1.32 Million Yenos.


    A wide smile appeared on Ashton''s face when he saw that number. Since the Gold Water mercenary group was quite famous in the gxy, he had expected them to have a decent amount on them, but this was more than he had assumed.


    ''Not to mention their gears. They should fetch me a fairly good price as well.''


    [Avarice hoards itself poor; charity gives itself rich.]


    ''That''s hriousing from a member of the genocidal species who eliminated species for their greed for power.''


    [That''s... never mind.]


    Kern was getting impatient and made no effort to hide it. Having held his part of the deal, he wanted Ashton to honour his word. Parting with his money stung him a bit; however, in the long run, the artefact would prove to be more helpful.


    A few hundred thousand Yenos were nothingpared to a mythical artefact. Anyone aware of the artefact''s existence would pay him anywhere from a few million to hundreds of millions of Yenos.


    The way Kern saw it, getting the staff from Ashton for cheap, was a final ''fuck you'' message to thetter. Little did he know, Ashton was ying them like a bunch of fools.


    Forget about millions of Yenos; Kern would be lucky if some fool paid him more than a couple of Yenos for the staff Ashton would give him.


    "I hope everything is to your liking?" Kern sternly remarked once Ashton returned, "If it is, why don''t you give up the artefact, and all of us call it a day?"


    "Oh,e on, I thought we were bing friends?" Ashton teased the poor guy, "Well, if you are in a hurry, I guess there''s nothing I can do but part ways here."


    Kern didn''t bother replying and extended his arm towards Ashton, gesturing him to hand over the staff. Ashton shrugged, grabbed an old staff from the inventory and gave it to Kern.


    The information Kern had on the staff was limited since only a handful of people knew about it. But he knew the Staff of Eden wasn''t supposed to be touched directly. When he noticed that the staff had been carefully wrapped with a protective cloth, he knew the staff was legit.


    However, a question did pop up in Kern''s mind for a moment. Judging from how Ashton was behaving until now, it didn''t seem he knew much about the staff. But the way he evaded touching the staff meant he had to know quite a bit about it.


    "I know it''s none of my business, but I''d suggest that you don''t make direct contact with the staff," Ashton mumbled, "Someone from your team did so, and he got turned into a monster of sorts. Unfortunately, I had to kill him."


    Ashton took a final jab at Kern, "Since we are great friends, I wouldn''t want your face to get uglier than it already is. So, better keep the cloth around it till you figure out how to disable that curse."


    "Thank you for your ''friendly'' advice," Kern mumbled through gritted teeth before leaving, "We''re done here. To the ship, now!"


    By the time they disappeared, Anna had walked up to Ashton, judging him with her fiery eyes.


    "What?" He asked.


    "I''m wondering whether I am just another victim of your effortless lying or not." Anna shrugged, "If I hadn''t known in advance, I''d have thought you gave him the authentic staff instead of a counterfeit."


    Ashton smiled, but before he could say anything, Astaroth interrupted him.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    [Aren''t you forgetting something?]


    ''I''m not turning Kern into a werewolf if that''s what you were talking about.''


    An A-grade werewolf, people back on earth, would go crazy if they heard of it. However, in hindsight, hastily turning Kern at the moment wasn''t wise.


    The gxy was filled with talented people, and the evolution tasks were time-consuming. That said, Ashton thought it was better to turn a talented individual and cultivate them than convert a high-ranking person with mediocre talent.


    [Hm... I assumed in the rush ofpleting the quests, you would make some mistakes. It looks like I was wrong.]


    ''Yet again.''


    [...]


    "Let''s head back," Ashton said, "We have fulfilled the contract''s obligations. There''s no point wasting any more time here."


    Anna nodded, and the two of them left the forest for Zanna. Their time on una hade to an end, and it was time to collect their rewards and set sail towards a new adventure.


    ***


    In some unmapped part of the gxy, not very far from una, a fleet of seven spaceships was making its way towards the wild.


    It had been a while since the Cult of Cosmos had received updates from Cyclops or Nico. Capturing the subus was of the utmost importance, and the sudden silence from their subjects was oddly suspicious.


    Truthfully, the cult couldn''t care less if either Cyclops or Nico were dead. They were more worried about whether their n of capturing the subus was revealed to Reaper and his team.


    If the subus went into hiding, it would be difficult to find another one of their kind, which would put their ns on halt again.


    "How much further do we have to travel?" A man draped in ck armour barked.


    "It would take up another week, sir." A robotic voice replied, "At the current speed, that is."


    "Hmph!" The man angrily grumbled.


    Every precious moment they wasted while travelling ensured the subi''s escape from the. Although their partnership with the Metal sharks wasn''t threatened at the time, the leader will surely notice a continuous chain of failure.


    Angering the leader was thest thing anyone working in the underworld would want, and it was even more dangerous for the ones working closely with the leader. It was fair enough to say getting close to the leader was more hazardous than diving into a ck hole.


    "Order the cruisers to go ahead and take control of the city while we''re on the way," The man said, "I''m not letting her escape this time. No matter what."