The trip to the city of Belobog went... Fine. Besides dealing with a couple of void/Fragmentum monsters that roamed around the warmer city limits. And soon enough Sampo brought us into the city walls itself through a small tunnel.
And once we were past the city walls proper Sampo clapped his hands and said proudly. "Well well! Good old Sampo brought you, ladies and gentlemen, into the humble city of Belobog. I hope your trip goes well, and remember shhhhh!"
"Wait, where do we go to meet with like the leadership of the city? Where are the good clothes stores, and uhhh what are the best places to take pictures?" March 7th asked quickly.
Sampo put a finger to his chin before he grinned and said. "Giving you all the answers will be a major spoiler haha. So have fun finding out lads!" His finger that was on his chin swung down and I watched in slow motion as a small ball slammed into the ground.
With the ball exploding creating a thick mist of smoke with my lips twitching as I watched with my enhanced senses as Sampo climbed up a nearby building to escape our sight as Dan Heng summoned some wind energy to push aside the thick smoke.
"Jake, why didn't you stop him?" Stelle asked curiously, not any blame in her voice... Just was genuinely curious.
I shrugged and said with a wry smile. "Trying to force a Masked Fool to do anything sounds like the perfect way to wake up with a pipe bomb under your pillow."
Sure I was basically a god, and could do a fuck load... But the reality is that my flesh was just that. Flesh and blood. If my head exploded I would die before I could will my body to heal. And a pipe bomb pillow would be a perfect way to kill me.
"Anyway... Let's explore Belobog before we inevitably get in trouble for being outsiders." I spoke with some more enthusiasm and then added. "Though we should first go to a pawn store or something to convert some precious metals into the local currency. I doubt they still use IPC credits after all."
The girls and Dan Heng agreed with my point and thus we headed into the more habitable part of Belobog, with us needing to sneak past a couple of the Silvermane Guards to enter the city proper. But soon enough we entered the main commercial area and I hummed as I took in Belobog's massive sprawl.
As we reached the main city square with the main government office that houses the supreme guardian to the front, the grand museum of history which was closed. And of course several smaller shops lining the streets as loud train trams carried people across the city.
"Whelp. Time to find a pawn store." I muttered before Elysia giggled and said.
"Jake, you go get us money, while the girls will go do the pre-shopping rituals to save you two your sanity." She said pointing towards me and Dan Heng.
Making me nod in agreement so I said. "Alright, you girls be back here in like ten minutes at most. It shouldn't take me long to convert some gold or whatever into the local currency."
Dan Heng followed me as we headed toward one of the nearby stores for directions. "Hmm, if you got extra metal, you recycled and want to sell, I suggest taking it to the Neverwinter Workshop, the owner buys a lot of metal to melt it down to re-use for other projects." A store clerk told us.
I nodded in thanks for the directions with Dan Heng speaking quietly. "The people are tense... And the inside of the stores aren't much warmer then the outside."
My lips curled as I was reminded how the Geomarrow which acted as the fuel to keeping this city alive was running out. Or at least the Underworld faction was having difficulties in mining it. Along with the Underworld's connection to the Overworld was closed by order of the Supreme Guardian.
Though the rest didn't know that, and I wasn't going to say anything just yet... Aeon's knows how I am going to react when I come across Cocolia and the Stellaron itself.
"It's a city that has kept itself self-sufficient for centuries after the planet basically died. No matter what, there will be strain and resources lost so it makes sense with millions of people in this massive city that they are running out of fuel after so long." I spoke calmly.
Dan Heng gave a hum of thought before he added. "Still, its impressive they have lasted this long with the signs of the Fragmentum clearly invading parts of the city."
I could only shrug as we had reached the Neverwinter Workshop and as we came in, I realized why it vaguely sounded familiar.
"Hello! How can I help you guys?" A familiar female voice spoke out and I hid my reaction as I watched as Serval Landau came out of the workshop.
Serval was... Totally my type frankly, besides not being an elf anyway. Long honey-blond hair that had a neon blue streak through it, and clad in tight-fitting rock-goth-themed clothes with a choker around her neck.
"Hello, I was hoping to exchange some gold, platinum, and other metals for money." I spoke as I pulled the prepared backpack off my back with the ingots of metal jingling as I brought it over to a desk which Serval moved behind.
"Hmm? Got some gold and other metals you stripped down from the houses or whatever in the Fragmentum?" She asked without blame but curiously.
And in response, I just shook my head. "Nope."
She took the small bars of metal I dumped onto her desk with a raised eyebrow before she raised and eyebrow and said. "Alright, just give me a second. I need to make sure these little metal ingots don't have a lead core or something."
'Wow, calling us a cheat.' I thought with amusement as Serval's hand snapped full of lightning as she melted an ingot of gold in half on a ceramic plate before she moved some of the gold into another machine.
And after a minute she muttered loud enough for us to hear. "The hell?"
She turned around and came back towards us with a small frown. "Did you guys break into an old bank outside the city from before the Everwinter or something? You guys can't make pure metals without certain chemicals and an actual industrial complex."
After a moment of thought I decided to be a troll and I held up a hand and said. "Miss, do you mind if I do a magic trick real quick?"
She blinked and said. "Alright, but my name is Serval, don't call me Miss haha." She chuckled with some amusement.
I flipped over my hand empty hand downwards, taking it from her sight, then I flipped it back over with an average sized gold coin appearing on my palm.
"Well... Nice sleight of hand." Serval drawled but I just did it again... But this time the coin turned into a larger six-ounce bar of gold. She stared at the bar and realizing my sleeves were purposefully pulled back so its not like I pulled the gold out of my sleeves.
"Wanna see me do it again?" I asked dryly as Dan Heng sighed at me trolling the poor hapless mortal.
Serval nodded with her smiling as she said. "Go ahead, I am watching closely! Wait let me weigh that first!"
I flipped the hand upside down after she did the quick hand weight... But it didn't matter, as when I flipped the hand back over Serval just gaped as she watched as I kept my hand upwards with the gold bar visibly swelling in size as I made a literally thirty-pound ingot of gold that hit her desk with a loud thud.
"Soooo... For my next trick, I am going to make your wallet disappear, now can you please pay us for the gold." I said with amusement as Serval just stared at the heavy block of gold that had landed on her table.
"Alright here." She said with a weirded-out expression as she opened up the register and handed out several coins of various metals and colors that resembled shields which was this world's currency.
Dan Heng and I swiftly left the workshop leaving Serval utterly bamboozled and after we left I said. "Ok, we got a good bit of money... I think I can't tell the different shields apart. Now let's go meet up with the others. Hopefully, they haven't gotten in trouble though." I muttered.
But as we headed back to where we were supposed to meet the girls, Dan Heng spoke with tired exasperation. "Jake... You jinxed us."
As standing where the girls were supposed to meet us where a couple of dozen Silvermane Guards scoping out the surroundings clearly looking for people that were out of place.