Dustfall continued to grow in ways no one expected. The village once quiet and empty was now full of footsteps every morning. Adventurers arrived carrying beast cores of every shape and color. Merchants from three regions stopped by to compare prices. Even wandering mages who rarely left their towers came to watch the strange price board created by a boy with barely any mana. Alan Grove stood in the center of this rising activity and felt pressure building around him. The more the village grew the more he needed a system that worked even when he was not standing there to explain every detail.

He noticed a problem. Adventurers brought cores of wildly different quality and almost no one could agree on how to judge them. Some judged by glow. Others judged by weight or shape or by how the core felt in their hands. Sometimes a bright core was nearly empty inside while a dull core carried dense mana. There was no consistent rule. Alan realized that without a standard system the market would never stabilize. Prices would swing wildly. Adventurers would remain frustrated. Merchants would continue to cheat. And Dustfall would eventually fall apart.

One night Alan sat alone in the empty trading stall with a pile of cores spread across the table. He lit a single lantern and examined each one. He tapped them. Weighed them. Measured their glow against a dark cloth. He even placed them inside a small glass bowl of spring water to see how quickly the mana ripples faded. He wrote notes until his fingers cramped. He counted the seconds each core held its glow. He tried to match weight to density. He compared beast types. He looked for patterns the same way he watched supply and demand.

After hours of testing he began to notice something. Cores with stable glow tended to release mana at a steady rate in water. Cores with cracks lost mana faster and changed color near the edges. Small heavy cores often contained denser mana than large hollow ones. The more he looked the more he found rules that no one had ever written down. Alan felt a quiet but intense excitement. He was close to something important.

The next morning he called several adventurers to gather around. Ressa’s group was there along with a few others who trusted him. He laid out ten cores and pointed at each one. I want you to look at these and rank them he said. The adventurers argued immediately. Some pointed at the brightest core. Others at the heaviest. Some leaned toward the rare monster types. Alan watched their reactions. He let them debate until they grew tired.

Then he revealed his system. He lifted one core that glowed steadily with no cracks. This is Class A. Not the brightest but the most stable. Good density. Reliable for enchantment. He placed it on the left. He picked up a cracked core that flickered weakly. This is Class D. Mana leaks too fast. Worth less no matter what beast it came from. He lined the rest between them forming five grades. S A B C D. Simple. Clear. Universal.

The adventurers stared. One asked who decided the classes. Alan pointed at the tests he recorded. It is not based on mood or guesswork. It is based on behavior. Each class has measurable qualities. If you test them the same way you will get the same result.

Ressa picked up an A class core and tried his water test. When she saw the mana ripple remain steady she muttered a curse and looked impressed. Another adventurer tried the same with a C class core. The ripples faded fast. They exchanged looks of disbelief. A system so simple yet so obvious now that someone had taken the time to define it.

Alan smiled. From now on Dustfall will buy cores based on the class not the color or the seller’s story. Prices will follow the classes. If you bring an A core you will get the A price. If you bring a D core you will still get a fair amount without argument. A clear rule benefits everyone.

Word spread quickly. Within a week several merchants in nearby towns copied the class system. Some even claimed they invented it. Alan did not care. He wanted a stable market not credit. The more people used the system the more predictable prices became. Adventurers started hunting with strategy. They searched for beasts known to drop higher class cores rather than chasing rumors of rare monsters. Patterns began forming. Routes changed. Prices stabilized.

But as Dustfall grew more organized another problem surfaced. Some adventurers tried to scam the classification. They polished low grade cores to make them appear brighter. Others painted cracks to hide them. A few even tried mixing fragments into resin to mimic intact cores. Alan noticed this quickly. He created a second test that measured heat reaction. Fake cores cracked when warmed. True cores remained stable. When he revealed this publicly the scammers vanished.

One evening a traveling mage approached Alan. She wore long blue robes and carried a staff carved with symbols he did not recognize. She placed a rare beast core on the table. I heard of your system she said. I want to see if you can classify this. Alan examined the core. The glow was bright but the weight was too low. He tested it in water and counted the seconds. He tapped it gently with a wooden rod. He could feel the mana shifting unevenly. This is Class B he said. High glow but unstable internal density.

The mage stared at him. Most merchants call this S class. Alan shook his head. They chase brightness. But brightness does not mean stability. She studied him carefully. Your system is dangerous she said. You are changing how people value mana. You could change how mages gather power. Alan felt a chill. He hoped she meant it as a compliment but her voice suggested a warning.

The mage left without buying anything. Ressa approached him afterward. Do you think she will cause trouble. Alan shrugged. I do not know. But if this system helps adventurers survive and earn better income then it is worth the risk.

The next day Dustfall’s merchant brought him news. Several major towns had begun adopting the classification standard. Prices were becoming more predictable across the region. Merchants were losing their ability to cheat. Adventurers were gaining leverage. And everyone credited Dustfall for the change.

Alan wrote down a single sentence in his notebook. Standardization creates stability. Stability creates trust. Trust creates growth. Then he added another line. Growth attracts eyes. And not all eyes bring goodwill.

Dustfall was changing. Alan’s influence was growing. And although he did not know it yet his next challenge would arrive soon and would not be as easy as classifying cores. It would come from the kingdom itself.