Chapter 47

With Eden's death, the gang was completely annihilated, and matters progressed astonishingly quickly. Although the appearance of the black giant in Sector 48 caused some commotion, silencing people in this line of work wasn't particularly difficult. Dike cleared away the power plant that the Black Mage of the Demon Exorcism Hall had pushed aside and quickly began to establish a new branch office, swiftly taking control of the business district. They needed to stabilize the business before the city government's inspections began.

For Panoa and the other project teams, this was the real start of their work. With the success of the plan, the long-standing internal conflict at Dike's headquarters finally came to an end. The shareholders unanimously supported the management team, and the company's management rights were completely transferred to Dustin Goodman. The restrictions on manpower that had severely limited Panoa were lifted, and her position rose rapidly.

"Please come this way. We've been waiting for you."

Manya, who had come out to the elevator, politely guided Renock to Panoa's office. Although she usually had an unreadable expression, recently she seemed to have more energy in her actions.

"Things seem to be going well."

"You must be showing it quite a bit."

Despite her words, Manya's face remained expressionless.

"Even before we've properly started the business, the expected revenue is already significant. Freelancers and mercenaries operating in the outer zones are already trying to establish transactions with us to replenish their insufficient weapons."

"........."

"The outlook is positive; we'll need to run the production lines at more than half capacity to handle the expected volume."

Given the tremendous success of the project she was involved in, her position in the company must have soared.

The elevator stopped, and the doors opened. This was the floor where Panoa's office was located. In the space where she used to work alone, dozens of employees were now bustling about, moving papers, having conversations, and holding phones.

"There's a problem with the maintenance of Factory 4, and they're short on manpower? I'll send you a list of subcontractors; select one and send me an email."

"The quality check in the first production run isn't being done properly."

"Request additional manpower from the upper management and review the manual again."

"The materials department is empty! Who owns this phone?"

The people who had been noisily shouting and moving around immediately straightened up and became cautious when they saw Manya's face. She enjoyed the overt attention subtly and slowly knocked on the glass door of Panoa's office. The door opened immediately, and Panoa, looking pale, greeted Renock.

"Please come in. This is the first time we've met since the operation."

"It's been a while."

As soon as Renock sat down on the familiar office sofa, he asked, "You don't look too good."

"Well... there are things that can only be done now."

She smiled skillfully at Renock.

"But I can't delay the gift I should give to the Mage."

It's a common saying that you don't boil the hunting dog after the hunt. Instead, Panoa had been making continuous efforts to maintain contact with Renock after the operation, showing that she hadn't forgotten him. She knew that the unexpected success of this plan was solely due to Renock's abilities.

It was his exceptional skills that had made up for the relatively insufficient manpower and lack of information, allowing them to dismantle the gang head-on. She was aware that trying to boil the hunting dog might ruin the entire pot.

Therefore, there was only one thing she could do: offer even sweeter rewards to prevent the teeth from turning against her. Panoa had worked hard to prepare for this meeting, carving out time from her busy schedule.

"I've already given you the five fingers of Enakfil as an advance, but I always intended to pay you separately for the overall success of the plan. Please take this first."

She handed him an anonymized bank account and a seal.

"This is a disposable account with 300 million cells. You can withdraw the cash, and it has been thoroughly laundered."

"........."

Renock took the account silently after hearing her words. 300 million cells. Even considering the increase in his value and the risks he had taken, it was a substantial amount to pay to an individual. But Panoa knew that saving money in such a situation would be of no help.

Moreover, her preparations didn't stop there. She then took out a pair of matte black gloves and a small bottle of green liquid.

"These are gloves from the Black Palace workshop and a medicine known as the Spring of Toone. It's said to be good for internal injuries."

Panoa glanced at Renock's face and said, "I prepared these because I thought you might have pushed yourself too hard this time."

She must have found it difficult to swallow the report that the Demon Exorcism Hall almost interfered at the end of the operation. The effort she put into the gifts was evident.

Therefore, Renock, instead of giving a pointless response, asked, "Black Palace workshop?"

"It's a VIP workshop run by a craftsman who only takes orders from a select few members. Our company only recently received a waiting number and became a member. The products from this workshop are of high quality and hard to come by, often used as gifts."

Ignoring Panoa's casual boasting, Renock picked up the gloves and put them on both hands. They fit snugly but felt almost weightless. When he tried to channel mana, it passed through the gloves smoothly, indicating that they had been carefully designed for mana conductivity.

"They are designed to harden rapidly upon receiving a certain level of impact, protecting up to the wrist. If you fall from a ten-story building, you can significantly reduce injury by properly placing your hands on the ground. It's one of the most popular and hard-to-get items from the workshop."

As soon as he heard this, Renock took off the gloves and cast a shock spell.

Bang!!

As expected, the surface of the gloves hardened instantly, extending to protect the wrist joints.

Renock nodded with a slight smile.

"You've brought good items. Thank you."

"Of course, I don't intend to silence you with just these items. I will also allocate additional funds from the gang's recovered treasury based on your contribution to this operation. Although a significant amount was used during the fight, you can still take more than 70% of the remaining funds."

"I'll be waiting."

There was no need to refuse the money being deposited into his account. Panoa then explained various ways Dike would proceed with its business and how they could help Renock in the process. She subtly hinted that she hoped Renock would assist Dike more, but he left the headquarters building without responding.

The disappointed faces of Panoa and Manya lingered in his mind, but he shook them off. He had done his part and received his due. As a freelancer, he had achieved his goal of gaining a reputation and received various artifacts and funds as rewards. Most importantly, the materials for the lightning-based unique magic he obtained from Eden's laboratory were the greatest harvest from this operation.

He had already confirmed in battle that he could use the application techniques without mastering the unique magic. With systematic research, his magic could reach a much higher level. Even Renock, who rarely showed emotional fluctuations, found it hard to hide his joy at the thought of this.

He wanted to lock himself in his studio and dive into research immediately, but there were a few things he needed to handle externally first.

'I'll leave the cleanup to Jenny and start by improving my lifestyle.'

His reputation and value had skyrocketed due to this operation, and with such a large sum of money in hand, it was time to change his environment. His current studio apartment was too small to accommodate his possessions and had poor security, causing some anxiety.

With this much money, he could afford a relatively larger house in a better part of the city.

'Earning money is hard, but spending it is even harder...'

The key issue was how much he could spend on improving his living environment after deducting the costs for elixirs and drugs. And how much more he needed to invest in the future.

A proper laboratory was essential for a mage, and he would inevitably need to expand his personal space. However, he also needed to set aside enough money to maintain his health and vitality with more expensive elixirs and drugs.

It was a difficult problem, one he couldn't share with anyone. He had to solve it alone, like swimming in uncharted waters.

The distant smoke mixed with the cold city air and disappeared. Winter was approaching.

Noise

"Did he leave?"

"Yes. As always, he didn't even look back."

"That's understandable."

"......Boss."

Panoa, who had been looking out the window, reluctantly turned her head. Dustin, sitting on the sofa, casually swirled his coffee cup.

"We must keep him close, no matter what."

"I know. And he knows it too."

"........."

"Can he not understand such overt courting?"

Dustin's muttered words were not wrong. The extravagant gifts Panoa gave Renock were based on the upper management's decision to keep him.

"I attended a meeting recently. My friends started asking about that mage."

"........."

"Everyone knows how valuable a skilled mage without an affiliation is."

Dustin's eyes sharpened.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Of course."

The rumors about the significant benefits Dike gained from this operation and the powerful mage at the center of it were already widespread among the companies. To those sensitive to profit, the market Dike opened would appear as a perfect new continent.

"I've received a guarantee that other companies won't be able to enter this market until the city government's inspections are over. We need to solid