"Will this suffice?" An old merchant handed two pieces of circular copper coins to the dark elf who was selling apples in the Private Sanctum.

The dark elf man seemed a bit bothered by the coins, since typically the dark elf people traded goods with other goods.

The old merchant took the dark elf's hesitation as a sign that it was not enough payment and offered another copper coin.

"It's not the cost... I just do not know the use of this object." The dark elf bowed his head apologetically.

"Oh! It must be your first time in the Private Sanctum!" The merchant had a big toothy grin yet his teeth showed signs of rotting at the base. "Please, follow me."

The dark elf followed the merchant further into the Sanctum, since his stall was basically beside the teleportation circle.

An old woman with a sharp gaze watched closely over the interaction between the dark elf and the merchant. She was the guardian and manager of this floor, and she was personally appointed by the Grand Mage.

Not only was it her job to look after the teleportation circle and anyone who enters and exits, but to make sure that everyone who enters the Private Sanctum was treated fairly and equally.

In the beginning, some merchants were still under the notion that they should focus on profits, and abused their position to hoard resources. This matter was found out and settled swiftly by the guardians of the floors, before the rumors had time to reach the Grand Mage.

A sign hung on the walls of the room that housed the teleportation circle, roughly twenty feet away from the edge of the runes. It was parchment, written in both the common tongue and the dark elf script. The parchment contained details on the conversion of copper, silver and gold coins. Common items were displayed beside amounts, for an easy interpretation of currency values.

Five apples cost ten copper coins, one sheet of silk for three silver coins. The dark elf looked wide eyed as he looked over his carts stock. In total, he could sell his fifty apples for one hundred copper coins, which can be converted to one silver coin. The convenience of this parchment was evident even to the dark elf who was by no means an established merchant. He could see that whoever made such an easy to understand conversion chart had made an undeniable contribution to the Private Sanctum.

The makers of the conversion chart were actually the guardians of the individual floors. Through communication tools, they understood that one of the few reasons the merchants had gotten away with abusing the system for so long was because guardians could not leave their designated areas. They were also unable to retain specific details from everyone, as there was too many people to keep track of. The Curo family was in track of finances, but they were not so tightly controlled and resources slipped through the cracks. This became a black mark upon the Curo name, as they personally reported their work to the Grand Mage. Thus the impetus for a conversion chart so that all buyers and sellers understood the value of their product compared to the currency they used. Since dark elves were not used to using currency, they were the majority victims of the early crimes.

The dark elf happily accepted the two copper coins from the merchant, and placed them into a small pouch that hung on his waist.

The merchant laughed heartily while biting into one of the apples he had just purchased. He slapped the back of the dark elf jovially and scampered away with his new snacks tucked in his arm.

The old woman looked away from the dark elf and old merchant, a small smile forming on her face. Her job was sometimes hectic, sometimes quiet, but she would give the position to no one unless the Grand Mage ordered it.

According to the magical device on the wall, it was nearing five in the morning. The device marked a specific number on the wall thanks to a tethered line through the teleportation magic with the outside world. The position of the sun changed the number on the wall, so that even while inside the sunless Private Sanctum everyone knew what time they would be coming and going. Before the use of the magical device, they used to have to travel to the floor below and check the forest room to see what time it was, which was inconvenient when the Private Sanctum was expanded to accept the growing population size. The device also allowed them to track how long they had been gone for, which also allowed them to preemptively track how much rations to take for some missions.

Most missions took less than fourteen hours to complete, or one full rotation of the sun across the sky. If the mission extended beyond that, extra compensation would be paid in equivalence to the length of time required. Of course everything was monitored closely to ensure that no one took advantage of the extra payments by playing around outside. In the first place, the last thing a group of adventurers would want to do is play around at night outside a safe zone. Certain strong creatures only came out during the night, and specialized hunters and fighters were required to subdue them.

The missions varied in difficulty, from copper to gold rank. Copper missions were given to new fighters, still in training, and were often escort quests for helping merchants gather materials near safe zones. As the mission rank increased, the amount of individuals or parties available to take the request decreased as well. Even Mages had their own ranks that were separate but similar to the fighters and hunters. They were further sorted by their magic type and general ability.

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The old woman was in charge of this system, which had been implemented to help control the flow of requests and resources after the conversion chart was made. The Grand Mage had made it quite clear to everyone that nature required balance, and that taking too many resources was not viable for the long term survival of his people. Safeguards were in place so that dwindling resources were replenished, and flourishing resources were culled so as to not overtake the predator and prey ratio.

The Grand Mage had already intended to create such a system, but having dependable area guardians do it for him allowed him to focus on the war efforts instead of worrying about the state of the Private Sanctum and the balance of the forest.

While there was a similar system in place in Paradiso Rosso thanks to the Grand Mage's work, it was not as extensive or as well planned out as the one in the Private Sanctum. This was just because the foundations were still being set, and in time the system would flourish just as well as it already had in the Private Sanctum.

"Morning, Ma." A fighter fully clad in iron armor with a buckler on his right arm nodded toward the old woman.

"Morning." The old woman replied with a head nod.

"Morning, Ma!" A small child ran past her with a piece of bread in her mouth.

"Careful now." The old woman responded as she watched the small child almost trip.

Now that the sun had risen, many men and women were heading out to do their missions. Since they were walking past the area guardian, they all greeted her.

This was the busiest time of day for the Matron, since everyone had already eaten and were heading out at the same time.

When the first group stepped up to be teleported, the Matron stomped her cane into the ground to get their attention.

"Be vigilant. Stay safe!" The Matron gave an impassioned response to the parties who were teleporting.

"Yes!" The humans and dark elves yelled in return before departing.

Everyone near the teleportation array showed their own resolve and stepped forward with purpose. The Matrons words gave them a renewed sense of power.

This was in part thanks to her personal connection and also thanks to one of the runes bound to her.

Gebu, the runic name for 'gift'. Gift was a bound magic that allowed her to focus the resolve of those who hear her voice. This was widely regarded by the Mage community as a mental support spell, since it dispelled weak mind and fear attacks. It also had the added side effect of dispelling useless thoughts during combat, allowing for an increase in perception.

The magic used to cast such a wide area spell was provided by the Private Sanctum, but the Matron was still being used as a conduit for that power. The spell cast tired her out to the point that she sat down near the teleportation array and drank some water.

One of the warriors was late to group with his teammates, and took a moment before running up to his party. He looked over at the Matron sitting in the chair while sweating and shook his head. He had only been in the Private Sanctum for two weeks, but every morning when he reached the teleportation array he saw her sitting there.

"Why give an important position to someone so laz-." The warrior gestured toward the Matron.

"Shut up!" The dark elf ranger covered his mouth before he could finish his sentence.

"If she heard you, you would be dead right now." The healing Mage whispered to the warrior.

The warrior looked over at the Matron in disbelief, yet she did not move. One hand was placed on the top of her cane, and the other was somewhere near the middle.

The ranger took her hand off the warrior's mouth and shook her head in disappointment.

The healing Mage and ranger both bowed toward the Matron before heading toward the array. The warrior took a sidelong glance at the Matron, placed his hand on the back of his head shyly and followed his party obediently.

When the teleportation began casting, the warrior happened to be looking at the Matron as she mouthed 'do not die'.

No one else besides him seemed to notice.

When the array finished teleporting the party, a cold sweat dripped down the warrior's neck.

"Are you sick?" The ranger checked the temperature of the warrior by placing the back of her hand on his forehead.

The warrior's complexion was pale, and the sweat was noticeable even from a few feet away.

"I am okay, can we go?" The warrior took a piece of cloth, wiped away the sweat and placed it back in his pack. He checked to make sure his equipment was still secure and headed off in the North direction.

"Alyard, wrong way." The healing Mage rubbed his eyes with his fingers as he pulled out the parchment with the mission request.

"Sorry, sorry." The warrior rubbed his head and walked back toward the group.

"What request did you pick." The ranger motioned to be handed the piece of paper.

"Well, with our newly established copper four rank, we qualify to take on high orcs now. The request is to kill five high orcs and bring proof with five sets of ears. Apparently they were sighted close to the entrance of the forest and have been bothering our weaker fighters." The healing Mage passed the request parchment around.

"Why would a high orc be at the entrance to the forest?" The warrior scratched his head.

"Who knows, maybe something is forcing them out of their usual hunting territory. The high orcs are not really smart, but they can fight well." The ranger looked over the additional details of the parchment. "According to this, they have already harmed five civilians and eight copper one workers."

Workers is the colloquial term for those who worked for the adventurer system, since most people would not understand if they were called anything else. They started off calling people fighters, but that term got narrowed down to only physical attacker types.

Warriors were only physical attackers whereas fighters had training in melee and ranged.

"It was either this or a red-scaled salamander." The healing Mage took the parchment back and placed it in one of his many pockets.

"Oh, then good call." The warrior nodded his head.

The red-scaled salamander was roughly half the size of a typical human, from their head to the end of their tail. They were not particularly strong but they had a poison that if one was to be afflicted, caused them to feel like their blood was burning. They also tended to gather in groups of ten to twenty, making it hard to target in small groups of three like this particular party.

Now that the warrior knew they were heading toward the entrance to the forest, they began walking in the right direction.

The scent of manure and blood was beginning to thicken in the direction they were headed. Since the area had been temporarily abandoned until the high orc trouble could be dealt with, no one was there to clean up the mess that was caused originally.