Kai and Maria are walking down a relatively busy street leading away from the tower. There are multiple shops and stands set up shop on each side.

"I'm assuming this is where most of the shopping takes place?" Kai is surprised that there are so many shops in one place.

'It reminds me of the malls I use to go with.... her... anyways I wonder what all you can actually get here.'

"Now that I think about it.. how do you buy things? Like what do you use to buy things with?"

"Well, the currency is gold coins that we get from drops from the dungeon and quests from guilds and quests we get from the Tower itself on occasion."

"Hmm, so everyone relies on the output of the tower, and to make money you need to hunt in the tower or sell stuff."

"For the most part. The towers have been around long enough that there is quite a bit of gold in circulation as is in every city. everyone gets a class and you also can get professions like crafting and alchemy and sometimes there are unique branches that are more powerful in one thing like poison making so they would be better at making poisons than anything else with alchemy. Also, most of the people selling stuff here is probably something involving their profession in some way. You can also sell most stuff you find in the tower here or you can bring it to the auction house if it's unique or you can also participate to buy stuff there. Most of the rare stuff you will find there. There is also a library, guild houses, inns, about anything you can think of."

"Idk if you can tell but we are getting quite a bit off stares for whatever reason" Kai started to feel uncomfortable because most people that noticed Kai and Maria looked at them like they are freaks.

*Facepalm* "Sigh... I casually just forgot that since we have a Gold Contract everyone will be surprised/envious/afraid etc. knowing that someone finally has a Gold Contract. We are kinda like freaks to everyone. We need to get something to cover you when outside since your insignia is on your chest. Let's hurry to my place before we cause a bigger commotion." Maria then sped up to a half jog through the busy street with Kai close behind. After roughly 30 minutes through the town bobbing through side streets and alleyways to avoid people, they made it to a small house in a sparsely populated area on the outskirts of the city. Unlike the building near the center of town, her house isn't connected to another building so there is a decent amount of privacy. Once they walk up to the building Maria grabbed the handle and put mana into it and the door unlocked.

"Woah, that's pretty cool actually. So you don't even need a key?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Nope, the door is registered to me so only I can open it since it is tied to my mana signature."

"How is that made exactly?"

"Hehe, it's actually done by another Rune castor that's a higher level than me. Apparently later a rune castor can make a lot of different runes and are different from person to person. At least that's the info I have come across."

"Hmm, I wonder what runes you'll be able to use later.. speaking of which shouldn't you have leveled up some?

"Oh yeah! I completely forgot to check since all of the things have happened."

After giving her some time Kai noticed she kinda had a blank stare for a bit before she finally got really excited.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! This is crazy! Meeting you was the best thing that happened in my life!"

Maria broke out in the most beautiful smile you have ever seen and hugged you tightly.

"I'm glad to have a beautiful girl hug me, but why are you so excited?" Kai was confused as to why this girl was excited enough to hug him. He didn't even really do anything except exist.

"I actually leveled twice from the time we met until now so I am level 5. Part of it was from completing a quest which granted me a lot of essence. That isn't the crazy part. The crazy part is that because of Getting a Gold Contract I actually have access to a unique class that I haven't heard of before. It's called a Soul Scribe, and its description is that it is similar to the rune caster as I still can draw runes but I can now enhance previous runes, create new unique runes, or create something called soul enchantments which provide permanent buffs to the object I place it on using souls from enemies that I or my familiar defeat meaning you. I have never heard of this class once and no other Soul Knight owner has ever had it. Maybe it's something you only get by getting the Gold Contract."

"That's.. honestly it reminds me of my abilities. Some of them require me to collect souls to enhance myself or gear. It compliments me really well. Also, your class seems to have a lot of utility to it now. You can actually create Runes now which sounds like it will have a lot of use. I am actually interested in that Soul Enchantments though."

"I'm honestly really excited about this. Ever since I met you not too long ago, only good things have happened. I don't know how exactly you ended up here but I am glad you are."

Maria looked up at Kai as she was still hugging him and gave him such a warm smile that he felt comforted. Even though he seemed to be okay with everything that is going on he still couldn't help but feel somewhat scared as it is a new world to him.

"Thank you Maria but I haven't really done much to deserve a thank you. Yeah, I have saved you but you helped me out of the Tower and gave me so much knowledge of where I am. Without you, I would probably have endlessly climbed the tower alone. Honestly, I should be thanking you. I don't really feel I deserve thanks for what I have done. All I have really done so far is just exist."

In a soft warm voice, she said "it's okay, thank you for existing. Existing is enough for me"

Kai was speechless. In all his time he has been alive he has always been expected to do things. He was supposed to get good grades in high school. He was supposed to go to a good college. He was supposed to get a good job. He was supposed to get everything his girlfriend wanted. Never once has someone told that existing is enough. He couldn't see it before but maybe he never had anyone that truly cared about him before. Nobody ever said they were just happy he was there with them. He always had to earn love and in the end, he was betrayed. This girl that he only just met said something that he always needed to hear but never did.

Existing is enough.