One Last System

We walked out of the building with our belts, surprisingly heavier than they were before. 

"You call that a little?" I asked, weighting my own pouch in my hand. Outside of the massive earnings that I brought by trading with the brothel, this was the greatest net profit that I ever made in my life. 

And I could tell that with certainty, despite only checking the pouch's weight, not the total number of coins within. 

"Once we get to the market, you will understand," Lucius shook his head, weighing his own pouch. "This only appears to be much. This is a lot for the civilians," he said, shaking his head. "Once you see the prices of cultivation materials, you will understand why I'm not happy with it," he added, bringing the pouch down and attaching it to his belt. 

For a moment, we walked in silence, both immersed in our own thoughts. 

"But you really just can't help it..." Lucius muttered, clearly dissatisfied with something. 

"Help what?" I asked, genuinely puzzled what he was going all about this time. 

"Provoking people," Lucius explained. "Why did you send that letter?" he asked. "This is one of the few chances that guy had to earn something for himself!" Lucius protested. 

"Wait, what?" I asked, totally lost in Lucius' words. 

A way for that guy to earn? If it was about earning, then it obviously had to come at my cost. But how was he supposed to earn if that letter was supposed to be free?

"Oh," I suddenly muttered when it dawned upon me. 

The kind guy at the logistic office hoped for me to attach some cultivation material or money directly to Mia. By refusing the send a letter, I robbed him of the chance to well... rob me. 

"I don't know how to write," I replied, cutting the topic short. 

I wasn't going to argue how stupid it was to knowingly let others rob you... Because I was slowly starting to have my doubts. 

After all, Lucius wouldn't make me take a massive loss just for the sake of a lesson, wouldn't he? And what if his dissatisfaction was actually well-founded?

"Don't treat it as them robbing you. Treat it as buying favors with the office," Lucius rolled his eyes. "Everyone is aware that they are stealing, those fuckers. But our other option is to go to the higher headquarters. And tell me," Lucius looked at my face. "Are you up for three weeks long journey... only to learn that they are scamming people at the higher headquarters as well?" he asked. 

"Not really," I replied weakly, finally realizing my mistake. 

I was dumb to believe that corruption was something bad. This was the image I had over the thing from my first life on earth. Once again, the earthy standards proved to be only a bad influence on me.

'Still, if I want to pass something on to Mia... I guess I should get myself a storage ring,' I thought, tightening my hands. 

"How much would be enough?" I asked out loud, hiding my thoughts. 

There was no use explaining that there was a chance I was actually rich. In fact, I still had yet to know the state of my account, but given everything that both Lucius and pathfinder told me about gold...

There was a real chance that I could afford a storage ring!

"Around three or four spiritual stones?" Lucius asked, obviously not clear about the answer himself. "I don't know," his lips turned into a smirk. "It's just the thought that counts!" he laughed out. 

I couldn't help but stay motionless, staring down at my Overseer's face for a moment. 

'Is he for real?' I asked myself, trying to ignore the joke. 

"For now, let's get back to the outer city," Lucius said, changing the topic. He, most likely, believed that he chastised me enough. "It's not like we can afford anything in the inner town," he added. 

As this was my first time in this city, I wasn't left with much choice but to follow after my Overseer. Soon, we reached the gate.

Given all his hints from before, I expected some trouble to arise there... yet we passed without anyone bothering us. In fact, it didn't look as if the guards even looked at us properly!

Yet, the trouble somewhat started pretty soon after we entered the outer part of the city. 

As we walked through the streets and neared the marketplace, I finally realized that some people were tailing us. 

For the time being, it didn't seem that they were here to cause trouble, but the sheer fact of being tracked made me quite uncomfortable.

"Should we do something about them?" I asked in a hushed voice, unsure how I was supposed to act right now. 

After acting on my own two times and receiving a lecturing after both of those, I didn't want to put myself in trouble once again. 

"Just ignore them," Lucius said, not even bothering to turn his head around. 

Soon, we reached the marketplace. The beating heart of the outer city, with people bustling around in every direction. 

The place was so packed with people that I had some trouble squeezing between them, just to match Lucius' speed. Yet, just like it was in the forest, he was just too experienced at this kind of movement for me to save my breath while catching up. 

"Oh?" Lucius suddenly muttered, finally taking a stop at one of the stalls. He leaned forward and took a glance at the content displayed in the boxes.

"Look at those poor idiots," someone said, instantly approaching us from behind. 

Even without looking, I could tell that it was the group from earlier finally acting up. 

To be honest, even though I didn't like the idea of being harassed out in public, it was still better than being stressed out by the notion of being tailed. 

I wasn't the person to enjoy playing the game in shadows. 

"Ignore them," Lucius ordered in a stern tone, keeping his eyes on the wares. He then raised his eyes and looked at the merchant. "Could you pack me three tranquility tonics?" he asked. 

"Don't give him anything," the man behind us said. 

"Excuse me, sir, but you cannot intervene..." the merchant was quick to rebuke the man only to suddenly turn silent. 

'What, did he flaunt some super expensive coin or something?' I thought, rolling my eyes. 

Even though the situation only began, I could already see how it would play out. 

"We want everything that you have on your stall," the man said before tossing the coin forward. 

As it flew above my head, I glanced upwards with curiosity. 

And there it was, the confirmation of my guess. 

Compared to a normal, golden coin, what the man threw was fully white with a slight, silvery hue. And there was only one metal that I could recognize those qualities from. 

'So they have platinum coins here as well,' I thought, watching the happy grin on the merchant's face. 

"Let's move on, then," I said, grabbing Lucius' hand and pulling him away from the stall. 

I could sense that the group followed right away. 

"What are you doing?" Lucius said, tearing his hand away from my grasp. 

"Duping some prideful idiots," I replied out loud, before taking a stop at the next stall. Yet, before I could as much as open my mouth, the man behind me went into action again. 

"I want to buy everything that you have!"

This situation repeated three more times before our bullies finally realized that I was stopping at random places. But that wasn't the full truth. 

I was only stopping at the stalls where I could see a number, as this was the only part of writing that I could understand, that was divisible by seven. 

So in a sense, my stall-picking wasn't completely random, something that others might guess by looking at a wide variety of different products that I just made my bullies buy for no reason. 

"Are you done now?" I asked with a sneer, noticing the sour expression on the man's face. 

Since he was flaunting that coin from before quite a lot, it most likely held a lot of value. And even someone as rich as the inner disciple of the sect would be pained by wasting three of those coins on completely random stuff. 

"YOU SEEK DEATH!" the man finally realized what was going on. 

'Truly, disappointing,' I thought, shaking my head. 'I really believed they would be somewhat smarter than that,' I complained before turning around and showing a finger right at the man's face. 

"Piss off," I said, moving away from the stall. 

"DIE!" the man shouted, infuriated by my defiance. Yet, the second he made a step towards me, Lucius finally stepped in. 

"Just give me a reason, you fucktard," he whispered. At the same time, his aura changed massively, oozing dozens more of bloodlust than what I did back at the gate. 

Once again, the gap in experience was simply too great. 

Scared by Lucius' apparent seriousness, the group turned round and left.

For a moment, I watched their retreating backs, unable to stop the feeling of satisfaction from spreading in my veins. Yet, before I could revel in this feeling for a little longer, a smack to the back of my head forced me to sober up. 

"And that's why you shouldn't draw attention to yourself," he said, his lips twisting in an ugly grin.. "What you just saw is only the beginning."