"Before I take you to your rooms, I wanted to walk the two of you through the process of renting out a room," Darlina explained. Waving a hand at a terminal on one side of the stairs. An identical terminal could be found on the opposite side.

Standing in front of the terminal, Claire read the words displayed. "Please tap your bracelet on the screen to begin the process."

"When first starting out, you'll need to tap your bracelet to the screen. This allows the terminal to learn about your absorption rate." Darlina motioned with its wrist to mimic the action needed. It looked at the two to make sure they were following along.

Raising an eyebrow, Hannah asked, "Why does it need to know our absorption rate? Can't we just input the room we need?"

Smile patiently at Hannah's question, Darlina said, "Since the rooms are filled with an above background level of energy, we need to make sure that you'll be able to handle the amount you'll be exposed to while you sleep." Raising a finger of warning, "Remember, your body will be absorbing the energy while you sleep, meaning if the energy is too pure, it'd be like eating dozens of those meatsticks you tried earlier."

Claire moved her eyes from the terminal to look at the robot, shocked by the news. Though she understood that such a thing would likely be the case, it was even more dreadful to hear it being told to them. Feeling the raw power rushing throughout her body, making it feel as though it was being torn about, wasn't something she wanted to experience again.

"This terminal allows you to rent out the rooms and restricts you to only select the ones that your body is able to handle. Compared to food, the feeling will be nearly unnoticeable to allow you to be able to comfortably sleep." Darlina carefully explained to them.

Nodding her head, Claire raised the bracelet and tapped it on the screen. Even though they already had a room readied, it was important for them to learn how to use the technology. This was especially the case with how advanced the terminal was compared to what she'd seen at school.

Recognizing the information, it flashed the level of her absorption rate before switching to dozens of floor plans available to her. Casually checking out the plans, her eyes opened wide at seeing the price for many of them. "Fifty Guild Points?!" She couldn't help but cry out at the number.

Darlina giggled at Claire's reaction, "That's for the top room for what you're able to handle. Not just with the energy, this room has a variety of amenities inside of it for maximum comfort for the adventurer." It pointed at an icon to signal for Claire to tap it. "Just touch the screen."

Nodding, Claire touched the icon.

The screen changed to show more information about the room. At the top of the screen were numerous pictures, each image being displayed briefly before switching to a different one.

"Just use your finger to scan through the information," Darlina made a flicking motion.

Touching the screen, it didn't take long before Claire was effortlessly checking out the room. She flipped through the pictures and was amazed at how it looked. Even the rooms at Star and Moon Studio didn't have the same ambiance that the room on the screen had.

"As you can see, the room comes with a full-size bathing area. Compared to our test areas, designed to see whether the underground city concept would work, this city is one of the newer ones to be created. This means that it was built with comfort in mind. Though there were thousands of cities designed even after this one." Darlina continued to explain what Claire and Hannah were seeing.

Hannah's eyes were glued to the screen, amazed at what she was seeing.

When Claire looked at her friend, she giggled at Hannah's expression. "Makes you wonder what type of food and rooms they have available in the newer underground cities, right?" She playfully nudged Hannah with a shoulder.

Tearing her eyes from the screen, Hannah nodded, "I'm even more curious about the rooms that are above us." Hannah pointed above them to the higher-tiered rooms.

Darlina smiled at Hannah's words. "Just as you guessed, the rooms on the higher levels are far more extravagant. But with the comfort that such rooms bring to an adventurer, the price of the room reflects such a thing." The robot smiled mysteriously at them.

"How much?" Claire felt compelled to ask.

"There are some rooms that cost tens of thousands of Guild Points per day," Darlina smiled.

------------------------

End of Part 1

"Tens of thousand Guild Points per day?" Claire didn't know what to think, the words from Darlina echoing in her mind.

Though there were celebrities before the world had ended, their lifestyle wasn't something that was understood by Claire. There would be the occasional show that'd follow a celebrity and show off their life. It would allow the audience to see the type of home they lived in and other displays of luxury. But as Claire thought about the idea of how much it'd cost to live inside the one-room the idea of spending tens of thousands of Guild Points per day didn't seem possible.

Smiling and looking amused by Claire's reaction, Darlina tried to bring the girl back down to Earth. "Though this may seem like a lot to you, currently, I'm confident that the two of you will reach a level where such numbers are meaningless." The robot turned its eyes to between Claire and Hannah.

"What makes you say that?" Hannah's face was quizzical, not believing what Darlina had said. "Just hunting down horned rabbits took up so much of our time. Even if we were to get stronger and fight against stronger monsters..."

Darlina pointed at Claire, "I can tell that your friend is already thinking of how to leverage the training simulation in order to get the two of you to the top of the adventurers on this world."

Checking out Claire, Hannah focused again on the robot.

"I'm sure you already understand what I'm about to tell you, but you're not consciously aware of it at least not yet," Darlina placed both of its hands close to one another, pressing the fingers together as though contemplating how to explain what was going through its mind. "Right now, you believe that hunting monsters and completing jobs is how you'll amass Guild Points, correct?" It tilted its head as it observed Hannah.

Moving her head away and slowly nodding it, Hannah agreed with the robot's words. Though Hannah didn't seem to know where it was going with its words.

"Though that's correct, it's a very inefficient way to build a fortune. Instead of directly taking part in the process, you should be thinking of how to make the Guild Points work for you." Darlina slowly explained.

Claire recovered from imaging the massive wealth necessary to stay inside of the higher-tiered rooms, gaining interest in what Darlina was talking about.

"How do I make Guild Points work for me?" Hannah asked, confused about the idea.

"I'll try to paint you a picture," Darlina said slowly. "Do you know how gold on your world is gathered?" It asked Hannah. Seeing Hannah nod her head, Darlina continued, "Now in your world's history, when gold was discovered on the continent, people flocked in large numbers to mine it, right?"

"Of course, even right before the Modified Humans appeared, gold was something that was highly valued and many people wanted it," Hannah answered, though there was a hint of impatience, she seemed intrigued at what was being told to her.

Smiling, "Now when people went to mine the gold how did they dig it up? Did they use their hands?" It motioned with both hands as if to demonstrate it using its own hands to gather the gold from the ground. Shaking its head, "No. The people needed picks and other equipment to dig into the ground. And this is where opportunity was for those smart enough. For those who understood the opportunity, they knew that hunting for gold was filled with uncertainty. There wasn't a guarantee that gold would be found if they worked hard and a lot of luck was involved in the process."

Seeing where Darlina was going with the example, Claire looked to her friend. Hannah's face showed that she also understood the point of the story.

"It's in the selling of the equipment and the steady money from the sales of such products that would get them rich," Darlina grinned. "Just like how everyone will be hunting for monsters to gain the resources to stay at the higher level rooms or eat the more refined food, it's the people who can consistently provide quality equipment that'll succeed in the end."

Tapping Hannah on the arm, Claire said, "So what do you think of my idea?"