Chapter 125: Grinding Begins

Warden had already got more than benefits from this delving than he imagined, but it hadn't ended yet.

They have wasted one precious day inside the dungeon with Warden's breakthrough on receiving the boon. Jason had paid Four hundred iron-grade essence stones to book it for a standard system daytime, and Warden had wasted a fourth of it while sleeping.

There was also payment to the two helpers, which was another two hundred essence gems in total. Jason already paid half of it, which already emptied his pocket. For the rest, he meant to use the loot to repay them.

And of course, the payment to the Hunting Grounds organisation didn't end with just the essence stones, as they would have dibs on a part of the materials Warden and co looted from the dungeon. Of course, there were not overly tyrannical about it and there were ways to trick them, either through your backing or your wit.

They had already planned to do it through Warden's Subspace. Nobody would even have a clue that Warden himself was in a walking dungeon. They would simply smuggle the best of the loot while only showing their puny exploits to cheat the administration. People with backing always do it, so Jason had no qualms about doing it too.

Not to mention his pocket had been emptier since he left his father's shadow.

So, now here was the problem. Warden or rather his Void Prison realm, kind of used up all that stored inside the sub space during his receiving the boon. he remembered getting a system notice on the Fatelock sourcing the subspace to handle the boon better. The Fatelock probably altered his boon to give him more benefits as well. So Warden couldn't be piss on about it, either.

Still, not all the loots were his... In the end, he decided to come reveal it all to Jason. Keeping too many secrets could be confining sometimes, and Jason and he had been bros...

"What do you want to talk about?" Jason said after Warden brought him some place private to talk secretly.

"You remember all the loot we had?" Warden said hesitantly, sounding more awkward than he should have.

"The loot we poured into the weird portal you created?" Jason nodded. "What about it?"

"They are gone."

Jason blinked in disbelief. "I'm sorry, can you repeat?"

"All the loots are gone," Warden said. "There's not even a scrape bone left of the Drake corpses."

"How?!"

"Well, how do I explain this..." Warden said. He just checked inside his subspace to study the level of instability, only to find all the loot they stored inside had gone. They were unable to collect the loot from the other drakes they killed in order to flee as well. That was another substantial loot, considering the number of drakes they killed was close to a hundred.

"I think I might have used up all in my boon."

"Are you being serious?"

Warden sighed. "Don't worry, I'll fully recompense you... There are still two days left and—"

Warden narrowed his eyes. "Anyway, I was talking about my secret," he said. "So you may have already noticed some peculiarities in how I behave, which I justified by saying I'm not around here. That is kind of the truth, but the whole truth is that I have amnesia."

"Amnesia, wow," Jason said slowly, studying his face. "That's not really common, especially with ranker's biology. How bad is it?"

"Pretty bad, I pretty much retained all the things I learned, though I can't remember what I exactly I learned," he said. "Only in a burst of insight, I managed to make the impression of things... Regardless, that was not all." Warden sucked in a deep breath. "I'm, or rather I was possibly a high ranker."

"How high?"

"Gold, and possibly higher," Warden said with a sigh. "I don't know what happened, but a few weeks ago, I found myself devoid of all my memories near a stream."

"Woh, this is a lot to take in," Jason said, sucking in a deep breath. "So you were saying I'm friends with a transcendent ranker?"

"I'm saying I might have been one," Warden said with a sigh. "Though it's most likely Gold, considering from what I've heard, most Transcendent rank of this world is old as fuck. While I don't look or feel old."

"Certainly," Jason said. "Still, gold is high. Even my father is a peak Gold ranker and he's the governor of one of the most important cities of the world. It is not a power that people discount easily, considering there's only a few thousand gold rankers in the world."

"Well, I'm reaching for it slowly as well," Warden smiled.

"Is that why you're so fast in growing your attributes?"

"June and I reasoned it was likely the case," Warden said. "And other than you, she's the only person who knows about my condition."

"I'll be sure to keep my lips tightly clipped," Jason said.

There were still some more that Warden didn't mention. It wasn't that he didn't trust the guy, it was simply because he didn't want to worry him. Not that Warden was wholly sure about his paranoia.

"Alright, now that is over with," Warden said. "It is time we get back to our business and reclaim all our losses. There are still two days left right, let's just grind the darkness nonstop."

"Non-stop?"

"Nonstop," Warden smiled. "Well, perhaps you guys can take a rest, but I think I can keep on with my new physique."

Warden was full of energy now.

"You realise there are two whole days left, and even with your cheat and powerful body, it is impossible?"

"I guess there's only one way to find out."