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Zero Ranker - Chapter 15

Published at 18th of January 2019 06:39:40 PM


Chapter 15

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Walking out of the building, Xenith had a satisfied expression on his face. In his hand- a disposable one-way call card. Even though results were calculated immediately after each test, it still needed a manual assessment from the chief director of a branch.

"That's one thing less to worry about. Now for the monster cores."

Xenith had looked around the association's first floor, but he failed to scout a trustworthy refiner. Most of those that could purchase the cores were either greedy merchants or deceitful adventurers. Neither of them would honestly pay Xenith with the right amount.

Even though Xenith did not know much about how the association work; he was more or less familiar with how dishonest people are when it comes to the talk of monster cores. In a month of him being a New Human and scouting out a number of rift incidents, he had seen multiple instances of people betraying one another for mere low-grade cores.

Since the dawn of New World Order, after the destruction of the Great Rift— It had been how the world worked. Even though humanity had successfully recovered, and technology somehow got back on track. Morales had been in an all-time low. Trusting became a weakness, and deceit had turned into a strength.

"I have tracked down quite a few rift incidents in the past month, but had only managed to grab a hold of a single core from the very recent one." If it weren't for the fact that the last rift incident had false information, Xenith would have not been able to grab a B-grade core.

A handful of similar incidents where false information had been given occurred way before the recent one, albeit in a smaller degree. This gave Xenith the feeling that they were done on purpose. Either that or the association giving out reports were just being incompetent.

Tracking down rift incidents, Xenith had also managed to trace a few places where he could possibly sell cores. The association had been his first choice, thinking it would yield a higher exchange rate. But after seeing that the people around were nothing but dishonest people, Xenith had no other choice but to look for an alternative.

"... A shop on the outer districts should be my best bet for a good yield." Xenith deduced. People risking their lives living outside the wall would obviously be those that are honest enough to greet returning adventurers and exterminators— purchasing their goods at the best price possible, depending on its quality.

Xenith decided to go there instead of wasting his time inside the city. He then kept the disposable call card, along with the monster cores, and went to the public hospital. After asking permission from Shao Bin, and leaving everything to nurse Amy, Xenith went on his way towards the outer district.

---

*Plak!*

"Ahhh! W— What the hell… you old bastard! You're gonna pay for this!" An adventurer screamed in pain as he rebuked the stout old man in front of him. His arm was cleanly chopped off by the old man's sharp cleaver. "I'll burn this shop to the ground! Just you wait!" The adventurer added, his eyes burning in rage.

"I'll pay for what exactly?" The old man snorted. "You think I'm afraid of some pampered adventurer like you? Pweh, scram and hide in your father's underwear, crybaby." He added. Raising his cleaver once more, the old man threatened the adventurer. The latter anguished in both fear and pain as he hurriedly ran outside the shop.



"Eck! What's that on the table!? A— an arm? What the heck gramps? You amputated another customer?" A young man who's around the age of Xenith, walked in the shop carrying paper bags, exasperated when he saw the bloody scene atop the counter.

Even though he looked genuinely shocked, it would seem that it wasn't his first time seeing the same thing. It was obvious that it had happened a few times before.

"I am tired of these idiotic New Humans trying to barge in and scam our shop. Tsk! I'm just an old man doing an honest living and then they do this to me? Shameless!" The stumpy old man vented out his anger.

Even though he looked threatening when he's carrying the cleaver; his height was just adorable. His small stature made it hard for anyone to take him seriously in the first place.

"Gramps, you shouldn't go provoking those people… It's gonna be hard on us sooner than later." The young man sighed. He was quite worried about his gramps' short temper. And him often being alone in the shop made him worry even more.

"Come on now. It's not like I culled that bastard's arm for nothing. He tried grabbing my card so he could sell those cheap gears of his. And I am not entirely worried about them being New Humans either. It's not like there's no New Human here in the first place." The old man gave a wink as he cleaned the blood off the shop's counter.

"*Sigh*. Gramps, if you're relying on me being a registered New Human; then you're holding on to a very thin string, hah. I am barely a 1-star New Human right now, I just recently broke through the bottleneck of a 0-star. That's nothing to take pride in…" The young man looked dejected after knowing what his gramps was holding on to. He might be considered a New Human, but he wasn't really that strong either.

...

New Human: Finn Derham

Rank: 1-star

Job: E-class Exterminator

Abilities: Cleave (Passive), Sprint (Active)

Power Rating: 25



Finn wasn't blessed by the heavens when it comes to his initial rank. He was merely a 0-star when he was born, and his growth rate was abnormally sluggish that it made him think twice before even registering as a New Human. It was only when he broke through that he mustered enough courage and confidence to do so.

"It's fine, boy. Your Grandpa Glen got your back. You'll be the strongest New Human soon. Work hard. I am rooting for you." The old man tossed the bloodied cloth he was using as he walked towards Finn. He patted the young man's back, encouraging him to not lose faith and just think about other things other than worrying.

"Besides, not like gramps wouldn't help you or anything. Hahaha Here, it's a gift from this old man. Again, work hard for your dreams." Old man Glen smiled as he gave Finn a present.

It was a right-arm bracer with intricate carvings on it. In its center; a blue gem of unknown origins. "A vagrant sold it here yesterday. I reckon it would be useful for you, minimizing sprain and injury when you're fighting. So I bought it." Glen smiled.

A tear slowly inched down Finn's face. "... Thank you, gramps."

---

It had been 5 hours since Xenith left from the public hospital. He barely reached half of his destination. The walls of Shen City still couldn't be seen. If everything goes smoothly, it would take another hour to reach there, and another three to reach the outer district.

Sitting for hours inside a railed bus was a pain in the ass, literally.

Xenith repeatedly stood up to make himself more comfortable. "Hopefully, all this traveling would be worth it." The ticket alone cost Xenith around 30 credits. It would be a shame if the difference between selling inside the city and the outside district would amount to even a single transportation ticket. 'That would be 60 credits back and forth. If everything goes as planned. I could sell both for cores 6000 credits. Then everything would be fine.'

The sun slowly settled as Xenith sat back on the bus seat, feeling once more comfortable.

Night came as the rail bus he was on reached the wall of Shen City.




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