Though very soon, that smile disappeared and looking disappointed, she picked up her next one. "f.u.c.k ! I am already on the 8th core. This is cutting it really close."

The rune unit looked very isolated. There was a pin drop silence everywhere. Eluraa was literally the only occupant in the room.

Not many people usually dabble with the rune profession, since it is extremely expensive. And people who do pursue it are at the least a level 100 combatant. They usually work in the better designed city's main rune department.

After all, it is easier to gather lower level cores, when you are at a much higher level. And that is another reason, why low level quests disappear within seconds.

Bzzt.. Bzzt..

Finally, when she was half way through her 9th beast core, the carving crystal was completely enriched and vibrated gently in her hands. Gleefully, Eluraa immediately engraved the common grade Freezing Spell on it.

She decided to go with the Freezing Spell, since it can be pretty life saving at times, especially when used in a close combat scenario.

She quickly marched downstairs and handed over the newly created Freezing Spell rune to Sally.

Sally, who was drooling over the heap of doc.u.ments in front of her, immediately sat straight up and inspected the crystal. The beautiful simple girl standing in front of her had pleasantly surprised her.

"Wow. That's a good job Eluraa. As expected of a expert cla.s.s student."

"Thanks Sally."

"Gosh..You must have spent a lot of beast cores and worked on this for a while. Not to fret. Runic crystals are always in demand. Let's go process this for scanning and evaluation."

They walked over to the a.n.a.lysis room and handed over the crystal to another guild manager.

"Everything looks good. You are all set. Not sure if I mentioned this to you before, but if you want to sell any trade goods, we have an auction house in the city. You are also welcome to exchange your trade goods with us for contribution points."

"Thanks Sally."

Thinking over it, Eluraa decided to go for the auction house. She was actually very curious about it. But, she was literally a pauper right now and there was no point in her being excited about the auction house.

"Hmm.. Sally might grow suspicious if I keep doing this everyday and exchanging more rune crystals. I mean its not like I want to hide anything. But, I don't want to draw any attention as well. It is best to go with the auction house for now. I might even get a better price with a bit of luck."

Eluraa then enquired Sally about the standard prices for level 1 cores and the minimum price for a common grade rune crystal. She didn't want any weird surprises at the auction house.

Sally pleasantly replied, "Each level 1 core costs about 1 gold and usually a common grade rune goes for about 100 gold to 150 gold, a little over the combined price of 100 cores. Good luck !"

Eluraa thanked Sally for the information and turned in for the night at the guild quarters itself. It was more convenient to go to the auction house from here.

...

Thump.. Thump.. Thump..

Thump.. Thump.. Thump..

It was already pretty late at night. But s.h.i.+ Meng was still working on his ore chunk.

First year apprentices at any weapon smithing shop had only one duty. They had to refine a total of 1000 raw mineral ores into craft-able ores. They worked with the ore grades appropriate for their level and then were promoted based on performance.

Thump.. Thump .. Thump..

Sweat was dripping all over s.h.i.+ Meng's naked upper body. His clothes had already been drenched completely and he still continued working without a break.

With every strike, the ore in front of him was sizzling and dancing. His hands gripping the heavy hammer was covered in blisters. His muscles were looking more defined, than they were the previous day. He was a little out of breath.

Ding +1 Physical Strength

Ding +1 Stamina

Ding +1 Vitality

Ding +1 Focus

Smiling at the alerts and wiping the sweat of his perfect face, he again continued.

Thump.. Thump.. Thump..

.....

The auction house was naturally a very crowded place and people can submit their wares for sale at the deposit office near the entrance. They only accepted submissions in the early morning hours before the official opening of the auction.

The main auction hall was enormous. But, it was already over filled, with several combat experts seated and waiting for the auctioneer. But luckily, both in person bidding and xenon bidding were accepted in the auction house.

Looking at the crowd, Eluraa felt an incoming head ache. She silently deposited her common grade rune and went to a nearby inn. She would be notified when her item was sold and can then collect the final amount with the sales office. The entire process was quite smooth.

"Hey hey hey.. Who do we have here.. Come here to me beautiful." Raling, the st.u.r.dy man, from the Predators guild she had previously visited, was loudly yelling and pointing at her.

"d.a.m.n girl. I didn't get a good look at you the other day. Else, I wouldn't have sent you off. " Raling was drinking merrily with his buddies and having a good time. Looking at the indifferent behaviour of Eluraa, he continued catcalling at her.

Eluraa took one look at the scene and immediately left the vicinity.

Chuckling at this, one of Raling's friends commented, "He he he.. What's up buddy. Looks like the Predators guild is not all that after all. Even a weakling is not giving you any face. He he he.." and he chugged another gla.s.s of wine.

"Shut up Muar", Raling angrily downed another gla.s.s and conveniently changed the topic to something else.