Protected Star Trading
“Yes. Through the Morning Star Area, any Morning Star Warlock can get support at anytime. Even if our brothers are spread throughout the central continent, this place can still keep us closely linked.”
Paul’s words held a tone of awe, and the respect he held towards the Warlocks who had thought up this plan was obvious.
“Yes. If I had had the coordinates to the Morning Star Area the last time, things wouldn’t have been so difficult...” Leylin sounded helpless as he sighed.
“Haha... but it’s not too late to know now!” The hand of the steel puppet seemed to pat Leylin’s shoulder, but went through the black figure.
As if trying to hide his embarrassment, Paul immediately laughed as he spoke. “Oh! By the way, all of our bloodline Warlock organisations provide each other with long-distance delivery services. Of course, they take a fee, and need to be on good terms with the other party!”
“Bloodline Warlocks are very united...” Leylin’s eyes shone, immediately knowing the function of this service.
Even if it was the airship network of the Monarch of the skies, it would take years to travel from one end of the central continent to the other. In the process, they had to move across countless dangerous regions, and even Morning Stars would find this troublesome.
Unless it was absolutely necessary, other Magi would stay in their own territories, and seldom conducted super long-distance travels.
With the teleportation through the Morning Star Area, travelling to any region in the central continent could happen in an instant as long as there was a Morning Star Warlock organisation there.
Of course, as the teleportation was through the astral gate, the arrival would be at the other party’s headquarters or even Magus Tower.
This served as a threat to the Warlocks who teleported over. The Warlocks that received them would not easily reveal secrets of their nest to another Warlock.
This required a certain amount of trust from both sides, as well as unity.
However, Leylin believed that with the huge pressure from the external world, and the coordination of the few Radiant Moon Warlocks in the inner circles, this was not yet a problem.
“The space here is large, and there are many uninhabited areas. As long as you take control of it, it’s yours and you’re free to do as you like, as long as you don’t encroach on public territory!”
Paul continued on, “I have a castle outside, but you need to be careful. In these uninhabited regions, there are vengeful spirits and the like. Things will get very complicated if you get hurt, since it’s malice that has been amassed in a location.”
Leylin looked grim as he nodded, tactfully not asking what had happened to the people who had fallen to this state.
“By the way... Where is the trading hall?”
Leylin took a quick look. After walking out of the square from before, there were only a few shops here and there, with some puppets or clones inside selling personal items. Some of the shops had even closed their doors, only accepting members.
However, just the light from the front desk had Leylin in a daze. The astral stones that he had found so difficult to acquire when he was rank 3 seemed to be of less value, with each shop having a couple pieces.
There were obviously many treasures here. Leylin even saw quite a few medium-grade magic equipment.
However, what confused Leylin was that the trading hall that he was looking for could not be found. Even after he walked a whole round through the trading area, he could not find anything that resembled a building.
“Uh... Lord Leylin, my castle isn’t too far away. How about we go there andrest, sampling rainbow juice and jewelled meat from the Gourmet World? How about it?” Paul awkwardly laughed.
Leylin’s expression turned cold with dissatisfaction. Paul was obviously afraid that after seeing the trading hall, he would be able to accurately gauge the real value of his items, thus disabling his ability to take advantage of him.
“Hehe... Big octopus, are you swindling newbies again?” Before Leylin had even flared up, a large flower that looked like a rose giggled from the side.
The rose looked about the size of a regular human, its roots twisting around each other and forming something similar to a human’s two feet. A little girl’s face appeared at the stamen.
“Hey, newbie! The public area for trading is above you. Just look up and you’ll know. No need to thank me...”
The giant human-shaped flower hummed while skipping off, while Paul’s face turned red. Thankfully, he was now controlling a puppet, and it was not evident.
“Above me?!”
Leylin raised his head in amazement, staring at the large, starry skies that were like the universe, particularly at the giant star that looked ready to fall. Numerous rings of light formed a pattern around her, bright and beautiful.
“Could it be?!”
Leylin was shocked, soul force immediately extending to the protective star.
*Rumble!* Like a universe exploding, information streamed into Leylin’s brain. If he had not already reached Morning Star realm and had some experience in the past, he might explode from this onslaught of data.
“Selling 5632 g astral stone! Accepting exchange with item of equal value!”
“High grade meditation technique— Void Phantom, total of five levels. Complete. Requesting...”
“Purchasing bloodlines, remains or even goods from ancient creatures at a high price. Price will be favorable. Add me immediately!” At the side was a secret imprint symbol.
“Medium-grade magic equipment trade. I need a defensive magic equipment. Any difference in price can be compensated with another hundred star gems!”
“Selling living beings— Desolate Bone Wolf tribe, as well as a wolf king with a limit of rank 3!”
“Selling spatial Arcane Art, as well as an incomplete spatial coordinate. If interested, please hurry...”
Leylin’s eyes flashed with blue, the A.I. Chip quickly turning and gathering all this information, forming a large price list and a curved line of the selling price.
Leylin chuckled, clearly understanding the preciousness and general prices of certain items.
“Haha... The weather’s quite good!” Paul laughed. “Lord Leylin, there’s too much chaotic information here. I just wanted you to get some rest...”
Paul said something even he wouldn’t fall for. Would soul force need rest?
Unexpectedly, Leylin immediately agreed. “Lord Paul, please lead the way!”
“Wha- What? You still want to go to the castle? Oh, no, no! I mean... are you not going to take a look at the market?” Paul was slightly confused and even bewildered, to the point that he forgot his words.
“Haha! Spirit Circle is my Ouroboros Clan’s ally, so I obviously believe you! Besides, I’m rather curious about the rainbow juice and jeweled meat!” Leylin lifted his head and chuckled, looking as if he did not mind. Paul was immediately touched.
What he did not realise was in the moment Leylin laughed, there was a cold glint in his eyes.
After walking out of the public area, everything instantly seemed desolate. The Morning Star Area was a plane after all, and no matter how many of their few Radiant Moon Warlocks had dealt with it, they could not attend to every single area.
Even public places were frequented only by Morning Star Warlocks, and thus appeared like a ghost town.The area was large but there were few people, and the frequency of an individual occupying a lot of land was extremely high.
The situation was even worse outside. Besides a few castles and buildings like that near the public region, the other areas were basically a wasteland.
The vengeful spirits formed of malicious thoughts and ill intent were very stubborn and difficult to deal with.
Before a complete ‘purification’, even Radiant Moon Warlocks had few methods to deal with it. They could only allow them to lie around idly, not even able to make use of them.
They headed all the way to Paul’s castle.
While it was called a castle, Warlocks’ aesthetics were rather different from those ordinary people. The castle in front of Leylin was a few large spheroids floating in the air, with a column connecting the bottom to the ground.
“Look! This is the castle I designed myself. What beautiful arches! And that feeling of complete perfection! Oh! It makes me want to recite a poem...” Paul was obviously in a good mood, but Leylin politely declined.
On the ground, there was an installation similar to an elevator. The smart butler immediately recognised Paul’s aura, sending him and Leylin into the castle.
“Haha... This area is rather crude with only a few refined-gold servants. Don’t take offence...” Paul brought Leylin to a strangely-shaped hall to sit, and an intellectual servant immediately brought a round plate over.
Inside was juice that was spilling over with an aroma, as well as roasted meat.
The juice was poured in a transparent glass cup, but revealed a seven-coloured luster, similar to a rainbow. The meat, too, had a tint on the surface similar to jewels.
These two were food from another world. Even Morning Star Magi would have difficulty obtaining this. The taste was amazing, and though Paul usually could not bring himself to enjoy it, he had taken it out and shown off his treasure for Leylin’s sake.
“It’s alright!” Leylin laughed as he shook his head. While he knew that in theory, they could move migrants here to work, the purification was not thorough enough. Besides Morning Stars, even other low-ranked Warlocks might not be able to handle the contamination, much less regular people.
Perhaps... The union head had already attempted at experiments in this area, only to be met with failure.
Leylin did not think into this, picking up his cutlery in a practised manner and elegantly cutting himself a piece of jeweled meat.
“Oh!” The moment the piece of meat on the fork entered his mouth, the delicious juice from the meat combined with a unique aroma and began to attack Leylin’s taste buds, causing every cell in his body to rejoice.
“That is delicious! I’m not going to hold back then!”
Mind ready to take some revenge, he began to enjoy the food without restraint, feeling a thrill go through him as he watched Paul’s heartache.