Xia Nan felt relieved and took out a small cloth bag from his backpack.
Rather than carelessly dumping it all out,
he carefully pinched the shiny little stones with his fingertips, taking them out one by one from the bag and placing them on the counter.
Farrello, not in the best shape, still displayed a diligent attitude that earned his spot in the "adventurer’s manual" when it came to his field of expertise.
Even when facing the common crystal stones on the table, which could be appraised and valued almost at a glance during a breath.
He meticulously examined each one with a magnifying glass, leaving no possibility for oversight.
"Two pieces of malachite, market price is 10 Gold each."
"Red Stone has dropped a lot in the past two years, 8 pieces for 48 Gold."
"No one is buying turquoise either, the city jewelers don’t really accept them, 7 pieces for 49 Gold."
"Green Quartz is nice; Neum City is trending with quartz jewelry. Although this stone is the lowest grade among them, plenty of down-and-out nobles buy them for display, causing the price to rise sharply, 3 pieces for 45 Gold."
"Oh... there’s also a Moonstone, but it’s a bit small, only suitable for earrings or ring faces, ordinary quality, 35 Gold."
"Altogether, it’s 197 Gold, please keep it safe."
Having no skills in bartering, Xia Nan wasn’t the type to spend an entire day in a shop over a few Coins,
especially since the other party gained a good reputation for being listed in the adventurer’s manual, naturally earning the recognition of River Valley Town’s low level adventurers.
Even if the offer wasn’t particularly favorable, it was mostly at market price, with very few mishaps.
Xia Nan didn’t haggle, nodded in agreement,
and handed Farrello three Gold Coins, receiving from him two Crystal Cards worth 100 Gold each, redeemable at the bank.
He placed them inside his clothes, keeping them close to his body.
With basic politeness, he bid farewell, maintaining a calm expression as he left the shop.
Standing on the side of the street, he took a deep breath,
calming the slightly turbulent emotions within him.
"Two hundred Gold! Two hundred Gold! Two hundred Gold!"
Despite being mentally prepared for the price of malachite at 10 Gold each for these gleaming stones before coming,
he couldn’t help but shudder slightly when he exchanged twenty-one small stones, not even big enough to fill the smallest pouch, for 200 Gold in total.
And this wasn’t even the entire harvest he brought back from this outing.
Gold, plus the bounties of two Bear Goblins and the savings from that Earth Goblin, which he had already banked, added up to over 30 Gold.
In less than a week’s time on this outing,
Xia Nan netted over 250 Gold Coins,
bringing his current fortune to an unprecedented—
Gold, 6 silver, 3 copper!
Equivalent to 6,750 bowls of fragrant, steaming creamy mushroom soup, enough to dull blades after bounty hunting 1,094 goblins, 8 bottles of Healing Potion, and...
one-third of a heavy full body armor plate.
Uh, let’s not mention that part.
It’s worth noting that Xia Nan’s main aim in this outing was to follow Frogon to learn Battle Skills.
Collecting spoils was just a byproduct.
Although the barbarian occasionally helped him preserve high-value Demon bounty parts with Ice Crystals, other than that, the swarming goblins and a large number of heavy, portable weapons and equipment in the nest—
even if not high in unit price, they accumulated over time, resulting in significant earnings.
Thinking further, Xia Nan recalled encountering the Thorn Demon on his way back to town.
With a Challenge Level of "2," it likely came with a decent bounty or had some parts on it worth selling.
However, desperate to flee at the time, and with the opponent’s body severely corroded by spores, carrying its flesh might have infected him, so he didn’t collect anything.
Otherwise, he could have earned dozens more Gold.
At this point, only one thought remained in his mind:
"Having a powerful figure backing you makes earning money so much easier!"
He hadn’t even thought about earning a few copper coins, but just by following the barbarian to clear a few goblin nests, he earned more than spending ten days fully armed in the forest, risking his life.
He couldn’t help but reach out and touch the Crystal Card inside his chest garment.
Like he suddenly remembered something, Xia Nan’s expression froze.
This outing earned him a lot, and the gains were substantial.
So, what was the cost?
Recalling the lingering sweet taste of the last sip of Healing Potion on his tongue, the breeze passed through the gaps in his armor and into the underlayers.
Sweat dripped from Xia Nan’s forehead.