Interlude

My name is Lunaria. I work for madam Rose, the owner of all rune stores in the South Window Principality region. The owner of all Rune stores in the South Window region and Madam Rose are also one of the biggest merchants in the City-State of Jowston.

However, recently the supply of raw magical crystals has been decreasing at an alarming rate. Usually, they can get fifty or so kilograms of raw magical crystal from the Tinto region, but because of the Highland invasion and the South Window abandoning the Tinto army when they fight against the Toran Republic.

Now, all the Tinto region supply has been reduced by half and double the usual price. To compensate for the increasing price of the material to create a rune, madam Rose needs to increase her usual price and make her customer decrease.

Usually, people only need to pay four thousand for a fire rune crystal. Now it increases to ten thousand potch for one fire rune crystal.

So when a traveler came to the store while bringing Pale Gate Rune and Darkness Rune, I was surprised to the point of a little bit of drool coming out from my mouth.

Pale Gate Rune is a rune that specializes in summoning monsters coming from the World of Emptiness. Not only summoning, but it also binds them to do the user bidding. There is a rumor that the most powerful magician in the northern continent Crowley and his former apprentice Mazus, can use this rune to summon the most powerful creature in the World of Emptiness, Argam the eternal flame, and Paymirth the first dragon.

That summons is so powerful both users can only summon them for a few seconds before they get back to the World of Emptiness.

I don't know if the rumor is true but seeing that the badland is created by those magicians fighting each other, I know that there is some truth behind those rumors.

Anyway, the Pale Gate Rune is considered a rare rune that many high ranking people want to have in their hand.

If someone sold it to a rich country like Felena Queendom in the south, they would get at least five million potch in a single transaction.

While the Pale Gate Rune can be considered a fortune to any adventurer, treasure hunter, or mercenary, the Darkness Rune can be considered a life-changing encounter.

This rune is so rare that the one that found this rune can give it to any ruler, and he/she will be given a title and land for them by the ruler. That is how valuable that rune is.

So when a treasure hunter came inside our store to attach that said rune into their body. At first, I think the rune will only be wasted if used by a newbie or people that don't have much mana in their body.

Rune can be only attached to someone that has enough mana to contain its power. Rune has semi-consciousness; while it doesn't have the same intelligence as a human, it still can choose its own master.

Only a certain rune that accepts low-level mana reserve individuals. On the other hand, Pale Gate Rune, only a top-tier magician can equip this rune.

I decided to humor this treasure hunter with a hard heart and begin to create a path for the rune to attach itself into this person's mana reserve. While opening the path for the rune, I decide to peak the man reserve and never in my life feel so much mana coming from one individual.

Humans can absorb mana in the air and then spread it around their bodies. All living beings do this, so even the smallest and weakest creature has mana inside their body even though it was only a tiny bit of it.

However, this man not only has a massive flow of mana inside his body. I can feel a pulsing ball of mana in the center of his body filled with mana. What makes me more surprised is that this 'core' continues to grow by absorbing all the mana around this man.

So not only this man has a massive amount of mana in his body, but he also has a mana core inside his body that can be used as an emergency supply of mana. Not only that! This man Mana absorption rate is too fast! It is like a whirlpool in the sea! It draws raw mana in the air at a fast rate and processes it, spreading it around his body, and the rest of the mana that did not get absorbed by his body gets taken away by his core, leaving nothing behind.

The human body cannot proceed with all the mana their body absorbs from the air. It will always have a little bit of mana that cannot be purified by the human body. This waste of mana will be thrown away. This waste is called impurity.

The impurity coming out from the human body will be the catalyst for the monster to respawn. Many researchers in the world are searching for a way for the human body to at least limit the waste of mana it releases.

For years, decades, or maybe for millennia, many researchers search to limit the creation of impurity but cannot find it.

And their answer is within this mysterious man that just left away to get back to the inn and take the Raw Magical Crystal to sell to us.

Anyway, I arrived on the third floor of the store where Madam Rose's private office is located. I knock on the door, and a second later, I can hear madam Rose coming from the room.

"Come in."

I open up the door and see a beautiful woman with red hair and wearing a beautiful pink silk dress that reveals her enormous breast.

"Ah! Lunaria! What can I do for you?"

"Madam, some interesting man is coming to our store."

"Oh? For you to directly report this to me, then it must be a REALLY interesting man."

"Yes. This man came here not too long ago…"

I then begin explaining my experience to madam Rose. After a minute of explanation, madam Rose sighs a little before saying.

"I see. Please do not tell this to others. This is not a request. This is an order."

"But why? We can solve the problem of monster spawning!"

"Yes, if what you are saying is correct, then he is a powerful individual. I don't want to offend a powerful individual."

"But he is just one man."

"Yes. In the front, yes. But a normal treasure hunter WILL sell his finding to either the auction or directly to an empire. However, instead of selling his treasure, this man attacked his rune on his body. That means he did not need any money or ...."

"Or?"

"Or he is bored with all the money and only wants to travel the world. If he doesn't want any more money, then where do you think he will get money for his food and equipment?"

"Either selling the treasure, he finds or…"

"He gets money from his parents and relatives. A treasure hunter is not a profitable job, as it needs massive luck if you want to find something valuable. The same with Adventurer. They only get money from the monster they defeat who sometimes drops money."

"I see."

"Yes. That means he is the son of a big noble house in another country that does not need land to govern as his father will give him the land he wants. He did not need any more money as his pocket money is bigger than what he can sell."

That makes sense. The only thing that man needs is an individual power that he can show to his people. He already has economic power from his father, status power, and the only thing he needs is individual power to show his people that he is a worthy successor.

He became a treasure hunter to search for rare rune or powerful artifacts and increase his experience.

"Then what should we do, Madam?"

"Nothing. We don't know which house he comes from in which country. So we cannot forge a friendship with him for the long term. However, we can form a short term friendship. He says that he will sell his Raw Magical Crystal, right?"

"Yes."

"Then buy all his crystals at a fair price."

"Of course, madam."

I then get up from the chair and bow to madam Rose before walking away from the room to meet the mysterious man once again.