4,890 credits.
Max kept his eyes on the figure while Owen finished the transaction. A few days ago, he’d been counting what was left of his money and worrying about rent. Now he was being paid almost an entire semester’s Player-track tuition for the contents of one backpack.
He looked down at his torn clothes. His calf was still bleeding through the bandage, and every deep breath made the cuts along his ribs sting.
’Well, I did work for it.’
"Everything look right?" Owen asked.
"Yeah." Max finally managed to look away from the screen. "I just wasn’t expecting that much."
"The higher-grade core helped. Good thing you didn’t sell it to some roadside buyer." Owen slid the receipt across. "Transfer’s complete."
Max checked his phone. The money had arrived, all 4,890 credits of it, and for a moment he couldn’t stop smiling.
He’d spent hours inside a Gate getting chased by things that wanted to eat him. Somehow, he’d come out the other side with enough money to stop worrying about surviving the month.
"Thanks," he said, picking up his bag.
"Get that leg treated," Owen told him. "You’re leaving blood on my floor."
Max glanced down. A small red spot had appeared beside his boot.
"Ah. Sorry ’bout that."
He adjusted his bag and headed for the exit, already thinking about what he would eat for dinner.
Owen watched him disappear through the doors, then turned back to the appraisal screen. The E-rank Alpha core’s result was still there, and the more he thought about the Gate it had supposedly come from, the less comfortable he felt.
"Rina, come here a second."
The woman at the next counter finished with her customer before walking over.
"What’s wrong?"
"You know the Razorhound Gate in the east district?"
"F-rank. Why?"
"A kid just sold me an E-rank Alpha core from there. Said he nearly lost his leg fighting it."
Rina leaned closer to check the appraisal.
"That’s genuine, all right." She frowned. "An E-rank Alpha in an F-rank Gate? Those Gates are supposed to be safe enough for beginners."
"Exactly. I’ve already started a reassessment report."
"Good. Someone could get killed if the classification is wrong."
Owen nodded, but something else was bothering him.
"That Gate takes solo permits, doesn’t it?"
"Last I checked. Why?"
Owen went quiet.
The boy had looked delighted by a sum that a well-established higher-ranked Hunter wouldn’t consider extraordinary. He’d been genuinely surprised by the value of the core, too. Not exactly how Owen expected an experienced Hunter to react after an ordinary hunt.
And then there was the state of his clothes and that terrible leg injury.
"Wait..." Rina said, watching his expression change. "Do you think he’s an F-rank Player?"
"No way."
Owen shook his head immediately.
"An F-rank, alone against an E-rank Alpha? He wouldn’t have walked out."
"Then why was he hunting in an F-rank Gate? There’s hardly any money in it for a higher-ranked Player."
That was the problem. Owen couldn’t think of a good reason either.
A stronger Player might enter a lower-ranked Gate for training, or to accompany someone weaker. But this had been a solo Gate, and the young man hadn’t looked like someone enjoying an easy training session.
"He seemed really happy about the money," Owen muttered. "Almost like it was his first big sale..."
Rina folded her arms. "Did you ask what rank he was?"
Owen looked at her.
Then he looked back at the screen.
The sale record contained the appraisal details and payment confirmation, but nothing that would identify the seller. Core exchanges were anonymous unless the seller chose otherwise.
"Ah, damn it!"
He slapped his forehead.
"What’s wrong?"
"I didn’t even ask for his name!"
Rina stared at him.
"You spent all that time talking to him?"
"I was appraising his cores! How was I supposed to know?"
"Well, you know now."
Owen groaned and leaned back in his chair. He couldn’t believe he’d let such an interesting customer walk away without learning anything about him.
An F-rank Player defeating an E-rank monster alone sounded absurd. But if the boy really was F-rank, then Owen had just encountered someone far more remarkable than he’d realized.
Rina glanced toward the growing queue.
"Whatever his rank, make sure that report gets to the inspection team. We don’t want another beginner walking into that Gate."
Owen nodded and marked the report urgent.
Then he looked toward the entrance one last time, half hoping the white-haired boy might suddenly return.
Max went straight to the Association clinic.
A woman in a white coat took one look at his leg and sent him to an examination bed. Her badge identified her as a Healer, and when she removed the blood-soaked bandage, even she frowned at the depth of the bite marks.
"When did this happen?"
"Earlier today."
"You’ve been walking around with it open all this time?"
"I only just got out of the Gate."
She shook her head and placed a palm over his calf.
A soft green light spread beneath her fingers, warm enough that Max could feel it reaching deep into the torn muscle. He watched the punctures pull closed, the bruising fade, and the blood stop seeping through the skin.
The healer moved on to his chest and shoulder. A few moments later, the cuts were gone too.
Max got off the bed and put his weight on the injured leg.
No pain... none at all.
He bent his knee, then tried standing on one foot just to be certain.
"That’s amazing."
He’d known what healing classes could do, of course, but it was something else to feel hours of pain disappear in a few breaths.
"They’re ordinary wounds," the healer said, disposing of the bloody dressing. "The serious cases take more work."
Max glanced at his leg again. To think he’d spent the entire journey back limping around when a few moments of magic could fix everything.
He thanked her and headed toward the desk, where he learned that standard magical treatment was covered by his Player Association benefits.
He didn’t have to pay anything.
’Another perk of being a Player, huh?’
Before he left, the healer recommended carrying a healing potion on future hunts. He wouldn’t always be able to reach a clinic in the middle of a fight, and even an inexpensive potion could close an ordinary wound quickly enough to save his life.
Higher-grade potions and elixirs were considerably more effective, capable of restoring serious injuries in moments, but their prices rose sharply with their potency.
Max made a note to check them out when he went shopping for equipment. After what had happened inside the Gate, keeping one in his bag sounded like common sense. He thanked her and left the clinic.