"Damn, another $75,000. That healer must be really confused. Big pay day for her though. I really should learn a healing skill, it seems like I could make a lot of money."
After the usual "persuasion", he got an additional $100,000 after paying for the healer.
"Why did the first two have so much, was my stuff worth that much? I should have beat them a little more then."
When he kicked the three of them out once more, he cleaned up his room and ordered 3 large pizzas to his room. A more advanced mailbox could transfer organic matter without completely obliterating it, but the one that he had installed was the most basic, barebones version.
"Finally alone, now to continue to test out my skills."
"[Create Fire]" The original F rank skill was supposed to create a candle like flame at the tip of his finger, it was a more utilitarian skill than a combat skill. But he was using a D rank skill, any D rank skill was already as powerful as an high powered assault rifle and powered by all of his mana it was even more devastating.
What came out of his palm was a flamethrower-like beam that scorched the ceiling of his apartment, almost burning all of his hair off. Quickly stopping it, he was shocked.
"I heard D rank skills were powerful, but I wasn't expecting this much. That's way too broken." It was only at this point that the severity of his new found method of learning skills sunk in. "If a D rank skill is already so powerful then, what about higher ranks? And I only bought a F rank, if I increase my mana capacity, then couldn't I learn S rank skills from an F rank book?."
His eyes widened "I can't tell anyone about this, not a single soul. Luckily I don't know a lot of people."
"Wait, that f*cking forum post. What are the comments."
The concept seemed to become slightly viral as no one else in the public space proposed something similar. A lot of the comments were just people expressing their interest with the theory, not realizing that he was being 100% serious.
"And why are so many people calling me dumb? It's just a question. I bet they just don't know how to answer so they just assume that it's not possible. I've seen a lot of people like that, they don't make it very far." Nodding to himself in satisfaction, he read a lot of comments that asked him to show a demonstration of his finding since he claimed to have succeeded.
"Like f*ck I'm doing that, I'm lucky I didn't say anything about the skill books. I'll just not answer." At that exact moment his eye passed over a rather interesting message.
"They want proof and they are willing to pay me 3 million. What, is that some kind of weird fetish? But 3 million is 3 million, that's enough to buy a smallish new house when my time here is up. That's not renting, that's full purchase."
He contemplated it a bit before deciding. "What's the worst that could happen? They are probably some rich guy with nothing else to do but throw money around."
He nodded to himself. "But how do I record, using the PC I guess?" He looked around on his pc and found a video recording function. "Okay, but I'm not going to just show my face to some random weirdo online. I'll need a face mask, and a different set of clothes. As well as something to hang up in the background."
He quickly ordered a large white sheet, a black robe, with matching pants, shoes, gloves and belt, as well as a plain, smooth, matte black mask. The mask resembled more of a strangely shaped bowl than a mask. There were no eye or mouth holes, and while it fit snugly around his face on the inside, on the outside it was just a flat surface, giving no detail about the shape of his face.
"How the hell do I see out of this thing? Did I get scammed, it was the most recommended mask. And it was damn expensive."
He put it on and was shocked. "What happened to the mask, I tried to put it on and then it just disappeared. Did I drop it?" He looked around to see if he managed to fling it somewhere and looked at one of the only mirrors in his room that wasn't completely destroyed.
"Wow, I'm wearing it? But that doesn't make any sense, it doesn't even feel like there is anything on my face." He looked at himself in the mirror and saw the strange black mask on his face.
"No wonder it's so expensive, it's like it isn't even there. I can see perfectly and not even my voice has changed. This is perfect."
He put on the rest of his new clothes, the robe with the belt tying his waist, the gloves and the cloth like shoes. He spent a lot on these as he was intending to also hunt with them, so they had to be sturdy and have self repair enchantments.
"I'm good to record now, but I'll have to ask them what exactly they want me to do." He sent them a message and almost immediately received a reply.
[Flaming lotus: Good day to you, ah… sir?]
'They seem a bit eager.'
[Anonymous: You can call me Adam.]
Adam is the name he most often used when hiding his identity. By throwing off his enemies, setting them on a wild goose chase for the mysterious 'Adam', he managed to save his life multiple times.
[Flaming lotus: Then Good day to you Mr. Adam. If you are contacting me then I assume that you have considered my earlier offer.]
[Anonymous: Yes, after careful consideration I have agreed to your offer, but I have a few conditions. 1 I would like to know what you need this video of my method for. 2 I will not be showing my face in said video and 3. I would also like to know where exactly you got 3 million to just throw away at some random person you found online.]
As his previous jobs had him dealing with all types of people, he was somewhat well spoken.
[Flaming lotus: Oh? You won't be showing your face? Then I can assume that your real name isn't Adam, no?]
[Anonymous: I will not answer such questions]
[Flaming lotus: Then I'll take that as a yes. As for your first question, the research department of my guild has been very interested in alternative methods of using mana, anything to get an advantage over our competitors you know? I believe that would also answer your last question.]
'A guild huh, makes sense I guess. I've heard that competition is fierce at that level. No wonder they were so eager, poor bastard's job is probably just to look for stuff like this all day every day.
[Anonymous: If that's all then I'd be happy to participate in this research project. It will also answer a few of my questions as well. How exactly do I show you this method, video?]