"I got it! We can go to the Thousand Stars Market!" Jasmin suddenly said after thinking for a moment.
"The Thousand Stars Market? What's that?" Ilaris asked, a bit surprised.
Though unlike her, Daniel and Andreas's expressions shifted slightly—they clearly knew what the Thousand Stars Market was.
"You don't know? Well, based on what I heard from my father about you, that makes sense... The Thousand Stars Market is one of the most famous caravan markets in the world. They're a traveling caravan that goes all around the world and occasionally sets up a temporary market in a city."
"The Thousand Stars Market is well known for selling high-ranked items and treasures," Jasmin explained.
"I see." Ilaris nodded in understanding.
"I didn't expect them to be in the Central Plains right now. I actually thought they went to the demon-controlled continent," Andreas suddenly said.
"What? They even go to the demon continent?" Ilaris was suddenly shocked.
Almost none of the races or species in the world had good relations with demons due to past events.
"Actually, they're merchants. They provide services to all races. I'm pretty sure they'd sell items to Corrupted Beasts too if they could," Jasmin said with a sarcastic tone.
"Well, we should get moving before it's too late," Daniel cut in.
The others nodded, and Jasmin took the lead with the rest following her. Daniel kept his mask on the entire time—even during breakfast he hadn't taken it off.
In fact, the mask was made of energy and was more illusionary than solid, so he could do anything with it without issue.
It didn't take long before they reached a large marketplace. They could see the caravans, each having set up a booth and selling their goods.
"Welcome to the Thousand Stars Market!" Two beautiful ladies stood at the entrance, welcoming everyone who came in.
Once the four of them entered, they started exploring the market. It was crowded—maybe too crowded—but fortunately, the area was big enough to handle the number of people.
"Is there anything specific you're looking for?" Jasmin looked at them and asked.
"I'm not really familiar with this kind of stuff," Ilaris shook her head.
"To be honest, I don't have any money. I lost all my funds back in the mountains," Andreas sighed, unaware that all his gold coins were sitting in Daniel's pockets.
Then Jasmin looked at Daniel, waiting for his answer.
"There are a lot of things I really need. Like clothes similar to my current ones that work as armor, or a body refinement technique," Daniel answered after thinking for a moment.
"Armor and a body refinement technique, huh?" Jasmin paused, looking thoughtful.
"What rank are you aiming for?"
"I don't want anything below rank A," Daniel replied.
"That's a bit tough... Rank A items are really rare, and most of the time they're bought up by powerful forces. Still, there should be a few in this market. But as for armor, I doubt it... As for a body refinement technique, well, I might know a place." Jasmin signaled them to follow her.
Soon, they arrived at a booth in the western part of the market. It was a relatively luxurious and elegant booth.
"How can I help you?" The attendant was a young man in his early twenties.
"We're looking for a body refinement technique," Jasmin said and then showed him a golden emblem.
"A Golden Guest? I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you... A body refinement technique, huh? Actually, we have two. Please give me a moment." The young man went to the back of the booth.
"What's that?" Ilaris pointed at the golden emblem and asked. She could easily tell that the man's attitude had changed after seeing the emblem.
"That's a Golden Emblem. It belongs to the faction my family is part of," Jasmin explained.
"Faction? What's that?" This time Andreas asked with curiosity.
"From what I've heard, you guys don't have guilds in your country, right?" Daniel added curiously.
He had some knowledge about their kingdom. In their world, although kingdoms weren't uncommon, republics were the majority.
Because of that, even the kingdoms had somewhat different structures.
"A faction is kind of like a guild, but it's controlled by nobles. The nobles and the top royal institutions split the country's power into five parts."
"In our country, there are four factions, and each holds a portion of the nation's power. My father and I belong to one of them," Jasmin explained.
"What about the king and the royal family?" Andreas asked in surprise.
"The king and royal family hold one of the five portions of power. In fact, they're the most powerful institution in the nation."
"So your king isn't part of any faction. That's a good system, but it probably has a lot of flaws too," Daniel's eyes lit up with understanding.
"True, but you can't exactly say the king isn't part of a faction. The princes, in order to compete for the position of crown prince, each join one of the factions. The factions support them, and the prince who manages to become the crown prince has to leave his faction. Still, the faction that raises the crown prince gains huge benefits and influence."
"So the fifth part of power you mentioned only includes the king and queen?" Ilaris asked with a frown. It didn't seem logical to her.
"No. The strongest institution includes the king, any former kings still alive, the queen, and the grand vizier."
Ilaris nodded, now understanding.
"Sorry for the wait. Unfortunately, I could only find one of the body refinement techniques," the young man returned, handing a book to Jasmin with respect.
The book had an ancient, golden cover with all sorts of engravings on it.
He gave the book to Daniel, who looked it over.
"This technique is called Indestructible Star Body. With it, you can absorb the essence of stars to refine your body. However, you must have at least reached rank B to cultivate it."
"How much does it cost?" Daniel asked.
"Well, it's a rank A technique, so we only exchange it for something of equal value—or one million gold coins."
Daniel didn't respond right away. He paused, as his intuition told him this technique would be very useful.
Still, one million gold coins was his limit. After paying that, he'd basically be paralyzed financially. No, it was worse—he'd be completely broke.
He sighed and pulled one million gold coins from his inventory. Suddenly, the floor beneath him was covered in coins.
Paying that amount felt like a dagger stabbed his heart.
One million gold coins! That was close to 300 million Zen!
And just like that, the money was gone...
He looked in his inventory and saw that he had only 89 coins left.
"Thank you very much for your purchase, sir." The young man smiled.
At that moment, Jasmin and Andreas stared in shock at the pile of gold.
That was one million freaking gold coins! That could fund a mid-sized guild for a whole month!
Where the hell did he get all that money?
"Congrats on getting the technique," Jasmin said as they exited the booth.
"Thanks—" Daniel started to respond, but before he could finish his sentence, the sky suddenly trembled.
"What's going on?" Andreas said as the ground and sky began to shake.
"This... this is the defense array! The elves are attacking!"