The Rise of the Black Plain

Arriving at the first shop in this city that Strin had taken them to, he introduced the group to the shopkeeper, who was an old acquaintance of theirs and gave them space to look at the artifacts and resources for sale.

Meanwhile, he exchanged a few words with the 'ant' who was working as a vendor there.

"Strin, why did you bring such a group into my store? Don't you know how greedy and violent these space explorers are?" The ant said in a way that only they could understand. "I thought you were a friend, man!"

Strin laughed bitterly and said. "Accan, these people aren't like that. And even if they were, what would I do? Let them go and risk them getting into trouble with us? We'd be the ones to lose! Don't forget that our tribe lives nearby.

Better I guide them and keep them out of trouble or away from our tribe than let them go alone."

"You're taking a big risk. The last group of space explorers that passed through the area betrayed their guides and devoured their bodies before leaving our world." Accan commented as it looked around at the people in Minos' group. "Be careful not to become the barbecue of these aliens!"

"I know the dangers I'm running... Anyway, there's a Sovereign among them, and I've decided to take my chances. Can you help me a little? You don't have to give them anything. Just try to answer their questions if necessary. That will speed up their departure from our city."

Accan was silent for a minute but soon agreed with Strin. "All right. You are a good customer of my shop, and I don't want them to hang around too long."

Strin thanked Accan and then said to the people of Minos. "These resources you see are all traded in Qilnat. Qilnat is the most common currency in our region, and even in areas where it is not accepted, there are places where you can exchange your Qilnat for other types of currency.

You don't have any Qilnats, but getting them is easy. You won't have many options here in Kilburn, as I told you. But if you hunt or gather wild resources outside the city, you can sell them to people like my friend Accan." It said, pointing to the shopkeeper.

"Accan will buy what you collect as long as it's of value to him. But even if you have things that aren't interesting for his shop, he will show you where to sell your things in Kilburn."

The people in Minos' group were grateful for Strin's support and Accan's willingness to help them.

Meanwhile, they were more interested in the items for sale in Accan's shop, a place that looked like a small underground anthill, where various items were displayed on shelves of earth and stones.

There were roots, fruits, leaves, herbs, special stones, and vials of strange liquids, but also artifacts that probably served ants or other types of insects that inhabited the area.

That was one of the best shops in Kilburn, so all the items there were of high quality for the average level of the surrounding area.

There were things that, if sent to the Spiritual World, would be classified as 4th stage resources or artifacts.

Some things caught Maximillian and Minos' attention and showed signs of items that would be classified as 5th stage!

"This world is more advanced than the Spiritual World and The Adamant Land." The level 99 robot commented to Minos and Maximillian.

That was to be expected since the maximum level attainable in those two worlds was far below the maximum level known to beings of 'normal' strength, such as Strin.

But until they had confirmation that these were people more advanced than their civilizations, the robots of the Mechanic Empire or the natives of the Spiritual World couldn't say anything about the artifacts they would encounter on their way.

"Yes." Maximilian agreed as he picked up an object that looked like a spear but was designed to fit into the legs of an ant. "This thing in my hands must be more powerful than my trident."

He looked at Minos and finished. "But we're clearly in a weak area of Zocarro. So what kind of resources and tools will we find when we get to Examire?"

Minos agreed that there was much for them to explore in this world and said. "We must work to build many Qilnats. We can't think we can achieve everything we want with only strength. I imagine that our collective power in this world is similar to that of a group of Spiritual Saints in the Spiritual World. So, we have to follow the rules and customs of this place to get resources and artifacts."

The robot agreed. "If we work together and learn more about this place, we can build up good financial reserves and become even stronger before we begin our journey to Examire."

"Let's do that." Maximillian looked at Minos and felt that it had been a good decision for them to pass through Kilburn before going on to Examire.

While they were talking, Ruth picked up a piece of fruit from the shop and asked Accan. "How would you classify this? In my world, we'd call it Divine Medicine. How rare is it here?"

Accan looked at Ruth and was not surprised by her question. It was normal for space explorers to ask such questions as soon as they arrived in a new world. It answered her. "This is a Divine fruit. It can be used to awaken special traits in the person who consumes it, or it can be used to help a cultivator of the Mortal Journey progress to the stage of a Sovereign.

Divine Fruits are not that rare, but they are not easy to find. Therefore, one can cost a few thousand tioisk of your time." Strin explained. "There are eight levels of classification for resources and artifacts in Zocarro. Divine Fruits are at position fifth and are considered 5th-grade items, which are what we call artifacts of the same rank.

Fifth-grade items are the highest for Mortal Journey cultivators. They are usually used by Grandmasters or even newly promoted Sovereigns..." It continued to talk, briefly explaining the lower level items to her, but without investing too much into the subject since people like Minos' group wouldn't be too interested in lower quality resources.

As for the higher-quality ones, Strin didn't know much about them since they were rarer resources and usually only useful to Divine Journey cultivators.

So the group learned a bit more at the shop before they were finally led to a place that Strin thought they could stay at in Kilburn while they were in the city.