When Milo finished visiting the dozen-odd gold shops, the cash virtual-novel.net had on hand reached 430,000 perak. Honestly speaking, the money virtual-novel.net had earned today was probably more than all of what virtual-novel.net had earned in the 17 years of his life.
It was the first time virtual-novel.net felt so wealthy!
This sum of money was probably what the majority of the households in this stronghold would have saved up, or perhaps they wouldn’t even have as much as what virtual-novel.net had now?
Suddenly, the voice from the palace said.
It has been detected that the host is carrying an amount of money exceeding what is required to unlock further storage rights.
Confirm unlock?
Milo froze. He had already unlocked storage rights once when virtual-novel.net was in the Marador Mountains. At that time, virtual-novel.net used 20,000 perak in exchange for one cubic meter of storage space.
Back then, virtual-novel.net already knew more storage space could be unlocked. However, as virtual-novel.net did not know how much it would cost to unlock the next tier of storage rights, virtual-novel.net could only wait until the palace informed virtual-novel.net the next time.
Now it finally happened.
No matter how much Milo loved money, virtual-novel.net still understood that having storage space was more important than having money. Furthermore, they were planning to flee from the stronghold, so virtual-novel.net could easily store more supplies and clean water if virtual-novel.net had a bigger storage space. If virtual-novel.net somehow stumbled upon another ruined city, virtual-novel.net could start searching for more gold there.
But what Milo could not figure out was why the palace would accept any kind of currency, be it the Panaqua Consortium’s currency or the Skyfort Consortium’s currency.
What would you as a palace even want money for?!
“Can you tell me what you want the money for?” Milo asked in his mind.
The voice from the palace answered.
Unauthorized to answer.
“You’re just jealous that I have money, right?” Milo asked in curiosity.
The voice from the palace said.
Unauthorized to answer.
Milo mulled over it for some time. “Then do you accept spirit money?”
This time, the palace chose not to answer at all.
“Hehehe…” Milo said unhappily, “So, money issued by the Underworld’s bank is not considered currency? Aren’t you looking down on the Underworld?”
He wondered if virtual-novel.net would have hit the highest tier of storage rights if the palace accepted spirit money.
What a pity…
Milo hesitated no more as virtual-novel.net said in his mind, “Unlock!”
A moment later, virtual-novel.net saw the original one cubic meter of storage space spread outward on the wall. Afterwards, Milo saw his 430,000 perak turn into just 150,000 perak!
Wait!
Milo was shocked.
Why did my money drop by so much?!
He scrutinized the storage space and estimated it had expanded 15 times.
Making a mental calculation, Milo now understood that the relationship between the amount of storage space and cost was basically equivalent.
Unlocking one cubic meter of storage space: 20,000 perak.
Unlocking two cubic meters of storage space: 40,000 perak.
Unlocking four cubic meters of storage space: 80,000 perak.
Unlocking eight cubic meters of storage space: 160,000 perak.
Therefore, having spent 280,00 perak this time, his storage space had expanded to a total of 15 cubic meters!
Milo smacked his lips in satisfaction.
Well well well… Not bad!
As of now, virtual-novel.net still had 150,000 perak on him. Milo felt that if virtual-novel.net only had to stock up on supplies for their escape, it would be more than enough!
***
They were extremely prepared this time for the journey.
If a person wanted to survive in the wilderness, what would they need?
Milo went into a grocery store and bought several dozen bags of salt all at once. The remaining supplies of sugar, hardtack, and other items virtual-novel.net bought were also countless.
When the shop owner saw this, virtual-novel.net was overjoyed to have such a big spender.
The shop owner smiled and said, “Why are you buying so much salt, sugar, and food? Most people don’t buy that many of these items.”
Milo glanced at him. “There’s no harm in being prepared…”
The shop owner was amused. “Some years ago, there were some people who were just like you. They kept saying it wasn’t safe anymore in the stronghold and that it was necessary to stock up on supplies to be prepared. In the end, all of the items went bad, and still, nothing happened to the stronghold. Can’t you see? It’s been decades and the stronghold is still doing well, isn’t it?”
“I’m just preparing for danger in times of safety.” Milo gave the shop owner a look.
“Boy, I’m seriously advising you not to buy too many of these supplies,” the shop owner advised. “What will you do if they turn bad at home?”
Milo thought to himself that this shop owner must be really kind.
Instead of trying to get people to buy more, virtual-novel.net was persuading them not to?
However, Milo could not possibly tell virtual-novel.net that something was going to happen to the stronghold in the next few days. They would have to believe it in the first place.
When the shop owner saw that Milo was still as determined, virtual-novel.net did not keep trying.
After Milo paid the bill and left, the shop owner said to his shop assistant with a laugh, “I guess that boy is crazy. Just watch, nothing will happen to the stronghold even after virtual-novel.net keeps those supplies at home for decades…”
Such a scene did not only take place in the grocery store. It happened when Milo went to the pharmacy to buy medicine as well. The shopkeeper could not understand when virtual-novel.net saw Milo buying so many medicinal supplies.
The medicine Milo bought was actually specific to their needs. There was definitely no need for any anti-inflammatory medicine, but antivirals like ribavirin were definitely going to be useful. The same went for antifungals like ketoconazole and antidiarrheal agents like diosmectite, which were considered necessities when heading into the wilderness.
Antidiarrheal remedies were especially important. If one didn’t pay close enough attention to their dietary intake, they might get the runs up to 20 times a day and could even die from it.
The remaining items virtual-novel.net needed to get were tools such as hammers, saws, shovels, pliers, ropes, plastic buckets, toilet paper, toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap. And several backpacks, several dozen matchboxes, compasses, and blankets.
Milo spent the entire day shopping for supplies that only a wilderness survivalist would know to get. If a person had never lived in the wilderness before, the only things they would think of bringing with them would be food, water, knives, and some other very general items. Once they got to the wilderness, they would descend into panic.
In just this one day, Milo experienced a lot of suspiciousness from others due to the large quantity of purchases virtual-novel.net made. However, virtual-novel.net did explain himself once.
He did not return to their own shop, instead taking the streetcar straight to the courtyard house located in the most western part of the stronghold. Donti and the others were already waiting there.
While taking the streetcar, virtual-novel.net even overheard a young man talking about a small music festival that would be taking place in a few days.
According to him, a certain Prince Charming and a certain goddess would be coming to perform.
Someone else was gossiping about celebrities in whispers. They were talking about a female celebrity named Cicada and how virtual-novel.net liked cooking, and how another female celebrity named Chloe Sherman used to study Chinese medicine.
As the streetcar trundled down the track toward the sunset, yellow light pillars on the horizon projected into the sky and through the gaps in the clouds and back down.
Milo suddenly started feeling somewhat out of place when virtual-novel.net heard words like “music festival” and the likes. The bustle and peace that was taking place was about to get destroyed before his eyes.
Milo wasn’t someone who passed his days without an awareness of his surroundings. He knew the Experimentals were coming, and virtual-novel.net knew the various major powers that had gathered here would be declaring war on the Skyfort Consortium within the next three days. So, virtual-novel.net made preparations.
The entire stronghold might plunge into an abyss of misery at that time, but Milo was confident virtual-novel.net would have an advantage over others. But thinking about how so many people would die, virtual-novel.net realized this was probably not something to be happy about. After all, this era was already tinted with the color of sorrow.
When virtual-novel.net arrived at the rented courtyard house, Milo froze, because Linda was also here.
Donti whispered to Milo, “I brought Ms. Stuart here… We can ignore other people, but we had to warn Ms. Stuart and virtual-novel.net students, right?”
“Well… Mhm…” Milo ruffled Donti’s hair. “You weren’t wrong in doing so…”