The broken military saber just smiled, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, and said, “Logan Carter will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Be careful in the future. If you ever need help, I can assist you. This time... thank you.”

John Carter smiled and said, “It’s nothing, we each got what we needed. I should thank you all as well.”

One by one, the team members returned to the city through the portal. When it was Grace Carter’s turn, she looked back at John Carter, wanting to say something in thanks, but in the end, she just smiled. “76342399999, that’s my SkyMessage number.”

John Carter could sense that Grace Carter’s smile was very gentle, different from the last time when her polite smile carried a hint of arrogance. This time, her gratitude and smile were both sincere. A number ending with five nines—how flashy. John Carter also gave his own SkyMessage number, a string of random Arabic numerals.

“Goodbye.” After saying this, Grace Carter disappeared as well.

The first thing John Carter did after returning to the city was to take the sub-legendary artifact for appraisal. At present, only the high-level appraisers in the city’s NPCs could appraise sub-legendary artifacts.

The high-level appraiser in Pangu City was an old man with a white beard. In John Carter’s impression, nine out of ten appraisers in online games looked like this. “Hello, Master, I’m here for an appraisal.”

As John Carter spoke, he placed the Blood of the Fallen on the table. Even under the bright magical lamp, the unique golden glow of the sub-legendary artifact was dazzling.

The old man’s eyes lit up as soon as he saw the artifact. “Blood of the Fallen, that’s a good item. I didn’t expect someone at your low level, with such mediocre gear, to get your hands on something like this.”

John Carter frowned. Why did this NPC old man have such a foul mouth? He said impatiently, “Just appraise it already. How much?”

“Not much, not much, this much.” The old man chuckled, holding up his thumb and index finger in the shape of a gun.

“Eight hundred gold coins?” John Carter had only ever paid ten gold coins to appraise green-quality equipment before. He figured a sub-legendary artifact would be pricier, but eight hundred gold coins should be the max.

The old man shook his head.

“Then eighty gold coins?”

The old man nodded and said, “Just add a ten thousand after the eighty.”

“Eighty... thousand!?” John Carter nearly jumped out of his chair. “Old man, are you kidding me?!”

“Eighty thousand gold coins. That’s the going rate for appraising a sub-legendary artifact.” The old man grinned like the Laughing Buddha, but the row of gold teeth in his mouth ruined the effect.

“Damn, why don’t you just rob me?” Eighty thousand gold coins was about eight thousand RMB. Damn, if he went through with the appraisal, half his assets would be gone.

“Don’t be upset, young man. There are only a dozen or so sub-legendary artifacts in the world right now. Charging eighty thousand gold coins for one isn’t expensive at all.”

“Can you give me a discount?”

The old man spread his hands. “Sorry, to save our valued customers time, none of our shops offer discounts.”

“Jeez, you’re saving me time? What if I just don’t get it appraised?” John Carter turned to leave, but even as he walked out the door, the old man didn’t react at all.

That’s not how the script is supposed to go. Why didn’t he try to stop me? Could it really be that expensive?

In the end, John Carter managed to resist his curiosity and didn’t get the appraisal. It wasn’t that he was unwilling to spend the money, but he was afraid that after the appraisal, his level wouldn’t be high enough to use it, and then he’d really be left in tears.

This sub-legendary artifact really wasn’t something a small-time player like him could use. The appraisal fee alone was eight thousand yuan—how much would it cost to actually buy one?

Just then, John Carter received a message. He opened it and read: “Hand over the equipment you just got to me right now, then kneel in front of me and kowtow a hundred times. I might consider letting you live like a dog. Otherwise, I’ll make sure you can’t live or die!”

It was signed Logan Carter. Seeing this message, John Carter felt like laughing. Anyway, he and Logan Carter were already mortal enemies, so he didn’t mind provoking him further. He replied, “It’s not your fault you’re brain-damaged, but going around telling everyone about it is your mistake. I’ve got things to do, goodbye.”

After sending the message, John Carter logged out of “Gods and Demons.”

He took off Olivia’s gaming helmet, put on his own, locked the door, logged into the game, and switched his consciousness to Famous Sword Slayer. Checking his stats, sure enough, Famous Sword was now level 21, with all attributes increased accordingly, and the sub-legendary artifact Blood of the Fallen had appeared in his inventory.

Just as he suspected, Famous Sword and Shadow Blade were the same game character in different worlds.

Confirming this made John Carter very happy. It meant that Famous Sword could keep getting stronger—provided he had enough money.

Money! Money! Money!

He needed money to buy a new gaming helmet, to rent an apartment for easier operation of Famous Sword, to appraise artifacts, and to register a company.

But right now, he was carrying nearly thirty thousand in negative assets...

In reality, he owned the ghost slayer “Famous Sword,” and in the online game, he had a sub-legendary artifact. But although these things were treasures, for now, they couldn’t be turned into cash.

John Carter had to find a way to make money, or else when Olivia came back, he wouldn’t even be able to use the gaming helmet.

He created a Word document on his computer, wrote up an advertisement, and then took it to the school print shop to print a copy.