The spoils laid out before Mike were all precious collections of the fourth demon cult Leader, untouched by the damage from his previous battle with Arthas, a testament to their exceptional quality!
On the far left was an irregular sphere about the size of a baseball, its black surface speckled with gold, extraordinarily heavy. This small piece alone weighed over a thousand pounds! Mike, with a Strength attribute over 300, could barely move it. It now lay on the floor, the tiles underneath crushed into powder by its weight.
[Eclipse Meteorite (1124 pounds), a specialty of the Abyssal Plane, refined to be incredibly sharp and excellent at armor penetration, commonly used in crafting Battle Chief-level melee weapons.]
"Nice find!" Mike was thrilled inside; this was a primary material for crafting Battle Chief-level weapons! From his recent encounter with the Minotaur Battle General, Mike was certain that his enemies would aggressively target Thor! The first level's boss had already used an [Inhibition Orb], an SS-tier special item, to counteract mage output. The path ahead for Mike, although primarily skilled in lightning magic, would only get tougher. He knew he needed to master additional skills.
"They target mages, so I'll secretly master some close combat skills and surprise everyone in battle!" Mike was clear that to advance further, he needed to develop a well-rounded set of abilities. However, human energy is limited, and realistically, it wasn't feasible to rapidly improve in melee combat. A suitable weapon was the most direct way to significantly enhance his close combat and survival capabilities!
Placing the Eclipse Meteorite on the floor, Mike recognized the stone's great value and knew it would require substantial resources to utilize effectively.
His gaze then shifted to the second item, a somewhat tattered scroll!
[Forbidden Spell Scroll: Can imprint forbidden spells for release, maintaining 80% of the original spell's power, each use consumes 5 durability points.
Durability: 55/100
Stored spells: 0
Capacity: 2]
"Cool—"
"To think it can store forbidden spells! Only Battle Chief-level skills, which are said to destroy small mountains even with their residual effects!" Mike couldn't help but marvel. Was this the benefit of having extremely high Luck? This item was found next to Arthas Bloodscribe. Clearly, the enemy knew the value of the [Forbidden Spell Scroll] and carried it personally. Unfortunately, the stored spells had been depleted during his escape. Otherwise, Arthas would have definitely used it to counterattack when Mike attacked.
"This means the scroll can store the full force of a Battle Chief-level strike, twice! If used wisely, it's not just a lifesaver but a powerful weapon in battle!" As for the durability loss? That wasn't a concern; it could be repaired with money! No ability to imprint forbidden spells? Pay a Battle Chief-level expert to do it! If money can solve it, then it's not a problem!
"This item's value far exceeds the Eclipse Meteorite; it might even be the greatest gain of this trip!" Mike held the Forbidden Spell Scroll in his hands, growing fonder of it by the moment. "I'll contact a master smith to repair it and find someone to imprint forbidden spells!"
Thinking this, Mike suddenly remembered his financial situation. "I almost forgot, I only have 2700 gold coins left..." That's about 2.7 million dollars! In just two days, Mike was complaining about 'only' having 2.7 million dollars. But that's not surprising in today's era, where, aside from gold coins, the currency of any country in the world is severely devalued. 2.7 million dollars isn't particularly enticing to a Battle Chief; a single drink they enjoy might cost more than that.
"The real trouble is how to get a Battle Chief to imprint a forbidden spell for me." Mike felt overwhelmed. Lack of money, always a lack of money.
Mike's eyes swept over the last two items. A damaged staff, once a Battle Lord-level piece of equipment, now the cost to repair it far exceeded the staff's own value! This staff had accompanied the fourth demon cult Leader through many battles and was severely damaged in a fierce fight; its core was destroyed and no longer existed.
"This item is more like a memento of the fourth demon cult Leader; its intrinsic value is... mediocre." After a glance, Mike disregarded the staff. Its origins were too special; if Mike took it to the Trade Secret Realm for sale, it would surely stir up trouble and attract unwanted attention. Given its low intrinsic value, it wouldn't fetch much money anyway. Mike decided to store it in his warehouse for now, perhaps finding a use for it later.
The last item was a black box, extremely complicated to open. Even a Battle Lord couldn't force it open without destroying the contents inside, which would self-destruct if the box was damaged. This made the black box an excellent device for keeping documents secure, inaccessible even to someone like Blaze Battle Chief.
Fortunately, Mike encountered it. As the possessor of the SSS-tier talent [Eye of Truth], he didn't need to open the box to see the documents inside clearly.
"This is... a list!" Mike's pupils contracted, and a lightbulb went off in his head, immediately realizing the list's purpose. [Yes, you guessed it, this is a list of core members of the fourth demon cult!]
"It's actually a demon cult list!" Mike grabbed paper and pen, copying down the names from the document. He had once reported a Battle General and received 30,000 gold coins; the weakest on this list were fifth-tier Battle General, with bounties up to 100,000 gold coins each. Reporting everyone on this list could net at least 10 million gold coins in rewards!
Looking at the list of dozens of names, Mike reflected. Just this morning, he was worried about a million gold coins. Now, by simply writing dozens of reports and submitting them, he could easily earn 10 million gold coins.
"This money is both easy and satisfying to earn!" Reporting demon cult followers, Mike felt no guilt. Each one was blood-stained from head to toe, embodying filth and evil.
Setting the list aside, this document was truly worth its weight in gold. "Looking over the haul, this trip's gains are far from small, even far exceeding expectations!" Mike looked around at the Eclipse Meteorite, the Forbidden Spell Scroll, both of which he would keep for personal use. The damaged staff would stay as a collectible for now, and the demon cult followers' list was essentially a check for 10 million gold coins.
"Time to tidy up, I haven't even had dinner yet." Mike stored everything back into his storage space, casually picking up the Lone Wolf badge. He had set it to silent mode during the battle. Switching it back to normal, the Lone Wolf badge suddenly began to vibrate intensely.
"You have 19,827 unread messages!"
"Buzzzz—"
"You have 20,193 unread messages!"
What was going on? Mike was shocked to find his voicemail nearly bursting at the seams. He opened the first voice message.
"Dear Master, hello! I have a piece of equipment that needs appraisal, name your price! I absolutely won't haggle with you!"
"What's this?" Mike glanced through, finding all the voice messages similar, all seeking his expertise in equipment appraisal.
What in the world was happening?!