" Thank you for visiting," Alaric said to Sacrat who was planning on leaving," shall I escort you out?"

" Sure."

Sacrat stood up and walked next to Alaric. The other awakeners followed behind them quietly.

" Why did you choose this profession if you don't mind me asking? You seem to be talented with the amount of growth you've had ?"

Alaric smiled. He had answered this question so many times that he felt like hitting something.

" It's actually nothing grand. I just love doing this kind of work. Do you get laid?" He asked the man with a mischievous smile.

Sacrat's eyes widened. He has never been asked such a brazen question.

" Of course, isn't that an obvious question?"

" Right, isn't it an obvious answer. I've just turned the scale around. While you support your partner financially and get emotional and sexual fulfilment. It does the same but in reverse. Wonderful, isn't it? I love being spoiled rotten."

Alaric chuckled softly amused by what he just said. Maybe he was turning into a philosopher.

" If you put it that way it makes sense, but you are still strong and have talent, you don't have to sell yourself to get women."

" It's not selling myself, it's providing special services but with no strings attached and unnecessary drama. I love what I do and I adore my clients. I can choose whoever I want, that's why I'm trying to be strong, it's good for business."

" I can never get this. Your views might change in the future as you grow stronger. Mine did, I was just as fiery as you but here we are fully mature."

Did this think of him as a child? Alaric thought to himself, he was in his mid twenties when he died with a fully grown frontal lobe, of course, he's mature enough.

" Maybe you're right, but the future is still long and we cannot predict it. But don't be surprised to find me just as unchangeable as I am right now. Who said a man can't be a sugar baby right?"

Sacrat laughed awkwardly. He just couldn't fathom Alaric's choices. He owned the brothel, was probably just as rich and incredibly handsome. He didn't need to work as a prostitute to get women, but he still chose to retain his profession.

There are really more and more weird people in this damned world, Sacrat thought and glanced at the taller Alaric beside him.

Alaric turned his eyes and smiled. Sacrat gave him a small forced smile. Alaric didn't know he had been added to the book of weirdos by the man.

" Ooh I forgot to tell, the dungeon is in district seventeen, we'll be going by flight tomorrow so that we can arrive earlier and check out the area before entering. Be at the airport by noon since it's a two-hour flight."

Alaric nodded.

He can finally leave the capital and the nearby districts. Since the federation ruled the whole continent. The districts had been made to help in the ruling.

The continent was big hence the council could not be in all places at the same time. There were a total of fifty districts plus the capital.

The further one goes from the capital the bigger the districts grow in size.

The districts near the capital were smaller hence they were under the capital rules but those further from the capital had their own rulers.

Districts were named with numbers and each district had a governor who reported to the capital.

The furthest one was district fifty, and the district Alaric was going to was fairly large and was in a tropical location.

He was excited since he was basically going to a discounted Hawaii. The place was a tourist destination, but right now it was the rainy season, and Alaric just hoped he could enjoy the free vacation.

He looked as the envoy of cars disappeared down the bend and went back into the mansion.

He needed to upgrade his skills. He had two extra skill cards and two awakener stones. Those were too few and won't help him much.

He wanted to be in the middle of B class strength. Right now he had just stepped through the door.

He wanted to at least be able to hold his ground against an A-class monster.

He went to the Awakeners online shop and placed an order for twenty high-grade Awakener stones. Those were stones extracted from the B and A class monsters.

Alaric watched in pain as his bank account lost fifty million just like that. Money is meant to be spent, not hoarded; it's for the greater good, he comforted himself. This was for his future. The stronger he becomes he more money he would get.

It was basically impossible to find those from class since they were always taken by the S-class awakened.

The ones Laura had given him were a mixture of B and C-class awakener stones. That was why it had been helpful in his upgrade from C class to B class.

Laura had really been God sent to him. She had unintentionally come through for him so many times that Alaric started to doubt if she had prediction as an ability or max intuition.

He saw James by the bar and waved him over.

" I'll be getting a package in about twenty minutes, send it to my room."

James nodded.

Alaric left him to his devices and headed to his room.

He sat on his bed, cross-legged, and took out the two skill cards. The skill card from the volcanic dungeon was a mixture of red and orange while the one from the goblin dungeon was two shades of green.

He tore up the skill card from the volcanic dungeon.

( Skill card reward)

(Item Acquired])Ashwoven pouch.

Carryable | Auto-activates on dangerous heat

Effect:

1. Fire & heat resistance

2. prevents clothing ignition

Limits:

No lava protection; cooldown after use; weak against those two ranks above you.

A small red pouch floated above. It was it was the size of a coin. The artifact had probably been made in a small size so that it could be easily carried.

He just hoped he never forgot it. The silver stud earrings were easier to wear since they would permanently stay in his ear.

He tore up the second skill card from the goblin.

(Skill card reward)

(Passive Gained)Graven Ward (C)

Effect:

1. Minor curse resistance.

2. reduces low-grade curse strength & duration

Limits: No dispel; ineffective vs B-rank+

Alaric nodded at the skill.

" Better than nothing," he said out loud after acquiring the skill. It will give him enough time if he were ever affected by a curse.

A knock came to the door at that moment. Alaric knew immediately who it was.

" Come in."

James opened the door slowly and walked in carrying a small black box.

" It just got delivered," he said.

" Bring it here," Alaric said, patting the space in front of him on the bed. James placed the box on the bed then turned and left.

Alaric opened the box, inside were the gleaming awakener stones. It has been divided and marked according to the rank.

Ten B rank stones and ten A rank awakener stones. This would be his ticket to increasing his rank although just a small increase.

The more one's rank increases, the higher grade stones one needs. This was why most people stopped at B rank. It is always due to the lack of enough money and stones.

With the effects of the stones halved in the outside world. They basically require a lot of stones. Alaric knew he had more privilege than the rest.

Most awakened join guilds just to get these resources and are required to go dungeon diving daily, maybe even twice a day, just to get the scraps.

If you are not talented, then it's better to do dungeon diving part-time and work a normal job.

This was the reason why the number of high-ranking awakened wasn't much, it entirely depended on privilege and luck.

That's why high ranking awakened were incredibly conceited, they are the top one percent, the chosen ones who managed to survive the massive resource drainage.

For a solo awakened it was probably a pipe dream to even think of reaching higher ranks. Unless you were incredibly rich like Alaric or have a cheat like Alaric.

Most awakened stopped at B class since it's still a prestigious rank. Leveling up in the dungeon is also the better option but getting a suitable dungeon to rank up in without any distructions was also a problem.

He entered the space and sat down, cross-legged. He looked at the twenty-two stones in his arms and organized them next to him according to their ranks.

He held the C class against his chest and started to absorb it. The energy entered his core softly, but the core only glowed a little before the stone disintegrated.

Alaric just felt a blip of the power before it disappeared. C-class awakener stones were slowly becoming useless.

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