After his mother arrived, Daniel did everything he could to hide what had happened to Alice as much as possible.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly. Liana didn't press much, and the night passed peacefully. Daniel collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep.
Tomorrow, he had to go see August and then plan when to enter the Celestial Domain again.
He woke up to the sunlight, took a shower, had breakfast with Alice and his mother, said goodbye to them, and headed to the Awakened Association.
Alice seemed completely fine. She didn't show the slightest sign of fear or depression. On top of that, the academy had declared a day off today.
Still, Daniel didn't let his guard down. She had seen three of her friends die—how could she be completely okay?
That's why he decided that after finishing his business with the head of the Awakened Association, he'd take his sister out, have some fun, and try to talk to her.
It didn't take long for Daniel to reach the Association. After parking his car, he headed straight to August's office.
Knock knock!
"Come in," August's voice came from inside. Without hesitation, Daniel opened the door and entered the room.
"Welcome, please have a seat."
Daniel greeted him and then sat down on the chair.
"You've really exceeded my expectations, kid. Reaching a level where you can clear a Blue-ranked dungeon this quickly…" August smiled and looked at Daniel with admiration.
"I didn't really do anything special. In the end, three students died," Daniel replied, shaking his head. He didn't want to exaggerate what he'd done and end up on the news again.
"They were already dead before you got there, so there's no need to blame yourself. Besides, you're the first to actually pull something like this off—don't downplay your achievement," August countered.
He had lived a long life and seen many geniuses, but Daniel was different. You couldn't even call him a genius—he was more like a monster.
Across all countries and governments, no one had ever heard of a D-rank clearing a Blue-ranked dungeon. If the National Federation found out, God knows what they'd do to recruit this kid.
"Oh, and since you cleared a Blue-ranked dungeon, you'll naturally be paid for it. I've told the finance team to transfer the money by the end of the week."
"Thanks. And… how much?" Daniel asked, his eyes lighting up. Although he still hadn't used up the money he earned from clearing the Colosseum dungeon, who would say no to more money?
"It was a Blue-ranked dungeon, so it should be between 1 and 99 million Zen. Once the assessments are done, the exact amount will be deposited into your account," August replied.
"So, what brings you here today?" he then sipped from his coffee and asked with a smile.
"I need a weapon. Preferably B-rank or A-rank. Even better if it's S-rank," Daniel said seriously.
"A B-rank weapon, and preferably S-rank, huh?" August scratched his beard a bit.
"You better give up on an S-rank. The cheapest ones go for at least 7 billion Zen in auctions. You can't afford it. Even A-rank weapons cost hundreds of millions of Zen."
"As for B-rank weapons, with the money you'll get from the Blue-ranked dungeon, you might be able to buy an average B-rank one." August thought for a moment, then explained.
"That much?" Daniel's mind went blank for a second.
Seven billion Zen for a weapon? Who in their right mind would pay that much just for a weapon? He wasn't even willing to pay a few hundred million.
"Yeah, weapons above B-rank aren't sold normally. They're pretty much exclusive—unless they show up in auctions, and even then, they're insanely expensive."
Daniel nodded. He didn't have that kind of money, nor was he willing to pay that much.
"There's another option—you could join the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering," August suddenly said.
"Oh? Dragon and Phoenix Gathering?" Daniel murmured with surprise.
"Yeah. It's a tournament for the younger generation to determine the strongest among them. Third place gets one request, second place gets two, and first place gets three requests from the National Federation."
"You could easily request an S-rank weapon from them—and they'd give it to you, assuming you win," August explained.
"I see. What are the conditions and when is it held?" Daniel asked.
The rewards were definitely tempting. Three requests from the National Federation for first place? With that kind of reward, you could practically do anything.
"The exact date isn't set yet, but it should be in 4 to 6 months. To participate, you need to be at least B-rank and at most A-rank."
"I'll think about it. If I can reach B-rank by then, I'll definitely participate," Daniel said gratefully.
He'd likely be able to reach B-rank in 4 months, and probably gain the power to compete with A-rank Awakened.
But that was still a while away. He had time to think about it. Right now, what he needed was a weapon.
"Good. With your talent, getting into the top three shouldn't be hard," August said with a smile.
"Anyway, when are you planning to challenge the second floor?" he asked after taking another sip of coffee.
"No plans for now. I'm waiting until I reach C-rank. I want to use the second floor to reach B-rank," Daniel replied.
"I'd suggest you don't delay too much between clearing the floors. At some point, the only way to rank up will be the Tower," the head of the Awakened Association sighed and said.
After that, they talked about a few other things—like the possibility of Daniel and his family moving to the capital. August suggested that Daniel should save up a lot of money before moving, since the capital was extremely expensive.
He also advised Daniel to consider joining a guild. With his talent, no one would try to limit him. On the contrary, they'd do everything to keep him happy.
Hearing that, Daniel seriously started thinking—if he were to join a guild, he wanted it to be one of the strongest in the world.
Afterward, he said goodbye and went to the Dungeon Loot Department. He had a lot of Lizardman corpses to sell.
"I didn't expect a monster like him in this generation," August muttered as he looked outside the window.
"So, what now? I did what you asked—I tested the limits of that kid," he then turned to the young man sitting in the chair.
The man had a face similar to Kaelos and Aron, but he was slightly more handsome than both.
"He's got talent worthy of joining the Organization. I'll report the results," the young man said in a cold tone.
"Was it really necessary to take things this far? Three innocent students died," August sighed and asked.
"It was necessary."