All in Charisma (A LitRPG/Isekai Adventure)

Justin awoke the next morning to an unexpected notification in his vision.

[2,000 experience gained. Your experience stands at 29,325/29,000.]

He blinked and sat up abruptly. That put him well over the threshold for advancement—did he need to wait, or could he level up immediately?

[You have reached Level 21. You are discovering that the road to financial success is long and arduous, with many obstacles, triumphs, and milestones. Take a moment to reflect; where do you see yourself in one year?]

Justin chuckled softly. It felt like an eternity since his last advancement, and since he likely earned this experience while he slept, he could level up right away.

With experience requirements climbing steeply and his days of reckless Vault-running behind him—at least for now—he had begun to wonder if building a business could actually provide meaningful progression.

Apparently, it could. And it might only get faster if things became more profitable.

[You have three attribute points to distribute.]

Three points per level were now the norm: two from his advanced class and one from the Sapphire Star, which meant he could expect an Amulet of Equilibrium boost every other level.

Without hesitation, he allocated all three to Charisma.

[Your Charisma is now: 57]

[As a Level 21 Entrepreneur, you have unlocked your next class boon. Choose wisely; there is no going back.]

Since Level 21 wasn't prime, this would be a boon rather than an active skill. His next skill would come at Level 23.

Two options appeared before him:

Living Ledger (Mythic): Become a Living Ledger, gaining access to detailed analyses of your business operations through your interface: sales trends, average transaction values, material costs, profit margins, and numerous other metrics. The Living Ledger boon intelligently separates multiple business ventures from personal finances, providing comprehensive operational intelligence that scales with your enterprises. This boon can also link with any enchanted ledger book with interface access for seamless information sharing.

Entrepreneur's Eye (Rare): Focus on any item to receive an approximation of its market value, accounting for current demand, rarity, and regional pricing variations. Invaluable for negotiations, procurement, and identifying arbitrage opportunities.

Both options impressed Justin, but Living Ledger immediately captured his attention. It would resolve the operational challenges he, Lila, and Ilsa had been facing—without the need for costly enchanted ledger books or manual record-keeping. The time and cost savings would be substantial, and it could automatically sync with any ledger books they purchased in the future.

Entrepreneur's Eye offered significant advantages as well. Being able to assess market values at a glance would streamline procurement and eliminate guesswork in pricing decisions, removing the need for costly experimentation to find optimal price points.

The choice ultimately came down to scope and scalability. Living Ledger was comprehensive—a complete business intelligence system operating directly through his interface. In contrast, Entrepreneur's Eye, while powerful, required his physical presence to evaluate each item individually.

As their enterprise grew and Justin focused more on strategic matters than daily operations, the appraisal feature would become less relevant to his role.

Living Ledger would address their most pressing needs: operational management, inventory planning, and customer behavior analysis. The decision was clear.

[You have chosen: Living Ledger. Revenue streams, expense patterns, and raw data now organize themselves within your consciousness. No transaction through your businesses, no matter how small, shall escape your awareness. Success or failure, profit or loss—all shall be illuminated by the cold clarity of pure information.]

Justin felt a subtle shift in his perception, as though a new layer of awareness had settled over his thoughts.

He focused on his new boon, and a comprehensive interface appeared in his mind.

First, he saw the company name: Summon & Supply

Total Sales for Today, April 5: 1
Total Income: 50 Silver
Total Cost of Goods Sold: 12.5 Silver
Net Income: 37.5 Silver

"Whoa," Justin murmured.

He adjusted the parameters to display lifetime data.

Total Sales Over Lifetime: 32
Total Income: 2.1206 Gold
Total Cost of Goods Sold: 1.1978 Gold
Net Income: 92.28 Silver

Coin Distribution:
Profit:4.61 Silver
Tax:13.84 Silver
Owners' Pay:27.68 Silver
Operating Costs:20.4614 Gold

For the next fifteen minutes, Justin explored all of his new boon's capabilities. At a glance, he had a complete picture of the business that would not have been possible otherwise. It would have taken hours to compile all this data manually, but now he had access to it anytime, anywhere.

When he focused on the income column, it expanded to show more details: products sold, recurring membership fees, and even individual customer names and addresses.

"It's like I have an entire e-commerce platform and accounting system in my mind," he said aloud.

"What's that?" Lila asked, standing in the doorway. "I came to check on you. The others are getting worried."

"Oh, it's nothing. I just leveled up."

"A level-up? Anything good?"

"You tell me."

Justin explained his new capabilities, and her eyes widened at the implications.

"All that data is just inside your interface now?"

Justin nodded. "Yeah. How's that for a Mythic boon?"

"And it seems you can customize it," Lila said. "And even share it with our enchanted ledger? This solves so many problems!" She frowned. "But doesn't it put Ilsa out of a job?"

"Not necessarily," Justin replied. "It just means her role will change. She can still offer advice, and if she doesn't have to handle data generation, she can spend more time helping us interpret the data and develop strategies."

"Maybe so," Lila said. "You know, I'm gaining good experience from these potions too. I'm not anywhere close to Level 21 yet, unfortunately, but I've already racked up 2,000 experience points. Selling these potions seems to give me extra experience."

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"Then you should level up soon," Justin said. "I assume the delivery to Moncierre went well?"

"I'm not sure. Ilsa isn't back yet."

Justin realized that his Living Ledger might already have the information. He called up the mental interface.

Indeed, he saw it there. "It seems the delivery was successful. It's counting 50 silvers toward our income."

"Incredible," she said. "Well, maybe we should get the day started. It's going to be a long one."

After breakfast, everyone broke into their assigned tasks. Decent foot traffic was already coming through the doors, likely attracted by Rita's eye-catching sign and word of mouth from yesterday's customers. Szara was among the early visitors, and Justin already had the blue-glowing scale-shine elixir ready for her.

He didn't have a preset price for the specialized potion. Checking his Living Ledger, he saw this elixir had cost roughly thirty coppers in materials, so he charged Szara sixty coppers.

She was happy to pay. "Rest assured, if this works as advertised, I'll let all my friends know about it. That'll teach J'zarra to stop fleecing her once-loyal customers!"

"What was she charging, out of curiosity?" Justin asked.

"Oh, 1.2 silvers a bottle. The fact that you're selling yours for sixty coppers proves she was the only game in town. I'll give it a try first to see if it's the real deal."

"I'm sure it is," Justin said. Inwardly, he worried that Ardabel might not have done his best work on it, considering the recipient. It seemed unlikely, but time would tell.

Once he'd sent her up front to pay, Justin took Ilsa to the ledger, explaining his new class boon. He tested its connection, and together, they watched as the reports in his mind began writing themselves in the enchanted ledger, the magical quill moving of its own accord.

The quill continued to write until Justin told it to stop. Ilsa's brown eyes widened.

"Amazing," she said. "These aren't just estimated net profits per product; they seem to be actual costs. We can always ensure we're charging the right amount."

"I know," Justin said. "It's..."

His thought was interrupted by a new notification.

[New Order for 60 coppers!]

"Whoa," Justin said. "That's immediate feedback."

"What happened?" Ilsa asked.

In response to her question, the page flipped, revealing a Daily Income column. The numbers in the ledger disappeared, and the quill resumed writing, updating the total:

Daily Income: 50.6 Silver

"We just had an order," Justin explained. "My interface informed me in real-time. Must have been Szara. It seems the ledger is keeping pace with every change in the numbers."

He focused on the notification, opening his detailed ledger:

[Walk-in customer: Szara. Bronze-tier scale shine elixir.]

"Yep, it was her," Justin said.

"Amazing," Ilsa said. "This will make our work so much more efficient."

"Definitely. We'll have to ensure Ardabel gets on that scale shine supply. Actually..." He summoned the inventory ledger. "Fascinating. We have twenty-four of those potions, mostly bronze-tier, with a few silvers. He's really been busy! We could purchase an additional enchanted ledger for the workshop, so Ardabel and Lila will know exactly when we're running low."

"And it'll let us know when we need to order new ingredients," Ilsa said. "This is incredible. And the Aether just gave you this Mythic boon?"

"Seems so," Justin confirmed.

"Another summon!" Alistair called from the front. "Ilsa, mind taking this one with Atlas?"

"On it!" she said, grabbing her delivery pack.

As the day progressed, Justin monitored his store's performance in real time. Sales continued to trickle in, mostly small purchases—five or ten coppers from walk-ins seeking basic supplies—but with some larger orders mixed in. Justin noticed the inventory of Rhythmic Barrage potions building up as the morning went on; they now had seven. Lila was indeed becoming more efficient. Three charms from yesterday's Archer customers lit up within minutes of each other. They decided to wait until Lila finished the ninth potion before sending Ilsa out again to handle deliveries.

Another charm lit up. Justin checked the address and saw it was on the way to the Golden District.

"I need to head to Corvain's shop for more maps," he said. "I'll take care of this delivery on the way. Should be back in an hour."

Once the delivery was taken care of, Justin ended up purchasing all of Master Corvain's Belmoran dynamic map stock, hinting that he might need even more soon. He paid ninety silvers from the operations purse and checked his mental ledger, which had automatically logged the transaction. When he returned to the shop, it had not only updated in his mind but also in the physical ledger back at the shop. The system recorded it in his complete absence; whatever the distance to Corvain's shop, the enchantment functioned seamlessly.

By lunch, their total income reached 1.16 gold, already on pace to exceed yesterday's sales, with the majority coming from the Rhythmic Barrage potions.

Checking in with Lila, he learned they had materials to create seventy more potions. According to his interface, the average cost to create them was 1.25 silvers, with a net profit of 3.75 silvers per potion.

Assuming they could sell them all, this would be very profitable indeed.

"How often should we restock ingredients?" Justin asked. "Should we have Meridian make a delivery once a week?"

"I don't recommend that," Ardabel replied. "When you launch a new product, initial demand is often high before it settles down. Once the excitement fades, you could be left with a lot of unsold inventory. I would monitor how the stock moves over the next few days, especially since we can only produce the potions at a limited pace. I've estimated we can increase our capacity to forty per day as we work out inefficiencies. Lila can focus on that while I handle the store's general stock."

"So we need to sell forty a day," Justin said. "That would amount to two gold's worth of product, with a net profit of 1.5 once they're sold."

"Very good margins," Ardabel agreed, "as long as our supply costs don't rise. I suggest rotating suppliers; alchemists and ingredient wholesalers form a tight-knit community, and if we keep shopping at Meridian's, they'll become curious and may try to launch a competing product. If we sell enough of these, it's only a matter of time."

"With what other Songbrewer?" Lila asked. "I'm the only one who can make these."

"You are hardly the only Songbrewer in the city," Ardabel said, "but you may be the first to create potions of this nature. Another Songbrewer could easily replicate them, and then we would lose our competitive edge."

"Well, we'll worry about that later," Justin said. "For now, let's maintain our momentum."

He approached Rinna and laid out the new maps. "Got these for you."

"Wonderful," she said, her eyes still focused on her enchanting work. "I have an idea that I think might work." She cleared her throat. "Also... we're running a little low on aether crystals. With this experimentation, I'm using at least one a day."

"One a day? That's a lot."

"I know. But assuming I can figure this out, it's temporary. I still have a few in reserve, but we need to start thinking about finding a supplier."

Justin pulled out his planner and jotted it down, along with seven other tasks he'd noted throughout the day.

He felt like he was missing something until he realized Jester's Roulette hadn't activated for the day. Had it simply been overwritten by the level-up message?

He checked his interface, and somehow, focusing his mind on the weapon caused it to take effect.

[Jester's Roulette Activated! Oh, you remembered me! I wasn't sure if I was making much of an impression after saving your life and everything! Now that I know we're still friends, I'd like to do something a bit... different.]

Justin's heart sank as he braced for the worst.

[How about this time, you get to choose your enchantment? Oh, how fun!]

Suspicion crept in, but he had no choice but to read the options presented:

Option 1: Devilish Dandy: +8 Charisma for social interactions involving persuasion or deception.

Option 2: Deadeye: Perfect aim with any ranged weapon or thrown object within twenty feet.

Option 3: Call a Friend: Say one sentence (not too long) to anyone you've met, anywhere. Yes, really!

Justin read that last one three times. Say one sentence to anyone he'd met, anywhere?

How did that work? Did it apply to people back home, like his mother? Could he send a message to Eldrin to let him know where they were in case he wanted to join them after finishing his business? Or perhaps a message to Kargan, asking if he had survived the perilous journey out of the Aurora Caverns?

First, his mother. Even if he could get a message to her, he'd have no way of knowing if she received it. It wouldn't do him any good here.

Then there was Kargan. It would be nice to send him a short message, but like his mother, he wouldn't be able to respond. As dark as the thought was, Kargan might be dead if the Baron had found him, or if he hadn't made it out of the caverns alive. Justin didn't think that was the case, but the possibility lingered.

That left Eldrin. He knew the Ranger was alive, and he suspected Eldrin might be interested in helping with their potions and the mission for Valdrik.

The choice was obvious.

"Option 3."

[Good choice! Today, you may call a friend and speak one sentence that isn't too long. Oh, and by the way, you get +6 to your Charisma today. To help you find the right words. Toodles!]

The Jester departed, leaving Justin alone once again.

Justin focused on the enchantment. Might as well give it a try.

One sentence. Not too many words.

"Eldrin, it's Justin—we're at 67 Copper Lane in Belmora if you want to meet up again; we heard you had business in the Thornwood—"

The message cut off instantly, interrupting Justin's train of thought. He felt slightly annoyed, but the core of the message had been delivered. By now, Eldrin had likely been in the Thornwood for a week or so, hopefully enough time to settle his personal matters and rejoin them if he wished.

For now, they would continue to focus on growing and expanding Summon & Supply.