After she heard he was a rune master, Ruby became a lot friendlier compared to before. They agreed on a design and started talking about runes.
Arthur offered some of the runes he knew how to inscribe and she was captivated. As she had said, Telekinesis and Compress would make an excellent combination with technology. The two thought of possible uses before, as if waking up from a trance, Ruby got back to her work and shooed him away.
Leaving her to her work, Ivy and Arthur left the underground floor. Ivy mentioned something about a task Sier asked her to do, and she disappeared as well after dropping Arthur at Idris's office.
Arthur decided on a place to breakthrough. A place that was filled with runes and a mana-rich place. It was also the place where he was the safest from harm, his fortress.
However, he needed a large number of mana crystals to ensure his breakthrough would be, at the very least, world-changing. This was the first breakthrough he would have and he wanted to establish a proper foundation.
"Come in," Idris's gruff voice answered Arthur's knock. Entering the office, Arthur found that it was filled with plants. There many kinds that Arthur didn't know and Idris sat on his chestnut desk, looking at him through a pair of reading glasses.
"Hey, Mr…" Arthur realized he didn't know his last name. Since the man was older than he was, looking in his forties, he had to address him politely.
"Idris is fine." He said as he removed his glasses, looking at Arthur curiously through his hazel eyes. "What can I help you with?"
It seemed he tried to ask gently, but it still came out a bit aggressively. Arthur pulled a chair and sat down, realizing that he had to look up slightly to meet the man's eyes.
"I want some mana crystals."
"Yes, Master Sier has already informed me. We're going through our stock and scouting the market."
"How many are you getting?" Arthur asked with curiosity. With this, he wanted to estimate the wealth of the Mistletoe.
"For the first batch, we're expecting a hundred inferior-crystals. Would this be enough?" Idris asked with a frown that implied he had no idea how much the fortress consumed.
The fortress also had some runes to draw mana from the surrounding, but the fortress was enormous. There were so many runes that even Arthur didn't know how much there were exactly.
From offensive runes, support runes, to space expansion runes, and even daily-life runes, one could tell that the fortress varied in function.
If the fortress relied solely on the crystals for mana, it would never be enough. That's why there were runes, like the ones in the mana chambers, that worked to supply the fortress expenditures. The mana-crystals worked as fuel to activate the runes and maintain their layered structure as they function.
Regarding the mana quality in a hundred inferior-crystals, it was about average for the fortress. It was enough to maintain the fortress going for a period of time, but nothing more. Each crystal was usually priced around 10 thousand Yalveran Dollars, give or take depending on demand and offer.
These crystals were usually imported from the Republic of Orlan, whose land had vast expenses of such mines. Cells were the purified and condensed forms of these crystals, and they worked as a better alternative for stable mana engines.
"Yes, that will do for now. Do you have any superior-crystals?" Arthur calculated that the crystals they would provide him with equaled to about one hundred thousand dollars. As for the superior-crystals, the ones he wanted for his breakthrough, were one hundred thousand each.
"Yes, however, we have other projects that require funding." Idris mistook Arthur's question as a sign of displeasure regarding the number of crystals. "A hundred crystals are only to keep the fortress sustainable for now. We'll deliver ten times that amount in the near future."
Arthur shook his head. He was actually surprised that Broken Goods were able to gather this many crystals in such a small time-frame. After all, the crystals were rare. Even with their average price, it was disturbed among the giants of the kingdom.
"A hundred crystals will do for the fortress. I want to buy superior-crystals myself." Idris looked at him silently and nodded.
"How many do you need?"
"Twenty."
"…What would you use these for?" Idris's face showed his confusion for the first time. After all, twenty crystals would cost two million. Even for rune masters, who were called money printing machines, it was a sizable sum.
"Sier should have told you about the mana chambers."
"Oh." Realization dawned on Idris's face as he nodded. "I understand. It'll take some time until I gather that many crystals, I'll inform you when it's done."
"Okay, thank you." Arthur nodded. He opened his phone and checked his account and found that it had well over two million. It seems the swords joe sold fetched some money despite being artificial runes.
Arthur had long decided that genuine artifacts were too precious to be passed as superior quality weapons. The ones he sold in the past before he learned how to close the reality gate, were rather low-quality so the runes didn't show their real might.
The legacy has always told him that depending on the materials used, the runes function can be enhanced or downgraded. With the weapons Arthur got from Prince Alfred's ring, he was able to get this much money from merely ten of them.
He wondered why a prince would need so much wealth. He had yet to sort through the whole ring since it was full of miscellaneous objects, but he now had enough materials to inscribe until his goblins proved useful.
"In regard to the money," Arthur pocketed the phone and waved his hand. Ten weapons appeared on the table of varying shapes. They ranged in size and shape, with the only similarity being the runic lines inscribed on them. "I present you the fire set." Arthur grinned at the dumbstruck Idris.
"You made these?" Idris muttered in an accent he hadn't used before. He coughed in embarrassment and repeated the question in fluent Yalveran. Arthur smiled in amusement at this and didn't mention it.
"Yes, I'd like to sell them anonymously."
"This… can be managed. Give me your bank account, I'll transfer the rest of the money once they're sold."
"When would that be?"
"By the end of the month."
Arthur nodded and gave him his account. He vaguely remembered that the end of the month would be the last region of the Runes Apprentices Cup, so he had less than a week to prepare.
After that, he left the company and teleported elsewhere. It would be a few days before the crystals are bought so he had to find something to do.
Instead of waiting around, Arthur decided to level up. Even if he couldn't increase his stats, he can always gather some legacy points to buy things from the legacy. Furthermore, the stats points would be a good boost after he breaks through.
The best place to level up quickly is by going to the gathering of all sorts of monsters, the Tower of Yalen. Even though it might be a bit dangerous beyond the first floor, he'll fare well in the first one.
He felt a rush of excitement by merely thinking about challenging the tower. It was said to be left by the gods for humans to reward them. The probability of getting skills or legacies there is higher than in normal dungeons.
Despite skills being inferior to runes for Arthur, that wasn't the case for others. Skills were a way to go against the talent you've been given at birth. If someone manages to get their hands on a high-level skill, their lives would forever change. After all, despite being cost-inefficient relative to runes, skills were still a way to alter the world.
He teleported back to his hotel room where he changed and wore his gear. His Strength and Agility rose as he wore his enhancing items. With this, he should be able to challenge the first floor.
After teleporting into an alley close to the tower, Arthur experienced the same feeling he had the first time he came here. He made his way through the crowd until he passed the security of the tower. The tower had a different structure than that of dungeons in being more human-friendly.
Arthur touched the giant double doors at the base of the tower and felt his body teleporting inside. What appeared in front of him was a wide ring under the blue cloudy sky.
[Welcome to the Tower of Yearning.]
A legacy message appeared in front of him, startling Arthur. This has always been known as the Tower of Yalen because of its location, but maybe whoever created it had a different name in mind.
'Yearning…' Arthur pondered. 'Yearning for power or something else?' He had no idea. However, his legacy recognizing the tower was a good sign that he might find some hidden treasures here.