To harvest or not to harvest.

  Lev squinted at the spider corpses. He was too occupied thinking about his plans before but now the question of cores lingered on his mind.

  Monster cores before level 150 weren't worth much. Sure, Lev was getting them for pretty much free, but he still couldn't get past his aversion to cutting open dead bodies.

  In the end, he decided to harvest them. He would run out of gold eventually, and he had also forgotten to ask about any quests related to the dungeon, so it wouldn't hurt. His squeamishness be damned.

  I forgot I have the refillable water bottle I bought from the pit.

  That tipped his indecision over the edge, and he slowly cut open the monster's abdomen. The core rolled out not long after, along with the spider's insides and a horrendous stench. Lev summoned the canteen and washed it before Identifying it.

  [

  Grey Spider Core - Common

  Core harvest from a Gray Spider. Useful in crafting.

  ]

  Thank you, Identify. Very cool.

  Ignoring the useless description, Lev stored the core in his storage ring. The price for the core remained to be seen, but Lev hoped it would be worth more than the worthless prowler core.

  Grabbing his chains and shields, Lev set out to slay more of the spiders. His hunting session lasted all of eight more spiders for a total of four new pairs before he was too low on mana to continue.

  [

  Mana Tempest has reached Level 112

  Mana Tempest has reached Level 113

  Mana Tempest has reached Level 114

  Colorful Destruction has reached Level 8

  15 Free attribute points

  ]

  Five points went into Intelligence and the rest into Wisdom, bringing it up to 300. Round and Satisfying.

  Lev wondered if he should stay for a few hours to regenerate mana and snipe the boss from afar. It didn't look nearly as threatening compared to normal spiders as the orc general did compared to normal orcs. But that was just his greed for more levels talking, so he ignored the thought.

  Stepping out of the portal, Lev was greeted by a guard who tried to hide his relief but failed. Lev gave him a nod before flying up and away, returning to Runespires.

  Halfway through, he stopped and thoroughly rinsed his illusion armor for any lingering blood or guts.

  Night was in full swing by the time he landed at the gates. Showing them his silver badge, Lev was allowed smooth entry.

  What was Welsh's auction house's name? Bronze Bids?

  Lev asked for directions from the gate guards. They boiled down to "near the hunters guild, can't miss it."

  Following them, it didn't take long for him to find the huge auction house. The building was separated into two fronts, one for the business side of things and the other for the auction house itself. The latter was much larger, which made sense.

  Lev entered the office building. The clerk noticed him and seemed to recognize him immediately.

  "Hey there," the man greeted. "Do you happen to be Hunter Lev?"

  Lev scowled under the armor. "Who's asking?"

  "Director Welsh. I'm Samuel by the way", the man offered a hand. "The Director asked us to keep an eye out for a certain hunter. You don't need to worry, he probably wants to make a deal with you about only selling materials here, and maybe take a few harvesters with you."

  "Harvester?" Lev questioned, considering the information. The offer did not sound bad as long as there was no legal jargon involved. He didn't want to be tied to one company for one reason or another.

  "You don't know about them? They're workers specializing in harvesting monster parts and materials."

  Could've guessed that myself.

  "I see. Yeah, I'm Lev. My visit today also revolved around monster parts and cores."

  Samuel straightened. "Which cores would you like to know about?"

  Lev summoned a spider core. "Do you guys buy this? While we're at it, do I need some sort of membership to interact with the auction house?"

  Samuel waved off his concern. "Don't worry about the membership. I'm sure Director Welsh will be happy to take care of it for you. The cores are of little value even if they are undamaged. How many are you selling?"

  "Eight."

  "Ten silver."

  "Deal," Lev instantly replied. That was ten more than the worst-case scenario.

  Samuel smirked good-naturedly. "I can see why Director Welsh wanted to talk to you."

  The hell is that supposed to mean?

  Lev didn't linger on the comment. "Can I see him right now?"

  "Sure, give me a moment."

  Samuel took a few minutes to bring a replacement for him before they set off to find the director. Lev also identified him when he returned.

  [Merchant - Level 124]

  Following Samuel, they entered the auction house. The building was tastefully decorated with red and gold in an impressive show of wealth. Beyond the reception table was a large hall and huge double doors at the end, presumably for the auction hall itself.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Samuel ignored them and ascended the stairs next to the doors. Lev took in all the sights as they ascended before and found Welsh conversing with someone in the V.I.P. area.

  "Let's wait for them to finish," Samuel suggested. Lev had no qualms about waiting, which ended up taking more than a little time.

  Ten minutes later, the person talking to the director glanced at the waiting duo before leaving through another set of stairs.

  "Hunter Lev," Welsh called out with a big smile. "I'm glad you came to see me. Come, take a seat."

  He finished with a look directed at Samuel, who left to give them privacy. Lev took a good look at the very expensive-looking sofa before sitting down.

  "I'll admit, it was pretty unpleasant to be recognized by someone random."

  Welsh gave him an apologetic smile. "I had to so I could contact you again."

  "Contact for what?" Lev asked bluntly.

  "To see if I could work out a deal with you, of course," Welsh replied, his enthusiasm dimming at Lev's unamused response. "Am I correct in assuming that you came to sell monster parts?"

  Lev nodded slowly. "I did. What kind of deal are you suggesting?"

  "Nothing binding, I assure you. You see, the auction house takes a fixed cut out of everything you sell here. Nothing major but you could still earn a few extra gold by selling directly to the market. I'm willing to waive off most of it if you sell most of your monster parts and cores to our house."

  "Is this related to the other houses making business moves?"

  "Partly," Welsh agreed. "Mostly because I saw your capabilities firsthand, and the runner specified you were a newly evolved silver ranked hunter. It would be foolish of me to not make an offer."

  Lev sighed. His worries were turning out to be true and it was not pleasant at all.

  "Samuel mentioned something about harvesters?" Those at least sounded interesting to him.

  "He did?" Welsh blinked. "That makes things easier. Our harvesters are teams focused on stealth and harvesting monster parts and cores. They follow the hunter team's footsteps and clean up all the corpses in their wake."

  Lev didn't bother commenting and pondered in silence. The deal seemed to have no downsides except a few things to iron out. It even came with harvesters, a team that would make his life considerably easier.

  It was also more money, so that was that.

  "First, do you trust the harvester team to keep silent?"

  "They won't know your level," came the simple reply.

  Lev nodded slowly. "Makes sense. Secondly, I will not be a signing contract for this. You will have to take my word that I will sell all of my materials here unless some important reason requires them elsewhere. I don't mind missing out on a bit of gold so that will rarely happen."

  Welsh considered the terms put forth for a few seconds. "That sounds agreeable," he eventually said with a big smile. "I will have a 3rd rank membership card prepared for you by tomorrow. It is the third-highest rank, which is rarely given out so freely."

  One more move to try and rope me in further, Lev noted tiredly. "Thank you."

  No more words were exchanged as Lev left the auction house. Welsh had picked up on his displeasure too and didn't push things any further. Lev was grateful for that, or he wouldn't have hesitated to burn the bridge entirely.

  Returning to the room in his inn, Lev jumped out of his armor and slept like a log.

  ****

  Night had yet to pass when Lev woke up refreshed and ready to go. Taking care of the morning routine, he debated how to spend his free time before the lecture began.

  The options were beyond limited. He could go train further with his half-full pool or walk around the city. The latter sounded better because he would need a full pool for his next delve.

  Eating breakfast, Lev found himself walking on the still busy roads. Most people had enough constitution to sleep only once every few days so the crowds never went away. He also remembered hearing that the population was also nearly a million in each great city.

  Lev was pleasantly surprised as he entered the spire region. Under the gentle moonlight of two moons, the spires were glowing. The moonlight seemed to be attracted to their exterior, illuminating every nook and cranny in a beautiful display of blue and white.

  He noticed many other people just standing there like him, taking in the sight with relaxed smiles. Lev also allowed himself to gawk for a long moment, standing at the boundary of the region and enjoying the peaceful atmosphere.

  No carts passed through the region, and the conversations were also hushed. It was nice.

  Time passed far quicker than Lev expected it to. Both suns were already visible on the horizon as he reached the lecture room. He was the first to arrive, so he took the corner seat at the end and waited for everyone else to arrive.

  "Hey there," Nolan greeted with a wave as he sat down next to Lev. "Did you practice the exercises?"

  Lev gave him a long glance. "I forgot about them,"

  Nolan's smile turned strained. "… I see. Were you busy with something else?"

  "Just hunting."

  "Oh, right. You're a hunter. Combat crafter and all that," Nolan scratched his head. "Can I ask more?"

  Why is he being so stiff? Lev thought in amusement.

  "Sure, if it's not anything personal."

  Nolan fell into thought for a bit. "What was your team hunting?"

  "Spiders. It was a training exercise," Lev didn't bother correcting the boy's assumption about him being part of a team. It would lead to too many questions. "Managed to kill a dozen of them before returning."

  "You guys weren't able to clear it fully?" Nolan leaned further, his interest apparent.

  "No, there were too many and the boss is too tough to take down easily."

  "What were the monsters like? Did you guys have much trouble killing them?"

  "Hmm," Lev gathered his thoughts. "They have very durable and heavy gray exoskeletons at the cost of speed. It took a bit of effort to block its pointy and heavy limbs and avoid getting squished by its random jumps, but after that, they were pretty easy to put down. The spiders aren't the smartest so a simple method was enough."

  Nolan ahh'd, playing his role as an attentive listener perfectly. "What about the threads and cores? Did you harvest them?"

  "I did. They fetched a decent amount of silver."

  The listener blinked. "Why would you sell them?"

  "Why not?" Lev asked.

  "To practice? Edward will not provide materials for you after a day or two," Nolan gave him a confused look before he grinned. "Well, tough luck. Make sure to keep a few for yourself next time. Even if their paints have subpar conductivity, they will be utilized to train your skills all the same."

  Lev leaned back into his bench and let out a silent sigh.

  Guess I will keep a few for myself when I go there again tonight. Why didn't I think of that before, anyway? I know training the enchanting skills will require a crap ton of materials.

  Lev blamed the spiders for being too ugly to care about harvesting. It was only logical.

  "I will keep that in mind. Do you know what we will be learning today?"

  "Probably group exercises," Nolan remarked. "Everyone will be separated into groups based on what type of enchanting they are aiming for, so it will happen sooner or later."

  "Makes sense," Lev decided to work on his social skills since the boy was being forthcoming. "What about you? Did you practice?"

  Nolan scratched his cheek, "Not really? Cores are hard to come by if you can't hunt for them."

  What the hell? First time I take the initiative and there are a billion different possible undercurrents of circumstances in that single answer.

  "I see," Lev feigned casualness. "You can take some of mine, I'll have plenty to sell anyway."

  It would be amusing to see the struggle on Nolan's face if the boy hadn't just confessed to being unable to afford cores. They were expensive like everything related to monsters and equipment was, but it wasn't that hard to procure a few.

  "Thanks, I guess."

  Lev waved off the gratitude. Money meant little to him. With his growing levels and mana pool, it would only continue to lose value.

  The room filled up completely over the next few minutes. Counting the attendees, Lev noted nobody from yesterday was absent.

  "Now, how many of you practiced what I taught you yesterday?" Edward said in the way of greeting.

  Lev groaned quietly.