Lunar Awakening-Chapter 31: End Of An Adventure

The scion gave him a strange look of confidence before nodding and saying, "Why yes of course. If you want, I could buy half and leave the rest to you."

Leo stood there in utter silence for a few seconds, wondering what the man was really saying. Would he really earn money for the beasts he had killed? He knew that the cores could be sold for small change, but the meat was also useful. Since he had never actually operated with a trained party before he never considered being more than strips of meat he could eat personally.

The night before, when he had gone feral, he had tried to consume a beast core only to spit it back out. So without the need for a beast core, he actually had no use for them. In fact, he was just about to leave the corpse behind when this strange man had offered to pay for it all.

Leo almost kicked himself in the gut for not noticing it any sooner. The man looked out of place and had a stupid grin on his face. He had already passed most of the criteria for a rich kid.

"How much are you willing to buy it for?" Leo asked in a more confident which sounded more like an angry growl through the Moonfall’s Bride.

The man paused and looked around, counting the number of dormant beast corpses around him in silence. After a few seconds he finally spoke, "Fifty thousand credits for it all and an extra ten thousand if you agree to bring any of your future kills to me."

Leo was extremely grateful for the armour that hid the crazy look of shock he had suddenly manifested on his face. He had struggled to make ten thousand credits in almost a year, and here there was a guy giving out that much and more so freely.

Now he understood why people liked to chase after the rich like they were gods. ’So he can afford to splurge so much money like it’s toilet paper.’

But Leo was no fool. He knew the kill was worth more than that. "Double the price or nothing?" he spoke in a deep, commanding tone.

The man stroked his chin and looked down at the carnage around him for a moment before saying, "Done." He extended his arm out for a shake, but Leo simply stared at him and said nothing.

’Wait can he really just do that?’ Leo asked himself in deep self doubt. ’Just how much does this man have?’

"So will I be receiving more offers from you in the future, Mr...?"

Leo frowned as he felt one of his wounds act up in his chest. "Curses."

The man chuckled lightly. "Mr Curses it is. My name is Williamson Vincenzo, but you can call me Willy."

Leo’s frown deepened.

William chuckled again before saying, "Do you want me to transfer it now?" He waved his ringed finger in the air.

That was another advantage of a storage ring. It acted as a bank and a portable means of transporting money. Leo did not know whether he would want to do business with this odd man in the future, but for now all he wanted was to return to Glory Base and tens to his wounds.

His little adventure had cost him his life, and after all that, he had just realised he wanted to return home and learn what he truly was.

He had gained a lot anyway, from his very first weapon type artifact to his first armour artifact and most especially money. In the end, he was right. The harder he became, the easier it was to attract money.

He could return anytime in the future when he had grown stronger. For now, he needed to recover.

Leo smiled as he received the money in his own storage ring and limped away from the carnage, leaving William to sort out his own dilemma.

William’s smile faded as he looked at the carnage around him and asked in a puzzled voice, "How the hell am I supposed to carry all this back?"

Leo paused for a moment before leaving and looked back at William. "Excuse me, do you have a bottle of water?"

William looked confused for a few seconds before nodding and taking one out of his bag. "Sure, I can’t have a potential client parched now, can I?"

Leo took the water bottle and left the man to himself.

He continued to walk forward until he found a secluded spot to lay down and recover. He could feel his wounds reopening and weighing him down along with his armour.

With each step he took, he felt his body on the verge of collapsing. He grunted and gritted his teeth, trying to suppress the torturous pain.

"Dammit, it’s a miracle I’m even alive," he said with a loud groan as he ended up in a quiet forest area where he fell down with his back resting against a tree. He listened for the sound of any beast in the area for several seconds before finally relaxing.

The first thing he did was dispel the transcendent artifact and bathe in sunlight. His wounds eased at the touch of the cool breeze.

Leo greedily drank from the water bottle, downing its contents in huge gulps. He could feel the dryness of his throat begging for more, and it took all his willpower to stop himself.

He pulled the bottle away. It was already half empty. His eyes dilated as they stared at the tasteless liquid. "Never again will I doubt the existence of such a magical substance."

He looked down at his wounds, horrified to find he had suffered more cuts than he expected. There were gashes all over his arms, shoulders, and back. But the most horrible were the deep bite marks from the multiple attacks of the death critters on his legs.

The wounds were barely healing, and the difference was noticeable. If it were any other person, they would have died. He was sure the vitality stat had only barely kept him alive.

Leo had to convince himself that he had already achieved his goal of growing stronger and had surprisingly earned money from it too. Enough money to set things straight back home.

Whatever was located on the map the strange man had been so desperate to find, Leo suspected it had to be something of value.

At the moment he lacked enough power to even get there. However, he had performed a feat he never thought possible. He decided not to rush things.

Leo stayed in the forest for a few more days until his wounds were barely noticeable. He could still feel the sting whenever he moved, but he managed.

Fortunately, he had predicted he would ruin his first set of clothes, so he had brought a spare. After changing, he returned to Glory Base. After paying the fee of five dormant beast cores, he was grateful to return to his domicile.

Back in his room, he noticed the cuts still on his walls and frowned. "I have to fix this." Even without guests, he could not allow signs that he was different from other superhumans to get out.

Despite the lingering fatigue, Leo took a shower and changed clothes before heading out to buy cheap wallpaper to cover the walls. He bought new curtains, a new pot, and a pan. As for the futon, he decided he could patch it up later.

The last thing he bought was meat and some cooking ingredients. This time, he would cook it.

After returning, he immediately cleaned his room and put everything back in order. It took several hours to remove any sign of claws, though it was only a temporary fix. He then cooked himself a solid meal of fried meat and stew over the fireplace.

He served the food minutes later and ate his fill. It was the first time he had treated himself to something decent in a long while.

Afterward, he prepared for his venture out of Hellscape and back to the waking world. His little sister Trish would be celebrating her birthday in two days, so he had to be there.

There were things to handle first. Once back, he would regain access to technology and retrieve the flash drive left behind by the old man who had bitten him. He also needed to decide how to allocate his stat points going forward.

From what he learned, stat boosts only registered once they crossed a threshold of five points.

Even then, it did not feel like a true boost. During his fight with the death critters, increasing agility did not make him agile on its own. He did. The stat simply pushed his human limits further.

In simple terms, the stats raised his potential ceiling. If his maximum strength was once three, raising it to five meant his body could handle more load, but only if he trained it.

He decided not to mess with anything until he returned.

Sleep came hard that night as well, but this time he was prepared. He had bought sleeping pills to do the work.

Drugs were common in Hellscape bases, mostly stimulants and sleep aids. The mental toll on superhumans who hunted beasts often pushed them to madness, so drugs were sometimes recommended.

That night, Leo slept happily. In a few hours, he would leave the hellhole behind and see his family once more.