Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]

Chapter 290

Zeon asked Brielle.

“Is it for Gaia?”

“She’s a spirit, isn’t she? I thought giving her an item with elemental attributes might help.”

“You really like Gaia, don’t you?”

“Yep!”

Brielle nodded without a hint of hesitation.

Seeing her bright smile, Zeon felt relieved.

Though it had only been three days since Gaia arrived, the shadows that had once darkened Brielle’s expression had completely disappeared.

Gaia, too, seemed happy to have Brielle as a friend.

If Gaia saw Zeon as a guardian, Brielle was someone with whom she could share a deep, soulful connection.

‘Maybe it was fate for these two to meet.’

Seeing how much Brielle liked Gaia, Zeon couldn’t help but feel pleased as well.

At that moment, Yoo Se-hee spoke up.

“So, what’s Gaia? A new friend?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“Ugh! Not like I care about your friends anyway.”

Yoo Se-hee snorted, glaring at Zeon.

“So why are you here?”

“Oh, I’ve got something I want to sell.”

“Really?”

“But it’s not something I can show here.”

“Then let’s go to my office.”

“Sure.”

Hearing their exchange, Levin and Brielle chimed in.

“Hyung, you go talk to the union leader. I’ll take this chance to look around the Goblin Market.”

“I’ll check if there’s anything I need too.”

“Alright, see you both later.”

With that, Zeon parted ways with Levin and Brielle and headed to Yoo Se-hee’s office.

The moment they entered, Yoo Se-hee smiled and teased.

“So, what brings our Sand Mage to visit me so discreetly?”

“I need you to sell this.”

Zeon opened his subspace and pulled out several mana stones.

“What is this…”

As she examined the mana stones, Yoo Se-hee’s eyes widened in disbelief.

The mana stones Zeon had brought were anything but ordinary.

They were from a Gray Ogre and a Giant Spider—creatures whose mana stones were rarely seen.

The immense amount of mana radiating from the stones was almost overwhelming.

“These are… A-rank beast mana stones, aren’t they?”

“Yes.”

“Where did you even get these?”

“Got lucky.”

“Lucky, my foot. If luck alone could get someone A-rank mana stones, I’d spend all day staring at the ground. Seriously, how did you get these?”

“I told you, I was lucky.”

“Ugh, fine! If you don’t want to tell me, I won’t ask. So, you want me to sell these for you?”

“Yes.”

Yoo Se-hee fiddled with one of the Gray Ogre mana stones as she remarked,

“A-rank beast mana stones don’t often hit the market, so they’ll fetch a high price. Even without us, you’d get good value. But I’m guessing you want to stay out of the spotlight?”

“Sharp as always.”

“Well, we’ve known each other long enough. Fine, we’ll take care of it.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s just business. You know we’ll take a commission, right?”

“Of course.”

Zeon answered readily, which made Yoo Se-hee chuckle.

“Refreshing as ever. You’re nothing like that uptight little elf brat. Why is she so money-hungry anyway? She’s barely a kid, and she’s already obsessed with making a profit. By the way, who’s Gaia?”

“I’ll be heading out now.”

“Not staying longer?”

“I’m thinking of taking a stroll around the Goblin Market myself.”

“Alright, off you go.”

With that, Zeon stepped out of her office.

Now that he’d successfully handed over the A-rank mana stones, his primary objective was complete.

It was time to enjoy the Goblin Market.

The vibrant scene was just as he remembered.

Merchants shouted to attract customers, and shoppers haggled fiercely, raising their voices as tempers flared. Occasionally, fights broke out, prompting the guards to rush in and break them up.

Even the chaos felt oddly entertaining.

At times, Neo Seoul or the slums felt suffocating, but watching the lively market lifted his spirits.

The bustling trade was proof that civilization still thrived.

The use of currency instead of bartering was a luxury unimaginable in other colonies or fortresses.

‘Do these people even realize how blessed Neo Seoul is? How extraordinary it is that a place like this exists?’

Those who benefit the most often fail to see how fortunate they are.

Leisurely, Zeon wandered through the market, browsing for anything he might need.

After circling the market once, he realized there was nothing he truly wanted.

Not that he’d expected much—most items here paled in comparison to what he had stored in his subspace.

“Well, I guess it’s time to head back.”

However, Brielle and Levin were nowhere to be seen. It seemed they’d found something interesting in one of the shops.

Zeon sat on a wooden bench nearby and decided to wait for them.

After about thirty minutes, Levin appeared with a group of boys his age.

“Hyung!”

“Yeah?”

“You remember my friends, right?”

Levin introduced the boys to Zeon.

“Ah, it’s been a while. How’ve you all been?”

“Yes! Hello, sir!”

“It’s an honor to see you again.”

The boys bowed deeply, nearly folding themselves in half.

Zeon, taken aback, looked confused, prompting Levin to scold them.

“Stop that. Hyung doesn’t like that kind of thing.”

“But he’s Zeon-hyung…”

“Damn it! I said stop!”

To Levin’s friends, Zeon was a legend.

Even though they lived in the slums, they knew Zeon was an extraordinary Awakened—someone even Neo Seoul’s elites wouldn’t dare cross.

They all aspired to be like him.

Zeon found them endearing, but Levin’s expression remained serious.

“What’s with the look?”

“Well… these guys awakened recently.”

“Oh? Congratulations!”

“Aeron’s an E-rank Martial Artist, and Dominic is a D-rank Mage.”

“E and D-rank? That’s pretty good. So, what’s the problem?”

Zeon frowned, puzzled.

In a place like the slums, even not being F-rank was cause for celebration. Moreover, they hadn’t been forced to take up mechanized Awakening, which meant they were already ahead.

“The Awakening isn’t the issue—it’s that these idiots signed up for the Mana Stone Mine assault team.”

“What?”

“They’ve got no combat experience, yet they volunteered for such a dangerous mission.”

“That is a problem.”

Now, Zeon understood Levin’s troubled expression.

The Mana Stone Mine expedition was perilous. While Zeon had already encountered a Kraken there, the full extent of the threats surrounding the mine remained unknown.

Securing and defending the mine would undoubtedly cost many lives.

Levin gripped his head in frustration.

“These lunatics… I can’t believe they signed up for something like this without consulting me.”

“We thought it through!”

“When else would we get a chance to join an assault team? They told us we need experience, but where are newbies like us supposed to get it?”

Their flimsy excuses made Levin’s temper flare.

“So, you just volunteered for cannon fodder duty? Don’t you get it? They only took you to use as meat shields!”

Training inexperienced Awakeneds to become competent fighters required a significant investment of time and resources.

It was far more efficient to recruit Awakeneds from the slums who had already grown strong on their own.

There was only one reason why the assault team had accepted low-ranked, inexperienced Awakeneds like Aeron and Dominic.

They intended to use them as cannon fodder on the front lines.

Dominic, at least, had it a bit better as a D-rank Mage.

As a mage, he would likely stay in the relatively safer rear lines, casting spells from a distance.

But Aeron, who had to confront beasts head-on as a martial artist on the front lines, had a much higher chance of dying in his first battle.

The survival rate of martial Awakeneds deployed in their first fight was abysmal. If they had no prior combat experience, their chances of surviving were close to zero.

Aeron and Dominic were two of Levin’s closest friends, people he had grown up with since they were children.

When Levin lost his family to the serial killer, it was Aeron and Dominic who risked their lives to dig up crucial information.

The network of intelligence Levin built on his own would have been impossible without their help.

Because of this, Levin regarded the two more dearly than any of his other friends.

By some twist of fate, they both Awakened on the same day.

One became a martial artist, while the other Awakened as a mage.

Unfortunately, at that time, Levin had fallen into a deep burnout after avenging his family, shutting himself off from the world.

He had no idea they had Awakened until he ran into them at the Goblin Market.

Levin noticed something strange when he saw them purchasing items meant for Awakeneds.

At first, he dismissed the thought, but his relentless questioning forced them to come clean.

“You idiots! You’ve never even been inside a dungeon, and you signed up for the Mana Stone Mine assault team? Cancel it. Now!”

“We can’t. We’ve already signed the contract.”

“Don’t worry so much. We’re not pushovers.”

Even as they tried to brush it off, Levin’s frustration boiled over. He clutched his chest, as if swallowing a hundred yams whole, his insides churning.

“Damn it! Which team? We’re going there right now.”

“What are you going to do if we go?”

“Cancel the damn contract!”

“We can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because we want to get stronger.”

“What?”

“We want to be strong enough to be treated like people. Like you.”

“You two…?”

“We can’t just stay weak because we’re scared or inexperienced. If we do nothing, we’ll never grow. We want to be strong, like you, so we can live a life worth living. Not this endless grind of despair…”

“…”

Levin had no words for their response.

Like him, Aeron and Dominic were orphans.

Unlike Levin, who had lost his family later, they had been born into a world with nothing.

The slums were cruel to the weak, but they were merciless to orphans.

Naturally, they had grown up under even harsher conditions than Levin.

Their yearning for strength burned even brighter as a result.

They had simply hidden that desire all this time because they hadn’t yet Awakened.

“We’re sorry for volunteering without telling you. But we can’t back out now. Doing nothing would only make us regret it forever.”

“This time, we need you to understand. We thought long and hard before making this decision.”

Levin let out a heavy sigh at their words.

“Hah… What am I going to do with you two?”

After a long moment of thought, Levin turned to Zeon.

“Hyung!”

“Speak.”

“If we let them go on their own, they’ll die on the first day. I have to go with them.”

“Levin!”

“I can’t just let them throw their lives away. They’ve helped me more times than I can count. It’s my turn to help them now. Please, don’t stop me.”

Seeing the determination in Levin’s expression, Zeon clicked his tongue and replied,

“I won’t stop you.”

“Really?”

“But I’ll make sure they grow stronger first.”

“Huh? How?”

“By putting them through the wringer.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No. Just like I did with you in the dungeon…”

At Zeon’s words, Levin’s face went pale.

Meanwhile, Aeron and Dominic blinked, their innocent expressions showing they had no idea what was in store for them.

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]