Armipotent

Chapter 1902: Interlude - The Joes (3)

Sam Joe was nervous when their line was getting closer to the portal gate to the Tang Empire. Different from the Tang Empireʼs people, they had to line up and tell the reason for their visit to the officer in charge. He was afraid that the United Sovereign would stop them or even put them in jail, branding them as a traitor.

There were various kinds of scenarios played in his mind, and all of them were negative. From the annoying thoughts to the terrifying imagination played in his mind. Even if all those negative scenarios did not happen, he expected the officer to question them like an interrogation. Even though The Joes was not a famous mercenary team, they were still a mercenary team. He expected the United Sovereigns would do their best to block them from moving to the Tang Empire.

All the stresses and the thoughts went puff when they were met with the officer. He was stressed for nothing.

”Whatʼs your purpose in coming to the Tang Empire?” The officer asked.

”They are visiting a friend, and that friend is me!” Kate answered for them, and they got an easy pass.

The officer nodded and let them pass as the operator guided them to the teleportation gate. Sam was relieved for a moment before a zap of realization struck him. This post was just the first obstacle. The real problem was the Tang Empire as he imagined that the Tang Empire would kidnap and interrogate them, asking for information about the United Sovereign and so on.

If Cody could hear what was in Samʼs mind, he would laugh. The Tang Empire did not need to gather information if they wanted to take down the United Sovereign. The chance of the Tang Empire kidnapping them was almost zero, but there was a small chance that the locals might kidnap them, selling them as slaves.

With all their thoughts and concerns, the Joes followed Kate and her escort into the portal. The process was exactly the same as Kate told them. They were guided to the office and asked to sign an NDA contract.

Sam being Sam, reread the contract ten times, ensuring there was nothing that could be used against them later. His friend told him that everything was fine and told him to sign it so they could go quickly. The officer was friendly with them, but Sam did not buy it.

”I am sorry for taking your time. My friend is quite paranoid, Sir,” John apologized to him even though he felt it was unnecessary.

”Itʼs fine. Itʼs a daily occurrence for me. I have met someone worse than your friend,” The officer waved his hand at John, ”And Kateʼs friend is our friend.”

They finally left after Sam dropped his blood on the contract. They noticed that the guards were extremely friendly toward them, to be exact toward Kate.

”You have made a name for yourself, Kate. Almost everyone knows you, and they seem to respect you. It seems you have made a quiet achievement here,” Amy whispered, but also happy for her friend. This convinced her even more to join here. They treated Kate like this.

”I have made some achievements, but mostly a joint project. However, they know me for a different reason. I married a reputable man two months ago, so yeah, their respects are for my husband, not me. He is one of the founder groups, and he is now a division head,” Kate winked her right eye at Amy.

Cody and John looked at Sam with pity, giving their friend a silent prayer, hoping their friend would find someone as beautiful as Kate. Sam was crestfallen as his feeling was cut before it could bloom.

”Donʼt ask me who my husband is or what division head he is in, Amy,” Kate noticed that her friend was curious, ”You better not know anything about my husband unless you have made a decision to stay here. Itʼs not that I donʼt trust you, but an accidental slip is enough to give TEID a reason to hunt you down.”

Amy was about to say that she would stay here. She already made up her mind, but she could not say the same for her friends. This trip was to convince her friends that the Tang Empire was not as bad as they thought.

”Okay, which place do you want to visit first?” Kate changed the topic.

Amy looked toward John, letting the leader make the decision for this.

”You can pick the ideal route for us, Kate. I believe you know what we want to see,” John answered as they came out of the elevator into the lobby.

The lobby was not as packed as he thought, and he only saw a handful of active guards which was a surprise. The teleportation site was the most vital part of a faction because if the other factions wanted to attack, they would target the teleportation.

”Why…” John was about to ask, but he remembered what Kate told Amy earlier. It was better for him not to know the detailed things here unless he decided to stay, the only way to nullify the NDA.

He shook his head when Kate turned toward him, ”Nothing.”

However, he found the answer to why there were only a handful of guards inside the building. When he got out of the building, he found a line of Tarriors on guard duty. He immediately spotted four groups of ten Tarriors, and he believed the same size group had the building surrounded as well.

He also founded the infamous TEISʼ patrol, the police of the Tang Empire. They heard a lot about TEIS from their merchants. Whenever someone or a group made trouble in the street, they would face TEIS. TEIS was the entity that put the troublemaker into the dungeon, the reason why TEIS was quite famous in the mercenary circle. Their merchant had shared a fair share of their experiences in the dungeon.

The dungeon was dark, lit up by a torch, quiet, damp, and one cell per person. The thing that was missing from the list was the bad food. They still got decent food inside the dungeon, but it was depressing and could make whoever was inside went mad. Their merchant tried to steal an item and was caught. Because it was his first offense, their merchant was put in the dungeon for three days. The dungeon was cruel and inhumane, but the method worked. Their merchant never dared to do anything stupid, ever again after those three daysʼ experiences.

”Good, then let me ask you guys. Do you want to buy the items, or do you just want to look around?” Kate asked a weird question to them.

”We would like to look around, but we might buy the item if itʼs something that interests us,” John replied.

Kate had an apologetic expression, ”The closest place from here is The Anvils. I donʼt mean to look down on you guys, but if you want to buy something, then we better not visit The Anvils. We should go to the Adventurer Guild instead if you want to buy new gear.”

”The Anvils is a place that only sells the best quality gear in the empire. Their gears are the best compared to any other shops that are open to the public. Of course, the Tang Empireʼs armory is a place where you find the best gear, but itʼs restricted only to the high-ranking officers. Or you can win one item from the armory if you win the annual tournament.”

John wanted to say something, but there were no words coming out of his mouth. Kate was telling them that they could not afford to buy the item in The Anvils. If they want to buy something, she would show them affordable places with good quality gear.

”Our purpose is to look around, maybe show us this The Anvils, and we can visit the shops in the Adventurer Guild,” Cody was the only one who did not take it as offense or even hurt in the slightest.

Meanwhile, John and Sam believed that they could buy three or even five items from The Anvils with their team funds. That was what they thought until they arrived at The Anvils.

The Anvils was not a name for the shop, but a district that only sold gears. They could also make a request directly to the blacksmith in this district. Kate brought them to the shop with the least visitors. They were skeptical at first, but their mind was blown when they saw the items on display.

They saw the highest Rank gears in the United Sovereign, The Legendary rank. The rumors said there were less than twenty Legendary rank Weapons and less than ten sets of Legendary rank Armor. Yet, they found everything that was on display was the Legendary rank, from a sword to a dagger, a shield, and everything, all Legendary rank.

They found more than a hundred Legendary ranks here. Codyʼs eyes locked on a pair of daggers, exquisite but also terrifying at the same time. When their eyes looked at the price, they understood what Kate said to them. They indeed could not afford the item even with their team fund.

A pair of daggers was worth almost 120 million. John let out a bitter chuckle, their team savings never crossed 5 million, but they had the gall to think they could afford three to five items here.

”I havenʼt shown you guys the real deal,” Kate smiled and gestured at them to follow her into the deeper part of the shop. The deeper part of the room only had five items shown, two swords, one shield, one set of armor, and a spear. There was nothing else except for those five items, and they quickly understood why.

John, Sam, Amy, and even the calm Codyʼs jaw dropped when they saw those five itemsʼ rank. Those five items were The God Rank items, an item that didnʼt exist in the United Sovereign. The bold thing was that the shop did not put those five items in the case, just put it above the red pillow.

Kate continued their trip, visiting the other shops in the district. They found out that the worst item in this place was the Primordial Rank, and they still could not afford it. John and company were humbled on their very first visit.