Dungeon

"So what do you want to talk about?" Aur said as he settled on a sofa.

"You see, Aur, it's about a dungeon we recently found," Chloe said with a sly smile.

"A dungeon?" Aur's eyes lit up when he heard this, but soon he had a frown on his face.

Dungeons were naturally formed infrastructures that developed when mana became clustered and gathered together; however, that was only one of the conditions. There were many conditions required to form a dungeon, but they were relatively unknown to Aur.

He only knew one condition for it, and the reason it was so valuable was that many mana crystals were usually present in these dungeons, making them more valuable.

Inside the dungeon, there were countless mutated beasts due to the attraction of pure clustered mana in the surroundings, making the dungeon one of the best places for the beasts to make their home. 

Consequently, the dungeon became the hunting ground for demonic beasts. Since they were in a natural concentration of high mana, it was natural for the beasts to grow stronger over time so the older the dungeon was the more dangerous it was.

"But how long has the dungeon formed?" Aur said with a frown on his face.

"From our estimation, it has been a week or so at most," Chloe said as her eyes lit up.

"Have you guys told anyone about it?"

"No," they both shook their heads at the same time.

This made Aur nod his head with a satisfied expression on his face.

"So when are you going?"

"In a week," Emma said with excitement.

"Alright, a done deal. How much are we dividing the loot for?"

"You take 30%, we will take 70%," Emma spoke this time, and her expression had a businesslike smile.

"No can do. How about we do the opposite?" Aur said with a smirk on his face.

"This…" Emma was stunned when she heard that. She had expected Aur to increase his percentage by a bit, and then she would have decreased it by a little. But she didn't expect him to completely flip the share of the loot.

"Aren't you being too greedy?" Chloe spoke as she coldly looked at Aur.

"Well, then I am not taking it," Aur said with an expressionless face as he turned around to leave. As he was about to open the door, the voice of Chloe stopped him from doing so.

"I can give you fifty percent. We will divide it equally. Take it or leave it."

A devilish smile appeared on his face as he became expressionless again and turned back. "If you don't like the deal, I can go back to taking the 30%. However, there is a condition."

"What condition?" Chloe frowned, while Emma was already excited.

"I need your twin sister to work for me for three tasks I give you in the future," Aur said with an expressionless face.

"Give me some time to think. You can come back to this room after five minutes."

"Sure," he said as he left the room.

As Aur left the room, Chloe had a frown on her face while Emma was excited.

"Sister, why didn't you take that deal?" Emma said with some excitement.

"Emma is too innocent," Chloe muttered with a bitter expression on her face.

"The three tasks could be anything, and although mana crystal is essential to us right now, we have to think about the future as well…" Chloe patiently explained the pros and cons of these deals to her. While it was beneficial to the twins right now, in the future, it might land them in even more trouble.

After Chloe finished, Emma had a bitter expression on her face.

"Sister, you are right. I was too naive." Emma nodded her head with a sad expression as she apologised to her.

"It's fine, you are too young anyway," Chloe said as a small smile graced her lips.

"Eh, what do you mean by young? I am just a minute younger than you." Emma shot up from her seat as she looked at the teasing expression. "Don't bully me, sister."

"Alright, fine then. What do we do? Do we agree with Aur?" A small frown appeared on Chloe's face as she had a contemplative expression.

"Should we not agree?"

"No, that is also very hard. We have seen the strength of Aur when he was fighting with us on the mission previously. He is a very reliable partner who could be helpful except for his annoying cold-hearted personality." Chloe gritted her teeth. "And we urgently need it. Besides, he is going to become a mage soon, so gaining his favour is also helpful for us in the future."

Actually, 30% of the loot was a very reasonable amount considering the strength that Aur had shown till now. 

No mage was usually in the mercenary because of its dangers, while the lower-ranked mages didn't want to risk their lives doing life-threatening jobs and would prefer stable jobs. High-ranking mages frowned upon this type of work as they considered it beneath their status.

Thus, Aur could already be called one of the strongest in the mercenary, and being asked for help by him was naturally going to cost a lot more.

"So what do we do?" Emma asked with a confused expression on her face.

….

Aur had an uncaring expression as he suddenly looked at the people who were sneakily glancing at him with hushed mutters.

The people instantly took back their gaze as they pretended to read the newspaper again.

He frowned when he saw this.

"Awakening does make a difference." Mages were usually almost all higher. The reason his mother and father, despite both being mages, were so ordinary was that they both had low-grade talent. 

His father, Adam, although reached the tier one realm, was barely considered as one and could be said to be the weakest. Still, his job as just teaching earned him plenty to live a carefree life.