I nod, and Leo leads us down the hall past over half a dozen identical doors until he turns into another mana-shielded room just like the one we left.
Instead of being wide open like the last one, this room is split into two halves with the same high B-Grade mana shielding dividing it in the center.
There's a long bench and table on both sides of the wall and a clear section so both sides can see each other, with two silver metal cubes built into the wall on both sides of the glass-like material. They look like they have mechanisms to open and close on both sides of the wall.
Leo and his two water-wielding guards go on one side, and Ember, Lith, and I go on the other.
Leo is the first to speak up, pointing to the silver cubes.
"Press the control panel when you are ready to begin."
There is a small silver tablet built into the table in front of us that we sit on, and I press it at the same time Leo does.
I hear a click on his end and mine.
The cube to my right opens up next to me, and the cube to my left opens up on his side of the table.
At the same time, the door we walked through to get in here shuts abruptly and the center of the room seals itself to make the room split evenly in half.
I watch him place an item box in his cube and press the tablet. It clicks closed, so I do the same, taking the item boxes full of gear and potions out from my storage and placing them into the cube open in front of me. Then, press the tablet to initiate the trade.
It clicks shut, and immediately two more clicks echo through the room and the left cube opens.
I pull it out and look inside to start counting out the money inside and confirm it's the exact amount.
Leo begins sifting through the item boxes I sent him and takes about ten full minutes to go through his papers and tally everything he has.
Then, he nods and presses the tablet again to have the cube on his end close.
I do the same, seeing that I've got everything I need from this deal.
The moment I do, the silver box shuts and the door sealing the room opens up. The open hallway is visible to both of us.
It's a very cool mechanism, and now I want to build one myself back in the Crimson City to conduct similar deals.
If either party isn't happy with their trade, they can withhold both parties from leaving the sealed rooms until the proper deal is done.
Leo looks through the clear section in the center of the shielding and speaks up again.
"These are good items. Who makes them? And where do you source the raw materials from? Is there truly no limit to how much we can order per month?"
He turns to Lith.
"Your middleman here told me you could handle ten times this order if needed, is that really true?"
He turns his head back to me curiously, and the room falls silent for a few seconds.
Then, I respond in a static voice through the appraisal-blocking armor.
"I have some dungeons I farm from in the Dark Continent, and a small team of skilled craftsmen that is capable of fulfilling orders no matter the size."
He thinks to himself before responding.
"What about that armor? Who makes it? And can we purchase items of that quality in a future order?"
I nod slowly.
"Armor like this is not for sale, but I can provide some high B-grade gear at a premium. The only catch is I need to limit the quantity."
Leo smiles and leans in.
"Of course, the high price of goods would be meaningless if there was no longer any scarcity or demand for it. What do you have to offer?"
I run him through the usual spiel that I have all of the other regions and sectors about my offer for special items, and his eyes widen more and more the longer I talk.
I know his skill is similar to that of a craftsmanship one, so it's clear he realizes that this is either a unique version of the skill like his, or above just legendary grade; however, he doesn't say it straight to my face.
He just looks at both of the guards behind him, then to me.
"I'll pay the full 999 gold right now, but I want two orders done here in front of me to see it work with my own eyes."
I pause, looking at him for unusually long beneath my armor, because I never said I was the one with the craftsmanship skill.
However, I'm confident in my concealment. Even if he used some unique appraisal gadget to make it through my black armor, I'm sure it's impossible to read my actual status in the state I'm currently in. Thanks to the divine item Ember applied to my status this morning, not even I know how to break through it if I wanted to.
Even so, I reply.
"Fine, what is it you'd like?"
We discuss what's possible for a few more minutes, then land on the fact that the two guards standing behind him need upgrades to their gear because they're going to be attending the B-Class exams in a few days.
Having high-powered water-imbued gear will surely give them an edge.
The next round of trades using the cubes consists of the guards handing over a longsword and a chestplate along with large containers full of their blood for me to activate the bond. On my end, I give them both mythic-grade regeneration potions to restore their lost blood.
Leo's eyes widen with surprise again once he touches one of the potions, and I tell him just one of those would be considered a special item too. I'm only giving it to them because I know they'll drink it on the spot.
Leo's curiosity grows more and more as I pull out two extreme-grade water stones to begin the crafts.
I increase the longsword's basic stats all up over +175% on all five slots, imbue swordsmanship into the item to give the wielder better instincts and accuracy while holding it, and add three additional water stones to increase the intensity of elemental magic.
The chestplate is imbued with body-hardening and three water stones as well, bringing its defense stat up to +250% and the others all above +150%. The hardening attribute mixed with the water stones creates a natural dark blue layer of shielding that expands over the entire body of the hunter using it. It can be controlled in density just like mana shielding, basically, it's created a stronger layer of full-body defense that seeps out of the dark blue chestplate.
Once I trade the completed items back, the water wielders and the artificer are in shock at the one-of-a-kind priceless items they're holding in their hands.
"These... these are basically A-Grade items. I've never even seen something like this in a public auction. What- how?"
I count off the 999 gold he's sent over with a smile on my face beneath my helmet and place it into my item storage before replying.
"The how isn't for you to worry about. I'm glad to do business with you for many months, or even years to come."
There's another pause as they equip the gear and still stand in awe at its power.
"So, how about that final item? What would you like me to make for you? And is there another basic order of E to C-Grade goods you would like to have crafted for next month?"
Leo turns back to me while pulling another pouch out from beneath the table and nods.
"Yes, I believe I would like to make another order—well, two orders actually."
He places the bag into the silver cube, and we repeat the trade process, but I don't give him anything in return this time.
As I look through the pile of gold and platinum inside the item box he just handed me, he speaks up.
"That's a new order for the Vice Region. You said you could handle ten times the output, so I'm giving it to you. There's another small order of items from the Apex region that we'll accept for them. The regional leader up there isn't too friendly with outsiders, I hope this is acceptable."
I nod and place the item box into my storage.
"Of course, I'll get it done. No problem. How about that final special item, any preferences? Or would you like to think on it?"
Leo smiles.
"I'm going to have to ask the Director once he's back from the B-Class exams candidate selection in the dungeons. I believe the trials and extended training sessions will be going on for another full day. I hope there's no rush."
"No rush at all, take your time. As you can see, it doesn't take me long to complete a high quality craft."
I turn to Lith.
"Just contact him through the usual channels. I can create anything the Regional Director desires, within reason."
Leo responds.
"Very well."
Then, both of us start to come to the conclusion that the meeting is over.
Lith even pulls out a transport crystal that would bring us back to Sector 1, but I speak up out of curiosity on a point Leo just made.
"If you don't mind answering, what do you mean by the Director picking candidates for the B-Class exams? Is there more than just being above level 500 to attend that event?"
Leo looks at me curiously.
"Well, each region allows up to twelve top applicants to apply. It's the yearly test to see how strong each region has become. This is about showing the progress of the regional directors, not just for the hunters themselves."
I nod slowly, and turn to eye the white gem in Lith's hand, but Leo keeps speaking.
"We lost a good amount of this year's candidates in a labyrinth collapse out in Sector 4, so the Director is personally making sure we fill in those slots and training them up in one of the B-Grade dungeons. Half the city knew this; we held an event for level 400 and above hunters to apply all month."
I reply.
"That makes sense. I don't exactly spend time in the Vice Region; I was just curious."
I pause a moment longer, then ask another question.
"Why don't they just use the labyrinth to train up recruits? Wouldn't that be faster and more efficient than B-Grade dungeons?"
Leo's eyes tighten.
"Sometimes curiosity is best left as just a question. I wouldn't go asking things you don't want to know the answers to."
I let out a sigh and take the transport crystal from Lith and hold it up in front of me while Ember and Lith put their hands on my shoulder.
"I didn't mean to pry, I'm just a new businessman from the Dark Continent trying to get to know the mainland."
Leo smirks.
"Right. Well, I'll just leave it at this. The Vice Region doesn't exactly own the labyrinth. It just happens to be here. We only do what is within our authorization."
I nod and crush the crystal in my hand.
"Understood. Nothing more for me to know. I look forward to crafting that item for the Director. See you next month with the goods you've ordered."
He gives me a nod back before the room fills with transport magic and we find ourselves back in the Galeheart Tower.
I pull off my helmet and let the rest of the armor fall into my item storage to leave a wide smile across my face, turning to both of them.
"Jackpot! From all the regions so far, that's 310 Platinum in revenue today. 30 of it is from special orders—"
Lith interjects.
"Well—soon 40, I'll get you your 10 platinum today with a list of items I want."
I nod, doing some math in my head.
"That means 280 platinum is this month's 25% worth of down payments. After splitting that up between payouts for the guildhall and paying Bri's craftsman team, the payout of pure profit from the remaining 75% will be 840 platinum... Plus the 40 from special orders, 880... I'll probably make a few platinum overall from sales in the guildhall too, but that'll be burned through when I give weekly aid packages at the rate new citizens are entering the town. Still, nearly a 1k platinum month. This is good..."
Lith hops on the elevator to go to his vault and grab money to pay me while Ember and I are standing in the middle of the lobby.
Ember speaks up.
"That was a very interesting trip; you're making some fascinating allies and even playing nice with your enemies without them even knowing. Humans are very tricky creatures to figure out sometimes."
I reply.
"I plan to build this trade route far larger than it is now and expand my city much further, but I need to know exactly who I'm dealing with without anyone getting too suspicious. Let's go to the dungeons back in the Crimson City. I need to learn how to control this concealment item as soon as possible. There isn't much time left until the B-Class exams."
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Author's Note:
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