Chapter 38 | Selling The S-Rank Core
"Hello, sir, my name is Brian," the man with short grey hair and a gentle face spoke, his voice carrying a practiced warmth that seemed genuine. "What can I do for you today?"
"I want to sell a core from a monster I killed," Alicar replied neutrally, placing his backpack on the table.
Brian seemed to be the lowest level salesman in the entire Trading Centre, which is why he was assigned to this position, a dead-end job with no prospects.
Almost no one ever tried to sell items in there, and even those that did didn’t amount to much, so he couldn’t collect any commissions and was forced to scrape by on the bare minimum.
’Here we go,’ Brian sighed internally, his shoulders slumping with resignation. ’I guess it’s time to quit my job huh, can’t really earn much here.’
Regardless, Alicar opened his backpack and pulled out the S-Rank core from it before placing it on the table with a soft thud.
Brian quickly looked down at it, his expression bored and uninterested, but then his eyes widened with sudden recognition.
"...Wait what?" he mumbled, his voice barely above a whisper.
The man grabbed the S-Rank core in his hand, and the more he felt it, the more he understood the significance of what he was holding.
"How?" he turned to look at Alicar, his eyes wide in shock, his professional composure completely shattered. "This shouldn’t... be possible, what kind of monster did you even kill?"
"Something," Alicar shrugged, his expression unreadable.
"That’s an S-Rank Core of the Fire element, kid," Brian let out a faint chuckle, his voice trembling with disbelief. "Even most salesmen like me have never seen something like this from the Initial Stage...!"
He looked up at Alicar with undisguised awe, his earlier boredom completely forgotten.
Tier-0 cores, meaning cores from monsters from the Initial Stage, usually never surpassed B-Rank in quality or power.
It would require an insanely powerful monster to even get this S-Rank core, at least legendary-rank, a creature that most awakeners would never even encounter.
And since it was so powerful, even Tier-1 awakeners could use it by infusing it into their weapons, enhancing their capabilities significantly.
"H-Hold on sir," Brian quickly looked through his desk and grabbed one of his tools to evaluate items through the database, his hands trembling slightly.
He scanned the S-Rank Sun Beast core, the device humming with energy, and as soon as he finished, he said an amount that made Alicar almost choke.
"We would love to buy this core for around $150,000," he said with a smile, his voice filled with excitement. "Or if you wish, we can call one of our expert blacksmiths to infuse a weapon with it, though that would cost you."
"Just sell it," Alicar nodded, his voice steady despite the shock. "I need the money more than anything."
Cores with elemental affinities, especially strong ones like these, were sought after by almost any awakener from any race across the Eternal Realm.
They could be used to create powerful weapons beyond what normal materials could create, weapons that could channel elemental energy and amplify an awakener’s attacks.
As proof, even this Tier-0 core was worth $150,000 by itself, a staggering sum for something found in the lowest tier of the Eternal Realm.
Cores would also be used as energy sources to power up many devices for scientists, buildings for powerful guilds, and much more, their applications limited only by imagination.
They were essentially a sort of currency, one that you could buy in the Trading Centre if you had the money to, a liquid asset that held its value across all tiers.
Brian ran through more tests to test the purity, power, and elemental affinity of the core, each one confirming its incredible quality, but as expected, each one was incredible by any standards.
This made the salesman even more cautious of who Alicar was, though he was unable to say anything due to the rules.
By the Trading Centre’s rules, every transaction was secure and anonymous, meaning that no one could say anything about the buyer or seller.
"Extremely high purity, power of a legendary-rank monster, and incredible fire affinity," Brian nodded, his voice filled with professional admiration. "Indeed, that is an incredible find, Mr. Alicar, but if I may ask, what about the corpse? The materials of such a beast would surely be worth a lot too."
"Didn’t have anything to carry it with," Alicar lied smoothly, not wanting to say anything about the shadow-robed figure who had taken it.
"Too bad," Brian smiled, his expression a mixture of regret and excitement. "But still, I must thank you!"
Alicar stared at him with a confused expression, but Brian simply continued with the transaction as he tapped on his computer.
The reason for Brian thanking Alicar was simple: he would receive a commission from the sale, a percentage of the transaction that would go directly into his pocket.
Usually, salesmen could indeed become rich, even those only selling and buying First Layer items, but alas, as Brian was placed at the lowest level, he didn’t earn much.
In fact, the usual salesman earned around a 3% commission on each sale, but for Brian, it was set at 10% simply because most of the higher-ups didn’t expect anything much from this floor!
This meant that Brian just made a whopping $15,000 as well, making his life easier and his future much brighter.
"The fund transfer has been initiated," Brian continued, his voice professional but with a hint of joy. "You’ll receive it shortly, and we’ll immediately start to process this S-Rank core as well!"
"Thank you," Alicar replied, his voice calm despite the excitement bubbling inside him.
With that done, Alicar turned around, but he didn’t immediately exit the Trading Centre.
Instead, he headed toward the section where he could now buy items, his curiosity getting the better of him.
Because although he knew Initial Stage items weren’t that good, that didn’t mean he didn’t want to check what was there, to see what treasures, if any, could be found in this forgotten corner of the marketplace.