Just as the gigantic snake, about the height of cow, had been rushing out of the cave, Vice knew that he’d need to prepare for a battle. Without hesitation he let the mana in his body surge forth to cast his spell Chaotic Roulette, which gave him a random weapon imbued with chaos magic particles. The arcana in the surroundings became much thicker as the two opponents were stood still, sizing each other up. The snake looked back at Vice with its green eyes, positioning its tail in a manner Vice knew to be its striking position.

‘Huh, that was a good draw if I may say so. I actually was able to get an appropriate weapon for this large monster. What a surprise,’ Vice thought. Memories of all the times he’d been unfortunate enough to roll the wrong weapon began to flash in his mind. For instance, he’d once been fighting a very sturdy Mountain Bear which had tough fur and a thick exterior which wasn’t easily pierced, and instead of getting a great sword, he rolled for a rapier, which was all but useless for that battle. Rapier’s were more suited for agile attacks where Vice needed something able to break through a sturdy defense.

‘I should be just outside its striking range,’ he thought as he glared at the monster. Vice carefully took some tiny steps back, until he was in between two thick oak trees. He then taunted the snake by hissing at it and stamping his feet on the soil.

The snake’s patience seemed to have run thin because it sprung forth towards Vice, opening its jaws wide. Its large black fangs were revealed, and a venomous green liquid shot out of the holes of the two hollow fangs.

CRASH!

The snake followed Vice carefully, its eyes solely focused on him, to its own detriment. Just as it was lunging for Vice again, he moved behind a thick brown tree. The snake smashed into the tree. Shards of bark were flung into the snake’s face and eyes, momentarily blinding it as it screeched in pain.

Vice didn’t need more time than he’d just been given. With a loud huff and heave, he raised the heavy great sword into the air with ease, despite his slender frame, and dropped it onto the snake’s head like a crashing meteor. Blood splattered out from the wound and created a fountain of rain with the decapitated snakehead as its source. All of the grass touched by the blood sizzled and wilted immediately, whilst Vice was unaffected by the acidic blood.

“Well that snake was huge but so weak, size isn’t everything it seems,” Vice mumbled. He then went to work on the corpse, removing each of its scales and placing them into his pouch. He then plunged his hands into the snake’s body and wriggled around for a while before feeling a small stone within, which he quickly pulled out. After that, he put the remaining snake carcass into the pouch as well. A bright green stone the size of a finger was currently sat in the boy’s hands, a dim green light was emitted from it.

‘I guess it’s better than nothing, but the arcana in this core is too weak. I’ll just sell it instead, it’s worthless for me to use in cultivating,’ he thought.

The sun had already started to set, and darkness was beginning to take over. The nocturnal birds were flying about, seeking their prey, be it mice, worms or rabbits. The hoots of owls loudly echoed in the forest as Vice left the area.

A much gentler breeze than during the day accompanied Vice from behind during his walk back to Restok. If there was one thing he truly enjoyed, then it was staring at the moon. Being bathed by its light left him feeling rejuvenated, and calmness always took over at night for Vice. In the dark, he felt much more appreciated and loved than anywhere else, whereas in the day he felt weaker and less confident in himself and his fighting capabilities.

After a while, he finally reached the looming walls of Restok. The large stone walls that surrounded the whole city made it seem like a fortress from the outside, yet there was a lot of illegal and criminal activity that went on in certain parts of the city. Restok housed many different guilds, including the Adventurers Guild, Magicians Guild, and of course the Treasure Hunters Guild which was where Vice was headed to.

A large building stood inconspicuously in between two other buildings which were just as large, however, its neighbors had a much more extravagant architecture. The Adventurers’ Guild had been decorated with a golden sword and shield which hung from the top of the three-story building, whilst the Magicians’ Guild had a statue of a woman holding a wand placed in front. The Treasure Hunters’ Guild was a simple building, there was absolutely nothing unique about it, despite the guild having an income comparable to that of the other two guilds. The building looked like a plain apartment complex from the outside, with multiple windows dotted along it.

Unlike the other two guilds, however, the Treasure Hunters’ Guild was open all day, every day of the week. There was always a clerk available at the front office, as well as a troupe of guards. This was due to the nature of the guild. It was much safer for its members to be able to hand over the valuable stuff they’d gathered from their quests as soon as possible, rather than have to wait until daylight came for their haul to be appraised. It would be a shame if thieves were able to ambush the guild members before they could finish their quests.

A bell rang as Vice opened the front door to the guild. Multiple chandeliers were hung from the ceiling, illuminating the inside of the room. Two guards were standing at the side of the front desk where a petite woman was currently sat browsing through some papers. Her blond hair shone under the ambient lighting, and her blue eyes sparkled as she looked at her paperwork.

“Oh, Vice? You got back quickly. How did it go?” Jenny asked. She put down the quill in her hand into a bottle of ink and moved herself closer to the counter as she inspected Vice.

“Here,” Vice said and handed her a second pouch from his belt. He’d already moved the contents of his excavation into it from his primary one, as it was much easier to do this than to take everything out one by one to be appraised.

Jenny’s eyebrows flared up with as she closed her eyes to examine the contents of the brown pouch she had been handed. Just by touching the pouch, anybody would be able to see all of the items inside which was many times larger than it was on the outside. “That’s a… dragon tooth? And those are the scales of an Emerald Viper… What’s more, you even put in the beast’s arcane core, but why? Won’t you use it?” Jenny asked, each of her words forced out of her lips as if she couldn’t believe what she was saying.

Vice simply stood there and shrugged his shoulders. He waited quietly, saying nothing to the girl. He looked around the room instead whilst tapping his fingers against his waist.

‘Ah come on, Vice, you need to work on your communication skills. You can’t only talk normally with your close friends and that mother of yours. Just tell her why you aren’t keeping the stuff,’ Favian said in Vice’s mind.

‘Who cares? They never tried to understand me, so why should I try to understand them?’ he replied. He didn’t hate humans, however, he didn’t like them either, despite being what seemed to be a halfing, a half-human entity.

‘Yeah fair enough, but Jenny literally has never done anything wrong to you. You need to learn to pick your battles more carefully instead of condemning a whole race.’ Favian sighed.

“Oh, okay … Well, here’s the payment for completing our request, and the extra amount for securing the Emerald Viper corpse. The total comes to 100 gold pieces,” Jenny said awkwardly. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“What’s that?” Jenny mumbled as Vice handed her the broken necklace he’d found in the cave.

“From the three who went missing,” Vice said. He didn’t wait for a response from the woman, and instead turned around and promptly left the building. He made his way through the empty streets of Restok. Only drunkards and beggars were roaming through the dark night.

The buildings here were tall and extravagant, a homage to the wealth of the residents in this specific area. Each building had a front lawn filled with flowers and colorful plants. Vice was stood in front of one of these buildings, and inserted his key into the lock of a pale yellow door. With a click, the door was unlocked and Vice slowly opened it, revealing a relatively luxurious interior. Chandeliers were on the ceiling, there were plenty of mirrors and art pieces along the walls, and even statues and sculptures were dotted around.

‘To think this whole building cost you only 70 gold. This planet brings me new surprises every day,’ Favian said into Vice’s mind.

‘Seventy gold is more than what many can make in their lifetime… Huh, is my mother up? But it’s too late, she’s never awake at this time of the day,’ Vice thought to himself as he looked toward the kitchen where the light was currently shining bright.

“Mom, are you awake?” he asked, his deep voice echoing through the building. He waited for a moment, however, got no response. “She must have left the light on,” he said, but immediately became more aware of his surroundings as he sensed some sort of danger: His mother would never leave any light on because she knew that he preferred the darkness.

‘Hey, Favian, do you sense that too?’ he asked as he got closer to the kitchen. A bitter smell, like burnt chocolate, entered his nostrils. He was completely alert at this point, and peeked around the corner, to see his mother collapsed on the kitchen floor.