After leaving Viola's place, Benjamin went straight back to his laboratory.
Click.
As the sound of the door locking echoed out, the Protective Array inside the laboratory activated in tandem, and the entire world instantly fell silent.
With a thought, Benjamin solemnly took out the two Space Expansion Bags that he had stuffed to the brim in the Frost Dark Realm, nearly reaching their carrying limits, and set them in the center of the empty laboratory.
Crash!
Guided by his mental power, the mouths of the Space Expansion Bags tipped over like floodgates thrown open.
The next moment, countless items radiating bone-chilling cold poured from the bags like a mountain collapse and a tsunami!
The first things to surge out were Snow Monster cores.
Tens of thousands of ice crystal cores, every one of them radiating pure ice elemental energy.
Piled together, they refracted brilliant yet icy light beneath the laboratory's bright lamps. Like a small mountain made of diamonds, they caused the temperature of the entire laboratory to drop several degrees at once.
Next came all manner of rare materials looted from the Frost Dark Realm.
There was Frost Essence, like congealed moonlight; Frozen Earthheart, radiating the power of the earth's veins; as well as unknown ice-attributed metals and minerals dismantled from the buildings of Snow Monster cities.
These materials were piled into mountains, nearly covering half the laboratory floor.
Finally came the scattered energy crystals and miscellaneous items.
Benjamin stood before this "iceberg" made of wealth, satisfaction gleaming in his eyes.
Rather than counting every item by hand, he activated the Eye of Investigation, connected to his Magic Network Terminal, and enabled the "Asset Appraisal" function in the Military Merit exchange system.
An invisible curtain of light projected from the terminal and slowly swept across the mountain of