85: Broken golden scales

"My Lord, hurry, it's our turn to claim the prize!"

Luo Luo, pulling Lu Yang, excitedly arrived at the largest betting and specialty goods store in Golden Racing City.

She had previously spent 50 chips here to bet on Lu Yang for first place. The staff member at the counter remembered her well and, upon seeing her, said to a colleague next to him, "Xiao Cai, look, the little girl who bet on number 1796 for first place, charging forward for love, is here."

"But I have to say, her luck is really good. Number 1796 really did take first place in the tier 3 group. With odds of 1:10935, that's a prize of 546,750 coastal coins, enough to buy a barren Miniature Mine for retirement."

Xiao Cai: "Is this just luck? This is based on the strength of number 1796 and that little girl's trust in number 1796, okay? Even if I had told you with certainty before the race that number 1796 would win the tier 3 championship, you wouldn't have dared to bet, would you?"

"That's true!"

"In this situation, it actually makes no difference whether she bet 50, 100, or 1,000 coastal coins. The prize money is the same because she was the only one who bet on number 1796. The key is that she believed number 1796 could take first place." (PS: The total prize pool is fixed. If only one person bets, a smaller bet means higher odds, and a larger bet means lower odds, but the winner will always receive a fixed amount of prize money. Only when several people bet does the prize money increase with the amount you bet, as your proportion of the total increases.)

At this point, the staff had already prepared the prize black card. After verifying Luo Luo's winning ticket, they immediately handed the black card with over five hundred thousand in prize money to Luo Luo, witnessed by other staff members and a crowd of tourists.

"My Lord, don't just stand there, let's go shopping! Over five hundred thousand is enough to find many good things in the specialty goods store."

"Oh," Lu Yang nodded, a little slow on the uptake, and was pulled into the store by Luo Luo.

He always felt the name of this store sounded somewhat familiar—the golden scales Store.

Especially the logo next to the sign: a golden scale imprinted with a Kobold paw print.

It looked very much like the other lost artifact of civilization of the Golden Kobold tribe that Old Ode had mentioned before—the golden scales.

However, as soon as he entered the store, Lu Yang no longer cared whether this store was related to the lost artifact of civilization of the Golden Kobold tribe.

Because on the shelves near the entrance, he saw a very familiar item.

An entire shelf of [Miniature Mine (Permanent)].

There were tier 1 iron ore ones, tier 1 copper ones, and also comprehensive ones like the one he obtained, which could produce both iron ore and copper.

There were also energy ore mines corresponding to other races.

Not only were there Miniature Mines, but also Small, Medium, and Large ones.

Only the prices were a bit daunting.

Even the cheapest Miniature Iron Mine required six hundred thousand coastal coins; even if all of Luo Luo's newly won prize money was put in, it wouldn't be enough.

And converting it, six hundred thousand coastal coins is equivalent to six hundred thousand units of tier 3 iron ore, which is sixty million units of tier 1 iron ore.

Even with the Kobolds' mining efficiency, mining 3600 units of tier 1 iron ore per day,

it would take 16666.7 days, or 45.66 years,

just to break even.

If it were ordinary human passengers, it would be multiplied by 3, meaning 137 years.

It would take several generations to break even.

On the shelves next to the mine shelves were some special ores, such as mother lode iron, mother lode copper, bloodstone, and fluorite.

But there was no mineral essence ore.

Lu Yang specifically asked a salesperson, but unexpectedly received a glare in return.

According to the salesperson, if their store could afford to sell mineral essence ore, which involves the power of the plane's origin, then they wouldn't need to run a store.

Wouldn't it be more profitable to just upgrade their own mines and sell resources?

High-grade resource mines are the real hard currency.

Lu Yang didn't fully understand but recognized that mineral essence ore was the most important material for upgrading Miniature Mines.

This meant that upgrading Miniature Mines later would not be so easy.

Because he simply didn't know where to obtain mineral essence ore again.

As Lu Yang wandered around the store, his heart suddenly stirred.

Following the direction of the stirring, he saw a golden shelf in the very center of the store, displaying an item covered by a light golden rose-colored glass dome.

One-third of its left pan was missing, and there were black scorch marks from fire.

On the intact golden right pan, a Golden Kobold paw print was extremely conspicuous.

Most striking were its product description and price.

[Damaged golden scales]

[Type: Artifact of Civilization]

[Tier: 1]

[Effect: ???]

[Selling Price (10% off): 500,000 coastal coins]

[Note: This item requires payment before pickup. No returns or exchanges after pickup. Buyback price: 200,000 coastal coins.]

Seeing Lu Yang's gaze fixed on the Damaged golden scales, Wa Qi, who had barely spoken since entering, suddenly jumped onto his shoulder and whispered, "Hey, Train Captain Lu Yang, don't let the title of 'Artifact of Civilization' blind you."

"This thing has been on sale on the Golden Coast for at least 180 years, if not 200. Thousands of people have bought it. Its price plummeted from an initial 100 million coastal coins all the way down to today's 500,000 coastal coins. Do you know why?"

"Because no one can activate it. Originally, it's very difficult for people from other civilizations to activate such artifacts of civilization, but this one was also extracted and refined, causing damage. As a result, for over a hundred years, buyers have tried all sorts of methods, but no one has ever been able to activate it. In the end, they could only return it to the specialty goods store, which bought it back at a 40% discount."

"That's how the golden scales Store got its name."

"The reason they state 'payment before pickup' is because they're afraid that potential buyers might touch the golden scales, realize they can't activate it, and then not buy it."

"Hence this note."

"So, if anyone still wants to take a gamble, they have to spend 500,000 coastal coins for one try."

"Countless tourists have purchased it at the 500,000 coastal coin price. One time it was even taken out for over a year, but in the end, it was dutifully returned."

"At least by selling it back to the store, they can get 200,000 coastal coins to recoup some losses. If it's stuck in their hands, it's just pure scrap."

Wa Qi earnestly tried to persuade Lu Yang.

But then he noticed Lu Yang whispering something into Luo Luo's ear, and Luo Luo went off to another side.

Soon, a staff member came over, smiling, opened the cover protecting the golden scales, and presented the Damaged golden scales to Luo Luo.

Wa Qi: "..."

It seemed his long speech was completely wasted on deaf ears.

However, he wasn't angry.

These were individual choices.

As long as he fulfilled his duty, anything else was beyond his control.