Blood Assimilation

Zophia noticed the brief change in his expression, but she still continued: “If you want high-quality elemental essences without impurities, you can either go to the long-eared humans’ territory, where they refine the elemental mana cores into elemental essence crystals or pay a visit to an Auction House in this city to purchase them directly or bid on them since they are always in high demand by the magicians and those who craft artifacts and weapons.”

“Though I’ll have to warn you that while you could get your hands on some pretty high-quality elemental essence crystals if you decide to visit the long-eared humans’ territory, they do not welcome other races into their nation without prior notice due to their passive stance in the current ongoing war between races and species.” Zophia warned.

‘So that’s how things are, huh? I suppose it matches with what the Society Leader said to me the other day.’ Randy recalled hearing something similar when he met with the Society Leader for the first time.

‘For now, I will put visiting their territory aside to avoid offending them.’

“I see, so how do I get to the Auction House you mentioned? Do you have the map to that place?” Randy asked a moment later.

Zophia looked at him with a strange gaze for a brief moment before she thought to herself, ‘Right, he is still a rookie here. I keep forgetting that since he’s a higher Rank Dungeon Hunter despite registering for only six days or so.’

She then replied: “Anyway, I was assigned to be your personal receptionist while you’re in the Society, so you can ask me for anything from now on. Here. This is the map leading to the famous auction house in Alpheotus city.”

“Oh, right. When you reach the Auction House, give them your Dungeon Hunter Card and you’ll be served with the appropriate treatments.”

.....

“Okay, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. I am only doing my job, after all.” Zophia smiled.

“Alright then, I will take my leave now.” Randy said to her.

“Hm.” Zophia nodded but then she suddenly said to him: “Wait, do you have money with you? How much? You would need a hefty amount of money to purchase just a low-grade elemental essence crystal, after all.”

Randy turned around and said: “I have a few thousand gold cards with me. Would that not be enough?”

Zophia shook her head and said: “No, you need more than a few thousand gold cards. Your budget should be at least 10,000 gold cards before you can purchase a low-grade refined elemental essence crystal. If you want a high-grade one, you need 100,000 gold cards.

“Oh, and that’s just for one fist-sized elemental essence crystal- the high-quality ones, that is. If you want a bigger size, you’ll have to bring more money since the bigger the elemental mana core, the more elemental essence it contains.”

“That expensive?” Randy’s eyes visibly widen in shock when he heard the amount of money it required just to purchase an elemental essence crystal, and he even wondered why it costs so much just to buy an elemental essence crystal.

However, when he thought about what he could do with it, he realized that it made sense. Because if he could easily get these elemental essence crystals, the Incarnation Technique wouldn’t be that special or heaven-defying as a technique.

After all, we are talking about creating life out of thin air using nothing but some stones and a complex magic circle. There was, of course, the most influential factor, which was the ‘divine points’ or ‘soul power’.

Moments later, when Randy wanted to ask some questions, someone with a strong presence suddenly crept closer to him from behind.

The moment he sensed such a strong presence behind, he became alert and instinctively turned around ready to fight but when he saw the one behind him, his eyebrows raised before losing his guard.

“Hey, Zophia. Sorry, I overheard your conversation just now.” A feminine voice said as she approached them at the counter.

In the sight of everyone that was present in the building, the owner of the voice approached Randy before bowing and saying: “Once again, thank you for saving me at that time. And also, I heard you even saved us- me and my comrades when we were attacked by that vampire, even wasting your precious spell on us, so I would like to thank you for that as well, and if possible, I would also like to show you my gratitude somehow.”

Of course, this person was the green-clothed young woman and her party members, who had also bowed following their leader’s example. They seem to have recovered completely over the past three days that he had been sleeping.

Randy was briefly surprised by her sudden gesture and words, but he shook his head a moment later.

“There’s no need for that. I saved you guys on a whim. I didn’t do it to get something in return. As for healing you guys, that was just an experiment on my side, so you don’t need to worry about it.” He calmly said to her, surprising her as she thought that he would definitely demand something, especially when he healed them, who were on the verge of death.

Although she had no idea what spell Randy had used on them, she felt like her soul and body had been cleansed when she woke up. This made her curious about what kind of spell had that effect.

The only closer feeling was the high-leveled holy cleansing spell from the church of light, but no one could use that besides the pope or the cardinals of the church.

Even though she was interested, she did not pursue the matter as that would be rude to her savior.

Meanwhile, the other Dungeon Hunters who heard the green-clothed young woman’s words, especially the men, were left stunned and dumbfounded, as this was their first time hearing her speak in such a tone full of gratitude.

As far as they were aware, she was usually cold and stern towards others besides her comrades. The most frustrating part was that she didn’t even give the men in the Society a glance, calling them kids and such.

Therefore, no men were willing or able to approach her because of that. This was because they all get belittled by her all the time even if they didn’t approach her. Moreover, she was a strong warrior that had combat power, strength, and experience that could even match those S-Rank Dungeon Hunters.

And yet, that same person was bowing and thanking that young man almost as though they were equals. Even though he was a man just like them?

“Hey, do you know who that guy is?”

“Beats me. This is my first time seeing him in here.”

“What are you guys talking about? I saw him register a few days ago. He’s just a rookie Dungeon Hunter.”

“Really? I guess that’s why I haven’t heard of him.”

“But I heard that he was already promoted to B-Rank Dungeon Hunter a while ago, but I’m not sure if that was true or not.”

“What?! That’s impossible! How could he get promoted so fast?”

“Who knows? Maybe he’s some genius with extraordinary attributes? He might’ve received that ranking because he earned it.”

“Bullshit! That shouldn’t be enough to get promoted to B-Rank. You need to hunt in the dungeon and complete a couple of missions for that to happen, especially the Rank Mission, which is not easy as you have to hunt so many dungeon beasts by yourself rather than in a party.”

“If you don’t believe me, you can go ask him yourself.”

“Do you think I’m afraid to ask such a simple question? Watch me, I will ask him when he’s done.”

Moments after their conversation, Randy turned to Zophia to ask about a couple more things, and as Sylvana paid attention to them, she got the gist of their conversation.

She then interrupted them: “Uhm... Savior, if you don’t mind, I can give you some elemental essence crystals.”

“What? Really?” Randy unconsciously blurted out these words when he heard her words, but when he calmed down a moment later, he turned around and said: “No, I already said that I don’t need your gratitude or any payment.”

“But I never said that it was in exchange for saving my life.” She casually said.

“Eh?” Randy felt awkward by her words.

“In truth, these elemental essence crystals were something that I no longer have any use for, and besides they couldn’t compare to our lives that you have saved, Savior.” Sylvana explained.

“Uhm... Can you not call me, ‘Savior’? It feels strange to hear someone call me that. My name is Randy. You can just call me Randy.” Randy suddenly said to her, as he didn’t like the sound of the word ‘Savior’.

Even though it was said in a different world language, the meaning was explicitly the same. He doesn’t want to be some saint or hero, so such entitlements are unnecessary.

Furthermore, as he said to her, he only healed them because he wanted to confirm his doubts and they just happened to be the most suitable test subjects.

Sylvana smiled and said: “Then Randy, as I said before, I don’t mind giving you the elemental essence crystals on me. You can think of it as a gift on our first encounter or on our friendship if you will.”

Randy didn’t immediately reply to her, as he pondered for a moment before sighing and saying: “Okay. I will take them.”

No matter what, he needed these elemental essence crystals, and it didn’t look like she was planning to give up even if he continued to refuse.

Based on his analysis of her current behavior, she would most likely come up with something else to offer him just because he saved their lives.

Randy didn’t know if it was because of her nature or some other reason, but it did not matter to him since he got to receive free elemental essence crystals that would’ve cost him tens of thousands of gold just for low-quality ones.

Moreover, if the ‘gift’ she was about to give him turned out to be a high-quality one, then it would be an even better harvest.