*sleesh* The ice spear punctured through another spider, blasting it to ice shards.
As the spider's corpse disintegrated to mist, a white stone fell down.
Walking to the stone, Claire crouched down and took it in her hand before storing it in the pouch hanging on her waist.
She turned to look at Klein and muttered, "Let's continue."
They went deeper into the dungeon, and ten spiders became twenty as they continued hunting them.
Klein also felt more in sync with his body and was able to move his body freely.
'This… actually feels good,' he thought as his footwork sharpened and his swings became efficient.
As they reached an open area, Claire who was running ahead of him, suddenly raised her hand "Klein, wait."
Hm? He stopped in his tracks and Claire pointed her finger at the ceiling "Up there."
Klein raised his head and looked at a big spider that's the size of two damn horses.
Noticing the intruders, its eyes glowed ominously, and it descended down on a thick cable of silk.
Its abdomen pulsed, swollen with eggs and venom.
Looking at them, it opened mandibles the length of daggers and spat a cone of violet acid that hissed toward them.
*shreik*
Klein quickly crushed the low-grade barrier crystal in his hand.
A hemisphere of blue barrier appeared just in time in front of them.
The acid slammed into it with a violent hiss, sliding down like molten poison.
Wherever it touched the ground, stone melted away, forming bubbling pits that ate straight through the slab.
The matriarch spider landed with a boom, cracking the flagstones.
"Big Sis..." Klein didn't wait and sprinted straight at it, with lightning wreathing both of his arms now.
The spider reared and stabbed its legs towards them.
He slid between them on his knees and angled his blade up, puncturing clean through the matriarch's underbelly.
He poured every watt of mana he could spare into the attack.
The lightning on his blade surged violently, traveling through the spider's body in a blinding burst.
*shreek*
"SCREEECHHH-" The spider screamed, and the sound rattled the nearby surroundings.
"Big Sis now."
Claire vaulted over Klein's crouched form as an enormous ice spear appeared behind her.
*sleesh* She brought it down in an overhead strike that split the matriarch's head in half.
*THOOM*
Ice exploded outward from the cut, flash-freezing the brain before the body even knew it was dead.
The spider's body convulsed once, then toppled sideways with a heavy crash, its legs still twitching in dying spasms.
Klein straightened slowly, and his arms trembled from mana drain as he pulled his sword from its body.
The spider's body disintegrated, and a white stone fell, which was a bit bigger than previous ones.
Crouching down, Klein took the stone with a smile "Mid-tier 8 beast stone, that's worth some credits."
Claire was watching him with something between astonishment… and pride.
She lowered her hand slowly, letting the last traces of ice fade from her fingertips.
Her breathing steadied, white puffs leaving her lips in the cold air.
"You really… did well," she muttered in a soft voice, as if she was still adjusting to the sight of him not only surviving but thriving in combat.
Klein adjusted the sword back in the scabbard. "Yeah… well… it was mostly you finishing it."
Claire's eyes narrowed in a way that said she wasn't buying it for a second "You were the one who made the opening. If you hadn't gone under its guard, that acid would've turned us into puddles."
Klein just smiled faintly and she patted his shoulder "Let's go deeper."
Claire brushed past him, the faint mint scent of her hair lingering for a moment as she stepped ahead on the narrow path.
"Stay close," she said without turning back, but her voice had that protective edge she always used with him.
Klein followed, boots sinking slightly into the web-softened floor.
They moved deeper into the dungeon and met even more spiders along the way.
---
Leaning back against the cold dungeon wall, Klein let his head tilt slightly upward as he unscrewed the cap of the water bottle.
The cool water slid down his throat, refreshing his muscles.
Across from him, Claire was sitting on a rock as she carefully counted the beast stones they'd gathered.
"Klein," she called out, looking up at him.
She held up the pouch with a small, proud smile "We got around seven hundred and fifty credits worth of beast stones."
Klein was amazed "…That much?"
Claire chuckled softly, "It's more than my usual haul. Much more. If I came here alone, I couldn't have gathered this many in a single day."
Klein lowered the bottle slowly and his thoughts drifted in a different direction 'I need to find a way to earn more money…'
Claire worked so hard to support them both. She hunted, she took requests, and she cut corners on herself but never on him.
He didn't want her to keep doing that forever.
And now he has the chance to change things.
His eyes slowly narrowed 'With my game knowledge…'
Dungeon maps.
Rare drop locations.
Upcoming academy events.
Hidden quests.
Secret bosses.
Market fluctuations.
Artifacts that would become priceless later.
His heart beat a little faster, excitement stirring quietly beneath his face.
Across from him, Claire finally stood up, dusting her hands lightly. "Shall we end it for the day?"
Turning to her, he nodded "Yeah, let's go back."
---
It took several minutes, but eventually, the dim green glow of the exit gate came into sight.
They followed the stone path toward the main station.
Other Awakeners were also exiting with some nursing injuries, others excitedly comparing loot.
Claire led Klein onto an empty tram car waiting at the platform.
The tram doors slid shut with a soft *hiss*, and the cabin vibrated faintly as the mana engine engaged.
Claire relaxed into her seat, uncrossing and crossing her legs again, "We'll stop at the Awakener's Guild first."
"They'll appraise and convert the beast stones into credits directly."
Klein nodded, but curiosity drifted into his eyes.
The Awakener's Guild.
In this world, Awakeners are the licensed combatants who venture into dungeons, kill monsters, collect stones, and clear threats before they reach civilian areas.
The Guild acts as a neutral organization between the government, academies, and the public... managing rankings, distributing missions, regulating equipment, enforcing safety rules, and handling monster material trading.
Without it, dungeon cities would collapse within weeks.
The tram slowed as they neared Guild Avenue, a long stretch of buildings lit by neon runes and hovering signs.
The largest building at the end stood out immediately, a five-story building shaped like a diamond, with bluish mana conduits running along its edges.
The Awakener's Guild Headquarters of this district.
The tram door opened with a beep "Come on," Claire said, adjusting the pouch at her hip. "Let's get our credits."
Klein followed her down the steps and lifted his eyes to look at the giant emblem above the entrance, a blade crossed with a crystal shard, encircled by a ring of mana.
---
The Awakener's Guild interior was wide, and holographic mission boards floated near the center, projecting quests, danger levels, and bounties.
Rows of Awakeners moved in and out wearing armor and some weapons.
Klein walked beside Claire, glancing around them.
Claire led him directly to the appraisal counter.
A woman in a dark blue uniform glanced up as they approached "Welcome. Beast stones?"
"Yes," Claire replied, handing over the pouch.
The woman opened it and activated a scanning orb.
Soft white light illuminated each stone as they floated up in a thin line.
A number display rapidly blinking from 100… 300… 550… and finally 760.
"Total value, 760 credits," the clerk said with a polite smile.
Claire was amused 'Thats 10 credits higher than what I predicted.'
With a nod, she took a card from her purse and placed it on the counter "You can transfer to this account."
Klein looked at the card in surprise 'That's my bank account card.'
As he was about to ask, Claire turned her head slightly and raised an eyebrow in that "don't argue"
Klein: -_-
The clerk finished the transaction, and Klein's bank ID card glowed faintly as the 769 credits were injected into its chip.
"Have a safe evening," the clerk said.
They stepped away from the counter and moved toward the exit.
Outside, the sky was turning a deep violet, and the street lamps are igniting one by one.
Claire stretched her arms over her head "That was a good run. We'll rest tomorrow… then maybe go again the day after."
She took the card from the purse and handed it to him "Here."
Taking the card, he let out a soft sigh "Big Sis-"
Before he could say anything more, Claire hooked her arm around his shoulders and gently pulled him against her side.
Her body was warm, her hair carrying the faintest scent of cold mana from all the ice spells she had cast.
She gave him a soft, lopsided smile.
"Keep it," she said, bumping her forehead lightly against his temple. "It's our money anyway. You earned this with me."
"…Right," he muttered, a quiet smile curling on his lips. "Then… how about we celebrate a bit? Let's go to a restaurant for the day."
She laughed lightly that made a few passing Awakeners glance over.
The two of them stepped off the curb together and headed toward the tram stop, the evening breeze brushing past them.
Claire walked with her hands behind her back, "There's that little place near the station. The one that serves beef rice bowls and cold tea. Want to go there?"
Looking into her eyes, his gaze softened. "Sounds perfect."
---
A/n: Take a look at the power system chapter in the auxiliary volume