The next morning, everyone woke up very early and continued the journey after a light meal. And as everything seemed calm, Alexander began to ask some questions about the world and its items using the excuse that he lived in a small village.

  After a few questions, he discovered there were other items with storage function besides his ring, but their value wasn't low and their functionalities were much smaller.

  "It seems the [Ring of the Thief God] is truly priceless…" pondered Alexander. "Better be even more careful when using it."

  Not wanting to make it too obvious he didn't know much, he spaced out his questions, which wasn't a bad tactic, but some groups of creatures appeared and the conversation was replaced by vigilance.

  No group presented any danger until a group led by a 1st evolution beast appeared.

  "Stop," commanded Leon. "Protect the horses. These long-armed baboons are known for always prioritizing the most defenseless creatures."

  "No need," Alexander interjected. "Facing these baboons isn't a problem after you get used to them."

  As soon as he said that, he grabbed his staff and jumped from the last carriage of the caravan, which was for the escort who weren't driving the horses.

  "I'll handle the preparations and you finish off the big one, Ocean," Alexander said to Ocean, who had also jumped to accompany him.

  "WOOLF," replied Ocean, who began to tense and plant herself on the ground.

  "What is she doing?" the people observing Ocean wondered.

  The mages in the group suddenly looked at each other surprised and found their confirmation in each other's eyes. Just as they predicted, the mana fluctuation became even denser and a considerably massive sphere of water formed in front of Ocean.

  When the baboons were close enough, Alexander launched the largest |Water Blade| he could at their leader, but it managed to avoid it by jumping.

  Ocean, who was waiting for this, fired her magical skill and exploded the 1st evolution baboon, which had no more way to dodge, into a bloody mess with a single attack.

  With their leader's death, the other baboons began to flee back to where they came from, but no one celebrated, as they were too busy reevaluating Alexander and Ocean. Realizing Ocean was actually a magical beast was a big surprise, but seeing she could kill a 1st evolution creature with a single attack raised the impact to another level.

  "Don't think too much about it. It was just compatibility," said Alexander, bringing the group back to reality. "These baboons are agile and can cause a lot of damage with punches and bites, but are more fragile than goblins."

  After thinking a bit, the group, who knew baboons were indeed fragile, concluded that what Alexander said was partially reasonable. But it was still quite surprising that Ocean had so much destructive power.

  As soon as the situation calmed down, Alexander asked again about items with internal storage and discovered the cheaper models were sold for gold coins. And even with that value, they were still very popular among adventurers, who usually traveled a lot from one place to another to complete their missions.

  The rest of the journey was relatively calm and he managed to talk a lot to get more information. Many of which helped him understand a bit better that world's system and how it worked.

  When the sun began to lose intensity in the sky, leaving only that typical warm and cozy afternoon, the group arrived at Phoenix City.

  "Is this really a city?" Alexander asked himself. "It looks more like a large wooden fortress… I doubt its population reaches 4 digits."

  While he observed the structure of the city walls, which were predominantly made of wood, Victor went to speak with the guards at the gate to ask them to let him register at the adventurer's guild, as promised.

  After a few minutes, Alexander noticed Victor had already explained his situation and tried his best to convince the guards, but they still seemed reluctant to allow him and Ocean entry.

  He was about to call Victor and tell him to give up when Cristina got out of the carriage for a few seconds, waved a small crest that emitted a black glow to the guards, and returned to her carriage.

  The guards who were reluctant immediately began to sweat coldly and let everyone in without asking further questions. They didn't even ask to confirm what Cristina had shown, as if they had been trained and placed there just to identify that with a single quick glance.

  With Cristina's help, Alexander managed to enter the city and Victor's group offered to take him to the adventurer's guild as soon as they finished the escort.

  Alexander thanked everyone for the help they gave him, but refused this last favor, as he still wanted to discuss some things with Cristina.

  The group found this a bit strange, but chose not to delve deeper and just said goodbye.

  Cristina, who until then was giving orders to the employees who came to get her, turned to him upon hearing him mention her name.

  "I don't want to bother you more than necessary, but it happens that I have some items I obtained from hunting and heard that the Black Moon Company buys some of them," Alexander explained. "Is that true?"

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  "Of course. If the item has any intrinsic value, we buy it," replied Cristina. "Our motto is to never let any deal pass by."

  "Come to the Black Moon store," she said. "We can talk more calmly there."

  Pleasantly surprised that Cristina was as direct and clear as he was, Alexander began following her carriage to the Black Moon store.

  While following the carriage through the streets, he realized he was mistaken, the city's population was much larger than his expectations. In the short time he spent in the city, he witnessed an alarming influx of people for its dimensions.

  "Strange. It shouldn't be possible for so many people to live in a city like this with this level of technology," pondered Alexander. "This only became possible on Earth after technological revolutions… So, how?"

  It didn't take long for him to receive the answer to his question while advancing through the city. Because while walking, he saw two children playing at getting wet next to a fountain that seemed to pulse with mana.

  "It seems I was wrong from the start," Alexander analyzed. "I compared this place to Earth in the medieval/feudal age because of its appearance, but their situations are quite different. This is literally a magical world."

  He became so distracted thinking about the implications this fundamental difference caused that he almost walked right past the store, which was quite hard, as there was a majestic black moon stamped on it.

  As soon as they arrived, Cristina got off the carriage and prompted Alexander to follow her inside the store, but when he didn't, she turned to stare at him with a questioning look.

  "I don't want to create problems for you, but can I bring Ocean along?" he requested. "I don't have a place to leave her, and she has no identification."

  "Hmm?" Cristina wondered. "Ah, yes… Your wolf."

  Faced with Alexander's request, Cristina entered a small state of contemplation, as if evaluating the pros and cons. "Alright, but only this time. It's not common for familiars to enter the store."

  As soon as Cristina entered the store, the employees began to show certain respect while the group passed by them. With her guiding the way, they managed to reach without any problem a room that had the sign "Raw Material Acquisition."

  "So, what items do you have to sell?" asked Cristina, very objective.

  "Skins from 1st evolution creatures and some metals," replied Alexander.

  "The value depends on the quality," said Cristina. "Can you get them so I can appraise them?"

  "Can I clean them before you appraise them?" asked Alexander. "They must be a bit dirty from my journey."

  Cristina was slightly satisfied that he asked that and pointed to a large counter at the back of the room. "You can use that counter, as it has a drainage system. As for water…"

  "No need to worry about water," Alexander politely interjected.

  Curious about what he intended to do, Cristina positioned herself to have a good view of the counter. Alexander, in turn, pretended to want to give her a better view and positioned himself so that the counter blocked her view of his improvised bag.

  Concluding that Cristina could no longer see his bag, he pretended to arrange his items while actually replacing them with the most valuable skins he had until they occupied ? of his bag's volume.

  With everything ready, Alexander began to pull the skins from inside the bag and place them on the counter. When the bag was empty, he took a deep breath and began using |Invigorate| to clean them, as well as the metals he had.

  As soon as Alexander did this, Cristina stepped back and an employee entered the room to check the situation and fixed her gaze on him.

  Seeing his surprised look, Cristina explained to him: "Spells shouldn't be used so casually inside here."

  "I didn't know that," said Alexander sincerely. "Please forgive my ignorance."

  "Since it's your first time here, I'll excuse you," replied Cristina while gesturing for the employee not to be so stern. "But why are you using a spell on these items?"

  "The spell I used is normally used to clean and/or heal small wounds. But I also use it to clean other things," replied Alexander.

  "Interesting…" commented Cristina. "You seem to be referring to the spell |Invigorate|, but I've never heard of anyone using it like that."

  "It seems the spells the system provides are common knowledge in this world and I won't need to worry about drawing so much attention with them," Alexander analyzed in thought before replying: "Exactly. It was a version of the spell |Invigorate|… May I finish the cleaning?"

  Cristina, once again, began a small pondering of pros and cons, but ended up allowing him to continue cleaning the items, as she became interested in seeing the result.

  With her permission and the supervision of the employee who should be the store's guardian, Alexander cleaned all the items, removed as much water as he could, and displayed them for Cristina.

  The young woman didn't seem to mind that they were wet and began to pick them up to appraise them anyway. "The cut isn't professional, but the skins seem soft and without many flaws."

  After appraising all the items, Cristina thought a bit and verbalized her proposal: "1 large bronze coin for each wolf skin; 1 small silver coin for each 1st evolution beast skin; 5 small silver coins for the 1st evolution magical beast skin; and 8 large silver coins for your 'raw' metals."

  "It's as I imagined, the metals I got from the dungeons are 'dead.' There's no trace of energy in them, as their low value suggests," thought Alexander. "But why is the magical beast skin worth five times more than a beast's?"

  "I accept," declared Alexander. "But could you explain why you're paying much more for a magical beast skin than for 'common' beast skins?… I really don't know."

  "Magical beast skins are better as catalysts and mana conductors. That's why their selling value is higher," explained Cristina.

  "Thank you very much for clarifying," thanked Alexander, who pondered a bit and requested. "If it's not too much of an imposition on your goodwill, could you explain to me how to get to the Guild?"

  "Of course," replied Cristina, as if it were something minor. "I'll instruct someone to take you as soon as we finish here. Just wait a moment, I'll be right back with your money."

  As soon as Cristina left the room, Alexander couldn't help but have a facial twitch and thought: "A single glance was enough for her to know the origin of the metals, I'm sure… I better be more careful with the stories I'm inventing… and with her."

  It didn't take long for Cristina to return with a store employee holding a small cloth bag that was adjustable by a drawstring.

  "The amount you should receive was 1 small gold coin, 1 large silver coin and some silver and bronze coins, but as payment for your participation in my escort, I increased this amount to 13 large silver coins," announced Cristina. "As for your bonus for helping my caravan during the attack…"

  "I don't need a bonus," Alexander interrupted as politely as he could. "We just happened to be passing through that region.. Not to mention you also helped me since we arrived in the city."

  "If that's the case, alright," replied Cristina almost expressionlessly, but unable to hide a slight satisfaction with Alexander for not clinging to small benefits. "This employee will give you your payment and guide you to the adventurer's guild so you can register."

  "Thank you for your help," said Alexander. "If any good business opportunity arises in the future, I will always prioritize you and the Black Moon."

  "That's enough for me," replied Cristina.

  As soon as Alexander left the room following the guidance of the arranged guide, the employee who had invaded the room approached Cristina and asked: "Is he really worth so much of your attention, my lady?"

  "I still can't know," replied Cristina. "But I have to get as many allies as possible… And he probably isn't as simple as he tries to appear."