Alan almost wished that someone stole the items out of the Vault, as it would eliminate all his money problems. He felt too scared to try to sell any one of the items, for various reasons, and Eve told him to hold onto them. Thus, into the Vault they went.
The next thing Alan did was proceed to the capsule station, saving his progress and spending the 29 points he had from his gifted ability on agility, keeping the other 416 ability points unspent. Perhaps it would prove prudent to spend the points on the Rogue abilities that decreased the cost of all further ability point purchases. Eve still cautioned against it, citing the fact that he was still in what might be considered the early stages of the game, and his levels would reach an equilibrium as deaths began to cause the loss of a hundred levels or more.
Finally, after all this was sorted out, Alan messaged Phantom, asking him about a communication device like the one Icewolf had mentioned. Alan quickly received a reply from Phantom, notifying Alan to meet him in his workshop. A short elevator ride later, Alan was face to face with the Knight.
Phantom looked up from the project he was working on, a redesign of some eye technology, smiling at Alan. “Welcome back. I see that your dungeon diving was very rewarding. You’re over a 100 levels higher than when I saw you last! Please notify me before any such operations in the future. I could be quite helpful in any of your endeavors, you know, and we were beginning to worry about you. I was preparing to spearhead a search and rescue team myself.”
“Um, right, sorry about that, it’s just that the opportunity presented itself,” Alan said looking at the floor, somewhat abashedly.
“Of course, of course!” Phantom said reassuringly. “I commend initiative, and in the future you will need to make decisions without my approval. I just think I should be consulted as your superior, as there are various artifacts and information located within the Abyss Labyrinth that the Black Rose guild is particularly interested in. You could have perhaps gained even more from your adventure.”
“Oh?” Alan asked, grinning. “Well, I actually brought back a few items that I acquired in my progression through the dungeon, and was wondering if you could help me evaluate their worth. If the guild is interested in buying them, that would be great.” He took out the clear, empty energy crystal, the dark green cube energy crystals and the two diagrams.
Phantom’s eyes lit up as soon as he saw the loot, picking up and examining each item as Alan took them out.
“Wow. These two dark green crystals are actually a key resource in turning ordinary psionic ability into technologic psionic ability, and I can say with certainty that the guild will buy them from you for 250k guild points each. That will pay for half your tuition to the Academy and solve your debt!” Phantom next picked up the two diagrams, looking at them closely.
“Now, these two diagrams aren’t as important to the guild, but I can say that I am personally interested them. As you have probably guessed, I may be able to use this eye diagram to weaponize our bionic-eyes, while the other could prove useful in other areas of research. Normally, I would say each would only go for about a few million credits, or 200-500k guild points, and only if you found the correct buyer.” Phantom looked up from the diagrams to study Alan, looking at him closely.
“Tell me, Alan, how did you manage to find this loot, and get past that impasse in the Abyss Labyrinth?”
“Well, um, I connected to the AI that was present within the impasse, which was actually a hub of sorts for the Abyss Labyrinth. The AI was one of many located throughout the facility, I believe. It was one of them that gave me that quest to restore power to the facility,” Alan explained. He and Eve had worked out a version of story that Alan could tell without mentioning the Predecessor, or the items he received from it.
As they were working out the details, Eve reminded Alan that the Black Rose guild knew his character information and quests when he first arrived, thus he should appear to not leave anything out.
“I then, um, found and battled the boss," Alain said. "Or, well, bosses as there were two golems. They dropped this loot. I then made my way back to the lift, and, well, here I am.” Alan smiled halfheartedly.
“Yes. And here you are. You know, that quest has actually stirred up quite a bit of controversy within the upper echelons of the guild lately. Quite a few are interested in pursuing it, as it seems to be a gamma rated quest, right beneath our feet. Did your exploration perhaps reveal further details about the quest?” Phantom asked.
“Um, sure, yeah,” Alan said, thinking fast. “Actually that’s part of what this other crystal is for. I found a number of them in the boss room, but only grabbed this one as I didn’t have space for any more. I’m supposed to figure out a way to recharge it and bring it back to the room, to help restore the systems. I also came across a map of sorts of the Abyss Labyrinth, or at least a large section of it.”
Phantom picked up the empty energy crystal, carefully placing it in a small containing device that zapped the crystal with small bolts of lightning.
“Interesting… This crystal seems to be capable of holding about as much energy as a modern starship, thus it will likely require millions of credits to fully recharge it. The AI that gave you this task didn’t happen to mention what, exactly, the reward would be, did they? Otherwise I’m not sure whether the guild will help you in this task. Before we proceed further, let me tell you why I’m bringing all this up.” Phantom pulled out a chair for Alan, sitting down on a table across from it. Alan carefully sat down, trying to avoid stepping on any of the metal pieces scattered on the floor.
“Like any other enterprising young recruit you’re probably wondering how you can advance to Knight rank. Normally, you complete a series of three tasks, your training. Not only does the rank of Knight come with prestige and a larger salary, but you also begin to earn a percentage of the net income of the guild itself. A fraction of a fraction of a percent, of course, but if the guild pulls off a large mission, that can mean a windfall of millions of credits. That's one of the reasons the guild has such a unique and fluid leadership, we all want the guild to do well, as we are all owners, of a sort.
“There are many annoying responsibilities associated with the rank, but you’re still quite a ways from reaching that point. Based upon the information you’ve given me, if you are willing to transfer to me the map of the Abyss Labyrinth you’ve acquired, in addition to the diagrams, I think we can count this as a completion of your first task. It may be a bit strange as I never even assigned this task to you, but I’m confident that this is information the guild is interested in. I think I can get you 500k guild points, plus a 100k bonus for the completion of the task. That will not only completely pay for your tuition to the Academy, but also give you 100k guild points left over to pay off your debt. Also, I’ll make sure the guild throws in a bag for you, what do you say?” Phantom looked at Alan, grinning.
Alan wished he had Eve, to determine whether or not this deal was as good as it sounded. Still, when they had discussed earlier what the loot was worth in total, Eve had estimated 500k guild points, max. Thus, Alan readily agreed to the deal, although it took him a few minutes to locate the map of the Abyss labyrinth within Eve’s data. In the meantime, Phantom took Alan's armor and put it into the Foundry, pushing a few buttons.