After thinking for a while, Bob made a decision. He would continue hunting for the demons, while hoping that he would not encounter the same situation again.
He had decided that he would hunt for as many demons as possible, gain as many demon crystals that he could, before going back to the stronghold. Then, after gaining quite a large number of star coins, he could use them to acquire as many skills as possible, upgrade them, then focus on getting stronger.
He already understood that there were quite different professions within the stronghold. Other than those that usually ventured out of the stronghold in order to go to the ruins and kill the demons for the demon crystals, other people had other methods of earning.
That was something that he had realized the previous day when he was venturing in the market area. He realized that while it was true that most of the weapons, medicines and so on usually came from the ruins, there were actually methods of producing them.
As long as a person had a technique of doing that, possessing enough skills, together with the materials, they would be able to produce either armor, or weapons, which would allow them to be able to earn by selling them.
This was the direction that Bob was thinking in. As long as he could acquire enough star coins, he would be able to get a workshop for himself, start producing equipment, then start a shop that would be in charge of selling equipment.
This way, he could at least reduce the risks involved in venturing out of the stronghold. While he would have to interact with many people, he wanted to try as much as possible this time to get a skill or a technique that could hide his power level.
Having already made a decision, Bob began venturing deeper into the wilderness. At this point, he had already realized that his combat strength was quite high. So, he wanted to get as many demon crystals as possible that were in the commander realm.
But of course, he had no intention of venturing too deep into the wilderness, considering that he might encounter a demon that he would not be capable of handling.
At the same time as he was moving within the wilderness, he went through the three bracelets that he had gotten. He realized that there was nothing much within the bracelets, something that disappointed him. Other than some clothes and a few demon crystals, there was nothing of any value within the three bracelets.
It was then that Bob realized something. Since this group of people could steal from others, they should be prepared to have their things stolen. They might have left them somewhere else, which led to the bracelets that they had having nothing of great value.
Even though he was disappointed, Bob was satisfied with getting the bracelets. These bracelets all contained an internal space of at least 5m³, and the one that was owned by the leader of the group even had a space of 9m³. Bob could already imagine how much had been used in order to acquire these bracelets.
After venturing deeper for quite a while, he made sure not to venture deeper, but instead, he began moving sideways. At the same time, he made sure not to forget the direction that he would use in order to go back to the stronghold.
Bob understood that the greater the distance from the stronghold, the higher the level of the demons that he would encounter. Additionally, the closer he was to the ruins, the higher the level and number of demons that he would encounter.
But until this time, Bob had not yet encountered any ruin. Maybe he was not lucky with the ruins or the direction that he had selected did not really have that many ruins. Regardless, Bob began his hunting.
Each and every time that he encountered a demon, as long as it was in the commander realm, it had quite a number of underlings. But even with the underlings, with Bob's combat strength, it was quite easy for him to be able to take care of them.
More than 3 hours went by, and the bracelets that Bob had were beginning to get filled with demon crystals. This time, Bob was mainly targeting the demons that were in the commander realm.
But since each demon had underlings, quite a number of captain realm demons could also be found, which would be killed by Bob. Since he had enough storage at the moment, Bob simply took all the demon crystals that he could find.
This led to the situation where the bracelets were getting filled. And even though the number of commander level demon crystals was not high, Bob believed that the value of those crystals would be quite high.
In the afternoon, Bob finally felt hungry. Having no other choice, Bob decided to go back to the stronghold. It was already a little past 1:00 p.m.
Having already marked the direction that he was supposed to use to go back to the stronghold, Bob began moving. Along the way, he encountered quite a number of people, with several occasions where he found people fighting against demons.
But it seemed that there was something unusual, considering that each and every time that he encountered people fighting against demons, he would always find that at least two awakened ones of the same level fought against a demon of the same level.
Bob wondered, could it be that the combat strength of the demons of the same level was higher? And, one had to consider that the intelligence level of the low-level demons was quite low. If the intelligence of the demons was increased, just how strong would they be?
This immediately increased Bob's resolve of getting stronger. He understood that for this world to be in such a situation where it was almost consumed by the demon energy, it was clear that there were demons way stronger than any that he had ever encountered.
Of course, the intelligence of those demons would be high, implying that just like humans, they would also include fighting strategies. With that, they would definitely be even stronger.
While the humans had quite an advantage, considering that as long as a person got to the age of 20, they would awaken, most of the humans were limited by the energy absorption technique that they awakened. This was something that could not be changed at all, otherwise, many people would have definitely upgraded them.
The low level absorption techniques implied that the speed at which a person could get stronger was quite slow. So, even if a person could gain better techniques later on, while the combat strength of the same level would be higher, how long would they take to be able to get to the highest level possible?
And, did this world really have that much time? After all, according to his understanding of this world, it seemed that the number of demons that continuously sneaked into the stronghold was increasing in the recent years. That implied that the demons were getting impatient, and a decisive war might happen soon.
About an hour later, Bob finally managed to go back to the stronghold, and entered without any problems. This time, Bob did not head back home, instead you went to the market just like the previous day.
But instead of finding somewhere to sell the demon crystals, Bob instead found a place where he could eat. The hunger that he was currently experiencing did not allow him to go back and start cooking.
It was a good thing that there were quite a few places where he could eat. So, after making the payment, he ate until he was satisfied, before finally leaving and heading to a random shop where he wanted to sell the demon crystals.
The moment that he entered the shop, he was welcomed by a shop attendant. This shop seemed to be busier as compared to the one that he had visited the previous day. And, even within the stronghold, Bob did not remove the mask on his face.
"I would like to sell demon crystals contained within this bracelet." Bob stated as he handed over a storage bracelet. This was a bracelet that had been taken from the leader of the group that had attacked him a few hours ago.
Bob had no intention of selling all the demon crystals in the same shop, as that could also bring some attention to him. So, he decided to divide them.
"Please give me a moment sir, I'll check these demon crystals." The attendant said, before she left and headed towards the side, accompanied by Bob.
She went ahead and removed the demon crystals, placing all of them on top of the table. The large number of demon crystals immediately attracted some attention over.
Even though quite a few people were attracted, they only looked for a little while before they focused on doing their own things. This was not the first time that someone had come to sell such a large number of demon crystals after all.
The lady began going through the demon crystals, sorting them out according to the power level of the demon crystals. And several minutes later, she finally finished computing.
"According to the market price, the price of a level 6 captain realm demon crystal, it goes at 800,000 star coins, level 7 at 1.6 million, level 8 at 3.2 million, and finally level 9 at 5 million." The lady stated. And upon seeing that Bob was nodding, she went ahead and did some calculation before she spoke up again.
"59 level 6, 34 level 7, 22 level 8 and 12 level 9 demon crystals, according to the market price, the total amount is going to be 232 million star coins. Sir, would you like to receive the money directly, or would you like to purchase something?" The lady spoke, stunning Bob slightly.