Abel sat down on his bed, staring at the different cores that were laid out before him. Each of the cores before him held a beast soul, ready to be reconstituted as one of his future beast army. He wouldn't reconstitute all of them, and would most likely sell off a few to make some easy money. It was an attractive thought, as beast souls were quite rare, and just a simple mount could fetch quite the windfall.
Right now, the cores before him were as follows: two Gnoll beast cores, one Ground Rat core, and one Flame Wolf core. The Gnolls would be quite useful as a forward force, and as Breeze was an alpha of one such pack before, he would be able to handle them well. The Flame Wolf was a mix between a mount and fighter type beast soul. It would be able to bring some extra teeth to a fight, but Abel wasn't too sure yet. He would decide later when he went into town.
Of all the beast souls that he had scored in this run, the ground rat beast soul was the least useful. He already had Dust as a mount, and he had no use for another, as he wasn't really carrying enough load and supplies to warrant a second mount.
With that little thinking done, Abel packed up the cores and stuffed them into a bag before turning his attention to the other cores he had gotten. Ten ground rat cores, nine Gnoll cores, and 11 Flame Wolf cores, along with one Red Wing core. The Red Wing was the bird that had attacked him during his first moments on the Second Floor. From what his new friends had told him, the core of the bird would fetch quite a decent sum on the open market.
Happy with his gains from his one week long Tower Run, Abel stepped out of his room to inform Audu of his journey into the town to sell off the cores he had gotten.
"Oh? Since you are heading into town, you should stop by Arnold's place and pick up that armor he measured you for a couple weeks ago. It's long overdue by now." Audu thought for a while before suddenly telling him.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. Don't worry, I'll stop there after selling off the cores. Is there anything you need me to get you while I'm out?"
"A few more bottles of alcohol would be nice!" Came Audu's voice as he flashed a wide grin in Abel's direction.
"..."
...
Abel walked through the capital city of Seneris, his destination being the Relictomb Trading Center that had been set up by the government of the city. There, he would be able to sell off his cores at a satisfactory price that wouldn't be disadvantageous to him.
Soon, he came within visual range of the large building. The Relictomb Trading Center stood tall and proud, its stone walls glistening under the glare of the bright sun. The massive decorated metal gates that welcomed Tower Runners and merchants onto its property loomed overhead, seeming to cast a shadow over Abel in both a literal and figurative sense.
"Now that I think about it, the only cores I've ever brought here have always been ground rat cores. Now, I have Gnolls, Flame Wolves, and a Red Wing Core." Abel mused and rubbed his smooth chin as he walked into the building.
Unlike the outside of the building which only featured a modest trickle of people, the inside of the Trading Center was packed full with people. Men and women from all walks of life, dressed in all manner of things - robes, leather armor, metal armor, and other things, milled about the interior of the building.
Abel ignored all of the looks he got the moment he walked in. It was normal for other Tower Runners to size up their competitors, or scout out suitable squad mates that they could recruit into their various parties. He walked up to one of the less busy receptionists that he was quite familiar with. The young man featured a bored look on his face as he read through various reports that were submitted at the center. They were most likely reports pertaining to the monster wave of the day before.
"Excuse me, I'm here to exchange a few cores." Abel rapped his knuckles over the hard wooden counter.
"Sure thing. Just fill out this form." The clerk perked up, visibly pleased to have a valid reason to divert his attention from the reports he was reading. Abel picked up the form and took a few moments to examine it. He was already quite familiar with the contents of the form and only went through it to see if there was anything new added to it. The form was quite simple, just asking for the details of the kinds of cores one wanted to exchange for.
Upon finding that there was nothing different from what he was used to, Abel quickly filled out the form. Ground Rat, Gnoll, Flame Wolf, and Red Wing cores. He also made sure to fill out a special section that pointed out that he was submitting a core that held a beast soul. It was only the Ground Rat core that he decided to turn in, choosing to withhold the core that held the best soul of the Flame Wolf.
After filling it up, he turned it in for review to the clerk who quickly went over it. The young man's eyes widened as he passed over the section that stated the presence of a beast soul.
"Please, sir. You can submit your cores here, and the proper remuneration will be provided." The tone the young man took was entirely different from the lackadaisical tone he was using just a few moments earlier. Abel mentally shook his head as he presented his satchel that held the cores for exchange. The an quickly confirmed the cores in front of Abel before taking them to the back and returning the empty satchel to Abel. He also came with two pouches that most likely held the coins that the cores were worth. One was clearly larger than the other.
"Here is your remuneration, sir. I hope you continue doing business with us." With a slight bow, the young man handed over the pouches to Abel.
"Thank you." With a smile, Abel turned around and left, stuffing the pouches into one of his protected inner pockets.