Convenient corruption~

"Lord warden is gone again? Didn't he barely return?"

Viria was the first one to voice his doubts.

"Hmm? Oh, of course, that lord warden is back at the prison dungeon, did I say something else? Sorry, slip of the tongue."

Bossac looked at the hesitant young man and assured him with a trustworthy smile.

"That said... you... you are in medium-low levels of cultivation now..."

"..."

Bossac's expression darkened and he pointed out, to which Viria felt his heart skip a beat but he did not let anything show in his appearance.

"That's right, lord warden noticed the same thing during our second meeting Although he thought there could be something wrong with the initial reading."

After a brief pause, Viria nodded and revealed after concluding that it was not worth trying to think up another lie that could be easily discovered.

"...have you been finding monster cores during your hunts...?"

"..."

There it was.

The question that Viria did not want to be asked.

"I did, two to be exact. One shortly before talking with the warden..."

It was time to change the omission into a straight-up lie.

The young man lowered his head, moving a little bit just as if he was fidgeting in unease, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

He used that chance to take out the last remaining monster core from the bundle of hair that he was hiding it with, and straightened his back to face the attentive guard.

"I believe that using that one, even as inefficient as it was, pushed me into the middle-low levels of cultivation, quite lucky, as no matter how much I was provided with back home, it would have bearly any effect."

Viria added, continuing with the awkward voice, doing his best to make it seem like his growing up in a wealthy family had everything to do with his actions in that situation.

"As for the other one, I found it right before leaving the monster spawning ground. Here."

Without taking a break that would allow Bossac to act first, Viria reached out to his pocket, grabbed some of the reddish shards, and brought them out together with the whole monster core that he was holding on to.

"I probably reached the limit of what my cultivation will ever be, so I was going to cash that one in. It's from the common mole-rabbit but you were definitely right by saying that the spawning rate of those is abysmal in this dungeon."

Viria was using one of the techniques that did not require the soul artifact that he learned in the past to keep his breath and heartbeat under control, so his performance was not bad. He would not win any prize for the role, but it was bearly good enough.

"..."

Bossac furrowed his brows, judging whether the young man in front of him was telling the truth or not, but in the end, his eyes were drawn to the small crystal amidst the reddish granules in Viria's palm.

"That explain's a lot, my boy!"

One tense moment later, the helpful guard's face lighted up with a relieved smile and he patted Viria's shoulder laughing cheerfully.

"I get it, I get it! That's what you meant when asking about the materials that aid with the cultivation! I should be more clear, considering your background. Mana stones are valuable. More than whole bodies of monsters, more than dozens of them, and in the case of the prison dungeon, more valuable than hundreds of them."

Bossac nodded his head and invited Viria to sit down while speaking in a surprisingly good mood.

"You see, nobody is going to tell you this, but unlike the other various monster materials, not a single core crystal from this dungeon is exported out."

The helpful guard leaned in a bit and revealed in a conspicuous voice.

"...I guess that there is more to it than just monster cores being more easily available in the outside world...?"

Viria could not stop his own reaction and asked while leaning away from Bossac.

"There is. As long as the monster cores from the Prison Dungeon are used for cultivation within the Prison Dungeon, the positive effect that their energy has on the body is far greater than anything that comes from outside. You know that normally you need specific herbs and herbal baths to help the body get rid of toxins and pollution to enhance the effects of spiritual training? Well, you should probably have experienced that it is not necessary with those things. They push all the bad stuff out, enhancing the cultivator's body without the need for additional herbs."

"...!"

The helpful guard smiled triumphantly while revealing something that could bring potential trouble to the structure of the prison dungeon as a whole. Viria's eyes widened in reaction to the information and he took a deep breath.

His experience during training was definitively confirming what Bossac was saying.

And seeing the look in Bossac eyes, Viria knew what should be his next move, although he certainly didn't want to do it.

Nonetheless, he reluctantly moved his hand closer to the helpful guard and...

"You are always helping me so much. Since you don't want green bills for healing me, I hope that you accept this friendly gift."

Viria said although the words did not want to go through his throat at all. Other materials and bills were one thing, but giving up on the very thing that was making him feel so go... making him stronger, was on a whole different level.

"My boy...! You, you don't have to, I mean... I..."

Although Bossac was trying to play it off as if he was hesitant, his hand was already twitching as he was barely stopping himself from snitching the crystal right out of Viria's palm.

"I appreciate what you are doing for me, it is not something that I could miss. Also, I am not going to stop hunting for monsters in the immediate future. Another monster core is bound to appear sometime."

Was smiling and speaking in a nonchalant way always that difficult?

Viria could barely keep up a friendly expression, and it seemed a hundred times stronger than ever before.

"My boy! What can I say...? Thank you."

Thankfully, Bossac broke first – he must have been itching to get his hands on the monster core crystal because once he got it in his grasp, he clenched it securely as if the livelihood of his family depended on it.