Pulling a hand out, Zack was able to get out of the sand. It had taken him about 10 hours to fully heal his body, which allowed the sand to settle on him.

With his clothes all ragged and dirty, he picked up his card again and looked in the direction it marked. The impulse he had made send him head in the shelter's direction as he did not want to stray.

Zack was carrying a loaf of bread and a bottle of water as he walked. It was the only thing he had left since the suit and equipment the school gave him were of poor quality, and his thunder body destroyed it.

He barely had any clothes left. He kept walking, and after a while of walking, he could see a fortress with wooden barricades.

Zack approached and passed through the entrance, but was not stopped, so he continued inside and looked for a place to sell his core. It took him some time to collect them all again and store them in a piece of cloth that he detached from his backpack.

He approached a stall with the sign "Buying and Selling Cores." There were others just like it, but he preferred this one as it listed his buying and selling price.

He was not very aware of the prices, so that it would be a little uncomfortable for him. Therefore, he sold in this store.

As he walked in, the store owner looked him up and down and then said, "How can I help you?"

Zack opened the bag he was holding and dropped it in 31 levels one core. He had lost two, but he wasn't too discouraged.

The man looked at the cores and then looked at Zack. 'To hunt having that many cores and only have his clothes shredded and not a scratch, he must really be an expert,' he thought.

"These are low-quality level 1 core. Each core costs 50 Star coin making a total of 1,550. Is that okay with you?" he asked.

"That's fine with me," said Zack.

The salesman obligingly deducted 1,500 Star coins from his inventory and handed them to him in a bag.

This action surprised Zack as he usually had the money deposited into his account. The seller could see him stare at the bag and immediately understood what was going on. "Only in the central general market are transactions made; in the shelters, we use the normal currency."

Now he understood. He wasted no more time and left the place and headed for a clothing store. He arrived at a simple store to buy clothes, as he knew he did not have enough money to buy more extravagant garments.

He walked in and was greeted by a cat-like receptionist. Despite his clothes, she did not judge him; it was customary to see hunters arriving all tattered.

He bought two hooded sweaters, a pal of black pants, and some boots.

He left with these in a bag and went to an inn. Here he rested as it had been a heavy day, and he needed something more comfortable to sleep in.

'I will make this shelter my place to stay until I have to relocate or move up.' After saying this, he fell asleep.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

...

The streets were crowded with people this day. Zack had had breakfast at the inn and was walking towards a bar. There was no better place than this to look for information.

"A glass of beer," said Zack. The bar was filled with different races; just like humans, it was not uncommon to see humans walking around.

On one side of the bar, two people were talking.

"Hey, did you notice that James' group married a mid-level beast?" said a human.

"Yeah, they are promising youngsters. They may be the future of our human race," said another.

"I heard James got a weapon tattoo," said the first.

This conversation caught Zack's attention; he had never heard this term. "Waiter, can you give me some information on weapon tattoos?"

"5 Star coin, and I can give you any information," replied the waiter.

Zack dropped five coins on the bar and said, "Speak."

The bartender took the coins and looked at Zack, "Unlike basic and medium beasts, high-level beasts have a 60% chance of becoming an item or weapon tattoo before they die. These weapons can be upgraded with other items that leave these same. But don't get excited, even though the probability is said to be 60%, you can still kill 5 beasts and receive nothing," he replied.

This information surprised Zack very much. Now he understood why a single bee was as lethal or more lethal than the group of medium bees chasing him. A weak beast could not have transmuted properties.

"What price these?" he asked.

The waiter wiped a glass with a cloth as he continued to answer, "It depends on the type of weapon it can cost anywhere from ten thousand coins to 50 thousand coins. But it's not just because of the weapon's value; it's because of how hard it is to kill a high-level beast and how hard it is to find them. You can't kill them without enough power or another weapon tattoo. But you also have to be careful; if a person finds out you have one, they can hunt you down to take it."

As he listened to this, he wondered how powerful this James guy was to have a weapon tattoo or how he got it. He was about to leave, but first, he looked at the bartender and asked one last question. "What about the elite beasts?"

Not only the bartender but other people also looked at him. "Elite beasts are nothing but a legend, and no one has seen one, so don't give it mind. Although if I can tell you, it is said that someone hunted an elite beast and gave it with a weapon tattoo that could evolve."

'A weapon that evolves, if this were possible, you wouldn't need to change weapons when ascending,' he thought.

He left the bar and headed for a blacksmith. He found a store at the end of the street. The forge masters, the dwarves, ran it.

He entered and found many models of weapons. You could notice the quality from afar.

"What do you wish, dear sir?" who spoke was a girl, it seemed.

"I come to repair these weapons and buy a bow," he answered.

The girl looked at the weapons and could only deny. An older man approached and looked at the weapons Zack brought. "They are weapons that I can repair, but I wouldn't waste my time repairing that junk. It's better to use my hands than that," he expressed.

Zack knew that his equipment was trash. The school won't waste too much on a random team; it was an embarrassment of a weapon.

The man pulled out a bow and two other pairs of weapons and presented them to Zack. "1,200 coins," He said.

Zack swallowed when he heard this price. He still needed to buy supplies and another backpack to go out hunting; with the cost of clothing and inn, plus the bar, he had spent 450 coins.

"Can you give me a small discount?" Zack said with an embarrassed smile.

The dwarf looked at him for a moment and then replied. "800 coins, but you need to come here to repair, and any other weapons or armaments needed, you have to buy them here, if I see you somewhere else buying, I'll take your head, how about it?" replied the dwarf as he shook his hand towards Zack.

Zack didn't hesitate to accept and took the dwarf's salute. "For our cooperation."

The girl stared at Zack as he walked away and asked, "How could a cheapskate, like your grandfather, give a rebate?"

The old man gave a small smack on the girl's head and replied, "That brother of yours teaching you those words, I'm going to punish him when I get back. As for that boy, my instincts were screaming at me to do it."

Zack restocked on supplies and bought a stronger backpack. "Here we go again," he said.