New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Astaroth led the girl to the office building near the tunnel entrance. Inside the building were a bunch of desks in a hectic layout.

He walked up to one and asked for guide services, and the man sitting at it rudely redirected him to another desk.

The desk he was sent to was manned by a woman dwarf. She didn't have a beard as the males did, but her muscles seemed denser and the tattoos covering her arms were almost menacing.

Her hair was adorned with beads that looked to be made of rare gemstones and metals. It should be impossible to keep her head upright with all this weight on her hair, but it seemed totally fine for her.

'Dwarven women are scary…'

"Wow! You look so strong, missus!" Violette exclaimed from the side.

This garnered the attention of the dwarven woman, who looked at the pair with critical eyes.

"You have good eyes, little girl," the woman replied, her face softening.

"Um. Hello. I was told to come here for guidance services inside the mine."

The dwarf looked up to Astaroth, sizing up his build.

"You seem rather… bulky, for a pointy ear. I like it, hah!" she said, slapping her desk.

Astaroth heard the wooden surface creak under the pressure of the hit.

"Name's Brylniss. Brylniss Mountainheart!" she exclaimed, extending her hand forward for a shake.

Astaroth grasped her thick hand, expecting a normal shake, but his hand almost snapped. He had to rapidly adjust the strength he put behind his grip, lest she obliterate every bone in his hand.

The woman laughed heartily at his reaction.

"Good! Hahaha! Not a terrible grip! There might still be salvation for you! Hahaha!"

'Urgh… This is going to be a long day.'

After explaining his situation to the lady dwarf, she smiled and accepted to guide them. Her fee was nothing to scoff at, but it was still reasonably priced, considering the money he would make from the reward.

After signing a plethora of papers, stating they were hiring her for guidance only, and that she was not responsible for their safety or her own, they shook hands again and were on their way.

They made their way into the mines, now with the certitude they wouldn't get lost, and quickly found what they were looking for.

Astaroth asked the dwarven woman to stay hidden, so danger wouldn't befall her, and melded with Morpheus. The lighting in this part of the mines hadn't been refuelled in a while, since the monsters had made their nest here.

So the wall lamps were all shut, and light was a scarce resource. Melding with Morpheus fixed a part of this problem.

Violette used her mana sense to sense the monsters in the cave, closing her eyes to focus on that. The dwarf, seeing the little girl close her eyes, was mildly impressed.

It wasn't every day one would see a mage confident enough in their sixth sense to fight without their eyes. This showed her the calibre of the little girl instantly.

As for the young man, when he started tearing into the Stone Bulls like they were normal ones, she nodded and smiled. Stone bulls were not called that way for anything.

Their entire exterior was coated in a solid layer of granite. This meant one needed a lot of strength to pass a blade through it.

But it seemed like little more than a detail to the duo of pointy-eared adventurers. Brylniss had seen parties of proven dwarven warriors get beaten into a retreat by a horde of stone bulls.

The speed they were dealing with them with a simple duo was outstanding. Of course, she expected as much from adventurers with an A-rank.

It took no longer than ten minutes for the duo to clear out the nest. That was a total of forty-five Stone Bulls, all of which were normal ones.

Astaroth was almost disappointed there was no stronger opponent, but he was still happy with their results. With all the walking they had done today, and all the walking they still had to do, completing this quest rapidly was no luxury.

Once they were done collecting the monster cores, and what little other loot they dropped, they signalled to their guide that they were ready to leave.

The dwarven woman brought them back to the surface rapidly, and they signed off the termination of the contract, paying her the fee. She motioned them to wait before leaving.

"The miner's guild would pay a handsome price for those stonehides you collected. Would you be interested in selling them to me?"

"That depends. How much are you willing to pay for them?" Astaroth asked.

The dwarf pulled out a ledger, flipping through the pages, until she stopped on one.

"Hmm. Market price last week for them was around ten silver per hide. I know the guild would offer more. I also know they won't trade with foreigners. So I'm willing to offer fifteen silver per hide."

Astaroth peeked at how much the hides would go, according to the system. They were priced at eight silver a piece.

From what the woman was saying, the prices probably varied according to who you sold to. The system prices were most likely the minimal value.

This showed how knowing your markets could rapidly make you rich in this game. But that held little interest to him.

The fact she was offering almost double value for them made him entirely satisfied.

"I'm okay with it. I can't speak for Violette, though."

He turned to the little girl, who looked at him with wide eyes. She knew next to nothing of market values and such, so she was a little lost.

"Uh… If you say it's a fair offer, then I shall agree too."

"Then it's a deal!"

The dwarf snorted and spat in her hand. Violette almost gagged at the move, but Astaroth copied it and shook her hand.

The duo sold their stonehides to Brylniss, making a nice profit off of them, and bade her farewell before leaving the district.

They travelled all the way back to the guild to complete their quest.