“Relax, Ren,” Tom said with a smirk, hoping to diffuse his companion’s tension. “We have time.”

“No, we don’t.”

“Yes, we do.”

It was a tenuous argument that had been going on for a while by the time Tom and Kaito Ren came to the cafe. Kaito Ren couldn’t stand the growing delay while Tom and Christopher became hesitant about following Daiyu Fen into the unknown without proper preparation.

The situation had already forced Kaito Ren to level up to Level 4 on their way to Arshem city. The third outbreak and the dominion era made the world outside cities deadly to travellers. Their Levels no longer guaranteed them safety and lack of proper rift items only worsened their situation. The plan they’d set off with was outdated now.

Arshem was their chance at amending their shortcomings. It was a perfect place for that.

The city lay in a strategic location about 500 kilometres south of the Baikal rift cluster, with the desert to the east, a nearby lake that provided fresh water to the city and mountains acting as a natural barrier against monsters, it became an staging point for travelling ascenders.

The recent outbreak only propelled the city’s growth to new heights. Several Level 3 rifts opened in the Taklamakan Desert, creating another source of income for the city. Unfortunately for Tom and his companions, these several rifts brought a host of problems. Firstly, the rifts were left uncleared, constantly spawning dangerous monsters. Arshem followed Geneva’s example in this regard. Uncleared rifts created incentive for people to come in hope of finding easy Levels. Tom understood and agreed with the principle even though it hindered their journey. Getting a spot in an already cleared rift was nearly impossible for common folks. They were left with fighting rift monsters in the wild.

Secondly, one of the rifts was of epic rarity and its monsters were bestowed with deadly abilities. Reports of countless deaths were coming in on a daily basis. Even Level 5 rift ascenders were dying out there. A Level 5 rift ascender was equivalent to a Level 7 human ascender; once the pinnacle of strength.

Thirdly, the worth of raw materials brought to the city by Tom’s group dropped substantially. Level 2 materials no longer saw the same demand as before. They could still easily sell it, but they’d make around 30 to 40 percent less.

Kaito Ren’s argument was to call Zimmermann and ask him for money but Tom and Christopher were strictly against it. It wasn’t that Tom disliked Wagner Zimmermann and taking financial aid now would indebt the trio to him but there was something inherently wrong in relying on others while they were capable of sustaining themselves just fine. They only had to be smart about it.

“What if she’s dead?” Ren asked after their coffees arrived.

“Then we have no reason to leave at all.”

Kaito Ren clearly didn’t think his argument through and frustration got the better of him.

“I don’t believe I asked you for help with this.”

“Where would you be if you haven’t?” Tom asked. He brought the steaming coffee to his lips. The scolding temperature barely tickled his skin. The coffee was brewed from Level 0 materials and wouldn’t have any effect on either man. They simply needed a place to stay while Christopher went to make an appointment with Artefact Exchange. It was their best shot at selling their raw materials. The company was the current leader in auctioning and selling everything from monster parts to, apparently, rifts themselves.

“I’d have caught up with Daiyu Fen by now.”

“More likely you’d have ended up in a monster’s belly, Ren,” Tom said calmly. “This time around, the danger is real.” To make his point get through the thick skull of his friend, Tom picked up a newspaper and showed him the headline.

The elite ascender squad goes missing in the wild while hunting a global sub-boss.

Tapping the picture of a building-sized bird with too many wings and tentacles coming out of its belly side, Tom added. “These folks were Level 4 to 6 rift ascenders. I hate to say it but they’d have kicked our butts with their eyes closed. If a group like this falls prey to monsters, what chances do we have?”

Surprisingly, the message got through and Ren’s expression softened. He glanced at his coffee then at Tom.

“How strong are you really?

It was an odd question and not easy to answer. Tom checked his attributes.

Attributes

Permanent

Temporary

Total

Strength (43%)

32

0

32

Dexterity (48%)

32

0

32

Will (79%)

29

0

29

Mind (5%)

29

0

29

Perception (9%)

29

0

29

Vitality (80%)

29

0

29

He was quite sure that his attributes were close to those of Esopp Earl’s and yet Tom stood no chance against the man. Before outbreaks, attributes were a measure of strength with exception of fighting-oriented Talents or ridiculous ones like Columbus Curt’s famous attribute doubling Talent.

The beatdown Tom received from Esopp Earl was a humbling lesson. It showed Tom how little raw stats meant without spells, and he had no spells. Or items even. The only rift item he’d possessed was taken by Freeman.

“I am no longer sure how to answer this question,” Tom said truthfully. If he wanted to, he’d be able to make Ren forget them. For now, there was no harm for him to know. “Before outbreaks, I could go toe to toe with Level 7s but then Esopp Earl happened and proved me wrong.”

***

Christopher Wolf joined them an hour later. He got them the appointment they needed. They ordered more coffees and waited until it was time to go to visit Artefact Exchange. The exterior of the building was built out of Level 2 glass composite. The interior didn’t fall behind in the display of wealth. Every single piece of material inside was Level 2. It was a blunt message to visitors - ‘we have money’.

They found themselves in a massive, spacious atrium with crystal chandeliers, a marble fountain and oversized vivariums containing exotic foliage. In the middle of the atrium was the marble front desk with a single man standing behind. He looked formal in his suit, most likely crafted from Level 2 fabric.

“Welcome to Artefact Exchange,” the man said with a polite smile. He looked like a statue. “We were awaiting you. Please follow to the door on my left. Our exchange officer will be with you shortly.”

They did as the man said although a little reluctantly. The atrium was devoid of people, their steps were the only sound. On the other side of the door was a pleasant, air conditioned waiting room with comfortable armchairs. The coffee table in the middle was buried beneath magazines about items, rifs, monsters and crafting.

The catalogue of items made their brows climb all the way up. Some of these items were stronger than their trio together: a wand with three different skills. It had an ability to cover anything in hot ashes in 10 metres radius, and ability to make the ashes burst aflame and lastly the fire grew hotter with every second it burned someone or something until it ran out of fuel or was put out.

The item was Level 3 and of epic rarity with the last modifier highlighted to have the epic affinity, which meant that it was spectacularly stronger than two other modifiers. There was no price tag, only information that the item had been auctioned a week into the third outbreak to an unknown party for an undisclosed amount.

“Something like this must have cost at least a million dollars,” Christopher said, when Tom showed him the page.

“I’d wager it sold for several million,” Ren murmured.

“Try at least a hundred million,” said a new voice. The trio looked up. A man in a sharp suit stood in a doorway. Tom immediately sensed power coming off that man. He didn’t know if that was Level or items but he wasn’t someone they wanted to cross.

The man stood straight like an arrow, with his hands behind his back, short, dark gelled hair and eyes that seemed to see all.

“A hundred million for an item?” Christopher asked. “That’s ridiculous.”

The man waved his hand as if a hundred million was nothing to him, then beckoned them inside the room behind him. It was a luxurious office with marble floor, artisan wooden panels on the walls, thick rugs and fish tank hosting colourful fishes.

“My name’s Rembrandt, welcome,” he introduced himself. “Please have a seat.” He gestured to three leather armchairs.

While they took seats, he asked, “would you like anything to drink? I have a nice collection of Level 3 alcohols.”

“Level 3 alcohol already?” Ren asked with disbelief.

“We got our hands on that stuff a week after the outbreak started. Marvellous taste.”

They couldn’t miss a chance of tasting Level 3 booze. The best Arshem currently offered was Level 2 and too expensive to even consider. The alcohol came in a state-of-art bottle sculpted in an image of a dragon. Poured to a glass, the liquid separated into three layers of different colours - red, silver and white. Rembrandt warned them to go easy on the first layer. It was fiery, but dear heavens… Its taste was out of this world. Subsequent layers took them into other directions that made the first layer strangely inadequate in hindsight. The drink dazed them for a few seconds while Rembrandt patiently waited.

“How much for the bottle?” Tom asked after his senses returned to him.

Rembrandt only smiled politely, then others got their senses back and shared a surprised look.

“I knew you were going to like this one but let's talk business. You are selling monster parts, right?”

“Yes,” Tom confirmed, then asked a little hesitantly. “Where can I unload them?”

Rembrandt held up his hand.

“All in due time. First, I’d like to talk about monster hunting.”

“What about it?” Tom asked, unsure where this conversation was heading to.

“We’re looking for skilled monster hunters.”

Ren opened his mouth but Rembrandt silenced him with his raised hand.

“Please, hear me out before you decline my offer.”

The trio exchanged looks and then shallow nods, signalising to the man to continue.

“As you may or may not know, our friends from Untainted Paradise recently sent a mission to hunt down the four dominion sub-bosses. Artefact Exchange believes that it is a very noble initiative and would like to join it. Our offer entails training, items, salary with an outstanding benefit packet and we will buy from you any item or monster part at premium.”

Tom saw that Ren was going to decline. They didn’t have time for monster hunting. Rembrandt was quicker and once more he stalled any potential declines.

“Sleep on it before you are going to give me your answer, please. Now, let’s see what you have for me.”

***

Three hours later the trio emerged from a sterile lab called simply a valuation room, in which they’d left all their monster parts. They were pleased with the valuation, which was only 10% off the baseline from before the third outbreak. Tom couldn’t decide if Artefact Exchange was generous because they could or because they wanted Tom, Ren and Christopher to work for them or perhaps both.

Rembrandt met them outside the valuation room once they’d refreshed. They returned to his office.

“How would you like to be paid?”

“What do you mean?” Christopher voiced a question they had on their minds.

“Since the Solar Summit, dollars are being replaced by solar credits. One to one ratio. We also pay in mana, again, one to one ratio. However you must possess the required containers. Additionally, we use scrolls of identification. It is a bit more obscure payment method at the moment but its popularity is growing, especially now that the government locked the exchange ratio to one Level 1 scroll to a hundred solar credits. Level 2 is two hundred and Level 3 is four hundred. Can you imagine the price of a single Level 10 scroll of identification?”

They couldn’t. The ratio was insane. But neither man said anything.

“Alright, so which payment method do you prefer?”

“Solar credits.”

With almost 75 thousand solar credits in their bank they asked Rembrandt for item recommendations.

He led them to an oversized interactive panel next to a wall.

“There are three types of transactions we facilitate: exchange, standard and auction. Majority of our items and raw materials are sold via standard listening. Each item has a price and if it is in stock, you can buy it right away. Auctions are a bit more complex and divided into various categories. Some are open and last days or weeks, others are private and are in real time. Almost all high value rift items go to auctions.”

He tapped the screen a few times, and a page with a silver orb appeared.

“Orb of Dominion. So far we have auctioned only two of them. The first one went for twenty-seven billion credits.”

The three men whistled. Tom tried to wrap his mind around it and he failed. A single item worth that much money. No wonder that millions of ascenders left their homes in search of riches. It was like a lottery ticket only worth a thousand times more.

“Whoever sold it is one lucky bastard,” Christopher said.

Rembrandt shook his head.

“I wouldn’t say so. You see, the current highest bid for the second orb is one hundred and twenty-one billion and there are still five days to go. But enough of that, let’s look at the items for you.”