The revelation that Scott could view the corruption within the soul of another living creature was quite shocking to Ashton. However, what proved to be even more bizarre to her was the plan he had to create an interdimensional business.

She sat at her desk in her office at work while she contemplated the situation. His offer was quite generous. It was likely that he was the only one on the planet who could move stuff between worlds, or at least one of an incredible few. If they worked hard at it, they could easily acquire materials and goods that were plentiful in the dream world and use them to fund their operations on Earth. The currency exchange rate was abysmal, but there was a lot more financial leverage on Earth.

"It could work, but we would need to be careful. Scrap metal alone would sell for a fortune. High quality copper is worth a few dollars per pound and they practically give the stuff away in the dream." Ashton looked through her phone at the listings for scrap metal prices. While magical artifacts would easily sell for far more money, it was not currently a safe investment. Creating such items and stockpiling them for the future might not work either. People with crafting skills could easily make better versions by the time that the world changed completely.

Medicinal plants, potions, and the like would be met with skepticism as well. Anything out of the ordinary would be a major risk at this early stage. Scrap metal, and even some precious metal, could be used to make quick cash. No one would bat an eyelash if they were to sell a few silver or gold rings, or less than fifty pounds of copper at a time to any one scrap metal dealer.

"Thousands of dollars a day, provided we're willing to travel to different counties in order to sell it..." she mused, "His synergy ability would even be able to refine alloys into pure materials once he can do so on Earth without mixing in dream materials."

It was an incredible tempting offer to be honest. There had been talk of the possibility of a business venture a few days ago but it was a thing spoken in passing. The fog happened not long after that, and monsters were released on the world. So far guns were more than capable of stopping such creatures. More and more people had begun to open carry despite the outcry from people who did not like such weapons.

Ashton was already on her way to the continent where Scott operated. That was a decision made before the business talk began seriously. The idea of being able to form a party in the dream with people she had met in real life was too good to pass up.

"He'd be my boss, though..." she murmured. Ashton was not certain what to think of that little tidbit of a fact. She might even have to call him, sir.

In good time, a wry smile worked its way across her face. Things had certainly changed in only a few weeks!

A moment of reverie passed over her as she considered everything that had changed. However, her warm hearted reflections were soon dispersed by the ring tone she had assigned to Scott. "He's calling me?"

For some reason the sight of his name on her phone made her nostrils flare slightly. She bit her lip a little then took a deep breath. "Better see what he wants... Gotta let it ring a little first though, he might get the wrong idea if I answer too quickly."

Sure, she had shove her face into his butt crack and took a deep sniff. Yes, she then shoved him against a wall because she had needs. A girl still had her pride, dammit!

"Hello?" she asked lightly. "Scott?"

His voice flowed through her phone like heated honey in her ears. Absently she twisted her finger in the air like she was trying to twirl the cord of a phone. The age of smart phones had sadly done away with many wondrous mannerisms.

Ashton blinked softly then tilted her head to the side. "Are you serious?"

His confirmation made her grin. "That really is wonderful! How long do you think it will take to have enough ore?"

It was the best sort of news! He had confirmed, after buying a little raw ore from a local blacksmith in the dream, that he could combine ore into raw materials. His expanded range which would allow him to merge several things within a short distance of his body meant that as long as he could knock the ore loose from any mining area, he could make the raw materials he needed on his own.

"That's great. It will put the plan ahead of schedule by quite some time. Do you have a good place to mine?" Her eyes lit up as he described the underground area that he occasionally frequented. It was probably part of an old abandoned mine. The former miners might have left a few ore veins behind. At the very least it would be a good place to hunt for raw materials from the creatures living there.

"There's also a mine about a week and a half away from the town on foot that would let us mine and keep what we found provided we pay the going rate for the raw ore..." Ashton liked the sound of that as well. It wasn't completely free, like the underground area Scott frequented would be, but it did mean easy access to ore. At the very least they might be able to buy large shipments of it off of people there.

Scott continued to babble over the phone and she nodded her head a few times. It would certainly be faster to buy the ore, but he wanted to develop new abilities. A few synergists on the Internet had revealed that they could refine the ore while it was still in the rocks if they raised their techniques and sub-skills in the right way.

She told him that she would arrive at a port town called Kaasvalia in about two real world weeks. It should have been a much shorter trip but she did not realize that a passenger cruise ship would take so long to get where they were going.

Her mood brightened considerably more than it already had when he said he would head out there soon to try and meet her. Though, it was a trip of a couple of dream world weeks on foot due to the distance and the fact he would need to come into work to keep his cover going for at least a few more months.

"Are we planning to head back to Argent and then to the mine once we arrive?" she asked him. Shara was supposedly on her way as well, and would arrive within a few days of her own arrival in the port city.

Scott related his plans for Kaasvalia to her while she nodded her head thoughtfully. It would make sense to spend more time in the environment of a major port city. There was only so much that could be done in Argent. Kaasvalia had better merchandise altogether and a proper ability to trade his wares for the Jerin needed to buy raw materials.

Mining for ore would only be useful early on. They would make a trip out that way to establish a contract for large ore shipments once they had the money, and would do a little mining while they were there.

"Interesting. You plan to start Blackthorne Enterprises at the Kaasvalia Merchant guild... Were you thinking of doing the paperwork for that to be a business here on Earth as well?" he asked her. They discussed the details for a moment, because the idea had occurred to him, and she agreed to be the one to do all of the paperwork to set up the legal end of the business.