Chapter 442: Shopping

With how close the Valiharsus Kingdom was to the Everdark Mountains, the three only took a day to appear a couple of kilometers away from the kingdom’s walls, which Aurus and Horell looked at with a hint of awe on their faces.

“We’ve already seen the Seraph Kingdom from both inside and out, but this… this is on a whole other level,” Aurus could not help but murmur as he took in the sheer size of the kingdom before him. As for Horell, he unsurprisingly went slack-jawed, appreciating how large the kingdom was in his own way.

Hearing Aurus’ words, Melzarin could not help but let out a light chortle. “You’re already astounded by that? Well, I guess it makes sense since you two haven’t traveled throughout the continent just yet.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Aurus soon after.

“Let’s just say the Valiharsus Kingdom is only top 3 if you were to ask me as to which place in the continent has the most grandeur. The Plyder Kingdom and the Megistos Empire take the spot of top two and top one for that, in my opinion,” said Melzarin with confidence.

In response to his words, Aurus and Horell looked at each other as they inwardly nodded. From what it seemed, their thoughts had become as one, thinking that once they had the time, they would have to travel to the two places Melzarin mentioned to see if his words truly held any weight.

Then again, their main objective in this kingdom was not to admire the sights that the kingdom offered. Instead, it was to buy Mana Tenacity Cores in order to modify their Existence Transition technique and quickly transition as Animates. With that in mind, the three applied a couple movement speed buffs on them as they made their way to the Valiharsus Kingdom’s gates.

…

Once they were inside the kingdom, both Aurus and Horell could not help but gawk around as the overall architecture of the kingdom was vastly different from the architecture found in Seraph Kingdom. If one were to compare the two, the feeling of the architecture in the Seraph Kingdom seemed like it was just newly made, as if there was no permanence to the buildings built in it. On the other hand, the architecture in the Valiharsus Kingdom exuded history, as if the kingdom had withstood the test of time.

“Just to remind you, we’re here to buy Mana Tenacity Cores, not go on a sightseeing trip,” Melzarin said once he noticed the two slightly deviate from the main road. In response, Aurus and Horell turned their heads to look back at Melzarin before sticking their tongues out.

Seeing that, Melzarin could not help but inwardly sigh as he wondered how long the three of them would wander around the kingdom before finding the place where they needed to go, the Valiharsus Arc Treasure Pavilion.

Thankfully, the answer to that question did not take long to arrive as, a few minutes after they had entered the kingdom, they had arrived in front of one of the largest buildings in the kingdom.

Spanning five stories tall, the building in front of them stuck out like a sore thumb when the highest among the other buildings in the area only spanned three stories at most. With its walls being made out of carved stone, it gave off the feeling that the building had been in the kingdom at the very start.

“The Valiharsus Arc Treasure Pavilion… who knows we’d actually stumble across it while the two were sightseeing,” Melzarin could not help but mutter, looking at the large wooden sign above the main entrance. Written on it were the words ‘Arc Treasure Pavilion’ in a striking gold. Combined with how the building looked, it was easy not to miss.

“Just so you know, this was part of our calculations,” said Aurus soon after, with Horell nodding in agreement. Hearing that, Melzarin could only inwardly let out a sigh once more as the three of them went ahead and entered the pavilion.

…

Once they had entered the pavilion, the three of them were greeted by the sight of multiple shelves and displays, arranged in a way that made it seem like there was purpose to their arrangement. On them were items that all had seemed to have a story behind it, prompting anyone who came into the pavilion to realize that this place was the real deal.

“How may I help you, esteemed sirs?” Just as they were about to stand still and stare at everything in front of them with awe, an attendant from the pavilion went up to them and asked. Hearing that, Aurus snapped back to reality as he cordially smiled. “Ah, we were told this was the place to buy Mana Tenacity Cores. Does this place still have some in stock?”

“Indeed.” The attendant smiled in response, only to have a slightly sad expression soon after as she continued, “However, all of the lower-grade Mana Tenacity Cores are sold out, so if the esteemed sirs were aiming to buy such cores, then you’d be out of luck.”

“Well, what grade of cores are still available for purchase?” Aurus asked in response.

“We still have Grade 4 and Grade 5 Mana Tenacity Cores for sale,” the attendant replied. “Are the esteemed sirs planning to buy cores from these two grades?”

Hearing the attendant’s words, Aurus inwardly let out a sigh of relief. With a nod, he told the attendant, “Yes. We were planning to buy Grade 4 Mana Tenacity Cores, actually.”

“Is that so?” In response, the attendant beamed a smile at the three of them as her tone became slightly more polite. “Well, if the esteemed sirs may follow me, let us head to the section for the Mana Tenacity Cores.”

With that, the three went ahead and followed the attendant in front of them. While doing so, Melzarin could not help but send a strand of energy towards Aurus, establishing a connection where they could talk in secret. “I thought you were only planning to buy Grade 2 Mana Tenacity Cores?”

“Yeah, I thought so as well.” Aurus wryly smiled in response. “However, aren’t you curious as to what Lucius would do to the technique if we gave him Grade 4 Mana Tenacity Cores? After all, it seemed like the Grade 2 ones he mentioned was just an afterthought.”

“Eh… not really…” said Melzarin as he scratched his head. After a few more questions and answers, the connection between the two was cut off as the three appeared in another section of the pavilion a couple minutes later.

…

“Here you go, sir. Five Grade 4 Mana Tenacity Cores,” said the attendant as she handed a pouch to Aurus. Receiving it, he went ahead and opened it, revealing five pearls that were sky blue in color. Looking at it for a before, he noticed that the pearls were emanating a faint blue light, thinking that it probably had something to do with the material the pearl was made of, or possibly the pearl itself.

“How much would it cost?” Aurus asked not long after, giving the pouch to Melzarin for safekeeping. In response, the attendant asked back, “Would you be paying in gold coins or in mana stones?”

“Gold coins, please,” he quickly replied.

“Since you’re going to pay in gold coins, the pavilion has decided to offer you a customary discount, courtesy of being one of the pavilion’s first-time customers.” The attendant smiled in response, thinking about the commission she would get from the deal. “With the discount applied, the price is totaled to a billion gold coins.”

Hearing the price they would have to pay, Aurus could not help but take in a deep breath. After a while, he let out a sigh as he rummaged something from his pocket before giving it to the attendant. “Deduct it from the card.”

“As you wish, sir. This may take a few minutes, so please wait for a while.” After saying those words, the attendant left to process the transaction, leaving the three off on their own.

“What’s the card you gave the attendant?” Horell asked with a slightly curious expression.

“It’s a card that contains all of the money we got from exchanging that Rank 9 Mana Stone,” Aurus replied. “Speaking of which, the card is produced by an organization well-respected all throughout the continent so it’ll be accepted wherever we may be.”

Nodding in response to Aurus’ words, Melzarin asked after that, “So, how many gold coins do you have left?”

In response, Aurus wryly smiled as he said, “About a couple hundred million gold coins, give or take. Considering how the Existence Transition technique also needs items, we’d only have around a hundred million coins left over after that.”

“That’s still plenty of money to grow the town and make sure it has a stable flow of income,” Melzarin replied, prompting the two of them to look at him in silence. “What? I’ve managed a couple of towns in the past. This isn’t anything new to me.”

Hearing that, Aurus asked Melzarin for a bit of advice regarding the proper management of towns. However, their conversation was cut off short as the attendant had arrived in front of them a few minutes later.

“Here you go, sir,” said the attendant as she gave the card back to Aurus. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“That would be all, thanks,” replied Aurus with a smile.

“Alright then. Thank you for buying from the Valiharsus Arc Treasure Pavilion, esteemed sirs. May you come back here next time!” the attendant said in response as the three left the pavilion not long after.

“So, where next?” Once they had left the pavilion, Horell went ahead and asked the two this question.

“Well, it’s still midday…” Aurus said, taking a quick glance at the sun. “Should we explore the kingdom for a bit more before making our way back to the Everdark Mountains?”

Unsurprisingly, Horell quickly agreed to the proposition. As for Melzarin…

“Haah… fine. We’ll head back later.”

“As expected of Melzarin!”

“Yeah! Melzarin, you’re the best!”