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A path to ascention. Soul lords trials.
Chapter 41. A rank adventurer on the loose.

Chapter 41. A rank adventurer on the loose.

Rex considered the order of business for a short moment, the lightly smiling Nessa waiting for his response. At the end of the day, he still had to exchange the monster core, everything else could be done afterwards, not like had much of a stake it that part of business, so, he spoke.

"First, I would like to exchange these cores" Rex said as he placed a rather large sized sack on the counter "Then, I might have some cores of monsters I did not see in the dungeon guide. I do have to note that mine is probably an older version, so excuse me if the info is slightly outdated. And I doubt they are variants, since there was a biome they inhabited." At the latter words of his, Nessa perked up. It was not unheard of, discovering new monster types in teh dungeon, on the contrary, that just how life worked. Every dungeon innitially was filled with unknown dangers, and only as adventurers explored said dungeons, encountering the monsters and delving deeper, charting the places, did the dungeons in question became less and less unpredictable, monster types, weakneses and strenghts, frequency of traps and the like noted down and shared among the members of adventurers guild. With Rex frequenting a rather unpopular path of the dungeon, it was no wonder he encountered another type of monster not found so far. There were plenty of intersections with changing biomes, and sometimes, two biomes could be extremely similar, yet house two different monster types all together.

With his needs stated, Nessa got to the task at hand, moving over to the sorting tool of the cores and emptying the bag inside, letting it do its job. A short light show later, the cores were sorted and the numbers displayed. Then, as per ussual, the attendant calculated the reward Rex had earned and paid out the apropriate amount, a light smile appearing on Rex face. Even if he were to farm the dungeon in a party of six, like he had with Light's Oak, D rank monster cores fetched quite the sum, ensuring his savings grew more and more with each delve and consequent trip to the adventurers guild to turn the aquired cores in.

"Here is the latest codexes of the dungeon monsters." Nessa then spoke, placing several books on the counter. "What type of monster is it?" she asked.

"Arachnid" Rex replied, and a few moments later, once Nessa had found the apropriate book, he started to quickly leaf through it, looking at the general description and drawings, if there was one, at the same time placing a couple of monster cores on the counter. "Their cores. I assume you need to evaluate them as well." he spoke, all the while still going through the spider section of the arachnid monster book. Rex was nearing the end of the section, without any luck on locating the corresponding entry, only to be distracted by a gasp, and an incredulous "A rank!" exclamation.

Nessa was suprised would be an understatement. Over the past few weeks she had seen Rex from one of the other positions, but she had never interracted with im personally. Rumors were, he frequented the path of skitterers, delving all alone and returning without a scratch. He was always concise and professional, speaking as little as he needed to get the job done and be on his way. He was no looker, just your awerage man, thus, beside curiosity regarding the new shiny thing in town, rummored about, she had paid little attention. But now, when a D rank adventurer brings in monster cores of A ranked monsters, well, she had to look at him in a whole new light.

Once she was over her stupor, clearly suprised by the presence of A class cores, she blushed just slightly, embarassed over her loss of composure. "M-my apologies sir." she quickly apologized to Rex, whose eye twitched at the loud exclamation. But, clearly not wanting to deal with any posible pestering to come, he quickly spoke up.

"Its not here." he then placed a paper sheet on the counter, adding "Everything I remember about the creature. Money for the two cores and update my ID."

Nessa did as instructed, handing him two extra gold coins, one for each core handed over, then quickly updated his ID and handed it back to him. "Anything else you need sir?"

"No." Rex shortly replied, turning around and leaving, at the corner of his eye noticing the numerous gazes, ones filled with envy, others with greed, others still with either interest or awe. Whatever the case, it was now an open secret that he had slain an A rank monster, no matter the circumstances. And as such, the rumors about him would only grow more exagerated, possibly earning the attention of soem particularily annoying creatures.

Nobles. Rex was never a fan of the caste. It turned out, getting born in wealth and power did little to promote the growth of virtuous and kind people, leaders that the lower classes could look up to and depend on both guidance and protection. No, in overwhelmingly most cases, with each new generation, more and mroe decadent, arrogant and cruel descendants came into being, and eventually power. Their own offspring, having more and more freedom to act as the monsters that they eventually become, either resulting in an uprising, where said noble family would be exterminated, or said uprising lower claases would be slaughtered, leading to a bloody and tyranical regime that woudl eventually fall.

And while the royal family of this nation, as small as it was, was still clinging to a rather modest and kind image, doing what was best for their nation at large, like condemning slavery and making laws that were fair to the common folk, Rex was well aware there were enough nobles well on their way toward the no return point, if not already there. The arrogant lordling back in Valrun a perfect example of the fact. And as such, prospective adventurers, especially ones not affiliated with any guild halls or any other large scale organizations, were the perfect tools to fortify their positions, or expand them, either through dirrect conquests, since those too sometimes happened, or most often, through backroom dealings or covert operations. A poisoned dagger here, a small kidnapping over there, and low and behold, some other noble suddenly decides to transfer over the rights to a mine to another, purely out of their good will, or, it turns out that a daughter of one just so happens to have eloped and gotten with child of another son, resulting in the need of a marriage, as all nobles do. Then, obviously, the father of the new mother to be must provide a dowry, and so on and so forth. As for how willingly, on the part of the new mother, the child was concieved, and whether or nor she would ever be allowed to leave the villa of her new husband? Well, no self respecting noble would ever gossip about a woman of another, unless of course she was rather welcoming to near every passerby. And while Rex had little reservations when it came to ending the lives of some unsavory and unpleasant fat nobles, he was less inclined to kidnaping and other such actions, not to mention the idea of serving some weakling who had done nothing to achieve their status, was downright repulsive.

At best, Rex would ever consider working as a mercenary of sorts, so long as the possible job seemed interesting enough and the price was right. Still, the probability of such a job was too low, and not at all a priority on Rex's list. He was still considering the best way to find a fun party to travel along, fullfilling interesting quests, visiting breathtaking locations and perhaps fighting some dragons, if it came to that. Sure, he might have a sould of one, as old as who knows what, but that did not mean he had issues with either slaying or eating the fierce apex predators of the world.

Having dealt with the days agenda, he quicly left the guild, returning to Beth's inn rather quickly, not one bit interested in exploring the city. Rex reasoned, he would just dissapear in the tunnels of the dungeon for a few more days, and, hopefully, by the time he resurfaces, the possible frenzy regarding a new A class adventurer would have died down, with the person of interest nowhere in sight.

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"He. You are back early. All went well I suppose?" beth asked, noticing Rex slump into a seat at the table in the very corner, out of sight and out of mind.

"Coule be better. Those damn attendants need to learn to keep their mouths shut. So, I will dissapear in the tunnels for a while, starting tommorow."

"Hooh? Care to share with the little old me?" Beth asked, sitting opposite him and sliding a plate with a large serving of meat and mashed potatoes, covered in something akin to a mayo sauce.

"Well, with a bribe like this? Cant say no, besides, I assume you will hear of it soon anyways." Rex shrugged, rubbing his hands together and swalowing hard. "On my last delve entered a biome where I encountered an arachind type monster I could not find any mentions of in the monster codex. Naturaly, I killed it, and a few other of its kind, just to make sure it was not a variant, but the generic monster for the biome I was in. And, of course, being the nice guy that I am, reported as such at the guild. You know, to share the knowledge around, might save a couple of lives in the future."

"Sounds about right, so, where the loose lips of the attendants come into play?" Beth asked, her full focus zeroed in on the story.

"Was getting to that." Rex replied, continiuing "Turns out, the enourmous spider is A class. The at....."

"WHAT???" Beth shot to her straight up, her chair falling to the ground with a 'thud' sound, her eyes locked on him, near bulging out of her face.

"Come on Beth, not you too." Rex sighed in defeat, shaking his head in fake dissapointment. To her credit, besides the momentary shock, Beth recovered perfectly, lifting her chair and sitting back down, as if nothing had happened. "And, then what?" she asked, waiting for the story to finish, earning a smile from Rex.

"Well, as I was saying, she near shouted throughout the entire place regarding the fact that it was A class core I gave her. And you know I dont like crowds and new people, thus, me dissapearing in the dungeon again, come morning."

"Dont blame the girl too much Rex. You are young and dont spend much time around other adventurers, but A rank's, or those that can kill A ranked monsters, are rare and held in high regard. Often more so than nobles. Can you blame a young girl, for that is who I think the girl was, to make a blunder facing a true monster for the first time in her life, and in such an unexpected manner?" Beth explained. well aware of Rex's rather lacking common sense in such matters. And as she did so, Rex was already devouring the food in front of him. Onc eshe was done speaking and Rex mouth was empty, he replied.

"Dont blame the girl too much. Does not mean I can't complain, now does it? That the reason I am making myself scarce in the morning." he then added, not a shred of guilt displayed on his face "Sorry for the heat you are gonna get."

"Sorrt my ass." Beth snorted, obvious to the lack of said guilt. "Dont worry, I will just charge you extra for that." she added, an evil smirk on her face.

"Damn. Have I mentioned I love you." Rex replied, having already finished his meal and placing a few coins on the table. "Can you make me breakfast tommorow as ussual, though a couple hours earlier? Want to skip town nice and early."

"With the amounts you pay me? Abso- fucking- lutely." she grinned, pocketing the coins placed on the table.

With that arranged, Rex left, returning to his room, prepearing for the coming delve. Who knows, he might just have to skip town alltogether sooner than he thought. Maybee another country would be a perfect place to visit, in case far too many flies start to swarm him an get too annoying. Whatever was going to happen, Rex would deal with it when the time comes, more interested in his own goals and ways to achieve them. Monarchy of Sol was a rather small, backwater country, as far as the continent was concerned, and while A rank adventurers were a big deal everywhere, they were not nearly as much so in some of the larger empires. Sure, everyone with connections and in high places would be aware of your existance, collecting info on you, but it would not become as troublesome as it could potentially be come here. Still, while he was not annoyed overly much, Rex would stick around for the time being.

First and main of the reasons for such a decision was somewhat silly, truth be told, though heartwarming at the same time. The reason being- his limited mobility. he had spent almost a month, traveling from Vixiera to the capital. If he were to travel further still, how much time he would need to return, in case Light's Oak, or Luna broke their medalions, calling for his help? So, he first needed to aquire a much better and faster mode of transportation. And, what better choice than aerial transport in a world as wast as this. And so, during his trips through the city, he had visited more than one book shop, looking for encyclopedias on flying creatures, their habitats and what not. Unfortunately, he had aquired little in regards to his current search. Sure, there were more than one giant flying bird, living in the vast world outside the dungeons, but each and every one's habitat was far off in distant lands, creating more trouble than worth to hunt them down. And Rex was stil working on recovering and strenghtening his soul. To enslave the monster to his will he would need to brand it, and as such, a much stronger soul was a must.

The remaining of his day and early part of the night passed by peacefully. He meditated, expanded his space storage and cleared his mind in preperation of his next dive. Using his sharp mind and incredible memory, he plotted the best course he could to reach the buss tarantulas as soon as possible. Since he had learned he could take them on, and because of the awesome feeling when felling them, he wanted to get to the grind as soon as possible. The fact that their cores went for a gold piece a pop, and that they sometimes could drop monster crystals, not to be mistaken with Empowerment crystals, was just an added bonus.

He soon descended the stairs, arriving in a deserted mess hall of sorts, and saw a lone helper of Beth yawning behind the counter. Due to Rex's steps creating a light sound, she looked up in his dirrection, with half lidded eyes, only to immediatly shot straight up moments later when she realized who was coming down, moment later to dissapear in the kitchen. And soon, the same young girl sauntered out, her hands filled with trays of prepeared food, walking towards the table Rex sat at, soon followed by a couple other girls, the small procesion finished with Beth herself, holding two lareg trays loaded with roasted meat.

"Ho, ho ho." She jubilantly laughed "You went and stirred up the hornets nest, did you know?" and seeing Rex roll his eyes continiued "The adventurer girls staying here gossiped like crazy as they returned. Turns out the new solo guy might be an A ranked adventurer. Think the guy staying here might be him? So on and so forth. How did you manage to sneak around to never expose the fact that that solo hunter lived here, I will never understand."

"Heh" Rex smirked, licking his lips as the first of the meal trays landed in front of him "Trade secrets. Though I do have a solid suggestion for you. In case anyone asks either you or your girls, make sure they pay you for the trouble, and then speak freely abut me lodging here. Who knows, you might just up your prices for the time being. Might as well earn at the expense of the powerfull and influential scrambling to get on my good sides, or solicit my services."

"My, how nice of you. A true heart of gold." Beth laughed, clearly amused by his proposition. "Well, I suppose there is nothing wrong with pitifull ol' me earning some extra coin for all that trouble you will bring on me."

"Indeed there is not." Rex replied in between bites, devouring the food presented, the little helpers of Beth still coming and going, delivering extra plates with salivating food.

"How long you plan to be out? Same as ussual?" Beth suddenly asked, her tone more serious.

"Mhm." Rex nodded, replying in between bites "Cant stay there for much longer at the current time, not without extra set of eyes for the moments of rest. Too risky otherwise."

"Good that you know your limits. You are a good fellow Rex. Would hate to see you burn out of devoured, either by the dungeon, or the shitty politics and backroom deals of the blue bloods." Beth replied, a hurtfull look in her eyes, clearly she had seen such a fate personally. Rex even noticed a lone tear creeping up the corner of her eye at the painfull memory, though she quickly brushed it off, no doubt smoldering it and showing back deep down, hopefull to never see it resurface.

"Well, time for me to hit the sack as well. The morning rush is coming soon and I need to be as rested for that as I can be. The girls will clean up after you are done." She spoke, the start of the sentence slightly coarse, though it quickly returned to her ussual sound and demeanor.

"Thanks Beth." Rex thanked and pulled out another coin, handing it to her "Keep your stocks full, will you. I will, no doubt, be a starving beast once I am back. And buys something nic for your girls. As thanks for the hard work."

"Aye, but dont spoil them too much. The worlds a harsh place. They better not forget that." she smiled in return, pocketing the gold coin.