Guild Bureau in Mifis (2)

Walking down the dozens of steps in front of the Guild Bureau's building, Leon decided to visit a casino. After turning 16, he could now legally gamble. He didn't have to go to some back alley or shady building to gamble but could go to an official establishment.

As he continued to walk down the steps, he retrieved a leather sack that had been sitting in his breast pocket alongside the locket and marble. Leon opened the leather bag and took a good look at his financial situation.

After spending 60 bronze coins for a week's pay of living at the inn, Leon had roughly twelve silvers left in his bag with a dozen or so bronze coins. It certainly would be enough for Leon to feel comfortable financially if he had gone to seek work in the Coalition States.

However, if he wanted to gamble, most reputable places would demand a person to at least bet two silvers per bet. Leon needed around eight silvers to use when traveling to the Coalition States, so currently betting would be a very arduous thing.

Luckily for Leon, he could still feel the two gray wolf cores in a separate bag he kept tied to his waist. Although they wouldn't be worth a lot, they would still allow Leon some extra leeway for gambling.

Spending a few seconds to look around, Leon spotted a small shop built so close to the Guild Bureau's building, that it was actually connected. On top of the small shop, a sign shone saying: Guild Bureau Core Counter

The shop was actually a part of the Guild Bureau and was always around wherever a guild bureau building was. Surprisingly, the Guild Bureau actually held great importance in collecting monster cores, but they had never mentioned for what. All the public knew was that they definitely weren't selling them, but using them for their own interests.

Leon had never actually sold cores at a Guild Bureau ran core counter, for one reason mainly. Since they were run by the Guild Bureau who had high standards for anything they touched, the Guild Bureau would ensure that the person selling the cores was getting a fair price with their system of keeping track of sales.

This sounded great, but to compensate for the fact that the Guild Bureau had to go the extra mile with extensive training and screening. They charged a flat fee for every transaction, no matter how small, and the fee increased whenever the transaction went past certain numbers.

Normally Leon's income was quite small, so a flat fee would really eat into his money, therefore he took his chances and found a trusted source to sell his cores to back in Verin in the form of Dominic.

However, here in Mifis he didn't have such a luxury and didn't even know where any of the other shops were, so he decided he would use the Bureau's shop while also checking out the experience and process for himself.

The shop was quite small, but the building itself was quite excellent in terms of quality. Like the main Guild Bureau building, it had marble as its primary building material, with high-quality wood for various stuff in the shop like shelves and signs.

When Leon opened the door, a very pleasant bell rang throughout the building. The building itself had very few people compared to the main building of the Guild Bureau, which was due to the fact that most people traded elsewhere and the fact that monsters were usually a good length away from the main part of Mifis due to patrols keeping monsters contained.

When the employee stationed at the core desk heard the bell open, they gave a soft, but clear welcome.

"Welcome customers! If you wish to sell some cores, come right up to me!"

Although Leon wanted to browse the shop since there were a few trinkets and weapons, it was already quite late into the night and he wished to quickly get to a casino. So he walked up to the counter and took out the two cores he had fished out from the two gray wolves.

Seeing the cores, the employee quickly got out a cloth for Leon to set the cores, when Leon put the cores down the employee instantly started to examine them.

"Hmmm... no visible damage... however the core isn't mana developed...but the size isn't too bad."

After the middle-aged lady finished muttering, she looked towards Leon and asked a question.

"May I channel some mana through it, to check the quality?"

Leon nodded calmly, but on the inside, he was quite surprised.

'They really are thorough! That's for sure. Even Dominic never channel mana.'

His surprise wasn't a complete surprise as most shops would never check the quality of low-level core's like the ones Leon sold, but the Guild Bureau didn't care how worthless a core was. As long as a person used the Guild Bureau's services, they would be as thorough as possible.

With Leon's consent, the middle-aged woman bent down and started rummaging beneath the tabletop, until she brought out a rather used machine. Leon raised an eyebrow at the machine since he had never seen it before.

The middle-aged woman saw Leon's confusion and decided to clarify. She patted the machine and started to explain.

"This machine is a rather standard core quality checker. It works by placing a core on the stand of the machine before you close the two pointed ends to touch the core."

As she explained the machine, she did exactly as she described by putting one of the gray wolf cores on a stand and carefully turning a knob until two pointed ends touched the core, before she continued.

"Then you have to channel some mana and a bar at the bottom will light up. The more the bar is lit up. The higher the quality of the core."

When she finished talking, she placed her fingers on the core and suddenly Leon felt a strange tug. Although he didn't know how it was happening, he felt the mana in the room start to pull towards the middle-aged lady. Suddenly a dim light flickered in the core and a bar at the bottom of the machine started to light up slowly.

Leon watched on in awe and for the first time, he realized how much bigger Mifis was compared to Verin.

The bar slowly lit up. One tick...Two ticks...and it hesitated before it lit up the third tick and stopped shining. As soon as the light went away, the middle-aged woman did the exact same with the other core, before she jotted down something on a paper and ripped off half the paper.

"It got three ticks, which isn't good. However, for a gray wolf core, it isn't too shabby considering you probably got this off a normal one.

Leon's jaw dropped.

'She deduced that it was a gray wolf core?'

She gave Leon the ripped piece of paper.

"Here's a receipt that shows down all the notes I took, including the quality test. You can take the paper and leave, but I will need to at least receive the flat fee, but I'll offer you a silver and fifty bronze coins including the flat fee's price.