Lukas counted the 7,750 gold coins, transferring them into his money pouch. He'd never had his hands on this amount of money before, and all it took to get it was six trips in an E-rank dungeon.
Of course, they'd been led to a more discreet location to receive their money, so they didn't have to worry about prying eyes.
He'd now earned a total of 19,750 coins from the Goblin Tomb dungeon. He gave Melody 5,000 coins and kept the rest for himself. That money was for her to buy whatever she wanted for herself.
They exited the commercial pavilion, and by an unspoken agreement, began heading towards the nearest market. It was time to shop.
Before they got there, Lukas stopped by a realtor, putting his house on the market. He already knew he didn't have a future here. He was seeking to get to the very top of the food chain around here, and that meant advancing to Adept and beyond.
But it was also common knowledge that the City Lord was the only Adept in Havenhart. That meant there was something about the city that meant Adepts couldn't grow here. When he got stronger, he was sure he'd discover the reason.
As they moved through the market, a notification appeared out of nowhere, visible to all Awakened.
Ding!
[Global Announcement: Climber Adam Lancaster has successfully ascended to the Fifth Floor of the Tower, becoming the first Saint.]
Noise immediately erupted all around them. This was big news.
One had to understand that this plane where they all lived together was the first floor of the Tower, and those who had awakened here were called Awakeners.
When one begins climbing the tower, they enter the next rank, which is also another level of power. And just like the first floor, the second floor also had monsters and dungeons that were also ranked E to S. This was the same system as one goes higher up in the tower.
No one knows how many floors the tower had, but so far, humanity had only opened the first four floors and now, the fifth floor had been opened, creating a new tier of Climbers.
Those on the first floor were called Awakeners. Moving to the second floor, they become Adepts. On the third floor, they were called Elites. Then there was the previous peak of power from the fourth floor, the Experts.
But now, there was a new peak. The Saint. Adam Lancaster. Opener of the fifth floor.
This led to why some people were already panicking. Opening the fifth floor meant granting access of the first floor to fifth floor monsters.
The Tower was precise in keeping its rules, but this was one of the places where it broke them. An Adept ranked beast can't enter the third floor and an Elite ranked beast can't go down to the second floor. But the first floor? It was a free for all.
Monsters from every floor could congregate on the first floor, as long as humanity opened that floor. But with only one current Saint, how was humanity supposed to protect itself from the beasts of the fifth floor?
Those who were sensible didn't panic. They knew that the champions of humanity wouldn't simply sit by and watch Saint ranked beasts rampage around. They'll urge their own people to also ascend, creating more Saints to defend humanity.
Besides, he was sure there were safeguards in place. After all, no monster above Awakened rank had ever attacked Havenhart since its founding. That means there had to be something keeping Adept ranked beasts and above from wandering towards this direction.
Lukas wasn't particularly bothered either way. Even if a Saint ranked beast appeared in Havenhart, there was nothing he could do to save himself. It would be an instant death.
The only thing he could do to give himself a chance at survival was to advance and become a Saint himself.
As long as he had a steady supply of quests from his system, he was sure he could become the fastest person in history to rise from Awakener to Saint.
He exchanged a glance with Melody.
"We're going hunting today?" She asked.
"We're definitely going hunting today."
They exchanged a smile and returned to shopping.
They stopped by an equipment store, this one larger than the one they'd bought his sword.
Lukas initially tried to browse through the [Items], but the moment he caught sight of the price tag, turned away immediately. He wasn't spending 10,000 coins on a boot that increased movement speed by 10%. Not when his stats were already terrifying for his rank.
Just like Skills, [Items] didn't have sub-ranks. They were simply Awakened rank or higher. But the rank of the dungeon they were gotten from usually determined their effects, which in turn, determined their value.
The [Item] gotten from a D-rank dungeon would pale in function to that gotten from an S-rank dungeon.
He steered himself to the mundane section, getting himself and Melody a set of metal cuirasses.
This raised the idea of getting himself a spatial ring, but he dismissed the idea. They were expensive, and he wasn't willing to break the bank to get one. Maybe when he had more money on hand.
Instead, he and Melody went to a private fitting room, helping each other strap on their cuirass, the breastplate and backplate sitting comfortably on them.
As was becoming the norm, the weight of the cuirass didn't even register to him. The only thing that made him notice its presence was how it restricted his range of movement whenever he tried to bend at the waist to touch his toes.
But that was a small trade-off to protect his torso.
The entire purchase set them back 1,400 gold coins.
With their new equipment, they made their way to the city gates, paying the exit fee. This time, the guards on duty were different from the ones they'd met the day before.
Once outside the city walls, they made their way to the Scorched Forest, where a group of four Awakeners were also hunting.
"My luck must be good today if the universe is serving me the rat on a silver platter." Kylo grinned as he approached them. "Guess I'll have to teach you that lesson after all."