Aster hunted for two days from dawn to dusk, his clothes kept clean due to the formations that were engraved on them, while he washed his body in a small stream that he found in the forest.
To avoid using his storage ring in public, he carried a backpack in which he stored the materials he took from the spirit beasts he hunted.
“During these two days I collected 12 pairs of wild boar tusks and a pair of antlers from an amethyst deer, I also got 12 nuclei of beasts in the core condensation realm and one of the amethyst deer in the spiritual sea realm, it’s enough to make a small profit” he thought before taking a map out of his backpack.
Aster checked the map that his mother had given him and saw a medium-sized city known as Ghaleria about 100 kilometers east of his current position.
“According to the map, the lord of that city is at the late stage of the earth origin realm so even if there were to be any problems, I should be able to defend myself”.
It was barely noon so he set off towards Ghaleria, after walking for a couple of hours, he reached the entrance to the city of Ghaleria and simply stood in line to enter.
The line advanced quickly because the only thing that was checked was that people who wanted to enter were not on the list of wanted criminals, when it was Aster’s turn, he handed the guard 20 copper coins and he was allowed into the city, it was actually the first time Aster had paid for anything in his new life.
For commoners and cultivators below the earth origin realm the money consisted of copper coins, silver coins and gold coins, a silver coin was worth 100 copper coins and a gold coin was worth 100 silver coins.
For any transaction that involved materials from the earth origin realm onwards, spirit stones were used, the reason for this is that from that realm onwards, cultivators in addition to absorbing the spiritual energy of the sky and earth could increase their cultivation speed using spiritual stones which gave them a higher value than gold.
Aster gave the guard 10 silver coins and asked him about a trustworthy store to sell spirit beast materials, an average commoner family earned about 40 silver coins a month, for the guard although it was not a fortune it was still a decent tip, so he gladly told Aster that the Ghale family to which the lord of the city belonged, had the best reputation in all of Ghaleria and as an extra advice he told him that the best inn also belonged to the Ghale family and also gave Aster indications about how to get there.
Following the directions of the guard Aster arrived in front of a white building with a sign that said “Ghale Materials Store”, “quite a simple name”, he thought but still he entered.
Aster did not really need any money thanks to Lilia but it was a new experience for him, after all was it not a man’s dream to kill monsters and get paid for it, like an “adventurer” from fantasy novels, it had a certain charm to it.
Once inside, a young woman of about 17 years approached him and asked him.
“Good afternoon, dear customer, how can we help you today?”.
Aster thought they would make things difficult for him because he was too young, but then he remembered that despite being 7 years old due to all his training and probably because of Lilia’s good genes he looked like a 10- or 11-year-old boy with a Height of 1.48 meters which was certainly above average, combined with the fact that his mentality was that of an adult it perfectly complemented his image of an 11-year-old kid.
“Good afternoon, I would like to sell some materials”, he replied in a calm voice.
The young woman saw Aster maintain a calm expression and thought that he was probably a young noble who was experiencing the world, which was common in most of the noble families.
The girl guided him to where the appraiser attended customers.
“This way please”, she said and then led Aster to a counter with a sign that said “appraiser” then rang a little bell and walked away to give Aster privacy.
After a few seconds an old man with white hair and a long beard stood on the other side of the counter and spoke.
“Good afternoon young man, show me the materials you want to sell”.
Aster took out the wild boar tusks as well as the antlers of the deer and the nuclei that he had obtained.
At first the old man thought that the receptionist had only brought this kid with him because his outfit and appearance gave him away as a noble, however when he saw the materials that were in front of him, he realized that this young man was actually a talented cultivator, after all for him an “11” year old boy who had probably reached the soul manifestation realm was not an ordinary thing.
“The total will be 1500 silver coins for the nuclei and another 500 silver coins for the tusks and antlers, what do you think if the payment is delivered in 15 gold coins and 500 silver coins young man?”.
Aster nodded.
“Sounds good to me thanks for the advice”, he was not stupid, naturally he realized that the old man was kindly recommending him how to receive the payment since due to his age and appearance he most likely would have not paid for anything in his life before.
The old man was happy to see a talented young man have good manners as most of the time young people from noble families would have haughty attitudes not to mention those with talent in cultivation who used to be arrogant and despotic.
The old man touched a button on his side of the counter and a few seconds later a worker handed Aster a small bag containing the aforementioned payment, Aster said goodbye to the old man and as he left, he heard the receptionist tell him.
“We appreciate your visit, please come back soon”.
And so, Aster left the store with a good first impression of the Ghale family, as he played with the bag that had the coins, he decided to spend the night in the city because living on the nature was not his cup of tea, at least he did not enjoy being alone on the forest maybe later he will invite Lilia or Alice to camp with him as a way to spend time with them outside of the castle.