Close combat mages were known for not just using spells in fights but would usually use their limbs as well.
But that was not the most pressing matter, what bothered Owen more was the rank of these beasts when they were still alive; every single one of them was only at the common rank!
Which top mage in their right senses would spend the entire day killing such weak magic beasts?
'Could he really be a fake or did he intentionally kill only common rank magic beasts?' Owen wondered as he stared at the plain mask of Mr Chen. This mask made it even more bothering as he couldn't see the other party's face, nor could he sense his rank.
His mind was filled with questions, but he decided to bottle everything up. Considering Mr Chen's silent attitude, he most likely won't get any response even if he asks.
"I've finished with the inspection and all of them are still in relatively good condition, but I noticed that some of them already had their mana cores removed. Does Mr Chen not wish to sell those cores?" Owen asked.
"I'll sell them; I'll return them with the storage bracelet", Alex stated plainly.
Although the grade one beast cores were usually to weak mages since it could increase their mana, it was usually to Alex. The mana would just scatter in his body if he tried to absorb it, why not sell them instead to make more money?
"Oh, I understand. I've already taken account of their numbers, we can leave to settle your payment while our staff start working on these corpses." Owen said and led Alex out of the room.
They took the elevator and headed to another floor before going to Owen's office, Alex was given a seat while Owen sat on his executive chair behind the desk.
"The corpses of magic beasts that are at the common rank are usually sold around 15,000 Zen to 20,000 Zen while grade one mana cores have a standard price of 30,000 Zen.
You've brought a total of twenty-seven common rank magic beasts, and I assume the numbers of cores are corresponding." Owen stated, stretching his last word.
Alex caught the hint and he moved his hand under his robe, placing the storage bracelet on the table. Owen smiled and reached for the bracelet, he scanned through it with his mana and confirmed that the remaining mana cores were indeed inside the storage ring.
"After a 10% service deduction, the corpses of the magic beasts will earn you 540,000 Zen, while the mana cores brought a profit of 810,000 Zen.
All together, we'll be paying you 1,350,000 Zen. I hope Mr Chen is satisfied with our offer." Owen said with a sincere smile on his face.
He was thinking if Mr Chen was unimpressed by the price he had offered and would try to negotiate but the truth was that he wasn't trying to cheat Mr Chen and had really offered a very good price for the beasts and mana cores.
As for Alex, he was secretly shocked by the amount he had just heard. Thankfully, he was wearing a mask so the other party was unable to see his expression; he would have given himself out if not for his mask!
1.3m Zen just like that, how crazy was that?
Alex had long come to understand the value of the currency of this world some time ago; it was not easy for others to make as much money as Mages do, but still, making such an amount on his face was enough to shock Alex.
It would probably take his father more than a year to make the same amount as an ordinary human!
The brief state of shock caused Alex to go mute for a while but due to his mask, Owen thought that he was just staring at him in silence because he wasn't satisfied with the amount he was being paid.
He sighed and said persuasively.
"I'm indeed giving you the best price, Mr Chen, and that's even after reducing the normal service cost by 10%. Usually, the union would take 20% from the earnings of explorers that didn't belong to us."
Owen's words finally woke up Alex from his dazed state, he blinked a few times before saying hoarsely.
"I'll take it,"
Owen's face lit up with a small smile after hearing Mr Chen's response, he took out some files from under his desk and placed them in front of Alex.
"Which account would you like your money to be transferred to?" He asked.
Alex fell silent again as he stared at the file in front of him. What was he supposed to do at this point? He didn't have an account!
Seeing Mr Chen go silent again, Owen raised an eyebrow as a thought appeared in his mind.
'Is he unwilling to share even his bank information because that might reveal his real identity? How secretive, I'm starting to really suspect that he's a wanted person.' Owen thought to himself as he pulled back the files and kept them back.
"I understand that you don't want to share your bank details as well. It's not an issue, we have several union cards if you want." Owen said while staring at Alex's white mask.
(I hope you guys aren't getting confused because of the use of Alex and Mr Chen, I'm using both so you can get used to it quickly. Always remember that Alex is Mr Chen; Mr Chen is just his alias and what he's known as by the members of the union.)
Alex's eyes secretly lit up behind his mask upon hearing Owen's words, he let out a secret sigh of relief. He was already cracking his brain on how to explain that he didn't actually own an account as the previous Alex hadn't bothered to open one since all his money was made through cash payment.
The suggestion of the union cards had saved him a lot of explaining just now. Union cards were black cards issued by the union to people without means of reaching payment for various reasons. The union cards were rarely used, though, and their limits were usually very high as they could contain up to a hundred million Zen and were accepted by all banks around the world.
"I'll take the union card," Alex said after calming down.
The other party nodded his head and asked Alex to excuse him as he stood up, he was going to arrange the union card for Alex's payment.
"Hold on," Alex suddenly called out before the other party could leave the room. Owen stopped and looked back at the masked Mr Chen with a curious face.
The latter didn't say anything but flicked something with his thumb instead and it flew toward Owen. The speed of the flying object wasn't fast so, with his strength, Owen was able to see it before he even caught it.
It was a little transparent rock.
Owen caught the rock and looked at it with great curiosity. He could feel the mana inside this little rock and was awed by it. Strangely, he couldn't recognise what this rock was.
Seeing the curiosity in the man's eyes, Alex guessed that he didn't know about the void rock so he decided to tell him.
"It's a void rock."