Once I got back into my room, I brought out all the monster cores I had and decided that it was about time I cashed them in for some money. With the sun still high in the sky, I headed toward the Grand Exchange with my monster cores.

Since this wasn't the first time I came, I immediately headed toward the receptionist and showered him my monster cores. I noticed that the moment I placed the monster cores on the table, the receptionist's eyebrow raised a little bit, symbolizing that I had successfully caught his attention.

What confused me was that out of the eight monster cores I had, the receptionist only paid attention to one of them, picked it up, and scrutinized it. I recognized that the monster core the receptionist was carefully observing belonged to that skeleton that nearly ended me. The monster core distinguished itself from the rest by having another color instead of just that blackish purple. One half of that monster core was darkish red, and the other was darkish purple. Both colors crashed against each other at the midline of the core. Besides that one point, I couldn't tell what was so attractive about it.

I stood there in silence as the receptionist continued to fumble with the monster core for several minutes and sometimes poked it with different strange devices. Moments later, the receptionist lifted his head and spoke to me in a dignified manner, "The Grand Exchange is willing to buy this for 10,000".

I blinked my eyes a few times and responded to the receptionist with a shaky voice, "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"We are willing to buy this monster core for 10,000. Do you need me to repeat?" responded the receptionist.

My mind blacked out a little bit. The word ten thousand thundered in my head. I wanted to ask the receptionist to repeat what he had just said, but I stopped myself from looking like a bigger fool. I recollected my breathing, stared at the receptionist dead in the eyes, and said in a deep tone, "Yes."

I was screaming internally. That was 10,000! I've only ever dreamed about having that much money before. Now that I had that amount in my hands right now felt surreal to me. While I was still feeling high from making so much money, the receptionist asked me, "Tell me what your number is so that I could transfer you the money."

That was a problem. I didn't have a phone nor a bank account to provide the receptionist with because I've been an orphan since a child. I looked at the receptionist nervously and replied, "Uhm, how do I receive the money if I don't have a phone or a bank account."

The receptionist looked at me suspiciously and asked, "Why don't you have either of those? Shouldn't your parents already have gotten you at least one of these things?"

I responded with a saddened voice, "Well. That's because I'm an orphan living alone. I've never had the money to buy a phone or start a bank account before."

Upon hearing my statement, the receptionist felt shocked. In addition to being surprised that I was an orphan hunting monster in the dungeons alone, he also felt a combination of pity and guilt. The receptionist knew that he had sinned and quickly apologized and took back what he had said. I knew that the receptionist would not have known that I was an orphan, so I held no hard feelings towards him.

After learning of my situation, the receptionist introduced himself as Adam and offered to help get me a phone and set up a bank account now that I had the money. It was too good of an offer to say no to, so I accepted it. The same day, Adam helped me buy a suitable phone and helped me set up a bank account at a bank near the Grand Exchange branch store.

I felt happy after finally having a phone of my own. After seeing my classmates play on their tablets so excitingly, I couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. But that all changes now since I have a phone of my own. Now I need to figure out what to do with the phone.

Since there were still many hours until the sun sets, I decided to go back to the dungeon to see if I can get more monster cores. When I got to the dungeon entrance and tried to walk in, a sudden blue barrier appeared and prevented me from going inside the dungeon.

The sudden appearance of the blue barrier shocked me, causing me to leap backward instinctively. As I moved away from the dungeon's entrance, the barrier faded away. But, when I moved toward the entrance again, the barrier reappeared. I experimented a little bit and concluded that the barrier only appears when I'm near the dungeon's entrance and that the barrier poses no danger to me. I tried pushing through the barrier, seeing if I could circle it, and even tried to break it, but it was all to no avail.

As I leaned against the barrier, I brought out my phone and searched about the barrier online. Instantaneously, thousands of results showed up, and it didn't take me very long to figure out what the barrier's purpose was.

The blue barrier only appeared when someone slew the dungeon's boss. When the blue barrier is up, no one can enter the dungeon. People refer to this state as a resting period for dungeons. They say that the dungeon is repopulated with monsters and a new boss monster during this period. The time it takes for a dungeon to recuperate fully can range anywhere from a few days to a few years.

Now knowing the reason behind and blue barrier and that I won't be able to hunt in this dungeon for at least a few days, I headed back to school disappointedly. Since curfew won't happen for a while, I decided to take a detour on my way back.

I was walking down a forest path, enjoying the nature around me. It was the middle of Spring, so the flowers had already bloomed, and the trees and grass were emerald green. As I was walking down the path, I eventually found myself in an open field. Innumerable blades of grass swayed gently along with the wind, creating a surreal landscape. As I was enjoying the landscape, I saw a figure in the distance practicing with a sword. The person's blade followed the wind, just like the grass. Their sword flowed endlessly in beautiful arcs as if the sword was alive. In that person's hand, the sword felt like it was a tool of art rather than a tool of war. I would be lying if I said that the sword technique didn't have me memorized.

Unknowing, I moved toward the person practicing with the sword. Upon getting closer, I discovered that the person was a she, and she just like her sword technique; she was also memorizing. Her appearance wholly suppressed the beauty of the landscape which I had just admired. She was flawless. Her hair was as golden as the sun. It reached her shoulders and curled slightly near the end. Her circular eyes were an ocean of wonder. They were azure blue and possessed unreachable depth, trapping those who peer too deeply. Her delicate, lily-white skin paired with her sharp, curly eyebrows and crimson lips blew me away. Her perfect hourglass figure shifted toward me.

Just as I was observing her, she was watching me. Except, she was glaring at me in a negative light. I couldn't blame her. She minded her own business, polishing her technique when a stranger approaches her and proceeds to stare at her with his mouth wide open. Fortunately, I didn't drool, which would have made the situation even worse.

Noticing my inappropriate actions, I quickly bowed and apologized. After I apologized, the girl's glare lessened in extent. She didn't view me in a friendly manner, but she didn't consider me an enemy, or worse, a creep.

Now being reasonably close to the beautiful girl, I noticed her uniform. I recognized her uniform as belonging to the Braveheart Battle Academy, the 7th best battle academy in the world. I had always wondered what a student of the Braveheart Battle Academy was like. And now I know, not only was her battle prowess probably leagues above myself, but all looks of the girls in my school combined wouldn't even come close to her beauty. She lived in a different world than me.

I couldn't help but ask her, "May you please tell me the name of your sword technique. It was beautiful."

She nodded to my statement and responded in a lovely and slightly prideful voice, "Its name is the Sword of Seventeen Leafs."

"May I know your name?" I followed.

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself first before asking others?" She replied in a friendlier manner.

I agreed to her statement and introduced myself, "My name is Gideon Lenoir, a freshman of the Damaculus Battle Academy."

The girl was confused upon hearing the name of my school. I could tell that she doesn't know the school, so I cleared her confusion by saying, "It's the small school next to the Braveheart Battle Academy."

In response to my introduction, she lightly bowed and nicely said, "Refer to me as Aria please, freshmen of the Braveheart Battle Academy."

Following our introductions, we continued to chatter about all sorts of topics. Before I knew it, many hours had flown by, and it was near curfew. Seeing that we both had to get back to our respective academies, I quickly asked Aria, "Will you be here tomorrow?"

Aria responded with a lovely smile, "Yes, I typically come here every day to train."

"I'll come back tomorrow, and we'll talk some more, ok?" I replied embarrassingly.

"Sure. See you tomorrow, Gideon." Aria said while giggling.

That night, on my way back to the dormitories, I was the happiest person on this planet.