Jiang Lan glanced at the man, but did not feel offended.
After all, the man's strength spoke for itself. If Jiang Lan had been in his shoes and seen a newcomer in the Divine Strength Realm, he would probably have reacted the same way.
Walking up to the man, Jiang Lan bowed slightly.
"Greetings, senior."
The man pulled his lips into a smile.
"Quite polite, aren't you? Who introduced you?"
Jiang Lan said, "Gu Changqing."
"Old Gu, huh." The man chuckled, unsurprised. "That explains it. From the look of you, is this your first time here?"
"Yes." Jiang Lan nodded again.
Seemingly finding Jiang Lan rather agreeable, the man volunteered an introduction.
"Well, this is where we usually gather. We all call it the Inner Domain. As for those shops beside us, every member gets one. Come Monday, you'll have your own shop too."
"Senior... what are these shops used for?"
The man shrugged. "There's no fixed purpose. Put out whatever you want to sell-weapons, materials, information, anything. But they only open on Mondays. If there's anything you want, you can browse then. Of course, if you have anything valuable, you can trade it here too."
He paused, then added:
"But we don't accept credit points here. We use contribution points."
"Contribution points?"
"Yes. You can earn them through missions or trade with others." The man raised a hand and pointed at a stone tablet on the far side of the communal area. "The missions are over there. If you've got nothing to do, you can see whether there's anything you can take on. Though there probably isn't."
Jiang Lan: "..."
He was being underestimated.
Still, his strength really was at the bottom here.
Gathering his thoughts, Jiang Lan spoke again.
"Thank you, senior. May I ask your name?"
"Sure.