Calder felt a chill down his—uh, spine when he heard that. He hurriedly raised his hands in surrender.

"There is no benefit in me betraying you, hehe, don’t worry, I’m not that kind of person."

"Said the nth snakesman." Emperal snorted before continuing. "So, any idea about where we would find another Verth Wielding Beast?"

For his level now, it wouldn’t be too difficult to hunt a stage 1 Verth Wielding beast. Although it wouldn’t be called an easy battle. At the very least, he won’t be as helpless as when he was fighting the Crimson Maw wolf.

"I...don’t know, even this group, I had followed them from the morning. It is after many preparations that I dared to use my sleeping gas on them."

Calder hurriedly spoke, making it clear that he had no knowledge of the beast cores.

"Tch, waste."

Emperal turned his head, his gaze penetrating through the forest. "Alright then, first we will rest up in the nearest town and gear ourselves well. And who knows, someone might just know the exact location of the beasts we are searching for."

He concluded. Truth be told, it wasn’t as difficult to find a Verth Wielding beast if one goes deeper into the borders, especially towards the Elven continent. There are many more beasts there, hundreds if not thousands.

"Leave it to me! I know a town which is near, and even has some connection with the Alchemy branch manager there!"

Calder puffed his chest and replied. Hearing his words, Emperal raised his brows.

"Alchemy...branch?"

His eyes shone a bit when he heard that. Concealing it, he nodded towards Calder.

"Lead the way."

...

On the way, the two didn’t chat much; it was just Emperal occasionally asking a few questions.

After a bit of smoothing, some information from this snakesman, Emperal, was in deep thoughts.

The nearby town was known as Greenvale. It was a basic tier-2 town. All the basic necessities were provided there, and with the Alchemy Guild’s branch there, the trade and economy were going well.

Greenvale was exactly what Calder had described, a Tier-2 border town. Stone buildings with timber roofing, permanent market stalls along the main street, and the faint smell of processed beast materials mixed with herbal materials.

This was the kind of town that existed because hunters needed somewhere to sell what they caught and earn a living from it.

Carrying the corpse of the Ridgeback boar had been no small task; it weighed nearly two hundred and fifty kilos! Emperal had dragged it the entire journey without complaints, which Calder found both impressive and deeply disturbing.

The cultivators close to his and Emperal’s level, although capable of lifting more than their body weight, were in no way close to lifting such a heavy beast, which weighed at least three times their own.

Calder paid the watchman a small fee at the entrance, which was two low-level Verth crystals.

Crystallized Verth found in natural mines was the basic currency of the world of Verandis. It was like that because, in historic times, each nation had its own currency, which differed in value.

To fix the imbalance and improve trade, the powers of that time came to a single conclusion.

The Verth Crystal.

But if they used just a single crystal, it would have led to even greater economic imbalance. So, the mined crystals were divided into three types.

Low-grade crystal, Medium-grade crystal, and High-grade crystal.

Ten low-grade Verth crystals were worth one mid-grade Verth crystal. But one high-grade was worth a hundred mid-grade crystals!

After walking through the streets, Calder eventually halted in front of a medium-sized shop.

"This is where we can sell the boar corpse, and since it’s still fresh, we can get a hefty sum, hehe~."

Calder chuckled. Just as he was about to enter, Emperal dragged him back.

"Wait, wear this and go."

Saying that, Emperal passed on a black cloth to Calder. For a second, Calder looked at Emperal confusingly.

Seeing this, Emperal’s brow twitched. "Are you really a snakesman? Cover your face, I don’t want those four to track me with such a stupid mistake. I already have more than enough enemies."

"Ohh! Damn, I almost forgot we stole this game from their hands!" Calder facepalmed. Taking the cloth, he wrapped it around his neck and face. Giving Emperal a thumbs up, he entered the shop.

...

A servant quickly led Calder inside. Arriving at the end, Calder saw a middle-aged man sitting on a sofa, going through some papers.

"A Ridgeback boar..." the manager or material assessor said, looking at the boar in Calder’s hands.

"And, Verth Wielder stage Two, you say?"

"Mhm, fresh kill," Calder nodded, confirming. "Its core is intact, the hide is mostly undamaged..."

"Mostly," the assessor interjected, looking up. His eyes shone. "In the eastern border region, hide damage from what, fire? Now, that significantly reduces the value. Core, I can assess at Stage...One, given the deterioration—"

"It’s been dead for four hours exactly," Calder spoke, narrowing his eyes slightly. The old fox...was really trying every trick to rip him off.

The manager smiled when he heard this. "The border conditions are harsh. I can offer three mid-grade crystals. Fair market rate for the...condition."

Calder almost stumbled when he heard that; his face turned green in rage. Three mid-grade crystals for a Stage Two Verth Wielding beast, that too in near-perfect condition, was not...definitely not a fair market rate.

The old man was robbing him and wearing a smile.

"Twenty-five mid-grade crystals."

A voice echoed from the doorway. Tilting his head, the manager saw another masked individual materialize with the precise timing of someone who had been listening from outside and had chosen this exact moment.

But his words...the material assessor almost coughed up blood when he heard the abysmal price.

Emperal walked in uninvited, his steps calm yet confident. Calder’s face lit up when he saw him walking in.

Emperal’s eyes swept the room in a single sweep, and his assessment took less than a second. A storage room behind the assessor’s left side, the door slightly ajar. Shelves of processed materials along the right wall, all sorted by their grades.

The assessor himself looked comfortable and experienced. It was the exact posture of someone who had been overpaying for goods and underpaying for materials in this chair for many years and had never once been seriously challenged about it.

Walking to the desk, he placed both of his hands on the surface.

"Twenty-five mid-grade crystals," he repeated. "Take it, or...we leave."