William did as he was told and performed a slicing motion over his finger with the knife, but he had forgotten about his Hard Skin Talent. The steel knife failed to pierce William's skin, leaving him speechless.
"Come on boy, it's just a knife, don't tell me you're scared of blood!" the Captain yelled out, causing a few spectators to laugh at the scene.
William pressed harder on the knife, but it was useless. After a few seconds of increasing his strength, the knife suddenly snapped off and the blade tip flew upward and stuck into the ceiling.
"..." the Captain looked at the blade tip with confusion. Was the knife damaged before? He didn't notice it.
The secretary was in awe seeing the broken knife. Part of her job was to inspect the knives before and after their use to prevent any foul play. She knew for a fact that the knife was in perfect condition, it was just that William's body was too strong!
"Mister...do you have any other way to drip your blood?" she asked carefully, hoping that William would forgive her dismissive behavior before. She was only a Core Formation Realm Cultivator, nothing worth mentioning around here.
William thought for a moment and nodded. He fiddled around with his Space Ring while ensuring his blood type was fully changed, then took out one of his two Starmetal Shortswords and placed it against his finger.
Seeing the Starmetal weapon made both the Captain's and the secretary's eyes open wide with surprise. They never expected to see such a rare item on this Golden Core Cultivator, who seemed to be full of surprises.
A few spectators took note of this unusual person while others took a moment to contact their respective organizations. If "Yuming" could casually take out a Starmetal weapon, he must have more incredible treasures hidden in his Space Ring!
William noticed a change in the atmosphere, so he quickly slit his finger open and dripped three drops of blood on a piece of paper placed underneath. The drops changed direction and hovered above the paper without soaking in, trapped by a miniscule Array that he almost hadn't noticed.
William's wound had fully healed by the time the drops hit the paper, but he pulled back his hand and covered it with his sleeve before anyone could notice, while simultaneously putting the shortsword back into his Space Ring.
The secretary retrieved the paper then crouched out of view and placed the paper in a hidden drawer that ran a crude blood test that checked for one's age and their blood type, among other things.
Using data already saved in an Array-powered filing cabinet, the secretary first looked for any evidence that such a person already existed on another network. She asked William to sit down while the tests were run, which was different from William's experience with Thin Creek Village's Guild Hall.
The difference here was that William's identity had to be verified, while Guild Receptionist Jenny already knew who he was.
Ten minutes later, the test was complete, and William was found to be unregistered. He was given a slip of paper that had a holographic mountain chain surrounding a large city, which was the Hillvire Empire's symbol.
The guard Captain had no reason to stay with William now, so he took his leave first.
William was about to do the same, but the City Hall had suddenly become crowded with people, and an important-looking man with a handlebar mustache was blocking the front door with his arms crossed.
The man was looking directly at William, but his face wasn't familiar at all.
I don't know who he is, so this is either about the person that pushed me, or the shortsword.
"I heard you have an interesting weapon, Mr...?"
"Yuming." William replied with a straight face. He was getting better at pretending to be someone else.
"Yuming. So, are the rumors true?"
"Yes, I'm very large downstairs."
"I see..." the man smirked, then realized what William had said. "No, that's not what I was asking!"
William retrieved the Starmetal Shortsword from his Space Ring, "This is what you're looking for, right?"
The man's eyes lit up. His attitude flipped a 180 as he said, "I'll forgive your earlier remark, give it to me and I'll pay you handsomely."
William raised an eyebrow, "How much?"
The man's face became serious as he hesitated to give William an answer, "Five hundred Mana Stones."
"I see..." William mimicked the man's expression from earlier, "I wonder if anyone else is interested in purchasing this..." he looked around the room at a few other people who looked like they had money.
While a few turned their heads in denial, some looked genuinely interested. It seemed the price the man offered was reasonable.
William was a bit over a hundred Mana Stones short of seven thousand, but he knew that wasn't nearly enough to purchase anything truly useful or rare to him. If William wanted to acquire a large amount of Alchemy ingredients, going out and looking for them wasn't the easiest solution. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs novel⟡fire.net
Not only that, but if he wanted a bulk amount of anything, he needed money. If the Starmetal weapons he had in stock were worth a lot as it was, perhaps William could earn even more from some of the other treasures he didn't have much use for.
But first, I need to get the word out...
William took a few steps closer to the man, whose aura suggested he was at the peak of the Golden Core Realm, "What if I said this isn't the complete weapon?"
William changed the topic, "What's your name?"
"I am Harold of the Kami Noble Family, but you said the weapon isn't complete?"
William wasn't listening. "If you're a Noble, you must have a large social circle, right?"
"I do...?" Harold didn't know what William was getting at.
"Then you can tell them that a man named Yuming will be auctioning a complete Starmetal Weapon at the next Auction." William said as he revealed a second Starmetal Shortsword.
Harold's eyes turned wide with shock seeing a second incomparably rare weapon. If he could take the weapon in to be enchanted, he might be strong enough to compete with his older brother in the Nascent Soul Realm!
"I'll buy them both! One thousand Mana Stones!"
William shook his head and tried to move around Harold, "I'll see you at the Auction."
Harold changed his stance and blocked William for a second time. Judging by William's clothing, he wasn't a Noble. Considering he was in the City Hall registering his identity, the man was probably an outsider.
He looked back at William and said, "No, you're staying here."
William's expression became dangerous. His voice became louder as he tried to draw the attention of someone with authority, "Are you trying to cause trouble in the Capital City? We are in the City Hall even!"
Seeing William become aggressive made Harold take a step back, causing him to bump the door open.
William didn't waste time and stepped past the man, waving as he walked in a random direction down the street.
Harold didn't bother giving chase, since he knew William was right. If he actually dared to attack William, he might have been jailed for a few nights depending on the severity of his crime. While a few nights in prison wasn't a big deal, it would hurt his reputation with the other Nobles.
"The Auction, huh? Alright then...I'll see you there!"