In the end, a whole trillion came from the Twelve Apostles, which meant more than eighty billion Rils came from each one. Even that was a sum Mira could not imagine having herself.
“I can’t believe you were just hoarding that kind of money for so long… I don’t even have one percent of that to my name.”
It was not just the country, now Mira was also shocked by the wallets of the Twelve Apostles.
The Nine Wisemen and the Twelve Apostles were roughly equal in power, and had been active for roughly the same amount of time in the game days. And yet they were able to gather all that money, while Mira felt like just a single billion was more than she could ask for.
“I guess working in a different country really makes a difference…”
That discrepancy was a mystery for Mira. Even when she thought about it more, she felt like the wages in both countries were comparable. And then she noticed Alma and Esmeralda’s sharp stares at her.
“You can see it that way if you like. I mean, everyone over in Arkite is constantly wasting all their money on experiments and whatnot.”
“It’s not as much the country as your habits. We’re always watching our budget to be responsible, but you guys over there…”
Saying that, Alma and Esmeralda heaved a collective sigh. They could not believe Mira’s audacity to complain about having no money when she was constantly spending all the money that passed through her hands.
It was true that she spent money on experiments, some of which could be rather expensive. But even that should not be enough to create such an exponential rift between their collective wealth.
At first, Mira tried to protest that it still did not add up, until she thought about it, and a bit more, various events slowly resurfacing in her mind, and making her voice sound less certain.
(How much did that temple we built cost again…)
There were many holy abilities that could only be gained by praying in sanctified ground, or touching divine relics
And then one of the Wisemen came up with the idea of building a new temple, creating a new sanctified ground to see what new abilities they would gain.
The result of that was the cathedral district to the west of Lunatic Lake. There was a large cathedral dedicated to the Three Gods there, as well as the monasteries for various ascetics who wanted to live there.
As far as Mira could remember, building all of that had cost at the very least a hundred billion Rils, and their experiment had still not borne fruit, as it took a long time for a place to be recognized as sanctified ground.
(This reminds me, she also spent a crazy amount on that experiment…)
There were also magic spells that could be gained by burning various items as catalysts. Essentially powerful items contained a certain essence of power which could be distilled through flames, and sometimes they would combine like pieces of a puzzle to coalesce into a new magic spell.
But just like with puzzles, it was impossible to know which essences could fit together without knowing their ‘shape’ first. Luminaria had gotten obsessed with that method before, gathering all the items and weapons she could afford, only to burn all of them. It did not matter if they were rare, heroic, or even legendary weapons, they all were turned to ashes.
(Legendary weapons in particular go for a few billion in the market, so I guess saving up was never an option.)
In the end, Luminaria was able to gain only around five new spells, and the knowledge that collecting spells that way was not as easy as it seemed at first.
(I think Soul Howl was also collecting relics of the dead or something like that…)
It was common for historic characters known for being heroes or blessed by divine power to also possess items with special powers, often loved by their owners, and buried alongside them, which altered that power in different ways.
Necromancers were able to imbue their abilities with those additional powers.
In their eyes, those relics were not weapons of legends, but a way to add buffs like extra physical damage to necromancy spells.
That put Soul Howl on the hunt for relics left behind by heroes and holy men, as well as items left behind by the rare villains that managed to leave their name in history, genius academics, and even famous artists. It was easy to see how collecting such items could get expensive as well. Fınd the newest release on NovelHub(.)net
(Oh right, I may have spent a lot on that too…)
As more memories resurfaced, she also began to realize how much she had spent at various points in her past.
One big case was when she attempted to restore a ravaged sanctuary.
It was located northeast of Arkite, right in the middle of a mountain range. In the distant past, that place had been known as a paradise of abundant peace, inhabited by many sacred beasts.
But the whole place had burned down during a great war in the past, leaving the place barren.
Mira had decided to take up the task of restoring that place to its former glory. She employed various mysterious remedies to let the vegetation regrow, and erected a protective barrier around the area so it would not be burned again if war broke out.
Her efforts had been fruitful, as the place was once again functioning as a sanctuary, with some sacred and spectral beasts starting to gather there. And obviously enough, Mira, or Danbulf at the time, often went to visit that place to form as many Summoning Contracts as possible.
There were various other ravaged sanctuaries like that which she had worked on restoring, and with all the costs combined, that was also incredibly expensive.
Then there were the other expenses involving the Silver Linked Towers, like expanding the basement to have more space to conduct experiments, vast and complicated water control systems to carefully grow plants they needed for experiments, and so on. The longer Mira thought about it all, the more she realized how much the costs were piling up.
The stark difference between those living within strict budgets, and those spending blindly on whatever they wanted was becoming obvious.
“My current self only exists because of past sacrifices, mhm, mhm…”
In the end, Mira chose to simply wave off all of those expenses together with other past experiences, conveniently ignoring the truth. But Alma and Esmeralda continued staring at her with disapproval.