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Chapter 360: Shopping
Strongest Hammer God

"Let's start with your contributions," the Captain said, turning to the Chief.

"You have killed an Initial Grandmaster, two Initial Royal Knights, six people in the Peak Second Realm, and five people in the Mid Second Realm. You have intercepted two transports of valuable goods and handed them over to the Skysand Kingdom."

"You have assaulted the enemy frontlines two times, making our battles easier."

"You have killed 17 dangerous beasts and handed the corpses to us."

"You have saved the life of one of our Sentries."

"You have helped four other Sentries."

"You have killed ten Earth Elementals and donated their hearts to the army."

"You have escorted four shipments to the frontlines."

"Did I miss anything?" the Captain asked.

"No," the Chief answered.

'Wow, the Chief was busy,' Kyle thought.

The Captain nodded. "You receive 185 Skysand Contribution Points of the Third Realm. You may decide on how to spend them later."

Then, the Captain pushed a lengthy and official-looking scroll to the Colonel, who signed.

"Any sum of 100 or more Skysand Contribution Points of the Third Realm has to be signed by the Colonel," the Captain explained, taking the scroll back.

'That guy wasn't there when the Alpha Team got their reward,' Kyle thought. 'Probably means that the Chief got double or more of their Contribution Points.'

"Now, let's get to you," the Captain said, turning to Kyle.

"Usually, these Contribution Points are for your entire team, but since you are the only member left, you will receive all of them. Your former colleagues have received their own rewards already when joining the army. The Sorcerer in your group has approached me to ask for special leave."

"We granted the leave, but he has forfeited his rewards in exchange."

'Oh, I guess that's how Michael intends to repay me,' Kyle thought.

"Now, let's start," the Captain said.

"You have killed an Initial Holy Paladin and an Initial Grand Sorcerer near the Ether Essence. You have killed another Initial Grand Sorcerer on your own and gave one of our sentries the opportunity to kill an Initial Grandmaster."

"You have delivered two Ether Crystals and 247 Ether Gems."

"You have created a mining tunnel and cleared it of almost all Earth Elementals. The army will confiscate the mining tunnel in exchange for a payment of Contribution Points."

"You have created a way to the Ether Essence."

"Your incident with the Metal Elemental has killed one of our important people, but you have also killed someone equally important on the enemy side. Additionally, someone with an Aristocrat's Body on the enemy side has been killed."

"You have created an avenue for the Skysand Kingdom to access the Ether Essence."

"Your actions gave us the opportunity to deal another devastating strike to the enemy by using that tunnel. This strike ended with the deaths of over 50 enemy soldiers."

"This strike allowed us to move the frontlines, giving us another 10% of the Ether Crater's edges."

"You have uncovered the secret alliance between the Divine Duchy and the Winterfire Kingdom. The Divine Duchy has decided to donate eight Ether Crystals as reparations for breaking the agreement."

"Lastly, you have killed a group of three Initial Grandmasters, an Initial Royal Knight, and an Initial Grand Sorcerer."

"Did I miss anything?" the Captain asked.

"No, sounds about right," Kyle said.

While the Captain had been calling out Kyle's contributions, the Chief kept looking at him.

He had heard that Kyle had contributed a lot, but he hadn't expected Kyle to contribute THAT much.

The Chief knew that Kyle was strong, but right now, he was looking at Kyle from a new perspective.

"All of this comes to 2,943 Skysand Contribution Points of the Third Realm," the Captain said. "As a special token of our gratitude, the Colonel has decided to round your Contribution Points to 3,000."

"Thank you," Kyle said, looking at the Colonel.

The Colonel nodded. "You did excellent work. Shame that you're not joining us. We could use more people like you."

Kyle just nodded back.

Just like before, the Captain handed the big scroll to the Colonel, who signed it.

"Then, let's get your rewards," the Captain said, opening the door.

Everyone walked outside and approached the powerful Expert in front of the gate.

The Captain handed the first scroll over, and the Expert looked at it.

A moment later, the Expert looked at the Colonel, who nodded in confirmation.

"Good job," the Expert said to the Chief.

"Thank you," the Chief answered evenly.

The gate opened, and the Expert led the Chief inside.

Kyle and the others waited outside.

The choice of rewards was confidential to stop other people from coveting the rewards.

Now, while the choice was confidential, the transport was not. It was up to the recipient to hide their purchase after leaving the gate.

Only two minutes passed before the gate opened again, and the Chief came back. He wasn't carrying with him, but that was to be expected.

After all, the Chief had a Soul Space.

Next, the Captain handed the second scroll to the Expert.

The Expert unfurled it, and his eyes widened in shock.

Then, he showed it to the Colonel and pointed at the number of Contribution Points.

"That's the correct amount," the Colonel said.

Then, the Expert pointed at the "Third Realm" in the Skysand Contribution Points of the Third Realm part of the scroll.

"Yes, that's also correct," the Colonel said.

The Expert looked at Kyle with doubt.

Kyle just smirked with a thumbs-up.

The Captain sighed and handed the sheet of paper with Kyle's contributions to the Expert.

The Expert looked at it, and as he read, he blinked several times in surprise.

Then, he looked at the ceiling with an evaluating expression.

Finally, he just shrugged.

"Well, I'll be…" he said as he looked at Kyle. "You did… quite a lot."

"Yep," Kyle answered with a smile.

"Go spend everything at once," the Expert said as he slowly opened the gate.

"You mean don't, right?" Kyle asked.

"No, go," the Expert answered. "This fortress is under tight control. If you want to spend those in the capital, you'd better have someone with a Soul Space with you. Walking around with all of that would be dangerous."

"Go wild," the Expert said.

"If you say so," Kyle said with a smile as he followed the Expert through the gate. Kyle saw a huge warehouse with all kinds of things.

Books, weapons, armor, materials, artifacts, deeds, and so on.

"You don't want to look at the stuff on the ground," the Expert said. "Focus on the safes on the wall. The stuff on the ground is for Second Realm Contribution Points. To your right is a list with all the prices."

"Thanks," Kyle said as he looked at a big sign with a lot of stuff on it.

He started reading, and the first item already shocked him.

"You guys sell Ether Essences?" Kyle asked.

"If you can afford it," the Expert said.

Kyle looked at the price.

100,000 Skysand Contribution Points of the Third Realm.

He had 3,000.

"How much would I have to do to buy one?" Kyle asked.

"A lot," the Expert answered. "People generally have almost two centuries in the Third Realm to accumulate Contribution Points. That's a long time. The Champion has bought one with Contribution Points."

"Huh, crazy," Kyle commented as he kept reading.

"Wait, Ether Crystals are that cheap?" Kyle asked, seeing the price.

53 Contribution Points.

"It depends on the supply," the Expert said. "The prices are shared, and if you buy one, the next will cost you 65 Contribution Points. The lowest price this morning was 28 Contribution Points. That was the lowest price I've seen ever since I took this job 15 years ago. That's probably because of the generous donation of the Divine Duchy."

"You have been credited with one, but the scroll says that it was converted into Contribution Points. If you still want one, you can buy it for the credited amount."

"Nah, it's fine," Kyle said.

"Inheritor," Theodor suddenly said. "There are things on there that I can't teach you. It would be wise to focus on those."

'Oh, right!' Kyle thought. 'Theodor was also only getting these Contribution Points, and he was probably busy spending them on resources and Ether Crystals for his golems.'

'There's a lot of stuff here that he has never seen or learned before.'

As Kyle looked at the prices, he realized that there were still a couple of things he couldn't buy.

For example, he could buy a position as an Advisor, which would cost him 15,000 points.

A position as Duke would cost him 7,500 points.

However, becoming a Count only needed 500 points. It even came with a prepared Ether Spring so that Kyle could create his own territory on the peninsula.

"Buy the general mine deed and the rank five land ownership deed," Theodor said.

Kyle looked at the prices. 100 Contribution Points and 300 Contribution Points.

"I would like the general mine deed and the rank five land ownership deed, first," Kyle said.

"Seems like you found a good mining location that nobody knows about," the Expert said. "Lucky you."

The Expert went to two different safes and took out the two deeds.

"2,600 Contribution Points left," the Expert said as he handed the two deeds to Kyle.

Kyle just shoved them into his pocket.

"With these, we can officially own my Inheritance Crypt," Theodor said. "You can buy the land off the local Count with the ownership deed, and the mine deed means that you don't have to pay any taxes to the Count."

Kyle realized how great that would be.

He could publicly create a huge mining operation out of where Theodor's Inheritance Crypt was!

There was an insane number of valuable materials around Theodor's Inheritance Crypt.

For just 400 Contribution Points, Kyle had essentially bought the rights to a mine that could maybe even rival the Forthing's mines.

"Next, buy the Skysand Manual for Spells and the Champion's Manual for Techniques," Theodor said.

Kyle looked at the prices, and he had to take a deep breath.

1,500 and 1,000 Contribution Points!

'Well, if Boss says so…'

"I would like the Champion's Manual for Techniques," Kyle said.

"Not surprising," the Expert said. "I bought the same thing some time ago."

"Is it good?" Kyle asked.

"How couldn't it be?" the Expert asked as he opened a big safe. "It literally teaches you how to create the most powerful techniques. As long as you put some effort in, you never have to purchase techniques again."

'Oh!' Kyle thought. 'So, that's what it does! Now, I get why Boss wants me to get it!'

'Techniques for Grandmasters are super rare and super expensive since almost nobody knows enough to create such advanced techniques.'

'If I can just make my own techniques, I can create techniques that perfectly suit my fighting style!'

Kyle received the thick tome and looked at it.

The pages were unreasonably thin but resistant to tearing.

Just out of curiosity, Kyle went halfway through the book and looked at the page number.

Page 10,978.

Kyle took a deep breath.

'That's a lot to read.'

"Okay, then, I would like the Skysand Manual for Spells," Kyle said.

The Expert blinked a couple of times. "A mining deed and a way to make Spells. Seems like you want to earn a lot of money."

The Champion of Skysand focused on close-combat, which was why he had focused on techniques.

In comparison, the King of Skysand focused on ranged combat and Magic, which was why he had focused on Spells.

"Sucks that you don't have enough points left to buy the General's Manual for Body Fusion," the Expert said as he handed the big manual for Spell Casting to Kyle.

This book was almost a meter long and almost half a meter wide.

When Kyle saw the pages, sweat started to run down his forehead.

They were even thinner!

"Yeah, sucks," Kyle said. "That last manual would've probably been useful as well."

"No, it wouldn't have been," Theodor said. "I suspect the General's technique of Body Fusion is just a reverse-engineered version of Ether Strike."

Kyle's eyes widened.

'Ether Strike is that strong?!'

"You still have 100 Contribution Points left," the Expert said.

Kyle looked at the list.

"Eh, give me an Ether Crystal and a selection of Rank B Materials," Kyle said.

Ether Crystals were always useful since they could be sold for an insane profit.

"Also, can I have a bag?" Kyle asked as he saw a bunch of Rank B Materials being dumped in front of him. Kyle saw a huge warehouse with all kinds of things.