Chapter 123 - City Tour

“Ah, for information as we are revealing our secrets. What stage of cultivation has your sister Ho Ri-Na reached?” Hei asked the question that interested him most of all.

Hei's question came utterly spontaneous. Since the cultivation stages of the spirit soldiers under Ho Ri-Na’s command had been revealed, it was reasonable to be curious about the cultivation stage reached by the General Pirate herself. Ho Yeon-Hong appeared somewhat reluctant to disclose that information, but, as she said, it wasn’t a secret to be jealously guarded.

“The big sister is a fifth stage spirit soldier, but this figure dates back to a long time ago. Right now, I don't know how much her cultivation actually is or how powerful she is.

After hearing that, Hei's face twitched slightly. A fifth stage spirit soldier. It was a level that was currently impossible for him to touch under normal circumstances. It was also reasonable to think that the other General Pirates were also roughly at the same power level. The differences had to be at what point of the fifth stage they were. That was without mentioning the possibility that such data were inaccurate or outdated.

“Ho Yeon-Hong, don't you have a bloodline? Against the whale, I don't seem to have heard you activate one.” Hei asked the young gray-haired woman.

“No, unfortunately not. Not even the big sister. But it doesn’t matter. Bloodlines aren’t the only ones that can make you stronger. Aside from you two, I've never heard of other owners of pure bloodlines, at least among the pirates. Therefore, those with bloodlines are all owners of pseudo bloodlines and therefore have only the active effect. An Elemental Essence of your element allows you to bridge the gap with bloodline owners. And that's what my sister did.”

'I see, In fact, she is right. If it is only the active effect, an elemental essence does the same work in practice. And since Ho Ri-Na is called the Steam Goddess, it must be an elemental essence of the Steam-type Gas Law.' Hei thought to himself as he moved the discussion to the other General Pirates.

“And what about the other Pirates General? Do you know something? Are they as strong as your sister?"

"You are asking about lots of things today, huh? On the ship, you were reluctant to speak, not even speaking to me for days. But now you're a talker, tell the truth. You suffered from seasickness, didn't you? And now that you are on the ground, your tongue has loosened." Ho Yeon-Hong said, laughing. She didn't really think that Hei suffered from seasickness, but she found that change of attitude amusing.

'Maybe he's just shy. Now that he knows me more, he feels more comfortable.' Ho Yeon-Hong thought to herself.

It wasn't like she wasn't right. Indeed, Hei was the type who would give confidence more and more he knew a person and was now less reluctant to talk to Ho Yeon-Hong. But if it weren't for the fact that it was useful information that he needed to know, he would never have asked so many questions.

“Well, they should theoretically also be in the fifth stage of spirit soldier. As I repeat, it isn’t precise information. The Son of Wind and the Storm Lightning are like my sister; they have an elemental essence, respectively, of the element Wind and Lightning. As for the last of the four Pirate Generals, the Red Devil, he has a pseudo bloodline - the red shark bloodline. But don't misunderstand the name. Red isn’t about the fire element but the blood element. I heard that wherever he passes, he always leaves a red stripe formed by the blood of his enemies.” Ho Yeon-Hong briefly explained the information she had about the other General Pirates. As Ho Ri-Na's sister, it was normal for her to know the skills of her sister's rivals.

'Red Shark Bloodline, Blood Law... I don't know much about that law. I know it allows you to manipulate your own blood, but I don't know how or if you can manipulate other people's blood. I'm curious about the bloodlines of the two spirit soldiers under Ho Ri-Na, but asking this isn’t appropriate.' After a quick reflection, Hei thanked Ho Yeon-Hong for the information received.

“Thank you very much, Ho Yeon-Hong. Sorry if I asked you a lot of questions, but since we will soon have to fight against one of the Four Pirate Generals, I was curious to know about the effective strength of our allies and our enemies."

"No need to thank me. It isn’t such confidential information. I'm glad to have helped you, so what do you say? Have you eaten enough, or do you want to order more?” Ho Yeon-Hong radiantly smiled as she pointed to the table that had been cleared of the dishes that previously filled it. In the center, a small spider and a small snake were lying down. There was a small bulge on their body, a sign that they had eaten more than enough.

"Yes, we can go." Not giving in to the grievances of Ye and Xing, who wanted to enjoy that free meal for a while longer, Hei took them and put them on his body. Then, together with Lian and Ho Yeon-Hong, they left the tavern.

Ho Yeon-Hong decided to take first a quick panoramic tour of the city, illustrating the story of how Ho Ri-Na had started from a couple of tents placed on the beach to create that magnificent city. From her words, one could see how much she was close to her older sister.

After the introductory tour, Ho Yeon-Hong asked Hei if he had something that interested him, "If you plan to buy something, you can tell me. The big sister said that as a reward, you have unlimited credit. Obviously, only for things regarding the spirit apprentice rank. Though, none of the shops here deal with items for spirit soldiers."

"Unlimited credit? What do you mean?"

"Well, the spirit core of a second-level spirit beast is very precious, not only for its value but also for its rarity. So it would be difficult to achieve such a value only with objects that interest spirit apprentices. Therefore, the sister offers you an unlimited credit, hoping it will satisfy you. She also said that you two look like pretty pragmatic people, and she is confident that you will take only what you really need."

"Pragmatic people, you say?" He smiled at those words. That was nothing more than a test to evaluate his behavior. She was offering him unlimited credit, but it wasn't like he could actually buy anything in town. "All right, then take me to the best forge you have here first."

"Okay, follow me." Ho Yeon-Hong motioned for them to follow her as she led them to a series of hidden streets. As expected from a large city, it was easy to get lost if you weren’t familiar with the place.

After walking for a long time, they came to a forge. From outside, you could hear the metallic noise of the hammer being beaten. Arriving at the counter at the entrance, they heard a harsh voice address them, "Are you here to sell or buy?"

The owner of the harsh voice was a middle-aged man surrounded by various papers. Since Hei, Lian, and Ho Yeon-Hong looked very young, he didn't give them much attention, turning to them as if he wanted to send them away as soon as possible.

Ho Yeon-Hong appeared irritated by this attitude and cleared her throat as she pulled out a medallion, “These are important guests of Captain Ho Ri-Na. Have some respect when you speak to them. ”

Hearing the name Ho Ri-Na and noting the medallion with the emblem of the General Pirate engraved on it, the blacksmith in charge of the customers turned white. He was so white that he looked more like a ghost than a person.

“I apologize for my behavior. It won't happen again.” The blacksmith immediately bowed, cursing his bad habit of treating customers roughly. Ho Yeon-Hong seemed satisfied with these apologies and didn't pile on further.

"I came here to sell some materials. I have something that might interest you." Hei intervened by letting out part of the baleen that he had obtained from the whale, "It comes from a second-level spirit beast. There are still traces of spirit power, so there is no need for a proof of authenticity.”

At the words 'second-level beast', the blacksmith's face blanched even more while even Ho Yeon-Hong was surprised.

"I thought you hadn’t been able to recover the whale’s body."

"And in fact, it isn’t the body of the whale. It is only a small part that I managed to tear after various efforts. It's the only thing I could take.”

As Hei explained the situation to Ho Yeon-Hong, the blacksmith began to examine the baleen. The baleen was a rather rare material and was highly sought after due to its elasticity. In addition to various everyday objects, it was also usable for the creation of whips and bows.

"Incredible. It really belongs to a second-level spirit beast. Insane. I would like to ask you how you got hold of it, but I guess it's a pretty long story, isn't it?"

"Yes, let's just say I was forced to hunt whales. As for the value, how about an exchange? I need various rare metals and other things. You can take the baleen value out of the total price, and I will pay the rest with spirit stones, is it okay?” Hei proposed that he didn't want to waste too much time bargaining with the blacksmith.

"Yes, sure. Then take a look and tell me what you need.” The blacksmith looked happy as he could sell extra stuff and buy such a rare material.

"Hei, what about the unlimited credit-?" Ho Yeon-Hong was about to ask before being interrupted by Hei.

“Thank your sister for me, but I prefer to pay for myself. Rather than unlimited credit, tell her that a second-level spirit core is more than welcome. I guess she has some in her personal collection, right?” He smiled as he examined the various metals on display, leaving Ho Yeon-Hong with a surprised face.

Eventually, Hei purchased a large amount of various metals for Ye so that she could cultivate the Law of Metal. For Xing, however, he bought a large number of Dream Boxes. The Dream Boxes were nothing more than boxes with an illusory formation engraved, mainly used as traps. Hei intended to use them on Xing so that she could train her Law of Illusions.

After the tour in the forge, Hei asked Ho Yeon-Hong to guide him to an alchemist shop. The Flower Sect and the other sects had left Hei and Lian with pills to use to advance to the second rank. However, although the creator of these pills was better than Hei as an alchemist at the time, the materials used weren’t comparable to the whale's body. So Hei planned to use now the pills they were supposed to use for their rank advancement. In that way, they could quickly reach the peak of the seventh stage spirit apprentice. Subsequently, he would create pills for him and Lian with the whale's remains for their advancement as well as for his little sisters.

'The Bowhead Whale is an aquatic creature. Therefore its spirit core contains properties of the Law of Water. However, since it wasn’t a divine beast, the Law of Water wasn’t engraved on the whale's body. With a few filtering cycles, I should be able to eliminate the properties of the Law of Water inside its carcass. And by adding reagents of other elements, I should be able to create personalized pills for everyone.' Hei meditated to himself, examining the resources available in the shop.

After carefully choosing every material that could be useful to him, Hei paid for everything with spirit stones, placing his purchases in his space rings and Lian's.

By his side, Ho Yeon-Hong looked in amazement at the amount of money Hei owned. 'Now I understand why he didn't want the unlimited credit. I thought he was saying, so to say, but he has a terrifying financial amount.'

“Well, I think there isn’t anything else that I need urgently for the moment. Ho Yeon-Hong, thank you for accompanying us. But it is time to say goodbye. With the decisive battle incoming, I would like to take advantage of every possible moment to cultivate. Please tell your sister about my request, though.” Hei turned to Ho Yeon-Hong, dismissing her as they had no other places to visit.

"Yes, it's fine. I'll let her know.” Ho Yeon-Hong replied absently. She was still quite surprised by Hei's financial strength, and it wasn't as if what he had said was wrong. Therefore, Hei and Lian greeted her as they returned to their room in the tavern.