The first thing Arya thought of doing was earning enough money to stay in this expensive city and cultivate for a few months to figure out his future. He already had a decent amount of pink coins in his possession, but he needed more. Gathering information related to cultivation would surely cost him a fortune, and he was certain of that.

He had some unimportant loot from earlier and decided to sell them at the Commerce of Merchants (COM) branch located on the west side of the city. The city had two major business groups: the Pill and Alchemist Association, situated in the east, and the Commerce of Merchants, positioned in the west. In the center of the city stood Finlet Academy. The distance between these two business groups could be covered in just two hours by carriage.

After traveling for about forty minutes, Arya arrived at the Commerce of Merchants district. As he had imagined, the place was vastly different from his expectations. Numerous shops of varying sizes were scattered around, making it difficult to pinpoint where the COM main office was. To find it, he approached a shopkeeper who was selling different types of seeds, likely for farming or alchemy-related purposes.

"Hello, Uncle," Arya greeted the busy shopkeeper.

The man looked up and responded, "Hello. How may I help you? I have all types of normal seeds found around Fisco City and its surrounding regions. Though I usually don't sell alchemy-related plant seeds, I do have some low-quality ones."

"Sorry for disturbing you, but I'm not here to buy anything. I just wanted to ask where I can find the Commerce of Merchants (COM) main office."

"Oh... I was wondering why a kid like you would be interested in buying seeds. I thought you might be purchasing them for someone else. As for the Commerce of Merchants," he said, looking around the shops, "this entire area is part of it."

Arya glanced around again, surprised. He finally understood that the Commerce of Merchants wasn't a single entity but an organization consisting of many different shops.

"You seem new here," the shopkeeper said, "and from the way you're asking, it's clear you don't even know the basics."

Arya simply smiled in response.

"Let me give you some free knowledge about our alliance group. In the entire trade union, we are the only ones who work with scattered and independent merchants, meaning we have the widest variety of goods. Even you can become part of us, but you'd have to meet the qualification criteria first.

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"Any shop under the Commerce of Merchants offers fair rates, and fraud or cheating customers is strictly prohibited. If a shop is caught breaking these rules, their qualification is revoked, and they are fined five times the amount they scammed."

Arya's impression of the Commerce of Merchants improved significantly, but he wasn't entirely convinced. Since he had little knowledge of the outside world, he decided to remain silent and listen.

"If you ever get cheated," the shopkeeper continued, "you can file a complaint at the main shop in the center. It manages everything around here and also sells rare items. You should definitely visit it.

"Since you're new, you probably don't have an alliance pass. This pass is required for any purchases from the trade union, and you can get it at the main shop."

"Thank you, Uncle. I'll head there after looking around."

Arya hadn't known about the pass because, during his previous visit to the Star Alliance branch shop, his father had handled the payment. Though he couldn't purchase anything without a pass, he could still explore the various shops on his way to the main store.

As he wandered, he saw shops selling herbs, pills, weapons, and even pets—mostly tamed animals meant for rich people with no combat capabilities. He found a couple of weapon smiths, though they were much rarer than other shops. Some stores specialized in monster beast body parts, while others bought whole corpses. Despite the variety, he didn't see any rare stone seeds or high-tier beasts, likely because such items were reserved for bigger cities or the main shop.

After exploring, he finally reached the main shop. The large building had Commerce of Merchants written in bold letters at the top. It featured four entrances, each guarded by two individuals, all of whom, from Arya's estimation, were above level 30.

Observing others entering, he noticed that they displayed a badge to the guards. It reminded him of the emblem he had taken from the man he killed earlier, though there was a slight difference—the emblem shown by the other person had an image of a small shop, while his featured a mysterious, unrecognizable face with hands behind its back, possibly smiling. Or was that just his imagination?

When the person in front of him showed his badge, the guards let him through. Arya, however, had no such emblem. As he reached the entrance, he was stopped.

"Show your pass," one of the guards said. "Only those with a kingdom-recognized or alliance-recognized pass are allowed to enter."

"I don't have a pass yet," Arya admitted. "I came here to get one."

The guards exchanged glances. "This is your first time visiting an alliance store? How come you don't have a kingdom pass? Everyone gets one upon reaching level 10."

"I don't know. I never received one when I reached level 10."

After a brief moment, the left guard nodded and said, "Follow me inside. You can obtain a pass by providing some basic information."