Demonic Pornstar System novel Chapter 135

Chapter 135: Desert Monsters

"Are we in a sauna? We must be in a sauna..." Luna grumbled while airing her armor out to the best of her abilities. Gamer girls were not meant to endure the scorching desert heat.

"At least you’re wearing light armor... I’m gonna die," Nyx decreed in a matter of factly tone. She and Kaiden were the only ones in medium armor.

"Come on, girls, it’s not that bad..." Aria said cheerily, attempting to help the mood. Instead of achieving her goal, she only succeeded in eliciting two heads snapping in her direction. Nyx and Luna scoffed in sync when they saw the comfy mage robes that adorned her body.

"Hypocrite Princess..." they cursed under their breaths in perfect unison.

"Would you like some water?" Elara asked as she reached into one of the four bags strapped to her. The largest bag, which was nearly as tall as she was, hung on her back. The second was slung across her stomach, while the final two rested on her sides.

The two girls gratefully accepted the bottles of water and gulped them down eagerly. After finishing, they poured what little water was left over their heads to cool off.

Thankfully, they didn’t need to be sparing with water because not only did the guild have magically cooled containers full of water at the camp, but the oasis acted as a freshwater source as well. Lack of water would only be troublesome once they left the oasis behind as they could only bring what they could carry on them, forced to leave the large coolers behind.

"You’re really strong, Elara. What’s your Strength stat?"

Kaiden’s question met with her usual adorable "Umm..." sound before she gathered her bearings to reply properly. "24."

"Hoh? I’m surprised. No wonder you carry those big bags so easily."

Before she could address his words, it was Nyx who spoke up. "Are you from that company? What was their name again? Titanforge?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"What’s that?" Aria, who wasn’t overly educated in the world of the awakened as she was busy with her non-awakened duties before meeting Kaiden, asked.

The knowledgeable, pink-haired beauty was happy to offer her information. "Titanforge is a company that trains F-tier awakened, or those who don’t wish to be combatants but still want to participate in dungeon clearings. Their trainees receive help from stronger combatants to reach level 5, and they invest all gained points into the Strength stat. Furthermore, they receive proper education in dungeon matters that a person in a support role like theirs should be aware of, such as which ores to mine. Lastly, they also receive physical training to increase their natural Strength and Endurance stats, allowing them to carry incredible weights for long distances and mine with eye-popping speed and efficiency."

"And once a trainee finishes their training?"

"Before being accepted into Titanforge as a trainee, you must sign a contract with them. Once the training has concluded, guilds can purchase their contracts for 10 Chronos, which will bind the dungeon aide to work for the customer guild for the next decade. Furthermore, 30% of their salary in that time duration goes to Titanforge."

"What the hell?!" Luna shouted with outrage. Kaiden and Aria were also shocked. If Elara wasn’t present, they would’ve called this practice straight-up slavery.

"Yeah, I know..." Nyx said with a sad sigh. "The government doesn’t know what to do. People want to work as dungeon aides because the pay is better than what most of them could earn in the world of non-awakened, but most guilds don’t want to hire nor train dungeon aides, thinking it to be a waste of time. Furthermore, guilds don’t want to employ level 1 awakened to act as aides due to the dungeons’ capacity limit. If Elara and the other three aides weren’t as capable as they are, we would’ve needed like twelve people to do their work, meaning only eight combatants could enter alongside the group of aides.

To smaller guilds, paying 10 Chronos and then a salary of something in the range of $3,000 a month is much more worthwhile than training their own aides from scratch. The biggest guilds do have the resources to train their aides, but they’re often E or even higher-tier awakened who can double in as combatants should the need arise. Anyways, long story short: the government right now is turning a blind eye to this practice. They don’t endorse it, but no penalties have been given to companies like Titanforge nor the guilds who employ the aides."

Throughout Nyx’s explanation, Elara’s expression turned more dejected by the second. Kaiden and co felt troubled about it all. It was a moral gray area. Elara looked to be around 16 years old. If she was ready to dive into dungeons with only a pickaxe at her side, then life must’ve been truly trying for her.

A salary of $3,000, or more accurately the ~$2,100 that would remain after Titanforge’s cut, could be their best opportunity to provide for themselves and their loved ones, especially considering most guilds offered free accommodation and meals for their members in their buildings.

It was easy to call Titanforge the big bad, and they were most certainly horrible, exploitative sons of bitches, but they also presented opportunities to people in need.

"HHRRAAAGGHHH...!" A dry, guttural roar sounded all of a sudden, bringing them out of their stupor.

<Desert Mummy - Level 8>

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