After passing through a long corridor, an exceptionally spacious hall came into view. Above the dome, 99 pearls the size of human heads emitted a soft light, illuminating the entire hall with a bright and clear glow.
Victoria Tavern is an absolutely safe zone in Jilong Highlands. Here, all parties are strictly prohibited from using force, otherwise they will be killed on the spot.
A Legendary powerful figure once caused trouble here, and as a result, his head is still hanging on the wall of the entrance corridor, which Gustavo saw when he came in.
He secretly marveled at how rare it was to find a fool who could cultivate to the Legendary level.
The fact that Victoria Tavern could open in multiple settlements and amass massive wealth and resources without attracting the covetousness of local powerful forces speaks volumes about the strength of the forces behind it.
It's incredibly foolish of a Legendary to dare defy the rules and cause trouble.
Or was this Legendary a result of a conspiracy? Or was there some other reason?
Gustavo didn't think much of it; he only knew that when you're under someone's roof, you should bow your head.
After glancing around the hall, Gustavo's eyes quickly brightened, his gaze settling on the ten-meter-high portal.
Trading post!
As you enter through the gate, a shapely young woman with a fluffy fox tail walks up to you. She bows slightly, revealing a large expanse of her snow-white chest, and says in a sweet, coquettish voice, "Hello, sir, are you here to sell Transcendent resources?"
"Good."
"May I ask what range of value you estimate the resources to be? We need to arrange appraisers of different levels here, please understand, just give us a rough estimate."
Gustavo for a moment and replied, "More than 100,000 Ta Pound."
Hearing this, the fox-woman's face brightened considerably, and she smiled sweetly, saying, "Please come with me."
Having said that, the fox woman turned around and led the way, swaying her slender waist. To humanoids, this was incredibly alluring.
But Gustavo is Dragon-Hunting Spider.
Throughout his life, his aesthetic sense was inevitably influenced by his ethnic group.
I have absolutely no interest in such a slender, skinny vixen who could devour ten in one bite.
Dragon-Hunting Spider aren't Dragon Clan, a race that can fill the monster encyclopedia from A to Z with its own strength, indiscriminately hunting anything and everything, even slimes, which is a disgrace to higher bloodlines.
Following the fox woman, the Black Spider Squad entered a spacious and elegant private room.
"Please wait a moment, gentlemen, the appraiser will be here shortly," the fox-woman said softly as she slowly withdrew.
A moment later, a Snake People Race with two heads entered, politely extending his hand and saying, "Let me introduce you, Marco Enkos, a three-star appraiser at the Victoria Tavern. It's a pleasure to serve you."
Gustavo nodded, shook hands with Marco, floated down to his seat, and curiously examined the appraiser.
The Astral Realm contains countless mysterious treasures, some of which cannot be judged by their appearance. There are countless fakes and inferior goods passed off as genuine, making appraisers extremely important.
Items appraised by experts generally command higher prices, especially Rare and valuable resources.
Because this represents authoritative certification.
Many chambers of commerce and companies that purchase and sell goods also recruit and train a large number of appraisers to serve them.
"What resources do you wish to sell?" Marco asked with a professional smile.
"Sell all of these!"
As Gustavo spoke, he waved his hand, and Elia placed the oversized bag on the ground with a dull thud.
The bag was opened, revealing a variety of supplies.
Longsword, armor, staff.
Bones, fur, and minerals.
It's very messy.
These resources were all spoils of war from Gustavo, the vast majority of which came from the Brooks Mercenary Corps, with the remainder being the body tissues left behind by high-level prey.
Upon seeing the bag of supplies, Marco's eyes lit up. He only glanced at it and immediately spotted many valuable, high-end items.
Are you going to sell all these supplies?
"Good."
"Alright, please wait a moment, I need time to take inventory," Marco said with a smile. Then he clapped his hands, and a maid brought in some fine food and drinks, placing them on the table.
Ten minutes later.
Marco inventoried all the supplies and quoted a price.
"1,843,200 Ta Pound!"
Gustavo thought for a moment and agreed to the deal; the price was about what he had estimated.
He didn't sell all the spoils; he kept the most valuable ones for himself.
For example, Elia's crimson armor and octagonal warhammer, the Skaven April's fireburst shotgun, and the most prized Legendary item Shadow Cloak.
The items sold were mostly two-star supplies, with only four or five three-star items, and they were all unusable raw materials. So I simply sold them and exchanged them for Ta Pound to buy the various supplies I needed.
"Would you like cash or a bank statement?" Marco asked.
"Don't rush. Take a look at this list of supplies. How much can you gather?"
Gustavo took out a booklet containing a list of the various resources needed to configure Hades, including four other Legendary materials.
Marco took the book, flipped through it, and quickly skimmed through it.
"How is it?" Gustavo asked expectantly.
"No problem, Victoria Tavern can gather all these resources," Marco said confidently.
Gustavo was overjoyed; coming to the Jilong Highlands this time was definitely the right choice.
"However..." Marco drawled, "Your Ta Pound are insufficient to purchase these resources. Leaving aside everything else, this single Ghost Mother Fruit is worth no less than 1.2 million Ta Pound. All these resources combined... will require at least 7 million Ta Pound."
"7 million?" Gustavo frowned, but he wasn't surprised. A fully-formed Hades was enough to poison Legendary.
Compared to a living Legendary, a mere 7 million Ta Pound is utterly insignificant.
After thinking for a moment, Gustavo said, "You can store these Ta Pound here for now. You help me collect the resources listed in this book, with priority given to the four Legendary resources."
Marco nodded slightly, then patted his chest and assured, "Rest assured, Your Excellency, our Victoria Tavern is located throughout the entire Central Continent, and our reputation is absolutely guaranteed. As long as you gather enough Ta Pound, these resources will arrive very quickly."
"I hope so," Gustavo smiled faintly. "By the way, your Victoria Tavern should have intelligence on the major powers of the Jilong Highlands, right? Give me a copy."
"I certainly have the information. Would you like it more detailed or simpler?" Marco asked.
"Oh? What do you mean?"
"Detailed intelligence includes the faction's members, networks, and hidden trump cards. Simple intelligence only provides some basic information."
How much does a detailed intelligence report cost?
"The Steam Church and the Demon Eye: Your permissions are insufficient to purchase detailed intelligence. For other factions under these two major powers, especially those with Legendary figures in command, detailed intelligence ranges from Ta Pound to 3,000,000 Ta Pound per piece."
"Well..."
Gustavo felt as if he'd been doused with cold water, and he really wanted to blurt out, like the orc before him, "Why don't you just rob it?"
But he was not a reckless orc. After coughing, he waved his hand casually and said, "I'm new here, detailed information is useless to me. Keep it simple, I need a brief overview of the entire Jilong Highlands."
"Okay, here's a brief overview of the various factions in the Jilong Highlands, priced at 1000 Ta Pound."
"One order, please!" Gustavo waved his hand, suddenly feeling confident; it was only a mere thousand Ta Pound.
Half an hour later, the Black Spider Squad left the Victoria Tavern and headed to Storm Claw, a lower-middle-level faction under the Steam Church in the East District.