Chapter 91: Experiment
'Untouched Monster Corpses, and the corpse of an extra-terrestrial Adventurer? What do you want to...No, forget it...'
The Clerk halted in his tracks and the professional smile plastered on his face crumbled for a moment, revealing utter confusion beneath. However, he regained his composure just a moment later and nodded his head.
"Untouched Monster Corpses and the corpses of recently killed Monsters cost more than ordinary Monster carcasses, but I think that you're aware of that. As for the corpse of an extra-terrestrial Adventurer...it can be quite expensive," He said and added lightly, "But you can use the appraisal room with your Golden Bartholomew Membership. That's no problem!"
Michael expected to be frowned upon a little bit more, but that didn't happen. It was quite interesting that his weird request was accepted just like that.
The Clerk gave somebody a quick call before they entered the appraisal room.
Ten minutes later, they finished their business. Michael sold the corpses of the monsters he and his team had hunted in the lizard cave, and he was about to sign the deal to increase his fortune by a small fortune once again.
However, before they could sign the deal, Michael received the corpses he had requested. The Clerk left him alone in the appraisal room where four monster carcasses and the body of an extra-terrestrial Adventurer were spread out on separate tables.
Michael was not sure what kind of extra-terrestrial race the Adventurer had belonged to, but he had a Tier-0 War Rune on the back of his right hand - or what he presumed to be his right hand.
Michael closed his eyes for a moment. He sensed the Symbol of Extraction deep inside his consciousness and exerted the Soultrait. Several golden streams shot out of his palms. They spread through the appraisal room and started to extract the five corpses.
Merely two minutes later, Michael was done. The corpses were near-perfectly dissected, but not a single SoulStar Fragment or any item created by the Will of the Origin Expanse had appeared.
"Usually, it doesn't matter whether the corpses are looted inside or outside the Origin Expanse so it is of no importance...let's conduct another test..." Michael mumbled to himself. He got an idea and left the appraisal room and turned to the clerk, who was waiting for him.
"I need another batch with the same criteria," He requested.
"I want to sell the dissected corpses as well. I don't need them anymore."
In the next 15 minutes, Michael waited for the new batch of corpses. He sold the dissected body parts and signed the deal for the other goods in the meantime.
When his goods arrived, Michael stored them inside the spatial space of his War Rune before he set off.
As he left, Michael's actions attracted the interest of the House of Witchery's Staff.
"That was weird," One of them commented.
"Even if it was weird, it's even more confusing how he dissected five bodies nearly perfectly in less than five minutes. Either time passes differently for him, or he is a godly butcher!" Another one mumbled, just for a third to join the conversation,
"I wonder what he's trying to do with those corpses. It has been a while since anyone was even remotely interested in the corpses of Tier-0 Adventurers of a foreign race. Our esteemed customer doesn't look like a scientist either."
"We might never be able to find out what is going on in the mind of our customers...but maybe it is better that way..." The first said, and the others nodded their heads in agreement.
Maybe it was better not to know what weird thoughts were running through their customers' minds. They were simple clerks who did their mundane job and returned home after work hours.
Now that he finished his purchases, Michael returned to the Origin Expanse.
He extracted the untouched monster corpses and the corpse of the extra-terrestrial Adventurer inside the Origin Expanse, but the result stayed the same.
"Does that mean, I or my subjects have to kill the monsters for Extraction to increase the special loot created by the Will? No, that shouldn't be it. I used Extraction on the Frenzy Deer horde and most of them were killed by the Black Bear. In that case...does that mean I have to be in the vicinity when monsters die for Extraction to work properly on them?' Michael tried to come up with multiple theories but most of them could be proven wrong quickly.
"It's obvious that Extraction works on the monsters killed by me or my subjects. My subjects are directly connected to my soul through the Link of Loyalty. There is not much to debate...but what about the monsters killed by others?'
Michael came up with several theories that couldn't be proven wrong immediately.
First, corpses weren't allowed to leave the Origin Expanse, otherwise, Extraction wouldn't be able to increase the loot generated by the Will of the Origin Expanse.
Second, he had to be in the proximity of the monsters when they killed others for Extraction to work properly.
Third, monsters killed in the vicinity of his territory would meet the requirements to provide additional special drops according to Extraction's star rating.
There were more theories, but Michael considered these three as the most important for the time being. If he was to travel to Xiltra and purchase a few corpses, he could continue his experiment, and prove the first theory to be right, or wrong.
However, he didn't have the time to travel to Xiltra right now. Michael had yet to advance to the 1st Tier, and the day of the aptitude assessment was inching closer.
'I should hurry a bit.' He thought, before joining Tiara and the others to go out hunting again.
After all, the fastest way to refine his War Rune was to go out and hunt powerful monsters!
A few days later, it was already the 18th of the Month outside the Origin Expanse. In two days the Saphirelake Military Academy's aptitude assessment will be held.
Michael was extremely tired, but he left the Origin Expanse with a faint smile on his lips.
Given the tremendous amount of energy sweeping through his body, he should have more than enough energy to refine his War Rune past the Peak of Tier-0. He had more than enough to break the barrier and advance to the 1st Tier.
However, instead of staying inside the Origin Expanse, Michael met up with his brother.
It had been a few days since Michael and Danny's last meeting, and it was about time that they spent some quality time together.
Who knew how much more time they would receive after Michael was accepted in the Saphirelake Military Academy?
Like usual, the brothers went out to fill their stomachs to the brim. They spoke a lot while taking care of their endless hunger.
"By the way, how has your expedition been? Seeing that you're not injured, it should have been a success...but you never know," Michael asked with great interest. The more he researched about structures of forgotten civilizations, and creations of the Origin Expanse's Will the more interested he grew.
Danny smiled when he saw Michael's eyes that twinkled brightly in curiosity.
"The expedition was a great success. We gained a lot more than we anticipated. It looks like the Primedival Pyramid is even more valuable than we thought at first. In a few weeks we'll enter the inner area of the Primedival Pyramid, once we finish preparing thoroughly for the dangers lurking inside," He said with a trace of excitement in his voice.
Danny usually tried to hide his emotions and act unbothered, but even he found it increasingly difficult to hide his excitement in front of his brother. He wanted to brag to Michael but held back as much as he could.
After all, he knew Michael very well.
His brother would only hear about the treasures and ignore that it was extremely dangerous to conquer any kind of ancient building or creation of the Origin Expanse!
What Danny didn't know yet was that Michael had already found an old temple and that he hadn't rushed inside like a maniac.
Thinking about the old temple, Michael's shot up from his chair.
His eyes widened and a bright smile formed on his lips.
'Maybe Danny can tell me more about the language used in the old temple!'