72 Reservations
Old Long's eyes turned thoughtful for a second before he concluded "We can get at least six hundred spirit stones for what you have."
Jack nodded his head as he agreed "Yeah, but I use it for something else, if possible. That beast took a shot of my cylinder at close range without any issue. If we use it to protect ourselves, we can earn some extra income from hunting them on the other side."
Bai Maolong's eyes looked fired up, but he still asked "Didn't you say that you couldn't hurt the thing without getting close? How are we supposed to hunt them if we can't kill them?"
Jack gave him a smirk as he said "There's more than one way to skin a cat."
Everyone in the group gave him strange looks, and Ma Ruiman leaned over to Kuang Bindun to ask "What's a cat?"
Kuang Bindun looked lost too and just shook his head in response.
Jack facepalmed at his own forgetfulness and continued walking down the wide golden street while ignoring the questioning looks his friends gave him.
It took them half an hour to reach the other side of the city. Almost no people had shops here, most of the ancient golden buildings had people standing outside their closed entrances and calling out to the passersby. They offered them various services, from rooms and food to more exciting ventures like gambling or brothel tours.
Jack and his men ignored them all until they found a crier that advertised rides to the other side of the White River.
As they neared him, the grade four teen in golden robes pasted on a professional smile, clasped his hands and said "Greetings, fellow cultivators. Are you interested in crossing the White River to enter the wilderness?"
Old Long nodded his head in confirmation "Indeed we are, can you please tell us more about what we need to do to get our group of thirty-seven people there?"
The teen's eyes shone in delight as he explained "A boat large enough for that amount of non-family people sails every fifty days. The next one is scheduled to leave in twenty-seven days from now. The price is fifty spirit stones per person."
Old Long's brows furrowed as he asked "Can we get a discount due to the number of people?"
The teen didn't miss a beat as he recited "The White River family has held to the same prices of our services that our ancestors set for generations. Our services are fair and even towards all, cultivator and peasant alike."
Old Long looked like he wanted to argue some more, but Jack gave a slight tug on his robe and he kept his objections to himself.
A second later, he swallowed his annoyance and asked "Do we need to reserve our spots on the ship, and where do we need to go to get to it?"
The teen gestured with his hand towards a side-street as he answered "I will show you to our port and you can place a deposit of ten spirit stones per person there if you want to reserve your spots."
He took the lead and led them through the winding streets of White River Outpost when old Long nodded. Ten minutes later, the teen brought them to a large ten meters high and wide double door that stood open in the wall.
A stream of people went in and out of the doorway. Jack saw a lot of normal people lined up outside of the door. After a few seconds of observation, he realized that a lot of them had starved out figures and ragged clothes like the people from the hut town.
His brows furrowed a little as he asked their guide "Are these people the ones from outside?"
The teen glanced at the line of wretches with distaste, but gave Jack a professional smile and answered "The family has selected these fortunate souls today to help us run the city. We will give them food and shelter in exchange for their labor."
Jack's face remained neutral as he nodded his head in thanks and followed the teen towards the gateway while he kept his thoughts to himself.
They passed the line of waiting people and entered without any problem. The teen gave the few guards at the doors a nod and they let them through.
The path they took after the initial entrance hall led them down a lot of stairs. Jack saw a few open doors that led into what reminded him of normal and freight elevators, but no one seemed to use them as they met a lot of people along the way.
After walking down hundreds of stairs, they finally reached a landing. The teen led them through a wide hallway to a huge underground cavern.
Hundreds of Light Orbs shone from the ceiling of the cavern and illuminated the enormous area. Jack's men gawked at it all without restraint, only he studied the cavern with a critical eye.
To both of his sides the same golden material that the rest of the city was built out of stretched out; to his right for fifty meters, and to his left for a few hundred. In front of him, after a couple dozen meters, the golden surface ended and white water that lay as calm as a lake began. The entire cavern looked like a large lake with a harbor on its side.
Several beautiful golden ships floated on the water in front of Jack's group. The shorter ones had a single mast on which a regular sail stood furled, but the only large one had three masts on its huge hull. Jack could see thousands of tiny sigil etchings on the hulls of the ships, and could only feel humbled by his poor knowledge when he couldn't find one that he knew.
The teen allowed them a few seconds to gawk, cleared his throat, and then led them towards a large building that stood to their left.
"Not a lot of people come down here when no ships are leaving for the savage lands. Do not expect the same calm when you return for your voyage." The teen explained and entered the open doors of the ancient building.
As Jack passed through the doorway, he extended an arm out and passed the tips of his fingers over the golden material. It didn't feel as cold and metallic like he expected before, it had the texture of smooth marble and had a light warmth radiating out of it.
His brows rose a little in surprise, and he stored the information for later research in his stolen library.
The hall they entered only had three people in it. A couple of beautiful women stood behind a golden-robed middle-aged man that sat at a reception desk. The walls of the hall had a few strange decorations on them; Jack even spotted the horns of a Haechi beast on the wall to his left.
Old Long gave a hand signal behind his back that he couldn't sense the cultivation any of the people behind the desk, but Jack didn't need the warning as he felt a certain oppression that he used to feel every time he stood in front of Elder Yu and the Elder didn't hold his powerful aura back.
The teen walked up to the reception desk, bowed in greeting, and said "Uncle, I have brought customers that want to reserve passage for thirty-seven people on the mass transport vessel that leaves the Outpost in twenty-seven days."
Jack and his men bowed down too, and only when the teen finished his introduction did old Long step out to represent them.
The middle-aged man scanned them once with his eyes and declared "That will be three hundred and seventy spirit stones."
Old Long didn't hesitate as he started taking out the required amount.
Once he handed it over, the middle-aged man took out a round metallic stone from the pouch on his hip, gave it a quick imbuement, and instructed "This is your reservation token, come to the large ship with your people in twenty-seven days and give it, and the rest of the fee, to its captain."
Old Long took the token with a solemn expression on his face and thanked the middle-aged man for his assistance.
With their business done, the White River family teen escorted them back up to the surface and thanked them for their cooperation before he left them with a large grin on his face. Jack had a sneaking suspicion that he would get a nice cut out of the money they gave his family.
As soon as they entered a street with less traffic, old Long turned to Jack and hissed "Why did you agree to pay so much for the travel fee?! That will take out over half of our funds!"
Jack checked their surroundings, and when he didn't see anyone near them he whispered "I couldn't allow you to negotiate on this. They wouldn't have accepted it, and you might have pissed them off enough to forbid us passage. These people have the only route across the White River available to us; they can dictate any price they want."
Old Long looked like he wanted to argue for his negotiating ability a little more, but in the end, he only grumbled "You better have enough left to pay my salary once this is done."
Jack chuckled and led his men back to the main street while he said "Let's go find our new employer." His men gave him strange looks, but they listened to his explanation and agreed to his new plan.
It took them half an hour to find what they wanted. Once Jack spotted an armor shop that had the style he wanted, he immediately started walking towards it while the rest of the squad followed in his wake.
A young woman in her twenties greeted him with a polite smile as soon as he stepped into the shop and asked "Welcome to the Wu Armor Store, how can I help you?"
Jack gave the pretty shopkeeper a friendly smile in return and said "You can help me by helping yourself." When he saw a confused look start to form in her eyes, he added "I have come to do business with your reputable establishment."
The young woman gave Jack a surprised look and then scanned his men with her eyes for a second. Jack could feel her grade five cultivation and saw the slight look of respect when she glanced at old Long.
She hesitated for a little, but when she saw that old Long stood behind Jack as a subordinate, she turned to Jack and explained "I am sorry, sir. All of our shop's business deals are done by my father, but he is not here, and I am not allowed to make any."
Jack didn't lose his confidence as he asked "And when might he return?"
The young woman gave him a slight shrug as she said "He went on a business trip a while ago, but he should come back by the time the main door opens up next time or the time after that."
Jack sighed internally, but after giving the shop another glance he asked "Does he work on all the armors you make?"
The young woman hesitated, but after thinking about it, didn't see why she shouldn't tell the truth "Not all, I have started to produce some for cultivators of lower grades myself."
Jack's brows rose in surprise as he asked "May I ask, which ones here are your design?"
The young woman had a glint of pride in her eyes as she took him around the shop and demonstrated her own work.
It made Jack curse because these designs were the ones that drew him to this store in the first place. He could go look for a different one, but he doubted that any other store had what he wanted from what he saw when he passed by them before.
When the young woman finished her tour, Jack looked straight into her eyes and asked "Would you mind if I hired you to make something for me?" When he saw hesitation on her face, he gave her a sly smile and added "Your dad never has to know."
