NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1238: So Much Money?!
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FLUOSH!
Suddenly, as I talked with Lily and collected the ant corpses into my inventory, the formation around us dissipated, as its runes dissipated into Mana and disappeared.
At the same time, we saw the outside world finally emerging, before it felt like the canyon and the stone everywhere was endless and never-ending, but things finally felt more refreshing, even the wind arrived, washing away our stress a little bit.
"Well done everyone! That was an incredible spectacle," Olivia stepped into the scene, carrying with her a small red colored book in her hands, which seemed to be a Grimoire she used. "I got a bit scared when Elena attacked her own mother… but I'm glad it was resolved. You have a lot of incredible powers… I wish I could ask all about them!"
"Ah, Olivia!" I said. "Thank you for watching over and helping us so far… And sorry, the origin of our powers… We would prefer to keep that personal."
"Of course, I was only saying I wish to know more, but I will respect your decision," she nodded. "After all the Agency contracts and recruits all kinds of people of all walks in the world. Sometimes they have dark pasts, or even criminal records, so its natural they'd rather keep that a secret. Some even have powers that originated through illegal ways… but of course, it's a secret, right?
At the end of the day, SWORD's contract includes complete privacy regarding its agents' abilities and pasts."
"I-I see… yeah," I nodded. "Thanks for helping so far anyways! What happened with my daughter… it'll be resolved, don't worry. Anyway, I was wondering, do you guys want to go hunt some more?"
"Hmm, maybe." Mark nodded.
"I do feel a bit tired though…" Rita yawned.
"I could go for another round, I need to train my ability, so it doesn't go out of control again," said Elena.
"I'm mostly fine," said Anna. "So sure, as long as I can restore Mana."
"I'm… I would rather go rest and have a meal, honestly!" Elisa said.
"I can help more, I'm ready to fight!" Monica nodded.
"I can help!" Gabriel said.
"Eh, sure… I mean, as long as I earn money," Jenny shrugged. "Who wouldn't want to be richer?"
"I guess a few wants to help, alright, let's go hunt some more Monster Nests! Those that are too tired can rest and just watch. I'll also divide the work and leave it to my Spirits as well, so we won't work too much this time, if that's okay with you guys," I said. "Also… Olivia, we cleared the Ant Hill, so how much would the pay be, do you know?"
"Hmm! So eager to get the money, fufu," she giggled. "Yes, the pay is quite generous. There were over one thousand and five hundred ants, plus the very strong ant queen… It would definitely be at least five hundred million USD, then you can divide it between all of your members.
Of course, if you sell the bodies of the ants to the association, you can make even more money, it would easily go up to a billion USD."
"T-That much?!" I wondered. "Really?"
"Yes, those monster bodies are very expensive, they can be used to make powerful armor, even more now with the ever-growing Hunter group," said Olivia. "Materials are needed and being purchased in bulk by several nations to arm up their Hunters. The threat of the Gates has revolutionized the world's economy. Back then, Magic and Fantasy were kept hidden from normal people.
But because of this incident, everything has been turned upside down. The governments cannot contain millions of people suddenly gaining superpowers, so they had decided to adapt instead of trying to… well, kill every person with superpowers that isn't regulated."
"Interesting…" I nodded. "I guess we could sell a few, right guys? We could keep some for us for our own things, but I doubt we'll need thousands of monster bodies."
"But what about your Domain?" wondered Mark.
"Yeah!" Rita nodded. "You'll need the monsters to feed it."
"Maybe but the Domain can't endlessly eat, it needs a time of resting after absorbing so much energy or growing a lot," I explained. "So I doubt I'll get to use everything I have right now, might as well sell it instead."
"Hmm, not wrong," nodded Mark. "Then let's go with that."
"Alright then!" nodded Olivia. "We can do that later today, there's a few more Monster Nests, much smaller and less threatening, but that we cannot easily get to, if you want, I can bring you to them so you can take care of them!"
"Sure! Please lead the way, Olivia," I said. "We would love to hunt some more. I want to keep the city as safe as possible…"
"Well! Aren't you eager? Very well, let me lead the way, Elayne," smiled Olivia.
Like that, we traveled around the outskirts of the city, aside from the roads where cars passed, there was a lot of wild areas full of forests and also some faraway farms. The farms were safe for the moment, but there was still a lot of wild areas where people don't really go to.
These areas get infested with Wild Monsters who multiply very quickly, and they often gather around cities where the Gates open and where such Gates release a lot of Mana. Some of these Monsters are creatures that emerged from Gates and escaped into the wild, and others are natural monsters of this world. Your journey continues at empire
Those that are natural of this world tend to undergo mutations much faster, and thanks to the otherworldly Mana, they become really huge, like it happened with those ants. Those that already come from the Gates, however, don't undergo major changes even when exposed to Mana, showing how they are already used to this level of energy.
The next three Monster Nests we were going to visit were fairly small and with much weaker monsters, according to Olivia. A small cave with around twelve Fire Bears, a Lake full of Thunder Piranhas and Giant Eels, and then a small forest area full of Plant Monsters.
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