Before leaving the teleportation area, Rean's group had to pass by a checkpoint.
"What is this?"
Droman then explained.
"Everyone who wants to enter the city has to pay a fee for that. It also depends on the cultivation of each individual. That's one of the ways they use to keep the protection formation of the city operating all the time."
"Energy Gathering or below pay 10 Rank One Spirit Stones;
Foundation Establishment pay 100 Rank One;
Core Formation goes for 50 Rank Two;
Core and Soul Fusion is 200 Rank Two;
Nascent Soul 100 Rank Three;
And lastly, Soul Transformation pays 300 Rank Three."
"As for Saint Realm cultivators, they don't need to pay anything. After all, it would be considered disrespectful to experts at their level."
Rean nodded.
"It seems that even here Rank Four Spirit Stones don't come out that easily."
Droman agreed with Rean.
"Exactly. Rank Four Spirit Stones are definitely much easier to find here in the Empire's Capital. However, they are still considered high-level commodities. Oh, if you have the right connections, you might even get your hands on Rank Five Spirit Stones."
Rean bitterly Smiled. Even the Router Formation's Data Storages sales didn't give him and the sect Rank Four Spirit Stones. How would he get his hands on Rank Five ones? From what he heard, Rank Four Spirit Stones are rarely used in any kind of trade unless the things you want to buy or sell were extremely rare. All the Rank Four Spirit Stones in the Dalamu Sect were mined from the Spirit Stone mines in their territory. Very few came from outside through trades. That also explained why the Dalamu Sect had so few of them.
However, Rank Three Spirit Stones were still possible to be obtained through the Data Storages' sales. Dalamu made a few supplying contracts using Zafa Bank as the intermediary. The deals were basically for large amounts of Data Storages for a reduced price. In exchange, the costs would be paid in Rank Three Spirit Stones. At the moment, Dalamu and the twins had no lack of Rank Three stones. Naturally, the fees to enter the city were not an issue.
At the counter, Old Worm and Droman presented two badges. One was the Guild Droman was registered with. However, Old Worm's one was from the Capital's Alchemist Guild. As soon as the attendant saw that, he immediately changed his bearing.
"Welcome back to the Capital, Senior Alchemist. Members of the Capital's main Guild Branches are exempt from paying the City Entrance Fee. Their companions are also allowed to pass for free. Please go ahead."
Rean and Droman looked at Old Worm with surprise. Even Droman didn't know that the Guilds had this privilege.
Old Worm and Roan then stepped aside and headed out as if nothing had happened. Rean and Droman could only sigh and follow the two.
"They could at least tell us beforehand, don't you think?"
"Well, Elder Fauk had never been the type to talk much. I guess that's why he and Roan get so well with each other."
Rean had to admit that it was true.
Anyone with cultivation below the Saint Realm was prohibited from flying inside the city. That being said, Rean's group had to walk to reach their destination. Of course, with the city being larger than 1000 kilometers, running would take them way too long.
It was because of that that the city had many small Teleport Formations connecting everywhere. The only thing they didn't do was to teleport straight inside the Inner and Core Part of the town. Of course, there were exceptions, but even Old Worm couldn't use them.
Finally, they took a teleport formation that sent them close to the Inner City entrance. They appeared in front of a bustling street that connected to the gate of the Inner City. Shops, stalls, weapons, talismans, etc. They could see everything being sold on the sides.
"Oh! That's a lot of cultivation related items. I might find something good for crafting or to use in formations here."
Droman nodded.
"Well, most of the items being sold in the Outer City aren't very good. Usually, only those without much money would come here to buy something. Of course, the biggest majority aren't as rich as you, so this place is always full of cultivators. The other three gates connecting to the Inner City have similar environments as well."
"However, it's not rare to find a few hidden gems in the middle of trash. Sometimes the owners of those items don't know the value of what they're holding."
Rean and Roan nodded. This type of market could be found even on Earth, let alone in the cultivation world where Spiritual Energy exists.
Droman and Old Worm didn't seem to be in a hurry either. They began to browse the various stalls, paying attention to see if there was something they could use for themselves. They knew that the Inner City would be a better place to find high-level items, but those were definitely not put there by mistake. Naturally, their price would be salty.
Rean and Roan didn't have much to do, so they walked around as well. Roan went straight to the shops where Skill Books could be found. He was responsible for combat, so he was always open to new ideas. Rean, on the other hand, looked for items that he could use in the Circuitry Formation. To be more specific, Rean was looking for a very unique type of metal. He went from stall to stall, shop by shop, looking at what they had to offer.
'Hum? This sand...'
There was one thing that Rean had had a problem finding, a substitute for silicon from Earth. From what he knew, silicon was present almost everywhere on Earth to the point of being the second most common element after oxygen. As a metallurgist in his previous life, he knew quite a bit of it. Not only because it was used in electronic devices, but that silicon was also used for steel refining, aluminum-casting, etc., which was his area of expertise.
The problem was that silicon never came in its pure form. Instead, it was mixed with other elements, making it quite difficult to produce. Back on Earth, silica sand was the most common material. However, the process itself to extract the silicon alone was nothing easy to be done here in the Cultivation World.
The Electrical Formations Articles had a few examples of materials where he could get silicon from. However, it turned out that the articles didn't select silicon as the best conductor for the Circuitry Formations, only as an alternative. In the Cultivation World, there was a much better material called Zalion.
The material could do the same thing as silicon but at a much higher speed. The reason for that was none other than Spiritual Energy! Rean still didn't know what kind of energy Spiritual Energy is. Electricity existed because of electrons. Could Spiritual Energy be something similar? However, this kind of energy could interact with basically everything. Even the photons that light is made of.
The Articles didn't explain much about the nature of Spiritual Energy, just that it could improve electrical currents' speed. Zalion just so happened to be the best type of metal.
Unfortunately, another problem came out when Rean and Droman were discussing it. Droman had never heard about any metal that had the properties Rean talked about. Rean also tried to find more in the Blacksmith Hall, but even the Blacksmith Hall's head knew nothing about it.
At that time, Rean thought that Zalion was probably like silicon. It didn't exist in its pure form. Naturally, no one knew about it.
In the end, Rean could only give up and set his mind on the good old silicon. It's just that the methods to extract it in the cultivation world where technology didn't exist was quite annoying. Besides, there was the issue of it not being very compatible with Spiritual Energy itself.
Fortunately, there was one good news. The Articles explained how Rean could identify Zalion Ore on his own. Rean didn't find any metal in the Dalamu Sect after using the method described by the Electrical Formations' Repository, though.
However, it looked like he finally found something in this Outer City Market.
Spiritual Energy revolved around Rean's hand as he held a hand full of sand. However, if one looked closely, they would see that a few Electrical Sparks came from it now and then.
One must not forget that it is possible to use other elements even if one doesn't have an affinity with them. It's just that you won't be able to control it as proficiently as someone who has that kind of affinity. Fortunately, the method described by the Circuitry Formations' Articles was straightforward and didn't need much proficiency of the user.
'The conductivity is not as good as the Electrical Formations Repository described, but it's very close.'
Rean was just about to try once again when all of a sudden, the shop merchant in front of him called his attention.
"Hey, kid. Do you want some of it? This is just a sample, so you can have it. Let me know if you need more too."
Rean was taken aback for a second and then smiled.
"Just one moment. I'm only testing something. I might really buy this ore if it is what I want."
The merchant narrowed his eyes. Why would Rean need to test anything? Still, Rean ignored it and continued his test.
'I see... So that's what's happening.'