Chapter 1790: Scamming
Just when I had paid to enter the city and finally get to see what the true purpose of this trial was, suddenly, we were called out...
Or well, I was called out.
"Oi, who are you trying to scam here, you f.u.c.k?" wondered the green guy.
His att.i.tude instantly gave a sudden shift as they realized that the crystals had no "starlight energy" apparently these things weren"t just used for coins, but were somewhat mined, perhaps in the Asteroids? And it was also the d.a.m.n fuel for their stuff! So it isn"t really a steampunk world, its just the appearance of everything.
"Scamming is a crime, sir," said the rusty robot. "These jewels are not real, they"re replicas. Very well done but lack the starlight energy they contain inside. Which is essential to power our technology... Where did you get these?"
Well, that tells me everything I need to know.
"Ah, s.h.i.t... I had no idea!" I said, trying to act humble. "Someone else gave them to us when we purchased food as charge... I guess we got scammed first, I"m really... sorry."
I hated having to act like this, I could probably just break through the entire city, but then I would get persecuted by the equally powerful warriors that might roam inside.
Also Celestia, who is all about justice, might get angered or upset if I try to use her to slay people trying to punish me for committing a crime.
Even if this is a trial, I can"t riskit.
"Hmm, do you have the legit ones?" asked the green b.a.s.t.a.r.d. "We can"t let you in without paying!"
"Ah..."
Are you kidding me?!
"GUUOOOOHHHH...!"
I Heard the Whalebug scream again, I noticed there were some floating ships approaching it, made entirely out of rusty metal stuck together.
They were trying to push it back where it came from by shooting hundreds of missiles, but they dealt no damage to the Whalebug.
Without an ability to alter s.p.a.ce or something, you"re never pushing that thing away...
Anyways, I need to solve this problem quickly.
How can we put Starlight Energy into...
Wait, Benladra could do that, right?!
"Benladra! Can you inject tiny bits of Starlight Energy into these crystals? I"ll give them to you through my Shadows!" I told to her through telepathy.
Thanks to my Divine Ability [Unique Skill: Vampire Progenitor (SSS)] and its special effect {Shadow World}, was I able to freely manipulate Shadows, giving me the ability to store both living and unliving thing inside.
It also allowed me to touch another person"s shadows with mine and transfer things to theirs, which is what I did with Benladra.
Also, I could use Telepathy through the [Psychic Mind (SSS)] Divine Ability.
"Okay dad, leave it to me!"
Benladra was quick to the uptake and immediately injected Starlight Energy into the little crystals, making them glow brightly.
Then, using {Shadow World} again, I retrieved them into my own shadows and gave them to the guards once more.
"Sorry, how about these? I hope they work."
I suppressed their auras and then they looked finally normal.
The two guards grabbed them and then, smiled.
"Ooh, this one is very high quality!" said the rusty robot.
"Indeed, they might be worth more than just a single one..." said the guard. "Thank you, we"ll take these then! You"re forgiven for giving us fake ones only because you didn"t know and were scammed earlier, understood?"
"Ah, yes..."
I was resisting the urge of kicking this guy"s head, his Namekian-like face was insufferable to look at. Thankfully once everything was done, they finally allowed us to get through.
"Go ahead, you"re free to go inside."
"I recommend you register as citizens if you got some more coins."
The doors opened, as we were finally allowed to walk inside, and a beautiful city greeted us, a combination of early industrialization, steampunk and wild west villages aesthetics all combined together with alien and sci-fi into the mix.
It was indeed an incredibly bizarre world, I don"t know if this trial was all just fantasy or if a world like this ever existed somewhere, out there in the endless cosmos. But it truly made us feel like we were walking into another world now, an experience I"ll probably never forget.
"Thanks."
We walked inside the city without any qualms, as we saw the thousands of people walking everywhere all at once and all their shapes and sizes.
Some resembled humanoids with different skin colors, antennae or animal parts, they were the most normal of the bunch, somewhat resembling people from Yggdrasil, slightly. "Wooaaah! Papa this is so awesome! I have never seen anything like this before!" Benladra jumped in excitement.
"Same..." Kate nodded. "It"s so different than everything... So many weird people too. The three suns, and then this... and the people. We"re in another world?"
"M-Most likely, yeah..." I nodded.
"It"s awesome here! There"s flying cars and stuff too?!"
Miranda pointed at a huge flying truck pa.s.sing by with a sign of a green alien with a thumb up, holding a pizza that said "Flabergorst"s Intergalactic Pizza: One Slice is Never Enough!".
"And the houses and the pavement..." said Benladann. "They"re made of metal, most of it... Metal sc.r.a.ps at that, it gives such a distinct feeling to everything."
There were also paintings everywhere, almost every house had big paintings resembling graffiti and the like, giving the city even more life.
"Haha!"
"Hehehe!"
"Catch it!"
There was a plaza nearby, children ran around, chasing what resembled an alien cat without fur, blue skin, and four legs with three eyes and antennae.
"Muh? Wewe awe we?"
Suddenly, Drakda woke up, opening his little eyes and looking around sleepily.
"We"ve arrived at the city, Drakda," I said. "Sleep more if you"re feeling sleepy, don"t worry,
son."
After going through that huge swarm of monsters, I honestly wanted to rest.
However, we had little time here.
And well, there were other things we had to do first, such as, well, completing the trial!
And then...
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have progressed through the Trial"s Storyline and entered the [City of
Lost Souls: El Perdido]!]
[A Special Trial Storyline Quest has been triggered!]
A Quest?!