"This… doesn't seem like much." Remian knew that the fisherman before him received three times more for twice as much fish (counting by weight).

"Ah, but we already have ample supplies for today." The staff at the kitchen said.

"Can't you give me as much as the last guy?" Remian asked.

The staff's face fell, but grudgingly, he raised the offer to 40 Black spirit crystals.

That still wasn't very much, but at least it was better. Remian sighed, and decided that fis.h.i.+ng was never going to supply him enough money to pay for a Jade Vitality Pill.

One of those pills would cost hundreds of Earth-grade spirit crystals! One Earth-grade crystal was worth a thousand Black-grade crystals! In short, if he tried buying that pill with Black-grade spirit crystals, he'd have to save up millions!

With a sigh, Remian looked to his other ambition. "How much is the steamed fish dish that Little Li likes so much?"

"Forty-nine, fifty." The staff answered immediately. "In Black."

Remian gaped. "49.50 Black?! In other words, 49 Black-grade and 50 Yellow-grade spirit crystals?"

"Yep."

"But you only paid me 40 for two of those fishes!"

"Yep."

"That's daylight robbery!"

"That's business. If you don't like it, go steam your own fish."

Remian grimaced. He'd already tried that, and it had not tasted anywhere near the same. He should know; he had Little Li's beloved memories to compare with.

"Hey, if you're done here, can you move out of the way?" A hunter in leathers came up with a cart bearing a four-tusked boar carca.s.s. He turned to the kitchen staff. "How much for this one?"

The kitchen staff eyed it. "Two hundred Black."

"What?!" Remian spluttered. "That's it! I'm done fis.h.i.+ng! I'm going to hunt me a boar…"

He had a pretty good idea where. The hunter's thoughts had three different good locations where these four-tusked boars were commonly found. As to how to hunt them…

Pit-traps, net traps, weighed spears, bait… the hunter's plans and methods were laid out like a book for Remian to read. Remian sorted them out, compared them with the Gale Slash… and decided on a bait and netting combination. Gale Slash or a good spear could do the rest.

But first, he should check in and collect his share of the earnings from Big Li before they declared him dead and split his share among themselves.

***

An hour later, he gave up all thoughts of hunting boars.

"Five hundred Black!" Remian gaped at the notes in his hand.

It was a stack of bank notes from the Soaring Empire Bank. These were exchangeable with the actual crystals at any branch all across the transcontinental Soaring Empire, of which Soaring Crane Country (and thus, Scorched Earth City) was a part of. Each bank note was sewn with crystalline threads containing wisps of high level Qi from specific bank managers. There was something special about that Qi, Remian gathered, that made it practically impossible to counterfeit unless you knew the exact techniques, which were a top secret of the bank.

Each of these three notes were for 100 Black-grade spirit crystals. Compared to this, his earnings from fis.h.i.+ng were only 40 Black.

"This is my share from the trapvines?" Remian stared. "After dividing everything between over a dozen people?"

"It is a tenth of the Xue Clan's share, which is one third of the reward." Big Li clarified.

So that was how they divided the proceeds; divided three ways between the Xue Clan, the Mu Clan and the Zhao Clan. From there, the Xue Clans share were divided between himself (10%), Little Li (10%), Big Li and Wushuang, with half of it going to Big Li.

In other words, the venture actually earned 15,000 Black. After all that effort and working as their lookout post, receiving roughly around 3% of the total somehow felt like he'd been cheated.

"Hey, at least it's better than what the guards got." Little Li consoled him.

"What did they get?"

"One of them got killed. The other got wounded. That's it."

"That's it? No money?"

"They have their usual monthly pay."

Remian clamped his mouth shut before he started on the topic of the world being unfair.

But the Xue girls were ready for a fight and just waiting to hear him complain before they unleashed a barrage of criticism on him.

"Fine." Remian turned and walked away before anyone could say anything more.

As he left, he picked out the thoughts of Big Li and learned where she sold the vinetrap cores.

[This time, I'm going to do it alone!]

***

At that time Tim was walking into a volcano alone. He left everyone outside, mice and men alike, and entered the new lair of Khar'al-dras with nothing but a loaded cart.

During this trip, Tim was wearing some odd-looking robes, sand-colored but reinforced and padded with leather, and an emblem of a dragon wing on each shoulder pad.

Going right up to Khar'al-dras, he unloaded the cart, taking down a few roasted boars and barrels of wine. He opened the barrels, then went up to the Great Dragon and said softly, "Sior Kri Zaun, Khar'al-dras."

One huge draconic eye opened and glared at Tim.

"Your breakfast." Tim gestured behind him.

"Oh? A proper awakening, this time? You even remembered to bring my breakfast." Khar'al-dras paused. "You're not Draconian. You dress like one, and you follow the proper procedure, but you do not smell like one."

"Does it matter? I guarantee the food is good." Tim shrugged. "I'd swear on the sands and your own name, but we both know you'd eat me if you're dissatisfied regardless of whether I swear or not."

"True." Khar'al-dras rumbled, and the whole volcano rumbled with him. "So tell me, what is it that demands my attention so greatly? You did not come here just to bring me a meager breakfast."

"We're being invaded by Spectres." Tim said outright.

"Spectres?! Didn't we mostly seal the Rift?"

"It's been breached."

"What's the strongest Spectre that came through so far? How long have they been coming through?"

"Tier 8. It has been over a week."

"Mmm." Khar'al-dras mused. "Then it is not entirely breached. If it has been more than a week already, surely a Tier 9 would have entered if it could."

"Tier 9…?!" Tim gaped. "Is there even such a thing?"

Khar'al-dras barked a laugh. "Even in this world there's a reason why Ti'ela doesn't dare enter the Deepest of the Deep. There is a reason why Zor'khan's domain will not spread to the west, nor mine to the east. But you, of all species, shouldn't be asking one of my kind about that."

"Humans? You're saying there are humans who are Tier 9?!" Tim gaped.

"Not exactly human." Khar'al-dras shook himself and stared outwards in a dignified manner. "No matter. They are not here, and they have no obligation to help you in this. The Spectres are the burden of the Wildlands, and to some extent, the Endless Desert. It is ours to handle."

Tim muttered under his breath. "Why do you sound as though you're eagerly h.o.a.rding away your favorite toy so that others can't play with it?"

"Did you say something?" Khar'al-dras turned to him.

"Nothing!" Tim said immediately.

"Very well. Wait for me outside. I will dine, and then we will go to war." Khar'al-dras said solemnly.

"Sure." Tim hurriedly left the cave.

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As he left, he heard an excited roar behind him.

"A fight! Hahahahaha! At last!! I've been so bored!!"