Adam wanted Juli to handle his purchase for a simple reason: she was the only person he was familiar enough with to trust she wouldn't inflate the prices.
But his certainty went beyond mere familiarity.
With [Connect], Adam could see the shape of one's soul; and though most souls burned unevenly, marked with greed or malice, Juli's was clean.
Not pure, but far clearer than most he had seen.
As Juli caught his gaze lingering on her, her ears twitched slightly, her cheeks warming.
"Uhm, is there something wrong?"
Adam blinked once, pulling his attention back.
"I'd prefer them to be cheap."
"Eh?" Juli tilted her head, clearly flustered.
Adam gave her a blank stare.
"The rations."
"I wanted to buy rations, remember?"
"Oh!" Her tail flicked once as she quickly returned to her professional composure.
"I know exactly what fits your 'description,' Mr. Adam."
She moved swiftly, collecting sealed food packs, dehydrated meals, and nutrient bars, prioritizing the cheapest items that still held decent preservation quality.
As she worked, she glanced back at him.
"Mr. Adam, may I get an estimate of how long your run will last?"
Adam didn't see any harm in answering.
"A week."
Juli froze mid-motion, a small container balanced in her arms.
Her eyes flicked toward him, disbelief flashing across her face before she shook her head and resumed packing.
A week? He can't be planning to clear the rift.
Adam smiled faintly as he watched her work.
If he could read minds, he would have told her that was exactly what he was planning but unfortunately he couldn't.
When she was done, he picked up a common-grade storage ring from the side.
Juli approached again, this time with a payment terminal and a proud little smile.
"That will be $39,750, sir." She felt such a sum would me nothing for him.
And as expected Adam didn't flinch.
He tapped his bank card against the terminal, and a soft ding confirmed the payment.
"It's a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Adam," Juli said warmly.
"I'll package your goods."
He nodded, waiting quietly until she handed him the filled storage ring.
"Thanks."
As he stepped away, he mentally calculated his account balance, $2,750 remaining.
A dry chuckle escaped his lips.
"The martial path was never a cheap path."
Still, a hint of concern flickered in his chest.
All that money was gone, and all he'd bought were food supplies and one item, the latter being the true drain on his funds.
But he pushed the thought aside.
'After this run, I'll make it back. And more.'
Leaving the market behind, Adam walked until the lively sounds of the mission hall faded.
He turned into a narrow alleyway, his expression sharpening.
A single breath later, his body blurred, disappearing from sight as if the air itself had swallowed him whole.
It was time to kill some goblins.
****
Adam reached the entrance of Gob Valley in no time.
After presenting his license and entry slip to the stationed Acolytes, they checked the documents, nodded once, and stepped aside to let him through.
Their eyes, however, lingered on him longer than usual, filled not with suspicion, but respect.
Everyone in the sector had heard of the "Perfect Run" from the day before.
The man who was soaked in blood yet unharmed, had become a living legend overnight.
And now, here he was again, returning barely a day later.
They'd expected him to rest and recover his essence and body after such a feat.
But if they knew Adam had barely even broken a sweat during that run... well, it was probably better they didn't.
Adam moved toward the rift with measured, deliberate steps.
The faint shimmer of the mirage like rift rippled before him like liquid glass.
A few meters away, two familiar figures stood, one lanky and long-faced, the other broad with a hammer-shaped head.
Both froze mid-conversation when they saw him.
"Is that…?" the hammer-headed man started, his eyes widening.
Adam caught their stares and allowed a faint smirk to tug at his lips before stepping through the rift portal, the glow swallowing his form.
For a long moment, neither man spoke.
The lanky one gulped.
"He's the one."
"I'm certain of it. He didn't bring his bag this time, but everything else matches, the black hair, that negligible essence capacity… and those eyes." He shivered slightly.
"Those cold, emotionless eyes. If that's not him, then who else could it be?"
The hammer-headed man rubbed the back of his neck, his throat bobbing.
"You think we offended him yesterday?"
"Well, even if we didn't," the lanky man replied quickly, "I don't plan on waiting around to find out." He turned on his heel.
"Let's go."
"What of the fine?"
"Then we'll pay the damn fine," the lanky man snapped, already walking faster.
"I'd rather lose some money than offend such a person with my presence. Let's attempt another rift instead."
The hammer-headed man didn't argue.
The two slipped away from the area, their nervous glances following the faint shimmer of the rift that had swallowed Adam whole.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Adam's boots pressed into the coarse, uneven ground of Gob Valley.
The air was thick with the scent of dirt and blood, the distant shrieks of goblins echoing through the flat land.
Adam's smirk deepened slightly.
****
A "run" was what martial artists called the process of reducing a rift's saturation by 0.5%.
That may have sounded small, but in reality, it was a monumental task.
Rifts were vast, ever-shifting domains that continuously regenerated their essence. Reducing their saturation, even by half a percent, required immense coordination, power, and endurance.
That was why runs were rarely done alone.
Dozens of martial artists would form small, disciplined groups built for survival and efficiency.
Four or six groups completing their runs simultaneously could achieve a 2% to 3% reduction in the rifts saturation, and when enough runs were accumulated and the rift's saturation reached 0%, the rift would finally collapse.
That was called a "clear."
A rift clear was the ultimate goal, a monumental event for any sector.
And that was exactly why Juli had been so shocked earlier.
Adam had completed a perfect run.
Most groups needed multiple days, even weeks, to achieve a single run.
So when he told her he planned to stay inside the rift for an entire week, it simply didn't make sense.
He didn't need that long to complete another run. This meant he was not planning another run; instead, he wanted to achieve a 'clear' entirely on his own.
Juli had dismissed the thought immediately, shaking her head.
To her, and to anyone else in the Sector, such an idea wasn't just impossible, it was insanity personified.
****
[Authors Note]
Please send powerstones and thank you for reading.