Chương 30: The Black Crystal

As usual, it took an hour to reach Outer Sector B. Although Arthur had insisted on being dropped off at the edge of the city, Nickolas did not let him out. Instead, he directly followed Arthur's directions until they finally reached the shop.

"Is this your house?" Nickolas asked, peering out the window.

"No, my house is two streets away from here. This is a shop I rent," Arthur explained, pointing at the building.

"Oh, I thought you would invite us to your house for coffee," Nickolas casually remarked. Arthur was completely shocked by this sudden request. This guy was far too straightforward about everything! Arthur had not expected him to ask so blatantly without a hint of hesitation; he simply did not know what to say.

"If you want, we can go to my house. It is just a walkable distance, two streets away," Arthur said, finding himself with no choice but to offer the invitation.

"Hahaha, no problem! I will visit your house another time. However, let's meet up for dinner tonight!" Nickolas laughed it off, abruptly making plans for dinner.

"I am not sure I will be available for dinner. Maybe some other time," Arthur politely declined. Although he would likely complete his quest before dinner, he was definitely not going to have a meal with these people he had met just an hour ago.

"What about lunch tomorrow?" Nickolas immediately asked again. Arthur couldn't believe this guy. Why was he continuously insisting on a get-together? Arthur somewhat regretted helping these youths, as they were turning out to be incredibly annoying.

"Well, I will be honest. I will be very busy this entire month doing continuous quests. So, I am not sure I will have time for any get-together," Arthur said, issuing a final ultimatum regarding his availability.

"Oh, is that so? Okay then, no problem! Let's meet tomorrow at the Quest Hall. We can do quests together! That way, you can focus on your quests, and at the same time, we can hang out," Nickolas declared, clearly not planning to give up on Arthur anytime soon. Arthur suddenly felt suspicious; was there some hidden motive he didn't know about?

"Okay then, we will meet tomorrow morning at 10," Arthur sighed, realizing he could do nothing but agree.

"Very well, I will see you tomorrow!" Nickolas smiled.

"Okay, bye."

"See you tomorrow, Arthur," Finola chimed in with a soft tone.

"See you, Ms. Finola." Arthur waved as the car veered off down the street. Right behind it, Susanne's car pulled up and came to a stop.

"What were you guys talking about for so long?" Susanne asked.

"Nickolas was insisting on meeting for dinner tonight," Arthur said, bending down to look through the window.

"Great, I will see you there," Susanne simply replied. Arthur was absolutely dumbfounded by her response. These people... He was completely at a loss for words.

"I told him I am not available for dinner, so we agreed to meet at the Awakening Head Office tomorrow morning!" Arthur quickly clarified before she could drive away.

"Oh, is that so? Okay then, we will meet there. Bye, see you!" she waved, pressed the pedal, and drove away. The third car slowed down as the two Sword Affinity youths gave their final thanks before driving away, following the other vehicles. Arthur stood there for a while, watching the cars fade away around the corner of the street. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Who are these people? he wondered.

He had never met anyone with this much eccentricity. Thinking about the people in his life, he realized he had yet to visit the workshop where he had worked until now to officially resign. Although Ms. Ina would have already informed her father, he should at least visit out of courtesy; they had been very good to him. With that thought in mind, he opened the shutter of the shop and stepped inside. It was almost evening; he needed to hurry up and butcher the Boar.

First, however, he needed to hire a worker to do the job. It would be much more convenient than having Coburn do it, especially since Coburn did not have the proper knives for the task. If he were to hire a Butcher worker, it would come equipped with its own tools. Arthur opened the Marketplace and navigated to the Butcher exclusive tab. Immediately, a large list of skeleton workers loaded before him. Currently, Arthur was only looking to hire a Beginner Worker. He hoped it would be enough.

After scrolling through the options for a long time, he finally found a skeleton with an affordable contract payment. [Worker Status] Name: Antrae Designation: Butcher Specialist: Butchery Professional Status: Beginner Monthly Maintenance Cost (MMC): 1, 000 Credits Contract Payment: 5, 000 Credits, 200 grams Emerald Gem. After searching for a long time, Arthur finally found a worker with a Contract Payment he could manage. However, he lacked knowledge about the 200-gram Emerald Gem requirement.

He debated whether he should visit Inner Sector B or if he could try buying it from the same shop where he had first bought the iron ore, which was located inside Outer Sector B. Let's try looking locally instead of traveling to the Inner Sector, Arthur thought. He quickly exited his workshop and started walking towards that store. It took him fifteen minutes to reach the shop. The same old man was behind the counter, inspecting some materials, with an old pair of spectacles resting on his nose.

As the door made a chiming sound, the old man tilted his head and looked directly at Arthur.

"Uncle, do you sell Emerald Gems?" Arthur asked.

"How much do you want?" the old man asked straightforwardly.

"I want 200 grams," Arthur stated his requirement. The old man simply stepped out from behind the counter and walked into the back room, similar to last time. Arthur felt somewhat relieved. Last time, the old man had firmly stated he did not sell iron ore by the ounce, but by the kilogram. Arthur had half-expected him to enforce a similar rule this time, but fortunately, he didn't. Thus, Arthur wouldn't have to spend extra money buying more than what he currently needed.

The old man took an ample amount of time in the back room. When he finally returned, he brought something unexpected with him. At first glance, it looked like a large vase. Indeed, it was a vase, but an incredibly old-looking one. Why the hell was the old man bringing a vase out here? While Arthur stared intently at it, the old man placed the vase on the counter and started searching inside. After rummaging through the vase for a while, he pulled something out. It looked like a deep green crystal.

There were two of them, both possessing a rugged, jagged shape. However, they were heavily covered in dust, causing the crystals to severely lack their usual luster. Are those Emerald Gems? Arthur wondered inwardly.

"Here, these are the very last bits of Emerald Gem I possess," the old man said with a small smile on his face, as if recalling some fond memories.

"How much are they, Uncle?" Arthur asked.

"Five thousand Credits each. That makes 10, 000 Credits in total," the old man stated. Well, that is reasonable, Arthur thought. If I can secure a worker for a total expense of 15, 000 Credits, I will complete the System Quest in no time. Arthur was thoroughly satisfied with the price. Even with this expenditure, he still had around 20, 000 Credits left on him. Arthur took out his bank card and placed it on the counter. However, the old man was still rummaging for something inside the vase.

Arthur patiently waited to pay the bill and leave. The day was rapidly coming to an end; if he could finish the quest soon, he could finally get some much-needed rest.

"Would you like to buy this gem? It only costs an extra 5, 000 Credits," the old man suddenly asked, pulling out a black obsidian crystal.

"What is it?" Arthur asked. He fully intended to decline the offer eventually, as he was tightly budgeting his remaining capital. He was absolutely not ready to spend another penny on anything useless.

"I don't know. I've had it for a very long time, ever since I was young," the old man softly replied, reminiscing about his youth once again as he handed the crystal over to Arthur. Reluctantly, Arthur took the gem and examined it. He couldn't see anything special about it, primarily because he did not possess any appraisal abilities. To him, it simply looked like a normal black crystal. However, just as he was about to hand it back to the old man, his consciousness abruptly shifted.

In the blink of an eye, he found himself standing in a pure white space. Hovering right in front of him was that cursed notebook. Immediately, a sinking feeling of dread washed over Arthur. Something bad was definitely about to happen.