The Patriarch of the Urbring Family flew through the wilderness and eventually stopped at a seemingly random spot.
He furrowed his brows and cast several complex Spells.
After a while, he moved further away and cast another Spell.
Eventually, the Patriarch saw the ground below him vibrate and shine a slight bit.
He had found the spot.
WHOOOM!
A gigantic fireball appeared near the Patriarch, and he threw it at the ground.
BOOOOOOOOM!
A gigantic explosion nearly 200 meters wide appeared below him, destroying the forest and ground…
Except for an area in the middle that was about a hundred meters wide.
The forest there looked the same as always.
Yet, with the devastated ground around it, the small speck of forest looked extremely suspicious. Even the ground below it was still in one piece while there was just a singed crater all around it.
The Patriarch narrowed his eyes and summoned more fireballs.
BOOOM!
BOOOOOM!
BOOOOOOM!
He kept attacking the barrier for about a minute, and finally, it broke.
The explosion broke through the entrance, and the entire barrier collapsed.
However, the Patriarch stopped the explosion before it could go too far in the cave.
Eventually, a big hole was unveiled before the Patriarch, and he entered it.
Even though he had already seen everything in the cave via his Spirit Sense just now, he still wanted to see it with his own eyes.
The Patriarch entered the big room, and his eyes fell on a headless corpse.
The Patriarch had to take a deep breath, even though he knew exactly what was waiting for him.
He had seen how powerful the barrier had been and how careful the Treasury Master had been all this time.
Yet, surrounded by his impressive barrier and Sense Expansion Magic Circles, he still died.
Nothing inside the cave seemed out of place except for the headless corpse.
There was no lingering Mana, and the assassin had also left this place without destroying the barrier.
There was no trace of any other living being having been here.
It was almost like the Treasury Master had just randomly lost his head on his own.
"Oh, William. Why did you have to be such a fool?" the Patriarch spoke quietly with a sigh as he looked at the corpse.
The two of them had known each other for a long time, and the Patriarch had chosen this person as his Treasury Master.
"We are already earning so much money. Why did you have to risk all of our lives for even more money?"
After a while, the Patriarch pointed towards the corpse with one of his fingers, and the corpse started to slowly turn into ash.
Then, the Space Ring of the former Treasury Master floated over to the Patriarch, who used his privileges to unlock it.
He went through the former Treasury Master's belongings, but there was nothing suspicious to be found.
The only thing that could be considered to be slightly suspicious was the 15 Grade Six Mana Crystals. That was more than one would expect a Treasury Master to have as their personal wealth, but it wasn't too shocking.
Sure enough, the Treasury Master had been extremely careful about being found out, even keeping his Space Ring clean.
Eventually, the Patriarch looked at the bones in the middle of the room.
He wasn't surprised that the skeleton of an entire Beast Lord fit into this small room. He had heard that Beast Lords could control the size of their bodies.
After a bit, the Patriarch walked over and lifted a tiny piece of bone…
Or, at least, he tried to.
Even though the piece of bone was only a couple of centimeters long, it was still far too heavy for the Patriarch to lift with his body or mind.
When the Treasury Master had transformed the bone, he also hadn't been able to lift it. He had just touched it while it was lying on the ground.
Then, the Patriarch looked at the shining Beast Core lying on the ground.
He just looked at it for several seconds before sighing.
He wanted to feel happy about finding so much money just lying around, but the oppressive weight of his find made that impossible.
This was a double-edged sword. It could prove extremely useful, but it could also spell the doom of the Urbring Family.
For just a short moment, the Patriarch would have preferred the Temple of Blood to just steal all the things here.
'White Ghost is frightening,' the Patriarch thought. As the mission giver, he knew which Named Agent had completed his mission.
'True to his name, he entered and left like a ghost. Even more, he didn't even touch these things, even though they are worth a multiple of what I paid him.'
'He's able to control his greed under such circumstances.'
'That's a terrifying mindset.'
The Patriarch focused on the bones for a while.
'Around 20% of the bones are missing. If I deliver everything to the Enforcers, they would want to be reimbursed for the missing bones since they had been destroyed by one of my people.'
'That would come to one Grade Seven Mana Crystal.'
'That would spell the end of the Urbring Family. We don't have that kind of money lying around just like that. I would need to sacrifice a century of growth just for that.'
'Oh, William. What have you done?'
The Patriarch sighed again.
'I've already broken the rules by commissioning the Temple of Blood. Might as well go all in.'
'I wonder, is that why they left all these valuables just lying around? Did they know that they would be able to trade for them without damaging their image?'
Once again, the Patriarch sighed.
Eventually, he took out a bloodred Communication Crystal.
"I request an Ancestral Mage to trade with," he spoke.
"Daniel Urbring," a distorted voice came out of the Communication Crystal. "The travel fee is 20 Grade Six Mana Crystals. Do you accept?"
Requesting an Ancestral Mage, even if it was just for a simple trade, was never cheap.
20 Grade Six Mana Crystals was quite a lot, even for the Urbring Family.
"I accept," the Patriarch, Daniel Urbring, said.
"A representative will arrive within the next 20 minutes."
Then, the Communication Crystal was deactivated.
The Patriarch sighed once again.
A couple of minutes later, the Patriarch felt a powerful Mage rapidly approaching, and in a matter of seconds, the powerful Mage appeared inside the cave.
They wore dark-red robes, and several Spells were hiding their identity.
The Patriarch grew nervous when the powerful Mage arrived.
"What do you have to offer?" the representative asked.
"These bones and the Beast Core," the Patriarch said.
The representative inspected all the different things.
"Nine Grade Seven Mana Crystals," the representative said.
"Only nine?" the Patriarch asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The rate is fixed," the representative answered coldly. "We don't haggle. Take it or leave it."
The Patriarch sighed.
"Fine, but I can't just accept the money right now. If an Enforcer searches me, I can't hide it."
"For 500 Grade Six Mana Crystals, we can distribute the money over several trading firms, who will give you favorable trades until all the money eventually reaches your pockets. It would take around 250 years to fully transmit all the money to you, but it is very safe and untraceable," the representative answered.
The Patriarch waited for a while and nodded. "Fine, make it like that."
After clearing up all the small things, the representative left with the bones and the Beast Core.
The Patriarch could only look at the new Communication Crystal he received.
One last time, he sighed.
