan merchandise filling his cottage, then toward the window, where hired workers were preparing carts.

Then he remembered Willowbank Front, with its hundreds of wounded disciples, Corpse Qi infections, supply shortages, desperate need for potions and Basic Holy Water, and constant pressure to stretch every useful resource as far as possible, causing a grin to gradually spread across his face.

He had returned to Valoria because he needed five thousand potions and hundreds of liters of holy water.

That was still happening of course.

But now he could reshape stock by tier, disassemble finished goods into useful materials, reconstruct them perfectly and manufacture recognized recipes without a craftsman standing between raw resources and finished products.

His logistics problem had just gained a cheat code.

Damian leaned back and laughed.

”Okay!”

Perhaps Willowbank Front was not doomed in his hands after all!

More importantly...

His supply problems were about to become a thing of the past!