Chapter 9: Signal Characters (Part 2)

The streets were crowded with pedestrians, and there were numerous floating vehicles in the air. Traffic here was quite chaotic due to the lack of oversight, with frequent collisions between floating vehicles. Fortunately, the floating vehicles produced by the Mechanical Clan were exceptionally sturdy, equipped with an outer protective layer, so as long as there wasn’t a high-speed impact, there were usually no serious problems.

Guo Shier and the others were also in a large floating vehicle, flying out from the top of their residential building and soon arriving at a huge metal plaza.

Halechi said with a smile, “It’s really convenient. Hey, should we still use this vehicle on the way back?”

A servant replied respectfully, “Yes. We’ll board here again on the way back and then take everyone back to their residences.”

Each person had a servant following them. After getting off the vehicle, they went their separate ways. There was no need to worry about safety—after all, they were all top-tier professionals. Guo Shier also had a young servant behind him. This was a lower-level professional; in Guo Shier’s eyes, he was at most a master-level professional. If he had been in the North Symbol Gate, this person would have been a top expert, but here he was just a professional slightly better than an ordinary person.

Guo Shier asked, “Yuan Ye, which shop would be suitable?”

Yuan Ye was extremely excited to serve a top-tier professional whose strength was comparable to that of the city lord. He fantasized that if he could win Guo Shier’s favor, he might become one of his followers. So he was very attentive and careful, saying, “There are many famous professional shops in the city. The two most well-known are both under the city lord’s jurisdiction. One is Huashop, which specializes in buying and selling materials, and the other is Boqi Shop, which sells weapons made by the Mechanical Clan. Which one would you like to go to, sir?”

Guo Shier smiled and said, “Of course, let’s go to Huashop first.” Although he had an enormous amount of materials, more than half of it had already been used, and many of his large material storage bags were now empty. Since entering the small world, the rate at which he consumed materials had been incredible. He had used large quantities of materials for several boundary-breaking rituals, and the amount consumed during his successive level-ups was also terrifying.

Yuan Ye said, “Very well. Please follow me. Huashop is the largest one here. This place is the city center plaza—the busiest area in Jiangcheng and a gathering place for large shops.”

Guo Shier followed the direction indicated by Yuan Ye. At that moment, a patrol team came towards them, led by a low-level professional, with eight ordinary people following behind, all dressed uniformly and each carrying a weapon. Upon seeing these weapons, Guo Shier was stunned, as they resembled guns from his past life—not guns that were melee weapons, but firearms that belonged to heat-based weapons.
The weapons of the Mechanical Clan were mostly related to technology, and here, they also incorporated many elements of spells, making them somewhat peculiar. Glancing at them, Guo Shier asked, “Yuan Ye, are their weapons… available for sale?”
Yuan Ye replied, “There are certain restrictions for ordinary people, but no restrictions for professionals. However, high-level professionals hardly ever buy them; only professionals like us would purchase them to supplement our attack methods. These weapons don’t consume one’s own energy—as long as there’s sufficient energy, they can be used in any way desired.”
Curious, Guo Shier asked, “What’s their power like?”
Yuan Ye said, “They pose no threat to professionals at the Altar level or above. Hehe, actually, the weapons of the Mechanical Clan are quite popular, especially among ordinary people. Once they possess such weapons, they can even threaten us.”
Guo Shier nodded. If they couldn’t even do that, then the Mechanical Clan would be far too weak. Yuan Ye continued, “I once heard someone from the Mechanical Clan say that if they hadn’t lost so much advanced technology, they wouldn’t be so weak…” He laughed, “I think they’re exaggerating. Hehe, I don’t believe they have any spaceship technology that can build ships capable of competing with high-level professionals.”
Yuan Ye didn’t believe it, but Guo Shier did. Although he had never seen a spaceship, he had an idea of what one was like. If it was a ship that could fly in space, its weapons must be extremely powerful, as weapons in space were completely different from those on planets.
The two chatted as they entered Hua’s Shop. The shop had already been notified by the city lord’s office, and from the managers down to the clerks, everyone was prepared. As soon as Guo Shier and Yuan Ye entered the shop, a group of people came forward to greet them. The professionals around them were very curious, wondering what important figure could make Hua’s Shop go to such lengths.
Before Guo Shier could even take in the layout of the shop, he was led by the group to a VIP room upstairs.

After Guo Shieru sat down, Yuan Ye stood neatly behind him. The manager of this Huashang store was a young woman, also a low-level professional. She said respectfully, “Elder, I am the manager of this store, Jiang Yan. You are a distinguished guest of our store. If you have any requests… please feel free to ask without hesitation.”

It was then that Guo Shieru remembered he didn’t have local currency. He turned to ask, “Yuan Ye, do you have the local currency?” He had various types of currency on him, but none of them were usable in this place. However, he was used to this—every time he went somewhere, he encountered such problems, as each place had its own currency.

Yuan Ye took out a token bag and said, “Yes, I do… The city lord’s office has given them to me…”

Guo Shieru reached out to take the token bag and took out the money inside. It turned out to be gold bars, cut into squares about one centimeter on each side. There were roughly ten thousand of them in the bag, a considerable amount. He nodded and asked, “Is gold bar the currency here?”

Yuan Ye replied, “Yes, gold bars are the main currency here… Actually, gold point cards can also be used for transactions. One gold bar equals one gold point. Professionals all get such cards.” He then showed his own gold point card, which was a large token card, one foot long and half a foot wide.

Jiang Yan was smart. She immediately realized that Guo Shieru was a skilled expert from outside who wasn’t familiar with local matters. She said, “This gold point card can only be used in Jiang City; it won’t work in other cities. Each city has its own gold point card, and professionals can get them there.”

Guo Shieru had a large amount of gold, just in different forms, so he wasn’t worried about lacking money. As long as gold was used as currency locally, there would be no problem.

Shuai Laotou had already prepared a list of jade tokens. Guo Shieru took it out and handed it to Jiang Yan. He didn’t even look at it. Since Shuai Laotou was in charge, he didn’t need to worry about exactly which materials were needed. He relayed Shuai Laotou’s instructions, saying, “There are key items marked on the jade tokens. Please try to gather as many of these as possible… As for the others, it’s best if you can get them, but it’s okay if not.”

Jiang Yan glanced at the jade tokens and her expression changed. The list of materials recorded on them was extremely long—almost countless. She hesitated for a moment and said, “Please wait a moment…” She called a clerk, handed him the jade tokens, and said, “Give these to Laogu. Have him identify the materials we have, and also give us an estimate.”

Yuan Ye said, “The city lord has ordered that if there’s not enough gold points, the city lord’s office can pay for them.”

Jiang Yan said, “It’s okay. I’ve also received the notice. Money isn’t a problem.”
Guo Shier didn’t speak. He possessed vast amounts of gold, so he wasn’t worried about running out, and he also had many renewable resources that he could use for exchange. Leisurely, he took out a cup and poured in some wild tea he had made himself. This tea came from a few tea plants he had accidentally found and planted in the sacred altar realm; the quantity was extremely small, and he rarely drank it himself.
After taking a sip of the tea, Guo Shier asked, “Do many foreigners come here?” By “foreigners” here, it referred to those who weren’t professionals from the Spellworld—everyone else was considered a foreigner, even if they were human like him.
Jiang Yan felt as if Guo Shier was like a mountain, his immense pressure making her tremble. This was because, despite his rapid advancement, he still couldn’t fully control the overflow of his soul energy. He had improved a lot recently, emitting less soul power, but even so, Jiang Yan still felt oppressed. She had to be careful in her answers, fearing of angering this senior expert whom even the city lord treated with respect. From what she had learned, this man was a skilled fighter who had recently arrived from the Spellworld.
“There are quite a few foreigners here, but hardly any experts. Most of them have low-level combat skills, roughly on par with us. Well, if foreign experts come, they will also be received by the city lord’s residence, with dedicated people accompanying them in the city.”
Guo Shier smiled and asked, “Just like me?”
Yuan Ye panicked and quickly said, “Different… completely different. We wouldn’t dare spy on guests. I’m just someone who serves them.”
Jiang Yan seemed to realize she had said something inappropriate and hurriedly added, “No, that’s for foreign experts. There’s no need to be wary of our own experts.” In truth, there was still some caution, but no one would admit it.
Of course, Guo Shier wouldn’t pursue these matters. He asked, “Are there any conflicts with foreigners here?”
Unfortunately, neither of these two was a professional who had ventured outside; they had little concept of the outside world. They had spent their entire lives in Jiang City. All they knew was that no wars had occurred in Jiang City for decades, and conflicts were extremely rare.
Soon, someone returned the jade talismans and brought out numerous talisman storage bags. There were seventeen in total, and counting and paying took quite some time. Guo Shier was satisfied. Although he thought the quantity was a bit small, he was pleased with what he had obtained, especially since it could be exchanged for gold bars.

Throughout the day, Guo Shier bought a large amount of materials as well as some weapons from the Mechanical Clan. It was out of curiosity that he wanted to understand the military strength of the Mechanical Clan. However, they were all low-grade weapons that were more than sufficient to deal with wild beasts, but practically useless against powerful exotic creatures.
In the evening, Guo Shier returned to the city lord’s residence and found Li Ran and the others gathered together, all with serious expressions, as if something had happened.
Guo Shier asked, “Brother Li Ran, what happened? Why do you all look so worried?”
Li Ran handed him a message token and said, “Read it yourself.”