"Here is your updated pass," the manager said, handing it to me.
Taking the pass in my hands, I examined it. The first thing that caught my eye was the color. It used to be green, and now it was yellow. Another difference was the image on the back of the pass. Now, it depicted five circles intersecting in the form of a polygon, whereas the previous pass had four circles connected in the shape of a square. Needless to say, there was a change in the category – the letter C was replaced by the letter B.
"I would like to inquire, is it possible to take the test to upgrade to A-rank?" I asked the manager.
"Possible, but I don't advise it. While you were able to impress the last dummy with magic, at this rate, you'll only be able to defeat the first dummy in the test, which is the limit of your strength," he replied.
"So, I don't have a chance to raise my pass rank?" I asked, not giving up.
"Unfortunately, no. You should understand why the system is like this. Although we can't be sure of your abilities, as there's no way to test them, your strength must be high enough to enter the dungeon. As you can see, in terms of strength, you can easily enter a B-rank dungeon, but whether you survive or not is unknown to us. At least in theory, you have the power to defeat them," the manager explained in detail.
From his words, it was clear that they implemented this system to reduce unnecessary casualties in the dungeon territories. Although, in my opinion, I would quickly improve there, as I only needed to buy new abilities from Ever, thereby increasing my characteristics. After bidding farewell to the manager, I headed to the exchange point, or more accurately, to the store in this Center.
It took me a few minutes to find the store. It was located near the exchange points. Perhaps, someone might wonder why I went in search of the store when I had nothing to sell or buy there, but the answer is simple. I'm going to the dungeon with Arman, which means I need to find out what is usually taken as trophies and rewards from the dungeon. So, I came to the store to see with my own eyes what other awakened individuals have brought from there.
Approaching the store, I saw quite a few people bustling around. The shop itself was small, or at least it seemed so until I approached it. From a distance, it seemed that the store was only a few dozen square meters, but it turned out to be more than a hundred square meters, and this was only the outer room of the store.
Entering the store, I decided to examine all the items on the shelves. Mostly, there were equipment items, such as armor. Continuing to browse the showcases, I possibly noticed the goal of my search. There were small stones with explanatory notes hanging on them, or more accurately, price tags. Taking the stones closest to me, I made a list:
Kobold Cores - $100.
Goblin Cores - $50.
Orc Cores - $300.
Arachnid Fangs - $1000.
I was surprised by materials like fangs; it turns out that even such materials are collected for sale. As evidence of this, I later noticed on the counter the Cyclops Eye, and just one eye cost a little over $40,000. Perhaps, they are rare, so they sell them at such a price.
After half an hour of wandering around the store, a male consultant approached me.
"Hello, I see you haven't found what you were looking for. Perhaps you need rare cores, rare monster parts, or armor not displayed here?" he said in one breath.
"I..." I was about to refuse his help, but quickly changed my mind and said, "Could you show me what you have in stock for rare materials?"
"Usually, dungeon cores transform into return stones. After using the return stone, the dungeon closes forever, but in rare cases, the dungeon core remains intact. So far, people haven't discovered the reason for this phenomenon, which is why dungeon core prices are high. As far as I understand, the price depends on the dungeon's territory. For example, the one that costs the least contains a dungeon of only 400 square meters. Most likely, weak monsters like skeletons or zombies inhabited it," she answered me in detail, for which I thanked her, of course.
"And how much would the dungeon core I obtained be worth?" I asked her eagerly, with golden sparks seemingly falling before my eyes.
"In your dungeon, it's definitely more than 10,000 square meters. To be precise, it's 12,795 square meters," Ever replied.
"So, if I wanted to sell it, it would be at least 10 million?" I said almost aloud, with dollars already in my eyes. In my previous world, I hadn't seen such money at all, and there was no one to expect such a sum from.
"You could easily sell it, but I don't advise you to.," she said.
"Of course, I won't. It's already decided that I need to open my guild, and for that, I need a place, which will be exactly that dungeon," I said, mentally lamenting the potential profit. With such money, I could stay indoors for the rest of my life, but unfortunately, I need to save this world, not wait for everything to settle on its own.
Sometimes I forget that I'm talking to her mentally, which is dangerous because if someone hears me, they might think I've lost my mind. I need to keep myself in check. Although I was happy, it's better not to show such a smile to the seller; otherwise, he might think I want to buy this core, and it would be even worse if he imagines that I plan to steal it; then, I would definitely be banned from coming here.
"Do you have anything like spell books or books with abilities in stock?" I asked the manager, deciding to inquire about possible future rewards. I think I can bring books from dungeons if, of course, they drop for me.
"Of course, there are, but there are only two, so the price is a bit steep," he said with a faint smile. All this time, while I was talking to Ever or examining what was inside the room, he stood there and smiled faintly, as if enjoying the scene before him.
"Understood. Then I would like to know, do you buy cores or other materials from awakened individuals?" I asked him with a faint smile. The presence of such books confirms that I will easily be able to sell the finds I will come across in the future.
"Of course, we do, but at the exchange point, they might pay you even more than we would, unless, of course, it's a dungeon core or books with abilities. We are happy to buy something so rare, but not cores. For example, goblin cores. We sell them for $50, and buy them for $30. At the exchange point, you'll sell them for $35. Of course, there are exceptions, like orc cores. In the exchange point, you'd get only $200 for it, while we would pay $250. Demand creates supply," he said, all with the same faint smile.
"Why is there such a difference in rewards?" I couldn't help but ask, as there shouldn't be such a difference in payment.
"Most of the materials obtained by the government from exchange points go either to government needs or for sale to small stores. Everything the government needs, they buy at a fairly high price, and for what small sellers need, they try to buy cheaply, giving preferences to awakened individuals in return. In turn, we only acquire what we need or what our clients need," he answered, not changing himself, still with the same smile.
"Understood. I have a question: what materials do you need right now?" I asked him with hope, even though I might not need money right now, but there may come a time when I do, especially if I want to open my guild in the future. So, it's worth saving, even if it's just a penny.
"We have nothing to hide, so I can share it with you. You don't let go of your pass, as far as I can see, you are an awakened B-rank, so you can gather orc cores for us. As you heard before, we buy them at a fairly high price, although it would be better to obtain materials from centaurs because for one core, we'll pay you $500 immediately, and if there are other materials, the reward will be even higher," he replied, not removing the smile from his face.
"I will try," I said, after which I bid him farewell.
When I had already distanced myself a decent distance from him, he addressed me. Turning to him, I didn't see a smile on his face. With a stern or, more accurately, a grim expression, he said to me:
"Don't lose your life in pursuit of money, for your life is the greatest capital you have ever had."