"T-This…" Bai Yu, a pretty receptionist, was unable to pick her jaw up off the ground. "Are these the Cores of Golden Core Realm Monsters!?"
Xue Ren apathetically nodded.
Bai Yu turned to her fellow receptionists, but they were all as stupefied as she was. They wound up dumbly staring at each other, unsure of what they should do in a freakish case like this one.
"The normal reward for the quest is fine," Xue Ren said to ease their worries. "But I want to sell these Golden Core Realm Cores—same with all the others."
"Sell them!?" Bai Yu accidentally slammed her palms against the desk due to her excitement. "I-I mean, yes, of course, student Xue Ren."
When it came to the activities of the Mission Hall for Starling Academy, things operated much like a mercenary guild. This meant that for every monster material sold to the Hall, the one in charge of the sale would receive a hefty commission sum for everything bought and subsequently resold for a profit.
Bai Yu's excitement was well within reason.
"I can do the calculations right now, student Xue Ren." Her tone had become much more subservient and respectful compared to what it was a few moments ago. "However, as the resulting compensation will be quite a large amount, more in-depth discussions will need to be taken in the back between myself and my bosses."
"That's fine," said Xue Ren as he nonchalantly sat down on the ground a few meters away. He pulled the energy from his condensed skills into his body, and while closing his eyes to better focus on his Level 4 Flame, he told Bai Yu to inform him when negotiations were finished.
Bai Yu agreed.
While she was talking with multiple important figures of the Academy Mission Hall, a large crowd had already gathered. They were all whispering or covertly pointing at Xue Ren.
The crowd of students was lively—until they weren't.
Their words got stuck in the backs of their throats as a heavenly fragrance wafted into their noses. This was followed by the stunning appearance of a beautiful woman briskly passing them.
"Is that…?"
"It's Mu Qingyan, the 2nd Academy Belle…!"
"But what's she doing here, of all places!?"
Dozens of students watched as Mu Qingyan strolled up to the Mission Hall's front entrance. It then occurred to them that there was likely only one reason one of the Academy's Belles would be here at this time of day.
"Junior Brother Xue, you seem to have slain a lot of monsters," Mu Qingyan praised as she looked over the hundreds of Cores scattered around the receptionist table. "Let's see~ Wow, so many Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment Cores~! And… wait… what are those…??"
With a vacant expression, Xue Ren turned to face the astonished girl. He tried to recall what she said, ultimately responding with, "They belonged to a bunch of strange monsters. Not very strong."
Not very strong!?
Everyone listening to this nonsense felt their jaws go slack.
"...Golden Core Realm Monsters weren't very strong…?" Mu Qingyan asked with a twitch.
Xue Ren shook his head. "They really weren't very strong. But they should still be worth a lot, right?"
He directed this question to the recently returned Bai Yu.
Although still reeling from the shock, Bai Yu nodded vehemently. "That would be correct, student Xue. And from our discussion in the back, we've decided on this price."
She stuck up six fingers.
"Six hundred lowest-grade Spirit Stones?" Xue Ren didn't appear too disappointed, clearly not the least bit familiar with the price tags of higher-ranking monster materials. "I guess that's fine—"
"No, student Xue," Bai Yu interrupted. "Sixty thousand lowest-grade Spirit Stones. Or the equivalent of 600 low-grade Spirit Stones."
6-6-600 Low-grade Spirit Stones!?
Nobody had the words to properly express just how surprised they were right now.
That was more than enough to make any Foundation Establishment Realm expert go crazy with envy, you know!?
"Hmm…?" Xue Ren tilted his head, curiously looking between the receptionist and the Monster Cores he presented. "This trash is really worth that much?"
The spectators felt their hearts tremble as they turned to stone at this young man's shamelessness. Even Mu Qingyan wasn't sure if he was just putting on a front of boastfulness or if he was actually being serious.
"T-Trash…?" Bai Yu repeated with a spasming expression. "S-Student Xue, you may not be aware, but these aren't just any normal Golden Core Realm Monster Cores. They're special variant types and can sell for even more than we're offering you."
Obviously, she wasn't supposed to be saying this. However, she felt as if Xue Ren was too laid-back to bother with retracting the goods and selling them at an auction at this point.
"Special variants?" Xue Ren pondered. 'They were a bit smart, but still not very powerful. How were they special??'
"Well, okay," he ultimately said. "I'll take the money in the form of unique and rare protein supplements. Preferably at or above the Golden Core Realm."
Xue Ren had an obsession with protein—that was undeniable. But at the same time, there was a reason he kept on buying it.
For his |Ancient Gold Body Refinement| technique, he could speed up its progression by consuming certain body parts of powerful monsters. It was sort of like taking supplements just before working out. It not only increased how many sets of the workout he could do, it also improved the gains received by the end of the workout.
This quirky feature was not actually stated in the |Ancient Gold Body Refinement| Technique. One could say that Xue Ren discovered and developed its applications himself.
In some way, he created his very own technique.
'Maybe I should change its name later,' Xue Ren thought as he left the Mission Hall with 2,000 more Sect Contributions and a storage ring filled with unusual monster parts. 'How about "Get strong-strong by Bulking"?'
His mind swirled in the most unusual of directions, with his broad visage fading into the background.
Mu Qingyan stared at his receding figure from outside the Academy's Mission Hall. Her thoughts were a mess, as she wasn't sure what she should be feeling right now.