Idle Tycoon System - Chapter 398

Chapter 398: Lola’s Plan is Amazing
“These are genuinely excellent ideas,” Noah said with sincere appreciation. “The partnership with King Aldric would provide immediate stability and guaranteed revenue. The installment plan would expand our customer base significantly. And the international expansion with proper marketing could tap into markets that actually have the wealth to absorb our production volume.”

He looked at the king directly. “Your Majesty, would Esta’s treasury be interested in such a wholesale partnership? I could provide regular shipments at the negotiated rates, and your administration would handle the distribution logistics.”

Aldric didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely. This would benefit both of us tremendously—guaranteed supply of transformative items for the kingdom, steady revenue for you, and simplified logistics for everyone involved. We should discuss specific terms and volumes, but the concept is extremely attractive.”

Valeria raised a practical question. “What about the instalment payment system? How would you enforce collection on the second payment? People could theoretically take the item and simply not pay the remainder.”

“Magical contracts,” Lola answered immediately. “Simple binding agreements that enforce payment obligations. If someone defaults on the second instalment, the contract could impose penalties—maybe a curse that prevents them from purchasing from Noah’s shop again, or even a debuff that persists until the debt is settled.”

Noah nodded. “I can work with that to create purchase contracts that handle enforcement automatically. Anyone who tries to cheat the payment plan would find themselves blacklisted and marked as untrustworthy.”

Kipp spoke up enthusiastically. “Master Noah, this all sounds amazing! You’re going to become the most successful merchant in the entire world!”

The young catboy’s tail was wagging with genuine excitement at his mentor’s prospects.

Noah smiled at his enthusiasm but remained grounded. “Let’s take this one step at a time. First, we establish a partnership with Esta’s royal treasury. Then we test the installation with local customers. Once both of those are running smoothly, we start looking at expansion into neighboring kingdoms with proper marketing support.”

He looked around at his assembled friends and allies. “With all of you helping me implement these ideas, I think we actually have a realistic path to making this work at scale. Thank you—especially you, Lola. These suggestions are exactly what I needed.”

Lola’s cheeks colored slightly at the praise, her tail swishing with pleasure. “You are overpraising me.”

King Aldric stood, his expression showing both satisfaction and renewed energy. “Then let’s begin immediately. Noah, I’ll have my treasury ministers draw up a formal partnership proposal within the hour. We can negotiate specific terms and volumes after that.”

“Sounds good,” Noah nodded.

The future suddenly looked considerably brighter, with clear paths forward for both Noah’s business challenges and their longer-term goals of building strength for the conflicts ahead.

[Your Finance skill has reached Level 4!]

Noah’s mind was suddenly filled with an influx of sophisticated financial knowledge—complex concepts about risk management, asset valuation, contract structuring, and operational efficiency that went far beyond basic commerce. The information integrated seamlessly with his existing understanding, elevating his business acumen to genuinely professional levels.

Hearing Lola’s perspective on instalment plans and strategic partnerships had apparently given him just the mental edge needed to push his Finance skill over the threshold into the next tier of mastery.

New possibilities immediately began forming in his mind. I could add additional constraints on buyers to ensure payment compliance, Noah thought with newfound clarity.

Things like collateral requirements—their house deeds, business assets, or other valuable property they own could be held as security against the debt. This would virtually guarantee that payments are received on schedule, since defaulting would mean losing assets worth as much as the outstanding balance.

He could structure tiered payment plans based on creditworthiness, offer freebies for early payment, and create loyalty programs that rewarded consistent customers with preferential pricing. The strategic options available to him had expanded dramatically with this level-up.

Unfortunately, despite spending substantial money on the Idle Training Room to level up his swordsmanship skill through intensive practice, it still hadn’t advanced even after the system’s recent upgrade. The experience bar was filling, but the progress felt awfully slow compared to his earlier advancement.

It seems like it’s genuinely difficult to level up skills once they reach the master threshold, Noah reflected with resignation. Level 20 was apparently the ceiling for straightforward progression. Advancing beyond that into Level 21 through 25 requires exponentially more experience and refinement.

The realisation was sobering.

He might need several consecutive days of Idle Room usage—four hours daily at the million-dollar-per-hour rate—just to push a single skill from Level 20 to Level 21. And each subsequent level would likely require even more accumulated training time.

This is going to be incredibly expensive, Noah thought, though his experience immediately countered that concern with perspective.

His Idle daily revenue was over two million dollars currently, and his daily working revenue was projected to grow dramatically with the distribution strategies they’d just discussed. Spending a million or two daily on training was actually sustainable if it resulted in combat capabilities that would make him the peak of grandmaster rank.

Currently, at his master rank. Noah was able to fight grandmaster rank opponents with ease, without using any of his items. Once the items were used, he might be able to fight more intermediate grandmaster opponents.

But once he reached grandmaster rank? He might be able to fight peak grandmaster rank opponents without even using his items. Once Items were introduced, he would be able to fight a dozen of them at once.

It was an investment in survival, which made it the most rational expenditure possible.

King Aldric rose from his seat, his expression showing determination mixed with excitement about their new partnership. “I should return to the palace immediately and begin organising this proposal. I’ll have my treasury ministers and legal advisors draw up formal contracts, establish logistics for bulk purchasing and distribution, and create the administrative framework we’ll need.”

He clasped Noah’s hand firmly. “Expect documentation within three hours at most. We’ll make this partnership official and beneficial for both Esta and your enterprise.”

“I look forward to it, Your Majesty,” Noah replied sincerely. “This is going to be the first step for a much bigger plan.”