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.