As the blue portal light faded away, Oscar found himself standing back in the basement of the Host Association building.
It was huge without an end in sight. Because the teleportation arrays here were linked to different dungeons, traveling to them was so convenient.
After all, these dungeons were spread across different regions of the city, and some were even outside of the walls.
"Hah....the air smells good," he muttered. Different from the damp and mossy stench of the Goblin Lounge, here it was filled with disinfectant and air conditioning.
He stretched his sore shoulders, feeling a faint stiffness in his throwing arm.
Even though the level-up light had completely restored his stamina, his muscles still remembered the mechanical strain of flicking dozens of heavy steel nails over the course of eight long hours.
Oscar stepped away from the portal gate and walked over to the digital booking terminal in the hall. He tapped the glowing screen to book another slot in the Goblin’s Lounge for the next morning.
[System Error: Cooldown Period Active.
According to government safety regulations, all Hosts must undergo a mandatory 12-hour resting period between dungeon runs to prevent mental fatigue and mana depletion.]
Oscar stared at the notification and shrugged. "Twelve hours buffer... Fine."
He knew the rule was put in place to keep greedy or desperate Hosts from pushing themselves to exhaustion inside portals.
Since it was already late evening, a twelve-hour wait meant his next slot would be available early tomorrow morning anyway. That gave him plenty of time to sort out his loot and prepare his gear.
Leaving the Association building, Oscar walked down the street toward the lower market district, heading directly for the official monster resource exchange center.
The exchange center was loud and crowded with adventurers selling hides, bones, and mana cores. Oscar stepped up to an empty counter and emptied his jacket pockets onto the metallic tray.
A heavy pile of goblin teeth and bloodied steel nails spilled out.
The middle-aged appraiser behind the counter put on a pair of white gloves and began sorting the materials with a small pair of tweezers.
"Let’s see what you have here, kid," the man said, counting the items systematically. "A total of two hundred goblin teeth. Since these are low-tier IRD monster teeth, the market rate is 30 credits per tooth. That comes to 6,000 credits."
He had to abandon a lot of lower level teeth because of storage constraints. Thinking about the credits he lost because of that, Oscar’s heart hurt a bit.
’If only I had a storage pouch..’
But they were so costly. A five meter cube cost a hundred thousand credits....
The appraiser glanced at the small pile of retrieved steel nails. "And these nails... twenty of them are still in decent shape. I can take them off your hands for 15 credits each. That brings it to 300 credits."
Oscar tapped his phone against the scanner, and a second later, a digital notification popped up on his screen.
Transaction Complete: +6,300 Credits Received.
Total Balance: 9,695 Credits.
Looking at his balance hovering just shy of ten thousand credits, Oscar nodded in satisfaction. Moving from a measly hundred credits to nearly ten thousand in a single day was a massive jump for an orphan.
He turned around and walked out of the exchange center, heading straight toward the weapon and gear market located on the main avenue.
He passed by small hardware shops and entered a medium-sized official equipment store called Vanguard Arms.
The walls were lined with wooden racks holding swords, spears, shields, and various ranged weapons, each tagged with glowing color-coded labels.
A young sales clerk approached him with a polite smile. "Welcome! Are you looking for melee weapons or ranged gear today?"
"I need a crossbow and a quiver of steel arrows," Oscar replied directly.
"Follow me to the ranged section," the clerk said, leading him toward a glass display case.
Inside the case sat several crossbows made of different materials, ranging from simple wooden frames to sleek, metal-reinforced designs.
"Before you pick, let me briefly explain our equipment quality system," the clerk said, pointing to the tags. "All gear in the market is categorized into five distinct tiers: Ordinary, Common, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. Ordinary gear is just basic real-world equipment without mana conductance. Common gear is forged with low-grade monster metals, allowing them to withstand system combat without breaking easily. Rare and higher tiers carry special enchantments or attribute bonuses."
Oscar nodded, prompting the clerk to continue. It seemed she had sensed he was a newbie and decided to help him.
"There is crafted and natural equipment. Crafted equipment is made by blacksmiths, and natural equipment is dropped by monsters. Natural equipment is more powerful and sometimes comes with buffs from the monster. Although crafted equipment can have enchantments, it is nowhere near as powerful as natural equipment...."
She pointed her finger at a pair of gauntlets on the wall, "They are the only pair of natural equipment we have. It was dropped by a Blood Wolf. Even though it’s only Rare quality, its buff makes it almost equal to Epic crafted equipment."
Oscar read the buff and nodded inwardly.
’Stacking the damage inflicted by the user five times and releasing it as a raged claw strike...not bad.’
And its cost...
’A million credits....Damn it.’
"Ahem, it’s better to show me a Common quality crossbow," Oscar said awkwardly. He didn’t want to feel broke anymore.
The clerk noticed his expression and gently smiled, "Don’t fret yet, young man, everyone starts like this."
Then she reached into the display and pulled out a sturdy, dark iron crossbow with a reinforced steel string.
Beside it, she placed a heavy leather quiver containing a hundred sharp steel-tipped bolts.
"This is the Ironbite Crossbow, a Common quality ranged weapon. The base price for the crossbow together with a bundle of 100 steel bolts is 18,000 credits," the clerk explained.
"Eh..ohh..I have no credits for it." Oscar’s shoulders fell as he understood even a common quality crossbow was out of his reach.
"If you are fine with it, can I see your Host ID?" the clerk suddenly asked.
Oscar thought for a moment before showing it to her. The clerk’s professional expression cracked a bit as she blinked several times, staring at his ID.
"A NATURAL!" she blurted out.
"Mm..." Oscar shrugged.
She quickly took his card and swiped it through the register terminal, "Natural Hosts receive a 50% government subsidy discount on all Common quality equipment."
The terminal screen refreshed immediately, cutting the total cost directly in half.
Discount Applied: 50% Off.
Total Cost: 9,000 Credits.
"Damn..." Oscar stared in awe. The natural awakener role seemed to have many more privileges than he expected. Oscar decided to check them all later lest he miss anything.
Oscar did not hesitate. He tapped his phone against the register and authorized the payment.
Payment Successful: -9,000 Credits.
Remaining Balance: 695 Credits.
"My name is Alia," the clerk said as she gave him a card, "Here is my contact. If you want to buy anything or sell anything, just call me. I will try my best to give you a better offer." She smiled.
"Thank you." He nodded.
He picked up the Ironbite Crossbow, feeling its solid, heavy weight in his hands.
He slung the leather quiver over his shoulder and strapped the crossbow securely to his back beneath his loose jacket.
With this crossbow, his physical throwing limitations were completely gone.
Combined with his Intelligence score of 12, his Aimbot trait could now lock onto targets up to thirty meters away.
Now that he had proper gear, his stats were raised, and his preparations were complete, his next immediate goal was to finish the system quest.
He needed to crush Brad and hack into his bully ring’s system database to claim his quest rewards.
Oscar left the weapon shop and stepped out onto the quiet street. The sun had already dipped below the horizon, leaving the sky in a dark shade of purple.
The streetlights flickered to life as a cool evening breeze blew through the empty alleyways.
He adjusted his jacket, keeping his hands casually stuffed inside his pockets as he began walking back toward the academy dormitory sector.
As he turned a corner into a dimly lit residential street, a faint tingling sensation washed over his senses.
His raised Intelligence stat of 12 did not just expand his Aimbot range; it also heightened his mental perception and spatial awareness.
Two sets of muffled footsteps were trailing a few dozen meters behind him, keeping pace with his movement.
Oscar did not turn around or speed up his pace. Instead, he kept walking forward calmly, a wicked smile slowly spreading across his face in the dark.
Brad’s lackeys had finally taken the bait.