[Adventurer "Shirasawa Yukari" obtained "Tank Zombie Soul Core" from the Apocalypse Surge dungeon. Your Spiritual Power -30!]
Deploying a Tank Zombie costs 20 Spiritual Power.Extracting and materializing its Soul Core costs an additional 30 Spiritual Power.
Total cost: 50 Spiritual Power.
For any rookie Dungeon Lord, this would be a painful loss.
Kanzaki Ren felt no pressure at all.
On the contrary, he felt energized.
Apocalypse Surge generated an absurd amount of Spiritual Power. Today's conservative estimate was over 1,500 Spiritual Power. Losing a mere 50 was nothing.
This wasn't bad news.
It was excellent news.
The adventurers immediately crowded around to inspect it.
[Tank Zombie Soul Core]Five-star, gray-tier Soul Core…
"As expected, a five-star core!"
"That's got to be worth at least fifty regular zombie cores, right?"
"More than that. The quality is insane. Even among five-star monsters, this should be top-tier. Take it to Blackstone Town and its value would skyrocket!"
"Sister Yukari is insanely lucky!"
"This is too enviable!"
"..."
Then Shirasawa Yukari made a decision that stunned everyone.
"I request to recycle the 'Tank Zombie Soul Core.'"
"…What?"
"Recycle it?"
"Recycling a normal zombie core is one thing!"
"But this one too?"
"Are you insane? You couldn't buy this even if you had money!"
"..."
Nekomi Momo hurriedly said, "Sister Yukari, why would you do that? Even for you, this core is priceless!"
White Fawn added anxiously, "Exactly! Even if you don't absorb it yourself, you could trade it for a mountain of materials. That's more than enough to push for Tier Two!"
"Miracle City is a dungeon that just started," Shirasawa Yukari replied calmly."If I take a high-tier Soul Core like this, the damage to the dungeon would be too great."
She continued, "As long as this dungeon still exists, why would I worry about never farming another Tank Zombie Soul Core?"
The crowd fell silent.
She was worried Miracle City might collapse financially.
So she willingly handed over the Soul Core.
This was sustainable exploitation.
Everyone gave her a thumbs-up in admiration.
Kanzaki Ren was completely baffled.
Wait.
Why does everyone keep assuming I'm about to go bankrupt?
Did you all misunderstand something? Is there a serious misjudgment of relative strength here?
Do I really look that broke?
One Tank core is nothing. Even ten wouldn't matter.
That said—
With something this good dropped in his lap, Kanzaki Ren wasn't about to refuse.
He had intended to recycle it anyway.
Having the adventurer offer it voluntarily saved him the trouble of negotiating.
Shirasawa Yukari added, "I'm willing to hand over the Soul Core, but we need to discuss the conditions."
Adventurers and Dungeon Lords were always locked in strategic bargaining. Negotiating over major loot was completely normal.
"No problem," Kanzaki Ren said. "As long as it's reasonable, I can offer favorable terms."
"First, I want 300 Contribution Points.150 of those go to my three teammates. They carried their weight in that fight."
"Agreed."
Contribution Points were just numbers.
Kanzaki Ren controlled the mint. Issuing 300 points for a five-star Soul Core was more than fair.
"Second," she said, "I've seen that the territory has built a Soul Altar. I request to become Miracle City's first Contract Adventurer."
This condition stunned everyone.
Nekomi Momo panicked. "Sister Yukari, isn't that too hasty? This is a huge decision!"
White Fawn quickly added, "Yes! What will you tell the old headmaster if he finds out?"
"I have my own judgment," Shirasawa Yukari replied calmly. "I trust my choice."
The other adventurers were shocked.
Wind in Sleep and Lonely Blade deeply admired her decisiveness.
To understand how important this decision was, one had to understand the adventurer progression system.
Adventurers cultivated differently from native races of the Chaos World.
Natives followed traditional cultivation paths.
Adventurers, however, built all their power on Soul Cores.
Tier One adventurers could fuse gray-tier Soul Cores.
Tier Two adventurers could fuse white-tier Soul Cores.
And so on.
After contracting a Core as their Life Soul, they had to continuously improve fusion compatibility.
Dungeon runs slowly increased fusion rate, but another method existed: refining and absorbing other Soul Cores.
For example:
A Tier One adventurer contracts a Normal Zombie Soul Core.
Fusion begins at 0%.
They can increase it by using the Soul Core in combat or by feeding it other cores.
Once fusion reaches 100%, the adventurer fully masters that Soul Core.
At that point, they can contract a Tier Two Life Soul, breaking through to Tier Two.
This cycle repeats for higher tiers.
Shirasawa Yukari's grandfather was White Crane Hermit,former number-one adventurer of Blackstone Town and current headmaster of the Adventurer Academy.
Under his guidance, although she had just turned eighteen, Shirasawa Yukari had already fused multiple Tier One cores. Her primary Life Soul fusion had reached 70%.
Her decision now—
Meant abandoning most of that progress.
Binding herself to Miracle City and restarting cultivation.
An adventurer could only contract one dungeon at a time.
Once bound to Miracle City, she would be deeply tied to its fate. If the dungeon collapsed, she would lose all power gained here.
She could bind to another dungeon afterward—
But the cost and time lost would be enormous.
Kanzaki Ren looked at her with renewed respect and nodded.
"This adventurer has real courage," he said."I have no reason to refuse. And I believe this will prove to be the correct choice."
"You flatter me," Shirasawa Yukari smiled."Third, I wish to contract a Witch Zombie Soul Core. If one drops in the future, I request priority for the contract."
Clever.
In effect, she traded a Tank core for a Witch core of equal rank.
She gained a free same-tier contract and several hundred Contribution Points.
"Agreed," Kanzaki Ren nodded. "I'll make an exception this once."
No loss at all.
The Tank Soul Core was a guaranteed asset in hand. The Witch core was future stock.
And as Miracle City's first Contract Adventurer, she deserved a reward.
[You have recycled "Tank Zombie Soul Core" x1]
Deal complete.
A powerful five-star Soul Core was secured.
Today's harvest was enormous.
With 160 adventurers exhausting their stamina in just seven hours, Kanzaki Ren closed early to tally the results.
Today's Apocalypse Surge runs: 1,024Spiritual Power gained: 2,112Soul Crystals gained: 845
High Spiritual Power output meant the adventurers had a blast.
The lower Soul Crystal count was due to "wool-pullers" farming beginner stages without dying.
If necessary, Kanzaki Ren could restrict beginner stages later.
For now, it wasn't needed.
The dungeon required massive numbers of Soul Cores, and these players produced them efficiently.
As long as recycling rates stayed high, he'd profit via external trade.
A single normal zombie Soul Core was worth a solid amount of Magic Crystals.
Today's Soul Core yield:
Normal Zombie: 110 / 185
Hunter, Smoker, Spitter, Boomer, Jockey: 4 / 8
Charger: 0 / 1
Tank: 1 / 1
Total Spiritual Power spent: 300
Net Spiritual Power: 1,912Plus yesterday's remaining 45Current total: 1,957
Soul Crystals:Yesterday remaining: 172Soul Core sales: 162Today's income: 845
Total Soul Crystals on hand: 1,179
This was a massive fortune.
Enough to expand the territory and complete the remaining Apocalypse Surge stages.
Adventurers were progressing faster than expected.
That meant it was time to build more stages.
Especially those inspired by Resident Evil.
Tyrant Trackers. G-Creatures.
More content.
More buildup for story mode.
And most importantly—
Let these backwater adventurers learn what real horror looks like.