"What else do you suggest, then? Lugging this thing around with us for the remaining days in the Origin Realm is just asking for trouble. I’d prefer if we could get rid of it as quickly as possible." Rohan spoke, concerned.

Truth was, the longer they kept this E rank Commander tier treasure with them, the more danger they were in.

It wasn’t just Rudith that knew about it, the rest of her group did as well!

Although they weren’t exactly familiar with each other, Rohan was still 100% certain that they wouldn’t just let them silently get away with all the loot after all they’d done.

Rohan knew enough that they would adapt the ’If we can’t have it, neither can they!’ mindset, and spread word of their loot to as many ears that would listen to them.

"Hold on for a second. Let’s not completely discount all our options just yet. Why don’t we go and get it appraised first? Find out just what use it has, what makes it so valuable? We can think about what to do with it after that." Elane suggested after much thought.

Rohan looked down at the Lava Hellebore with his brows raised.

Only now, after all the blood, rubble, explosions and near death experiences surround it, did one very simple thought occur to him.

"...That’s right. We still don’t know if this thing is useful for us."

All they knew was what their status told them when their skin came into contact with it — which was its name and its rank.

They had no idea of its use or utilities, which was why Rohan was so set on getting as much worth out of it at first, forgetting to consider if they could use it on themselves.

Elane blinked.

"You only just had that thought?!"

She facepalmed, but Rohan was still deep in thought, hardly noticing her.

"Yeah! Let’s get it appraised. If it turns out that this thing can be used by us lowly F ranks, then we may as well keep it for ourselves! After all, even after we reach E rank ourselves, or even D rank, we might never get another chance to come across another treasure like it."

Rohan looked resolute, and Elane gave a snort in response with her chin raised for coming up with the idea.

But their expressions returned to normal after a few moments. They still had to protect it, and themselves, to actually be able to reap the benefits of owning it.

With how precious it was, there were some powerful monsters that would go out of their way to hunt them down just to acquire it.

All it took was a single E rank to recognise its worth, and they’d be done for.

’Luckily, we should still have a modicum of safety on the streets of a tier 2 city like Erenhot.’

And if someone still dared to try their luck, Elane had an ace up her sleeve.

But right now, they actually had to make it back to Erenhot to bring that pseudo-safety into effect.

So they rested a little longer under the boulder, drank a little water and cleaned themselves up since they were still covered in soot and dirt, and once both of them judged their conditions to be socially acceptable again, they rose and moved toward the city.

***

A few hours later, the streets of Erenhot appeared before them after what felt like such a long time since they were last there.

When in reality, it had only been a week or two.

By now, the sunlight had shifted enough that the city looked to be entering its twilight hours where all the Awakened who’d been out to hunt all day were finally returning to sell their loot and recuperate.

The streets were much busier than normal, but the bustling crowds offered the two of them a decent cover of safety to hide under.

They weren’t the only Awakened walking around with a unique looking piece of loot, after all. While they highly doubted anyone could match what they had earned over the last 24 hours, some people were walking around with even more exotic looking pieces of treasure than the Lava Hellebore!

But this safety was thinly veiled. Rohan held the Lava Hellebore tightly against his skin, and even wrapped it with some bits of his torn shirt here and there.

He was extremely paranoid of letting some passerby come into skin contact with it, which would tell them the name and rank of the treasure, which was sure to spell disaster for them.

Internally, they were prepared for the worst.

Maybe someone would be bold enough to step into their path and start asking questions.

And to be fair, they did get quite a few stares.

That much was unavoidable.

Two ragged newbies walking around town with a glowing flower was sure to bring attention.

But that was all it was, for now.

Intrigue and curiosity.

No one’s face changed in the way it would have if they understood what the thing actually was.

Which brought immense relief to the duo.

"Rudith’s group hasn’t managed to spread word of it yet."

"Yeah..."

Rohan felt something cold and satisfied settle in his chest as the thought finished forming.

’They’re all confined to the outside universe for a month, so they have to spare much more effort to spread word of the Lava Hellebore back to the Origin Realm.’

Which, depending on their information network, could take days.

They’d have to find an acquaintance who was also stationed in Erenhot and have them enter the Origin Realm to begin spreading the information. And if they were unlucky, they might already be inside the Origin Realm, meaning they’d have to wait days for them to come back out.

"That’s great news, for now. But it doesn’t change anything for our plans." Elane responded.

Not knowing how long it would take for the Lava Hellebore’s information to reach Erenhot made them move with urgency.

"We can’t risk taking it to an exchange house to get appraised. They might pressure us to sell it to them once they find out its value, and perhaps even worse if we’re unlucky..."

"Mmm. We need to take it to a place that exclusively only does item appraisals."

The risk was always there no matter who they took it to, but they felt this was at least safer.

Luckily, Elane knew just the place.

"Not necessarily! The Federation has their own appraisal service — just that its a bit more expensive than the third party places offer..."

Elane paused once more, before reluctantly speaking.

"...And technically limited to government personnel only."