Terry dusted off a crude wooden mannequin wearing a jolly smile. He didn't catch Spark entering the shop.
The garment now spotless, Terry continued on with the next task, working his measuring tape to meticulously mirror the dimensions of another piece of clothing.
Spark's smile grew even wider.
Most wonderful about the mannequin were the clothes it wore, designed with the blueprint of his instructions.
An idea he wanted to pitch to the tailor as soon as he recovered his health.
And here it was... radiating utter splendor.
Suave black trousers made from fine cloth, a white silken shirt jutting out from beneath a double-breasted jacket, also colored in a magnificent black.
A tie, colored black of course, and as smooth and elegant as the night sky.
Combined, the set emitted the gentlemanly charme of formality and courtesy.
Magnificent.
Spark sneaked behind Terry and put his hand on his shoulder.
The tailor jolted awake and turned his head in shock, only to see Spark nodding next to him emotionally:
"Terry... you did a wonderful job."
Terry breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled:
"I have never seen such clothing in my entire life as a tailor. This is a completely new... So imposing.... exalted... a-and metric... it's.... it's truly beautiful."
Terry muttered in pure excitement, a light of fanaticism in his eyes. Spark nodded in satisfaction.
"I told you Terry, Clothes maketh Man... To be taken seriously, one needs to behave seriously, taking care of appearance and language."
He gave the tailor another pat on the shoulder.
"Friend, let me try it on... I can't wait any longer."
Terry gave a quick laugh, and handed the garments over with an expectant expression.
Five minutes later, Spark and Terry admired the look in a mirror.
Finally, he felt a sense of familiarity on this new planet.
He wore suits his entire life. It felt strange to wear something else. Of course he enjoyed to indulge in the soft comfort of wide and loose clothing once in a while, but when it was time for public appearance, he preferred this kind of look.
Spark would also try out different types of clothing worn on Fraal. He saw that many people here preferred to wear lavish and ornate robes with enough freedom of mobility to fight, while also accentuating the status and elegance of its wearer.
Spark's goal was to introduce Monsoon City to the formal and elegant joys of wearing suits!
That was an avid intention of his, next to owning a couple of sets himself of course.
Thanking Terry for his excellent work, he told the tailor to prepare a set for his subordinates as well. Unity was a vital part of a successful company after all.
Exiting the tailor's new shop, he was glad to have invested the first batch of money into Terry.
Judging by the curious looks he received on Curkland St. where Terry's new business was set up, it would only be a matter of time before many people were interested.
...
Next, he took a stroll to the Main Plaza. He wanted to visit Alessandro, Corale and Laurel, while also advertising his clothing to the public.
Arriving at the plaza, which was as always, very lively and full of people, Spark sighed when he took a closer look to the passerbys ambling down and up the streets.
He had not paid too much attention to it before, on his very first exploration of the City, but a lot of people here were actually Cultivators. Their clothing, bearing and weapons were clear indicator.
The majority must be in the Body Foundation Realm, but there surely were some Awakened mixed in the crowd as well.
The Inner City was sated with Cultivators normally, whereas there were close to none in the outskirts. It seemed the people here really didn't care about the poor people outside.
At the moment, there were a little less Awakened walking the Plaza than usual. City Lord Orald had gathered a group of mighty Awakened to lead them outside, to finally hunt and slay the insidious Water Bandit a couple of days ago.
It was unknown how long the City Lord would be gone. Spark still had a debt of gratitude to play. He didn't forget the City Lord's grace.
The sacrifice of his golden leaf...
Another curious thing Spark had gathered, was that there were some Sects who settled in Monsoon City.
Or more accurately... they could be called clubs for specific Elements.
Not bound by loyalty or comradery, the Qi Realm Artists there exchanged ideas, Skill Manuals, and resources for personal gain.
The more serious gatherings sometimes identified by similar clothing, and had tighter sense of belonging to their group. These could be categorized as actual Sects.
For instance, there were the Windings, a Sect for Wind-Elements, The Rolling Boulders, a rather big Sect for any Elements, The Natural Eaves, only accepting Awakened who were bestowed one of the Natural Elements, or the Merchant's Association, a grouping comprised of mercantile Awakened.
And not to forget the Monsoon Sect; A group led by City Lord Orald as the Sect leader, allowing a multifacet of Awakeneds to enter.
There were some other groups, but these were certainly the biggest, stationary here in Monsoon City.
After leafing through the geology of the Zoenig Empire, Spark realized that Monsoon City was just one of the medidum-sized City's of the human population, located at the edge of the Empire, near the territory of other species.
There wasn't really a Sect that overshadowed the entire City, or one that was very close to here. Spark read about incredibly enormous Sects, far bigger than entire cities, stretching over rows of mountains and plots of lands in other Human Empires.
No there were some even here, in the Zoenig Empire.
...Monsoon City really was not worth talking about in contrast.
Dismissing further thoughts, Spark walked through the door of the Fantassimo.
The business had resumed business after the Silver Hawk's plans were thwarted. Things finally returned to normal.
Alesso glanced at the entrance of the shop, and a wide smile formed on his lips when he saw that it was Spark.
Spark shuddered a bit when he compared this amicable smile to the other expressions this man was capable of. He still wasn't used to this.
"Spark, you brat! You look different."
Spark smiled and excitedly answered:
"It's the first product of Terry's new business! What do you think!"
Alesso walked up to Spark and inspected him from every side before saying:
"It certainly is different! I have never seen such clothing before."
Spark nodded in agreement and explained:
"A mercantile man must always look professional and graceful! This is called a suit."
Alesso arched his eyebrows and asked:
"Can you even fight in it? It looks a bit stuffy."
The blacksmith wore nothing under his working apron, and his exposed biceps bulged with veins. Spark shook his head and retorted:
"Life is not only about fighting! There are quite a lot of other endeavours to pursue."
Alessandro knitted his eyebrows and answered the young man in a colder voice than before:
"With what's happened to my daughter and you, I am more certain than ever before that life is solely about fighting and protecting..."
A glint of fury, mixed with an inexplicable gentleness was hidden in the blacksmith's eyes when he cast his glance at Spark.
The young man sighed and smiled. Before the silence became too awkward, Alesso asked:
"You're here to play with the thing again?"
Spark nodded and caught an item with his hands a moment after. Alesso gave a quick laugh, and waived him up the stairs:
"You can take a look at the other things, too. You know where they are."
Spark thanked the blacksmith and went up the stairs, where Laurel and Corale were seated on a couch, busying themselves by reading a book.
After some friendly talk, he went up another flight of stairs to reach the third floor of the shop.
At least a dozen stone pillars sat on the ground, which each pillar holding a auspicious item on a white velvet pillow.
It was actually the room holding the blacksmith's most valued Soul Bound's and artifacts!
Spark grinned and thought that Alesso trusted him very much after what had happened in the outskirts that night. He would even let him into this room unsupervised, not only once but several times already!
It seemed that his noble sacrifice unintentionally weaved a tight bond between him and the Blacksmith Family.
Spark looked around as usual, glancing at the swords, axes, auxiliary items and accesories before finding an empty corner to sit down.
In his hand was an obsidian ring shimmering in a matte black.
The Space Ring.
Alesso didn't know why Spark was fascinated by the broken thing, but also didn't ask further. He assumed it was just to sate his curiosity.
Spark looked at it a bit and murmured to himself with a staid expression:
"Just what secrets do you hide, for Silver Hawk to risk his everything for you!"
Spark felt unnatural attraction to the little obsidian ring. A man staked and lost his entire life for this little accessory. It was enough to make every true businessman interested.
Spark smothered the ring in Qi, trying to open it once again...
He already tried to open the contents of the rings before, every time without success.
"Can I really not do it...? I feel like I can! Just... Why?"
...
After a while, Spark dejectedly left the shop.
"Sigh!"
"Another failure... it seems this thing isn't fated with me."
'Do I need to break through the Qi Realm first? Or will it be impossible for me?'
Spark was in a somber mood. This little ring fascinated him very much.
'What can't be done, can't be done...'
Still, Spark was eager to find out what contents the Space Ring hid.
Ambling down the Plaza, Spark looked around and took note of every business as per usual. In the last couple of days he inspected many businesses to experience and inquire about the state of the competition in this City.
Since Long-Distance Communication like Telephones and the Internet were not invented on this planet, and were instead substituted with Skills, Soul Bounds and other means, the rate at which information travelled was very slow.
In addition, there were no planes, no trains and no cars yet. The fastest way to travel was the Mana-Powered carriage, or with the help of special Soul Bound's or Elements like the Wind Element.
Therefore all competition was pretty much limited to the local businesses, and the nearest commercial cities.
Today, Spark decided to inspect a famous, and well-known distributor of ready-made consumer goods.
Taking a big bite of a sweet bread dessert, he nodded and mumbled:
"...Mhmm~ Indeed, the competition fierce... This is really fucking good..."
Struck with joy, he whistled and crossed a couple streets.
A group of girls glanced at him and whispered. Spark also cast his gaze toward them and smiled sweetly.
The group blushed and covered their mouths.
"Ouhh~ I feel like the ladies are stealing glances... Must be the suit!" he concluded with a jolly whistle.
Ending his inspection with the last bite of the sweet bread, Spark crossed a couple of streets to reach an auspicious market street. Going here was the main objective for today.
Once every two weeks, on this wide street, there will be gathering of Cultivators selling and buying Cultivation Resources. It was probably the biggest and most important event for Cultivators in Monsoon City.
The entire street rumbled with people. Shouts of discounts, and advertisements of products were ringing through the area. Some people haggled over prices, while others bought resources with just a nod.
With the majority of the customers being in the Body Foundation Realm, there were a lot of stands selling Lesser and Normal-Rank Spiritual Herbs. Spark could even identify some of the plants by their characteristics after browsing through the thick encyclopedia of Spiritual Herbs.
He discerned many disciples of different Sects ambling up and down, pondering about what items to buy.
Spark grinned at this sight and thought:
'Everyone is avid on getting stronger it seems.'
'...Myself included of course.'
Spark roamed around the stands, if you could call them that. Most Cultivators didn't even bother arranging their items beautifully. They just sat in front of a cloth with their products thrown shabbily next to each other.
Spark saw people of the Monsoon Sect patrolling around and acting as a deterrent for theft and scams. It seemed that they enjoyed a righteous reputation and ensured safety on the market street, which in turn allowed everyone to focus solely on shopping.
Seeing many herbs and minerals, or even Core Fragments being sold, Spark occasionally halted and looked around. He was in search of a particular type of product.
Once again, he stopped at a stand of a cloaked elder, dressed in black and a bamboo hat. He sat silently in front of his products, not advertising them at all.
Many people circled around this particular stand and inspected the items in awe.
The old man with the bamboo hat almost exclusively sold Soul Bounds!
On his cloth were swords, sharp like feral fangs, with unusual hilts and materials, an elegant purple whip wreathed with thorns, a spotted black spear with a sharp trident spearhead and many more unusual items like a wooden box containing several balls, or a quill which dripped with ink despite there not being any ink around.
On first sight these things could be thought to be mundane items and weapons, but they weren't! Dim shimmers of white engulfed every item as if to flauntingly announce them to be mystical.
Spark gazed at the swords lying next to each other.
They looked imposing, wild and... inhumane. It seemed like they were ripped straight out of the carcass of a beast, to then be forged into deadly weapons of bone.
Spark concluded that these items must have been obtained by the slaying of beasts, rather than being artificially created from a blacksmith's hands.
Many items that were laid out by the old man gave off that impression.
Spark's gaze streaked over all the items in interest. He liked them a lot. Apart from the weapons, the quill looked very helpful, especially for a businessman like him.
Inspecting every item in detail, Spark staggered back in shock.
"What the..."