The Short white-haired woman looks at me with a troubled look on her face.
"What... exactly are you trying to learn about Strengthening Fragments?"
As I prepare to speak, I position my right hand on the counter's edge.
"Well, first of all, tell me why these Fragments are so valuable. What are they even used for?"
A sigh of relief escapes the merchant's lips as she stands up straight again exuding a newfound sense of confidence.
"Well, if that's all... Please let me explain. Strengthening Fragments are what some in the Association call the War Drug."
I scrunch my eyebrows, looking at her with a confused expression across my face.
"A War Drug? ... Why is it called that? Or- I don't really care why it's called that, just explain it to me in simple terms. What do they do?"
"Sure, sure. They got the War Drug nickname from Hunters that got addicted to these things back in the Great War. They're consumables, boosting your MP output for a few seconds, maybe even close to a minute."
I raise an eyebrow.
The merchant woman shakes her head and raises both hands in the air.
"Hey, hey don't get any funny ideas! If you took one of these right now you'd end up in the hospital, no doubt! Their usage is highly restricted and only approved for certain high-ranking hunters for vital missions these days. Elites aren't even allowed unless given special permission. They're also used for certain crafting recipes, their dormant mana output is a good catalyst for all kinds of item creation spells."
She whispers under her breath in a mumbled tone.
"I don't know why the Director put the 4 of you in charge of collecting Fragments... Sure is a crazy week 1 assignment if you ask me."
I nod, crossing my arms and thinking about what a Fragment would feel like... Or how exactly they work... They must feel really good...
A familiar voice snaps me out of my daydream as I turn to see Tripp walking toward us while a wide grin across his face.
"I had a feeling I'd find you guys here. Looks like you're all on time today!"
He looks at me with a smirk while I roll my eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. I made it."
Tripp glances toward Sophie, and their eyes meet briefly, exchanging a shared look of concern. Tripp turns his gaze back to the 4 of us and puts both of his hands up in the air.
"Ready to get the day of hunting started?"
With a collective nod of agreement, we all proceed to follow Tripp, leaving the backrooms and out onto the busy street. Before we know it, we're in The Great Plains getting ready to fight.
The first few kilometers in are the worst. Everyone here but Tripp knows about my teleportation skill. It's a bit of a drag to keep it hidden, but I'd rather not have him know about it.
He's a nice guy and all, it's just that the Association has its claws deep in him. I can tell if it were a choice between my livelihood and making the Director happy, he'd choose him without hesitating for a second.
[Level Up]
During our walk, I level up again. I curiously check my status to see the blue text show level 406 without a doubt. I can't help but smile, reassured by the thought of Ember diligently chipping away at the mindless Titans at the back of the dungeon.
The mobs are easy pickings over the next 2 hours or so until we finally make it into a range of potential mutants. Arie is the first to speak up.
"Hey Tripp, we should split up and track down the mutants individually. Don't you think that'd be a better use of our time? Each of us can definitely handle these monsters by ourselves."
The blond-haired dagger wielder shrugs while scratching his chin.
"Sure, I don't see why not. None of you are going to get lost in here will you?"
Wearing a smirk, he looks over all of my teammates before pausing his gaze on me.
I respond with a bored expression, noticing his growing fondness for singling me out lately. I can't say I'm a huge fan of being Tripp's verbal punching bag.
"I'm the least of your worries...."
"We'll see about that! How about we all meet back here in 3 hours, if everything goes well we can do one more breakout and call it a day."
The four of us nod in agreement. Arie already knows I'm teleporting out of here the moment our guide loses sight of me, and the others assume as much too.
Our teleporting mutant killing spree begins the second we cross over the nearest hill. I explain the game plan and they all grab onto my arm.
I blip to the nearest mutant and drop Aire off.
"I'll be back shortly."
Seconds later I leave Abby with a mutant 2km away. Then, in the blink of an eye, I drop off Maria another 1km into the dungeon.
I zip back and forth letting the 3 of them collect mana crystals and kill mutants along with their underlings. It's a very efficient battle plan, I even kill a few while I wait in between their fights.
In this short period of time, we manage to defeat close to 200 mutants. Oddly enough, not a single one drops a Strengthening Fragment.
I teleport the 3 of them back near the meeting point assigned by Tripp once we've finished this farming session. I turn around to look deep into the dungeon.
"I'll... be back in 10 minutes, 20 tops. I just need to check on something."
They all give me exhausted waves and don't seem too worried about me going off alone for a bit. With a shrug, I Dungeon Walk away before any of them can change their minds.
In the blink of an eye, I teleport over 15km and activate my telepathy skill. I watch the crimson underside of my Dragon's wings flap above me. The glossy black-scaled beast glides down to greet me.
"Good to see you Jay, welcome back. I have some good and bad news for you."
I smile but raise an eyebrow at the same time.
"It's good to see you too Ember. Go ahead, lay the bad news on me first."
The majestic creature bows its head.
"It seems as though our leveling progression has slowed. As I said before, the threshold to higher levels gains will not be easily met with these low-ranked Void Creepers. Even the one we were trapped in hardly gave us levels during our last few hours inside. "
I nod, tapping a foot on the hard dungeon ground as he continues.
"Our best options to ensure my next rank up in the future would be finding a large labyrinth to run, or defeating many higher level beings."
I let out a chuckle.
"Yes, yes. That much I assumed. I'm working on getting us set up with one of those options soon. Now... what's the good news?"
The 7m long creature opens its mouth wide, to reveal a small pile of black gemstones inside. With a tilt of his head, they glimmer slightly in the sunlight while falling to the dungeon floor.
They all hit the dusty soil with small thuds one by one.
Frozen in awe for a moment, I count the mini gemstones scattered across the ground. Once they're all mentally accounted for in my head, my body finally moves to respond.
"You managed to defeat 12 of them... You killed 12 Titans overnight...?"
I grin while picking up the stones, then letting them make light clicking sounds as I roll them around together in my open palm.
"I did. I'll be able to defeat more if you please. After another dozen or so we will gain another level, but I don't think it's worth the time to stay here much longer. I can collapse this dungeon at your-"
I laugh out loud, rudely cutting Ember off.
"Sorry, but we won't be collapsing this gold mine any time soon!"
The Dragon turns its head to the side curiously as I hold up one of the black stones up high In the air between us.
"See these? Humans pay a lot of money for gems like this. I'll be training with my team for another 5 days after today. I want you to collect as many of these little black stones as you can. Get your fill on these Titans, once we leave this dungeon, It'll be near impossible to find mana that dense... Trust me."
"Very well. I will gladly plunder the MP from these pests."
"Great, glad you enjoy the work. I'll see you soon Ember."
I shut off the telepathic link and watch my black-scaled companion flap his wings and fly up into the sky.
I walk through the open-aired dungeon for a moment, continuing to roll the dozen black gems around in my hands. I decide to place 11 of them in my item storage and leave 1 out. I toss it up and down while looking off into the distance.
Letting out a sigh, I bring my gaze back to the tiny dark glistening crystal resting in the palm of my hand.
"I wonder what it'd feel like to try one of these...Strengthening Fragments...?"