Chapter 42
Looking at the beautiful receptionist in front of him, who could barely maintain her professional smile, Michael couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
“I’m not really good with new faces, so I prefer to talk with familiar people,” Michael tried to explain.
“I understand,” the receptionist replied, then added with a teasing tone, “I’m just a little taken aback to see you three days in a row, sir.” She emphasized three days in a row.
Michael could only continue to smile bitterly.
The receptionist was the same one he had interacted with over the past three days. He knew she was subtly teasing him.
Perhaps if she weren’t older than him and he hadn’t come strictly for business, women with imaginative minds might have spun some quality taboo novels from their interactions.
Of course, in reality, the receptionist was just surprised.
As a professional, she wasn’t supposed to be overly casual with clients, but their brief exchanges had made her a bit more familiar with Michael. From her observations, she knew he wouldn’t mind.
“May I ask what your purpose for coming here today is, sir?” she asked, resuming her professional tone.
Michael got back to business as well.
“I’d like to know if there are any available cracks I can enter right now,” he said seriously.
Maintaining her composure, the receptionist responded, “Since it’s only been a few days since you’ve awakened, I believe you’re still a level 1 member, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Then, as a level 1 member, you only have access to level 1 and level 2 dimensional cracks, which coincidentally are the only ones we have here in Woodstone City. All which are also corrupted cracks”
“Can I ask which one is closest?” Michael inquired, his main concern showing.
He only had about three hours left before his daily Evolution Points refreshed.
If he wanted to accumulate more than four a day without waiting another day, he needed to contract more undead within this time frame.
As long as the closest crack wasn’t the level 2 dimensional crack he’d heard about—which still bore a certain risk—he would prefer to avoid unnecessary risks, even with Lucky and Prince by his side.
“The closest Dimensional Crack to the Association is the Goblin World, a corrupted-type crack located about a thirty-minute drive from here at Sun Park,” the receptionist informed him. “It seems to have been reserved… Oh, it looks like the party won’t be coming after all. That means you don’t need to apply for their team slot. Would you like to enter the crack alone, or would you prefer to wait while I try to arrange a team for you from other parties that have reserved the crack later today?”
“No need. I’ll go in myself.”
“Okay. Please wait a moment, sir, while I upload your application to the database so the other side is aware of your entry. Once it’s done, you’ll just need to confirm your identity with your fingerprint there.”
“Thank you.”
Michael was quite satisfied with the results he’d received.
Before coming to the Association, he already understood how dimensional cracks were managed.
Similar to booking a hotel, entering a crack required an application.
Monsters within the Association’s jurisdiction were considered renewable resources, but they didn’t respawn instantly like in games.
Well, they did, but the process was more complex than games depicted.
There were two types of dimensional cracks.
Realm-type and Corrupted-type.
Realm-type cracks were where other civilisations resided. It was a realm with its own natives like Aurora.
Corrupted-type cracks, on the other hand, were formed when chaotic mana gathered in areas rich with negative emotions.
These cracks didn’t form in empty places but instead thrived near populations, using absorbed negativity to generate chaotic creatures—the monsters.
The reason corrupted cracks were considered renewable was their ability to continuously spawn monsters.
But how could creatures appear from nothing?
The answer was simple.
Negative energy.
Humans, no matter how optimistic, couldn’t entirely avoid negativity. It was an inherent part of their existence.
What about isolating people from corrupted cracks to stop their growth?
First, the absorption range of corrupted cracks was vast. If it were small, a city like Woodstone city with at least two million people would have far more than three corrupted cracks.
Second, relocating everyone would lead to disasters, making such a move impractical.
Lastly, corrupted cracks weren’t without benefits.
The monsters they produced—and more importantly, their corpses—were invaluable resources.
Since he was visiting the Association because of a crack, Michael hadn’t limited his research to Necromancers; he had also looked into cracks.
Monster bodies were treasures, useful for potions, equipment, and more.
With such renewable resources, it was no wonder the Federation didn’t shy away from corrupted cracks but instead embraced them.
This realization also explained why the Association stored monster corpses.
In hindsight, Michael admitted he’d been slow to connect the dots—this should have been obvious.
As for the limited number of corpses in the storage facility the scarred man had shown him, Michael concluded it must have been the publicly available stock, not the Association’s entire reserve.
After all, they had their own uses for the corpses—where else would potions and equipment come from?
It also explained why the Association bought monster corpses from Awakeners and Cultivators or gave them access to hunt in corrupted cracks. They were essentially hiring hunters indirectly.
But there was more to corrupted cracks than just this.
Why did entering require an application?
Was it just a formality?
Partly, but the primary reason was scheduling. Applications ensured Awakeners and Cultivators could enter cracks at designated times, leaving other periods for monster respawns.
But did monsters really respawn that quickly?
In fact, they did—and it was due to a unique property of dimensional cracks: time dilation.
The smaller the crack’s space, the faster time flowed inside.
Corrupted cracks usually had limited spatial dimensions, so time moved much faster.
An hour in the real world could equal ten hours inside the crack, allowing monsters to respawn rapidly.
When Michael first learned about this, he was stunned.
Wasn’t this a pocket dimension?
As several thoughts flashed through his mind, he watched the receptionist work on her computer, occasionally asking him a few questions.
After several minutes, the questioning stopped, and the receptionist handed Michael a freshly printed piece of paper.
*****