Chapter 50: Archmage Level Magic, Crowshade Agency, Price Of Cursed Spirits
Before starting, I checked the other tabs.
I needed to understand everything before I began my own "business."
I opened the one labeled [Information Requests].
You could buy things like hidden blueprints of private manors, weakness reports of low-ranked Cursed Spirits, schedules of clan movements, and even records about old dungeon sites.
After that, I moved to the [Jobs] tab.
Most of them were assassination contracts, artifact recovery missions, or Cursed Spirit elimination requests.
But there were also escort jobs, delivery work, and even temporary assistant roles for alchemists and curse-smiths.
Some of them looked easy.
I could probably take a few once I had more freedom to leave the house.
For now, though, my goal was to earn money.
I checked my profile again.
[Balance: $0]
"..."
I opened the [Services] section.
Here, users could post their skills or list items for sale.
I clicked "List an Item" and began entering the details of the Rank 2 Amulet I’d taken from Frank.
The amulet was powerful.
It could form a null-element barrier strong enough to block even 9-star magic, the kind used by Archmages.
The reason I hadn’t used it against the Cursed Spirit was simple.
I hadn’t needed to.
I only got hit twice, and both times were deliberate, to bait the monster.
Otherwise, I could’ve just blocked every attack with a portal.
Yuna looked at me. "You’re selling the item, Lord of Shadows? Isn’t it better to keep a relic that can protect you?"
"I don’t really need it. I can block attacks with portals or enter the shadows to dodge. Besides, I’m selling it for a reason."
"...?"
If I entered the shadows using Shadow Assimilation, I became immune to most attacks that the amulet could defend against anyway.
For me, it was useless.
Selling it would probably bring in somewhere between a hundred to two hundred thousand dollars.
’Money is more important to me right now.’
But I wasn’t selling it just for money.
I had another purpose.
The other weapons I’d taken from Frank’s bodyguards stayed with me.
Call it a habit, but I liked collecting weapons, even ones I didn’t plan to use.
After finishing the description, I selected a drop location at an abandoned patch of forest outside the next city.
I wasn’t about to meet anyone face to face, and I definitely wasn’t giving out my address.
A few minutes later, a notification appeared on the corner of the screen.
[Courier has initiated contact]
I accepted the call.
A soft beep played, then a calm voice spoke.
"Hello, sir. I’m calling regarding your recent listing. If this is an anonymous delivery, please provide the drop-site coordinates, and I’ll handle the rest. If not, we can meet at the location you’ve set."
He sounded polite and professional.
I didn’t reply with my voice.
Instead, I typed into the text box:
[What are your coordinates?]
"Uh, sure. Sending them now," he replied after a pause.
He probably thought I was a bit paranoid, but customers did ask for courier coordinates sometimes.
Most would’ve talked it out instead of typing, but talking with my baby voice was out of question.
A moment later, the coordinates arrived.
I studied the numbers and leaned back.
"A full city’s distance. It should be doable if I push myself a bit."
Thanks to my Mana Constellation Creation technique, my mana capacity was different from normal Mages.
Each of my stars held double the amount of mana compared to an average mage.
That meant I had the reserves of a six-star mage, even though my rank was only 3-star Mage.
I opened a small portal beside me, linked it to the coordinates, and dropped the Rank 2 Amulet through.
...
Courier’s POV
"What the—?"
He froze as a small, swirling portal appeared in front of him.
Something metallic fell through and landed softly on the grass.
It was the amulet he’d been assigned to collect.
The portal faded away seconds later.
"...Sir?" he said into the voice line, his tone more cautious now. "I’ll deliver your item to the verification shop immediately. It’ll be examined overnight, and if it passes inspection, it’ll go on sale tomorrow morning."
His tone had changed.
Now it was more respectful, and cautious than before.
Portals were rare.
Only major Hidden Clans had artifacts capable of creating them.
The fact that someone casually used one meant this seller wasn’t ordinary.
He didn’t even dare think or speculate the identity of the item’s owner.
Sometimes, it was best to remain oblivious to the truth.
...
MC’s POV
I ended the call and smiled slightly, remembering the change in the courier’s tone.
"That’s one job done."
Selling the amulet wasn’t about the money.
Sure, it could sell for over a hundred thousand dollars, maybe more.
But that wasn’t why I listed it.
"Now for the actual plan to earn money..."
I returned to the main menu and clicked the [Information] tab.
A hundred thousand dollars was nothing compared to what I needed.
It would only cover one or two ingredients at best.
I needed far more.
The [Information] tab connected users to agencies that traded data.
Sightings of rare monsters, Cursed Spirit weaknesses, noble estate layouts, or cursed artifact details.
You could buy or sell almost anything.
After scrolling for a while, I clicked on one of the smaller, low-rated agencies.
Crowshade Analytics.
On the surface, Crowshade looked like a normal intel agency.
But only a few people knew the truth behind it.
Crowshade was a front.
Behind the scenes, it was actually run by the Hades Clan, one of the core families behind [The Olympians].
Underworld itself was managed by the Hades Clan.
They didn’t directly take part in business to avoid monopolizing the market, but they controlled the entire platform from the shadows.
Their influence kept things stable. Their rules kept people honest.
The reason they didn’t openly run the shops was simple.
If the same clan that regulated the market also competed in it, no one else would have a chance.
It would make sellers reluctant to come to their market, or they would demand better services like tax reduction.
So the Hades Clan stayed in the background, running everything through dummy agencies and hidden channels.
Crowshade was one of those.
I clicked on the submission page.
A message appeared:
[Crowshade only accepts verified intel. All submissions are reviewed within 12 hours. Payment is based on relevance, rarity, and accuracy.]
Beneath it, several categories showed up.
I scrolled until I found what I needed: Cursed Spirit Intelligence.
When I clicked it, a list of reference prices appeared.
Rank 0 Cursed Spirit – $100
Rank 1 Cursed Spirit – $1,000
Rank 2 Cursed Spirit – $5,000
Rank 3 Cursed Spirit – $500,000
Rank 4 Cursed Spirit – $50,000,000
Rank 5 Cursed Spirit – $1,000,000,000
"Just one billion for a Rank 5 Cursed Spirit? These people are worse cheapskates than me."
"You are correct, Lord of Shadows. This is daylight robbery," Yuna said from the side.
She already knew how money worked here and looked unimpressed.
For information, a Rank 5 Cursed Spirit could wipe out an entire major Hidden Clan.
One of those creatures getting loose meant a nationwide disaster.
The city of Atlanta and even the Mesopotamian civilization were both destroyed by Rank 5 Cursed Spirits.
So seeing those low prices made no sense.
Still, I wasn’t here to complain.
I was here to earn money.
I leaned forward, fingers resting on the keyboard.
"I can sell information on Cursed Spirits. I know a lot about them. Their weaknesses, containment methods, and even exorcism steps."
This time, Yuna didn’t comment on how my Shadow Class kept feeding me so much information.
Of course, I couldn’t just dump everything I knew.
That would draw too much attention.
Information like this was dangerous.
Parts from a Cursed Spirit’s body could be refined into artifacts, potions, weapons, or even inks used for curse weaving.
If I wasn’t careful, someone would show up at my door demanding I share everything.
I needed to sell information that fit my current strength.
I selected a Rank 3 Cursed Spirit from memory and began typing the report.