Although a ton of possible negative possibilities cross my mind at first, the fact that my own poster with the bounty marked out as collected still stands on the wall makes me question the validity of the posters.

I doubt they'd put up a false collection notice; it wouldn't make any sense.

The odd string of logic that crosses my mind is that someone tricked the Solaran government or paid them off to get rid of our bounties. If my group is off the map, there would be a lot fewer prying eyes.

While deep in thought, the bartender comes back with a steaming plate of food and a tall cold drink. He smiles while placing down the order and speaks up as I'm eyeballing the posters on the back wall.

"Looking to accept some quests? Or just reading for the fun of it?"

He chuckles while giving me a nod, then showing off a charismatic smile.

I reply.

"No, no. Probably not. Though I do have a question, when were these bounties all collected? Do you remember?"

He stares at me with a curious gaze.

"Just 4 days ago. Can you believe it? A full Elite squad of 6 taken down by a single bounty hunter. He caught them in their sleep of all places. Makes the Association look pretty bad, doesn't it?"

His voice carries a mocking tone, but I only smirk back to play along.

If what he said is the story the city is going with, that only confirms my theory further; this is definitely a cover-up. My assumptions are leading me to believe the Galeheart Mercenary Guild owner has a lot to do with all of this. It also gives me a pretty clear idea of how fast my Hibernation time was sped up. Still, I need to get more answers.

I laugh with him and start to dig into my meal before taking the conversation any further.

"Say, what's the fastest way to get to Sector 1 from here? I need to meet a friend."

The bartender continues pouring a few drinks for another customer at the other end of the bar but turns to reply.

"Sector 1? You'll have to take the train outside the walls, it'll cost you a few silver at most. Ever since the surges started, the central terminal has been abandoned."

He grins and looks up at the ceiling, thinking of something. Then, turns back to me and continues.

"Where to in Sector 1? I've only been a few times in my younger years, but I've heard it's nearly 10 times the land mass as our 4th Sector here."

I remember back to the first time we entered the Dark Continent. The train we rode on to get here didn't seem to be at its last stop. It would make sense for it to continue running around the entire continent.

That's one possible option, but there must be more.

"There's a faster, more direct way to get there, right?"

He takes two tall glasses of brightly colored mixed drinks to a couple at the other end of the bar, then comes back to answer.

"Sure, if you don't want to spend a few days or even a week of travel time, I'm sure you could pay the Solaran government office a visit. They have some transport crystals available for sale, but they're far too pricey for the normal citizen to buy."

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I raise an eyebrow.

"How much?"

He shrugs while taking another person's order.

"Depends on the season, and how high in demand they are. Usually no less than 10 gold for a one-way trip, but considering all the tension lately, I wouldn't be surprised if that price tripled, or possibly more."

I wince at the prices, considering I just spent a small fortune at the auction. It was well worth it, but burned all of my cash in one purchase. Right now, I don't have more than a dozen gold left over on me. It's more than enough to live off for a long time, but I'm sure a day or two of farming could net me enough to build up my stash again, plus have enough to buy a transport crystal to Solara.

"On second thought, I will take on a few of those quests."

He smirks, pointing at some of the newer-looking posters.

"I knew you'd come around to it. It's that look in your eyes. A man can't hide his ambitions from another man's gaze. What level are you at? I'll pick out the best ones for you."

I pause but take a sip of my drink to think in the brief moment of silence. Even wihtout the transport crystal in mind building up my gold storages would be a smart thing to do. It never hurts to have more cash on hand.

"Whatever your top quests are, I'd like to buy that transport crystal soon. So, the highest gold in the shortest time. The difficulty doesn't matter."

The bartender soon turns around with a pile of papers, all with recommended level ratings on them, outlining the monsters that drop each item, their apparent drop rate, and finally, the total payout on each of them.

He speaks up again as I continue sifting through the papers.

"Here's a copy of all the quests recommended for level 200 and above; they'll get you the cash you're looking for in no time. Back in my prime, I remember profiting a few gold every month off quests like these. Once you've collected the recommended materials, you can bring them back here to the bar. It's much less crowded in the morning hours, so I recommend coming then."

He points to the far side of the long room. There's another counter, flooded with even more papers and quests.

"Either me or one of the newer recruits will be on duty. Most of the mana crystal quests and higher-ranking monster drops are backed by the city, so bring as much loot in as you'd like. As long as it meets the quest requirements, we can pay in full."

I look up from the papers, giving him a nod.

"Alright, if you say so. Don't say I didn't warn you when I clear you guys out of gold."

He cracks a smile, and we both laugh at my remark while I finish my food. The bartender thinks I'm just joking around, but I'm speaking the truth.

After finishing my meal and allowing my poison resistance perk of my self-regeneration skill to negate the effects of my drink, I make my way back to the dungeon hub with a few things on my mind.

I'm hoping to multitask while I farm materials. By multitask, I mean I'd like to get some extra training in while collecting the loot dropped from these low-level mobs.

What better way to do so than allow Ember to teach me how to wield Demonic Energy.

To make sure there's a source to replenish my stores, I wait outside the outer ring of the dungeon hub square intermittently turning my Demonic Energy Manipulation skill on and off to wait for a unit or two to show up.

The moment one finally does, I pinpoint the dungeon where it leaks from, and check it out.

There's at least 1 or more quests for every high-level dungeon here, so I'm in luck. It happens to be one of the level 250-300 dungeons.

The guard gives me a peculiar warning after I show him my concealed and edited status.

"Careful not to go too far northwest from the entrance, there have been some unusual disappearances from squads in that direction."

I reply but don't bat an eye.

"Understood."

Then, walk down the shielded steps and enter the dungeon.

It's very familiar to one of my old training grounds back in Vice City, a Minotaur dungeon.

There's multiple quests requesting minotaur horns from the mutants in this dungeon. Apparently, only 1 of 20 mobs are mutants, and just 1 of 10 drop a horn after defeat on average. That means only 0.5% of monsters I encounter will drop what I'm looking for. This is a low drop rate, but for the multiple gold being offered for just 1-3 horns per quest posting, its one of the most alluring offers to take.

With flat ground and minimal patches of trees, I do a scan of enemy detection and inspect to make sure no other hunters are present before opening my spatial magic to let Ember come out.

Once he does, we fly deep into the dungeon, directly in the direction the guard warned us about. It's where the Demonic Energy is pulsing the strongest.

Although there isn't nearly as much as the Abyss, it will be just enough to train with.