Seeing the disrespect, what could he do. He could only smile lightly as he looked at Jack. Turning to look at Saleh and Jessica, he nodded as he greeted them. With but a short introduction, the convoy got on its way.
Marvin was the name of the protectee. He was a fifty-year-old merchant. Marvin wasn’t a non-graded being. Instead, he too was a graded being. With decent talent and money, he was able to reach Grade D. This was only possible through an artificial dungeon core. In terms of strength, he was not even as strong as a general Grade E.
Since, everyone could become a graded being, many people did so. However, very few had the money for an artificial core. The vast majority of graded beings were Grade F and E. They didn’t have even a tenth of the ability of someone of the same grade. At least compared to one found in Mercury City.
In terms of artificial cores, a person would lose strength. While their mana would reach the threshold of the next grade. Their mana was sluggish and impure. To top it off, while an artificial core could help a person breakthrough without needing to enter a dungeon. It had many drawbacks.
From stopping any more chances at progressing to only giving a five percent chance of working. The money spent on a single try could bankrupt most people. For a normal person, they would start when they were young.
Find a dungeon they were compatible with and try their hand. These were not a normal dungeon, they were those deemed as starter dungeons. While it was easier to breakthrough in such places, the amount of work needed to break through the next rank was like a steep cliff.
These dungeons, gave the graded being a weak foundation. Only, people that did this didn’t care. The reason they choose those dungeons was because they were small in side. Combined with creatures that were easy for them to deal with. Finally, after numerous tries, achieving their breakthrough.
Not everyone sought strength, in fact most simply wanted the increase in lifespan. There was little security in having higher grade mana. Ultimately, as a young person giving up a few years, largely made up for the fifty years from achieving Grade E. At least that was the temptation.
Unlike what she had expected, Marvin wasn’t arrogant. Even though he was able to become Grade D with an artificial core, he was not what she expected.
In fact, he was extremely skewed. Having seen many, Jessica couldn’t help but notice very vague traces of his displeasure when dealing with the attitude of the Grade B being. When dealing with any of the four, he showed a modest personality. Very easy to get along with.
As time passed. Nothing seemed to be going on. Sitting around the fire was all four of them. By this time, they had gotten used to each other's company.
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Claire was staring into the fire when she opened her mouth, “Within a week. With the pace we're going, we will start running into trouble. After leaving the peripheral, there was some fear, therefore most wouldn’t attack a convoy like ours. Now that we have moved a distance away, the attacks can start at any time.”
Having already discussed this beforehand, nobody looked surprised, “The most dangerous time, that will be as we approach and just after entering the animal tribe's territory.”
Once she stopped, Saleh spoke up, “In terms of dangers, bandits are the worst. Normally their levels will not be anything impressive. However, never have the goblins and human’s stopped fighting. The path they used the most is the route around the peripheral of Mercury City.”
They had gone over all of this before. Only they continued to drill this information, at least once a week. Only in this way could they make sure to memorize the important portions that could prove useful. As for what bits would be useful?
That was unknown, therefore they could only drill everything once a week. With this method, while they wouldn’t be prepared for everything. Most situations might show a silver lining that might prove useful.
“For this reason, the first month of traveling after entering animal tribe territory, is still dangerous. Neither the humans nor goblins would dare provoke animal tribes as a whole. So whoever attacks will have zero backup. Thus, so long as we can hold them off, it will seem too troublesome. The war is constantly going, supplies are randomly taken from passing parties as an open secret.”
At this point, it was Jack’s turn. The one to speak though was Jessica. The secret to success was not just strength, one had to learn, and absorb any information they could get their hands on. The other’s had no problems with this, as they continued to share bits of information that could be useful.
“Because there is profit to be had, Mercury City turns a blind eye to anyone attacked outside their territory. Forcing convoy’s to seek out adventurer’s to protect their convoy. In this way, generating not just revenue, also weeds out the useless ones…”
Marvin and his people turned around, not daring to pay attention to this. Having no excuse to barred him from doing so, Marvin inserted himself into their group. However, when he learned about the things being talked about and how monotone their tones were, it actually worried him.
As a successful merchant, he knew better than to speak out about open secrets. Even if he knew about this, only adventurers from Mercury City were this callous about it. To the point, the Grade B being had finally showed a change in expression.
She actually showed a bit of interest before slowly going bored. Returning to her own solitary meditation. Without sleeping, she meditated whenever she wasn’t eating. Having grown used to each other. The two didn’t interact.
Each time she was needed to make a move, his expenses would expand. It was better for him if everything was dealt with by the other four. Still, what those four were discussing wasn’t wrong. A lucky convoy would be fine with talented Grade E’s.
If they were unlucky, most convoy’s would use a safeguard of a Grade C. This wasn’t enough. As the first trade with the wolf tribe, he couldn’t allow anything to go wrong. It would cost way too much to have the Grade B act for all trouble, but…
He had assured the four that the deal was official. Only, even he didn’t know enough to concretely say everything would be fine. The deal was too sweet to pass up. He wasn’t a timid person by nature, he would have never had the money to spend a fortune for artificial cores to get an increase in lifespan if he was.