With the purchase of the spear complete, there was nothing else Michael needed from the equipment store, so he followed the middle-aged man from the trade center through yet another door.
“Another basement? Is the Association really that large?”
This time, Michael couldn’t stop himself from blurting it out.
Surprisingly, the middle-aged man actually answered.
“Almost everything around the Association building belongs to us, so yes, it’s much larger than it appears. But it’s nothing compared to the headquarters,” the man said with a chuckle before falling silent again.
Michael wanted to ask a few more questions, but he didn’t get the chance—they had already reached their destination.
As Michael suspected, the Association had a much larger collection of corpses than what was displayed outside.
It wasn’t because they were hiding them but because access to this section required larger purchases or special requests, such as buying a Black Ape corpse.
These couldn’t be stored with the goblins or forest wolves due to their size.
Additionally, anything outside of sales, most of what was stored here was reserved for the Association’s internal use.
This basement was by far the coldest one Michael had been in since entering the Association.
‘It’s probably because of the corpses,’ Michael figured.
Compared to the previous storage room Brian had led him to, this area was better organized and equipped with more features.
Still, Michael wasn’t here to admire the place—he was here for the corpses.
“So, twenty of each corpse, yes?” the middle-aged man asked, smiling.
He couldn’t help but grin.
With everything Michael had bought, as the one in charge of providing the service, he would get a commission.
One might assume that just because someone was a supernatural, they were automatically wealthy.
That was true for some, but maintaining one’s cultivation was expensive, especially if one wanted to keep advancing without stagnating.
Most cultivators were broke—or at least broke by supernatural standards.
Knowing he’d earn a nice commission from Michael’s purchase made the man far more enthusiastic and welcoming.
The cut he would get from the millions Michael had just spent would buy him enough resources to cultivate for a while.
In the supernatural world, people like Michael weren’t typical examples of how money was earned or spent.
To be honest, the middle-aged man was starting to think Michael was the son of some senior figure, given how casually he spent without hesitation.
Michael, on the other hand, wasn’t wasting time.
He bought the maximum allowed—20 corpses of each type.
The process took some time, as Michael had to use the Land of Origin as a storage space again.
Fortunately, the area he had marked before leaving the ruins was ideal for setting up a temporary base.
The goblins and forest wolves cost $1,000 and $4,000 each, respectively, but the price of the Black Apes made Michael’s eyes twitch.
“$8,800.”
Somehow, it feels like the Association marks up prices by at least 100% of what they paid for these corpses, Michael thought bitterly.
Still, he bought them without complaint, though he silently cursed the Association.
The goblins cost him $20,000 in total, the forest wolves $80,000, and the Black Apes $176,000, bringing the total to $276,000.
Once again, Michael’s remaining balance dropped, nearing the $2 million mark.
However, the corpses weren’t exactly a loss. He could always resell the ones he didn’t want later.
It was already approaching evening, but Michael planned to quickly fill his contract slots before returning to sell the leftover corpses before it got too dark.
Of course, he planned to buy some ordinary creatures on Aurora for experimentation first.
After finishing with the corpses, he was led to another room where his purchased equipment was waiting.
“What happens if another customer comes while you’re away?” Michael asked, curious.
Despite being satisfied with the service, he couldn’t help but wonder.
Brian had acted the same way—both of them leaving the trade center unattended with no one to replace them.
How did they keep business running like this?
“It’s not that serious. If someone comes, I’ll know,” the man said, pointing at a sleek watch on his wrist. “Old customers know what buttons to press outside.”
Michael wanted to ask more—what buttons? And what about new customers?—but decided against it.
With one more envious glance from the middle-aged man, Michael used his storage space to transport the equipment he had bought from the Association.
“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask—do you have any alternatives to source liquid here? As long as it’s just as effective or stronger, I’ll take it.”
Michael finally remembered to ask, hoping he’d get lucky.
Unfortunately…
“No, we don’t. But you could try your luck on the forum. Just be careful—the descriptions there can be vague or unclear, so you might end up with something different from what you expect.”
“Ahh, I see. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
As for checking the forum, Michael figured he could it a shot, but he wasn’t too hopeful.
Too many things could go wrong with online purchases, so he preferred buying things in person.
At least that way, he could test the product on the spot and decide whether to buy more if it proved useful—unlike online purchases, where things were often a gamble.
Sure, he could buy some spirit crystals, but that wasn’t the most efficient way to spend his money.
It made far more sense to focus on leveling up and increasing the number of his undead, which would grant him more daily Evolution Points.
Perhaps because he understood that after reaching the extraordinary rank, speeding up his progress would require a staggering amount of resources, Michael had learned to be patient and make the best of what he had.
And honestly, what he had wasn’t bad at all—just slow.
It wasn’t a bad deal considering that if he could fill all 40 of his contract slots right now, he’d be earning enough daily Evolution Points to evolve a one-star extraordinary rank undead every four days. That meant an undead at level 25 at the very least.
On top of that, Michael was starting to think beyond simply evolving his creatures, thanks to his experiment with Prince.
Lucky was now a one-star extraordinary rank creature, but when Prince evolved to that same rank, he would immediately advance strongly into rank 2 due to his already superior strength before evolution.
It was becoming clear that the strength gained from evolving had its limits—creatures with a higher base strength before evolution would always turn out stronger after it.
After collecting the equipment he bought, Michael was finally done with all the buying and selling he had to do at the Association.
Soon, he made his way out of the building.
However…
“I feel like I’m forgetting something,” Michael muttered aloud.
Ever since he left Miss Grace’s counter, he’d had this nagging feeling that something was missing.
However, after thinking hard about what it could be with no progress, he gave up.
Michael ordered a ride to the public marketplace in Woodstone City.
Sitting in the car with nothing to do, Michael—who was finally feeling the urge to use his phone again—pulled it out, intending to browse the Supers forum.
Just as he was about to start, a call came in from an unknown number.
Curious, Michael picked up, and a familiar voice greeted him.
“Is this Mr. Norman?”
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“Miss Grace?”
“Yes, it’s me. I apologize if I’m disturbing you, but I wanted to inquire about something, if that’s okay?”
“Please, go ahead. You’re not disturbing me.”
Michael was a little surprised—he hadn’t been expecting any calls from the Association.
While curious about what this was about, he also felt slightly nervous, wondering if something had gone wrong.
“Okay, sir. Well, I forgot to ask you when you were here if you’d like me to register your new rank. Since you’re still a new Supernatural, you’re eligible for the benefits program for the gifted, which lasts for three years after your initial registration. I’m not sure if you remember, but even if you do, allow me to repeat the information.”
“As a rank 1, if you manage to reach this level within six months of your awakening, your monthly benefit will increase. The same applies if you advance to rank 2 of your system within a year.”
“Additionally, though the information increase won’t be as significant as becoming a level 2 member, certain things will be more accessible to you on the Supers Association forum. Of course, it’s your choice whether you want to register now.”
“If you give me permission, I can complete the registration here without requiring your physical presence.”
After hearing what Grace had to say, Michael wanted to smack himself on the head.
He finally understood what had been bothering him—he hadn’t updated his rank!
Now that he knew it wasn’t anything serious, he relaxed.
Without overthinking, he gave her his answer.
“Please help me register. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Mr. Norman.”
With that, the call ended.
“I should’ve asked how much my monthly benefit would increase,” Michael muttered to himself.
Just because he had some money now didn’t mean he was going to disdain free money.
A broke man like him had no such right.