Dual Realm Exchange System

Damian stared into the darkness of the cave for several seconds after the Post-Battle Report vanished.

His earlier concern about Valoria’s stingy Experience system remained, but there was still one thing left to do before he could properly call the quest complete.

He had killed the rats outside, but now he needed to make sure there were no more inside.

Damian raised his staff, summoned a small magical light through the ambient mana manipulation contained within his <Arcane Knowledge>, then carefully stepped past the scorched corpses.

Three steps later, he regretted every decision that had brought him here.

"Ugh..."

The smell inside the cave was different from the burnt stench outside.

It was worse, far worse!

Rat droppings covered entire sections of the floor in disgusting piles, mixed with rotting grain, animal bones, mouldy vegetables, strips of stolen cloth and scraps of decomposing meat dragged in from who knew where.

The Feral Giant Rats had apparently possessed absolutely no concept of waste disposal.

One corner had become what Damian could only describe as a communal toilet, while another resembled a garbage dump.

The warmth of the cave had then spent several days fermenting everything together.

Damian’s face turned green.

"Nope."

He spun around.

Three seconds later, the mighty Level 1 Mage who had just slaughtered twenty-seven giant vermin was kneeling outside the cave and violently emptying Garrick’s excellent chicken soup onto the grass.

"Bleugh!"

Damian coughed, spat and remained there for nearly a minute with his eyes watering.

Well, so much for his iron will.

He could withstand monsters clawing at his face behind Mage Armor.

Apparently, rat shit was his true weakness.

Once his stomach finally surrendered everything it intended to surrender, Damian wiped his mouth and stared bitterly toward the cave entrance.

There was absolutely no chance he was going back inside physically.

Fortunately, he was a Mage.

"Voco."

A translucent hand appeared beside him, and Damian drew his dagger, placed it within the Mage Hand’s grasp, then closed his eyes as the magical construct floated into the cave under his mental direction.

His connection to it was not equivalent to sight, but <Arcane Knowledge> allowed him to feel its position and resistance well enough to navigate simple obstacles.

Deeper inside, faint squeaking revealed the final problem.

A nest of several ratlings, tiny compared to the adults, blind and barely mobile, but unmistakably the next generation of the infestation.

Damian grimaced.

This was not going to be pleasant.

Yet leaving them alive would simply recreate the exact same problem within months.

He hardened his heart as the Mage Hand moved, followed by several wet impacts and then silence.

Damian dismissed the spell.

The Valorian Overworld System did not even bother generating another Post-Battle Report.

Damian could practically imagine it looking at him with disdain.

What did he expect?

Experience Points for exterminating baby rats?

"Yeah, fair enough," Damian muttered.

He spent several more minutes scanning the area around the cave with his Guild card, checking for any remaining quest targets.

Nothing.

The quest interface finally changed.

[Quest Objective Complete.]

[Return to Client or await remote Guild verification.]

Excellent.

Damian turned away from the cave, the entire affair having taken less than an hour.

His first official quest was done, just like that!

By the time Damian returned to Otter Village, he found Kellan sitting on a wooden fence near the outskirts, lazily throwing pebbles at a tree stump.

The young man looked painfully bored until he spotted Damian, at which point his entire body practically exploded off the fence.

"Noble Mage Sir!"

Kellan sprinted toward him.

"You’re back already?! Did ya find ’em? Were there hundreds? Did they ’ave a Rat King? Did ya burn the whole cave down? Did one leap at yer throat?"

Damian raised both hands.

"Slow down."

Kellan stopped directly in front of him, vibrating with excitement.

Damian found himself amused.

He had initially considered simply saying the quest was finished.

Instead, the boy’s enthusiasm made him recount what actually happened.

He explained finding the tracks, locating the cave, killing the two guards with Frost Ray and Firebolt, and then dealing with the swarm.

Damian did not embellish much, but he did not need to.

To Kellan, even the honest version sounded like an ancient legend.

"So then twenty of ’em all jumped on ya at once?!" Kellan asked with shining eyes.

"Something like that," Damian responded with a chuckle.

"And their claws couldn’t even touch ya because you had golden magic armor?!"

"Technically they touched the armor."

"And then you burned all of ’em with one spell?!"

"Most of them."

Kellan’s mouth slowly opened.

Damian could visibly watch the boy’s imagination transforming a mediocre F-rank extermination quest into a battle between gods and demons.

By the time they reached The Otter’s Den, Kellan had reached a decision.

"Master Damian!"

"No."

"You haven’t even heard me yet!"

"You’re going to ask me to teach you magic."

Kellan froze.

"...You truly are a Mage."

Damian laughed.

Unfortunately for Kellan, Garrick had heard everything from behind the inn counter.

The old chief walked over and brought his fist down.

THUNK!

Kellan collapsed while clutching the top of his head.

"AUGH! GRANDPAP!"

"You’ll learn magic after you can complete the spear forms your father taught you without falling over your own feet!" Garrick barked.

"But magic is cooler!"

Another fist rose.

Kellan immediately stood straight.

"Becoming a Fighter is a proud and noble family tradition!" the boy declared loudly.

"Good." Garrick nodded with satisfaction.

Kellan glared at Damian as though betrayed by the entire world.

"One day I’ll become a Mage anyway! Then you’ll all see!"

He ran away before Garrick could punch him again.

Damian watched him leave with folded arms and a small smile.

"Energetic kid you’ve got there."

"Peh, just a troublesome brat!" Garrick corrected, though the smile on his weathered face ruined the complaint.

Once Damian confirmed that the rats were gone, Garrick’s relief became obvious.

The village chief immediately ordered food brought out.

This time, it was spit-roasted lamb chops.

Damian took his first bite and nearly forgot that he had vomited less than an hour ago.

The meat was smoky, heavily seasoned and ridiculously tender.

"Damn, this is good!" Damian admitted honestly.

Garrick laughed. "What’d ya expect? We raise good livestock here!"

He pushed a mug toward Damian. "Have some ale with it."

Damian shook his head. "I don’t drink."

"Religion?" Garrick asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, I just never liked alcohol much," Damian revealed the truth.

Garrick shrugged and replaced the mug with fruit water without making an issue of it, a gesture Damian appreciated.

After the meal, Garrick offered him a room for the night, but Damian declined, as he still had business in Rosewood.

More importantly, his next objective was already beginning to form.

The village chief escorted him toward the entrance, then both men stopped.

The carriage was there, but the driver was not.

Damian looked around. "Where did he go?"

Garrick’s face slowly darkened, having likely realized something.

One farmer nearby overheard them and started laughing. "He went to Widow Marla’s house!"

Garrick closed his eyes. "Oh, for the love of..."

The farmer continued cheerfully. "Been there nearly forty minutes too!"

Damian stared speechlessly, while Garrick looked deeply ashamed of his village.

"She is... well known," Garrick could only admit through gritted teeth.

"For?" Damian asked with folded arms.

Garrick coughed. "...hospitality."

Damian understood immediately, and before either man could say more, hurried footsteps sounded from between two houses as the carriage driver came sprinting toward them.

His shirt was half tucked, his belt was undone, and his trousers were barely secured.

Damian watched him silently as the fellow ran up to them, stopping while breathing heavily.

"Sir! I can explain!"

Damian raised one hand to stop his unnecessary explanation. "Are you done with your business?"

The driver froze. "Err... what?"

"I mean, are you finished with what you were doing?" Damian clarified.

The man glanced at Garrick, then back at Damian, clearly misunderstanding the question.

"Oh! You want a go too? Widow Marla charges five Copper per round, sir, but I warn you, she’s got skills! You’d be blessed by the gods to last longer than a minute once she really gets going!" The fellow warned cheerfully.

Garrick looked like he wanted to dig himself into the ground.

The driver, having committed himself, continued honestly.

"That’s how she gets ya. Five Copper sounds cheap, but then she mocks ya after the first round until you go again. Usually three, four, sometimes five times before a man crawls out with nothing left. By then you’re shooting blanks and questioning your ancestors."

Damian stared at him, amused and impressed.

"...So you’re done with it then?"

The driver’s shoulders slumped, finally understanding. "Yes, sir."

Garrick burst into laughter as Damian shook his head with amusement.

"Then get your pants fixed and take me back to Rosewood."

Damian reached into a small pouch by his side, which he had acquired after his Mage Hand recovered several dirty coins scattered among the stolen rubbish near the rat nest before he abandoned the place entirely.

Damian tossed a few toward the driver.

The man caught them, his face immediately brightening.

"Thank you, noble sir!"

Apparently, the faint rat-cave smell did not bother him when money was involved.

Damian climbed into the carriage as Kellan came running from the village behind them.

"Master Damian!"

Garrick immediately grabbed the boy by the shoulder before he could climb aboard.

"You are not going anywhere."

"But—!"

"Spear practice."

Kellan deflated as Damian laughed.

"Keep training. Maybe next time I visit, you can show me what you’ve learned."

The boy instantly revived. "I’ll be stronger than you by then!"

"That may not be difficult physically," Damian replied with a chuckle.

Kellan did not understand the joke, but Garrick did, and the old man laughed as the carriage began rolling away.

Damian waved once as Otter Village slowly disappeared behind him, then his paranoia activated.

The road became quiet, too quiet.

Damian sat straighter.

This was exactly where something was supposed to happen.

A successful first mission, a relaxed protagonist, a remote countryside, and a perfect ambush location.

Bandits could rush from the trees, goblins could block the road, or perhaps some arrogant noble heir could appear, take offense at Damian existing, and create a blood feud lasting several hundred Chapters.

Damian kept one hand near his staff.

Five minutes passed, then ten, then twenty, with nothing happening at all except a squirrel crossing the road, which Damian narrowed his eyes suspiciously at before it immediately fled.

An hour later, Rosewood’s walls came into view, and Damian stared at them.

"...Seriously?"

Nothing had happened.

No ambush, no hidden enemy, no young master, no mysterious assassin.

It had simply been a peaceful carriage ride.

Bluntly speaking, his earthling genre savviness was becoming a disease.

The driver eventually dropped Damian near his residential district.

There was no need to return to the Guild, as Agnes had already remotely verified the mission using his scans and Otter Village’s confirmation.

His card displayed the settlement.

[Quest Complete: Vermin Beneath Otter Village.]

[Confirmed Feral Giant Rats Slain: 27.]

[Gross Reward: 135 Copper Coins.]

Damian’s calculation had been correct, as 27 multiplied by 5 equaled 135 Copper, or 1 Silver and 35 Copper.

Then came the Guild’s ten-percent commission.

[Guild Commission: 13 Copper.]

[Net Quest Income: 122 Copper.]

Damian blinked.

"So digital accounts can’t even hold half a Copper."

That finally answered yesterday’s question.

Physical coinage required whole denominations, and digital platforms clearly didn’t bother with fractions at all.

Everything was rounded down in the user’s favor, which was definitely useful.

His Premium Checking Account updated accordingly.

Damian opened his transaction history.

[Opening Credit: 50 Gold.]

[Residential Rent: -3 Silver.]

[General Supplies and Market Purchases: -1 Silver.]

The latter covered several minor necessities he had purchased yesterday and that morning, including toiletries, food, travel supplies, writing materials and a sack of prepared volcanic ash.

The volcanic ash alone had cost twenty Copper.

Then came today’s quest income.

[Quest Income: +1 Silver, 22 Copper.]

There were also some small cash expenses such as carriage travel that had not passed through the account, but his major recorded spending amounted to 4 Silver.

Even after that, Damian still possessed essentially the entirety of his fifty-Gold loan, which was exactly what he wanted.

After all, he had not borrowed half a million dollars’ worth of fantasy world purchasing power to spend it on comfortable living.

He had borrowed it to build capital.

Damian entered his house, dropped his equipment onto the table, and opened the Spellbook containing his market notes, which included food prices, potion prices, monster materials, tools, textiles, magical components, ores, and every other observation he had collected.

His first quest was complete, and he was officially out of probation, so now there was no reason to delay.

"It’s time to start buying," Damian muttered to himself.

As though waiting specifically for those words, the familiar blue interface of the Dual-Realm Exchange System appeared.

Damian froze as a notification sounded.

[Tutorial Progress Detected.]

[Host has successfully established an independent foothold within Valoria.]

[Initiating Tutorial Quest Two.]

Another panel replaced it.

[Stock The Shelves — Tutorial Quest Two

Description: A merchant without inventory is merely a person with opinions! As the chosen Host of the Dual-Realm Exchange System, possessing access to multiple worlds means nothing if you have nothing worth exchanging between them!

Before opening your first permanent Realm Passage, prove that you possess the minimum ability to acquire, organize and prepare trade goods for inter-realm commerce.

Objective: Acquire no less than 100 kilograms of tradable goods and deposit them within the Dual-Realm Exchange Storage.

Current Progress: 0/100 kg.

Exchange Storage Capacity: 1,000 kg / 1,000 Liters.

Restrictions: Goods must be legally possessed by the Host and considered tradable by the System.

Reward: Permanent Realm Passage — Shengyuan.

Reward Effect: Unlock unrestricted personal passage between Valoria and Shengyuan through the Dual-Realm Exchange System.]

Damian’s breathing stopped as he reread the final lines once, twice, then a third time.

Permanent passage to Shengyuan!!!

Until now, the cultivation world had existed only as a name inside his System panel, something distant, an entire second civilization waiting on the other side of a locked door.

All Damian needed to unlock it...

...was one hundred kilograms of merchandise.

His eyes slowly brightened.

"That’s it?"

No monster hunt, no boss battle, no impossible trial, and no demand that he reach Level 10.

Just buy one hundred kilograms of tradable goods, store them, and he’d unlock another world.

Damian slowly smiled.

Now this...

This was the kind of quest a former logistics worker could appreciate!

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