The S-Rank Potion Rush

Curious about my face?

"Huh...? W-wait, what?!"

Twenty-three. Seventeen. Eight.

The leftover stock of S-rank mana potions was vanishing in real time.

This damn system.

It clung to the law of supply and demand with ruthless perfection, jacking the price skyward every time a bottle disappeared.

Before long, only three S-rank mana potions remained.

And the price…

"No—no way this is real!"

What had started at ten million Coins had already blasted past twenty-five million.

That was when Hephaestus's Disciple dropped another donation.

Buy it? Yeah, right…

Judging by chat, even twenty-five million looked like a steal—but that was still two and a half billion won.

And the thing you were buying would vanish the second you swallowed it. A pure consumable.

A few weeks ago I'd been a nobody with nothing but a reputation. Two and a half billion was still a fortune to me.

If I'd been born with a silver spoon, maybe I would have shrugged it off. Maybe I would have snorted and flashed a black card without blinking.

"Ha… you vicious viewers, I swear."

Honestly, I didn't want to spend that money.

Leave it in the bank and the monthly interest alone would be ridiculous. In other words: it hurt.

While I hesitated, another mana potion vanished.

Two left. Current price: 28,000,000 COIN.

Even dumping every donation I'd ever received wouldn't cover it. Max out every loan available and I still couldn't touch that number.

I let out a long sigh.

"Whew… too bad, but this mission's a scr— wait…?"

"Hey, can you guys quiet down for a second? Seriously."

I had a reason for snapping at them.

I scrolled up through the still-pouring donation feed—

"Oh. Of course…!"

"Nope. Just for me."

One single donation had caught my eye.

Outside the Association President and Slimming, not a single person in this room knew my real identity.

The system locked community accounts to one per person.

Which meant the identity behind Date Me was—

The gorilla!

Anyone with eyes would know it was Eun Hayoon.

…Why the hell is her nickname like that, though.

Ahem. Worry about that later. Right now I just needed to get that mana potion from her…

But how?

Consumables that drop in the Tower can't be gifted. The minimum trade amount is one Coin or higher. The system only allows trades, and sellers can't arbitrarily lower the price—you have to list at market rate.

Even if Hayoon put one up for sale, I doubted the price of mana potions would drop…

I messaged her immediately.

I felt bad asking a friend—my best friend, even—but still.

Sorry, Hayoon…!

I realized it a beat too late.

No matter how rich Hayoon's family was, that was real-world money. This was the Tower. And Hayoon was a brand-new newbie who had only started climbing a few days ago.

"Ha……."

All I could do was sigh.

Still, I sent another message just in case.

Something about that felt suspicious, but this wasn't the time to be picky.

The second I sent the okay—

Ba-da-bam—!

"Aigoo…! Date Me, thank you for the 500k Coins…!"

I couldn't use her real name on stream, so I stuck to the nickname. Hayoon would understand.

There was just one problem.

Chat exploded so fast I could barely keep up.

What am I supposed to do with this…

Even if I explained, they wouldn't listen.

So I pulled out my last resort.

"Alright, chat—from now on, if total donations hit ten million Coins, I'll tell you everything. Deal?"

The second I dangled that bait, donations started exploding on a completely different scale from before.

…

…

…

The ever-helpful system, just like any other streaming platform, let streamers pin conditions at the top of the screen.

I checked the shop window—two bottles still in stock.

Smooth. Almost scarily smooth.

Nothing to do until the goal filled, so I killed time chatting with the viewers.

Honestly I was dying to just chug the D-rank mana potion in my hand and re-clear the floor, but I'd already promised to give that one away.

Thirty minutes crawled by.

After thirty minutes, the donation total sat at—

—a number that had blown past the target by a ridiculous margin.

Chat looked ready to throw a festival on the spot.

"Aigoo~ how curious have you all been, huh?"

That last one felt a little dangerous, but… yeah. Fine.

I deliberately pretended not to see it. Acknowledge it and I'd end up screenshotted on the front page of every forum.

"Hold on a sec, though. Let me buy the S-rank potion first."

My wallet currently held roughly forty-three million Coins.

Even if only one S-rank bottle was left, I had enough to grab it.

Humming under my breath, I opened the shop window—

"…Huh? N-no, this can't be happening?!"

While the donations had been piling up, some bastard had stolen my S-rank mana potions.

Both of them!

"Shit…."

The curse slipped out on its own. There was no holding it back.

I'd scraped the money together. I'd even dangled an explanation I never wanted to give, grinding for donations the hard way.

'Oh? Out of stock? Can't buy it if there's no stock~ Guess you don't get that gear~' That was the message. Of course I was furious.

"Ha…."

I was this close to ending the stream right there.

"I'll buy it!!!! Right now!!!!!"

The second I saw the stock jump back up, I shouted it out.

"Bring me that mana potion right now!!!!"

"YEAAAH! I did it, dammit~!"

"Alright, chat—a promise is a promise. Should I unbox the potion first, or start with that explanation?"

Chat seemed split right down the middle.

Exactly fifty-fifty.

"Looks like we can't reach a consensus…. Guess I'll use that method, then?"

"I haven't even said anything yet?"

If there's something worth learning, learn it. That was my brand-new personal motto as of thirty seconds ago.

And who was I learning from?

Obviously my streaming senior—Slimming.

I decided to steal her method.

"From now on, whoever donates the most gets to decide. Fair, right?"

They looked ready to band together—

Not a chance.

Donations of a hundred thousand Coins and up started flying, and the competition among them ignited instantly.

One camp demanded the potion first. The other screamed that of course the explanation had to come first.

And then a donation arrived that shut every single one of them up.

"Hephaestus's Disciple, thank you so much…! Alright then—without further ado, let's get to the explanation."

I cleared my throat and told them the truth.

"Date Me is actually a pretty girl who confessed to me and got rejected. Just a close female friend…!"

"Haha… if I die, I die. Now let's try the potion. Time to become a potion sommelier."

One glance at the bottle and it screamed I'm expensive!

Unlike the other potions, it was shaped like a slender flask. The stopper was a crown of pure silver; the body of the bottle was decorated with wings and elaborate filigree.

A visual so over-the-top that eighty percent of the ten-million-Coin price tag probably went into the packaging alone.

With a soft pop, a sweet scent drifted out.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠smell was… yeah. Fresh grape juice pressed from just-picked grapes.

"Hmm. The nose is like fully ripe grape juice."

"I'll try drinking— ah."

I realized it too late.

To drink it, I had to take off Night Blossom.

Apparently I was the only one who hadn't connected the dots.

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠started stammering despite myself.

"A-ahem. I'll turn around for a second and savor it. No face reveal. This is all for your own good, chat."

Leaving the roaring chat behind, I turned my back to the camera.

With the ruins of the broken Tower as my only company, I carefully lifted off the mask.

Yeah. Bare face really does feel different.

Cool air brushed against my skin the moment the mask came free.

"Savoring now~"

Gulp, gulp.

For a liquid potion, the taste and density were surprisingly heavy. The texture sat somewhere between liquid and jelly.

And the flavor? It absolutely earned its price tag.

The scent had been like holding grapes right up to your nose. The taste, though—now I understood for sure.

It was like someone had crushed grapes and jammed them straight into my nostrils.

If I ever became the Tower's version of a billionaire oil prince, I'd stock these for special occasions.

There hadn't been much volume to begin with, so a few swallows and the bottle was empty.

Done drinking, I put the mask back on and turned to face the camera again.

"Smell and aroma: deep grape. If I ever make it as a Tower oil prince, this is the kind of thing I'd crack open on a special day."

Then a donation with a special sound effect went off.

The donor was none other than Hephaestus's Disciple.