Rune stood in front of the weaver's shop, the sun sitting high in the sky above him. As he stepped inside, he immediately noticed the difference.
It was quiet.
Much quieter than the day before.
A voice rose from somewhere low to the ground.
"Oi. Stop right there, kid. Where d'ya think yer goin'?"
Rune looked down.
The boy from before sat on a small wooden stool just inside the entrance. He wore carved wooden sunglasses with no actual glass and held a blank sheet of paper clipped to a board in his lap.
"This here is a private establishment," the boy said seriously. "For elites only."
He pointed at Rune.
"And you…"
The kid slowly looked Rune up and down, then glanced back at the paper as if checking an important list.
"You look like rabble," he declared. "And you ain't on my list."
"Today he's playing bouncer," William said from behind the counter.
"Dad," the boy snapped, offended. "I am not playing anything. I am protecting you and Mom by keeping the riffraff out."
Rune knew what motivated this kid.
He reached into his pouch, placed a coin into his own palm, then reached out to shake the boy's hand. As their hands met, Rune slid the coin fully into his grasp and gave him a short, respectful nod.
The boy glanced down at his clipboard.
"Oh." He squinted at the blank page. "You were on the list after all. My eyesight isn't what it used to be."
He waved Rune forward with authority.
"Move along now. You're holding up the line."
Rune looked over his shoulder. There was no one behind him.
He turned back and played along.
"My apologies, sir. And thank you for doing your job so well."
As Rune walked past, the boy opened his hand, catching sight of the shiny gold coin. He slipped it into his pocket with a wide grin, resuming his post with renewed seriousness.
"You know, I'm going to go broke if your kid keeps shaking me down like this."
Rune and William both laughed.
"You're back already?" William asked. "Sporewood sentinels are rough. I figured it would take you a couple of days and at least a few deaths. But then again, they do call you…"
Rune raised a hand. "Please don't finish that sentence."
William chuckled and leaned back.
"They had a learning curve," Rune continued. "I paid for that yesterday. But I went back this morning after they respawned and cleaned them out quick and efficient now that I've figured out how they work."
Rune reached into his pouch and pulled out four green cores and three orange ones, placing them carefully on the counter.
William stared at them, eyes widening.
"That's… a lot," he said honestly. "I didn't expect you back with this many so soon."
"I've been meaning to ask," Rune said. "The orange ones. Your wife wanted those for woodworking." He hesitated. "They explode, don't they?"
"That's one of the things they do. In crafting, though, they're used to reinforce materials. They make things far more durable."
"She likes them for bows. Makes them much harder to break."
He gathered a few of the cores closer, inspecting them.
"Cores can also be used for consumables or accessories," he added. "But we don't do that here."
"Got it," Rune said. "I only asked because I also picked up this."
He reached back into his pouch and withdrew the last item.
The triple core. Two green. One orange. Merged into a single sphere.
Rune set it down on the counter in front of William.
"Wha… What?" William blurted. "Where did you get this?"
He leaned closer, eyes locked on the core.
"The boss of that wing is a double core. People don't even attempt it because you have to fight it alone."
"The boss… is a double core?" Rune echoed, stumbling over the words.
"When I was fighting in the first chamber, they kept adapting to how I fought," Rune continued slowly. "The last one pushed two cores into its own body."
He gestured toward the counter.
"Creating that."
William rubbed the bridge of his nose, thinking. "The dungeons are ancient. Made by the old gods. There are a lot of mysteries tied up in them." He glanced back at Rune. "But regardless, you walked out with a treasure."
At the word treasure, the boy's head snapped up. He hopped off his stool and hurried over, peering at the core with open fascination.
William straightened.
"If you want, I can use this in your armor," he said. "It'll take more work, but the result will be worth it. It would feel like cloth, have the durability of metal, and who knows what other properties might come out of it."
Rune's eyes lit up. "That sounds perfect. How much is it going to cost me?"
William leaned back, doing some quick calculations in his head.
"Well," he said slowly, "even if I give you fair market value for the other cores and subtract that from the total, it's still going to be a lot. The work itself is very intricate."
"I overheard that the Ledger has a bonus out for materials from the dungeon. Something about a 'Fortress Push.' Would you know anything about that?"
William scratched his head. "So they're doing another push, huh." He sighed. "That ties back to the message the Unnamed One gives when he brings you here."
Rune anxiously nodded, pretending that he had heard all this before.
William straightened and put on an exaggerated, dramatic tone.
"Unlock the Apex. Be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams. And open the way home."
Then he relaxed, returning to his normal voice.
"The fortress provinces are the key to all of that. There are five of them. If all five are held at the same time, the Apex opens. They are keys to a lock."
He tapped the counter.
"They're controlled by monsters. Take one, and the monsters start trying to take it back."
Rune continued nodding along with what he said.
"The Ledger is one of the six great factions," William continued. "But they don't fight. They are a merchant faction. THE merchant faction."
"If they're offering a bonus and you can get what they need, you should take it."
A faint, unsettling smile crept across Rune's face.
"If it isn't too much trouble," he said, "could you front me a bigger rune bag?"
He glanced down at his pouch, then back up.
"If I'm going to cash in on this bonus… I'm going big."