Death... and me

Frandin sighed in relief as he sent a Spiritual Sense Message to Rean.

'Everything went quite well.'

Rean smiled and shook his head.

'The items for sale are there now. However, we did catch some attention. It seems like even your pure bloodline isn't enough to keep prying eyes away.'

Frandin was taken aback.

'What do you mean?'

Without showing anything on his face, Rean replied.

'Someone's following us. Th guy is quite good, though. His cultivation is low, which makes his Spiritual Sense blend with the other people around us. Also, he only uses it once every few seconds to find our location while following from far away.'

Unfortunately for the guy, with Roan as a teacher and Rean's own Spiritual Sense Bending Skill, it would take much more than that to follow Rean without being noticed.

Rean then entered an alley with Frandin when suddenly, the two of them disappeared from the guy's Spiritual Sense.

"What?!"

The guy quickly ran to the alley just to find that Rean and Frandin had disappeared without a trace.

"How's that possible?"

Somewhere else, a new Rean and Frandin came out and joined the crowd once more. Naturally, Rean changed his and Frandin's appearance once more before releasing Frandin from his Spiritual Sense Bending.

'This skill of yours is just too convenient. How do you do that?'

Rean shrugged his shoulders as he replied.

'It isn't that hard when you're born with Light Element Affinity.'

'What?! You're joking, right?'

Rean smiled but didn't say anything else.

Seeing that Rean didn't want to talk about it, Frandin asked something else.

'What do you plan to do now?'

Rean had already achieved his objective to come here. One of them was to get as many Spirit Stones as possible for their group to cultivate.

'Where can we find a map? If possible, one of the entire continent.'

'The entire continent? That's gonna be hard. The best thing would be to buy the countries' maps, which are already expensive. Then we can guide ourselves in the Tuvaro Empire's direction.'

Rean shook his head.

'That's the problem. You told us that the Tuvaro Empire was on the other side of the world. However, in which part is it located? We can't travel without aim.'

Frandin had to admit that Rean was right. The only thing he knew was that it was on the other side, that's all. He never cared about where it could be found.

'Hum... In that case, we can try the Shaz Treasures Hall. However, anything they sell there is extremely expensive. As for a map of the entire continent, it won't be any cheaper. Well, your Earth Middle-Level Weapons are definitely worth a fortune too. Still, we don't have the Spirit Stones from them yet.'

'Is this Shaz Treasures Hall some big organization?'

Frandin nodded.

'They are present in quite a few countries. Of course, there are many other Treasure Halls from other organizations. However, in our Tasman Country and the surrounding ones, the Shaz Treasures Hall is the most famous.'

Rean smiled after hearing that.

'In that case, we can use those weapons of mine to trade for the map, correct?'

'This... In theory, yes. Weapons of that level would definitely be worth a map of the country at the very least.'

Rean still had a few of these weapons in the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm. Since he could get a map with one of them, it was perfect. It would be a problem if he needed an Earth High Level one, though. He had many of those materials available, but it would take time to forge them into equipment in this world.

'Now that I think about it, I'm already in the Peak of the Core Formation Realm. Considering the Spiritual Pool that Roan and I have, I should be able to push for a breakthrough in my blacksmith skills.'

The more Rean thought about it, the more he liked the idea. The Black and White Stars that Rean and Roan used were even better than ordinary Earth Peak-Level Weapons. Nevertheless, they were still considered High-Level ones due to their material. Rean couldn't make a Peak-Level one before simply because he lacked the cultivation for it. As for the material, he got quite a lot of it in the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm.

'Anyway, let's go to this Treasure Hall you talked about.'

It was then that Rean remembered something.

'Oh, right! How come people have decided to follow you even after discovering you had a Pure Bloodline with a Bloodline Mark? I thought that Pure Bloodlines were supposed to be something sacred, and few would try to find problems with them.'

Frandin shook his head as he explained.

'They aren't very common. However, it's not as if they're extremely rare either. First of all, our Pure Bloodline Marks have ranks. Mine, for example, is only a Rank Two Bloodline Mark. It's only rarer than a Rank One. Still, Rank Two ones are considered common between them.'

Rean nodded as he said.

'Because of that, your Bloodline Mark doesn't cause as much fear as the higher-ranked ones.'

Frandin didn't deny that.

'Exactly. There are nine Ranks of Bloodline Marks. The lords of small towns at the borders of the countries are eligible for Rank One Marks. My father is the lord of a somewhat bigger city. Because of that, he and his family were able to get Rank Two ones. Of course, they're far from being as notable as higher ones.'

'Who are the ones with the highest bloodline marks?'

'Who else would they be? They are the Royal Families and Imperial Families.'

'Royal Families can have up to Rank Six Bloodline Marks. The Imperial Family can have up to Rank eight, with the Emperor alone holding a Rank Nine Mark. As you can imagine, the higher your Bloodline Mark Rank, the purer your bloodline. Also, the rank of the mark can draw your bloodline power to a greater extent as well. That's why one could say that the Imperial Family, who already have the purest bloodline, can be almost unbeatable due to their higher Bloodline Marks as well.'

Rean was quite impressed with the mark system.

'You keep saying that one can be 'eligible' for these marks. Does that mean you're not born with them?'

Frandin nodded as he replied.

'We aren't. You need to earn it in the trials of the Empires. Each Empire has its own mark with its own specific characteristics. As I mentioned before, my father was eligible to try a Rank Two Bloodline Mark trial. Since he succeeded, he and his family were rewarded with Rank Two marks, which is the one I use.'

'Who decides who can enter each trial?'

'The Imperial Family, of course.'

Rean nodded.

'In that case, where did these trials come from? Was it the Imperial Families of each Empire that created them?'

'This... I asked the same thing, but my father didn't know the answer.'

Well, Rean already expected that it wouldn't be that easy. In any case, he wasn't a Zasfin, so it matters little for himself.

'Alright, let's go to the Shaz Treasures hall.'

As the most famous one in the country, the Shaz Treasures Hall was one of the biggest buildings in the city. The building had more than ten floors, and each one was very spacious. The higher the floor one reached, the rarer and more expensive the items became. However, each floor seemed to be guarded, so it wasn't like anyone could go up anytime they wanted.

'Can we go up to check the things?'

Frandin looked at Rean as he scratched the back of his head.

'I probably can go to the fourth floor, but...'

Rean immediately understood. Because he was a human, he wouldn't be allowed to go past the first floor.

'Anyway, let me try.'

Rean shook his head, though.

'There's no need. Just call some attendant and ask for the map. That's our main objective in this place anyway. Here, take this sword. It's also an Earth Middle-Level Equipment.'

Frandin really couldn't understand where Rean took that equipment from. He was sure this time that Rean wasn't holding anything else. But out of nowhere, there it was, another sword.

'Is this some kind of ability from the people of his planet?'

That was the only thing he could think about. Still, he nodded and took the sword from Rean.

Sure enough, an attendant came to receive them a few moments later. It was a beautiful female Zasfin... or so it looked like. Rean couldn't be sure since she was from another race. However, he doubted the owner of this Treasures Hall would let ugly attendants take care of the customers.

Still, Rean noticed some disgust when she looked in his direction, which she quickly hid before looking at Frandin.

"Hello, young master. What can our Shaz Treasures Hall help you with today?"

Frandin then put his play to work as he asked with a proud expression.

"I want a map of the Empire. The more complete, the better."

"This..."

The Zasfin lady looked at Frandin, who seemed quite young, before warning him.

"Sir, we do have such an item. However, it's bound to be quite expensive. I'm absolutely not saying that this young master can't pay it. But I should warn you that it won't be cheap."

Fradin snorted when he heard that.

"Here. Is this enough?"

Frandin then passed Rean's sword to her.

"An Earth Middle-Level Sword! And an excellent one at that!"

Immediately, the attendant's behavior became even more polite towards Frandin.

"I can't conduct such a high-level trade. Can this young master follow me to see the manager of the floor?"

Frandin nodded. Sure enough, Rean's weapons were no joke.