Chapter 67

Zeon stayed holed up in his house for several days, doing absolutely nothing.

Aside from occasionally getting up to eat, he simply lay on his bed and slept.

It was the fatigue accumulated over eight long years.

No matter how much of an Awakener he was, he couldn’t ignore the exhaustion from wandering the world for so long.

So Zeon lay there without moving.

Fortunately, the bed made from the blood-sucking tree and sand eel skin was extremely comfortable, so he had no trouble staying there.

About ten days passed like that.

By then, even Zeon had grown tired of his reclusive life.

He got up and went into the bathroom.

When he turned the valve, water trickled out weaker than a child’s stream.

There wasn’t nearly enough for a proper shower—just barely enough to wash his face. Still, Zeon was satisfied.

Out in the desert, even water like this was hard to come by.

At least here, near Neo Seoul, there was some supply. In other colonies, obtaining water itself was a battle.

After washing up, Zeon stepped outside.

A gust of sand-laden wind greeted him.

No matter how high the walls were, they couldn’t completely block the sandstorms from the desert.

Because of that, sand always drifted along the streets of the slums.

It was said that inside Neo Seoul, a powerful magical barrier blocked even the sandstorms, making it rare to see any sand at all.

For Zeon, that was the worst possible environment.

That was why he had deliberately chosen to stay in the slums.

Life inside Neo Seoul might be more comfortable, but it would limit his ability to fully use his power.

With Exion, it wouldn’t be a major issue—but still, he preferred living in an environment that suited him best.

And that place was the slums.

By now, night had fallen.

Cheap neon signs flickered on one by one, and people who had stayed hidden during the day emerged.

Markets sprang up, and the streets filled with noise.

Zeon headed toward the street where old man Clexi ran his stall.

Food vendors had already set up, and Clexi himself was busy preparing.

Zeon walked over and sat down at his stall.

“You’re back.”

Clexi greeted him curtly.

Zeon smirked and placed his order.

“I’ll have what I had last time.”

“Haven’t seen you for a few days.”

“Just resting.”

“A young guy like you, doing nothing?”

“I worked plenty for eight years. Planning to take it easy for a while.”

“What did you do for eight years?”

“Just lived… in my own way.”

“Tch! Slippery bastard.”

Clexi clicked his tongue, unable to draw anything out of Zeon despite probing him.

He already knew Zeon hadn’t left his house for days.

The subordinate he had assigned to watch him had reported everything.

And the report had been absurd.

He hadn’t expected Zeon to literally do nothing but stay inside.

For a moment, Clexi even suspected that Zeon might have slipped past surveillance—but that was unlikely.

There were no hidden passages in the building Zeon lived in.

In the end, he had learned nothing about him.

That alone irritated Clexi quite a bit.

Placing food on a plate, Clexi asked,

“You got enough money?”

“Plenty. If I run out, I’ll just sell some things.”

“Things? Got something valuable hidden away?”

“Just some odds and ends I picked up.”

“And where are you planning to sell them?”

“Not sure.”

“Judging by that look in your eyes, you’re definitely not selling them to me…”

“……”

“Tch! Young people these days are so guarded… Fine. If you want to dispose of goods quietly, go to the black building behind Yeonnam Road. Show them this and say I sent you—they’ll let you in.”

Clexi handed Zeon a small card.

It was completely black, with no markings or symbols—yet it gave off a chilling feeling.

Zeon slipped it into his robe.

“I’ll make good use of it.”

“Whatever you’ve got, keep it safe. You know how it is—there’s no such thing as private property on these streets.”

“Of course.”

Zeon answered with a smile.

Clexi said nothing more, and Zeon focused on eating.

Meanwhile, other customers began to arrive one by one.

After finishing his meal, Zeon stood up.

He paid and headed straight for Yeonnam Road.

In Sinchon, many places still retained the names from a hundred years ago.

Yeonnam Road was one of them.

Though everything else had changed, the name remained the same.

Unlike its name, however, the atmosphere of Yeonnam Road was extremely dark.

There were no flashy signs, no prostitutes calling out to customers, not even drug dealers.

It was a place so dangerous that even the most desperate people avoided it.

Yet Zeon walked through without hesitation.

After a while, the black building Clexi had mentioned came into view.

“Interesting.”

A hint of curiosity appeared on Zeon’s face.

It wasn’t just because the building was black.

He couldn’t sense any presence from inside at all.

It was clearly sealed off completely by a magic formation or barrier.

Such a high-level barrier couldn’t be created by an individual. It required immense manpower and resources.

Zeon stepped toward the building.

Suddenly, heavily armed men appeared.

Among them, one stood out—a massive man with a huge machine gun attached to one arm.

An Awakener who had replaced his arm with machinery.

A terrifying aura radiated from him.

He pointed the gun at Zeon.

“This is a restricted area. Kid, no one enters without permission.”

“I was sent by old man Clexi.”

Without hesitation, Zeon handed over the black card.

As the man infused mana into it, an eye symbol appeared on the surface.

Instantly, his attitude changed to one of respect.

Returning the card, he said,

“So you’re a guest of honor. You may enter.”

“A guest of honor?”

“Please, go inside.”

The man jerked his chin toward the inside of the building.

Zeon gave up on getting an answer and stepped forward.

As he got closer to the door, he could feel a dense web of mana.

Just as he had guessed, a barrier had been set up.

The moment he arrived, the mana web disappeared.

Everything else remained intact—only a space just large enough for Zeon to pass through vanished.

As soon as he stepped inside, the barrier restored itself as if nothing had happened.

Once he crossed the barrier and entered the building, an entirely different world unfolded before him.

The interior was packed with countless shops—far beyond anything outside. The aisles were crowded with people shopping for goods.

At a glance, none of them looked like ordinary people.

They were all either Awakeners or individuals carrying weapons.

With cautious expressions, they bargained with merchants or examined items.

Only then did Zeon realize what this place was.

“A goblin market…”

There had been rumors circulating in the slums.

They spoke of a black market called the Goblin Market, where Awakeners operating in the slums bought and sold goods.

Zeon had heard the rumors too, but he had never cared.

He had been too busy just trying to survive each day.

A place where the unauthorized could never enter.

The Goblin Market was a kind of neutral zone.

Even those who waged brutal wars over control of the slums had to abide by its laws.

Anyone who broke those laws would become the enemy of every organization in the slums.

No one knew who managed the Goblin Market, but it was clear that whoever it was held immense power.

Even though Zeon was a stranger, no one paid him any attention. Thanks to that, he was able to walk around freely.

The first thing that caught his eye was a weapon shop.

From cold weapons like swords and spears to firearms and even cannons, everything was lined up on display.

Firearms weren’t very effective against magical beasts, but they were extremely efficient when dealing with other humans.

That was why organizations like Red Skull frequently purchased them.

Since Awakeners weren’t that common, they armed ordinary people with guns instead.

Awakeners, on the other hand, generally preferred cold weapons.

Some combined machinery with their bodies and used it like an extension of themselves, but such individuals were rare.

Zeon simply passed by the weapon shop.

Since he used sand as his weapon, none of it was particularly useful to him.

Past the weapon shop, he came across a store selling magical beast corpses.

There were people outside selling such things as well, but the quality here was on an entirely different level.

Zeon’s eyes lit up with interest.

‘An Ironclad Rhinoceros corpse. They got that here?’

The massive beast lying on the worktable was clearly an Ironclad Rhinoceros—a D-rank magical beast.

It possessed immense defense and attack power.

If it charged with that huge body and horn, even an armored bus would be torn apart like paper.

It was difficult for a single individual to hunt, so it was usually taken down by parties.

What surprised Zeon was that this creature didn’t inhabit this region.

It was something you’d only find in the southern desert, far from Neo Seoul.

Moreover, despite its size, it wasn’t particularly valuable.

There was no reason to go all the way to the southern desert just to hunt one.

It was more likely they had encountered it by chance.

‘So Ironclad Rhinoceroses have expanded their territory near Neo Seoul? The shift in magical beast habitats is affecting even this place.’

Even the pack of Flame Wolves he had encountered before entering Neo Seoul wasn’t something normally found nearby.

It was clear that due to a chain migration of habitats, magical beasts were expanding their territories closer to the city.

That was definitely not a good sign.

The timing didn’t sit well with him either—this happening right when he arrived in Neo Seoul.

‘Hopefully nothing serious happens.’

Zeon passed the shop selling beast corpses and went deeper inside.

The further he went, the more diverse the items became.

The world had turned into a desert, yet it was astonishing how they had gathered such a variety of goods.

Zeon examined everything one by one.

There were many items, but nothing particularly tempted him.

His subspace storage already held items far more valuable than anything here.

If he revealed even one of them, the entire Goblin Market would be thrown into chaos.

Just then—

One particular item caught his eye.

It was a metal device about the height of an adult.

It looked like a miniature pyramid and emitted a strange field of mana.

As Zeon approached out of curiosity, the shopkeeper came over.

“It’s a fine item. Buy one, and you won’t regret it.”

“What is it?”

“A small-scale mana generator. It converts the mana from magic stones into electricity.”

“Something like that exists?”

“Have you been living in another colony? Neo Seoul itself runs on mana generators, doesn’t it? This is the same thing—just smaller and slightly less efficient.”

Mana generators were already commercialized items.

All devices in Neo Seoul ran on electricity extracted from magic stone generators.

However, they weren’t very efficient and were extremely expensive, so not many people sought them out.

To run one properly, you’d need to pour in large quantities of mined magic stones or high-quality ones obtained from magical beasts.

But people in the slums simply couldn’t afford that.

Even for the merchant, it was something of a burden.

He had smuggled it out of Neo Seoul with difficulty, but no one was buying it.

At the same time, it was too troublesome to keep holding onto it.

So he wanted to offload it quickly to some fool.

“If you buy it, I’ll let it go for 30,000 Sol. That’s practically a steal. What do you think?”

30,000 Sol was enough to buy 30 kilograms of magic stones.

Few people in the slums could afford such a price.

You’d need to lead at least an organization to even consider it.

The merchant knew that, but he decided to try his luck with Zeon anyway.

Zeon looked at the generator for a moment before speaking.

“I’ll consider it if you give it to me for 10,000 Sol.”

“What? Are you insane? Do you have any idea how valuable this is?”

“Then I won’t buy it.”

Zeon turned away without hesitation.

The merchant hurriedly called out.

“25,000 Sol!”

“15,000 Sol.”

“No way! I wouldn’t even recover the transport costs at that price. 23,000 Sol.”

“17,000 Sol. That’s my limit.”

“This is ridiculous. Do you even have the money?”

In response, Zeon smiled and pulled out a magic stone.

It was one he had obtained after killing an unknown magical beast some time ago.

Its radiant glow was on a completely different level from ordinary mined stones.

The quantity and quality of mana it contained were overwhelming.

The merchant instantly recognized its value.

‘That’s worth at least 20,000 Sol.’

At that level, it wasn’t a loss.

He could resell it at a higher price anyway.

“Alright! I’ll trade it for the magic stone.”

“Come now, you seem like a knowledgeable man. Something like this could fetch at least 20,000 Sol. Throw in one more item.”

“You’re unbelievable. A real viper, you know that?”

The merchant shook his head in exasperation.

Zeon simply smiled.

“So… deal?”

“Deal!”