[Elite]

An Kai drove the three carriages through Chaos City at full speed.

Before long, he was nearing the entrance to Chaos City.

"Hey, don't those two people in the middle carriage look familiar?"

"Huh? Isn't that fucking Kaili, the leader of the Evergreen Gang?!"

"Holy shit! Isn't that guy the one who stood next to us earlier, listening to us shoot the shit?"

"Shh! Keep your voice down! Remember... we never saw him!"

At the city gates, the two Chaos City residents who had once stood beside An Kai on the street stared blankly in the direction he had gone...

They had never imagined the guy was this formidable!

Once outside Chaos City, An Kai hauled Kaili up, following the plan he had already devised.

He hurled Kaili into the air, then conjured a Fireball half the size of a carriage.

He aimed at Kaili in midair and sent it crashing into him!

As Kaili flew through the air, the wind roaring past his ears briefly brought him to his senses.

But before he could react, an enormous Fireball struck him...

Even in his final moment, Kaili still could not understand: Why could a Warrior use spells?

Thud!

Kaili's charred corpse fell, slamming into the desert...

In the distance, An Kai and his carriages grew farther and farther away...

A short while later, two people appeared beside Kaili's corpse.

They were none other than Will-Bukelin and Sally Bukelin, who had been lingering near the entrance to Chaos City for quite some time...

"Sis, are you sure An... Hanks did that just now?"

"I'm sure! That's exactly how my [Typhon Giant] died at his hands!"

Will-Bukelin nodded and rummaged through Kaili's unrecognizable corpse...

His search actually turned up something!

"The leader of the Evergreen Gang?!"

The gemstone badge in his hand was an identity badge marked [Leader of the Evergreen Gang].

Holding the badge, he first marveled at An Kai's strength.

Then Will-Bukelin's eyes lit up!

He looked at Sally Bukelin, and the two exchanged smiles, apparently having reached the same conclusion.

"I think we've found a place to settle down!"

"Will, it looks like we're thinking the same thing!"

At that moment, the long-suffering siblings wore genuine smiles for the first time in ages.

They covered Kaili's corpse with a little sand, then pinned the badge to Will-Bukelin's chest and headed toward Chaos City...

"Thank you, sir!"

"Thank you... Hanks!"

An Kai drove the carriages at high speed for half a day.

An Kai arrived once more at the lake where the Mage Tower stood.

On the way, he had thoroughly checked Kaili's Storage Ring.

It contained 86 gold coins, some volumes of the Complete Guide to Analyzing Archer Skills, and 51 Lower-grade Magic Stones.

An Kai had already exchanged the Lower-grade Magic Stones for skill points.

He spent 31 skill points to raise [Summoning] to [Lv9 "90/90"]...

After checking, he found that the pets he could summon had now reached Lv9 as well!

Before long, he would meet the [Lv11] requirement!

An Kai was eagerly looking forward to that.

He had 20 skill points left. It did not seem like much, but with [Summoning] at his disposal, it was enough overall.

Besides, what pleased An Kai most about this free shopping spree was the food filling all three carriages.

There was both meat and vegetables.

Each carriage held roughly ten cubic meters, and its food was worth around 40 gold coins.

For his upcoming seclusion, An Kai had prepared nearly 120 gold coins' worth of food.

Most importantly, he had not spent a single coin!

He had also dealt with the leader of the Evergreen Gang, the bastard who had dared put a bounty on him.

He stood at the edge of the lake.

An Kai unhitched the three horses and set them free.

Their meat was sour, and he did not like eating it.

If he had no other options, he would have kept them. Now that he did, there was no reason to make himself suffer.

An Kai did not rush into the water. Instead, he quietly used [Summoning], hoping to get something strong enough to transport the food...

A six-pointed star appeared beneath An Kai's feet.

Mana elements gathered around him!

Two seconds later, a flash of light shone!

[Desert Crocodile: Lv9]

[Quality: Elite]

"Huh? Did I summon a mini-boss?"

Looking at the creature beside his feet, several sizes larger than an ordinary [Desert Crocodile], An Kai muttered his guess.

This was also the first time he had seen a magical beast with a [Quality] designation.

It was nearly ten meters long, with a back almost three meters wide.

Wasn't this exactly the laborer An Kai needed?

With a thought, he ordered the oversized [Desert Crocodile] to transport the food.

After receiving his command, the [Desert Crocodile] approached the three carriages in an almost human manner.

It swept the food off with its tail, loaded it onto its back, and came over to An Kai...

An Kai smiled when he saw that the [Desert Crocodile] could carry a quarter of a carriage's food in one trip.

He used Freezing Spell to freeze the food on the [Desert Crocodile]'s back.

Taking out the [Water-Breathing Pearl], he entered the lake with the [Desert Crocodile].

They swam toward the Mage Tower.

Before long, the man and crocodile arrived in front of the Mage Tower.

An Kai instructed the [Desert Crocodile] to set the food down in front of the Mage Tower.

Then An Kai bundled the frozen food with rope and tied it in front of the Mage Tower's door.

Once he had finished, he rode on the [Desert Crocodile]'s back as it swam toward shore.

Back on shore, An Kai assigned the [Desert Crocodile] its task, then moved aside and lay down on the desert sand with his legs crossed to rest.

Whenever the [Desert Crocodile] loaded food onto its back, he casually cast [Freezing Spell] to freeze it.

Like a tireless worker, the [Desert Crocodile] toiled without complaint, transporting the food trip after trip.

When it reached the Mage Tower, it even clumsily gripped the rope in its mouth and imitated An Kai, tying up the frozen food.

Just like that, the [Elite]-quality [Desert Crocodile] became a competent laborer.

Before long, it had transported all the food from the three carriages.

"Good work!"

An Kai praised it, then drove a sword formed from Freezing Spell through the [Desert Crocodile]'s skull without the slightest hesitation...

He expertly skinned it and opened its belly, finding a somewhat oversized Magic Core...

He silently commanded, Exchange!

[Skill points +1]

"Only one point? Must be because of its level!"

Regretting the waste, An Kai butchered the [Desert Crocodile] and stored its meat in Sally Bukelin's Storage Ring.

He put it in with the clothes.

Horse meat tasted bad, but crocodile meat was pretty good!

As for keeping the [Desert Crocodile]?

An Kai had never considered it.

Even setting aside how much it would eat, mere [Elite] quality was not enough to make him keep it.

If its quality had been higher than [Elite], he might have considered it...

After finishing everything, he entered the lake with the [Water-Breathing Pearl] in hand.

Before long, he reached the entrance to the Mage Tower, where the food was piled high.

An Kai smiled, untied the ropes securing the food one by one, and fastened them to himself before dragging the food into the Mage Tower...

After An Kai entered, the lake shook violently and vanished, while the Mage Tower sank out of sight underground!