With 3000 credits to his name, Nick felt a little disheartened as it was half what he was expecting to receive for turning in the corpse of the Awakened White Ox, but he could only sigh in resignation for the time being.
'3000 is still better than none.'
While he was given less than expected, what he had received would still be quite helpful to him.
With this money, he could finally pay this month's rent, which was something that was quite troubling to him over the last few weeks since he had graduated and entered the world of adulthood in the Beast Domain.
Before, even though he didn't have a job, he was able to support both himself and his sister through the government subsidies that he'd been granted as settlement for his mother and father's deaths — as they had both died in workplace accidents.
Unfortunately, the government would only send this money in until the eldest child, in this case Nick, turned 16 and became an Altered by entering the Beast Domain.
Naturally, with no job to his name, and hence no other way to earn enough money for him and his sister to survive, he had to resort to putting himself in even more danger by fighting more and more beasts.
His luck of killing the Awakened White Ox had relieved quite some stress off his shoulders, for now.
***
As he stepped out of the teleporter, Nick arrived back on the planet he called home, an Earth sized planet with a similar climate, called Terminus.
From what Nick could remember from his history lessons, this place was called as such because it sat at the boundary of the Federation's territory — outside of this star system was nothing but a boundless void for millions of light years.
He made his way over to the nearby Maglev station and deducted a single credit from his balance to catch a ride to the nearest station to his apartment, on the outskirts of the city.
'With this new Beast Armament dagger, I can start hunting more beasts, and hopefully increase by Soul Seed count to the max with Mundane Soul Seeds.'
Nick thought to himself.
If he filled up his Soul Seeds to the limit with Mundane Seeds, then he might just have a decent chance at taking it up a notch and starting to actively hunt Awakened beasts.
Soul Seeds can be switched out for a stronger counterpart anyway, so he wasn't worried about limiting his potential.
If he would be unable to change his Soul Seeds out, then he never would have considered this strategy.
In fact there would be no Mutant or Radiant Altered or even higher ranked people in the Federation if one would be stuck with their first Soul Seeds, unable to switch them out.
However, as Nick made his way into the courtyard oh his apartment, the sounds of sobbing reached his ears.
'This crying sounds familiar…'
Of course, it only took a second for Nick to realise who it was.
His worry heightened, and he quickly made his way around the corner, where the door to his apartment was situated.
"Luna, what's wrong!?"
Nick urged anxiously as he watched his younger sister crying by herself outside of their apartment.
She still wore her school uniform, and judging by the time, it seemed she had only finished school not too long ago.
But this only made Nick confused, why was she still standing outside then, and crying at that?
A bad feeling soon overcame Nick.
"Brother…"
The little girl, only 12 years old, seemed to regain some joy and composure when she heard the voice of her big brother call out to her.
But even then, her crying didn't stop. She pointed at the door to their apartment with a sullen face, tears still in her eyes.
Nick followed her finger with a sharp gaze, and his face sunk into a grimace when he came face to face with the culprit that made his sister cry.
On the door, a simple piece of paper was attached.
"EVICTION NOTICE."
Was what it read though.
Seeing this, Nick couldn't help but get angry. Why? Why was this happening to them? It wasn't like they were behind on payments or anything. Nick always paid on time, and it was only this month that he would have struggled to pay it if it weren't for him striking a bit of luck with the Awakened White Ox.
But even still, the month's rent wasn't due for another few days, so why was this eviction notice posted on his door??
Nick wanted answers, and coincidentally at that moment, the building manager happened to be walking around the corner in their general direction.
Nick had his suspicions that he was waiting for Nick to arrive the entire time, but there was no use in fretting over that fact.
"Manager Chen, what is the meaning of this?" Nick turned his attention to the middle aged fat man and forced his question out through gritted teeth.
"Didn't they teach you to read in school, boy? It says eviction notice. Or don't you know the meaning of that either?" Right off the bat, the middle aged man spat these words out with contempt.
Ever since they had moved into this building after their parents died, Nick didn't have a good relationship with building manager Chen, but the man never made his distaste for Nick so blatant.
Until now.
It became clear to Nick that he was just holding back his contempt the entire time, probably for the same reasons the eviction notice was posted.
"I know that, but it doesn't explain why it was posted. What right do you have to kick us out? I always pay the rent on time, and I've never caused trouble in this building." All Nick wanted as an answer, as it simply didn't make sense to him.
Although the times had changed thanks to the discovery of the Beast Domain, weaker people still had rights, and they couldn't just be taken advantage of so easily like this.
"Shut up! I don't give a damn what you think or of any resentments you may have. I've given the eviction notice so you have to comply with it. I'm already being kind by not making you pay for this month's rent, so be gone!"
However despite Nick's clearly displeased tone, Manager Chen didn't budge.
But before Nick could speak, the man continued.
"The Government subsidies have ended now that you're an adult. Meaning I'm no longer forced to provide housing to you rotten kids anymore, and at half the original price at that! You should be grateful I even allowed you to stay here these few years!"
A look of realisation crossed Nick's face at that moment.
So that was the reason. That was it? All because of some money? All because of one man's greed?