Ren rested for a moment, his chest heaving heavily. The air around him was still thick with the smell of blood.
He looked at his remaining summons. The White Goblin and the Armored Goblin were in terrible shape. Their armor was shattered, and their bodies were covered in shallow gashes.
"Gather the cores," Ren ordered in a low voice, tossing them a burlap sack.
Ren started searching himself. He walked straight toward the massive corpses of the two remaining gnome leaders. He plunged his blood-soaked hand into their chests and pulled out two fist-sized cores, pulsing with a dark blue light.
[Item Found: Gnome Warrior Core (Rank E)]
[Item Found: Gnome Warrior Core (Rank E)]
He tossed the two precious cores into his dimensional storage. 'Selling them right now would be incredibly stupid. I need to keep E-Rank cores for future fusions. I need a stronger army.'
Minutes later, the summons approached and handed him the sacks.
"System. What's the total?"
[Storage Analysis... Total: 370 F-Rank cores, and 5 E-Rank cores.]
Ren smiled genuinely. This covered his grandfather's surgery and then some.
"Cosmic Furnace. Return summons to storage."
The two goblins vanished into a gray mist.
Ren dusted off his clothes and headed quickly toward the gates of Zone Z41. He had to get out before he drew anyone's attention.
♢♢♢♢
Near the gates, he walked with calm steps to blend in with some returning porters, until a sharp female voice stopped him.
"Hold it right there!"
Ren stiffened, but turned around slowly.
It was the same academy group he had spotted earlier. Teens wearing crisp blue uniforms, accompanied by a stern-looking professor.
"You." The girl stepped forward, inspecting his ragged, blood-stained clothes. "Did you see any gnomes or strange movements? The zone is almost empty!"
Ren relaxed his shoulders and purposely acted nervous. His voice trembled slightly in a flawless act.
"E-Excuse me, miss... I'm just a porter. I lost my team two days ago. The gnomes were moving in massive, terrifying swarms. I hid in a rock fissure until things calmed down, and now I'm just trying to make it back alive."
Another guy from the group, blonde with an arrogant smirk, stepped up. "What a hopeless piece of trash. Trembling because F-Rank monsters disappeared? Get out of my face before your dust ruins my shoes."
The girl shot him a sharp glare. "Marcus, shut up." She turned back to Ren with a softer tone. "Sorry about that. You can go, the road to the gate is safe."
"Th-Thank you."
Ren bowed his head in fake humility and hurried away.
But behind him, the professor narrowed his eyes, watching the boy's retreating back.
"What is it, Professor?" the girl asked.
"That boy... didn't lie about his weakness. His physical stats are barely F-Rank..." the professor whispered, his eyes never leaving Ren. "But the aura following him... the density of mana clinging to his clothes, and the deep stench of blood. That porter's aura crushes all of yours."
The group exchanged shocked looks. How could an F-Rank piece of trash have an aura that unnerved D and C-Rank Awakened?
"You're probably just imagining things, Professor," Marcus said mockingly. "Let's check the area a bit more, then head back."
♢♢♢♢
A few hours later, the academy group finally reached the edge of the massive crater.
"Oh my god! What is that smell?" The girl covered her nose with her sleeve, stepping back.
The professor's face changed completely. "Stay here!" he ordered firmly, and rushed down to the bottom of the pit.
He stopped in shock. The scene in front of him was a massacre. Hundreds of torn gnome corpses, piled on top of each other. The green blood had turned into sticky pools.
He crouched to inspect the bodies. 'They haven't fully decomposed yet. That means this slaughter happened two or three days ago at most. And the cores... every single one has been extracted.'
'Was it a clearing squad? No, major guilds don't care about the fringes of the Fallen Lands. Something very wrong happened here.'
The professor returned to his students. "We're postponing the training to next week. We are leaving. Now."
♢♢♢♢
At the exact same time, Ren had already crossed the gates of Zone Z41.
He passed the routine inspection easily, as he didn't pull out any of the cores. The moment he entered the city, he faced a new dilemma.
'If I sell this many cores in the open market, they'll definitely get suspicious.'
He had no choice but to head to the Quest Department.
"Oh!" The receptionist jumped out of her chair when she saw him. "You're back! I thought you died after being gone for nine days! You're really good at surviving."
"Just luck," Ren replied quietly.
"Your luck breaks logic. Anyway, do you want another permit?"
Ren leaned slightly over the glass. "I need a favor. I need to sell some cores, but quietly."
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "How much did you steal this time?"
"I didn't steal anything." Ren exhaled heavily. "I have about 300 F-Rank cores... and two E-Rank cores."
The pen dropped from the receptionist's hand. "You... you crazy bastard! How do you think you're going to get away with selling that many at once?"
"I swear they're not stolen!" Ren placed his hands on the glass, his voice trembling with practiced emotion. "Please! I need the money for my grandfather's surgery. If I don't pay, he'll die. Help me."
The receptionist stared at him for a long time, then sighed in defeat.
"Fine. I'll send you to an acquaintance of mine. He'll buy them at market price, maybe higher if they're pure. But listen to me carefully: if you implicate me in a robbery, I will personally send you to hell."
"Thank you, I promise."
Ren took the address scribbled on a small piece of paper and left quickly.
♢♢♢♢
The location was in a back alley far from the main market. An old wooden sign read: Murphy's Smithy.
Ren pushed open the heavy wooden door. A small bell chimed.
The inside was like a treasure cave. Weapons gleaming with faint mana light, heavy armors of various ranks, and bundles of magic arrows neatly arranged.
"You Ren?"
A gruff voice broke his observation. Ren turned to find a short man with a thick beard, his arm muscles bulging clearly despite his old age.
"Yes, sir."
"My niece told me you want to sell some cores." Murphy wiped his hands on a dirty towel. "Why didn't you sell them in the open market?"
"Because I'm an F-Rank summoner," Ren said calmly. "Showing up with 300 cores will make the Association launch an investigation to find the source."
"Oh? And you came to drag me into it?" Murphy raised his eyebrows.
"The market sells hundreds of thousands of F-Rank cores daily. This amount is a drop in the ocean for you, but it's an indictment for me."
Murphy gave a small smile. "Smart. Let's see what you've got."
Ren reached into the empty air, and in one motion, 300 green cores and two blue cores tumbled onto the counter.
Murphy's eyes widened. "Two E-Rank cores? Mary told me you were just a trash summoner. Even if you somehow got lucky with the F-Ranks, an E-Rank is enough to tear you apart."
"I have my own tricks," Ren replied coldly. "Do you want to buy or should I leave?"
"You've got cold nerves, kid." Murphy laughed and started inspecting the cores. "Very pure. I'll give you 4,000 gold coins for the lot. That includes a few extra hundred for your old man's surgery."
"Thank you, Uncle Murphy." Ren nodded, before remembering something. "By the way... I found the gnomes digging frantically for a certain metal. Do you buy ore?"
"Gnomes? Must be Blue Lapis ore. How much do you have?"
Ren waved his hand, and a massive pile of heavy blue metal dropped down, weighing close to a hundred kilograms.
Murphy took a step back, not because of the amount, but because of what he just saw.
"Spatial Storage?" the old blacksmith whispered in shock. "How the hell does a rookie have a spatial storage skill? That's an ability only B-Rank elites and above have!"
"Is it rare?" Ren asked with genuine surprise.
"Rare? It makes you a walking target for every guild in the Safe Zone!" Murphy wiped his face with his hand. "Don't ever use it in front of anyone again, you idiot. As for the ore... I'll give you 10,000 gold coins for this pile."
"Ten thousand?!" Ren's jaw nearly dropped.
"Basic ores are in massive demand to supply guild armies with armor. They're more expensive than normal cores."
'If I had known, I would have dug out that cave with my bare hands.' Ren thought with a comical sense of regret.
"Total is 14,000 gold coins." Murphy tossed a heavy leather pouch to Ren. "Enough to save your grandpa and buy a new life."
"It's more than enough." Ren caught the pouch and smiled seriously. "Uncle Murphy, I have one more request. I want you to forge some gear for me. Swords, daggers, maces, and five full sets of armor. Make them D or E-Rank."
Murphy laughed loudly. "Five sets? And maces? Are you equipping an army? That'll cost you between 10,000 to 20,000 coins."
"I'll bring you times this amount of ore from the Fallen Lands. I promise," Ren said with a confident look.
Murphy looked at the boy for a moment, then smiled. "Sounds like a profitable deal. Now get out of my face, you idiot, and don't call me 'Uncle' again!"
Ren walked out of the smithy, the smile never leaving his face. 14,000 gold coins in his storage.