"At least four days?" Shang asked in shock.

Four days?

According to Shang's memory, he had killed the beasts just this night. Sure, he had that run-in with these three kids and then spent some time in his room, but not even a full day should have passed since then.

Was it the effect of his Darkness Mana?

No, he felt no Darkness Mana coming from the parts.

It was straight up just decomposition.

There was only one explanation that made sense.

'Have I been in my room for three entire days, maybe four?' Shang thought as he looked at the ground.

'But it hasn't been that long. I only thought about that image for maybe a couple of hours.'

The image returned at that moment.

The featureless face.

A viscous pool of blood where the features should be.

Shang immediately pushed it to the back of his mind.

'I am in control of my thoughts.'

"Hey, you!"

Shang was pulled out of his thoughts as he looked at the clerk in front of him.

"I'm pretty good at remembering faces. I haven't seen you before. When did you join?" he asked with annoyance.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "I joined a couple of days ago. I was here once before, but I talked to another person back then," Shang said absentmindedly.

"Is this the first time you brought over beast corpses?" the guy asked.

Shang nodded.

Then, the guy sighed.

"Listen. We have a cutoff date for corpses. Not more than 48 hours are allowed to pass after you have obtained the parts," he explained.

For some reason, Shang wasn't that shocked or distraught.

He had just heard that nearly his entire night of hunting had become worthless.

Yet, for some reason, it didn't feel that important to him.

He saw it only as a minor inconvenience.

"The reason for that policy is market manipulation," the guy explained. "You've probably noticed it before, but the prices for different corpses change based on demand. Because of that, it's theoretically possible to wait a couple of days to hand over your loot if you think that the price will rise."

"We don't condone that, which is why that rule is in place. 48 hours is the maximum you can wait, and we are all very experienced with telling the time of death of a beast. If we are uncertain if something falls within the 48-hour window, you have to show proof that it is still within the 48 hours, which is nearly impossible."

The clerk sighed again.

"However, since the price for Pest Cats has sunken in comparison to three days ago, and since you're obviously new, I will make an exception this time, but this will be the only one," the man said.

The man looked at Shang, expecting him to show an expression of positive surprise.

But Shang simply didn't react. It was like he wasn't even there.

"Did you hear what I've just said?" the man asked with a bit more force.

"Oh," Shang said as his eyes regained their focus. "Yes, I've heard. One time exception," he said.

The man furrowed his brows. "A thanks would be appreciated," he said.

"Oh, yeah, thanks," Shang said. "Sorry, I'm distracted right now. I'm… I think I'm dealing with something. Not sure."

The man only sighed in annoyance. "Follow me. I'm not going through the parts inside the Exchange Hall. The stench is too strong."

Shang only nodded absentmindedly as he followed the clerk like a robot.

The two of them walked out the back to an open area surrounded by high and thick walls.

When Shang arrived, he couldn't be distracted by his thoughts anymore since he was distracted by something else.

The stench.

The absolute, pure, abhorrent stench.

In front of Shang were hills of ears, all of them from Pest Cats. They were all in varying stages of decomposition.

This was the source of the stench.

Thousands of ears of Pest Cats decomposing in an enclosed area.

Shang nearly had to hurl, but he managed to keep himself under control.

"The ears are unusable," the man said as he poured out the contents of the beast sack in a relatively clean place. "We are not hunting the Pest Cats because of their resources but because of their numbers. As you can see, the number of Pest Cats is insane. Can you imagine what will happen if we stop hunting them?"

Since Shang was no longer distracted anymore, he actually managed to listen to the guy's words.

So many ears, every pair representing a dead Pest Cat.

How many Pest Cats would be roaming around if all the ones that had died to the students were still alive?

"In colder climates, the Pest Cats only mate once per year due to the seasons, but we don't really have strong seasons here," the man explained as he threw one pair of ears after the other onto a hill. "Because of that, the Pest Cats are an especially strong issue here. Without the inhibiting cold, they are multiplying all year round."

"Due to their numbers, their corpses are also nearly worthless. There is an abundance of Pest Cat corpses, many times higher than the demand. Because of that, Pest Cats are only worth a single Contribution Point. That dissuades hunters from hunting them. After all, they get basically nothing."

"That's why you students have to kill them. It's too expensive to pay external hunters enough to make them actually hunt them. Most of them wouldn't even bother to bend down to pick up a piece of gold."

"Pest Cats reach maturity in a matter of days, which is why we have to keep hunting them every single day of the year."

"126," the man suddenly said.

Shang looked at the pile the man had gone through and noticed that all the Pest Cat ears were no longer on it.

"126 ears or pairs?" Shang asked.

"Didn't you count?" the man asked with a bit of annoyance.

"Not really," Shang said.

"It's pairs. You killed 126 Pest Cats, and from the looks of it, you did it all in one day," the man said. Surprisingly, his voice had stopped being annoyed.

"That's quite impressive," he said. "You seem to be very experienced in hunting."

"Thanks," Shang said.

After that, the man took hold of the feelers of the Swamp Millipedes.

"In comparison to Pest Cat ears, Swamp Millipede feelers are actually useful. Sadly, the decomposition is too advanced. You would be getting three Contribution Points per feeler under normal circumstances, but I can't accept them. I can only give you the reward for slaying them."

Shang nodded.

The man went through the feelers and counted them.

"18 Swamp Millipedes," he said.

Now, only two small corpses were left.

The man looked at them with an evaluating expression.

"Two Vanishing Snakes," he said. "Sadly, the corpses are also in bad condition. You would be getting 100 Contribution Points per corpse normally."

"It's fine," Shang said as he looked to the side. "It was my fault for waiting that long anyway."

After a bit of looking at the feelers and Vanishing Snakes, the guy sighed and threw the feelers onto the hill of ears.

"What do you do with the decomposed corpses?" Shang asked.

"Fertilizer," the man said. "Helps a lot in the Farm Line."

The man stood up and threw the two Vanishing Snakes into a hole at the edge of the area.

After that, he gestured for Shang to follow him back into the Exchange Hall.

The two of them quickly arrived, and the clerk tallied everything up.

"126 Pest Cats. Right now, they are worth 20 Contribution Points. That's 2,520 Contribution Points."

"18 Swamp Millipedes without the feelers. The price is always a static 50 Contribution Points. That's 900 Contribution Points."

"Two Vanishing Snakes. That's 4,000 Contribution Points."

"Total: 7,420 Contribution Points. Give me your emblem," the guy said.

Shang handed over his emblem.

The guy put the emblem on a Magic Circle on top of the table. A flash of light appeared, and the guy handed the emblem back to Shang.

"Wanna buy something with your new wealth?" the man asked.

"Can I take a look at your Rank Two ores?" Shang asked.

The man smirked. "Certainly. Which Rank Two ores specifically? Initial? Early? Mid?"

"Depends on the price," Shang said.

"Sure, let me just give you a rundown of common prices for different levels of Rank Two ores."