They left after evening classes.
No announcement. No explanation to anyone else.
Aiden had simply appeared at Qalish's side as the last bell rang and said, quietly, "Tonight."
Qalish had nodded.
They met outside the east gate twenty minutes later. Aiden was already there, leaning against the wall with two plain cloth masks in his hand. He held one out without a word.
Qalish took it.
"Dress code?" he asked.
"Standard for places like this," Aiden said. "No one asks, no one answers. Everyone minds their own business."
They put the masks on and walked.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The place was not what Qalish had imagined.
He had pictured something hidden — an alley, a basement, a door with no sign. And it was all of those things, technically. But once you were inside, it felt less like a secret and more like a different kind of market altogether.
Low ceilings. Dim lighting. Rows of stalls arranged in no particular order, each selling things that had no business being in a regular catalogue. Monster parts. Unregistered materials. Items with no origin labels and prices that weren't negotiable.
People moved through it the same way they moved through any busy market.
Purposeful. Unbothered.
No one looked up when they entered.
Aiden knew exactly where he was going.
Qalish followed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The carcass section was near the back.
A wide stall, organized by rank and species, with preservation seals keeping the smell contained. The vendor — a broad, unhurried man with calloused hands — looked up as they approached and said nothing.
Qalish scanned the stock.
E Rank. Several species. All intact.
"Ten E Rank carcasses," he said. "Any species."
The vendor looked at him for a moment. Then began pulling carcasses from the preservation shelf, laying them out one by one.
"500 gold," he said when he was done.
He paused. His eyes moved briefly to Qalish's hands — then around him. No storage ring.
"You don't have a storage ring," the vendor said. Not unkindly. Just stating it.
Qalish said nothing.
The vendor reached under the counter and set a small ring beside the carcasses. Plain band, no markings. The kind sold everywhere and owned by everyone.
"Low grade. 2 by 2 metres of space. More than enough for these." He paused. "500 gold for the ring. Total comes to 1,000."
Qalish moved to tap his Monster Watch against the vendor's reader — a small device on the counter that flickered to life as the watch drew close.
Aiden was already faster.
He set 1,000 gold on the counter without blinking.
"I had it," Qalish said quietly.
"I know," Aiden replied. "Consider it a donation."
Qalish looked at him.
Aiden had already turned away to browse the next stall.
Qalish slipped the storage ring onto his finger. Stored the carcasses one by one. They disappeared cleanly into the ring's space without a trace.
Foxy stirred faintly in his Inner Space.
Patient. Waiting.
Soon, he thought.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He was about to follow Aiden when —
A faint chime.
[ System Alert ]
[ Anomalous object detected nearby. ]
[ Recommend acquisition. ]
Qalish stopped.
He looked around slowly.
The stall beside him sold miscellaneous items — the kind of catch-all display that accumulated things no one had properly categorised. Odds and ends. Broken equipment. Decorative pieces with dubious origins.
And among them — sitting between a cracked mana lens and a bundle of old rope —
A stone.
Small. Dark grey. Completely unremarkable.
It looked like something someone had picked up off the ground and forgotten to throw back.
Qalish picked it up.
It was heavier than it looked.
[ Object: Unknown Stone ]
[ Classification: Unidentified ]
[ System recommends acquisition. ]
[ Further data unavailable at this time. ]
That was all.
No explanation. No material type. No rank.
Just — get it.
He turned it over in his hand. Rough surface. No markings. Nothing that distinguished it from any ordinary stone you'd find on a path.
The vendor at the miscellaneous stall had been watching.
"Interested in that?"
"How much?" Qalish asked.
The vendor's eyes lit up slightly. The kind of look that appeared when someone thought they had spotted an opportunity.
"100 gold," he said. Smooth. Confident. Like the number had been sitting ready.
Qalish looked at the stone.
Then — without a word — he set it back down.
He reached past it and picked up the item sitting beside it instead. A brass compass, ornate finish, the kind of thing designed to look more expensive than it was.
"I'll take this," he said simply. "And if you throw in the stone — I'll pay 100 gold for the compass."
The vendor blinked.
He did the calculation quickly. Compass was 80. This buyer was offering 100. Twenty gold above price — for a stone that had been sitting unsold in a bulk lot and was worth nothing to anyone.
"...Deal," he said, without further thought.
Qalish paid. Pocketed both — compass in one hand, stone in the other.
He didn't look back.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They were barely three stalls away when the chime came again.
Louder this time.
[ Item Acquired: Unknown Stone ]
[ Analysing... ]
[ Analysis complete. ]
[ System Level Up! ]
[ System: Lv.1 → Lv.2 ]
[ New Function Unlocked: System Shop ]
[ System Shop — Lv.1 ]
Qalish slowed his pace slightly.
He kept his expression neutral behind the mask.
System Shop.
He opened it quietly, eyes forward, still walking.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ SYSTEM SHOP — Lv.1 ]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Currency : Monster Points (MP)
Available Items:
────────────────────────────────────────
Crystal Boost Stone (Small)
Effect : Crystal Boost +20% (single use)
Cost : 80 MP
Crystal Boost Stone (Large)
Effect : Crystal Boost +50% (single use)
Cost : 200 MP
────────────────────────────────────────
[ More items unlock as Shop levels up ]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Qalish read through it once.
Crystal Boost Stones. Purchasable with MP.
Small — 80 MP for twenty percent. Large — 200 MP for fifty.
The quest rewards were already factored in. But this meant he didn't have to wait for quest completion — he could buy boosts directly, as long as he had the MP.
He closed the panel.
The stone in his pocket was warm.
He still had no idea what it was.
But it had just unlocked something the system had been holding back.
That was enough for now.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He caught up with Aiden two stalls down.
Aiden was holding something — a dense, metallic core about the size of a fist, dark silver in colour with faint veins of gold running through it. He turned it over slowly, expression unreadable beneath the mask.
"What is that?" Qalish asked.
"Refined Metal Core," Aiden said. "A Rank grade." He set it back down, then picked it up again. "It's what Rex needs for his next evolution."
Qalish looked at it.
The material was dense with compressed metal energy — he could feel the weight of it even from where he stood. For a monster on the Warlord Fang Wolf path, it was exactly right.
"You knew it would be here?"
"I hoped," Aiden said simply. "Places like this tend to carry things that serious hunters bring in. A Rank materials aren't common — but they show up."
He signalled the vendor. Paid without negotiating.
Rex, still in Aiden's Inner Space, sent back a pulse that was almost unmistakably eager.
Aiden smiled beneath his mask.
"I know," he said quietly. "Not yet."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They left the way they came.
Masks still on until they were clear of the area. Then off, folded, pocketed.
They walked in comfortable silence for a while.
"Successful trip," Aiden said eventually.
"Yes," Qalish agreed.
"You going to tell me what you bought at the miscellaneous stall?"
Qalish glanced at him.
"A compass."
Aiden stared at him.
"...A compass."
"Yes."
A pause.
"For 100 gold."
"It was a nice compass."
Aiden looked at him for another moment.
Then decided, apparently, not to pursue it further.
"Right," he said. "Okay."
They walked the rest of the way back without discussing it again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Five days passed.
Classes. Training. Foxy consuming the carcasses one by one in the evenings — each one adding to her Evolution Aura steadily, quietly, without any need for a hunt.
On the fifth day, Aiden found Qalish after morning class.
He fell into step beside him without preamble.
"Sorry," he said. "Should have been three days. Took five."
Qalish glanced at him.
"The materials?"
"Here." Aiden held out a sealed case — small, reinforced, the kind used for transporting sensitive materials. "One of my contacts had to source the Eclipsed Beast Fang from further out than expected. That's what held it up."
Qalish took the case.
"Two days doesn't matter," he said.
"I said three," Aiden replied simply. "So it matters to me."
Qalish said nothing to that. He opened the case carefully.
Inside — two items, each wrapped in preservation cloth.
He unwrapped the first.
A shard. Dark, almost translucent at the edges — with a faint void-like quality to it, as if the light around it bent slightly rather than reflecting cleanly.
Void Crystal Shard.
He unwrapped the second.
A fang — curved, dense, with two distinct elemental signatures running through it like threads woven together. Fire and something older. Something that didn't quite have a name in standard elemental theory.
Eclipsed Beast Fang.
Both exactly as described.
Qalish closed the case.
"How much," he said. Not a question — a statement. He was already reaching for his records.
"15,000 gold," Aiden said.
Qalish looked up.
"I'll pay it. Give me time to —"
"No," Aiden said.
Qalish stopped.
"You're going to help Rex evolve eventually," Aiden said simply. "Consider this an advance on that. When the time comes — we're square."
A pause.
Qalish looked at him.
Aiden's expression was easy. Unbothered. As if 15,000 gold was a number he had decided, somewhere along the way, not to worry about.
"That's not a fair trade," Qalish said.
"Maybe not," Aiden agreed. "But it's the one I'm offering."
A long moment.
"Fine," Qalish said quietly.
"Good." Aiden clapped him once on the shoulder. "Now go do whatever you need to do with Foxy."
He walked away before Qalish could say anything else.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Qalish walked home alone that evening.
The sealed case was in his bag. The carcasses were gone — all ten consumed over the past five days. The mystery stone sat quiet in his pocket, still warm, still unexplained.
As he walked, his system chimed once.
[ Quest Update ]
[ Hidden Path Preparation — Void Ember Fox ]
☑ Obtain Void Crystal Shard x1 ✔
☑ Obtain Eclipsed Beast Fang x1 ✔
☑ Foxy Evolution Aura 100% ✔
[ All objectives complete. ]
[ Rewards available. Claim upon arrival. ]
Qalish read it once.
Then kept walking.
Home first.