'Ah! So that's why he's being so generous today...' I nodded to myself after hearing Gil's peculiar request.

"So, what do you think, will you help me? We'll split the reward fifty-fifty, of course." He quickly added when I didn't respond right away.

However, I ignored his expectant eyes for the time being as I first wanted to sort out my thoughts and try to make some sense of this sudden development.

He apparently wanted my help with some job, but the fact that he went out of his way to find me, not to mention to invite me for lunch beforehand, suggested that this wouldn't be anywhere as easy as he was trying to paint it.

This meant I wasn't in a hurry to accept just yet... On the other hand, this could also be an excellent opportunity to make him owe me a favor.

In the end, I simply smiled. "Before I agree to anything, I will need a bit more information than that, but more importantly... what is an Assignment Hall?"

"Huh? You don't know?" He blinked once before an understanding appeared on his face. "Oh... right! You said you came here from abroad, didn't you? And I'm guessing this is also your first time on the fifth floor..."

He then scratched the back of his head, seemingly in thought, as he came up with an explanation.

"Well, basically, it's the place where you take on and complete various tasks in exchange for soul coins... It's the main way for most of us to earn some money, you know since it's usually not very common to stumble upon heaps of them in a Trial as some people do..." He said, throwing a pointy look my way.

'What that's supposed to mean?' It was not my fault that the Masters designed that maze in such a way, but I would be stupid not to take advantage of it.

Still, I decided to graciously ignore the thinly veiled jealousy in his voice and instead try to pry out some more information from him before giving him my answer.

"Hmm, so that's why you haven't attended the morning lesson. You've been out searching this Assignment Hall for jobs... But how come you suddenly have money if you need my help with it?"

"Hahaha! Well, of course, that was not all I had been doing. I've also taken on several odd jobs, so I had some fragments to get by for now..."

"Fragments?"

He sighed. "Really... You should talk with people more. That way, you don't find yourself lacking so much common knowledge..."

"That's why I have you, don't I?" I smiled before leaning in. "So, what are they?"

He looked at me in exasperation, but then he simply waved his hand dismissively, "Right, right... It's basically another currency that's used to trade stuff with."

He then fished out a small whiteish pebble from his pocket before tenderly flipping it between his fingers.

"As you've probably already noticed, the regular soul coins are too valuable to use as an everyday currency, and since the bartering of mundane coins is forbidden here, the apprentices of old came up with a clever way to go around this problem."

Flashing his signature grin, he pointed at the tiny piece of rock in his hand.

"You see... The refining and minting of the soul coins is said to produce a lot of waste. So, the geniuses who oversaw that process came up one day with the amazing idea of ‘why don't we start using that trash?’ -or something like that, and that's how the fragments were born!"

I simply nodded along as Gil enthusiastically continued with his explanation.

"Its trading was being suppressed at first, but eventually the Council relented, and just like that, it became another type of currency... Although it's never given as a reward for official Tasks and can only be used for trading for stuff like food or everyday items."

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"And how is their worth determined then?"

"Well, that depends... technically, it should be about ten fragments for one soul coin, but since no two fragments are the same, it gets kinda tricky... It's not too big of a deal in normal trades, but if you'd want to exchange them for real soul coins, that's done by weight rather than count. So, sometimes you might get lucky and trade one for nine, but in some cases, it could go as high as fifteen."

"Hmm, you seem to know a lot about this stuff..." I said, giving him an amused look.

"Hahaha! Well, of course! Since my old man runs a pawn shop down in the city, I got to know all the intricacies of coin exchange since I could barely walk. You see... if you know your stuff, you can make quite a hefty profit in this kind of business." He said, giving me a wink.

"Well, that's good to know, I guess..." I said noncommittally, as this didn't feel like an entirely honest type of endeavor, to be frank. Not that I had a moral problem with it. Over the years, I saw people doing all kinds of dubious things to get by. Still, I now had much better ways of earning money, so I didn't have to resort to such things.

Anyway, now that I had milked him for all the information I was interested in, it was about time to ask him about that job he wanted to help with. But before I could get to that, the busy-looking attendant finally decided to approach us to take our orders.

'Oh, that's right! I forgot to ask Gil about those weird-looking eggs...' I suddenly remembered, but it was already too late.

"Be welcomed at our humble establishment, esteemed gentlemen. What can I get for you?"

"We'd like two plates of today's special..." Gil started saying, but before he could finish, I quickly interjected. "Actually... before we order, can you please tell me more about those Abyssmorph eggs?" I said while looking around.

I could see some sort of small oval-shaped object being served at almost every table, but they didn't remind me of any eggs I knew.

For one, the outer layer was almost fully transparent, with only the center having any color, going from milky white at the edges to a bright red right in the middle.

Not to mention, the sight of the excited-looking patrons eagerly piercing into the jiggly mass only to then hear the wet noises as they slurped on the juicy insides was a very visceral experience, to say the least.

"It's my first time coming across such a... remarkable ingredient," I added apologetically.

"Oh, don't worry about it. We get that a lot. " The attendant flashed me a smile before giving me a quick explanation.

'Oh, so it is basically an undeveloped larva of some sort of large insect-type monster living deep inside the Labyrinth... Yeah, no thanks. I don't believe I could eat this and maintain a straight face.'

Given my peasant origins, I wasn't a particularly picky eater, but this was too much even for me. Luckily, they also had some sort of fish soup on today's menu, so I ordered that instead.

However, I was still a bit apprehensive about what sort of fish it would be. Thus, when they finally brought us our food, I first took a small, cautious bite, but to my relief, it tasted just like any normal fish.

It actually tasted surprisingly good, given the circumstances, and the fish even felt somewhat fresh. It must have also come from the Labyrinth; otherwise, I had no idea how you got fresh fish in the middle of a desert.

Whatever the case, with my fears of being served another strange ingredient averted, I began happily munching down the delicious meal.

"So what's that job about?" I asked between the bites.

"Oh, It's nothing difficult... just retrieving some boxes and carrying them to the kitchens..."

"That doesn't sound like something you'd need my help with," I replied with a raised eyebrow. So what's the catch?"

"Well, you see...when the hunting parties first bring in the ingredients, they temporarily stack them down in the basement near the Labyrinth's entrance for inspection before they can be brought up to the cold room," Gill admitted after a while of fidgeting.

"But don't get me wrong! It's still perfectly safe down there!" He quickly added after seeing my doubtful look. "It's just that from time to time, a few monsters manage to sneak in from below. That's why the masters only allow the second-years and above to take on such jobs."

"Then how were you able to convince them to give this one to you?"

"That's because I managed to find a nice little loophole around this stupid rule." He gave me a wink.

"You see, you can either take on the Tasks individually or form a party and take it on as a group... Although that's mainly intended for exploring the Labyrinth, there's actually no rule that forbids you to take on any Task that way, however mundane it may be, and the best part - there is no strength restriction for party Tasks!" Gil said excitedly.

"But why go through so much trouble? Wouldn't it be easier to start with some basic job and then work your way up from there?"

"What do you mean? They pay you a whole soul coin for each box we deliver! There's no other job like this!" Gil exclaimed, dramatically waving his hands.

'Ah! I see... So he's the type to go for the 'get rich quick' type of schemes...' I chuckled before furrowing my brows in thought.

'I guess there's no harm in trying it out. I could use some extra money, and I'm actually kind of interested in exploring another part of the Tower. Besides, even if it somehow gets too dangerous, I could always make Gill into a monster bait and make a run for it...'