2 days later.

"You say you have entered a contract with a newly spawned dungeon and obtained its influence and cooperation. I see… that is unexpected, but fine. Your tributes shaw have to be adjusted and an envoy will be sent to speak personally to the dungeon, but besides that I imagine you already filled it in on our agreement. Besides the normal agreement it will also have to keep itself with a limited amount of monsters and provide samples of its available resources. In case of building a mine 20% shaw be given as tribute and in case of crop expansion the agriculture tax shaw be raised to 25%. Certain services will be available the next time a band comes around next month and an official will be sent with then to bind the contract. We are carrying some books for other dungeon tribes, so ask it if it intends to buy something, we can work on a monthly payment of parcels if it can't pay for the book right now to a certain extent." Explained the caravan leader while looking for a list of available books and resources.

"He asks for a table with the exchange rates for units of minerals and diamonds, if it wouldn't be too inconvenient. " Asked Tsu with a smile while doing her best to be polite as well while in front of the stern woman.

"One moment." Said the tall woman while flipping through many pages and taking three out after some time.

"Thank you." Said the hobgoblin while accepting the lists with exchange tables.

"You're welcome. If it decides to purchase something please go talk to the resource manager like normal, but be sure to return the papers before we depart or a fine will be issued."

"Understood."

"She's turned around, tell me what my diamonds are worth and what I can buy already!" excitedly said Aki, who had been acting like a brat ever since the elves didn't upfront attack.

'Shut up or you will wait for another half an hour!' Mentally said the stressed woman. Dealing with business was never her Forte, and taking care of a brat at the same time was wearing on her.

And so Aki shut the fuck up and waited his now illiterate ass out till the older woman read for him.

Turns out Aki actually had lots of money.

Even if each diamond he had was only worth two or three gold coins, he had tons of it. Turns out having three reinforced skeletons constantly mining for days on end was more than a good idea even if the diamond source started having an actual cost to maintain production in such scale.

After causing the price of diamonds to fall a bit, Aki had around a hundred five gold coins. Yes, one gold can sustain a family of three human peasants for a year. It is also used the same way on the underdark, yes.

Though they did not pay him fully in gold, but books and materials as well, because the caravan itself couldn't simply give out all the gold it had in the middle of they travel and Aki was going to buy things anyway.

In the end, Aki got some poisons, some meat from monsters hunted on the way, some tools that were actually meant for the goblin tribes to buy and books. There were titles such as:

*Basic/intermediary metallurgy

*A guide to better smithing.

*101 concoctions all alchemists need to know.

*basic/intermediate/advanced magical theory

*The book of affinities ed:644

*How I raised my undead army.

*Summoning and you.

*Official dictionary Ed:102 Volume: from common to old elven.

*Official dictionary Ed:108 Volume: from common to 'Nastur'

The drown didn't actually have the advanced magical theory for sale, Aki bartered for it with a nerd gal that didn't seem to like being there.

It mostly went like this:

"You'd need to have something of equal value at the very least." She said and scoffed.

"What about this, play some dice with me (Tsu) and if I win he gets the book, if you win you get to ask for whatever you want from a dungeon. Anything." Said the woman as an interpret.

"I want to play with a witness to verify if he isn't cheating and if I win I get the dungeon core." Said the serious elf.

"I don't think that's…"

[Contract firmed]

And so they played dice with the witness of the caravan leader and Aki easily won.

Why you ask? He cheated, of course. He may be nuttier than squirrel heaven, but even he wouldn't do himself in such a way.

How you… k, gonna stop that. He used pure mana, something you get after taking all attributes out of the mana around, it is impossible to detect unless you are looking for it with a dragon, whose species are naturally more attuned to the world and can notice something strange, or with an artifact made exactly for that, but would you look at this? There's no such thing in the whole world! I wonder why…

Kidding, it's not plot armor, just plain difficult to know and use pure mana, never mind making something with it.

I mean, who is going to dive to the bottom of the ocean and kill the kraken emperor that ate the natural treasure capable of detecting natural mana, get the one stuck in a crack inside a lava flux of a volcano or steal the orb of the supreme lich?

Not someone unimportant enough to be there, that's for sure.

The best part? The girl didn't read the whole contract.

Having said too much during his guidiness streak after going out with his uncle and eating in the bill of another, the usual narrator has been suspended.

*****

After our main character listened to a Hobgoblin complaining to him about not being let in on what was happening, he rapidly proceeded to read the magic books together with her.

"Such flowery language…" She complained on the first book.

"You get used to it."

"What are…" She cursed on a complex part.

"Arteries and arterioles, blood vessels and their micro version that pass through all the body." He explained.

*****

"Well, that was enlightening on some parts I never found out alone. What about you?" Asked the excited hobgoblin who didn't actually think the book would be that useful after so many years of practice and lack of spending money for herself.

"So so. I can definitely use the magic system, but just this is definitely Inferior to my own version. When you are done absorbing everything we can keep going. It should be plenty more useful and by the end of it maybe I will use this system instead."

*****

"This… is unexpectedly easy when you explain it like that." Said the surprised woman.

"Yeah, the only advantage I got from autism is having to go through how other people think differently since young, so understanding riddles and strange ways of speaking is something I have great practice with." He nonchalantly told her, as if non shaken by the compliment.

"What's autism?"

"A birth defect/sickness that makes you think and use your brain in a practically random way. There's no cure. I still have it even without having a brain simply because I grew up with it and know no other way of naturally thinking and it takes constant effort to do otherwise. If you turn it around, it is exactly what allows me to use primal magic." He told her all in one non-physical breath.

"..." She didn't know what to say. He had a birth defect? Was that why he sounds so crazy and not at the same time?

"Why the pause? This illiterate man can't read for you, and without me you won't understand half what's written, so keep going." He hurried her.

"Uh? Ok."She said, throwing pity away and getting back to magic.

*****

"I don't think we're ready for the last book if this is what the intermediary difficulty is like." Said the woman nursing her migraine with some herbal tea.

"Tsu, I'm going to give you two hours and we're reading that summoning book. Please, this is really important to me." He said with a serious tone.

"That's fine by me, just tell me what it is when you're ready. Anyway I've been meaning to ask, but why do you only refer to me with my surname?" Said his friend.

"Because Gaarni isn't a good enough name for you." He said, immediately answering to that.

"Well, I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or an insult, so let me ask: what do you mean?" Said the confused woman.

"I don't like the ring it has and think you could change your name to something more related to your self."

"And what do you think would fit me?" She asked with chuckle.

"Berala, Fraszid, Inoa, Grisphen…" He said and kept going for strange names.

"Really? No flower or jewel name?" She said while thinking.

"Well, you don't exactly need me telling you something fake to try and get your ego higher or lie my way into your pants. I did think that Bela would go well with you though." He said with no hint of shame in his voice.

"What do those mean anyway?"

"Berala is a goddess of battle that fought for her family, if I remember correctly, but I don't know if there is a meaning to the other three. Bela means beauty by the way, as in 'she is a beauty'."

"I like the last one. If you dislike my name so much, than use it instead. Not exactly fair to be the only being called by a nickname though." She cutely said.

"Aki is already my pet name, but if you really want you can call me something… Qiuji, it's another simplification that also means autumn." He said after some thought.

"I didn't know that was your pet name or what it ment, but thanks for telling this old… Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!" She tried to say as she suddenly fell on her stomach and said cutely, but a lot of ice suddenly appeared in her back. "What's that for?!" She complained as Aki killed the mood.

"So you stop insulting your image! Even if you are wise, there's no reason to be so conscious of your age, you're no invalid!" He complained, clearly irritated.

"That's not how it works idiot!"

"Of course it is! I'd bet there are others willing to see you as a beauty, isn't it just childish to disconsider yourself? Is it so strange to call a beauty a beauty?"

"Pot, Kettle! Aren't you doing the same thing with your chances to get laid?"

"I don't know, ask the mature and funny woman who I have a crush on! She's so beautiful you will understand the moment you can really see her!

"Aren't you the all knowing kid? Just show it to me then!"

"I might as well! Aren't you the hag who knows nothing? Just sit and enjoy the show then!" He said and the entrance to her home closed with an earthen wall, while 'Bella' herself had a chair grow from the ground below her. "I will use mind magic and we will talk face to face. You agree to not resist?" He explained with a calm voice still containing a hint of agitation.

"Use it already!" Said the agitated woman who had the scars of her heart played with in the wrong way.

He did and she blacked out.