Chapter 523

The large man stops moving forward once he is less than five meters away from the teleport platform in the center of the room.

His six guards halt as well, and all of them cross their arms and stare forward as the three of us walk off the platform.

I don't waste any time and pull out a single item box from beneath my armor, then pull out the multiple item boxes from within it that have the Bedrock region's orders sorted and labeled.

Two of the guards step forward and pull long wooden tables out from their item boxes and motion for me to set the goods down on them.

Once I do, they begin pulling out the gear, potions, and various crafted items while the Regional Director looks over everything with his appraisal skill activated.

Over ten minutes go by as the clinking of metal and miscellaneous magic items fills the room before all of the gear is put back into the item boxes they came from.

Another guard moves forward and places a single item box onto the table, and the Director speaks up as he steps back into line.

"These goods are of presentable quality. I accept. Here are your remaining funds."

I stare forward, and I feel his appraisal skill attempting to permeate my black armor, but the waves of mana don't even make it past the outer layer.

I use telekinesis to bring the item box toward me and look inside.

The amount I count far surpasses what is owed, and there are long lists of items inside as well.

His appraisal skill stops probing once he sees my telekinesis activate, and he speaks up again.

"Inside I've included the down payment for next month's order as well."

His gaze shifts to Lith, then back to me.

"In my previous communications with Lith, he told me there is no limit on the amount of items I can buy, so I've upped my order by about five times. If this is the quality you continue to produce at this price, our operations out here will be greatly improved."

I smile beneath my helmet and place the money and new order back into my item storage behind my back while pulling out a few high B-Grade items, like the ones I showed Chester when I made him his special offer.

I place them on the table before us and explain what I can offer.

The large man's eyes widen once his appraisal skill reads the rare imbuements and +100-200% stat boosting on five total stats.

Every item on the counter outclasses anything that he currently wears.

He takes over five minutes examining the items, then sends one of his guards off to bring more funds.

There is a small rectangular door at the back of the dark-colored dome, and once it opens I see that we're on top of a mountain made of dark grey stone as well.

I see other mountains in the distance, and not much greenery at all.

There are many houses and patches of city within the mountain range, and I sense dozens, if not hundreds, of dungeons that stretch through the lands.

However, the most prominent thing that I perceive are the winding tunnels through the mountains that lead deep underground.

There are workers in them even now as we speak, and they're busy mining and pulling ore from the mountain ranges. Far off in the distance, I even see clouds of smog coming from factories that must be processing plants of some kind.

I conclude that this is a mining and factory-filled region, but the door closes before I can see much of anything else.

The walls are mana shielded, but they're easy to sense through. I can sense that there are thousands of people living in the cities around us with a similar population and hunter strength level of those in Solara, or possibly a bit larger, around ⅓ the population of Vice City.

There are some strong independent hunters, but the strongest fighters within my entire perception are definitely standing right here in the room with us.

I don't mention it, and let the Regional Leader think to himself for a while before the guard comes back with another item box.

He asks a few questions about what the limits of this item creation can be, and I give him a solid idea of what's possible with High B-Grade items and my craftsman team's capabilities.

In reality, I'm just telling him what I'm willing to make him with high-grade labyrinth material. I'm looking to sell him unique goods, but nothing above A-Grade that rivals my own personal gear. That material is for myself and my teammates only.

After another ten minutes of discussion, he hands over an item box with the requested 999 gold, and gives me very specific instructions for strength and defense-boosting gear. I plan to imbue extreme strength and body hardening into the armor set, sword, and amulet he requests, along with over 100% stat boosts on everything.

I promise that they will far surpass any of his current gear, or a full refund will be processed without question. We shake on it with his guards as witnesses.

He's very happy with this and speaks in a loud and demanding voice just like when we arrived.

"Very well. I think I like you, new craftsman from the Dark Continent. Continue to impress me, I believe we'll do far more business together soon."

He nods and stares forward with his arms crossed.

I want to ask him if I can look around his city in the mountains, but it's clear he wants us to leave, and this is quite the happy note to end on here.

It would have been nice to make a dungeon walker point here to have access back to this city, but I'll be back here in two days for the pickup point of the B-Class exams, so I still have another chance to do it then instead.

Lith pulls another white crystal from his item storage with "Talton Region" labeled on its front and I see the Bedrock Region's leader smile once he eyes it.

As I place a hand on Lith's shoulder and Ember puts a hand on mine, Director Maylack lets out a final word while we disappear in a flash of white light.

"I wouldn't expect that stubborn woman to do business with outsiders, especially men. It looks like she's turned a new leaf. Good luck in the Talton Region, you'll need it."

He laughs as we're teleported across the eight regions into a lush jungle.

Beneath our feet, there's another white platform, but it's overgrown with vines and tree roots.

Five women in lightweight silver and leather armor greet us.

Two orange-haired women use bows and they appear to be identical twins. Another is far darker skinned with knives, daggers, and magic items strapped all over her waist and chest. All the way to their right is a tan-skinned woman with striated muscles almost a head taller than all the others and she grips a long spear. These four women all sit between level 500 and 600 while their leader walks out from in between them at level 772.

She has a single skill, extreme earth summoning, and holds a massive silver hammer on her shoulder imbued with a strong earth element stone.

There are daggers on her waist as well, and her blond hair is tied back in tight braids.

She stares forward at me with bright green eyes and lets off a strong aura.

I can feel her mana control is much higher than the leader of the Bedrock Region, it's close to that of a natural level 900 monster, but her gear isn't up to par. She only has eight of her twelve item slots filled, and some of the equipped items aren't even over 100% stat boosters.

However, one item does stand out to me. It is the same golden ring with the Sun God's Soul energy seeping out from it.

I do a wide sweeping scan of our surroundings with my All-Seeing Eye and enemy detection to find that there is dense forest in every direction for as far as I can sense.

There are settlements of a few hundred people very close together, and just within a 20km radius, I already sense over ten C-Grade Dungeons.

There aren't many awakened people that catch my gaze that aren't over level 250. The average resident in this region is extremely strong.

The green-eyed woman speaks up with a strong voice and deadly serious gaze.

"Welcome to The Jungle of Talton. We haven't had visitors outside of the Association in quite a while."

Ember, Lith, and I walk forward off of the old transport platform and I reply while pulling the item boxes full of their order from my item storage.

"Well, then I'm honored that we're your guests."

The instant I pull the item boxes out, the green-eyed woman swings her hammer off of her shoulder and lets it strike the ground.

On impact, a long stone table erupts from the earth and she motions for me to place the item boxes down onto it.

I do so, then step back not saying a word while the spear and dagger wielders begin sifting through the gear.

The Director steps back and leans against her hammer while the two archer women stand at the ready behind her with wind-imbued arrows and bows drawn.

I don't move from my place, and Ember watches with amusement.

Lith on the other hand, I can tell he's slightly nervous at the events that are unfolding, and open up a telepathy link to ask why.

His reply is interesting, and matches up similarly to the word of warning the Bedrock Director gave me.

"It shouldn't be an issue. I've never personally been here myself, but the Talton Region is the black sheep of the eight regions. They don't usually participate in country-wide events. I'd be surprised if anyone here even had hunter's licenses. The only reason they're a part of the mainland is because of their geographical location and dungeon resources. The Association still wants control over this land, so it appears they've brokered some secret deal."

He pauses, but keeps speaking through the link a moment later.

"I was surprised I even got a response from them when I was querying for potential buyers. I never thought they would respond, but it seems they're interested and willing to pay."

He shrugs, and I thank him for the explanation through the link just as the two women finish sifting through the gear.

Their leader pulls out an item box of her own from her waist and tosses it to me from over ten meters away once her guards give her confirmation that everything is accounted for.

She speaks up.

"That is the remainder of what I owe you. Take off your helmet and show me what you really look like. This alone will dictate whether or not I want to place another order for next month."

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Author's Note:

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