Prime Originator

"Little Brother Leonhardt must be joking." The Old Shaman said wryly with a stiff smile. "If you take everything, my tailor store will be forced out of business for some time... must you do this?"

He was, after all, a person of great status. Others would at least be mindful not to take too much, but Leon did not seem to be concerned about this at all.

"I guess taking everything is a no-go then, huh?" Leon continued to rub his chin in thought. 

"Since I have said you can take anything, you can indeed take everything. But do you really want to do this? Little Brother Leonhardt should learn some self-restraint and not be too greedy. Why not take a step back so everyone can be happy?" 

The Old Shaman did not refuse Leon. This means that Leon could, indeed, take everything. It is just that the other party will not be happy with it. 

Leon shrugged and said, "Alright, I don't need to take everything. So long as the store can remain operating for business, you will still be fine with me taking anything, right?"

The Old Shaman's brows were furrowed, but he did not see anything wrong with Leon's words. Thus, he nodded, "Yes!"

After that, Leon resumed browsing the wares of the store before he said, "These leather chest, guards, skirts, shin guards, leather boots, I'll take the full set."

The Old Shaman gave an approving nod of acknowledgment. He did not have a problem with this. It seemed that his words had reached the person. 

There were several dozens of items on display, but the set of leather armor only accounts for five of them. 

However, Leon was not done and glanced at another item on display before saying, "That lion head cloak, I will also take it." 

A wolf head cloak and bear head cloak was also on display in the same section, but he thought the lion one suited well.

He was relatively small in build compared to the warriors of the plains, but if he wore something like this, it would at least make him look quite domineering and powerful. 

Of course, that was not actually important. It all came down to how impressively made the lion head cloak was that compelled Leon to select it. It was enchanted by Tier 5 runes.

"Is that everything? Shall I wrap everything up for you?" The Old Shaman asked.

Leon shook his head and said, "Nah, it's fine. I intend to wear them right away. Also, there's just this one more thing I wanted."

"What is it?" 

The Old Shaman gave Leon a cautious look.

"The leather pouch behind the counter," Leon said with a wolfish grin.

The Old Shaman felt his scalps tingle. The leather pouch was an interspatial storage item used for holding Dark Crystals. How did the person know there was a leather pouch behind the counter? 

The Old Shaman's brows were slowly furrowed, but they began to relax shortly after, as a smile was formed on his face. 

"Alright!"

Sometime later, Leon left the store with a leather pouch in hand as he repeated throw it in the air and catch it.

"Brother Leonhardt sure knows how to maximize his gains. I wonder how much Dark Crystals are in there?" Ironhead asked curiously by Leon's side.

Leon paused his steps as he recalled the Old Shaman's strange smile. Reasonably thinking, the Old Shaman should not have part with the interspatial pouch so readily if it held a fortune inside.

"I'm quite curious too," Leon said.

Shortly after, he opened the interspatial pouch and swept his divine sense inside for a quick look. After a few breaths, he retracted his divine sense and shook his head with a sigh. 

There were only 2500 Dark Crystals inside the interspatial pouch. It was no wonder that the Old Shaman was able to part with it so willingly. 

There must have been another interspatial pouch kept elsewhere that holds the Old Shaman's entire wealth and savings.

"Whatever. 2500 Dark Crystals are good enough." Leon shrugged.

"There are only 2500 Dark Crystals inside?" Ironhead was also taken aback by the amount before he said, "Brother Leonhardt sure is unlucky. The Venerable Shaman must have transferred the Dark Crystals to his private pouch recently. I heard that 20 thousand Dark Crystals are usually kept inside."

"But Brother Leonhardt does not need to feel like you have suffered a loss. The interspatial pouch itself is worth around 20 thousand Dark Crystals. Also, with Brother Leonhardt's strength and ability, it would be far too easy for you to make that much Dark Crystals if you wanted to." Ironhead said.

He was not lying. The Old Tailor's store was a high-end store for Great Warriors. It was easy for Great Warriors to make a few thousand Dark Crystals by selling the Transcendent-level demonic beasts they hunt.

It was only people like Goldenrod, who had yet to reach the Great Warrior Realm that finds it challenging to save up a few thousand Dark Crystals.

Goldenrod had been following behind them silently with a forlorn look. The leather guards he had been eyeing was taken by Leon. 

It was okay if Leon did not want it, but since he did, it was not right for Goldenrod to ask for it. He could only sigh melancholically. 

"There is still roughly an hour left until the start of the great feast. Does Brother Leonhardt want me to take you to your accommodation to get familiar with the place, or what would you like to do?" Ironhead asked.

"How do you tell the time around here?" Leon asked curiously, considering it was dark all year round outside of the city and only relatively brighter during the night of the crimson moon with its cascading red light.

"Oh? Brother Leonhardt doesn't know?" Ironhead asked rhetorically before nodding in understanding, "Makes sense. Brother Leonhardt is not from around here." 

"Do you see that fire tower over there?" Ironhead pointed before he proceeded to explain, "We tell the time by how big the flame is. It burns the brightest at the start of the day when it is lighted and usually burns out by the end of the crimson moon."

Looking at the clear burning tower, Leon's eyes flashed with understanding. There were clear indicators to measure how high the fire burned and as such. 

At this moment, there was roughly a quarter of the flame left. This indicates that three-quarters of the day had almost gone by. 

"I see." Leon nodded in understanding before he said, "I will have to trouble Brother Ironhead to take me to my place of accommodation." 

"Hahaha, Brother Leonhardt does not need to worry. This is no trouble at all." Ironhead laughed lightly. 

"If you say so." Leon smiled before turning to Goldenrod. "You don't need to keep accompanying me. You might have become my subordinate, but I will not restrict your freedom. Feel free to do what you want. I will call you again if I need you."

"In that case, I will bid goodbye here. Until next time, Brother Leonhardt, Big Brother Ironhead." Goldenrod paid his respects to both of them with a small gesture before leaving.

Watching Goldenrod's departing back, Ironhead turned to Leon and said, "Brother Leonhardt should be careful around this person and should not trust him easily, lest he brings you trouble."

"Oh? What makes you say that?" Leon smiled. He could see where Ironhead was coming from, but he was curious about what he had to say, nonetheless.

"You might not know this, but while our tribe seems very united on the surface, that only implies to outside threats. Inwardly, we are divided into three factions and are still stricken with internal conflicts. Aside from the neutral Shaman Faction, we have the Chief Faction and the Beast Tamer Faction. You can probably guess what faction this person belongs to." Ironhead explained.

"Is this something you should be telling me, an outsider?" Leon smiled at Ironhead. 

"Err…" Ironhead froze at a loss for words. Shortly after he recovered, he rubbed his bald head embarrassedly and said, "Actually, we were hoping you would join our Chief Faction."

"Why don't you tell me more about the conflicts between the factions within your tribe?" Leon asked.

Ironhead felt a bit excited when Leon did not quickly refuse him. That means there was a chance at recruiting this person.

Just as he was about to explain, he noticed that Leon had unwittingly stopped following him as his attention was quickly grabbed by where the person was looking. It was a kid's playground. 

He walked over and asked. "Brother Leonhardt is fond of children?"

"Hm? Sorry about that. Yeah, I am actually." Leon admitted, but his mind was still preoccupied with the familiar little girl he found among the crowd of children playing. It was Mia. 

He did not expect to find one of them so soon. Also, Mia seemed to be doing just fine playing with other children and not held in captivity as he had anticipated.

Shortly after, Leon left with Ironhead and continued their trip to his arranged living quarters. 

At the same time, Mia had glanced over with confusion.. She felt like someone had been staring at her just now.