Birth Of The Crafts-God

Chapter 219 The Ring

While drinking with his friends, Ronny decided to go with his friend's advice and check out some of the new stores. A few of them —the man who suggested the idea included— agreed to meet up with Ronny the next day to tag along. Who knew whether Ronny's luck might turn up, hence why they decided to accompany him.

Since those stores were new and had to compete with the old timers, they offered perks to customers. Most of the time, those perks were cheaper services, which was why Ronny wasn't against the idea.

. . .

The next day came soon enough and Ronny stood by the east entrance of the Bilac trade centre. The trade centre was the largest market for vestiges, desolate beasts body parts, materials and all things desolate beasts in Trundel City. It was the gathering place of the majority of stores, with the only ones not here being blacksmith stores and other necessities.

"Yo, Ronny."

A man called out to Ronny. It was the guy with the black shirt from the previous night. He went by the name Ando, and was a close colleague of Ronny for over five years.

"Hey, Ando. You're earlier than I expected." Ronny smiled.

"I can say the same about you. Seems like you're looking forward to this huh?" Ando teased.

Ronny immediately turned his head to the side as he rushed to switch the topic.

"The others...?"

"They're on their way." Ando responded.

It didn't take up to three minutes before three other men showed up. They were all Ronny's friends and were present last night for their drinking session.

After greeting each other, Ronny then led the way with Ando.

"Let's go then."

. . .

"Big brother, I'm hungry." Melissa stared at Lucas with puppy eyes.

There was a blueprint in front of her, featuring a unique bracelet with complex inscriptions and formulae by the side. This was a vestige that Melissa had designed all on her own, after receiving guidance from Lucas.

"Okay, okay." Lucas smiled as he stood up and walked into the kitchen.

Unlike the previous building they lived in, this one had more rooms. It was still a two storey building, but there was now a basement underneath. The basement had both the store and the work-station, making it isolated from the customers. Such a layout was much to Lucas' preference and he felt a lot more comfortable working here.

It had been over a month since the two siblings fled from Baylands City. When Lucas had used the Branch Travel skill, he landed with Melissa in a building in Belfargos city-state but not Trundel City. The city was quite far from Trundel City; to be exact, in the opposite direction.

Similar to Alleva district, the city was a grey zone with all sorts of shady activities and organisations there. It was the best place to wipe away their traces.

To ensure that the Baylands City Patrol Corps didn't suspect anything, Lucas had previously bought two other buildings in similar shady locations like this but in other city-states.

Right after that, Lucas removed the building's designation as a store and left there with Melissa.

After getting new identity cards for both him and Melissa, Lucas then spent a month in a different city, building up a profile to work with. He started out as a blacksmith and engineer, before working as a repairman.

Once a month was over, Lucas then left the city for his original destination, Trundel City. Discover stories with empire

The reason why Lucas had gone through a roundabout way was to eliminate his and Melissa's traces and build a fake profile to lessen suspicion. Even if the Baylands City Patrol Corps was to investigate every building he had purchased, they would find it impossible to track down Lucas thanks to his setup.

In his first life as Yohan, Lucas had lived a majority of his life alone and a significant part on the run. Even while with his master, the duo had lived a nomadic life and would occasionally wipe away their traces to prevent enemies from tracking them. As such, Lucas had a knack for escaping a crime scene undetected and going 'invisible'.

Currently, they have been living in Trundel for over a week now, but nothing has come of it. Lucas had yet to receive any job or orders.

This was understandable since the Bilac trade centre was home to many top vestige-smiths and companies. It would be difficult for a newcomer to standout, even if they employ marketing tricks like reducing prices or offering free services for a period of time. This was why Lucas didn't bother replicating his actions from when he had just started out in Baylands City. Instead, he just ran the store normally.

However, this would become a problem for him because rent wasn't cheap here. The building Lucas and Melissa stayed in cost three thousand federal coins per month. Back in Baylands City, that was roughly the price Lucas had bought the Seven Sparks Forge building for. But here, it could only cover a month's rent in the biggest market.

With the fifty thousand federal coins he had left, Lucas had spent a large part of it to rent the building for half a year, since he intended to stay here for at least that long. However, for that to be successful, Lucas a way had to find a way to make money.

Just as soon as he was done making breakfast, the store's doorbell rang.

. . .

Ronny and his friends had spent a few hours roaming around the Bilac trade centre. They had visited a few stores, with the majority being new ones as intended. However, every store failed to identify what exactly the ring was. Some were even unable to recognise that it was an artefact and claimed it was a simple accessory from an older civilization.

All the responses he got made Ronny disappointed and begin to question whether this was a good idea. There was also a voice inside of Ronny that told him maybe this ring was indeed a dud. Despite that, maybe it was due to his stubbornness or his unwillingness to just stop here, Ronny didn't give up.

"Where to now?" One of his friends asked.

Although Ronny hadn't achieved his goals yet, his friends had their knowledge widened. They encountered some interesting stores which had items they piqued their attention. Some of them had bought vestiges and equipment along the way, while the others simply took note of stores they regarded nicely.

"I don't know." Ronny sighed.

"How about over there?" Ando pointed at a store.

The store's appearance looked quite recent and fresh, implying that it has yet to exist in this place for a month. It definitely counted as a newcomer.

"A friend of mine once went there, but the insane prices drove him out in anger."

"If the prices are sky-high, doesn't that mean it's a scam?" One of them asked.

"Impossible. No one is foolish enough to try to rip people off in Trundel City." Ando shook his head.

Trundel City, being quite close to Belfargos City, had one of the highest security standards and levels of all neighbouring cities of Belfargos City. At the same time, the city guards ensured that all activities in the Bilac trade centre were fair and legal.

Scamming someone here would lead to punishment as small as two years in prison with a hefty fine slapped on top, or even having one's arms chopped off. No one was dumb enough to do tjay.

"Then, if it's not a scam, you mean the items are definitely worth the price?"

Ando didn't respond to the man because he also wasn't sure if this.

"There's only one way to find out." Ronny sai as he stared at the signboard.

Written on it with impressive calligraphy were the words 'Heavenly Demonic Shop'.