After a few minutes of walking, the two found themselves stepping across the threshold of the Pagoda of Equivalent Exchange. It wasn’t Gaius’ first visit here — he’d dropped by a few times in the last month to exchange for items or essential resources needed to continue fighting — but he could never stop marvelling at the beauty of the place. The aesthetics reminded him of Earth’s Forbidden City…which was probably due to the sheer scale of plagiarism that occurred when the Cardinal Champions crossed over to Orb.

And maybe a whole bunch of people who popped up in Orb without being summoned by one of the great gods. There were footprints of Earth’s civilisation all over Orb, to the point that Gaius was surprised to find out that electricity generation and use still wasn’t a thing yet. It was probably due to the presence of qi in Orb, but still…

Gaius gazed at the walls of the Pagoda of Equivalent Exchange. Most of them were decorated with dragons or phoenixes, lending them a Chinese lean. Back in Mi-Zu, the walls of these pagodas would be decorated with lovely drawings of impossibly-dense ravines that didn’t exist anywhere near the Eastern landmasses. As to how the artists were able to draw such geographical features without a reference, that was a damn good question.

“I’ve called quite a lot of people over. The news that the Nine-nine-nine Knight is about to redeem something has drawn interest from all over the battlefront.” Paragon Ying Xin nodded her head. “You’re really popular, eh?”

“No,” Gaius replied. “It’s just that I don’t show my face often. People tend to ascribe mysterious things to you when if you stay out of the public eye for too long.”

“Maybe,” said the Paragon. “You have a whole host of fun nicknames now. Last I heard, you were called the Demon Sniper, as well as the Pint-sized Railgun.”

“Where did these two terms even come from?” Gaius muttered. “These things don’t exist in Orb…”

“What do you mean?” The Paragon tilted her head, and her long, black hair danced with the motion. “We have a Railgun artefact sitting in the heart of Feng-Lang and Mi-Zu. It fires a circular strip of metal…I believe its creator called it an arcade coin?”

“An arcade coin?” Gaius tilted his head. “What was the creator trying to reference?”

“Reference?”

“Oh, nothing.” Gaius cleared his throat. “Anyway, these two Engines you mentioned…”

“You’ll get to see them later on. They’re on the level of national treasures. You won’t lose out,” the Paragon replied with a smile. “Or rather, the Plenum would lose out if you redeemed resources with your points, so please take these Engines instead.”

“The Plenum?”

“The governing authority of the Eastern Territories. Now, shoo.”

With that, Paragon Ying Xin shooed him into a giant room, one that never stopped reminding him of the Wall Street Stock Exchange. A giant, hexagonal pillar stood in the middle of the room, some eight metres high, and each side was displaying names of the commodities that could be brought.

As usual, a small crowd was milling around the area. Gaius had exchanged resources at different times of the day, but every time he came, it was as crowded as ever. During dinner, lunch, the dead of night…after all, the Pagoda served the entire front lines, which had swelled up to half a million troops in all. The civilians in Feng-Lang had been partially conscripted, and most of them were “enjoying” their new accommodations in the trenches at Feng-Lang’s eastern shore, earning a point for every kill.

Incidentally, a point was awarded only for killing someone equal or stronger in cultivation realms. Gaius had no idea how the Display actually managed to work this out, but since the warfront was on friendly ground, there were probably systems in place to facilitate this.

After watching the number of emeralds available — the ones that were obtained from Heritage, not the useless expended versions — tick down by one, Gaius followed Paragon Ying Xin to a suspiciously empty counter. The path to it was flanked by a small crowd of people, each of them watching Gaius closely as he walked down the path.

“That’s the Nine-nine-nine Knight…”

“He’ll lose that nickname after this, so call him the Pint-sized Railgun instead. Or the Demon Sniper. I prefer the first one, though.”

I don’t get to choose? Gaius thought, but he was wise enough to hold his tongue as the Paragon brought him to the counter. After a few minutes, in which more and more people started to discuss about Gaius’ new nickname, Paragon Ying Xin finally cleared her throat.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” she began, her voice confident. “Today, we’re here to thank the Nine-nine-nine Knight for all his contributions in the battlefield. For those who weren’t aware, he was the person responsible for stalling Conrah’s forces when Eo-Seu fell. He wiped out more than half of the enemy Knights, buying us an entire week to strengthen our defences today.”

That’s the name you chose? Gaius felt part of his self-control crack, but he smoothed the mental turmoil in his head by smiling and waving. The small crowd went wild, and applause poured in from all around him

The cynic in him helpfully informed Gaius that the applause was probably staged, for the benefit of drawing the attention of the others milling around the area, but it still felt great to be appreciated by the others. It was a rather rare experience, something Gaius probably never experienced back on Earth.

After letting the pitter-pat of the crowd’s clapping last for a minute, Paragon Ying Xin raised her hand. “The Nine-nine-nine Knight had reached the upper limits of his points long ago, but he chose not to use them, so that resources could reach the others on the frontline. Therefore, on the day of his departure, the Plenum has decided to accord him two legendary Engines, crafted by the best the Eastern Territories has to offer.”

She waved her hand, and at the very top of the giant, hexagonal pillar, two new items appeared them. “Behold. The Apex and the Saviour. Each of them paramount Engines in their own field…and that’s all I can tell everyone here.”

The distinctly larger crowd laughed. Paragon Ying Xin nodded at Gaius, who passed his Display over to the person sitting at the counter, who received it with both hands. The number on it dropped to one immediately, and at the same time, the Engines that had briefly made an appearance on the giant pillar vanished.

Two boxes appeared out of thin air, which the clerk deftly caught and handed over to Gaius. They were made of purple crystal, separated by vertical layers of silver, and as he took them, the boy had the feeling that even the boxes themselves were artefacts.

There was another round of applause as he pocketed the small boxes. After a few more sentences, Paragon Ying Xin dispersed the crowd, with only a small group staying behind.

“That’s the group behind the Display,” said the Paragon. “They are…quite passionate about funding, so don’t be surprised.”

Gaius nodded his head, and approached the group.