After counting up, the stack turned out to be a total of 40 Bronze Coins. That was quite a lot. The necklace itself seemed to be made out of a silvery type of metal and it had a small blue jewel for a pendant.

It looked nice I guess, and if this was before I spoke to Greja the other day, I would’ve probably just thought it was regular jewelry, but I know better now. I mean I still don’t know what it is, but hopefully Greja will be able to tell me some good news.

Though the big prize was of course the Outpost Upgrade Ticket, I knew the Outpost could be upgraded but had no idea how, until now at least. I wonder how it all works though; do I perhaps give this to the Outpost Leader, or do I offer it to the system in some type of ritual maybe? Ha…probably not. I’ll just ask Greja.

Anyway, it wasn’t until after the rewards were collected that the exit prompt finally came up and I didn’t accept right away. Instead, I walked out of the building and began exploring a bit. I wanted to do some more scouting of the area for when I bring others in. The more information I had for them, the better the chances of them surviving.

Despite that, there wasn’t much else to find, well except for one thing.

The back gate.

It wasn’t opened.

I’m going to assume it’s because the commotion I made at the front was big enough to stop them from even considering checking the back, and the Goblins that were in the towers at the back didn’t have anything to report.

We can probably use that to our advantage.

I don’t think there was anything else to find out though, so I finally accepted the prompt and left the Dungeon.

Huh, it was already getting dark, I guess I was in the Dungeon for longer than I thought.

Should be quicker next time because I won’t need to scout anything. Anyway, it didn’t take me very long to jog all the way back to the Outpost.

“Hey welcome back Raizen, how was the Dungeon?”

“It was good Lance, got some good stuff. How’s guard duty today?”

“Eh not too shabby, haven’t been attacked all day and my shift is almost over so that’s a win in my book. But how were the enemies in the Dungeon, do you think the rest of us can handle it?”

“Not sure, it might be a bit too tough for you all, but we’ll talk about it.”

“Ah okay, see you later.”

After talking to Lance and nodding to everyone else on guard duty, I made my way home to drop off the coins. Shortly after that, it was to the shop to find out about the necklace and the upgrade ticket.

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“Welcome in Raizen, how are you?”

“I’m good, yourself?”

“Just another day in paradise. What can I do for you today?”

“I completed another Dungeon and got a few rewards. If it's possible, I’d like for you to take a look at them.”

“Of course! Let’s see what you have.”

I gently placed both the necklace and the ticket on the counter.

“Ah, you had a really good haul this time Raizen. We’ll get to the Ticket in a bit, as it’s a bit special, but this necklace is actually a really good piece of jewelry. It is essentially a shield. Once imbued with Qi, it will form a protective bubble around the wearer, blocking multiple forms of attacks. However please note, that it’s not indestructible, and if it gets hit by enough attacks or one really strong one the bubble will break.

“But what makes it special is that as long as the jewel itself is fine, the bubble will eventually repair itself and be available for use again. I think at full strength, it can probably take one full powered blow from someone roughly at the peak of the Qi Refinement realm. Of course, that is only an estimation so don’t gamble your life on it with that in mind. Any questions?”

“No, it's just something else I get to look forward to once I finally reach the Qi Refinement realm. Thanks for the explanation.”

“Of course! And don’t worry you’ll reach Qi Refinement in no time, before blazing past it. But let’s focus on this ticket. This is really important, and it comes with a lot of benefits, but before we get to those benefits, there are a couple of caveats.

“Firstly, at least half of the people who pay rent in the Outpost would need to agree to this upgrade. There will be a prompt when the upgrade is triggered that they will have to agree to.

“Secondly, the upgrade isn’t free. Five Silver Coins is the cost to trigger the upgrade. And last but not least, upgrading the Outpost will bring added danger. The danger you have faced in the surrounding areas so far will go up a tick.

“Now for the benefits. If you can afford the cost and the residents of the Outpost are in agreement, these benefits will hopefully offset the new level of danger you will face.

“Let’s start with this very shop, the wares available for purchase here will undergo a significant upgrade, and a variety of things will be added. This actually goes for all three shops, but this one and the alchemist shop will undergo the biggest changes.

“Next the size of the Outpost. More houses will be added, and the size and features of all houses will undergo a change as well.

“And finally, the Outpost will receive a beacon that you may or may not pay to activate. This beacon will shoot a beam of light into the sky and be noticeable for quite some distance. No monster will have the ability to see it, only other Tutorial attendees. Though along with a price, it will have an approval requirement as well. At least 30% of the people who pay rent in this Outpost need to agree to the activation of the beacon.

“Phew, that’s everything! I know that was a lot, got any questions?”

“Yeah, I got a few questions actually. The beacon thing you mentioned, once it’s turned on, is it possible to turn it back off?”

“Yes of course, but after turning it off both the payment and the 30% agreement requirement will be enforced again to turn it back on.”

“I see, what about the upgrade itself? What will happen to the people inside the Outpost?”

“Of course, all of you will have to leave for a moment. The upgrade will only take around a minute, but all Tutorial attendees will need to vacate during that time.”

“What about our things? Will we need to take our things with us as well?”

“Ah no, those will be fine. Just the attendees themselves.”

“I see…I think that’s all my questions for now, thanks as always Greja.”

“You’re welcome as always Raizen.”

After leaving I headed straight over to Richard’s house. He would of course need to be a part of this process.

“Ah Raizen, I heard you were back, how was the Dungeon?”

“It was really good we have a lot to talk about. Is everyone here already?”

“Ah yeah except for Lance, his shift is about to end so he’ll be here soon.”

“Got it.”