Shang took the Beast Core into his hand and inspected it, ignoring the headless corpse to his right.
'This thing is probably still worth about ten Grade Seven Mana Crystals,' Shang thought. 'That is a hundred times of what I would need to look at a living Beast Lord.'
After a couple of seconds, Shang put the Beast Core down and took out a Communication Crystal.
"The Treasury Master of the Urbring Family hid the skeleton of a dead Beast Lord and its Beast Core. I killed the Treasury Master. The mission is complete," Shang said.
Yes, Shang wouldn't pocket anything.
It was a lot of money, but it was too risky.
The Temple of Blood was too mysterious, and Shang still couldn't tell how they could inspect the surroundings this thoroughly and mark all the beasts.
On top of that, the Territory Lord personally was his Keeper, and this place was still within her Spirit Sense's range. Sure, her Spirit Sense should be isolated by the Yellow Sunbreaker, but Shang wouldn't take any risks.
Lastly, how was he supposed to transform something this valuable into actual disposable income, and how would he explain his newfound wealth?
It didn't need a genius to connect Shang's newfound wealth to this mission.
"Good work," the Keeper answered through the Communication Crystal. "Return to the branch."
A moment later, a new route back to the branch appeared inside Shang's mind.
Then, Shang exited the room and went to the entrance of the cave.
He took out some of the leftover expensive Barrier Disruptors he had purchased to destroy the two gatherer families a couple of years ago.
The Temple of Blood sold them to make it easier for Agents to fulfill their duty. One could call it an investment to make sure that the mission was a success.
A small hole opened in front of Shang, and he used a second Barrier Disruptor to collect the first one.
Then, he left with both of them.
By now, the two Barrier Disruptors had used up all their Mana, making them useless, but members of the Temple of Blood were forbidden from giving outsiders access to their equipment.
Everything below Shang returned to looking like a normal forest.
Shang flew back to the branch without pause.
Over the past two years, he had absorbed about three Abominations, which wasn't a lot. However, the Abominations' appearances didn't seem suspicious since he was just taking advantage of the natural appearance of the Abominations.
'Two years for ten Grade Six Mana Crystals. That's pretty good,' Shang thought as he pushed past the Yellow Sunbreaker's roots.
Shang arrived at the end of the cave, but the barrier vanished on its own.
That was because someone else was just about to leave for a mission.
A small and slender light-blue-haired woman stepped past Shang without looking at him.
After she walked past him, Shang entered the branch and closed the barrier behind him.
Ice Princess wasn't a fan of talking to others, just like Shang.
"Oh, look who's back. If it isn't the old loser."
A small and young man with spiky and long grey hair sat in the middle of the branch alone.
Trapper and House Wife were focusing on training now, and this man was now focusing on earning money for resources, which was why he was here now.
This was an Early Archmage with a Metal Affinity, and his specialty was killing others in a direct confrontation.
His Battle-Strength was quite good, and he could even fight Mid Archmages for a while.
Even more, he was rather young and was also the newest member of the branch.
His codename was Spike Ball.
Even though Spike Ball had just tried to provoke Shang, Shang just ignored him and walked to the Keeper.
Spike Ball sneered and snorted when he saw Shang walk past him, but he didn't say anything.
Spike Ball was a very aggressive person, and he constantly insulted everyone around him. If it weren't against the rules, he would probably challenge everyone in this branch to a one-on-one life-and-death duel.
Shang guessed that Spike Ball was insecure and just wanted to prove to everyone and himself that he was strong.
But all of that wasn't relevant.
Since it was forbidden to fight, Spike Ball was no threat, and his words were meaningless.
Everyone knew him, and nobody cared about him.
Except Trapper.
Whenever Trapper and Spike Ball were in the same room, the entire branch would get annoyed by their constant arguing.
It even got so bad at one point that the Keeper forced them into different rhythms regarding their training. This would stop them from being in the room and waiting for missions at the same time.
Shang stopped behind the Keeper.
"Report," the Keeper transmitted.
Shang transmitted a rundown of what he had seen the Treasury Master do over the past two years.
Then, he reported in detail what he had seen the Treasury Master do today.
"Well done," the Keeper said after Shang transmitted everything.
SHING!
Ten Grade Six Mana Crystals appeared in her hands, which then floated over to Shang.
"There might be a chance that you will receive a bonus for this mission," she said.
Shang put the Mana Crystals away. "How come?"
"The skeleton is too hot," she answered. "If the Urbring Family hands it over to the Natural Selection Company, the company will question them regarding the missing bones and will demand the missing bones to be handed over."
"However, they can't hand over the missing bones since the Treasury Master converted them directly into Mana Crystals."
"Because of that, they can't possibly hand the skeleton or Beast Core over. Instead, they will most likely contact us and trade with us."
Shang's expression didn't change, and he didn't move. "How much would the bonus be?"
"If everything goes according to plan, I will pay for your trip to see a Beast Lord."
Shang slowly nodded and walked over to Training Room One.
He wanted to continue training while waiting for more information.
While Shang continued training, the Patriarch of the Urbring Family received news about the mission he had placed.
And his entire world broke down.
This was bad!
