Three people were sitting in the center of the random box corner, and the signboard read “Synthesis Alchemy Request.” This was a service I hadn’t seen at the 26th Terrarium. I picked up and read the signboard placed at their seats.

Artifact Furniture Synthesis Alchemy System

Usage fee: 2 diamonds

We will synthesize and alchemize two identical artifact furniture pieces with special bonuses.

If synthesis succeeds, you can obtain an artifact furniture piece with a more special appearance, and bonus effects may be added or stats may increase.

However, artifact furniture that can be synthesized are as follows:

Below, the names, images, draw probabilities, and synthesis success rates of the artifact furniture pieces were listed in a long row.

The flashy ‘Golden Apple Tree of the Hesperides,’ which an Elder might adore, required drawing two golden apples with a 2.8% chance, then synthesizing them with a 30% success rate to create a golden apple sapling. After that, two saplings had to be collected and synthesized again with a 30% success rate to obtain it.

Even the options attached to the golden apple were random, so to receive the normal field bonus—the Elder’s self-sustaining field—it all had to be left to sheer luck.

It’s possessed by a diamond demon… This is harsh, really harsh.

I’m confident in opening them until I get what I want, but can my stamina hold up? Opening boxes is already tough work. How should I dispose of the unnecessary items? Should I just hand them out to the nearby druids like last time…?

“Is there also a purchase limit on random boxes here?”

“Yes, there is a purchase limit. However, as your VIP level increases, the purchase limit will be raised.”

This is truly vicious… There are terrariums that set purchase limits to prevent gambling addiction, but here, they don’t care about the addiction of the wealthy. Since the more you open, the more your purchase amount grows, doesn’t the VIP level automatically go up?

The list had more than one or two items I wanted, and to get them all, I’d have to win the lottery jackpot. I was pondering how to efficiently open random boxes, wondering if I should call in Iris’s party, when I heard a conversation nearby.

“Ah, another normal field. I want a Tropical Field Valentine theme.”

“Try posting it on the brokerage exchange. Say you want to trade.”

“They take too much in fees.”

Brokerage exchange…? I saw the two people talking heading toward the huge bulletin board in the random box corner.

“What’s that?”

“Our artifact workshop provides a service to facilitate trades among druids. On the brokerage exchange, druids can buy, sell, or exchange artifact furniture with each other. However, a registration fee is charged, and a 20% commission on the item’s price is applied for both buying and selling. The registration fee and commission decrease based on your VIP level.”

I couldn’t help but applaud the meticulous VIP system. Anyway, hearing that there was a brokerage exchange was welcome news.

As a first-time visitor to the artifact workshop, I had no VIP level. The registration fee was 100%, and the commission was a flat 20%.

“I’d like to use the exchange.”

At what looked like an information desk, clerks were filling out documents. The documents they wrote were posted on a huge bulletin board, where people holding wallets had gathered in a circle, repeatedly looking between the board and their wallet screens.

The place reminded me of a holiday market, with talk of how the price of certain furniture had dropped, how failing to secure more field-specific furniture made descending to a later-numbered terrarium feel risky, and how rarely anyone pulled the furniture they actually wanted.

“I finally pulled a low-probability Snow Field furniture piece, but no one grows Dryads in that field, so it won’t sell.”

“The Normal Field is too popular, so the competition is way too fierce.”

“They say the 57th Terrarium is near a desert terrain, so our Dryads need furniture with moisture retention or heat resistance bonuses to endure the heat… but the equipment is way too expensive…”

“To join the arena in the 3rd Terrarium, I need something to boost my specs…”

“I’m out of funds—should I just sell it? I don’t even have money for potions right now…”

My ears perked up involuntarily. Having only visited three terrariums so far, I was practically a beginner user of <Terrarium Adventure>, no different from a newbie. Hearing all this news about other terrariums, I diligently took mental notes, not wanting to miss a thing. I desperately needed a note-taking app.

So there’s an arena system too. Do Dryads fight each other? High-level players who’ve finished farming must be decking out artifacts to boost their specs. Does that mean terrarium artifacts are the endgame content?

“Is this your first time using the service?”

I had made it all the way to the exchange desk, only to be distracted by the crowd. I snapped back to reality at the attendant’s eager voice calling out to me.

When I finally nodded in confirmation, I was handed a document filled with text and checkboxes. Numbers for fees… terms and conditions…

“Mr./Ms. Jae, I’ll fill this out for you. If you need any specific services, just let me know. Shall we calculate the fees later?”

“Wow, sure!”

The personal shopper took the paper and pen on my behalf and guided me to a lounge area set up on one side. Since most people were crowded around the bulletin board, there were plenty of seats. I sat down on a plush sofa and swung my legs.

“How would you like to proceed? If you want an exchange, only furniture produced at this artifact workshop can be traded, and the same goes for purchases and sales.”

“For now, I just want to buy!”

“What items would you like to purchase? If you need a separate list…”

I pulled out the synthetic alchemy system guide I had picked up earlier. I had checked off everything I wanted regardless of the field, so much so that I felt I could just staple the guide to the back of the document and hand it in. Glancing at the count, the number of furniture pieces that served as synthesis materials alone exceeded dozens.

“The purchase price doesn’t matter. I want the transaction to go quickly.”

“Then should I set it 10% higher than the current trading price?”

“Whether it’s 50% or 2 or 3 times, it doesn’t matter! Oh, and if there are bonuses for the Normal, Desert, and Swamp fields, please say you’ll buy at a higher price too.”

The personal shopper said she would do so without any fuss and would do her best to ensure my quick purchase.

“Master Jae, there’s a service that provides more special and focused advertising for your purchase if the items aren’t on the exchange. Would you like to apply? Various services are available.”

“Give me the best and the most expensive of everything!”

“As you wish.”

I saw her finish writing the documents at an incredibly fast pace. There were so many items to purchase that one document wasn’t enough, so she attached the guide plate to the document and handed it over, just as I had imagined.

As the guide plate came along with it, the eyes of the staff sitting nearby all turned toward me. How embarrassing…

“I don’t think one person is enough—please provide support!”

The staff member handling our registration urgently called out. Those who had been staring hesitantly gathered around the staff member who had requested help. After exchanging a few words among themselves, they dispersed in an orderly manner.

The information desk, which had been fairly organized, suddenly became chaotic. People who had been sitting started running around busily or splitting up multiple documents to fill out.

Watching the boxes piled behind the desk be neatly stacked onto trays, I figured these must be the items from my purchase list that were already registered on the exchange.

It was clearly the same product, but when they didn’t move the ones at the bottom to the trays, I asked about it. They said they were the same items but went over the price range I had requested. When I insisted on taking those too, I saw their ever-friendly smiles crack just a little.

Among the items on my wishlist, those already on the exchange were swept up regardless of their listed prices—even items that might have been registered long ago and didn’t reflect recent market trends, or those with joke prices.

In other words, compared to the exchange system of some games, it was like bulk-purchasing all items on the page that came up when searching for golden apples, instantly turning it into page 0.

“The current Artifact Exchange is purchasing the following items at 200% of the recent transaction price: golden apple saplings of the Hesperides, golden apple trees of the Hesperides, brilliant oasis pools, brilliant oases, the sun god’s chariot…”

While waiting for the registration to finish, a loud announcement suddenly echoed through the building. I couldn’t see any speakers on the ceiling, though… The items listed in the announcement were all things I intended to buy.

So this was the purchase advertising service. My purchase requests started popping up on the bulletin board, and only my papers had a different color. Paid services are impressive. The movements of the people in front of the board grew more active, and the chatter became louder.

“What kind of person is that? Buying all of that?”

“Isn’t he a hoarder? Is he manipulating the market?”

“Did a special bonus I don’t know about appear? Or is this the latest trend?”

“If he drives the prices up like that, only the sellers benefit!”

That someone was, of course, me, but the atmosphere didn’t allow me to say so.

Only I could know. Only I could see it.