"Credits," He answered. To upgrade the missile defense system to Mythril grade, he might need a lot of credits.
But then, why couldn't he just go with choosing the Mythril grade weapon? Mark knew that the system will follow the law of fairness. It means that this random weapon he is going to receive will be worth less than 100 million gold coins for sure.
However, in his opinion, the current Crystal-grade missile defense system is far more worth than a mere 100 million as he could kill everyone under the Demigod realm with ease. Once it is upgraded to Mythril, perhaps, he might be able to kill even Demigods.
If that's the case, then, what will be the new worth of the weapon? Mark estimates that it will be atleast a billion. That would mean that its worth will be equal to the combined worth of all the empires that existed on the planet he was currently living in.
Logically, he believed that his decision is right and proceeded with the trade.
*Ding! 18 million credits are added to the account.
"Now, I have nearly 24.5 million credits to spend. I have a little more than 11 million gold coins in my inventory and the Emperor will give me atleast 12 million more. So, that's like 4.5 million credits. So, overall, I will end up with 29 million credits.
The upgrade to ruby needs 6.72 million credits. Judging by the graph, the upgrade from ruby to Mythril grade might need another 60.5 million credits. That means I will be short of more than 38 million. That's like 190 million gold coins. Just where in the hell should I get such amount?"
3-4 months ago, he was looking at 100 gold coins like it was a treasure. Now, that 100 became 100 million. Mark was aware that whether it is the seed of fire or the expo, they are only once-in-a-year types of events. He cannot depend on them once again and neither does he want to wait for a long time.
Hence, Mark had to think of a new way to earn the money.
"Hmm... to earn such huge amounts, selling the weapons won't do. I need such events again.
The best way to earn is to kill higher realm monsters and sell their cores as well as their carcasses. Bloodhill forest is there to provide me with the targets.
But, I need to find the right buyer too. The amounts I required could only be given by the emperors and kings.
I have already squeezed more than 40 million from Shang Fu. He might not be able to procure vast amounts for a while. So, I need to choose another imperial family...
Leon Empire, perhaps?"
Several Hours later;
Genesis Weapon Store, Imperial City;
The time was around 11 p.m., and every store in the city was closed. GWS was no exception either. It is just that the shutter wasn't closed.
Song Yue dragged the chair to the entrance/exit a while ago and sat there with Tishanan, the golden furred cat, comfortably sleeping in her arms.
Chang Bo left his home long ago, the Black Knight a.k.a Song Yun also returned to the inn where he was renting the room for a while, and Alina was busy reading a mystery novel.
That leaves the manticore lying beside Song Yue and telling her about the stories of undying lands. Song Yue was nodding once in a while as if she was paying attention but in reality, her eyes kept glancing at the sky.
"So, as you know... that one-legged toad emperor isn't the one to sit by. He rushed into the battlefield and... Hmm?"
Soon, a faint sound of the rotor blades was heard far away. Because the streets are empty at this time, Song Yue could hear them. She quickly recognized the sound and got up on her feet, all of a sudden.
The manticore paused for a moment and looked at Song Yue, "what happened, young miss? Getting bored?"
Song Yue pointed to the sky with her face glowing in happiness, "Did you hear that, Baltrow? It's Lu Zhen's helicopter."
"Eh? Lu Zhen?" The manticore raised its head and stared at the sky. There's nothing. It then enhanced its senses and concentrated on the surroundings. Indeed, the rotor blades' sound could be heard. They got louder as time slowly passed.
Just after a minute, the helicopter was sighted in the sky with its red LED lights flashing on the left and green LED on the right. It landed on the training grounds and the both of them got down from the vehicle.
As Mark exited the training grounds, he saw there were lights in the store and Song Yue was sitting at the entrance, taking him by surprise. "Was she waiting for me?" He wondered as he walked toward her. That thought warmed his heart.
Upon reaching her, he apologized right away, "Sorry for taking long. I didn't expect this would turn into a 3-day trip."
Song Yue didn't stop smiling and simply replied, "Welcome home."
Mark couldn't help but also smile in response, feeling good to see her face. It felt as if he hadn't seen her for weeks.
After a while, as Mark freshened up and came out of his room, Song Yue and Alina appeared to be arranging the dishes on the table. Mark was slightly taken aback upon seeing two plates on the table.
"You didn't eat dinner?" He asked Song Yue. To which, the latter replied casually as she took the seat, "I thought I could wait as you are already on the way."
Mark stared at her in silence for a few seconds. He was touched and felt happy to see someone waiting for him at the home.
All those unpleasant feelings he faced during the afternoon were suddenly gone from his head just by listening to that simple sentence from Song Yue. Meanwhile, Alina felt a heavy disturbance in her heart (core) as she read Mark's thoughts.
Not knowing what was going on with her or how to react, she left for the kitchen and almost slammed the countertop in frustration. "Why doesn't Big brother treat me the same way he treats Lady Song even though he depends on me more than her? I just don't like this feeling.
Fuu... take a deep breath and relax, Alina. Why are you being anxious about every little thing? No matter how close Song Yue gets close to Big Brother, she cannot replace me. All I need to do is to fulfill my job, staying on his side at all times.
Anyway, you seriously need to keep yourself busy so that you don't get such useless thoughts. Hmm... How about implementing that restaurant plan that Big Brother wanted to bring to this world?"
After calming herself, Alina got outside of the kitchen only to see Song Yue and Mark laughing together while sharing the experiences of their respective childhood incidents.
Alina's face darkened once again, feeling jealous once again. This time, she didn't leave but interrupted them by suddenly bringing up the topic of the restaurant business to Mark.
The earnings of tens of millions of gold coins during the past few days made him forget about it altogether. After being reminded by the Android, Mark fell into deep thoughts for a while and finally gave an ok.
"But, Big Brother, just opening it won't do, right? We need to think about the dishes that general people like, special dishes that only we have the recipe for, and also a signature dish that cannot be replicated by any chef out there.
We need to think about the ingredients too, especially regarding the meat. Just ordinary chickens, pork, beef, and lamb won't do. As the quality of the meat of the spirit beasts goes up, the quality of the dish improves. For that, we need to do a lot of groundwork." Alina continued to chat with Mark, ignoring Song Yue on the side.
For a while, it appeared that even Mark was distracted by the topic of the restaurant and continuously discussed it with her. Meanwhile, Song Yue felt a bit left out as she wasn't involved in the conversation. As a lady who grew up in a noble household, she was familiar with the high-quality meat but her hesitation got in the way, turning her into a silent spectator.
After a while;
Mark returned to his room and locked the door. Sitting on the bed, he then enquired about the system regarding the status of the zheng.
The system responded to him right away, giving a piece of good news.
*Ding! Estimated time for the complete recovery: 32 minutes.
"Okay, good. Now, let's see what to do with those things from dark elves."
