"Hope?" Kane frowned. "Our expenses are not going to be that extreme, you know."
"That's where you're wrong, the covertness of our operations itself will require a lot of money, my equipment requires constant funds, and the portable dimensional storage device that we're going to need to purchase to keep our loot hidden costs a small fortune."
"Wait," Kane cocked his head backward. "You want to buy a portable dimensional storage device?? Do you have any idea how expensive that is? Why on Earth do we have to go for such extravagant and ostentatious means just to transport some goods?"
Kane's reaction was not an exaggeration. Dimensional storage esoteric technology was extremely expensive and scarce. It was based on esoteric substances that had the property of making matter in contact with it seemingly disappear when its temperature rose too much. Numerous experiments revealed that matter it made disappear when its temperature exceeded its standard temperature would return unharmed, and also unchanged. The duration of the disappearance was dependent on the time period that the temperature was maintained.
Further experiments that the 'disappearance' of the objects was such that it did not affect change anything about the matter that disappeared. Objects whose physical and chemical states had been carefully measured prior hand had found to have the same physical state, to such a degree that it could be said that time did not pass for the disappeared objects. Food did not spoil or even grow colder, and corpses did not rot. Living creatures returned unharmed, and the first time a human subject had been used, it was found that even memories of the time they disappeared did not form.
It was one of the most astonishing esoteric phenomena, even by the standard of esoteric material science. There were a lot of theories as to what was actually occurring, with the most prevailing theory being that the esoteric substances were connected to a parallel space where time did not pass. Another popular theory was the information storage theory which stated that the disappeared objects were actually destroyed and only the information of the object was stored, which when released reconstituted the destroyed mass back to its original state based on the information stored.
Regardless, it was an incredible phenomenon. At the time, it was thought that this would revolutionize the world, yet that quickly turned out to not be the case. The biggest problem was that it cost too much energy to keep anything stored for extended periods of time. This meant that transport, distribution, and storage could not be made easier with the help of dimensional storage. Any and all industries and sectors could not afford to turn this into their regular inventory system because it was simply far too expensive to maintain.
Individual businesses would go bankrupt within merely one hour of usage of the dimensional storage for their inventory. While wealthier and larger businesses could last longer, they too would suffer plummeting losses.
It was simply not worth it. Thus what could have changed the world ultimately became an extremely extravagant and ostentatious that would end up being used in only a minority of circumstances.
"It's the only way to keep our identities as the ones who plundered all of the esoteric extracts of the Shionel Dungeon, after all," Rui explained. "While they are too expensive to maintain generally, that only applies to merchants and businesses who generally have small profit percentages and cannot afford to add another significant expense on top of that. Furthermore, once we're successful, we'll easily be able to afford the dimensional storage and maintain it. We can store an overwhelming majority of our loot in there while we'll walk out with a normal amount of plunder in bags and things of the lot. That way we'll completely blend into the crowd without attracting any attention."
"That makes sense," Kane nodded. "Though wouldn't we use Void Step while exiting?"
"No," Rui shook his head. "That actually invited more suspicion. If anyone ever notices that we entered the dungeon but seemingly never exited, and then suddenly enter the dungeon the next day, that is what will truly invite suspicion. We need to be ordinary in every way that matters."
"I see, that actually makes sense," Kane nodded. "Makes my life easier too."
"Don't worry, I don't intend to rely on you alone and dump all the hard stuff on your shoulders. The techniques I've developed will ease your burden a lot, although your Void Step will definitely be crucial nonetheless."
"I appreciate that," Kane nodded. "Although I don't need to be coddled, I can pull my weight."
"I don't doubt that at all," Rui smiled at his determination.
Kane was probably going to be one of the least experienced Martial Squires in the Shionel Dungeon, if not for his Void Step technique and the Godspeed technique, he would also be the weakest without a doubt. As far as Rui knew, he had yet to have the opportunity to develop an offensive technique. Which meant that his ability to take down his opponents was very low. To the point that he could forget trying to hurt Martial Squires who were above grade four.
Rui knew that the road ahead was going to be difficult for him. Unlike Rui had knowledge and experience from another world and another lifetime, Kane did not have anything that would allow him to develop techniques as fast as Rui did.
It would take a lot longer for him to the strides that Rui had taken.
That was why Rui had decided it was absolutely paramount for him to develop means and ways to be able to handle himself just fine even if Kane faltered at some point. He already knew Kane could not maintain Void Step for extended periods of time when he had to expand it to other people.
In the times that he couldn't it would be Rui's turn to carry them, metaphorically, while Kane caught a break for a while. Rui was confident that he would be able to fulfill that role.