Chapter 44: Trading Centre [2] The interior was professional and clean, with private booths lining the walls, each designed for discreet transactions. Security personnel stood at strategic positions, their presence subtle but effective. This wasn’t the kind of place where people tried anything stupid. Moon looked at the attendant, probably in his mid-twenties, wearing the Trading Centre’s standard uniform. "I want to trade in some materials from the First Sanctuary." The young man nodded, his expression remaining professional without any scrutiny. "Of course, sir. Please follow me to a private room where we can properly evaluate your items." He led Moon down a corridor to one of the booths, gesturing for him to enter. The room was small but well-appointed, with a large table, evaluation equipment, and a terminal connected to the Trading Centre’s pricing database. "What would you like to trade in, sir?" the attendant asked, pulling up a form on the terminal. Moon kept his voice neutral. "Mainly an S-rank core, the beast’s body, and some other cores and materials." The young man’s fingers paused over the keyboard. His eyes widened with an expression of shock on his face. "S-rank core? Are you certain?" "Here," Moon said, reaching into his storage ring. The Winter Beast’s core materialised on the table first, a sphere roughly the size of a fist, pulsing with frozen blue light. Ice patterns swirled within its depths, beautiful and deadly. "This is the body, too." A massive body materialised on the floor, even in death. The corpse took up most of the available space in the room. Finally, Moon withdrew one of the arctic wolf corpses, which had the core intact in its body. Moon didn’t bother to remove the core. The young man stared at the core, his professional composure cracking. "That’s... that’s definitely an S-rank core. Ice element, incredibly pure. This could forge some of the best first-order weapons available in circulation." He looked up at Moon with undisguised awe. Core rankings were standardized across all four superpowers, based on both the level of the beast and the presence of elemental properties. The ranking of First Order cores, which was a symbol for cores gained in the first sanctuary, was the following: F-Rank Cores: Below Level 10 E-Rank Cores: Level 10-15 D-Rank Cores: Level 16-17 C-Rank Cores: Level 18-19 B-Rank Cores: Level 20+ A-Rank Cores: Level 20+ with a basic elemental affinity S-Rank Cores: Level 20+ with a powerful elemental affinity The Winter Beast had been level twenty with an incredibly potent ice element that had ruled an entire hidden realm. The attendant swallowed hard, his hands actually trembling slightly as he pulled out evaluation tools. "This is... sir, this is extraordinarily rare. It must have been incredibly difficult to defeat this beast." "It had its challenges," Moon replied, which was perhaps the understatement of the century, considering the living conditions and sacrifices he had to make to survive that realm. Cores served multiple purposes in the awakener economy. They were primarily used to forge powerful weapons and armour. The core’s energy could be integrated into equipment during creation, imbuing it with elemental properties and enhanced durability. A weapon forged with an S-rank ice core would be devastating, capable of freezing opponents on contact and dealing damage far beyond what normal first-order equipment could achieve. They were also powerful energy sources. Guilds used high-rank cores to power defensive arrays around their bases. Research facilities used them to fuel experiments. Wealthy awakeners could even consume refined core essence to temporarily boost their abilities, though the process was expensive and dangerous. An S-rank core represented wealth, power, and opportunity all into a single object. The attendant carefully scanned the core with his evaluation device, the numbers on his terminal climbing steadily. His expression grew more shocked with each reading. "The purity is really high on the charts... I’ve never seen readings this high on a first-order core. It’s comparable to some mid-tier second-order elemental cores," the supervisor muttered, his eyes fixed on the evaluation terminal. He worked through the assessment process, despite his obvious excitement. His fingers moved across the terminal, cross-referencing market values, checking recent sales of comparable items, and running calculations. Finally, he looked up at Moon. "Based on the purity of the element, its power, and the level of the core, the Trading Centre values it at one million dollars for the core alone." He gestured to the Winter Beast’s body, the arctic wolf corpse and others that Moon was selling. "As for the body and other materials, we can offer you a total of five hundred thousand dollars. Of course, we can also pay you in weaker cores if you’d prefer." Moon shook his head. "Money works fine with me. We have a deal." The young salesman’s face brightened considerably. A commission on a transaction this large would be substantial for him and potentially open up doors for him. "Excellent! Let me get everything sorted." He paused, his professional demeanor softening slightly. "Would you like anything to drink while I process this?" Moon considered for a moment. "Water is fine." The salesman opened a small refrigerator built into the underside of his table and retrieved a bottle of chilled water, handing it to Moon with a smile. Then he turned back to his terminal, fingers running across the keyboard as he initiated the transfer protocols. Moon sipped the water slowly, watching the young man work. $1,500,000 was more money than he’d ever thought he could possess in his life. More than his parents had saved before they died. More than he could have earned in decades working his old sales job. Five minutes later, the young man looked up with satisfaction. "The transfer has been initiated. Please allow a few hours for it to reach your account, there are security protocols for transactions over one million dollars." "Understood," Moon replied. The salesman hesitated for a moment before asking, "Not to be intruding, but have you undergone your first class evolution yet, sir?" Moon shook his head. "Not yet." Class evolutions occurred around level twenty-five, when awakeners had accumulated enough experience and understanding of their abilities to push their class to the next tier, granting them new, powerful skills. It was a transformative process that significantly enhanced power. The young man nodded briefly, then opened a drawer in his table and retrieved a golden card embossed with the Trading Centre’s logo. "Since you’ve completed such a significant transaction, I’m glad to offer you this VIP membership card. It grants you access to the first ten floors of our facility, and other benefits such as discounts, priority selling and auction invitations." He held it out to Moon. "You’ll also be able to purchase more precious materials, items, equipment, and various other necessities. These are premium goods not available to standard members." He paused, adding the standard disclaimer, "Do note that items purchased here cannot be brought into the First Sanctuary unless you’ve already been recognised by the system and entered through the summoning process. The sanctuary gates will reject foreign objects." The salesman was repeating the information to ensure that the person before him didn’t give any of their close friends or relatives a weapon they bought to use in the first sanctuary. It had happened many times before, and still happens to this day, albeit rarely. Moon took the card, examining it briefly. Ten floors of premium goods meant access to high-quality equipment, rare materials, information databases, and probably exclusive services he hadn’t even considered yet. "I appreciate it," Moon said, pocketing the card. "Thank you for your business, sir. If you need anything else in the future, please don’t hesitate to return." The salesman stood, offering a respectful bow. Moon stood as well, gave a slight nod of acknowledgement, and left the private room. Moon started making his way to an appointment he had made with a real estate agent earlier in the morning. Although he wanted to purchase some equipment, Moon decided to delay it.