With the completion of the floor in the dungeon, my group leaves the dark environment for the environment of a busy city. When leaving the dungeon, my group caught some of the attention of the groups that were near the exit of the dungeon.
Obviously, it wasn't our strength or cultivation level that drew attention, but the state of the group. A worn-out group with an injured member like Sten and a slightly unusual sight, it's normal for adventurers to leave the dungeon injured after a tough fight and their equipment is worn out or even destroyed.
But having a party member on a stretcher and the shield warrior's state like Torris draws some attention as Torris is pale and his body is slightly shaking, because of the difficult task of standing and walking adding to the state of his maturation. dented, his shield is almost twisted and without even a weapon, shows the difficulty he went through.
When a group is exposed to this level of challenge, it's normal for the first group member to be seriously injured or killed is the shield warrior, who has the job of tanking the floor guardian and any monsters that appear in the dungeon, but our group was able to leave the dungeon in a deplorable state without losing a limb. This catches the attention of my fellow adventurers as it is a very fine line between the limit a group can handle in a dungeon to group destruction.
Most groups that face this type of test, end up being annihilated or have a large number of casualties. So, a group surviving a dungeon in the state we are in is considered rare and seen by the adventuring community as a sign that the members of that group are skilled and dumb enough to face a dangerous challenge in the dungeon.
With our current state our group split in two, the first group made by Torris, Erick, Sten and Ingredi they went to the twin goddess temple to pay a healer to apply the initial treatments on Torris and Sten. Even though we can turn to the institute healers, but the temple is closer and as we get injured outside the institute, we will have to pay the healer directly, the institute only covers the cost of the healers when the injury is done inside the institute or doing a given activity by the institute.
So those left over went to the guild building to record the floor we stopped, I'm also interested in evaluating the material we got from the golem, I bet it must be worth a lot as the guardian's skill was quite unusual and useful.
I know Raziel is practically drooling over the shadow element's orb, but before we decide what to do with him, we have to figure out what exactly he is and how much he's worth, so we can calculate the value each team member can claim, so that Raziel can buy the parts that belong to the rest of the group.
Upon arriving at the guild building, I find myself pondering the best options I can pay to an evaluator in the guild or take it to Professor Frey who not only knows a lot about subjects, but also has the shadow element and it seems his research is related to shadow element matters.
I believe he will know exactly what this orb can be used for and what it is worth.
As the reception is empty today, it didn't take us long to be attended to and update our exploration record, the sale of the magic jewels was quick since we don't have much of them, but they netted a lot we won five thousand and five hundred gold coins today.
This amount will cover the healers' fee and repairing our equipment that wasn't destroyed, what's left will be divided into seven equal parts. Destroyed equipment does not enter the party's expenses as it is personal property.
Actually, going into a dungeon alone, I can earn a lot more money, but unfortunately this is extremely dangerous as you will be alone in the dungeon and if you are unlucky a tricky and strong guardian will seem to kill you in a painful way.
As I'm leaving the counter, as I've decided to take the shadow element orb for Professor Frey to assess, I'm stopped by an angry and confused Raziel.
"Don't get stressed, let's take the orb to Professor Frey, he might even end up buying it, and as a nice, upstanding teacher, we'll know exactly the value of the orb and he probably won't charge anything to evaluate the orb."
"I agree with him, Raziel."
"Okay then, but what if the teacher is busy right now. He could be working right now."
"So, and just wait for him to have time, the orb doesn't go anywhere before it's evaluated. And as it's tightly sealed, I doubt it's deteriorating so you can relax my friend."
But before we left, we were stopped by a very big adventurer. He's not exactly muscular like a bodybuilder, he's a fat guy with a muscle.
When he blocks our path, I reflexively use my eyes to study the fat one. He is a warrior with an elemental seed of the shadow and earth elements, and has a green core in the final stage.
"Hello my fellow adventurers, I'm Viktor. I apologize for listening in on your conversation, but I believe you must have gotten some shadow element material, I would like to buy it from you now."
"I don't mind your interest, but I don't intend to sell any material without it being evaluated. So, I'm sorry Viktor, but maybe after evaluating you I can think about selling it to you."
"Are you sure, I can buy the orb now for three thousand gold coins, but you have to accept it now."
"I refuse."
"Once you assess the orb, you may find that it is worth very little. I can buy it now without valuing it, three thousand coins and a pretty big value for a single material."
"I refuse. As I said, I will only decide what I will do with the orb after evaluating it."
"I have a friend who is an appraiser, his store and nearby how about I take you there. After discovering the value of the orb, I buy it."
"I refuse again. I already have a person very much in competition with you to evaluate the material."
"I loved meeting you Viktor, but since I have to go see my injured comrades at the temple, I unfortunately can't stay and talk anymore, goodbye Viktor."
Leaving behind a chubby warrior, who disappears among the people crossing the street. As this is weird to see, he must have used his shadow element I decided to be cautious.
"Follow me and no questions asked."
I turn away from the street and start running through the city, I head at the maximum of my speed towards the institute and along the way I keep looking for a green core with the earth element and shadow with my eyes.
But I didn't find anything that caught my attention, maybe I'm being too paranoid and that fat guy might just be an adventurer wanting to risk a purchase for a material that might be valuable.
Since I couldn't even find a stalker when we were close to the institute, I decided to reduce my run to see if anyone would intercept us. But when we arrived at the institute, no one came close to our position.
I'm really being paranoid, but I still believe that Viktor can be a cheater, he may not be a cheater thief but I still think he was trying to trick us by taking us to the shop of an appraiser friend, who would make a special appraisal in favor of Viktor
"Since we've arrived safely Ulric, will you tell us why you're afraid of being attacked?"
"That fat one wanted the orb we got from the guardian, he probably knows it can be valuable and as I got the impression, he was aiming to trick us into buying the orb for less than it's worth, I thought he might resort to theft or simply intimidation."
"You're being paranoid, he doesn't know our identities, he needs a really dumb guy to attack an adventurer he doesn't even know his name to steal material that might be valuable."
"I prefer not to risk it, Hilda. What do you think Raziel?"
"I think it's always good to be cautious, and as we've already arrived, we can go after Professor Frey so he can assess the orb."
I don't think Raziel doesn't care, that I think we might be robbed, he's very excited about the orb so coming running to the institute is fine with him.
"So, let's go after Professor Frey now."
It didn't take him long to find Professor Frey, he was teaching a class in one of the classrooms near his office. So, I decided to wait near the room where Professor Frey is teaching.
"Hilda, it looks like it's going to take a while, if you want you can leave, I'll meet you later to tell you how it went."
"Why should I leave?"
"Well, you usually like to go clean up after you leave the dungeon and I don't think you're as interested in the orb as Raziel is, so I figured you'd want to leave instead of standing here waiting for the teacher to finish teaching. "
I don't know why Hilda wasn't too happy with my question. Maybe he thought I was trying to get rid of her, but honestly, I'd rather get rid of Raziel and this orb to be with Hilda but I just know Professor Frey well enough to ask him to evaluate the orb.
"Then I'm leaving, after I'm done here you can go find me after you clean up Ulric."
With Hilda gone I am left alone with a Raziel who looks like a child on Christmas Eve, he truly believes this orb will be a useful treasure for him. I admit that the golem's ability was very interesting, but that doesn't mean it can be used by him.
"You know the orb, may be useless for you Raziel."
"Fuck you, don't be pessimistic, it's going to be a treasure!"
"But the more valuable it is, the more expensive it will be and you'll have to pay a lot to keep it."
"Why don't you go out to be with your girlfriend and let me take the orb for the teacher to evaluate."
"First, you don't know the teacher well enough to ask him for a favor. Second, I even wanted to go and ask Hilda if she wanted to shower together but I believe she would answer with the tip of her spear and not with the word yes, so I'm not an idiot to ask her that."
"I wish you were dumb enough to ask her that, it would brighten my day to see you being pursued by the entire institute."
"Well, sorry for disappointing."
We spent a little over half an hour waiting for Professor Frey to finish his class.