Chapter 13: Debts

Alex quickly realized who this man was. He was working for that damn company he borrowed money from before, the one that forced him to hide for the last several years. It was rumored that the owner of this company, Arnulf Kunze was somehow connected to the most powerful man in City #17 - Valerian Klaus.

"Alright, what do you have to say?" Alex was carefully observing Holt's actions.

Holt calmly opened his briefcase with a characteristic click and took out a folder.

"While my employer has quite a reputation, we are in the end an... outcome-oriented company."

Holt fished out several pieces of paper and arranged them on the table.

"We do believe that what is owed must be paid, but in your case, your talents can be used to erase your debt another way, considering an opportunity that has recently appeared."

"What kind of opportunity?"

"Our company was fortunate enough to discover a completely unattended dungeon entrance recently. The dungeon is believed to be of a 2-Star rank. The offer is simple. Join our team and help my employer to clear the dungeon and your debt can be written off. You can find details in the documents on the table. Tomorrow, we will send a car to pick you up."

"And what if I don't want to take the offer?"

"Oh, believe me, Mr. Anderson, the bounty hunters are quite the tenacious folk. Now, I must beg your pardon, it is time for me to leave. Don't want to make my wife worry too much. I hope our next meeting will be accompanied by less stressful circumstances. Goodbye."

Alex watched the man leave with an uneasy feeling welling up within him. He planned to deal with his debt one way or another, but he didn't expect that they would actually offer him a way out like this. Sure, 2-Star dungeon was a lot more dangerous than a 1-Star one, but he planned to visit one himself since going to another 1-Star dungeon was pretty much pointless in his situation.

His vitality was already maxed, and for sure he had enough magic crystals in his backpack to max out his force. He could grind a bit more and buy some higher-ranked skills or try to max his skill proficiency, but right now, aside from his lacking battle experience, he probably was among the strongest 1-Star awakened in the world.

Plus, he still had a bunch of unsold crystals left, he might be able to afford another 2-Star skill, maybe even an intermediate one.

Alex quickly checked around for possible bugs that Holt could have planted. While he didn't have any special equipment to do that, he still looked around hoping to find them, if there were any.

Still feeling unsafe after an unsuccessful search, he called up the reception to request a room change and moved to another room. It was better to be safe than sorry.

The first thing he did in his new room was to start absorbing the magic crystals. After thinking for a bit about it, the whole thing very well could be a plan to get rid of him, since having an awakened with a grudge on the loose will be clearly seen as an unnecessary risk by some.

Also, being as strong as he could possibly be had literally zero downsides, so he might as well just get done with it. After maxing his force, Alex tallied up the remaining stat crystals he had.

His backpack was quite the spacious one. He had bought it at the trade center, and it had a special polymer weave in it that stopped the mana waves from leaking out. It was rated only for 1-Star intensity, but it was enough for Alex.

The average stat crystal was pretty small, only around five centimeters or two inches in diameter. That meant in theory, his backpack contained somewhere between three to five hundred of them. After several minutes of careful counting, Alex ended up with four hundred and twenty-five stat crystals, a truly staggering amount for one person. On the other hand, he barely used any of them to heal or replenish his mana, and he had no need to split the gains, and suddenly, this number looked a lot more reasonable.

Thirty-eight of those crystals were magic ones, which meant that there were three hundred and eighty-seven vitality crystals for him to sell. While he could use them to heal his wounds, the [Rejuvenating Flame] did a lot better job and could be sustained as long as he had mana.

He could sell the magic crystals as well, but those still had value for him as mana potions. His talent made it possible for him to spam skills like a madman, but his mana was still not infinite.

With a simple calculation, Alex determined that his gains for today would gain him around a hundred thousand dollars. Honestly, if he continues like this, he'd be able to clear his debt with just two weeks of grinding the dungeons, but unfortunately, not all dungeons were like Fire Valley, and expected gains would absolutely be lower from a regularly cleared dungeon. Plus the fact that even if he asks to just pay it off as normal, there were exactly zero guarantees that Kunze's company would agree, since from the legal standpoint, the ball was in their court.

Not to mention that if Alex told them that he could clear a dungeon solo multiple times back to back they would instantly move him into the "actually dangerous" list, instead of the "potential trouble" one.

"It is still a risk to take this offer, but it seems to be my only option now."

There was also an issue of selling the crystals. If he sold such quantities as a 1-Star awakened, wouldn't it raise some questions? Of course, he could just pose as someone who deals with selling the crystals of a whole group, but even if the shops could believe it, Alex doubted that the Bureau would.

So there were two options for him now. The first one was to go sell his stuff normally and deal with it later. His ability to clear dungeons solo was already a cat that was out of the bag, anyway, so maybe it was a better one. The second one was to hit the black market once again. So far, his experience with a black market was rather good, since he'd never been able to get his hands on a 2-Star rank otherwise.

Here, in City #11 he could probably even find a 3-Star skill for sale if he was lucky enough. He didn't see any in the trade center for sure. After all, there were only 2-Star dungeons max in the local area.

After a short bout of deliberation, Alex picked up the phone and called the only man he knew with appropriate connections - Lenny.

"Hey, Lenny."

"Alex? Why the hell did you call me so late, kid?"

"I am in City #11 and I need a way in."

"A way in huh? I doubt I can help you here, kid. I was exiled, so my name holds little weight."

"Could you give me a direction at least?"

"Now why would I do that? What's in it for me?"

Lenny asking about money meant that he did indeed had a way to do what Alex was asking him to.

"Don't worry Lenny, I won't forget about you. I've actually awakened already. Got my permit this noon. You can ask around if you don't believe me."

"Awakened huh? You? Give me five."

Lenny ended the call. Several minutes later, Alex's phone rang.

"You surprise me, kid. How in the nine hells did you awaken? I wonder- ah, nevermind. I'll send you a number, call the guy. His name is Thomas and you need to ask for a bouquet for your grandaunt's baby shower. Don't ask questions. Just make sure not to forget little old me. My name is not welcome in City #11, but you are not me, so I guess you should have no trouble."

"Thanks, Lenny, I will."

Alex quickly called the number and did as Lenny told him. Several minutes later he received a text message that his order was ready for pickup. The message also contained an address.

Wasting no time, Alex got up and headed straight to the place.

It was not far. The address led to an actual flower shop.

Alex entered the store and told the shopkeeper about his order. Soon enough, two men walked out of the door behind the counter and invited Alex in.

After descending a short flight of stairs, he was greeted by the sight of a dimly lit room. With a quick glance, one could tell it was a personal office of sorts.

"You're one of the Lenny's guys?" A stocky man that was sitting behind the table spoke without tearing his eyes away from some document he was going through.

"Thomas, I presume?"