Dungeon King: The Hidden Ruler-Chapter 80: [The Clean Coin Syndicate 3] Silent Design

The moonlight in Silkpetal Crescent was constant—neither harsh nor weak, but suspended in a gentle silver hue. In Lunareth Vale, the skies never truly darkened. The radiance was ambient, humming across stone arches and floating fabric signs that advertised custom charms, spell-threaded cloaks, and artisan rings. Soft music drifted from unseen sources, a polite chorus of string and wind instruments carefully balanced by the zone’s audio design.

Raven and Theo sat beneath a flowering glass tree. It shimmered in moonlight and flickered with low-tier enchantment pulses. Nearby, a few players walked in slow circles, stopping occasionally to chat with vendors who didn’t raise their voices. Silkpetal Crescent didn’t do sales pitches. If you wanted something here, you found it yourself.

Catria turns around and approaches them quietly.

She didn’t walk with hesitation—but she didn’t make eye contact either. Just approached the bench, sat at the edge, and kept her hands folded in her lap.

Raven watched her.

Young. Timid. Careful.

He remembered the sentence she dropped before turning away earlier:

"Every time I try to make something real, people either laugh or don’t look at all. So now I just make things no one needs."

It was the kind of line that stuck with you. Not dramatic. Just honest. Something in it told him she wasn’t used to being valued. That was enough reason to build in extra safety—because even now that she’d agreed, she might still disappear.

So he would test her first.

"Thanks for the prolonged talk," Raven said calmly.

Catria gave a small nod.

Theo, ever casual, leaned forward on the bench. "You okay working out here? Crescent’s quiet, but public."

"It’s fine," she said softly. "I like quiet."

Raven opened his interface and brought up the guild storage menu. A moment later, a trade window popped into view in front of her.

"We own steady streams of materials from five dungeons," he said. "Everything inside them? Ours. That means materials. Boss drops. Alchemical components. And five is just the beginning."

He sent her the list:

Bone Ruins (Basic monster parts)Goblin Lair (Mineral alchemy reagents)Veilshade Catacombs (Abyssium Ore – rare forging mineral)Emberstone Burrow (Fire-aligned gear parts and forge relics)Thornspine Estate (Poison/potion crafting, plant-based armor)

"Your test," Raven continued, "is to pick three materials. Then another three. Then one more set. Use each group to craft a yellow-grade item. Armor or weapon. No restrictions beyond that."

Theo added, "We’re not grading you on style. Just output. And stability."

Catria gave another nod. Her posture hadn’t changed—but there was a spark in her eyes now. A glimmer that hadn’t been there before.

Raven noticed it immediately. The way she leaned forward slightly. The way her fingers hovered over the interface, not fidgeting, but preparing.

She didn’t speak, but she opened the material preview window and started sorting.

First, she dismissed the Bone Ruins and Goblin Lair entirely.

"Beginner tier," she muttered quietly. "Too much refining work. Unstable base yield."

Theo tilted his head. "She just skipped half the list."

Raven didn’t say anything. He watched.

She paused over the Embersteel Core, pulled from Emberstone Burrow—fire-infused metal, ideal for thermal resistance builds. Then the Branded Sigil, another relic from the same dungeon, known to enhance survivability against flame-aligned enemies. Finally, she selected Abyssium Ore from the Veilshade Catacombs—a rare forging mineral known for high-tier void weaponry.

She combined the three in a theoretical fusion preview. Watched the stress indicators, recalibrated. Balanced thermal alignment against structural density.

Then locked it.

"Tank-class plate. Fire and void hybrid. Good for raid defense."

For the second set, she selected the Creeperfang Core from Thornspine Estate—predator-grade material used in bleed weapons. She added Toxinroot Resin, common among the estate’s poisonous mobs, and Widowthorn Fiber, a rare and reactive thread known to enhance poison handling and agility in light armor.

"Lightweight weapon. Prioritize bleed chaining over raw damage."

Her third pick began with the Bloomspore Husk, a volatile container dropped by the cursed flora inside Thornspine Estate. She followed it with Spinal Bloom, an epic drop from Lady Ostreva herself, and completed the trio with Arcane Binder, a common stabilizing agent sourced from alchemical vendors.

"Trinket. Converts poison DoT into gradual mana regen. Focus: support hybrid."

Theo watched all this unfold. He scratched his head. "Wait... why isn’t she using all red-tier material? Aren’t those the best?"

Catria didn’t look up. She was already crafting the blueprint.

Theo turned to Raven. "Is that a mistake?"

Raven narrowed his eyes. "No. She’s using perfect ratios. The red-tier stuff’s powerful, but volatile. You use that when you’re desperate or trying to flex. She’s building for stability."

He leaned back slightly, still watching the preview. "She’s not chasing output spikes. She’s engineering."

Catria awkwardly stood up from the bench, brushing her hands against her sides.

"I need to use the public crafter. I finished the blueprint," she said, her voice still quiet.

Raven nodded with a faint smile. "Take your time." fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

She turned and started walking, then half-jogged toward the nearest crafting pavilion tucked beneath a marble archway.

She didn’t mean to run. But she couldn’t hold back the smile rising to her face.

Did that sharp-eyed player notice? Maybe.

She didn’t care.

Because for the first time in a long while, she felt something real.

I’ve always dreamed of a place where I belong, she thought.

It hadn’t always been this way. She used to dream of being seen—of having a name in the design world. She applied to fashion school three years in a row—once each year after graduating high school. Rejected every time. Her school grades were mediocre. She’d never been the brightest girl in her class—just a quiet filler in a room full of students ready to take their place in society. No support system.

She tried part-time jobs but couldn’t keep them. Social situations exhausted her. Deadlines crushed her. She stopped replying to messages. She stopped leaving the house.

Her parents tried to help. At first with concern, then with frustration. Then with quiet resignation. Hikikomori, they said. A shut-in.

She’d stopped listening long ago. Even to them.

She relied on their support just to get by. Rent, food, everything. And every time she looked at her reflection, the word that echoed wasn’t "designer."

It was failure.

Not just failure in life, but the kind that quietly drains others—money, time, patience. A failure that leeches off her parents and has nothing to show for it. No job. No direction. No future. Just silence behind a closed door.

So she escaped into the only world where no one asked questions: a game.

She didn’t play to win. She didn’t care about raids, rankings, or loot drops.

She crafted strange items and sold them to NPCs. Because NPCs never judged. Because it was safer to make things no one needed—than to risk making something that someone might hate.

But now... someone saw.

And she was happy.

Not just because someone recognized her work for the first time. But because—maybe, just maybe—she saw a way to stand on her own.

And it didn’t take long.

Just a few hours later, Raven received a message.

[Catria]: Where should I deliver them?

Theo leaned over, still working on the guild market pricing for the poison and potion drop from Thornspine Estate. "Tell her to bring it to Frayed Ledger. Let’s keep it formal."

Raven forwarded the location to Frayed Ledger guild.

House Seravin loomed like a monument from another age.

Built into the cliffs of Serravelle Verge, it wasn’t just a mansion—it was a city-sized relic of legacy and bloodline politics. Ancient bridges stretched from its towers to cliffside gardens. Enchanted banners drifted on winds that never changed. Players passed through its public zones, but the deeper wings were locked to registered residents.

Frayed Ledger’s stall sat inside a quieter section—a refurbished noble storage hall reclassified as a merchant guild room. High ceilings, polished blackstone tiles, and private trading interfaces.

Catria walked in.

Still quiet. Still plain. But this time, she walked like she knew where she was going.

She opened the guild trade panel and placed three items.

Yellow-grade. Stable. All unique.

[Item 1: Voidfire Aegis]

Type: Heavy Chestplate (Yellow Grade)

Materials: Embersteel Core, Branded Sigil, Abyssium Ore

Effect: +25% Fire Resistance, +15% Void Damage Mitigation

Passive: When hit by fire or void damage, generates a 5s shield that absorbs up to 8% of max HP (20s cooldown).

Flavor Text: "Forged in heat, anchored in void. Built for those who stand between two infernos."

[Item 2: Bloodpetal Fang]

Type: One-Handed Rapier (Yellow Grade)

Materials: Creeperfang Core, Toxinroot Resin, Widowthorn Fiber

Effect: +8% Attack Speed, +10% Bleed Duration

Passive: Every third critical hit applies "Petal Bloom" – a bleed that stacks twice and causes enemies to take +4% poison damage for 6s.

Flavor Text: "It cuts, it poisons, and it never forgets your scent."

[Item 3: Bloomwake Loop]

Type: Accessory (Yellow Grade – Charm Slot)

Materials: Bloomspore Husk, Spinal Bloom, Arcane Binder

Effect: +12% Poison Resistance, +3 Mana Regen per 5s

Passive: For every active poison DoT on the wearer, gain +1.5 mana per second instead of taking damage. (Cap: 3 stacks)

Flavor Text: "Let the poison bloom; I’ll breathe it into power."

Theo leaned in and scanned them one by one. "These don’t even look like test runs."

Raven checked the item data. "They’re not."

Theo exhaled slowly. Then whistled. He didn’t smile—but his hands moved quickly. Within a minute, he was carving off profits from the next sales cycle and funneling them into expansion slots.

He opened the guild panel.

[Purchased: Crafting Wing Expansion I]

[Purchased: Crafter’s Enclave Kit – Full Station Bundle]

Then he looked up at her.

"We don’t do contracts. But we do commitment. We just paid out of pocket to expand crafting space and install every station type available."

Raven said nothing, but stood slightly behind Theo—silent, steady.

Theo continued. "Joining the guild is optional, but if you do, you’ll have access to every tool. These crafter sets are yours to use personally, and the guild warehouse is always open if you need —."

He didn’t get to finish.

The guild interface pinged.

[New Member Request: Catria]

Catria stood still, trying not to smile. Her mouth twitched once.

Theo grinned. "Alright. Guess that settles it."

Theo tapped the edge of the trading panel. "Normally, payment comes after the item sells. But this was a trial run, so—upfront split."

He opened the market overview, listed the three items into guild rotation, then pulled up the sales projection tool.

"Thirty percent of projected base, minus stall cut," he said, as his fingers tapped through the values. A clean number highlighted in green.

Count 30% exactly of that number.

Theo transferred the amount directly from the guild fund.

Catria blinked when the notification popped into her system window.

Raven smiled. "You need a guide on how to cash that out?"

She gave a shy little grin. "Well, yes..."

Raven chuckled and pulled up the game’s financial guide, scrolling to the crypto payout section. He sent her a DM with the link.

"There you go. Steps are simple. But first, you’ll need to link or create a crypto wallet—or pick the direct-to-bank transfer option."

"Thanks!" she said brightly—and instantly vanished. Logging off.

Theo blinked. "That was fast."

Seconds later, she reappeared beside them. Relogging again.

"Uhm. Sorry. I was... well. If you ever need anything crafted, just DM me the material list, okay?"

Theo laughed. "You didn’t hear me? These crafting sets and crafter wings are yours girl! That thing cost the guild a fortune. And feel free to check into the guild warehouse for materials. You’re a member now, so don’t waste it."

Catria laughed too, cheeks faintly red. "Okay. Thanks. See ya!"

She gave a quick wave and disappeared again, logging off again.

Raven watched her go. Then turned slightly, arms folded, his expression shifting into his usual calculative calm.

"We’re ready now."

Theo’s demeanor changed too. He met Raven’s gaze, his tone low and serious.

"Yeah. We’re ready."

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