Now that all goods had been appraised, Michael only had to sign the form that listed all goods and the amount of money he would receive, and he would be done.
Danny followed Michael to the counter, and he saw the total sum of money Michael was about to receive by chance.
His heart skipped a beat and he looked at Michael in utter shock. Michael hadn't signed the paper yet. His hand hovered over the form, but he looked at Danny with a sly smile.
"Do you want to see how much I'll get?" He asked teasingly, seeing Danny's reaction.
However, Danny could only shake his head. He was already sweating and looked absolutely stunned and so far, he'd merely seen the total sum, and not what items allowed him to earn so much money.
'You're scared about what you'll see, aren't you?' Michael mused inwardly, even though he understood Danny's reaction.
If he were in his brother's position, he wouldn't want to know where such a huge sum of money came from either.
Danny was just shocked, which was completely justified.
His earnings were more than Michael's but that was because his territory was bigger, and his sources of income were quite big and diverse. The money he earned from hunting was extremely high. However, that was because he was a Tier-2 Lord with four years of experience as a Lord.
He could leave his territory to go out and hunt groups of Tier-2 Monsters with his military might and 5-Star Soultrait. That was definitely possible and not even that hard for him since he had formed a strong and cohesive group with exceptional teamwork with his subjects.But Michael was merely a Rookie Lord, whose protection barrier was still up. He hadn't even been in the Origin Expanse for ten days!
"Did you sell your soul?" He couldn't help but ask in astonishment, yet Michael just laughed.
"I just sold a few monster carcasses and an Artifact. It's nothing major," Michael waved off his hand as if it was the most natural thing.
Meanwhile, the clerk and the other staff members, who had appraised Michael's goods, could hardly keep a straight face. Their eyes shot wide open upon hearing the brother's conversation, but they chose to keep their mouths shut. That was best for everyone.
'Well, I didn't expect the War Axe to be worth that much either. I should have researched a little bit more about the price of Artifacts,' Michael acknowledged at last.
He glanced at the list of items he had received and nodded his head.
Michael would receive an average of 5,500$ for each blueprint. Two of them were quite rare drops, which were good for new Lords. Wealthy families wouldn't hesitate to buy the blueprints for an exorbitant price since the blueprints allowed their offspring to develop their territories at a much faster rate.
Other than that, the average price for the Low Tier-1 corpses increased to 1,080$, which was mostly due to three major factors. First, most monsters in the Untamed Jungle seemed quite rare. Their population was way too high in the Untamed Jungle, but they could rarely be found anywhere else. Second, Michael included the extracted monster meat this time as well. He had not done that last time.
As for the third reason, it was something Michael was the proudest of. Like last time, he had been very thorough when he had dissected the carcasses. That was why it would be very easy to work with the materials he provided. As a result, the Shop's AI gave his goods a high evaluation score, just like last time.
This high evaluation score was also why Michael earned 150,000$ from the near-perfectly dissected lizard corpse. The lizard scales were particularly good for armor, and they could be ground and used by Alchemists as well. The meat was delicious and had been sold in a massive amount of 1.8 tons. Meanwhile, the remaining parts of the lizard were also well-preserved and near-perfectly dissected, earning Michael a small fortune.
The Bilrox feathers, on the other hand, earned the least with 5$ for each piece. He sold a total of 166 Bilrox feathers, earning him an additional 830$.
Finally, the 3-Star Tier-1 War Axe of the Gogi Lord had been appraised to be worth 730,000$, which totaled his goods to be worth slightly above one million dollars!
"If I might suggest something, Sir…it would be better to sell the 3-Star Tier-1 War Axe through a VIP auction, or by looking for a customer who is specifically in need of a huge War Axe. After all, the Shop's AI evaluated the battle axe as too hard to wield since it is too big for human Lords and Adventurers to use. If not for the War Axes' over-dimensional size, you would have received much more money for the Weapon Artifact!" The staff member provided well-meant advice.
Michael considered it for a moment before he shook his head.
He knew that Artifacts were rare to drop, and extremely hard to produce since the link to the War Rune cannot be recreated easily. Good Weapon Artifacts were even scarcer, yet Michael was satisfied with the price he received.
He didn't have the time to wait for the next VIP auction, forget about searching for the perfect customer. It was better to use the money at his disposal to invest in the future and advance faster rather than waiting for weeks to earn a little bit more from the War Axe Artifact.
Michael signed the deal without hesitation. Danny was a little shocked after hearing about the 3-Star Tier-1 War Axe but he gave his utmost to ignore the worry blossoming deep inside his heart.
He told himself that Michael was simply lucky and that he received good fortune by defeating one or two Tier-1 Monsters. Deep down, Danny could tell that the situation was a little bit different than what he assumed, but there was nothing he could say about it.
It was not as if his life as a Lord in the Desert was much easier. He was about to go out on an expedition to conquer a Primedival Pyramid, so who was he to tell Michael off?!
Danny used his actions of the past and present to ease the worry in his heart. He had been a lot more reckless in the past, and he could tell that Michael would be fine if things wouldn't get worse.
Danny knew what his brother was capable of, and he believed that Michael would overcome all kinds of troubles.
With that in mind, he followed Michael to give him a few pieces of advice about the items he would require eventually.
Just like that, the brothers went on a shopping trip to splurge Michael's hard-earned money in less than twenty minutes.
"How can a million dollars feel like nothing? That's a huge fortune…but I've spent it just as easily as I spent the 50,000$ last time I came here…" Michael grumbled in a depressed voice before Danny patted his brother's back.
"In the future, you will have to spend a lot more. However, the beginning is the hardest. Once you have a few stable sources of income, you'll be able to set aside some money to purchase stronger Artifacts, and high-ranked Summoning Scrolls!"
Michael forced himself to smile and nod his head.
He knew that he had a lot to do, but it was still a little depressing to see his bank account balance after a short shopping spree.
[Finances: 251.50$]