Chapter 4: The Great City of the Mechanical Race (Part 2)

The young captain said, “The most famous are the Spellcasters, the Sword Race, the Spirit Race—these three major races—and then there’s the Beast Tamer Race, the Swordsmen Race…” He listed a series of races in one breath, then suddenly thought of something and asked, “May I ask, lords, which race do you belong to?”
Guo Shier said, “We’re the… Spellcasters you mentioned.”
The young captain and his men immediately showed expressions of surprise and respect. Spellcasters were considered the top experts in this world. Wherever Spellcasters appeared, there were hardly any weaklings—only extremely powerful experts, who were very famous throughout the world.
Spellcasters could create various ritual artifacts, which were also highly renowned in this world. Their weapons, after being simplified, contained spell elements and could be used by many races. Additionally, the spell pills created by Spellcasters had significant effects even when used by other races, making them premium and precious goods in this world.
Even the top-tier Sword Race and Spirit Race would see their strength greatly enhanced if they could obtain weapons refined by Spellcasters. Thus, Spellcasters held a very high status in this world. Once they entered densely populated areas inhabited by other races, various factions would come to invite them. Even if they couldn’t be invited, no one would dare offend them easily.
The young captain immediately showed great enthusiasm. He ordered his subordinates, “Hurry, contact headquarters right away—we have distinguished guests.”
The communication facilities here were highly advanced, which was the second thing that impressed Guo Shier. Moments later, a fleet of flying vehicles left the city. Among them was a giant flying vehicle over a hundred meters long, with an open upper deck, but no signs of weapons could be seen.
The city lord of the Mechanical Race, Gun King Stan, came out personally to greet them with a large group of people. Upon hearing the report that three Spellcasters had arrived, he immediately got up, gathered his subordinates, and quickly mobilized vehicles to head outside the city. There were no weak Spellcasters—winning over three such experts was worth any price.
The young captain was filled with excitement; he would get credit for this. Gun King Stan flew over to one of the patrol vehicles and said with a smile, “Welcome, welcome, lords, to our Mechanical Race. I am Stan, the city lord of this city.” He stepped forward and bowed as a gesture of respect. It surprised his subordinates that the city lord of such a great city greeted guests with such humility—after all, Stan was a very proud man.

They treated those without hostility kindly, whether it was Li Ran or Guo Shier. As for Qi Wu Zhen, she was cold toward everyone, adopting an attitude of disregard. Only a very few people in this world could catch her attention, including Li Ran and Guo Shier—friends who had earned her recognition.

Li Ran smiled and said, “Too kind, Lord Stan. I’m Li Ran.”

Guo Shier said, “This is Qi Wu Zhen. I’m Guo Shier.” He knew Qi Wu Zhen wasn’t interested in titles like city lord or anything like that. In his opinion, Stan had decent physical strength, but it wasn’t comparable to his own. It was likely enhanced through some special methods rather than cultivation.

Stan’s physique was far stronger than that of an ordinary person. He also had various weapons and tools from the mechanical race—such as for flying. He had specialized devices for flight, with boots on his legs that provided short-term flight power, but he couldn’t fly on his own strength.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Li Ran and the others got onto the giant flying vehicle and headed toward the city. Other flying vehicles patrolled the periphery, driving away those in the air to clear a path.

They soon entered the city’s largest aerial passage, with no reduction in speed. A few minutes later, the giant flying vehicle suddenly rose upward, reaching the top of a very tall building.

It was a metal building, entirely constructed of steel. Of course, it was very different from the steel Guo Shier had seen in his past life—it wasn’t the kind with a metallic sheen but rather a very simple grayish-black metal, slightly brownish with large, light patterns on it. With his knowledge, Guo Shier immediately recognized them as runes—simple basic runes that prevented metal oxidation.

Stan led them to a light-colored metal floor on the top floor. This area clearly differed from the surrounding metal floors. Once they stepped on it, Stan tapped the ground lightly, and they immediately felt their bodies sink slightly as the floor dropped rapidly. In just a few breaths, Guo Shier felt his feet stop moving. Looking up at the sky like a deep well, he thought, “Damn, this is an elevator. Pretty advanced.”

The metal walls in front of them suddenly opened, and Stan said with a smile, “Please!”

A group of people stepped inside. It was a huge metal hall, completely enclosed on all sides, with light spreading from the walls. The floor was made of light silver metal. The hall was enormous, with the floor and ceiling reaching dozens of meters high. There were many metal racks along the walls, filled with various weapons from the mechanical race.

Guo Shieru examined it carefully. His overall impression was that there was a strong metallic scent, along with a cold feel, which perfectly matched the characteristics of the Mechanical Clan. He was very curious about the weapons of the Mechanical Clan, so without wasting time on pleasantries, he went straight to the weapon rack. It was a strange metallic weapon, about two meters long, composed of many components. According to Guo Shieru’s understanding, it should be a gun, but he didn’t see anything like a trigger or magazine—it was very different from the weapons in his past life. The barrel diameter was about ten centimeters, quite thick. At that moment, Guo Shieru noticed the patterns on the barrel; indeed, they were the solidified runes unique to the Spellcraft Clan. He picked up this peculiar gun and weighed it in his hand; he estimated its weight to be around a hundred kilograms. In his past life, such a gun would have been extremely heavy, but in this life, it felt lighter than straw in his hands. “This is the Type-7 Energy Gun, the latest developed weapon, with its core reinforced by runes,” said a middle-aged man behind Guo Shieru. Guo Shieru turned around. He had heard Stan introduce this middle-aged man on the flying vehicle—his name was Gutesdong, a famous expert in the Mechanical Clan’s weapons. “Oh, so this is the latest weapon? What are its capabilities?” Gutesdong said proudly, “It’s very powerful, though it consumes more energy.” Guo Shieru asked, “What kind of energy is used?” Gutesdong replied, “It uses ring energy—a ring-shaped energy crystal that can fire twelve times before needing to be replaced with a new one.” He then took out a ring-shaped energy crystal. It was a beige-colored crystal, about the thickness of a thumb and roughly as long as a finger. Guo Shieru took the crystal and examined it curiously; it was the first time he had seen an energy crystal made by machinery. “Is this easy to produce?” Gutesdong asked, “It’s easy to produce, but the material used—a certain type of ore—is not very abundant, so it remains quite valuable.” Guo Shieru asked, “Are there other types of energy crystals?” Gutesdong replied, “The Mechanical Clan may not have others, but there are many different types of energy crystals. Hehe, does your lord need any energy crystals?” Guo Shieru smiled and said, “I’m just curious. Well, could you give me some of each type? Of course, I won’t take anything for free. This bottle of spell pills… is for exchange.” He took out a small bottle of spell pills and handed it over.

At that moment, Stan walked over and happened to see Guo Shier handing over the talisman pills, a glint appearing in his eyes. He stepped forward quickly, snatched the pills from him first, opened the bottle cap, and took a sniff—then was stunned. This world had a deep understanding of talisman pills, which were top-tier treasures passed down by spellcasters, used for healing and treating illnesses, with effects far beyond what other races could achieve.

This bottle contained relatively high-grade pills, specifically designed for healing. With his extensive experience, Stan could tell they were precious just by smelling them. He said cheerfully, “No problem, Gutesdong—bring out two boxes of each type of crystal to exchange for the talisman pills.” There were about a dozen pills in the bottle, and he was very satisfied.

A high-grade talisman pill could save a life in critical moments, and Stan was willing to pay any price for such an exchange. Right now, he was only offering various energy crystals, which, though some were not cheap, were still far less valuable compared to talisman pills. So after offering the crystals, Stan ordered his subordinates to bring many products unique to the mechanical race, such as weapons and daily necessities.

Guo Shier had no objections—he always had a collecting habit and was very interested in mechanical race products, as some of them reminded him of his hometown from his past life. Although memories of his past hometown had gradually faded, and he could no longer recall many things.

Besides talisman pills, the items most desired by other races and unique to spellcasters were talisman storage bags. Other races also had space-based items, but neither in quantity nor in storage capacity could they compare to talisman storage bags. Unfortunately, Guo Shier was unaware of this; otherwise, he would have brought empty talisman storage bags to exchange, as he had countless of them.

It wasn’t until Stan brought out many products unique to the mechanical race for trade that Guo Shier realized talisman storage bags were even more valuable. For spellcasters, creating talisman storage bags was a simple task—given the right materials, even an ordinary master-level caster could easily craft them, so it wasn’t really a big deal.

In the world of spells, Guo Shier had robbed and plundered many factions, acquiring countless talisman storage bags, which he had thrown away in his altar space, where they were almost useless. Now, it was a good idea to use them for exchange.

Stan also didn’t expect to see so many token pouches when he originally wanted to exchange more rune pills. His desire for token pouches even surpassed that for rune pills. After all, the Mechanical Clan’s weapons were bulky and numerous, typical consumables. A person could only carry a limited number of weapons, but with token pouches, they could carry a large amount. The advantages in battle were self-evident.

Li Ran and Qi Wu Zhen had no interest in trading, while only Guo Shier kept dealing with Stan and his men. Various special products of the Mechanical Clan were placed in the altar space, while some larger weapons were stored in the altar’s secret realm.

In less than half a day, the trade was completed, and Guo Shier was very satisfied. Stan was even happier, having acquired dozens of token pouches from Guo Shier, which would be of great help to him.

Stan said, “My lord, please follow me downstairs. We’ve prepared a grand banquet. Hehe, welcome, my three lords.”

“Lord Stan, we’ve just received news that Lord Bolong of the Blade Clan… will be arriving soon.”

Stan was stunned and asked, “Bolong? Why is he coming?”