"Are… Are you sure?" The lady behind the counter came back to her senses before she asked, looking at Michael doubtfully.
It was no wonder that she was doubtful of what Michael had said. After all, considering Michael's age and the way that he was dressed, he did not look like some rich person.
In order to be able to get all the study resources related to culinary skills, the amount of money that was going to be spent was not low.
Moreover, why would someone need all the resources available within the library related to culinary skills? Could they not just join a culinary school?
"Yeah, you don't need to worry, I'm not here to cause trouble. Just help me in getting those resources, as much as there are. I will pay." Michael nodded as he responded.
The lady still looked skeptical, as it was just difficult for her to believe that Michael was serious in his request.
Still, since it was her job to serve the customer, she decided to go along with what he wanted.
She began typing on the keyboard of the computer in front of her, as she tried to access all the current available resources related to the culinary skills.
For a big library like this, of course, they kept all the records related to the books and other study materials that they had within the library.
This way, it would be easy for someone to be able to make an inquiry and receive an answer way faster. Additionally, in case of orders, they could also be made online.
Since Michael wanted all the resources related to culinary skills, it was obviously going to take quite a while for the lady to be able to compile all the resources available within the library.
So, several minutes later, the lady finally managed to get all the available resources on culinary.
After compiling everything, including the prices, she looked at Michael, before hesitating to speak.
She was not sure if Michael would be able to continue having the intention of purchasing everything, if she mentioned the price.
"How much is it?" When he saw the expression on the lady's face, Michael immediately understood what she was thinking about.
At the same time, he thought, it would be better for him to find better clothes. That way, it would at least remove some unnecessary inconveniences.
Looking at Michael's confident expression, the lady could only go ahead and say the price.
She looked at the screen of the monitor in front of her before she said, "I have included everything related to culinary skills, not only including the textbooks that can be found within our store, but even including e-resources.
After totaling up everything, the price is $4,810."
When he heard the price, Michael could not help but be slightly dumbfounded. $4,810? That much, just for the books related to culinary?
Then, how much was he supposed to spend in order to be able to acquire the books that were related to other more complex professions?
Looking at the expression that was on Michael's face, the lady could only sigh. She thought, just as expected, he could not afford to pay such a large amount of money.
"What about this, I can try to remove some unnecessary resources, especially if two books talk about the same thing. I'll give you different variations for each particular level of culinary skills. This way, the price will not be that high." The lady spoke after thinking for a while.
When he heard her speaking, Michael finally came back to his senses.
In real sense, he did not actually mind the price that much. It was not as if he could not afford it. So, he told the lady to simply remove any test papers if there were any, and make sure that books related to the same topic did not exceed three books, which she quickly did.
"Now, the new price is $2,680." The lady stated, though, she was not sure that Michael could afford the price just yet.
"Okay, let me make the payment. Additionally, for the books, I will leave the address, so that they can be sent to me. But now, before leaving, I would like to take a few books with me, and the e-resources to be sent to my email." Michael nodded as he took out his phone, ready to make the payment.
The lady was surprised that Michael was actually capable of spending such a large amount of money in order to be able to buy the books.
She wondered, if he was so rich, why spend so much money on purchasing so many books? He could have just bought a few books, and spent the money somewhere else.
She then thought of something else. Could it be that he wanted to study culinary by himself? Maybe, was he trying to think of becoming a chef, a self-taught chef?
In the end, she could only shake her head inwardly. In any case, this was Michael's decision, and she was not willing to interfere.
On the other hand, Michael did not know what the lady was thinking about. He went ahead and made the payment, before he selected two books that introduced culinary.
At the same time, he gave the lady his email, and she sent the e-resources to the email.
With that finally out of the way, Michael left the bookstore. Next, he headed to another store, to buy some clothes for himself.
The current clothes that he was wearing were really worn out, which seemed to be bringing him some inconveniences.
As he entered the store, Michael had no intention of buying some brand clothes. Instead, he only wanted some simple but presentable clothes, at least those that would make him be capable of doing things conveniently.
In the end, in the store, Michael ended up spending $470 on several pairs of clothes. He did not want to only have a single pair of clothes, and so, he bought six T-shirts, 3 shirts, 4 jeans, 3 casual trousers, a basic hoodie and finally, a pair of sneakers.
Everything was stored within two shopping bags. As he carried them, he thought about buying a laptop. But in the end, he decided against it.
He thought, he might as well save the money in case there was going to be any need for it. For the time being, there was actually no need for him to do that.
Additionally, he could just go ahead and purchase a high-end laptop or computer from the system store, which would be way more convenient.
Getting inside a taxi, Michael had it straight to Willow district, which was just adjacent to the current district.
It took a few minutes for the taxi to get there, and after paying the taxi fare, Michael alighted.
Looking at the apartment block in front of him, Michael marveled. As compared to the apartment where he lived before, there was a great difference.
It was as if someone moved from living in a chicken coop, to suddenly living in a permanent house.
The environment In this place was quite good, and from the looks of it, as compared to the slum area where he was living before, the possibility of crime incidences in this place was quite low.
As he entered into the building, he accessed the elevator, before pressing the button for the fourth floor.
While inside the elevator, just before the door of the elevator closed, someone else entered. Still, this person did not talk to Michael at all, as it seemed that he was concentrating on something on his phone.
Michael did not speak either, as the person pressed the button for the 8th floor.
As the doors of the elevator closed, Michael patiently waited, and several seconds later, the elevator stopped on the fourth floor.
With his shopping bags, Michael left the elevator, heading to unit number 4C.
On each floor, there were six units of one bedroom apartments, with the number before being related to the floor, and the letter related to the unit. On each floor, each unit was named with the number of the floor from A all the way to F.
Using the key that he had been given before, Michael went ahead and opened the door of his apartment.
After successfully opening it, a luxurious living room was presented before his eyes. And as he walked through the small corridor that led to the living room, Michael was even more amazed.
This was actually not the first time that he was being in a house like this. In fact, during the time that both of his parents were alive, they had been living in a better place.
But for some reason, after the passing of his parents, anything related to them seemed to vanish. The house that they were owning before had already been occupied by someone else, who claimed to have bought it.
Additionally, there was nothing that Michael received after the passing of his parents. After the funeral, he was directly taken to the orphanage, to which everything progressed to the way that it currently was.
Shaking his head to dispel the memories of the past, Michael placed the shopping bags down. Then, he went back to the door, locked it, before he finally began looking around the house.
After familiarizing himself with everything within the house, just as the sales agent had said, it seemed that everything was available in the house.
The house included a living room, a single bedroom, a kitchen, a study room, a washroom and finally, a balcony.
The fridge in the kitchen was empty, which was to be expected. For the food, he would have to do some shopping. Still, Michael did not have the intention of doing some cooking right now.
So, after taking a shower and changing into a new pair of clothes that he had just bought, he left the apartment, looking for somewhere to fill his empty stomach.