Three thousand Blood Coins… Even considering that it was the price for an entire month, the mansion was a hundred times more expensive than a normal room. And this was just the most basic type of mansion. After a moment of hesitation, Alnea took out his Blood Card, and glanced at his information.
N 06 08499
F I 5
000000
09367
000000
09367
011350
06238
0000135
138571
0000000
151423
00000005537
He did have more than enough Blood Coins to reserve the mansion, but he did not know if the mansion was worth its price. After all, a Blood Coin was equivalent to a False Oren Stone. Three thousand Blood Coins… In terms of Oren Stones, it would be around thirty True Oren Stones, or thirty million Orus. And that was the price for reserving the mansion for just a month. Such an expensive mansion…
“Why are you hesitating so much?” Cecilia said, while running her finger through Forne’s disguised fur. “Just choose one and be done with it.”
…As expected from the girl second in line to the Serpian throne. Though Yuri was not much better in that respect either.
“The three mansions should be roughly the same, so it does not matter which one you choose.”
“…Help me choose then,” Alnea said, handing the red crystal, along with the burden of decision to Yuri, earning her glare in return. “We will all be living in the mansion, after all. It is only right that I get your opinion before reserving the mansion.”
“…When did you begin considering other’s opinion before making your reckless ‘decisions’?”
“I haven’t made any such ‘decision’ in a while, have I?”
“We all know that it is not that you do not wish to make such ‘decisions’, but that you cannot make them at all.”
“…What are you two talking about?”
“…Nothing,” Yuri said with a light hum, before shifting her attention to the spar in her hand and reaching out to it with her Spirit. Moments later, the spar disintegrated into lumps of red gas, which then drilled into her head, giving her information about the six mansions.
“…Let’s go with the mansion near the Blood Hall,” Yuri said after a while. “Although it is a little expensive, living near the Blood Hall has its own benefits.”
“What do you think?”
“As long as the place is not cramped like the other rooms, I do not have any problems with what mansion we live in.”
“Alright then,” Alnea said, nodding in acquiescence, before turning back to the squinting Wanderer. “We will take the mansion near the Blood Hall.”
“Give me your Blood Card.”
Alnea quietly handed over his Blood Card to the Wanderer, which the man then placed on the box in front of him, allowing it to do its job.
“…I have been watching you,” the man said, breaking Alnea’s thoughts away from the box. “You have caused quite a commotion in the past few days… the three of you.”
“…We do not wish to be in the limelight either,” Alnea said, shifting a little to keep Yuri and Cecilia behind him. “But I guess we are not the first ones to cause such commotions in the city.”
“Of course not,” the man said, raising the edge of his lips in an evil smile… Like he had thought, the man surely was up to no good. “Still, it has been quite some time since some decent rookies came from the Sixth Blood Hall.”
“…Thank you for your praise…”
“Tarn,” the man said. “You can call Wanderer Tarn.”
“…Thank you for your praise, Wanderer Tarn, but I think that there is still much we have to do before we can prove ourselves.”
“That is indeed the case. Still, I am optimistic about you. Maybe, as Tia said, you can really… Oh, no, do not doubt her. She did not tell me anything. But you do not think that just a small distance of less than a hundred metres would be enough to stop me from listening in to your conversations, do you?”
“…Eavesdropping on other’s conversation is not a very honourable trait, Wanderer Tarn.”
“If you wish to keep your conversations private, then I would suggest that you do it in the privacy of your mansion, and not out in the open.”
“…We will keep that in mind.”
“…Look at how serious you have become. I was just joking with you.”
“…Has the mansion been reserved?” Alnea said, using his Aspects to hide his emotions. Or at least he tried to do so. But his Aspect could only work on his expressions. His voice, and the words he said were still affected by his emotions.
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“Looks like you need to work hard on tempering your Heart,” the man said with a chuckle, as he picked up the Blood Card from the black box and handed it back to Alnea. “The girl should know where the mansion is, and how to get there. As for entering the mansion, you do not need me explain it to you, do you?”
“…There is no need to trouble you. We can figure it out on our own.”
“…You seem to be wary of me,” the man said, with his smile widening even more than before. “But that is how it should be. You should be wary of everyone in the city. Even the ones who are friendly to you. Like a certain someone who has been giving you advice for the past two days.”
“We will keep your words in mind. Now, if you will excuse us, we still have a few more things to do in the hall.”
“…Do what you want. It is not like I am keeping you here against your wish anyway. But remember, I will be keeping my eyes on you. And so will all the Wanderers in the city. Even the Mystic Wanderers… We will all be waiting to judge your performance.”
Judge your stinky beard, Alnea almost cursed at the Wanderer, as he hurriedly turned away from the man, and led the girls away from the man’s counter. Even as he weaved his way in between the other Wanderers though, he could still feel the man’s gaze on his back. Or maybe that was just the gaze of all the other Wanderers in the hall. They surely were looking at him with a fiery gaze. Even Cecilia and Yuri were getting the same treatment. It was as if they were not humans, but prizes, objects, for the other Wanderers in the city to fight over.
“Ignore them,” Cecilia said, trying to soothe the restless cat in her arms. “You will get used to it after a while.”
“They cannot do anything except stare at us anyway.”
“…Let’s go see what we can exchange our Martial Style tokens for.”
“It is about time.”
The counter for Redemption of Medals was right next to the counter for Blood Coins Exchange and Redemption, just some ten metres away, and was even more deserted than the latter. After all, earning Blood Coins was much easier earning Martial Style Medals. He had still seen some people redeeming some common resources with their Blood Coins from time to time, but he had yet to see anyone trying to redeem resources with their Martial Style Tokens.
Maybe that was one of the reasons why the counter in front of them was so small. Or why the Wanderer responsible for manning the counter was sleeping with his head and hands splayed on the table in front of him. Even his robe was a little dishevelled, as were his hairs, dancing in front of his face.
“…Pardon us for disturbing your rest—
“You have been pardoned,” the man said in a lazy voice, interrupting Alnea before he could complete his words, while waving his hands, all the while never picking his head up from the table. “Now go away and let me rest in peace.”
“We are here to exchange our Warrior Tokens for resources, and not—
“Here,” the man said, interrupting Cecilia, as he reached into his robe to take out three red crystals, before tossing those three crystals directly into their hands. “Just check the resources for yourselves and tell me what you want.”
Alnea pulled Cecilia’s sleeves, and shook his head, reminding her not to be impulsive. She did grumble a little, swearing to teach the man a lesson, but finally gave in to her reasons. Still, it was only when he saw the crystal in her hand disintegrate into red gas and drill into her head, that he finally let go of his worries and probed the crystal in his hand with his Spirit, prompting it to pour all kinds of information into his head.
Spirit Crystal
Variant: Low, Intermediate, Advanced, Peak
Effect: Can enhance Spirit Power to a certain extent—equivalent to the first level of corresponding Stage.
Restrictions: Can use only one Spirit Crystal at each Stage. Cannot be used to break through a bottleneck.
Side Effect: Spirit Power growth will stagnate for a month.
Price: One medal of corresponding Stage.
…
Blood Crystal
Variant: Low, Intermediate, Advanced, Peak
Effect: Can enhance Blood Crystals to a certain extent—equivalent to the first level of corresponding Stage of the Blood Crystal Styles.
Restrictions: Can use only one Blood Crystal at each Stage. Cannot be used to break through a bottleneck.
Side Effect: Blood Crystal growth will stagnate for a month.
Price: One medal of corresponding Stage.
…
Black Leaf
Variant: Low
Effect: Can double the comprehension of Initial Stage False Wanderers for a day.
Restrictions: Can use only one Black Leaf in a month
Side Effect: Can create an addiction and reliance on Black Leaves.
Price: Ten leaves for one Low Grade Medal.
…
Blood Leaf
Variant: Low
Effect: Can help in condensation of Blood Crystals.
Restrictions: Can use only one Blood Leaf in a week.
Side Effect: Blood Crystals condensed with the help of Blood Leaves will be of a lower quality.
Price: Hundred leaves for one Low Grade Medal.
…
Desert’s Kiss
Variant: Peak
Effect: Slightly increases affinity with the desert(Earth and Wind elements).
Restrictions: Can be used by a person only once in their life
Side Effect: Slightly decreases affinity with the other elements
Price: Five Peak Grade Medals.
…
Black Blessing
Variant: Low, Intermediate, Advanced, Peak
Effect: Can help drive away Oren Beasts of corresponding Stage.
Restrictions: Will be valid for only a week
Side Effect: After the blessing fades away, the Oren Beasts of the corresponding Stage will treat you as their mortal enemy.
Price: One medal of corresponding Stage.
…
Blood Blessing
…
Black Sands
…
Blood Sands
…
Black Water
…
Blood Water
…
Red Bones…