Chapter 18: A Deal with the Prince
After that, I quickly left the ring before I was mobbed with people. I collected my green coin for winning and also got directions toward the building where I could register my sect with the city. As I started walking there, I couldn't help but admire all the stores I walked past keeping my eyes peeled for any that either dealt with runes or beast parts.
At first, most of the stores I passed sold with weapons of some kind. Eventually, I passed a store called "Beast Clothing and Armor." Figuring I might as well check to see if they would buy my bear, I entered. Upon entering, I saw the store was split in half.
Half was full of outfits of all kinds, some outrageous in crazy shapes and bright colors while others were downright drab as if they were intentionally made to be unappealing. On the other side were full sets of armor from a full plate to just a leather chest piece. As I was looking through all the crazy outfits in the store, a bald man with a giant smile on his face and plain brown clothes came up to me asking,
"Is there anything I can find for you? I know it can be overwhelming at first, but I'm sure I can find something for you."
G
lad I found someone to ask I said, "I might get something later but for now, do you buy beast parts? If so, I've got some to sell."
As I said this, the cheerful look in his eye gained a greedy glint but quickly went to normal as he responded, "Of course, just follow me, I can evaluate what you have and tell you how much we can pay you."
I followed him to the back past all the merchandise and entered a room that smelled of blood and was filled with skins of various animals, many of which I had no idea what kind of animal the skins had come from. The man indicated for me to place what I had on a raised platform in the middle of the room explaining,
"This is where I'll evaluate anything you have and also where I'll butcher it if the beast is still whole. But you don't need to worry about that right now."
Following his directions, I drew bear's corpse out of my space ring letting it land on the platform. Upon seeing the bear, the shopkeeper let out a small gasp before starting to walk around inspecting while mumbling things to himself. Finally, he must have finished his inspection because he stopped in place and turned to me saying,
"I haven't seen a thorn bear in quite some time especially any with its corpse so intact. For something like this, I can give you five green coins and trust me you won't get a better deal anywhere else."
Having no idea if this would be considered a reasonable price or not, I agreed. Hearing my agreement, much to my surprise his smile managed to get even wider, and he practically started dragging me to the front of the store saying,
"Well, since we finished that, how about finding you some new sets of clothes. The ones you are wearing now make you look like you are one step away from being a beggar on the street."
I realized he had a somewhat good point considering my clothes had gotten relatively raggedy throughout my journey. Before I could look around much, he started bringing me things and setting them in piles,
"Here's my suggestions, first this coat."
As he said this, he held up a long black coat that almost seemed to glimmer depending on how you looked at it.
"This coat would be great for you because it can be considered clothing and armor since it is light enough to be worn at all times but will offer you decent protection due to its construction of panther hide."
He went through a bunch of other options as well, none of which interested me. I ended up only buying the jackets, plain shirts and pants and spending six green coins altogether meaning I actually lost money by coming into this store.
After putting on the black coat that somehow managed to fit me perfectly, I felt the price was worth it. As I left the store and continued following the directions, I saw a huge white marble building surrounded by hundreds of flags each with a different emblem on them. Dropping down from the front of the building were twelve large banners.
It didn't take a whole lot of effort for me to guess that they represented the twelve great sects. This made me imagine that someday all twelve of them would all be replaced with one banner bearing my sect. Of course, before that could occur, I should at least register my sect.
I walked up to the ornate entrance of the building. As I arrived, I was greeted by a man dressed in a full suit who gave me a bow before saying,
"I believe you are here for the Lightning Dragon Sect, I believe it was called, correct?"
Nodding my head in agreement, he led me to a bare office sitting me in a wooden chair and handing me a scroll and quill saying,
"Please fill-out this record and handover one green coin and we will be able to provide twenty customized sect emblems that should get you into most cities not under control of any sects. Before you ask, no your flag will not be put up outside this building. That's only for sects who control at least one city in the mainland."
I realized even after I registered my sect, I still had a ways to go before it would also be relevant on the mainland. Completing the filling out of the scroll, I handed it and the green coin to him. He gave me back twenty silver emblems in the shape of a dragon.
Now that I had finished what I was here to do, I wasn't really sure what to do next. Remembering what the guard said I could visit the palace, I figured I might as well especially since I was pretty sure I had seen it coming to the sect building.
I walked back to what I thought was the palace since it was the largest building behind the sect headquarters when I got close to it, I was stopped by a guard in an elaborate uniform,
"Stop, what business do you have at the Royal Palace?"
I showed him my quest pass while saying,
"The guard that issued this to me said I could come to visit the palace."
Inspecting the pass, I saw recognition light up in his eyes, and he responded,
"Sorry, I didn't recognize you, sir. The Prince in fact is eager to meet you. Why don't you come with me?"
I followed the guard into a large room with couches and tables placed in each corner and a beautiful mountain situated in the center of the room. The guard indicated for me to sit at a chair in the corner of the room promising to be back shortly with the Prince. As I settled into the chair, I struggled to stay awake.
The chair was so comfortable. I focused on sharpening my control of the elements as I was getting closer to entering the second stage of my cultivation technique getting to nearly three-fourths of the way through the process before my control gave out.
As I was concentrating, the Prince entered the room dressed in an expensive green silk robe. He had what would have been a handsome face with trimmed black hair if it weren't for the fact that he was covered in bandages making it so I almost couldn't recognize him as the man I had fought earlier. Seeing me, he smiled saying,
"That was a good fight we had earlier. I didn't think I'd get to see the day where someone as young as me outside the twelve great sects could beat me in a fight. I suppose since they call me a once in ten generations talent, you would have to be like a once in a hundred generations genius."
Happy to know that the Prince wasn't mad at me, I relaxed responding,
"Yeah, it was a great fight. I hadn't got to try out those techniques I had recently mastered before the fight. "
After some more discussion, the Prince entered into another topic of discussion saying,
"So, why did you come to this city? I heard you were trying to start your own sect."
Responding and letting him know I said,
"Yes, I did come to this city to start my own sect among other things. One of which is I'm still trying to uncover. So, if you know of anyone knowledgeable on how runes work, I would love to meet them."
The Prince listened intensely as I spoke and when I finished, he responded in a happy tone,
"So, you really are going to be starting a sect. That's great news! I thought if you wanted to base your sect out of this city to start put, we could give you a building and have a lot of contracts we could give you. As for runes, you're in luck. I know of a shop where the owner is extremely proficient in the art of rune forming. He is so proficient that sometimes sects will send someone to buy from him."
When I heard this, I stood up excited to meet someone who was knowledgeable about runes immediately. I also agreed to the Prince's other proposal to start my sect here since it was a good offer for me since I had no real idea on how to build a sect. After discussing the details of our deal and other pertinent matters, he stood up saying,
"Come with me, I'll show you the building we will give you. You can stay here tonight, and I will send for you tomorrow to see the runemaster,"
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