Dimensional Exchange

The Dimensional Exchange was the system bound to Kerry—the Golden Finger he had unlocked. Its name practically explained its function: a place where he could trade with other dimensional planes.

It was now ten in the morning on the second day. Kerry was riding a Magic Steam Train to Southport City in the southern part of the kingdom. As soon as the city gates opened at six that morning, Kerry had brought several trunks of luggage and the old butler, Mr. Carson, to the Magic Steam Train station on the outskirts. The Magic Steam Trains here resembled the old trains from World War II on Earth, running on steam, except their fuel was Magic Crystals.

Though Kerry had been excited all night and had not slept a wink, and though he could finally get a good sleep in the compartment now that he had safely left the Royal Capital, the unlocked Golden Finger had left him too stimulated to sleep. He once again entered the Dimensional Exchange with a thought. It was like a stock exchange, yet even more like a large airport Waiting Hall. Its functions resembled a stock exchange, while its environment more closely resembled an airport waiting hall: there were unmanned cafés, recreation rooms, private rooms, and all sorts of leisure facilities.

Unfortunately, trading had not opened yet, and Kerry was the only person in the entire exchange. All kinds of buy and sell listings continuously refreshed on the enormous display screen. Besides the display, the huge hall was filled with countless ATM-like machines. Having studied them last night, Kerry knew they were self-service trading terminals. Like shopping online, one could sip coffee while leisurely embarking on a spending spree at any of the trading machines scattered about. However, Kerry could only use them to trade after the market opened; he could not use the listing function. The listing function allowed submitted buy or sell orders to be displayed on the massive central screen.

Overall, the Dimensional Exchange was a gathering place for merchants like Kerry from various dimensional spaces to conduct business. It was not some overpowered system capable of destroying the world, but it held limitless possibilities—as long as one had Points.

Points were the currency here. Of course, on trading days, buyers and sellers could also barter. But whether a transaction used Points or bartering, the exchange automatically deducted the corresponding service fee in Points for its daily operations. The fee for each party was generally one percent of the transaction value, though at least 1 Point was required to complete a trade. Worth mentioning was that, since transaction fees were charged, all traded items could be stored in the exchange warehouse free of charge for thirty days. After thirty days, storage fees were charged according to the item's volume. It was rather money-grubbing, but still fairly reasonable.

100 Copper Coins equaled 1 Silver Coin.

100 Silver Coins equaled 1 Gold Coin.

100 Gold Coins equaled 1 Purple Gold Coin.

There were also the legendary Magic Crystal Coins, which required 100 Purple Gold Coins to exchange for one. However, ordinary kingdoms generally did not possess any Magic Crystal Coins. Only powerful empires on the continent possessed this exceedingly rare magical currency.

An ordinary wage earner in the Raynor Royal Capital made around 3,500 Copper Coins a month, while an adult's expenses were roughly 1,500 Copper Coins. Their purchasing power was basically similar to that of China on Earth in his original world. In other words, 1 Copper Coin in this world was equivalent to 1 yuan on Earth. The 500 Gold Coins in Kerry's possession were equivalent to five million yuan.

Standing beneath the central display screen again and looking at the trading listings, Kerry could not help feeling his blood boil. Items from cultivation planes, technological planes, magical planes, and countless others—everything imaginable was available.

His family fief was on an island at the kingdom's southernmost edge. Now that he had the exchange, Kerry no longer cared about the lowly life goal of merely holding on to his baronial title. This was the dream life of starting with a plot of land and relying entirely on cheats to develop it! The humiliation he had endured over the past half year, he would make those academy classmates repay it all. And the First Prince—that bastard had ruined Kerry's life of eating and waiting to die, but had given him the mindset and circumstances to strive and fight back. At the very least, he would bring him down and become king himself! In the small compartment of the southbound steam train, Kerry set a small goal for himself.

After leaving the system, Kerry lay on the sleeper berth, thinking about the situation in his family's fief. His thoughts drifted, and after nearly thirty hours without sleep, he finally could not resist his drowsiness. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.

When Mr. Carson noticed that the young master had fallen asleep, he quietly covered Kerry with a blanket and gently closed the compartment door. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Carson felt a headache coming on.

The old butler, Mr. Carson, was rigorous, old-fashioned, and meticulous. He was an old family servant from Old Kobe's time and had always been utterly loyal to the family. Although, excluding the married-out Great Aunt Magee Raynor, the family now had only young master Kerry Raynor left, he remained just as devoted. It was not for money, nor because the family had ever done him some great favor. Carson had grown up in Kerry's household and had simply become accustomed to being loyal to this family. At fifty-six, still unmarried, he had nowhere better to go. He had watched young master Kerry grow up. Though ordinary, the boy had no bad habits and had always respected Carson as an elder. Having served as a baron's butler all his life, he had never considered doing anything else in his remaining years. That had been Mr. Carson's thought after Old Kobe's death.

But after the First Prince's coercion forced them to sell their last property in the Royal Capital, the two of them could only flee the Royal Capital in disgrace, carrying less than 100 Gold Coins in liquid assets and the 500 Gold Coins from selling the estate. They were headed back to the family fief to farm. Thinking of his fate, Carson found it truly miserable—and young master Kerry's situation was even more tragic.

Forget it. No use thinking about this. Five hundred Gold Coins should last them quite a while in that backwater, as long as the young master did not spend recklessly. The old butler shook his head, drove the negative thoughts from his mind, then half reclined on his own berth and closed his eyes to doze.

Whooo. Whooo-whoo.

After two days and two nights of travel, the steam train finally arrived in Southport City on the morning of the third day. Standing on the station platform, Kerry could see the sea in the distance at a glance, along with the bustling docks by the shore. This was a prosperous port city. The busy harbor reminded Kerry of Shenzhen City on Earth. The sea breeze, carrying the smell of fish, washed over him, and Kerry's earlier gloom vanished. He found this scent far more pleasant than the dust- and earth-filled air of the Royal Capital. "Mr. Carson, are we taking a ship next?"

Having already hired porters, sorted the luggage, and loaded it onto the carriage, the butler beside him took out a small notebook. After checking it, he said, "Yes, young master. In two hours, a ship will depart for Little Nose Bay Port City. Once we arrive there, if we can find a fishing boat and everything goes smoothly, we can spend the night in your fief's castle tonight. Of course, if you wish to enjoy lunch here, we will have to take a carriage to Little Nose Bay Port City instead. That would delay us by at least a day and a half." After succinctly explaining the rest of their itinerary, he called Kerry onto the carriage. They were about to head for the docks.