Youmu opened the double doors in front, the steel doors grinding against the floor as she took a foothold inside the Catastrophes guild house. She could hear the worn-out hum of the engine as the doors closed behind her, hearing more howls than hums.

Bright yellow lights greeted her, dotting all around the place as they stood in contrast to the red gleam of the metal walls and ceiling. It was a fairly small building, given that it was only a branch of the main guildhouse all the way out in the city of Kataro, but it still served its purpose. It wasn't a shabby place even- it could easily fit as one of the better buildings out there. Even without the guild banners draped on the walls, the sun yellow of the lanterns hanging from above was proof enough that this was a de facto building of the Catastrophes guild.

On the far side of the room was a counter. It sat between two winding stairs that led to a mezzanine up on the second floor complete with a small library filled with books. Behind the counter was a person of stature- a young man who wore a suit that fit him like a cherry on top of a cake. Plus, he had a sharp haircut.

"Your father has another task for you." The man said.

"Getting straight to the point, I see." Youmu said as she took a step closer, waving a quick hello to the pair of persons passing by.

"You know how he is." The man took his glasses off to wipe them with a cloth.

"Why are you here, Dazzle?"

"My father was called for a meeting by the upper class. I am here to take over his job for a while." Dazzle then gave away a hint of a smile. "Good to see you again, Youmu."

"At least someone knows his manners."

He gave away a laugh.

"So? What does he want me to do now?"

Dazzle's face suddenly turned sour, in stark contrast to his happy expression just moments before. It was as if he just drank a mouthful of sour lemons.

"We've found a corruption seed."

Youmu's eyes went wide.

"A real one?"

"Yes." Dazzle put on back his glasses. "Bronze rankers spotted the area north of the walls of the city. Only one came back with the news- the rest of his party- well, they weren't as fortunate."

"So it's already active." Youmu bit her lips.

The corruption was an unknown entity that threatened to corrupt the world- turn it upside down. It could take hold of places- locations, spread its influence, and corrupt any living thing unfortunate enough to come into contact with it.

It turned green grasses sickly purple, deformed lush trees into ugly macabre, and carved deep dark crevices into the ground. What comes out from those crevices are devils- mutated life forms the corruption consumed, bringing out monsters of every children's nightmare.

It was a dangerous element, taking hold of tens of worlds already.

"How long since the discovery?" Youmu pressed her hands on the counter, staring back into Dazzle's eyes with a cold, determined look.

"A week." Dazzle sighed.

"Already." Youmu returned his sigh with her own. "Nobody was sent in my stead?"

"There were many that went after it. But only a few of them came back." Dazzle took out a piece of paper from under the counter for Youmu to see. "Garafeit is but a small city, Youmu. Add to that- We're in Suna- a neutral world with no guilds nor major organizations funding. The adventurers here are but small-time nobodies."

"What about Kun?" Youmu eyed the paper, tracing her gaze to a couple of signatures written on it. "Did he not help the expeditions?"

"He was busy."

"That's what he always says." Youmu sighed, bringing a hand over her head before she met Dazzle's eyes. "We'll get ready by tomorrow. Until we get back, see you."

Youmu picked up a pen and signed her signature on the paper before giving it back to Dazzle.

"Don't die now Youmu."

"Oh please." Youmu turned to leave just before stopping in her steps.

"Right," Youmu pointed to the double doors.

"You might want to have that door looked into by a mechanic."

. . .

"Three silvers and ten coppers kido." The old merchant said.

"What?" Mat took back the bag of loot from the merchant's hands. He was in the marketplace, haggling for a straight price for the loot he got from killing the dungeon monsters. Seeing that there were more stands and humble houses dotting the place than tall red buildings, he was more or less in the outskirts of the city, a bit far from the hotel he was staying in.

"Don't try me, old man- I thought the average listing price was five silvers."

Mat could hear the many honks in the marketplace along with the shouting and talking and all the crowd noises. He didn't understand what the honking was all about, but he could take a guess. Apparently they were used by the merchants to draw people into their goods and merchandise, but from Mat's experience, the endless honking only served to annoy him.

"Four silvers then." The old merchant jingled the coin pouch in his hands. "More than that, you've lost me pal. I've got children to feed, wife to please, you know?"

"Add thirty coppers to that and we've got ourselves a deal."

The old man was hesitant but eventually gave in. Mat handed over his bag of minotaur horns and black lenses and all the monster essences in exchange for a pouch of coins.

"Pleasure doing business with ya." The merchant said as Mat jumped back into the crowd.

Surprisingly, the value of the coins was easy to keep track of. Each bronze coin was equivalent to roughly ten Philippine pesos, and in turn, one peso was equivalent to two pennies. For every hundred coppers, you got a silver coin. So by estimate, Mat got around a hundred dollars after that dungeon raid.

Just a hundred dollars. Mat was only able to clear the dungeon in three days because of the health potions. If he was going to go back into the same dungeon but with his own F-rank potions, it would take him at least a week to clear it. And a hundred dollars a week wasn't going to cut it. Not if he was risking his life for it.

"Damn." Mat pursed the pouch into his pocket. "That totally wasn't worth it. I'm still making less money than the average drug dealer."