I headed to the [Services] section.
This was where users could post either their skills or list items for sale.
I clicked "List an Item" and began filling out the details for the Rank 2 Amulet I’d taken from Frank.
The amulet was impressive.
It could create a null-element barrier, strong enough to block the spells of even a 9-star mage.
That put it in the realm of what people called "Archmage-level" defense.
I paused for a second before typing out the details.
"I don’t really need this. So, selling this is a good idea."
If I entered the shadows after using Shadow Assimilation skill, I would become impervious to most attacks at this level—the ones that can be defended with the amulet.
In other words, the amulet was pretty useless for me.
Selling it would earn me somewhere between $100,000~$200,000.
However, I was selling the amulet not for money, but for something else I had in mind.
I didn’t bother listing the other weapons I took from Frank’s bodyguards.
Call it a habit, but I liked collecting weapons, even if I would not use them.
After filling in the item description, I selected the drop location at an abandoned patch of forest on the outskirts of the next city.
I wasn’t going to hand it over personally, and I definitely wasn’t giving anyone my actual address.
A few minutes passed.
A notification blinked at the corner of the screen.
[Courier has initiated contact]
I accepted the voice call.
A quiet beep played, and then the delivery guy’s voice came through.
"Hello, sir. I’m calling regarding your recent listing. If this is an anonymous delivery, you can just provide the coordinates of the drop site, and I’ll handle the rest. If not, you can hand me the object at the designated location you’ve set."
He spoke in a neutral, professional tone.
I didn’t answer through voice.
Instead, I typed into the text function:
[What are your coordinates?]
"...Uh, sure. Sending them now."
He probably thought I was a bit paranoid, but customers did ask for courier coordinates sometimes.
Most would’ve talked it out instead of typing, but talking with my baby voice was out of question.
Once the coordinates arrived, I leaned back slightly, rubbing my chin as I stared at the numbers.
"A full city’s distance. It should be doable if I push myself a bit."
Thanks to the [Mana Constellation Creation] technique, the Stars in my Mana Core were different than normal.
Each of my star held twice the mana of a normal star.
Thanks to it, my mana pool was nearly double what a regular 3-star Mage would have.
I was closer to a 6-star Mage in raw reserves.
I opened a small portal beside me, linked it to the coordinates the courier sent, and dropped the Rank 2 Amulet through.
...
Courier’s POV
"What the—?"
He blinked, stepping back as a small swirling portal appeared in midair a few feet from where he stood.
Something metallic dropped from it and landed softly on the patch of grass at his feet.
It was the very amulet he had been assigned to retrieve.
He picked it up carefully.
The portal faded as quickly as it had appeared.
"...Sir?" he said into the voice line. "I’ll deliver your item to the verification shop immediately. It’ll be examined overnight, and if it’s genuine, it’ll go on sale by tomorrow morning."
His tone had changed.
Now it was much respectful, and cautious.
Portals were rare.
Only major hidden clans had artifacts capable of creating portals. The fact that someone casually used one to drop off an item meant they weren’t ordinary.
Definitely not.
He didn’t even dare think or speculate the identity of the item’s owner.
Sometimes, it was best to remain oblivious to truth.
...
MC’s POV
I ended the call and smiled faintly, recalling the courier’s changed tone.
"That’s one job done."
Selling the Amulet wasn’t for the money.
That amulet could sell for anywhere between a hundred to two hundred thousand dollars depending on demand and auction interest.
But that wasn’t why I listed it.
"Now for the actual plan to earn money..."
A hundred thousand dollar was nothing if I wanted to buy the precious alchemy ingredients.
It would by me two ingredients at best.
I needed a lot more money to buy everything I needed.
I went back to the main menu and opened the [Information] tab.
This section connected users to information agencies where people could buy or sell data.
Sightings of rare monsters, defeat methods of Anomalies, security layouts of noble estates, details about cursed artifacts, and more. Anything could be purchased, or sold there.
I scrolled for a moment, then clicked on one of the lower-rated agencies: Crowshade Analytics.
On the surface, Crowshade looked like a standard intel agency.
But only a few people knew the truth behind it.
Crowshade was a front.
Behind the scenes, it was actually operated by the Hades Clan, one of the core families behind the Olympians.
Underworld itself was managed by Hades Clan.
They didn’t directly involve themselves in business to avoid monopolizing the market, but they ran the entire platform.
Their influence kept things stable. Their rules kept people honest.
The reason they didn’t publicly run shops was simple.
If the clan responsible for regulating the market also competed in it, no one else would stand a chance.
So they operated in the shadows, through dummy agencies and hidden channels.
Crowshade was one of them.
I clicked through to the submission page.
A message appeared:
[Crowshade only accepts verified intel. All submissions are reviewed within 12 hours. Payment is based on relevance, rarity, and accuracy.]
Beneath it, several categories showed up.
I scrolled through them until I found the one I needed—Anomaly Intelligence.
The moment I clicked it, a long list of reference prices appeared.
Rank 0 Anomaly – $100
Rank 1 Anomaly – $1,000
Rank 2 Anomaly – $5,000
Rank 3 Anomaly – $500,000
Rank 4 Anomaly – $50,000,000
Rank 5 Anomaly – $1,000,000,000
"Just one billion for a Rank 5 Anomaly? These people are worse cheapskates than me."
A Rank 5 Anomaly could wipe out an entire major Hidden Clan.
One of those creatures getting loose in a city would mean nationwide disaster.
The fact that people were willing to pay that much for information didn’t surprise me. What surprised me was how low the numbers were.
But I wasn’t here to complain about pricing.
I was here to earn money.
I leaned forward, hands poised over the keyboard.