"Lin Dong! I'm done!"
Thanks to the clerk's heroic sacrifice, Sakura returned with several bulging money pouches.
"Total exchange: four hundred and sixty thousand valis! A harvest like we've never seen!"
"F-four hundred sixty thousand?!" Mikoto's eyes went wide.
Behind her, Takemikazuchi Familia members swarmed forward, ecstatic.
"Seriously?!"
"Captain, let me see!"
"Move, move—let me look first!"
"Enough!" Sakura barked, forcing them to calm down. "Remember—this isn't all ours. Lin Dong gets a share."
"Half-and-half," he continued. "We only keep two hundred thirty thousand."
"That's still a lot," Mikoto said, satisfied.
A normal run could bring in one hundred thousand and feel lucky. Even after maintenance, they'd still have plenty left.
"If Lord Takemikazuchi hears this, he'll be thrilled."
"Maybe," Lin Dong's voice came from behind them, "but if you keep standing here, you'll get beaten to death first."
He stood several meters away, keeping distance, and gestured around.
It was still peak time. Adventurers kept flooding into the hall, and just like the first wave, newcomers inhaled a mouthful of hell-stink and immediately doubled over.
In minutes, Takemikazuchi Familia had accumulated massive hate. Some hotheads were even drawing weapons, ready to "have words."
"Lin Dong, wait here. We're going to the second floor to wash."
Sakura and his people fled up the stairs.
The second floor of Babel Tower housed a public bathhouse for adventurers.
After a frantic scrub under a storm of curses and insults, they returned with faint soap scent clinging to them and regrouped with Lin Dong. Then everyone went back to Takemikazuchi Familia's home.
"Here, Lin Dong. Your cut."
Sakura placed two separated money pouches on the table.
"After the agreed fees, you get one hundred thirty thousand. No need to count—I already did."
"No need," Lin Dong said, weighing them once. "I trust you."
He tossed the lighter pouch to Lili.
"Captain Lin Dong… this is…?"
"Your supporter wage."
"Huh? This much?"
"Not much," Lin Dong said. "You did better than I expected. You earned it."
Even as a Level 1, Lili had performed like a perfect supporter—cleanup, ranged support, constant rear-watch, early warnings.
Because of that, Lin Dong could focus entirely on fighting.
"Keep it," he added. "If you think it's too much… tomorrow you can go pull mobs with Sakura."
"Please spare Lili," she said instantly, terrified.
After witnessing Takemikazuchi Familia's misery, she wanted nothing to do with Lin Dong's bait for the rest of her life.
"Hmm? You're all back?"
A door opened. Takemikazuchi—who had been home all day—stepped out.
After greeting everyone, he pulled out a notebook.
"Lin Dong. Perfect timing. The breathing method you commissioned is done."
"So fast?" Lin Dong looked surprised.
"Your physical base is strong," Takemikazuchi said. "Making a version suited to you wasn't hard."
"The real trouble is the 'lower the barrier for ordinary people' version. That still needs time."
"That one can wait."
Lin Dong skimmed the notebook quickly.
It was more like a structured outline than a full manual—clear direction, but not filled in to the last detail.
"I was short on time," Takemikazuchi explained. "So I wrote an easy version first, for clarity. How is it? Anything you want adjusted?"
"It's great," Lin Dong said, closing the notebook. "Let's keep it as is."
If Lin Dong followed the refined breathing rhythm and depth Takemikazuchi designed, Thunder Breathing's enhancement would improve by thirty to forty percent.
Given the time limit, it was optimal.
"Takemikazuchi-sama," Lin Dong asked, "are you free the next couple days?"
"I am. I already quit the potato-ball stand."
"Then take one more job."
Lin Dong tossed over the money pouches—still warm from the exchange counter.
"Reading words and slowly 'understanding' is too inefficient. I'd rather have you teach me directly."
"No problem. I'll guide you properly."
Takemikazuchi accepted the money and smiled.
He'd met many rich patrons in the Lower World.
Someone as casually generous as Lin Dong? That was rare.
To satisfy a top client, Takemikazuchi personally took two wooden swords off the rack.
"Come on. Let's go outside!"
At the same time—Soma Familia.
A bespectacled man left the Familia home and headed east.
"That's… Zanis?" Ryuu, who had been staking out for half a day, lit up and immediately followed.
Lin Dong's commission required evidence of Zanis's monster trafficking.
But until now, Zanis rarely left the home base. Ryuu had been bracing for a long hunt.
Instead, luck dropped into her lap.
She tailed Zanis to Soma Familia's wine storehouse in the southeast, watched him patrol once, then followed as he continued east—straight into Daedalus Street.
Daedalus Street sat on Orario's eastern side, infamous as a "labyrinth on the surface," with ridiculously complex routes.
Once he entered, Zanis accelerated, weaving through alleys and sharp turns.
Ryuu, with Level 4 physical ability, barely kept up without exposing herself.
"So it's here."
When Zanis entered a two-story building around a corner, Ryuu used the night to leap onto the roof.
After a quick observation found no obvious guards, she pried open a second-floor window and slipped inside to investigate further.
....
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