"Boy, you reek of blood," the taxi driver, a dark-skinned man, glanced at him through the rearview mirror.
Noah awkwardly turned in the seat. The injury didn't hurt anymore, but the itching in the claw mark was annoying.
"I was running a dungeon," he said. To that, the driver merely nodded.
"You better go to the medical faculty quickly. You know, some wounds may become nasty..."
Noah nodded. Injuries were common in Zenith, most of them were treatable in here.
Using healing potions too often could reduce the body's ability to heal naturally.
So, unless it was dire, most runners didn't use healing potions. Allowing themselves to be treated in a mundane way increased the body's adaptability to heal from injuries.
Noah had heard that warriors intentionally hurt their bodies to improve their healing speed. He wasn't a fan of such training, but he didn't want to use healing potions unnecessarily.
He planned to go to the medical faculty after selling his loot. While on the way, he found something strange in the streets.
The streets were filled with people, most of them had slightly anxious expressions. He gazed at the driver and saw his face had the same expression.
His brows furrowed as he asked, "What's going on here lately? Any function or something like that?"
"You didn't check your smartwatch?" the driver asked in a slightly surprised voice.
"In short, there's a dimensional break a month away. The Lord has ordered all runners between Tier 2 and Tier 5 to attend academy training for a month," he explained fear gripping in his voice.
The driver was just an ordinary person lucky to be get a job in a shooting star with high pay. He never expected a dimension break to occure in the day he joined to job after long vacation.
'I should've asked for another month…pity my wife is annoying..'
"A dimensional break?" Noah was taken aback. He'd read about the dimension break a hundred years ago, the event that propelled the current emperor from an ordinary runner to a successful ascender.
Modrich, too, had spoken highly of the emperor. In Modrich's words, the current emperor was someone who defied all conventional principles of him.
So Noah also highly respected the emperor. Idol of his idol was also his idol.
'And after clearing that rift, he saved a female dragon and they became a couple...'
He wondered how a human tamed a dragon. Perhaps the inner dragon of him would be praise worthy. Noah silently glanced down, then straight with a shrug.
'I am growing…I am still a child… I am growing…I am stil a child…'
Noah respected that man. Courting a female dragon was akin to courting death. And he courted and not courted to death.
In Noah's idol book, after Modrich was the emperor.
He opened the network to see the urgent announcement from Adam Zenith. It stated that the Rift had tier restrictions, only Tier 2 to Tier 5 could enter.
Adam had ordered every runner within this range to run the rift, or they would be expelled from Zenith.
'Tsk.. what a foxy bastard..'
The academy would conduct special training for this, and everyone had to attend.
Noah then read about Adam's explanation of the rewards, which he merely scoffed at.
Sure, a multidimensional rift held treasures that could arouse the greed of higher-tier runners and even Ascendants.
But the challenges to obtain these treasures were deadly. Inside, they not only had to be wary of monsters but also of their own kind and alien species.
'Well those who feared challenges aren't qualified to be Rift walkers anyway..'
Also, through that rift, powerful beings from other dimension also could infiltrate. Granted, there were tier restrictions, but the previous rift had similar restrictions.
Yet, powerful beings from outside had entered Eldoria, claiming the lives of millions.
Powerful beings always found ways to circumvent restrictions.
Noah sighed, feeling a headache coming on. Before he could train properly, trouble seemed to be knocking on his door.
'Thundrith, you are my lucky star..'
'Sizzle..'
That's not something to be proud Thundrith….
'Sizzle…'
Noah controlled his bloodline from sending another electric spark lest to scare the already sweating poor driver.
His plan was to reach Tier 3 within two months and challenge a rift to become a Rift Walker. Now, it seemed he would have to challenge a rift before reaching Tier 3.
'It's not bad thing anyway..' Noah stared at his experience points.
[Exp: 130/10000]
A Rift had more monsters than conventional dungeons. And they gave more exp.
'Also more danger…'
The taxi stoped at the huge gate of Champer of commerce. The driver peeked at him through the mirror without telling anything.
Noah coughed, guilty looking at the burnt seat. Perhaps he should complain on forum to make commuting vehicles here electric proof.
"Take this…."
He added money for damages he done with the pay to the poor driver, then accepting the thanking nodd, exited.
Stepping through the gate, he was greeted by a two story building. Not many people were here, mainly because the prices offered here were lower than other markets.
If possible, Noah didn't want to sell his loot here either. But his situation was different.
Gloom Stalkers only spawned in the dungeon "The Emerald Grotto."
So, if he sold the obviously higher-quality loot from there, which might attract a lot of prying eyes and people would find about this dungeon.
Like that his money-making plan would fail before it even started. Noah didn't want such thing to happen.
That's why he chose to sell his loot here, accepting a loss rather than selling outside.
The Chamber of Commerce never sold things in Shooting Stars, they only sold to the outside world.
So, for a short time, no one would know about his secret.
That was enough for him to reap maximum profit. With a smile, he walked towards the reception.
There stood a lady with a professional smile. Upon seeing him she greeted with enthusiasm.
"Welcome to Chamber of commerce. What are you looking for sir?"
"I want to sell…."
His words stunned her. Her gaze turning to his face as a happy expression appearing in her face.
"I am glad…."