Chương 354: Better Future

"Alright, here are the cores processed from those Demonic Beasts you brought in," Leland told Damion, handing him a spatial stretching box filled with cores.

"As agreed, I'll give you 25% of the profits of any artifact made with the rest of the materials."

"Thanks Leland," Damion said, putting the box down in his room, next to two other boxes, one filled with artifacts and the other with cores for his weekly upgrade work.

"Any chance of trading these Shadow affinity cores for something more common?"

"Sure, the Adventurer Association can trade a few, maybe even a couple of other shops here in Saung can as well, but as soon as you start trading more than just one or two, you will be hard pressed to get 2 to 1."

"Why is that?" Damion asked, 2 to 1 was not bad, at least not in his eyes. If he could turn 1 C Rank core into 2 C Rank cores he would go from 500 credits from the Magic System core converter to 1, 000. Still, more was even better, if possible.

"Because they'll know you have plenty to trade. You've been gathering up all sorts of the common cores for your deals here locally and it's got the market all messed up. Low demand cores are starting to go up on price and people have even started harvesting the cores from the Aerico, despite the risk of getting themselves sick, just so they can afford your upgrade fee."

"You think I should take a break?"

"Maybe, but after you do the artifacts I just collected for this week's deal. I can say you are going back out on a trip and don't know when you will be back. That will give you plenty of time to go to another town or to a White Zone so you can trade those rare cores for more common ones."

"Alright, I'll do that," Damion did not want to take too long of a break. If he was not in Saung upgrading artifacts, people would start to wonder where he was. Already some people, Leland in particular, were questioning how he was able to get around so well. So far, Damion deflected claiming the use of his Ice Sword and being friends with Arica, a Spatial mage. It was not so far out of the realm of possibilities that anyone questioned it, yet.

First, Damion upgraded the new one hundred artifacts left in the room for him. Next he had the Magic System convert the cores left as payment to credits. The actions netted him 120, 652 credits. The credits were useful to him, but now that he had a labyrinth, he was feeling the amount was insufficient. Just the one floor of the labyrinth he had done could earn him almost 75, 000 credits from cores.

And if he converted those rare Shadow affinity cores to low demand cores, he could possibly triple that, easily earning more credits in a single floor than from his upgrade service. Still, the thought lingered that if he upgraded more artifacts every day, he could earn an astounding amount, the problem was, how to explain to the masses what he was doing. After he finished, Damion opened Portal and headed to his parents' apartment for the rest of the day.

Later that evening, he and Elicia were relaxing in his underground home catching up on the day's events.

"You really found a labyrinth?" Elicia could hardly believe what he just told her. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Yes and what's more, the B Rank floor I had to clear to stabilize it, was a Fire Cave."

"What? You cleared a Fire Cave!"

"Yes, luckily all the Shadow Rend Bats inside the cave were just C Rank. Only the guardian was a B Rank, and I killed it without even realizing."

"Must have been low B Rank, maybe you were on the first of the B Rank floors."

"Possibly, but there is no telling if that floor was an actual floor of the labyrinth or if it was just created as a stand in until the labyrinth was stabilized."

"Hopefully it was just a stand in, otherwise, people will have to pass through a Fire Cave in order to get to the deeper floors of the labyrinth, that could make it a very dangerous Breach, maybe even the most dangerous out there."

"We will find out once we get everything set up and can start clearing the floors and opening them up. Maybe the floor I was sent to was just a jumble of several different floors thrown together."

"That would kind of make sense, you said it was really big, even for a labyrinth floor. Can I take a look at the flame water you collected?"

"Uh sure, just don't spill it," Damion said, taking the cup of flammable liquid he had collected in the labyrinth out to show her.

"I've never been in a Fire Cave before, but this liquid does have a distinct smell. I'll be sure to remember it, just in case I ever encounter a Fire Cave."

"Where would you encounter a Fire Cave?"

"You never know. Besides, I can't sit at home every day while you are out exploring the world now can I? Someone needs to go with you, to make sure you keep out of trouble."

"But what about the baby?"

"What about the baby?" Elicia countered.

"If we are both out exploring or clearing Breaches, who is going to take care of the baby?"

"Maybe you should stay home and train and take care of the baby while I go out and explore and clear Breaches."

"But that… that isn't fair."

"And it is fair to expect me to stay home and worry about you?" Elicia pointed out with a bit of fire in her voice.

"But what if something happens to you?"

"What if something happens to you?" Elicia countered again.

"You can't expect me to just sit around with the baby. Or did you forget what my goal in life was?"

"To reach S Rank."

"Exactly. And if I want to do that, I have to go out and challenge myself, just like you do. If you aren't willing to sit around and grow old taking care of our child while your power and potential wanes, what makes you think I am?"

"Sorry. I really hadn't given much thought to our situation."

"I know. But sitting around your parents' apartment all day while you are off exploring and fighting Demonic Beasts, has given me plenty of time to think. If we want this to work, we both have to put in the work and the effort."

"I understand," Damion told her, hanging his head a bit in shame. He had not taken Elicia's dreams and feelings into account. If they were going to be happy together, they would have to do it together and him just showing up every few days between dungeon clears or long exploration trips was not working together.

"Good. Now, I'm not saying I am going to immediately go out and explore the world as soon as the baby is born, but don't think I won't want to."

"If Mage Teft can find us a suitable location to start building our school, then I think I might have a big task ahead of me just helping her get everything set up, not to mention how we are going to manage everything once we do. We won't have an Adventurer Association branch or a Mage Association branch, or even any of the Orders to maintain law and order or do patrols to keep Ferocious Beasts and Demonic Beast populations in check. There is going to be a lot we have to figure out."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you will… Oh!" Elicia started but was interrupted by a sudden bump in her belly.

"What is it?"

"The baby is kicking," Elicia told him, as she took his hand and placed it on her growing stomach.

"Here feel." With his hand on her stomach, Damion could feel the little life inside her dancing away and it brought a smile to his face. In that moment he decided, the better future he and Teft were planning was not about him anymore, it was about the little one.