I go through my gear to make sure everything is ready. A hunter's pack, a pickaxe, an axe, rope and twine, glass jars, additional tools, and a change of clothes. Everything here can withstand the energies in a Category 5-1 Dungeon, though the quality itself is on the lower side since it's pretty expensive to buy this stuff and my funds were limited. My current outfit is also made of such materials, and at roughly $10,000 in overall cost, is just "standard" in cost.

It's a plain, light grey t-shirt with a light green short-sleeved button-up over it, left unbuttoned, with a pair of jeans, a black belt, and dark brown leather boots. A knife is fixed onto my belt on my right hip, and that cost me $1,500 by itself and isn't a part of that approximately $10,000 for the outfit.

While I'd like to have some mana potion to take with me into the Daily Dungeon, I don't have any that would withstand the energies in it. The potions of the quality I have would be instantly dissolved by the ambient mana in the air within them. Fortunately, I've topped up what MP I didn't recover in my sleep last night and I shouldn't need more than that.

I'm currently in the back of my shop even though it's closed on weekends. Learned that lesson yesterday. Entering the Daily Dungeon from my workshop will allow me to clean off my hands and any loot which needs it without needing to touch other stuff upon my return, since this is where I'll reapper.

"Hup!" I pull on my new hunter's pack, then access my Daily Quests menu.

Daily Quests Daily Dungeon Daily Fitness Harvest Scrolls Alchemy

The difference in the Quest names today is that "Cleanse" was swapped out for "Scrolls". Otherwise, they're all the same basic Quests, though I'm sure the details are different. While I'm only interested in the Daily Dungeon Quest, I still give the others a cursory look just in case they catch my interest.

None of them do. The Harvest Quest requires four materials of similar themes, and I'd need to get lucky scavenging in a fire-based Dungeon for those. The Scrolls Quest is for crafting [Scroll of [Fireball]]s, and the Alchemy Quest and Daily Fitness Quest are both the same as they were yesterday.

Done checking out the others, I call up the Daily Dungeon Quest.

Daily Dungeon Defeat the Goblin Knight in your Daily Dungeon within 4 hours. 0/1 Goblin Knight Reward: 500 EXP

That will allow me to better-deal with my shop's current lower income. Even if the only things I end up being able to acquire are essence crystals from the monsters, I'll still earn enough from that to make up for the lack of other harvests.

As soon as I confirm that I want to perform my Daily Dungeon Quest, I find myself in a tunnel with stone brick walls. Glass and metal lanterns with glowing crystals in their centers hang from hooks fixed into the ceiling at regular intervals, providing some light to the Dungeon. Greyish-white crystals are fixed into the bottoms of those as well, seemingly doing nothing for now.

I begin walking down the tunnel, shooting a goblin with a [Magic Missile] when I come upon it. This one's dressed in leather pants and a leather vest, with no boots or weapon. Though a more civilized type than the goblins I faced yesterday, it's body isn't really any stronger. My [Magic Missile] blasts into its skull, blood spraying out as bone breaks, a hole opening up in its head to expose its brain. The goblin reacts much in the same way as those yesterday did, stumbling and screaming in pain.

A second [Magic Missile] puts it out of its misery, then I pull out my knife and cut open its chest to remove the fist-sized green essence crystal that took the place of its heart. I wasn't able to afford something to clean that off with which could withstand the ambient mana of the Dungeon, so it's slipped straight into my [Dimensional Storage] and I continue on. Rather than actually pulling it out, I only touch the crystal with a finger to send it in, to minimize how much blood I get on my hands.

After killing a few goblins, I come across a room off of the hall I'm walking down. I opt to press my back against the wall and peek inside, the way some of the Awakened I've talked with said to do to minimize the odds of being spotted.

Four goblins are gathered around a table eating some sort of stew while rolling dice-like bones. Clubs sit against their stools, and the stew pot hangs over a fire on the wall opposite the entrance. While the entrance itself is straight, the room itself is circular with a slight dome for a ceiling. On the left-hand side of the room is a table with various ingredients on it, while the other side has some skulls hanging on hooks.

It would be easiest to take out the goblins with a [Fireball], except that would very likely cause damage to the ingredients on the prep table. This being an early part of the Dungeon doesn't mean that what's found here is lower in quality than what's found later. Some of it may actually be worth a lot more than some of the things found deeper in the Dungeon.

Having the [Multicast] Skill would make this a lot easier but I didn't Awaken with it and training to be able to use it is pretty difficult, from what I've heard. However, I'm pretty sure there's a simple solution to this, so I begin casting a [Magic Missile], which I use to nail a goblin in the back of the head before jumping backwards back down the hall a little, another spell forming over my right palm.

By the time the goblins have gotten up, grabbed their clubs, and made it into the hall, it's already been several seconds. I've made it thirty feet back as well, and wait until the goblins are about twenty feet away before throwing the [Fireball].

Knowledge of the language of the goblins isn't necessary for me to understand the "Oh, shit" looks on their faces when they realize what the spell really is. It does, however, let me know that one of them says "Fuckshrooms" when the three-inch orb of flames soars forward.

My [Fireball] slams into the lead goblin and explodes into a swirl of flames. Due to the narrow width of the hall, some of the flames flow forward and nearly reach me, but stop about two feet before actually doing so. I can still feel the heat, though, and damn is it hot. The flames can harm me now that I'm not in control of them, too.

Noted for future battles in here: back up more after throwing [Fireball]s.

The scent of burnt flesh and wood begins to fill the air, then the greyish-white crystals on the bottoms of the lamps begin to glow and the smell fades. Goblins dislike strong, foul scents, so they often have measures in place to eliminate them in places without proper airflow.

Goblins have softer flesh than hunter ants and the flames were enough to take out all of the HP of all four goblins. I walk forward and draw my knife, removing the essence crystals from their chests and placing them into my [Dimensional Storage].

In their break room, I examine the goods on the table. There's several chunks of meat sitting on one end of it and I don't need to inspect it to know what it is. Dungeons tend to be pretty realistic with some of what they provide, regardless of how disturbing it might be.

[Human Chuck] Meat from the shoulders and upper chest and back of a human.

[Human Round] Meat from the upper legs and hindquarters of a human.

I inspect them anyway, just in case it was one of the rare times it isn't human meat but something actually worth taking. Every now and then, I help scavenge a Dungeon where the hunters didn't check the meat and it turned out to be something valuable, like a rare boar's meat.

None of the vegetables are worth anything, so I continue making my way through the Dungeon, eliminating goblins, looting their essence crystals until my [Dimensional Storage] is full, and looting the various rooms and chests I come across and putting those goods into my pack.

Eventually, I reach the goblin knight, who's guarded by six goblins with clubs. Unlike the others in here, the goblin knight is wearing leather armor and wields a sword in his right hand while gripping a shield in his left. The room they're in contains a pile of iron-looking coins and jewels on a table, some weapons against a wall, and another cooking station with a couple of tables set up for eating. The back wall has a few shelves set up against it, but those only contain a few bottles and scrolls, and nothing else.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

As with the other goblins here, they all charge at me after seeing me, and I make sure to back up plenty before they're in range of my [Fireball]. Once the monsters are dead, I step over their bodies and enter the room to examine the goods. The coins and jewels are added to my pack, none of the weapons have special abilities but I do strap a couple of them to my pack, and most of the potions and scrolls are worthless.

There's nothing else for me to do here, so I confirm a desire to exit the Dungeon and find myself back in my workshop. I pull off my pack and start dumping the essence crystals into my sink so I can scrub them clean.

While I do that, I examine the choices for Weekly Quests. We're offered up to five of them a week and they reset at midnight on Sundays, so today is the last day to take on this week's. There are two guaranteed ones and up to three additional. As with Daily Quests, there's a Weekly Dungeon and Weekly Fitness Quest. The former is a bigger Dungeon than the Daily ones with its features dependent on a person's Classes, while the latter is for doing the same exercises as needed for the Daily Fitness on three separate days during the week.

I'm only interested in the Weekly Dungeon Quest, so I check out its information. The other three aren't as important for me as the Weekly Dungeon provides resources directly.

Weekly Dungeon Slay the Stuncap King in your Weekly Dungeon within 6 hours. 0/1 Stuncap King Reward: 1,500 EXP

A Stuncap King is a mushroom-type monster, which suggests I'll be able to harvest mushrooms in the Dungeon. It's also possible that I'll be able to harvest materials relating to the stun-type affliction, which in turn can be used to make potions to cure said affliction. Or explosives which stun one's foes.

I'm normally restricted to just what I can fit in my pack, which limits to some degree what I can take with me. However, I do want to grab as much as I can from that Dungeon because of the implied nature of it. The Weekly Dungeon may have a focus on my [Magic Craftsman] Class.

After I finish washing and drying the essence stones, I load them up in a box, then take my other loot and put them into boxes. Once that's done, I load those into the bed of my truck and start driving, making a call as I go.

"Hey, Evan!" A cheerful voice greets me, along with a small tink, tink, tink! "Placing a ring order?"

"Hey, Cole," I greet the smith who makes the rings I enchant for my shop. "I only sold two this week so I don't need to make more. Wanted to know if you had something in stock."

In addition to making base rings and other items that people can enchant if they want, Cole also makes enchanted items, himself. We're the same age, and he's been working in his family shop since before he could even smith, helping with grabbing tools and materials and working the customer side. His talents are quite high and he makes some of the more specialty gear used by higher-strength hunters.

"Can see if I do," he says. "What are you looking for?"

"A Tier 7 or higher ring with a dimensional pocket enchanted onto it," I answer. "I Awakened to Rank 5 and need some storage for my Dungeon runs."

"I'm betting that's on top of [Dimensional Storage]," he snickers.

"Cassidy tell you?" I ask.

"Oh, so you tell Cassidy before you tell me?" He feigns upset. "And here I thought we had something special."

"We haven't hooked up in eight months."

I met him back when I was first starting to look into setting up my own shop and wanted a good place to supply rings. We became friends with benefits a little before I turned nineteen, and it lasted up until August of last year, for just-under a year. While it was fun at first, we stopped enjoying it and decided to return to being just friends.

"Oh, right," he snickers again. "The bracelets cost $7,875 per cubic foot for Tier 7 ones. I know your shop's got to be hurting, since most of the loot's getting bought up by bigger companies or held within guilds. The registration package won't have that much, either. We currently only have ones with sixteen or twenty-seven cubic feet in stock at that level."

"Alright," I say. "We'll have to see how much I can afford. I just did my Daily Dungeon and am on my way to sell loot now. I can probably afford the smaller one."

"If you want to wait until tomorrow," he says. "I can get a smaller one prepared. We don't have any bases for it right now so I have to make the alloy itself, too."

"My Weekly Dungeon sounds like it might have a lot of stuff that's useful for alchemy," I tell him. "So I want it before that resets, since there's no guarantee that next week's will."

"Got it," he says. "I'll see you in a bit, then."

"See you," I say. "Bye."

"Bye!"

I pull up to the Skybound Loot a few minutes later and park between some other trucks. It might be early in the day, but that doesn't mean hunters aren't returning from Dungeons or outside of the city already. That's the same reason the hunter's mall is open at all hours. They even buy loot there, too, but people can get competitive prices from a shop like Cassidy's.

A pair of guards stand outside, one dressed in leather armor and with a sword on his hip, the other wearing a mage's robe over his clothes with a staff gripped in his right hand, a greyish-white crystal set into the top of it.

Inside the shop, another security guard dressed in leather armor and with a sword on her left hip stands, keeping a stern eye on the crowd of hunters in here. There are three registers, though only two with employees behind them, young men who've gone through extensive training but are still relatively fresh faces here.

"They sold for $2 more each last week!" A man at the front of the line insists. "That's over $40 more than you're offering for what I have! You're scamming me!"

The other customer being served at the moment seems to be a lot more rational right now, only inquiring about the price increase for the goods he's wanting to purchase. I've had a few customers get irrational over prices changes or shortages recently, too. Fortunately, most are rational like the second customer.

Those still waiting in line don't have any containers with them, though they're like me in that they've left their boxes and crates and jars in their trucks and will grab them when it's their turn. That's the courteous thing to do since if everyone brought their loot in, there would be little space to walk around and it would be easy to "mix up" whose containers are whose at times where the shop is busy.

"The current demand for silversong tulips has dropped while the supply has increased," the employee the angry customer is dealing with tells him. "As a result, the price has dropped. With the shortage of-"

"Those are just excuses!" The man exclaims, the security guard moving a hand to her sword. "You're just trying to rip me off! Get me your manager!"

The customer's begun exerting his mana presence in an attempt to get his way. It's not all that strong, but it can become a problem if the situation isn't defused quickly. A mana presence puts a pressure on people around and can even inflict nausea, dizziness, and headaches in people who are weaker than the one using it. A strong enough mana presence can knock a person out.

"The owner is currently busy," the employee informs him.

"That's bullshit!" The man says. "Get her out here!"

"Hey, Jack," I step up to the counter. "Could you let Cass know her brother's here?"

"Cassidy doesn't have a brother," the angry customer snaps at me. "And don't cut in front! And she doesn't like being called that!"

The employee's name also isn't Jack.

While the customer snaps at me, the employee he's dealing with slips into the back, probably grateful to have a moment away from him.

"Wh-hey!" The angry customer's nostrils flare a little. "That little brat, not wanting to do his job!"

"Stop exerting your mana presence," the security guard steps forward, left hand holding her scabbard. "This is your only warning."

The other customers move back a bit, and the angry customer suddenly starts looking nervous.

"I didn't-I mean-I-" the customer stammers as his mana presence vanishes.

"Do not release it again or you will be removed from the shop," the guard says. "You will not be given another chance."

The angry customer stammers some more.

"Dungeons are currently in a drier period," another customer speaks up. "All that can be hoped for with those is for them to start spawning more frequently again, and to start holding more loot once more. Because of this, many hunters are leaving the city to try and collect magic plants that can't be cultivated, only found in the wild or in Dungeons. Silversong tulips are one of those. The supply currently outweighs the demand, so the price has dropped."

"But-"

"Just accept the lower price," the other customer says. "It's an eight-week dry spell, so Dungeons should be back to normal in the next week or two. If you're that hard-pressed for cash, try looking for stuff with a higher demand and lower supply."

"Alchemists are in need of materials for mana and health potions," Cassidy says as she exits the back with the employee who'd gone to get her. "The prices for such materials have gone up between five and twenty percent depending on what it is and which loot shop you to go. The dry period for Dungeons is enough right now that even guilds are going to be hurting if it keeps up too much longer. If you want to make money, your best bet is to buy stuff that's in demand rather than common decorative stuff. Now. If you've calmed down, Sean here can finish adding up your total."

"Y-yes, ma'am," the no-longer-angry customer says.

"Thank you," Cassidy tells him, then smiles at me. "I wasn't expecting to see you again so quickly, Evan."

"I have more loot to sell," I tell her. "A few boxes' worth."

"I'll take you at the third register," she tells me. "Go grab your things."

"Hey!" Another customer protests. "How come you're letting him cut?"

"He's a VIP customer," she informs him as I head outside to grab my boxes. "They get to bypass the line."