Chapter 568 - 564 – THE MID-RANK GREAT HARVEST AND THE MOUNTAIN OF MEAT AT THE ASSOCIATION

Leaving the volcanic crater that had become the grave for a Rank 8 monster and five greedy elite hunters, Sylvia shot through the canopy of the border forest at a speed almost imperceptible to the naked eye. Strong wind rushed against her face, yet an extremely thin protective mana layer ensured that not a single branch, speck of dust, or mutant insect dared touch her skin or tactical clothing.

Sylvia’s goal this time was extremely simple: to gather reasonable pocket money.

Although she possessed unlimited wealth within her kingdom’s treasury in Nocture, bringing gold coins or jewels from another continent often triggered unnecessary questions from the local residents. Selling standard hunting results was the most secretive and elegant way to blend into the economic system of Black Lotus City.

Besides high-value Mana Cores, Sylvia knew that the most sought-after commodity on this border was organic material, especially the meat of mid-rank mutated monsters known to be rich in nutrients and magical energy. This was where her System Storage became an extremely cheating tool. The inventory space of her system possessed unlimited capacity and an absolute time-stasis effect; anything placed inside it would never rot, wither, or lose its freshness for even a single second.

"My mechanical mosquitoes have detected a pack of Mutated Armored Boars about five kilometers at two o’clock," Sylvia murmured while glancing at the holographic screen on her wrist. "Rank 5. Perfect targets for supplying fresh meat."

In only two minutes, Sylvia arrived at the indicated location. The area was a thick muddy swamp filled with hanging-root trees. In the middle of that swamp, about twenty giant boars the size of pickup trucks were wallowing.

True to their name, the backs and sides of those mutant boars were covered by plates of hard bone that resembled natural steel. Their eyes were small and red, while a pair of sharply curved tusks jutted from their lower jaws, ready to tear anything that dared disturb the peace of their territory.

Sylvia landed lightly atop a thick branch, regarding the pack with a bored expression.

"Noir, Sol, do you want to play as well?" Sylvia offered casually.

Sol meowed with full enthusiasm, its golden fur standing slightly on end. The small cat leapt down from the tree branch as though descending an invisible staircase. When its feet touched the air, light particles gathered around it.

Sensing the presence of an intruder, the leader of the armored-boar pack the largest in size snorted in anger. It stamped its thick front feet, triggering earth-element magical vibrations that caused pillars of hardened mud to shoot toward Sol like missiles.

Sol merely yawned. The golden cat opened its tiny mouth and fired an extremely dense needle-sized light laser beam.

ZIIINNGGG!

The light beam did not explode; instead it pierced through the mud pillars, penetrated the bone-armor layer of the boar leader, and directly drilled through its brain in a single precise straight line. The giant boar collapsed instantly with a heavy thud, causing the rest of the pack to panic.

"One for Sol," Sylvia chuckled.

Noir refused to be outdone. From within the shadows of the trees, tendrils of darkness shot out like thorny whips. Without the slightest sound, those tendrils coiled around the necks of the five nearest armored boars, then with a single brutal pull, snapped the necks of those Rank 5 monsters simultaneously.

"Good. In that case, the remaining dozen or so are my share. Remember, do not destroy the meat. I need neat cuts."

Sylvia raised her right hand, her fingers dancing extremely gracefully in the air like an orchestra conductor. She did not chant destructive spells; she merely condensed pure mana into threads as thin as spider silk, then spread them across the swamp area.

With a single flick of her wrist, the invisible threads swept downward.

CRAAAT!

There were no screams. There was no resistance. In the blink of an eye, the dozen mutant armored boars were severed into two extremely neat halves, cut precisely at the main neck joints without damaging the armor, the abdominal area, or the muscle layers where the best meat fibers were located. Blood flowed cleanly from the cuts.

Sylvia opened her system interface in the air. A pale-blue virtual space vortex appeared before her. Without needing to descend and handle anything directly, spatial magic sucked the entire intact carcasses of the twenty giant boars into her system inventory. Inside, the system automatically sorted the materials: separating Mana Cores, bones, armor, and maintaining the absolute temperature of the dozens of tons of fresh mutant pork.

That practical hunting continued for the next two hours.

For hunters on the Tianhua continent, entering Rank 5 and Rank 6 monster territories to take materials and intact meat was a logistical nightmare. They needed dozens of porters, large refrigerated magical carriages, and escort teams merely to bring home one or two monster carcasses so the meat would not spoil on the road. Yet for Sylvia, this hunting was as comfortable as shopping in a supermarket with a bottomless shopping bag.

She cleared a nest of Spiked Python Snakes merely by freezing the entire swamp area using passive ice magic, then sucked tons of pure snake meat directly into her system.

Her best catch came when she encountered a Rank 6 Ice Crystal Bear that was guarding its territorial area inside a frozen cave. The bear stood six meters tall and radiated a temperature of minus one hundred degrees Celsius from its breath.

When the bear leapt to pounce, Sylvia merely stood still. The extreme temperature stopped a span away from her skin. With a thin smile, Sylvia landed a soft palm strike on the bear’s chest. An internal shockwave traveled through the ribs, instantly stopping the heart organ without damaging a single outer meat fiber or its precious crystal fur.

One more gigantic monster carcass with premium-value meat entered her system storage space perfectly.

"It seems that is enough," Sylvia murmured while checking her system inventory screen.

The data on her screen showed fantastical numbers: forty Rank 5 Mana Cores, twelve Rank 6 Mana Cores, and more than three hundred tons of total mass of fresh meat from various mid-rank mutated monsters, complete with intact hides, fangs, and bones. Selling more than this in a single day would only collapse the Association market and attract far too much crazy attention.

The sun began to climb higher, indicating that the time had reached ten in the morning. Sylvia flicked her fingers, chanting the [Cleansing] spell to erase the fishy smell of blood and a little dust from her clothing.

With spatial manipulation from the system, her tactical outfit changed back into an elegant knee-length casual dress of maroon red, paired with a light black coat and comfortable low-heeled shoes. She looked like a young noble lady who had just finished a leisurely stroll, not a jungle executioner who had just stuffed hundreds of tons of monster meat into her pocket.

Sylvia walked leisurely back toward the eastern gate of Black Lotus City.

The guard soldiers who saw her return with clean clothing and a fresh face exchanged confused glances. One of them whispered, "That Miss... didn’t she just leave two hours ago? Why is she already back? And her clothes are not dirty at all."

"Maybe she only went to the area outside the walls to get some fresh air and got scared when she heard a monster’s roar," another soldier replied softly. "Rich people from the Capital often do strange things like that."

Sylvia walked leisurely back toward the eastern gate of Black Lotus City.

The guard soldiers who saw her return with clean clothing, a fresh face, and without carrying a single hunting bag exchanged confused glances. Yet not a single one dared ask or stop her upon seeing that she held her black-gold VIP Access Card.

Entering the city, Sylvia did not head toward the ordinary street markets. She directed her steps straight to the headquarters of the Hunter Association in the middle district. This was the central artery of the fighters’ economy, the place where monsters from outside the walls were converted into credit balances, reputation, and military resources.

The ground floor of the Association building was extremely noisy and bustling. Hundreds of hunters of various ranks came and went. The smells of dried blood, cigar smoke, cheap alcohol, and sweat dominated the air. Several hunters appeared to be displaying Rank 3 wolf-tail pieces or a sack of Rank 2 ground-rat hides at the regular transaction counters, arguing loudly with the appraisal officers about prices.

Sylvia’s presence, radiating elegance, absolute cleanliness, and expensive perfume, immediately attracted many eyes. Ignoring the wild and curious stares from those rough hunters, Sylvia walked straight toward the VIP counter that was tightly guarded by two armored guards.

"Good morning, Miss. How may the Association assist you?" asked the receptionist at that counter. Her tone was professional, yet her gaze was slightly doubtful, assuming Sylvia was merely the daughter of a rich official who had gotten lost or wanted to post a trivial escort mission.

"I came to sell hunting results. Materials, Cores, and large-scale fresh-meat supplies from Rank 5 and Rank 6 monsters," Sylvia answered casually, lightly tapping the counter table. "Call your Chief Appraiser."

The receptionist’s eyes widened. "Rank 5 and 6? Large scale? Miss, this is not a place for joking. Selling materials above Rank 5 requires physical proof first before I can call Master Kael, the Association’s Head of Logistics."

Without wasting time, Sylvia took out a Rank 6 Mana Core belonging to the Ice Crystal Bear from her system and placed it on the stone counter table with a soft ’clack’.

The moment the core touched the table, an extraordinarily pure wave of cold energy immediately spread, freezing the ink inside the receptionist’s pen and turning her coffee cup into solid ice within seconds. Silence instantly descended within a ten-meter radius of the counter as several senior hunters nearby sensed the mana pressure from that high-class core.

The receptionist’s breath caught, her face turning deathly pale. "I-I apologize for my presumption, honored Miss! P-Please, allow me to escort you to the VIP appraisal room on the upper floor right now!"

Sylvia was guided with full respect through a special elevator toward a soundproof private room on the third floor. The room was extremely spacious, designed with marble floors and a long metal table usually used for dissecting or examining high-level magical materials.

Not long afterward, the carved double doors opened. A middle-aged man with neatly slicked-back hair, a single-lens monocle, and the official executive uniform of the Association stepped in hurriedly. He was Kael, the Chief Appraiser as well as the highest logistics manager of the Black Lotus branch.

"Greetings, Miss. I am Kael. My receptionist informed me that you brought a Rank 6 Ice Core of perfect purity and... several other materials? May I see the entire merchandise?" Kael greeted carefully, trying to assess the girl before him who radiated not the slightest mana fluctuation of a fighter.

"Of course. But you had better step back a little, Master Kael. And make certain the floor of this room is strong enough to bear the load," Sylvia said calmly.

Kael furrowed his brow in confusion, yet still stepped backward.

Sylvia called her system interface. She raised her hand and swept the air above the empty floor expanse of the room.

In the blink of an eye, a bright spatial blue light flashed brilliantly. The first things to appear were piles of Mana Cores, dozens of Rank 5 crystals from the Armored Boars and twelve Rank 6 crystals of various elements that clinked as they filled the metal table.

Yet that was merely a small beginning.

The blue light from the system storage continued to spew its contents without pause like a broken dam. Dozens of thigh cuts, rib bones, and steel plates from Mutated Armored Boars landed on the room floor with heavy thuds. They were followed by gigantic intact snake-skin sheets that possessed not a single hole, and tons of pure red meat cuts from the Ice Crystal Bear that still steamed with freezing cold vapor, as though the monsters had only just been slaughtered a second ago.

In only ten seconds, the entire VIP room the size of a basketball court was nearly packed full up to the ceiling. Mountains of fresh monster meat, high-quality bones, and glossy hides piled high, radiating an extraordinarily dense mana aroma that made the air inside the room feel heavy. The room temperature immediately plummeted drastically due to the residual energy effect of the ice-bear meat.

Kael’s monocle nearly slipped from the bridge of his nose and shattered on the floor. The middle-aged man’s mouth hung wide open, his jaw seemingly losing the ability to close. He was unable to utter a sound for nearly a full minute. His body trembled violently as he stepped forward with weak knees, touching the surface of the rosy-red Armored Boar meat that, against all logic, still radiated the warmth of fresh life blood.

For an appraiser expert of Kael’s caliber, the pile of meat before him defied all logistical reasoning, spatial-capacity limits, and hunting reality.

How is this possible?! Kael’s rational mind screamed in silence. More than forty Rank 5 and Rank 6 monster carcasses! The meat is cut with precision equal to a god’s, not a single fiber destroyed by magical explosion! And the freshness... it is as though time stopped inside its storage dimension! What kind of legendary spatial artifact can store dozens of tons of fresh meat without damaging its mana circulation?!

Kael stared at Sylvia with a gaze of horror mixed with absolute admiration. Killing Rank 6 monsters was already an achievement that required a squad of generals. But dissecting, cutting, and bringing home tons of their meat intact? That could only be done by peak-continent-level mages who possessed solar-system rings! Monster meat at this rank was valued far higher than the mana cores themselves, because every luxurious restaurant in the capital, royal family, and great alchemist was always competing to obtain this meat as a body-strengthening tonic.

"M-Miss..." Kael’s voice trembled severely, nearly weeping at the sight of this organic treasure. "The quality of this meat... the cuts... the freshness... this is absolute. Even the Central Association in the Capital very rarely sees Rank 6 Ice Crystal Bear meat in a condition that is not withered or contaminated by magic. Th-This is truly insane..."

"Enough with the praises, Master Kael," Sylvia cut in casually, lightly patting the head of Sol who was perched on her shoulder while licking its claws. "I do not have all day. So, how many total credits is the Association willing to pay for all of these supplies?"

Kael took a deep breath, slapped his own cheek to calm his wildly beating heart. He calculated rapidly in his head, knowing that if he misquoted or tried to cheat, the monster in the form of the elegant girl before him could level the entire Association building merely by snapping her fingers.

"For the forty Rank 5 Cores, the twelve Rank 6 Cores... and the hundreds of tons of flawless premium-class fresh-meat supplies along with the intact hides... Miss, the Hunter Association is willing to offer a total of 18 Million Credits. This is the highest monopoly price we can issue, and I guarantee it is twenty percent above any market price. We will empty the entire liquidity vault of this branch if necessary to obtain all of this meat from you," Kael said with a hoarse yet firm voice, bowing deeply.

Eighteen million credits. That amount equaled the total annual tax of the entire outer districts of the Tianhua Capital.

"A reasonable price. Agreed," Sylvia answered with a light smile.

Kael hurried toward the verification table and took out the Association’s credit-processing terminal. "Of course, Miss! Would you like us to create a Black Priority Card to store the funds..."

"No need," Sylvia cut in. She waved her hand, taking out her black-gold VIP Access Card, the same card she used to cross the city gate and pay for her morning breakfast. She casually tossed the card onto the table in front of Kael. "Just put all the credits into this."

Kael’s eyes fell upon the black-gold card lying on the table. When he saw the single-dragon engraving and the encryption-magic fluctuations of the card, his breath caught once more. It was not an ordinary banking card. It was an Overlord-level access card integrated directly with the absolute treasury network without transaction limits. Only a handful of duke-level nobles and national heroes possessed the authority to hold a card of that kind.

Kael’s suspicion that this girl was an extremely terrifying existence from the center of power was fully confirmed.

With hands trembling far more severely than before, Kael inserted the black-gold card into his terminal. The terminal screen flickered briefly before showing a successful transfer.

"I-It is finished, Miss. Eighteen million credits have been fully transferred into your card account," Kael said, returning the card using both hands with the maximum level of respect as though presenting an emperor’s crown.

Sylvia accepted the card and stored it back into her system’s spatial pocket. She stood and lightly straightened the folds of her coat.

"A very efficient cooperation, Master Kael. Clean this room; the cold air and the smell of meat are beginning to feel stuffy," Sylvia said casually.

"Of course, Your Excellency! I mean, Miss! I-Immediately! All facilities and doors of the Association will always be open and submit in welcoming your arrival at any time!" Kael bowed so low that his forehead nearly touched his knees as Sylvia walked past him out of the VIP room, leaving behind the mountain of meat and materials that still steamed with priceless magical vapor.

Walking out of the noisy, foul-smelling headquarters of the Hunter Association, Sylvia once again felt the fresh air and the midday heat of Black Lotus City. She patted the pocket of her dress that now stored a fantastical amount of credits. On her shoulder, Sol began meowing softly and rubbing its head demanding the fulfillment of a promise, while Noir within her shadow let out a soft purr of agreement.

"Yes, yes, I understand you are bored," Sylvia laughed softly, stroking the fur of her greedy golden pet.