Unlike what most people would expect, many people were present in this Village. It even looked like some people were permanent residents. Things like shops, restaurants, and inns flooded the central area of the Village. Other areas were living residencies or exchange offices. The way things worked in here was similar to the guild in some novels. You can exchange monster bodies in order to gain points. With points, you can buy anything you want. Ed even noticed a slave market while he was strolling around. Those unfortunate enough to be sold as slaves would suffer for the rest of their lives. Or at least until their owner had enough of them.
Ed headed into one of the exchange offices and entered. It was the same as the office where they issued him the authorization for entering the tower. 'So this place is also managed by the Central Government' Ed thought as he walked inside.
"You're a new face. You can have the card after exchanging some carcasses." One of the workers there spoke to him and pointed towards a room. Indicating that the room is where he can exchange the carcasses.
Silently, Ed walked into one of the room without questions. He didn't know what card the man was talking about, but he acted like he knew everything.
Inside the room, a lady who was wearing the Central Government's uniform smiled towards Ed. She was beautiful with a charming smile, but Ed didn't care about that. Without saying a single word, he withdrew dozens upon dozens of bodies. It was a mix of the lions, Thunderbirds, and other monsters he didn't need. Ed didn't bring out all the bodies, but only the weak ones. He kept the exceptional bodies so he could sell them in the outside world.
After he finished, the receptionist maintained her smile and started to check the bodies.
"Your total comes to 340.000 points." She then walked outside with him to issue his a card. Ed finally looked at how the card looked. It was the same as an ID card, but only in silver. Things like name and points weren't filled.
"Please fill it with Qi." She told him what to do next. Ed did as he was told and the card shined. His picture and name were inscribed upon the card. Ed was surprised by the technology if it could be called that. Next, the receptionist asked him to hand her the card and filled it with Qi. The points were now filled in as well.
"You can head back to the person over there for the payment." The receptionist told him as she walked back to the room.
"You need to pay 10.000 points." The man overheard the woman speaking to Ed, and asked for an overbearing amount of points. Ed had a lot of points, but that didn't mean that he would simply accept it. He shot a deadly glare at the man and released his killing intent.
In an instant, the man knew that he shouldn't mess around with Ed. He was only at Earth Establishment. Plus, he was brought into this tower to work. He made extra money by tricking people who weren't as sharp as Ed.
"I'm sorry, it's only 1000 points." The man didn't try anything funny and told Ed the real amount. ED could also tell that he wasn't lying this time. The man brought out a machine and passed the card over it. Ed's total points decreased to 339.000.
'It's like a credit card' Ed looked at the silver card while walking out.
Ed strolled around the Village and checked what they had to offer. He hasn't done anything like this ever since he left the academy. Many memories flooded his mind. Some good, and some sad.
The shops were very unique. They sold monster parts, jewels, weapons, armors, pills, and so on. Some people even sold the monsters they hunted instead of exchanging them.
"Hey you!" while walking, Ed heard someone calling in a familiar way. He turned around hesitantly and found that Johan was waving at him. 'Does he do the same every time?' Ed thought to himself.
"I'm glad you could come to the Village." Johan smiled at Ed. This time he wasn't alone. Two men and two women stood behind him while he spoke to Ed. Of course, Ed didn't waste time and checked his Map. The four of them were neutral towards Ed. This made Ed think why only Johan was a red dot while he seemed friendly.
"Why? Were you waiting for something to happen to me?" Ed jokingly said.
"Well, your cultivation is considered low for someone challenging the tower alone." Johan seemed to forget Raikou who was standing next to Ed when they first met. And apparently, he forgot the others, or simply didn't see them.
"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but nothing happened," Ed spoke calmly.
"I'm not disappointed. More like this confirms my suspicion. I usually don't bother with people, but something about you drew me to speak to you. I guess it was your strength." Johan said words that sent alarms in Ed's mind. He even backed off two steps.
"Hmm, what wrong?" Johan asked him in confusion.
"No, nothing. Don't mind me."
"By the way, I never got to hear your name. Once again I'm Johan." Johan extended his hand towards Ed.
"Edward," Ed spoke while shaking hands with Johan. He thought about giving him a fake name, but it wasn't worth it. He would kill anyone who tried to hurt him. Plus he knew his face, so it didn't matter much.
"I'll be challenging the floor boss soon. I'm guessing you don't know where it is? You can come with me if you want." Johan offered Ed his help. Ed didn't accept of course. He politely rejected him but shamelessly asking for the information about the floor boss. Of course not what type of monster, but simply where to find it.
"On the other side of the Village, there are two teleportation circles. One will take you to the floor boss, while the other straight to the next floor." Ed was reminded that another way existed to leave the floor. He had completely forgotten about the advance teleportation circles that existed.
"I see. Thank you for the information." Ed thanked Johan, and both of them headed on to their own direction.
"Oh by the way. I forgot to tell you, but don't trust anyone in this Village."
"Oh, I know about that," Ed told him and both of them finally disappeared from each other's sight.
Hello everyone! Enjoy the chapter.
After leaving his position, Ed went to check out the inns. Ed was going to stay for a while on this floor due to two reasons. First, he didn't want to leave so quickly. Although the floor was dangerous, it wasn't threatening for Ed. Out of all the people he had scanned, the strongest one was a Heavenly Establishment level 5, which Ed could kill. Second, he was planning to kill the boss, and not leave using the teleportation circle. Even if he were to take the turn immediately after Johan, he would still have to wait over a week.
He stopped by one of the more fancy inns and entered. The inn was the largest building in town and had many rooms. Each room was big, and could easily accommodate at least five people that didn't mind sharing. The big was a king-sized bed that didn't lose to the one Ed had in his room. The corridors were clean and the rooms were tidy and well kept. Ed was curious as to why such a high-class inn was inside the tower, and apparently, it makes money. Every room cost 5000 points per night, and by exchanging those points with treasures and taking them outside, they make a lot of money.
Ed bargained on the price and managed to get a 6% discount. Even more than what his haggling skill provided. He paid 4700 points and gave 300 points as a tip to one of the workers. Of course, Ed wasn't being unnecessarily nice, and the worker wasn't an idiot either. Ed wanted information, and the worker had them. The 300 points were simply to test the waters. Ed offered the man 2000 more credits to get him to spill all the beans.
"There's a group of dangerous bandits stationed outside the village. Every month they come and take points from everyone. In exchange, they help out in case of a monster horde. As for the local crime doers, you can kill them if you want they're only scrubs. But, try to avoid the bandits." The man spoke more and more about the situation of the Village. Ed wasn't interested in most of what was said, except for the first part.
Ed was curious as to why people didn't leave the village on the specific day. Apparently, the bandits work together with the Central Government. So, they have the names of everyone who is on this floor due to the exchange cards. Ed looked at the card in his hand and smiled while thinking, 'Looks like it won't be a quiet stay.'
Ed asked the man one last thing. "When is the next tribute day?"
"In five days." The man answered.
Ed gave him the promised points and left. These points didn't mean much to him since he got a plethora of them by selling useless carcasses. However, he wasn't going to give it away to bandits so easily. Ed headed to his room and summoned his companions. He told them everything that he was told and spoke about his next plans.
"We're going to kill anyone who messes with us." Ed wasn't a boy on Earth. Now, he had people he cared about and principles he believed in. Anyone who was a threat to him and his loved ones would end up dying. Seeing that he wasn't going to be able to avoid the bandits, only one solution remained.
All of his friends nodded at him in agreement. Ed made sure to create a dimension, so as not to be overheard by anyone. He also slept inside the dimension after eating. The next day, he strolled around the village looking at potential souvenirs. He wanted to use up his points somehow, so he decided to buy things he liked. A pendant caught his attention so he approached the salesman.
"You have a good eye, sir. This is a one of a kind item." He kept blabbing in, trying to convince Ed to buy it.
'One of a kind my butt.' Ed had scanned the pendant. It turns out that it's a cursed item that had a mind control effect.
"I want to see how it looks. Help me out and wear it so I can have a good look." The salesman's face went pale after hearing Ed. He knew that his plan was found out, so he could only beg for his life. Ed ended getting items at half price from him. He bought some jewels and rings for his family, and the total came to less than 20.000 points. Satisfied, Ed left the now crying salesman.
Ed spent the next couple of days hunting outside the village. He managed to level up, but only once. However, he was able to gather many Gacha tickets. He now had twenty, the largest amount he ever had at once. The system was going to come back anytime now so Ed was at his maximum anticipation. He was similar to a child who knew his father was going to give him a treat, so he couldn't wait until his father got home. Ed entered the Village but didn't head to the exchange booths. Even after these days, he still didn't burn through his point stock.
Ed noticed a commotion so he went to see what was wrong. One of the bandits came to let them know that the tribute was happening tomorrow, earlier than scheduled. Ed didn't care about these things, and instead tailed the bandit as he was going back. After walking for almost an hour, they finally reached the bandits' hideout. It was an underground base under a hill. The entrance was almost impossible to spot. Ed was using Zetsu to hide his presence all the time while tailing the bandit. But now he used Zero Sign and followed after him inside without forgetting to leave a teleportation wood piece.
The inside of the base was much larger than he thought. The numbers of the bandits exceeded 100, while slaves added to their numbers. The boss looking man was sitting on a throne-like seat with a couple of collared women sitting down on the floor next to him. He was telling the bandit members some things like 'we're the best' and 'no one can oppose us'. Ed didn't waste time and instead scanned them all. The strongest one was the leader at Heavenly Establishment level 6, while the rest were spread out at level 2-4. Ed also checked out their weapons and armor.
Ed had the thought of killing the leader now before his time with Zero Sign was up. However, he was startled by a sudden sound.
[I'm back.]
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