Income

As Leon made his way out of the forest, midway to the exit he realized he never got the monster cores from the goblin's bodies. He kicked the tree he stopped next to in annoyance

"Damn, I knew I was missing something. Well, now that I think about I've never actually had to get the cores because the slimes I fought never dropped cores."

Leon laughed at the prospect of cores because even though he had fought slimes, they were too weak to drop cores. However, while goblins were weak, they dropped monster cores, although they aren't worth much due to the lack of size and magical aura.

Leon started to run back to the field, he used the tree branches as stepping stones as he flowed through the forest like a wind, stealthy but fast.

By the time he reached the forest, the bodies of the goblins had already decomposed, fast decomposition was common among weaker monsters, although Leon had never seen it due to his weak capabilities previously.

Leon scanned over the whole field to find the peanut-sized monster cores scattered around the field. After collecting all of the cores, he made his way out of the forest. As he made it out of the forest, Leon decided to wash his clothes of the blood and dirt and stopped by the raging river that the city was built on top of.

Although it was weird for people themselves to bathe in the river instead of a bathhouse or in their own homes, many adventurers washed their clothes in the river.

Leon put on his damp clothes and started his walk to the 200-foot outer wall.

The city of Verin was probably the most defendable city like the capital city of Pelv compared to cities near its decent size. Although the walls of the capital city were quite bigger than Verin's, Verin had the exact same wall structure with a tall wall surrounding the entire city and two inner walls. The walls progressively got bigger the more inwards they are into the city. The sections split by the walls usually had a general layout to them. Past the outer wall, many people's housing was built here making it the residential area. Past the midway wall, many small-time shops and smaller guilds had their places built here, making it the lower district. Finally, past the inner wall, many fancy or high-grade shops located themselves in this section of the city, with various top guild halls preferring to stand there as well, making it the higher district.

Leon started his journey to the inner wall where his Guild Hall was built and where most of the monster core shops were.

As he made his way through the residential district, Leon could see the various city folk going through their daily life. Parents, one or both, went to work for the day, as children either went to an academy to study or played around the streets in the district. Leon could see the various folks hanging their clothes to dry on clotheslines that appeared through the district and he could also smell the food that was being cooked as the sun started to dip downwards to make way for the moon.

Soon he reached the midway wall and walked past the huge entrance in the wall and met himself trying to walk his way through a crowd of citizens and some children returning to their house after a long day. Many citizens carried produce and various other items that they had bartered for in the lower district. The lower district was mostly run by people who lived in the residential district, so as night approached the district itself started emptying itself, with only a few who lived above or in their respected shops or stores.

Finally, Leon walked his way to the towering inner wall. The inner wall entrance was the most unique since it was the only wall beside the outer wall to have three different gates at each entrance, but as Leon walked through the gates were drawn up.

The high district itself was still quite active. Most of the citizens that worked in this district lived in it as well, with a few exceptions of some adventurers with families who decided to live in the residential district instead.

Leon found himself in a shop close to his Guild Hall, he ringed the bell since no one was there to greet him.

A voice that sounded like it had been used for a long time replied.

"Oh a customer, I will be right there just give me a secon-"

A loud crash echoed through the store followed right by it a bunch of thuds hit the floor.

The owner of the shop came out of the door in the back and revealed himself. The owner was a rather short man with a monocle and a top hat with a pale complexion and a well-kept white mustache walked over to a stool carrying a stack of books.

He sat himself down on a high stool and plopped the books down on the far end of the table.

"My name is Dominic and I am the owner of this shop. What can I help you with good sir? Perhaps you want to learn more about monster cores? Maybe you want to learn the art of using them?"

Leon shook his head.

"I am here to sell the monster cores I got today."

Dominic put out his hands.

"Ah, I see. I take cores of all sizes and aura no matter what. So give them here and I will give you a price."

Leon took out the monster cores he had in his pouch and dropped them into Dominic's hand. Dominic held up each core and his monocle glowed briefly every time he examined each core.

Dominic pondered for a moment and put the cores back on the table, with four on one side and another on the other side in front of Leon.

"These four cores, I can only give 5 bronze coins each. Due to the lack of size and tiny magical aura."

Leon looked disappointed with the small income that would barely buy him a room at an inn.

Dominic, regardless of Leon, continued.

"However that core by itself is a little bit different."

Leon noticed it was the one dropped by the swordsman goblin he fought.

"This core while the same size as the others, seemed to have a more magical aura on it, therefore I can give you 20 bronze coins for it."

Leon looked immediately more happy with that.

"Deal."

Leon handed over the cores, while Dominic opened a small vault under the table.

As Leon started to head out, he looked around in the store and saw the various books and items powered by monster cores. Leon stepped out back into the district and found a small inn.

The receptionist asked.

"A room?"

Leon nodded

Receptionist inquired.

"How long? first nights 10 bronze and 5 bronze from then on. You can always extend the time and for food options, its included its 5 bronze per day."

Leon replied.

"2 nights and one day of food."

Leon handed over his 20 bronze coins and took the keys from the receptionist. He walked up the worn-out stairs and turned the lock with his key. Full of fatigue, Leon fell down and instantly fell asleep.