"Good job Mage Picard," Mage Phinn praised Damion for his efforts in luring the Sand Shark. "Now we just have to find the dungeon core."

"Don't tell me its buried in the sand somewhere?" Mage Young asked, surveying the expansive sand dunes.

"No, there should be a pillar sticking out of a dune nearby. The core will be at the base of the pillar."

Now that he knew what to look for, Damion teleported himself up into the air and took a look around as he fell back down. A few dunes over he saw what Mage Phinn had described and when he landed he directed everyone towards it.

"Is there anything else of value we should try and take with us before we leave this place?" Damion asked once they arrived at the dungeon core.

"No. There are very few magical resources in the Crimson Waste," Mage Phinn answered. "If it wasn't that the dungeon was A Rank and fairly easy to clear, it probably would have been collapsed. But since Saung does not have another A Rank dungeon, it provides a place for B Rankers and A Rankers to grow."

"Alright, let's get out of here," Mage Abney said as she blasted the dungeon core to pieces.

A moment later the team appeared outside the dungeon portal and were greeted by the attendant.

"You are finished a bit ahead of schedule," the attendant said with a cheerful smile. "Let me send a message to the next scheduled team and then we can start calculating your gains."

After sending his message, the attendant guided the team to the sorting platform. Damion took his time emptying his personal storage space, not wanting to let on how much mana and magic regeneration he had. Once everything was on the platform the attendant checked his tablet for the values of the spoils and then announced each of their shares.

"35 platinum and some change each, but with the bonus for finishing early, I'm bumping you each up to an even 37 platinum. Everyone want to receive payment on their cards, or does someone want to keep some of the spoils?"

Most of the team took out their payment cards and were ready to hand them over, but Damion spoke up.

"I would like to use my shares to purchase as many cores as possible."

"Just cores?" The attendant questioned. "Do you want from the ones you've brought in, or do you want to buy from the city stock?"

"As many cores as possible, C Rank through A Rank," Damion told him.

"Alright, let me check what we have."

"James, you really want to spend all your money on cores?" Mage Phinn questioned. The others in their group had taken their payments and left, but he had remained for a moment and could not believe what he was hearing.

"I have a use for them. I travel a lot, and I can trade the cheapest cores here for things much more valuable elsewhere."

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"A true adventurer I guess then. No wonder I hadn't heard of you before. Well, I hope we have the opportunity to do a dungeon run together again. With these funds Lois and I are going to head to Viridis and see if we can get into a raiding team for their labyrinth."

"Good luck," Damion told the Lightning mage. "Maybe we will meet again, who knows."

"Alright, with your funds I can get you 1 A Rank core, 5 B Rank cores and 295 C Rank cores."

"That sounds fine," Damion said, trying to do the math in his head of how many credits that would translate to. It should be more than 150,000 credits, but he was in too much of a hurry to get the cores to focus on figuring the math out exactly.

"Wonderful, someone will be over in just a few minutes. I guess you don't need a box or anything eh."

"If you have a box that would actually be good, makes it easier to keep them in one space."

"They'll bring them in a spatial stretching box, is that okay?"

"It will be fine."

A few minutes later a man arrived carrying a box. Damion took a quick glance inside and then moved the box into the Magic System Inventory. Now that he had received his payment, Damion headed back towards Leland's shop for some much-needed rest. His team had managed to clear the dungeon in record time, but that meant he was physically exhausted.

Damion left the center of the city and after making sure no one was following him and that no one was watching him, removed his Metamorphic Bracelet. Once he was back in his room, he opened up the Magic System, eager to increase his credits before falling asleep.

'System, convert all my newly acquired cores to credits.'

{Affirmative.}

{Converting 301 cores to 157,500 credits.}

The increase in his credits propelled him past three-quarters of a million credits. A year ago, when the Magic System first unlocked, he was only a D Rank mage with 96 credits. Now he was B Rank and was closing in on a million. How long would it be till he reached that Anti-Regression Potion? What would he want to buy after that?

Damion thought about the possibilities. About using his credits to propel him from B Rank to A Rank or even S Rank. He likely had the credits to do it now. Still, he felt it was better to advance as naturally as he could. One day he might reach the point where he needed a boost in an emergency and make use of the System for that, but for now, he decided to keep working hard. After all, it had only been a year.

A year.

The words lingered in his mind, and he recalled Mage Teft's message to him. Now that he had the Metamorphic Bracelet, and confirmed that it worked, there was no reason he could not go and see his family. He knew where they were and he could see them, perhaps even visit them disguised.

'Yes,' Damion resolved. 'It is time I go see them. First thing tomorrow I will set out.'

In the morning Damion woke early and left a message for Leland and Flannery that he would be going out of Saung for a few days to travel with Phil. He then headed out of the city and called out to Phil through their bond.

The Ferocious Beast was some distance away but was cheerful and immediately started flying towards Damion when he connected.

Damion mounted his Ice Sword and flew off towards where he sensed Phil was. A short time later the two met in midair over the edge of the Benault Forest. Phil was happily chirping and flying circles around Damion.

After landing on the ground Damion got the Snow Hawk to calm down a bit and started talking to the bird.

"I came to visit because I am going to go far away for the day and did not want you to worry."

'Come?' Phil asked.

"You will need to stay here. People may recognize you if you come with me. I'll return to this spot in a few days."

Phil tilted its head and then looked around the area as if trying to memorize it.

Damion stepped away from the Snow Hawk and put his Metamorphic Bracelet back on, changing his appearance to what he had used for James Picard. Once his features changed, Damion pulled out from the Magic System Inventory the storage container that had all his family's possessions. Opening it up, he pulled out his sister's stuffed rabbit that had been left behind in their home in the rush to get to the shelter and then moved the rabbit and the storage container into slots in the Inventory.

"Stay here," Damion told Phil firmly.

Once he was sure the Snow Hawk was not going to try and follow him, Damion focused his mind on the mountains outside Levande where he had encountered a Realm Breach six months ago and cast Portal.

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