He handed Max the agreed-upon money and thanked him for the trade.

“Oh, one last question,” asked Max. “What’s the exchange rate between tower-zone currency and the U.S. dollar used in the outer-rim?”

The merchant snickered. “You boy ask the craziest questions. Thinking about taking a trip, are you? There’s no official exchange rate as the two currencies aren’t meant to mix. However, there are certain merchants—not me, mind you—who make deals in that area. It’s my understanding that one tower-zone copper coin is roughly equal to one U.S. dollar.”

Max couldn’t believe it.

He now had 22,364 copper coins in his pouch. Or, according to the merchant, $22,364 dollars. He’d earned that after two weeks of training. He ran the math in his head and realized he could be making a high six-figure salary if he just kept doing what he was doing. It would become super boring and tedious after a while, but it was a pretty insane amount of money for a sixteen year old boy like him to be making. It was an insane amount of money for anyone to be making!

This was another reason why being a climber was such a coveted position in society. It offered opportunities for vast sums of wealth; and this was only after Max had visited the floor above this one. For those climbers who went even further, the riches became even more beyond belief.

No wonder Sakura’s apartment was so nice, despite how untidy it was.

But as Max thought this all over, he suddenly had another question.

“Wait,” said Max.

“Yes?” said the merchant, growing increasingly annoyed with Max’s incessant questioning.

“What’s to stop wealthy families from just buying powerful monster cores and becoming incredibly powerful super fast?”

The man laughed. “Well, for one thing, there are laws against such practices in the tower-zone, especially when it comes to unranked and student climbers. It’s a severe enough rule to get someone barred from becoming a climber. The rule was put in place because it makes the testing phase of the climber academy more complicated and stacked in the favor of wealthy and powerful families, which then creates a problem in finding the best suited young climbers for the job.”

Max nodded. That made sense. “But—”

“But that doesn’t seem like enough of a reason to stop the rich and the powerful, does it?” smiled the merchant. “You’re right. The other reason why it’s not allowed is that it’s incredibly dangerous. Draining mana from a high-ranked core can potentially kill you. It works the same way as tower-sickness, overwhelming your body and atrophying your bones and blood vessels from the inside out.”

“But—”

“But what if the rich and powerful just gradually increased the monster cores and raised their mana affinity bit by bit?”

Max nodded. That’s exactly what he was going to ask.