The Great Crestmaster

Aldrich retreated back towards the town vigilantly, he didn't dimiss the possibility that the Grappler might have pretended to withdraw to lower his guard.

What he saw from the monster indicated that it was capable of such trickery.

After a while and when he got close to the town Aldrich realized that he was returning empty handed and sighed in disappointment.

He had hoped to make a few extra coins today but things just didn't go his way. He also didn't regret not fighting the Grappler just now, he could make up for today's loss some other day.

Better to lose out on some coins than to lose his life.

He had his eyes on a creature called Amphiptere, this monster was very special, one could called it the most valuable grade zero monster.

Not only was it grade zero it was also at level one and yet a young Amphiptere sold for at least a silver coin.

That was almost the price of a regular level three monster of the same grade. Just because a monster was stronger, that didn't make it more valuable necessarily.

It depended mostly on the demand.

The Amphiptere in particular is especially valuable because it could be trained as a messenger creature. The younger it was the better it sold.

That was because generally it was easier to train monsters when they were younger.

Of course most monsters could never be trained or domesticated. An Amphiptere's egg was ideal, but of course most of the time one could count his lucky stars were he able to get his hands on one at all.

After Aldrich saw the posters today and learned why the Amphiptere is valuable he figured that there was always demand for it. He wasn't sure if he wanted one for himself right now, but surely if he got an egg then that was a different story.

Aldrich returned back to town and gave back his rented items, then he got on a returning carriage and got back to his beautiful apartment.

Naturally, the next step was to clean himself up and get the clothes he delivered to the laundry place back.

He decided to treat himself to a hearty meal at a nearby tavern, he got lamb chops and mashed potatoes with vegetable soup and some cold beer.

He didn't forget about visiting Tarzin but that can wait another day. His body was worked to the bone today he could hardly stay awake not to mention going out of district.

Aldrich returned back to his apartment and on the way he bumped into that girl that helped him out when he came to look for an apartment here. If his memory didn't serve him wrong then her name was Irene.

Aldrich wanted to say hi, but he hesitated. He could see from her demeanor that she was in a hurry and she was suspiciously looking around, he felt that maybe he should catch her another time.

She seemed to be mumbling something to herself but he couldn't make out what, because of the distance between them and the blowing wind made that even harder.

Aldrich got back in his apartment feeling a little refreshed by that walk and ready for another night of adventure. Tonight, in the nightmare realm he wanted to try out the sword stances that he learned today.

****

Indeed the moment he put his head on the pillow he woke back up, but he was in the nightmare realm far away from the Acladon Empire.

Aldrich didn't attack the next area of the barracks immediately, first he cleared out the first tower from last time. After all, last time he was so injured that he had to abandon everything and return to the base.

Aldrich went right to work and started transporting weapons, armor sets and anything that looked valuable. Finally it was the turn of the room that was protected by that grade two husk.

Aldrich looked at the massive amount of weapons and armor and wished that he had a foldable cart here.

Wait.

Actually maybe he could, until today he had only brought things from the nightmare realm to reality and didn't try the opposite.

Aldrich took over the weapons one after another and left the best for last, the special sword and shield, red and white with the pattern of the four-winged tiger on both of them.

Aldrich was by no means a weapons expert but even he could tell that both of them were works of art. The greatest craftsmanship he had seen to date. A work that rivaled Isger's own sword.

The weight was the only thing stopping Aldrich from switching right away. The sword was definitely a long sword and he could swing it around two-handed but he certainly couldn't truly wield it.

It will have to wait.

Aldrich was not impatient at all. He will sooner rather than later get stronger and then he will be happy to put them to good use.

Next he took off the pegs and used took them to the base, he cleaned out the torture room and installed the weapons pegs there.

The amount of weapons and armor he now piled up in the common room went out of control and that couldn't be allowed to continue as is.

So Aldrich spent a few hours more putting everything in order and cleaning up the place. Finally after he was done he put one some new and shiny half-plate armor, it was plain to look at but it will perform its job effectively.

Aldrich then used the remaining key to open up the door that locked the tower from the central structure of the barracks. Aldrich again used his torch to put some light in this gloomy place.

That day Aldrich fought and defeated a total of thirteen husks one of which being a grade two spearman. Aldrich tried to use the sword forms he learned today but he almost got killed doing it.

Today's yield was a total of thirty two essence orbs including those he got thanks to Gazeff in the real world. He could upgrade two more attributes but he decided not to, for now. He also got the key to the final tower from the level two husk.