Hours of slow walking later, Lev finally exited the spire region and stepped into the open, beholding glorious sunlight. He closed his eyes and basked in the warm glow and thanked Monarch and everyone else who was watching him. They were out there, he knew, especially now that one such existence had contacted him, so it felt right.

Lev also ignored the weird glances from everyone else who had just left the shelter. They couldn't possibly understand.

"So," he looked at Beatrice, who was silently observing him. She, at least, could relate to some extent, and the lack of an odd reaction attested to that. "What's the plan?"

"I'll be taken in for questioning," Lev's eyes turned angry, "- polite questioning to ask why I'm resigning and if someone pressured me into it. You know how seriously they take aura mages."

"Hmm, and how long will that take?"

"Just today, if nothing goes wrong," she curtly replied. "What will you do now?"

"Book a room for a few days and wait for you. Once you're done here, we will leave immediately."

She nodded resolutely, mostly for herself. "Which place?"

Lev gave her directions to the inn before they parted. Without any worries or immediate plans, he simply wandered the streets and took in the extent of the damage.

Here and there, some of the huge stores were blackened or damaged, but the overall extent remained much lower than expected. Lev was expecting the city to be in a state of urgent repairs, but life was swiftly returning it to its usual flow. It spoke to the competence of the management that the day-to-day life went on so smoothly despite the threat of the dreadful storm.

It was just another one of Monarch's trials, one that people were used to at this point.

His meandering eventually led him to the inn he stayed at. Entering, the owner was already inside and dusting the furniture in the common room.

"Good to see yer alive, kid," the man rumbled in his usual throaty gurgle. "Same room?"

Lev smiled. Somehow, the inkeeper had recognized him even without the illusion armor.

"Same room," he nodded.

A key was tossed and caught. Lev ascended the stairs and opened the door to his usual room, finding it just as dirty as the rest of the inn. The storm had only lasted a little more than three weeks, which meant there was plenty of time for dust to find its way to every nook and cranny in everyone's absence.

Taking a rag out of his ring, Lev started cleaning his room with all his focus. A drunk warrior had once told stories of a cleaning maniac who fought with a broom, but few had ever believed him. Lev, on the other hand, could see it happening quite clearly. With the blessing of mana empowering everyone, the sky had stopped being the limit a long time ago.

The room didn't quite sparkle once he was done but it was close. With his high Perception and other attributes, cleaning took only fifteen minutes and left everything looking almost new.

Lev plopped down on the modest bed with a sigh. Even if it wasn't as comfortable as the sofas he and Beatrice used in the shelter, it felt way better simply because he was no longer trapped in that small hall.

Next up… Find a caravan and push to Master because weakness is a sin, especially for me.

That was perhaps a bit overdramatic, but Lev was not going to take any chances from now on. Evolving would give him more tools to survive, especially when third-threshold monsters randomly started showing up to eat him alive. Going to the ravine was also becoming less and less of an option. Monarch knew what Lev's presence might lure out of that hellhole if being in the open in front of a distant storm had nearly killed him.

Which leaves the grand quest of securing the center of the plains and relocating there. Sounds pretty damn daunting if I'm being honest with myself. Just the sheer size involved will take decades to fully explore and clear but monsters will continue spawning anyway. Props to all the people who are willing to tackle that colossal headache.

Lev buried his face into the recently washed pillow that still smelled of a flowery soap. Everything was pointing towards a future more bleak than anything he was expecting. The spiral of thoughts forced him to get up and banish them, and he made his way to the Hunters Guild that was hopefully operational again.

Here and there, more signs of damage he had initially missed became obvious. Gouges in the roads, burn marks on the buildings, piles of pebbles and stacks of dirt where they shouldn't be, and the lingering scent of burnt flesh and wood constantly reminded everyone of what they had fled from.

Despite that, there was no despair. Repairs were underway and people smiled all the while. Few kids were allowed on the road during such a turbulent period but they were there all the same, creating chaos in one way or another. Lev gently grabbed one that was about to fall face-first with a barrier thread and deposited her on the ground, not even turning to look at the confused little girl.

The hunters guild was already back in business, dealing with and sending all manner of people on their way. Lev strode up to the bulletin board with all the quests and other notices. There were a few noteworthy options.

Gathering quests.

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Cave Exploration.

Escort quests.

Those three sections interested him the most despite the bait they were. Lev knew going anywhere underground without protection would be his last mistake, so he swiftly put the first two options out of his mind.

Only one to Windkeep directly, and it's in two days. Guess I can do some shopping with all the platinum just lying around in my ring.

Lev paused in surprise when guards waved him off at the main entrance of the merchants district. It had been hit particularly badly because the enchantments of some underground vault had failed. As a result, more than a few stormriders had tried to dig out all the cores and items.

That left one more avenue for Lev to try. Bronze Bids had several stores in the closed district, but their auction house was present in the more prominent section of the city. It was situated on the side of the main road connecting the gates and the spires, which was likely the most expensive land in Runespires.

It was open already. Lev entered to find a man he hadn't seen in some time.

"Director Welsh," he voiced to get the man's attention. The director looked up from the pile of papers he was reading, scrutinizing the boy who had entered so soon after returning from underground.

"Yes?"

"I'm Lev, by the way, if you couldn't tell."

Welsh's eyes widened first in surprise, then they became cautious. Some wariness was observable in his posture before even that passed. Lev just took in the rapidly shifting emotions in silence.

"It's good to see that you're alive and well, Hunter Lev," the director eventually spoke, tone polite. He faltered again when Lev continued staring without a word.

"You should work towards improving the privacy of your customers," Lev spoke after properly thinking things over. The man in front of him could be held accountable to some extent, but it was mostly the merchant who had overheard and leaked the conversation that was to blame.

"It was a blunder on my part. We have secure rooms available for making deals and handling delicate requests already, but I didn't think making a casual verbal deal would require one. For what it's worth, I apologize for all the trouble I have caused you."

You somehow netted me a month of training under Drakys but sure, apology accepted.

Lev nodded, satisfied. "Make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Of course."

"I'm actually here because the merchant district is still closed," Lev said while counting the platinum coins in his ring, along with all the materials he could sell. That was to say, other than the few cores he was given during the four days of defending the spires, there was nothing of note in his ring except food and furniture.

Welsh understood the rest immediately. "I can take you to one of our warehouses. How much are you looking to spend on what?"

"Hmm," Lev scratched his chin. "Basic crafting materials are what I require, the ones I can buy in bulk. As for budget, I can spend upwards of five platinum based on how useful it is and how much of it you have."

"Basic crafting materials, huh?" Welsh took it all in stride, showing no reaction to the amount of money Lev had just mentioned. "That is still quite broad but I can leave the browsing to you. Do you have anything particular in mind?"

"Anything that works on barriers."

The man nodded. "Follow me."

Instead of going deeper, they left the auction house and made their way to the merchants district. Lev was curious about how the director planned to get in, and stared blankly when nobody batted an eye at their entrance.

Neither spoke for the next several minutes before they reached the edge of the district. Huge metal warehouses were present on a seemingly endless road, holding wealth that Lev couldn't even begin to fathom.

"These storage depots are used to store the most abundant resources, such as wood, food, stone, and the like. While protection is not taken lightly for any of them, the sheer size makes it difficult to enchant them entirely, and mana is always in short supply."

Lev nodded along, eyes roaming the metal behemoths. I can imagine how most cores will run dry quickly with how huge the enchantments are going to be. How do you power the smaller but far stronger wards, then?

He didn't voice the question, which was undoubtedly a trade secret. Instead, he listened to the basic explanations before the rows of storehouses came to an end. They entered one of the last ones.

High stacks of labeled bags containing different types of crops were placed in enchanted circles, keeping them fresh and at the ideal temperature. Neither of the enchantments was cloaked but Lev already had those runes. He just needed to learn how to make an efficient formation for them, which the circles told him clearly.

Director Welsh led him straight to the other end of the warehouse where an elevator was present. It took them straight down for several hundred meters, where they had to go through a lot of locked doors and various turns and twists before they reached another large storehouse.

Bright white lights fitted in the ceiling illuminated the place, shedding light on the various resources present in the room. Welsh led him to the left corner, where large containers of fluid were visible.

"Since you are looking into the basics of enchanting," he glanced at Lev to see if he would deny before continuing, "mana conductivity will be the first hurdle. There are too many methods to improve that aspect of any material, but I will start with the most universal one."

He pointed to the large container of a light orange gooey substance labeled 'Infused Sap.'

"Treant Sap?" Lev asked.

"Correct. It is a mana-rich fluid even in its base form. Infusing it not only makes it quite potent but also turns it into one of the simplest conductivity treatment materials. Just cycle it through your barriers with a small channel of mana, and they will see a significant increase in their conductivity."

"I'll take it," Lev looked at him. "How much?"

Welsh waved him off. "We can deal with that once we're done browsing. Come on."

One by one, Lev was shown more resources than he knew what to do with. The only permanent barrier he could form right now was his armor, and he mainly wanted to test if it could somehow be made to handle his mana output.

Alec had only once mentioned that barrier armor was horrible at actually transferring mana. It could hold a lot of it, but moving the mana around was not ideal in such a rigid construct. The armor was structurally different from the barriers Lev could normally form because it was focused on maximum durability.

Evolving to Master rank usually solved that issue for barrier users, but the problem was only going to become more relevant for Lev. Where he had a lot of mana now and already struggled to use it, he was going to have far more then. Finding a good solution was going to be a tall hurdle, so he wanted to get started right now.

Lev could also ask Alec for help, which was what he should've done. Only, since the class belonged to him, if he found a solution by himself and integrated it into his style enough to merge it into the class, it would end up being a huge boon. Mana always rewarded such methods more, and Lev was not willing to give up on any potential power.

Two hours later, he was in possession of some huge containers of various fluids, as well as many different flowers, petals, beads, roots, and other infused materials. The point was to test how each of them reacted to his armor, and if any surprises were waiting for him.

"This whole lot comes out to thirty gold," Welsh gave him the estimate once they had roamed the storehouse. "None of it is anything that would be considered a step beyond basic or cheap, but it should be more than enough to get a feel for enchanting. Will there be anything else?"

Lev paid him up front. "No, thank you."

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