Published at 27th of August 2026 7:17 pm

Chapter 1036: Economic State

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

The days swiftly passed since Asher and Lyra talked about the First True War and the Erased Era. Of course, to test Lyra’s current combat power, Asher had spent a few hours sparring with her, and he lost by an overwhelming margin. Lyra wasn’t just stronger; the End-class Monster seemed to have even transferred part or all of its battle experience to her, as though the being couldn’t bear the thought of its successor dying.

It was really surprising. Lyra, who had always felt like she wasn’t adequate or enough, had finally taken a huge step forward in power. Asher was happy for her, but nobody was happier than Lyra herself. After all, it was known that after attending the Star Academy, the Suns and Moons always went on various missions from the Wargrave Missions Hall, or they were deployed to various Frontiers to prevent Monsters, Beasts, and Emovirae from invading.

And it went without saying that the personal maids and butlers of these Suns and Moons accompanied their Young Masters to these battlefields. Now, she, Lyra, finally had the strength to protect her Young Master if anything were to happen.

But with the presence of an ability like Devour, Asher immediately told Lyra to spend a few hours around the Wargrave Territory hunting down Myth-class or Void-class Monsters so she could acquire their abilities and skills. That way, she could become more versatile and considerably more dangerous in battle.

After all, the End-class Monster could manipulate space, read memories, even set conditions on the portals the being had created, and transfer its abilities to another person. And that was just the tip of the iceberg; only the stars knew the amount of skills and abilities a being of that level possessed.

But this wasn’t the only thing that happened. Within the past few days, the three Sky Jets, one holding various Nobles, Merchants, and people from the Zarethorne Empire who had visited the Thalvorn Empire, the one carrying the students and Instructors of the Star Academy, and the one carrying the Imperial Family of the Zarethorne Empire, all returned at the same time.

Of course, a big commotion had occurred as many commoners and people of various statuses flooded the streets and roads as though they wanted to get a glimpse of Asher, not knowing the boy had returned a week ago. But even as they didn’t see Asher, he wasn’t the only popular person, as various people like Finch found themselves basking in heavy attention. Teo Swig and Lawrence from the third-year class were also given immense attention, with people screaming directly in their faces.

Although people like Ryaen and Vaelric didn’t reach the top ranks, they still had their own fans. After all, one was the heir of a Dukedom, and the other was the Crown Prince, their statuses immense. As for William, he could only blend in as a normal person, as people didn’t seem to notice him. But it didn’t matter, because the moment William returned to the Canestane Territory, he received immense love, as his Father and Mother made sure of it.

Although he hadn’t gone past the first round, the people of Canestane didn’t care. Their Young Lord had made them proud, and that was all that mattered. And with that, various people received immense love from their respective Territories, be they Commoners or Nobles.

Although it was a shame nobody saw Asher, people still made do with what they had.

But with the return of the Nobles and everyone else, the economy itself seemed to collapse and tilt a bit. After all, the head of the Elox family had given everyone back the same amount of money they had staked during the Inter-Empire competition. Adding that to the amount of money many had already won, their purchasing power took a huge leap.

Many commoners began to purchase a lot of designer and high-end products that normally only Nobles could afford, like high-quality clothes and shoes, better horses and carriages, higher-quality food, and better equipment for farming and working. Adventurers stormed blacksmiths, with people demanding equipment in bulk as everyone wanted to order huge amounts of weapons and armor now that they had the money, save them, and use them later.

And with the demand for things reaching such a sky-high level, the basic laws of economics and the profit-seeking greed of Merchants rose to match those demands. Prices rose within hours, then days, and remained that way.

But these Commoners couldn’t be blamed. They had never seen such an amount of money in their lives, nor had they ever possessed such spending power, hence the reason why they went crazy with their expenditures. Many bought new houses like it was nothing as they demolished their old ones, and a majority of them seemed to forget that they had to save for the future.

But the smart ones indeed saved their money. Of course, they gave in to the temptation of buying lavish stuff, as it was practically impossible to resist. But alas, they only satisfied their current needs and didn’t go overboard, then saved a huge portion of their coins for the hard days to come.

As for Nobles and the smart ones who understood the economy, they didn’t make a move, neither did they spend a single coin. They knew it would probably only take a couple of weeks or a month at the latest for everything to return to normal, so they simply stared down at the Commoners like they were fools and laughed from their houses.

After all, why waste money buying things at double the price when they could just buy them at the normal price, or even lower, when the economy returned to normal?

But these Merchants were also going to be affected in the future, as some seemed so consumed by their greed that they might have forgotten another basic rule of demand and supply; supply must never surpass demand by too much.

Due to the constant demand, most of them had stocked their warehouses and inventories, forgetting that this shift wouldn’t last forever. But they couldn’t be blamed. After all, if a buyer needed something and you didn’t have it on the spot, they would naturally look for another seller.

But it wasn’t just the Zarethorne Empire; the entire planet was going through an intense economic shift.

This was one of the reasons everyone couldn’t be rich. If everyone was, then money would lose value to a certain extent. But alas, only the poor would be affected, while the truly rich remained unaffected.

But these weren’t the only things that happened. The time for the Wargrave family meal had already arrived, and it was happening today. At the moment, Asher could be seen dressing within his room as he prepared.

He wasn’t wearing anything fancy, as it was just a normal family mealtime, so nobody was dressing like they were going to a ball or grand event.

Knowing his siblings, Asher wouldn’t be surprised if some of them attended in pajamas instead of normal clothes. He came to a stop before the long mirror hanging on the wall as he stared at himself in the reflection. He wore a baggy long-sleeved black shirt with the buttons open, revealing his chest. Even the buttons at the wrists were left undone, paired with ironed, almost baggy black trousers that weren’t quite as loose as the shirt.

On his feet, he wore what seemed to be a pair of loafer slippers, simple yet comfortable, perfectly matching the casual nature of the family gathering.

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