Most of Lin Lan's classmates were interning in the port districts of the Eastern Continent, but there were also some, like him and Luo Tao, who had come to the Western Continent.
After all, traveling between the Eastern and Western Continents of Orlan required nearly a week of sailing across the ocean.
Even though the Navy frequently organized joint Siren-clearing operations across the major port districts, accidents still happened from time to time.
Wasn't it just on his own journey here for work that his passenger ship ran into trouble?
The Sirens were endless.
No matter how many mass-produced units and Executors were destroyed, as long as the cores of the high-ranking Sirens remained intact, new ones would keep appearing.
Furthermore, aside from the few routes exclusively controlled by the Tianou Group, most other sea areas had already fallen under the control of Siren fortresses and strongholds, making them impassable for ordinary passenger ships and fleets.
As a result, while the Eastern and Western Continents were nominally under the control of the Zhu Hai Commercial Association, in reality, nearly 90% of the cities in the Western Continent were governed by the Tianou Group and Battleaxe Industries.
Meanwhile, most cities in the Eastern Continent were under the control of the Tianou Consortium, Gouyilia Trading Group, and the Noah-Dexin Financial Group.
After replying to all his messages, Lin Lan finally arrived at the entrance of Akashi's shop.
"Ta-da! Commander, keep your eyes wide open for this store's limited-time sale of Teaching Nation specialties, nya!"
The little swindler grinned smugly as the Manjus pulled up the shop's rolling shutter.
Lin Lan glanced inside and couldn't help but widen his eyes.
The small store, previously decorated in a Sakura Empire style, had now been completely transformed into a medieval general store.
Olive-green floor tiles, a deep black wooden cashier counter and shelves, and rows of European-style candle holders made it clear that the little swindler had deliberately remodeled the shop in this fashion.
What caught Lin Lan's attention the most were two rows of metal armor lined up against the walls, reflecting a dim silver light under the sunlight streaming in from outside.
There were also various weapons hanging on the wooden walls, each engraved with mysterious runes.
A razor-sharp, broad twin-edged greatsword, a spiked morning star, an incredibly heavy half-human-tall shield, and a nearly two-meter-long knight's lance—
After Lützow let go of his arm, Lin Lan took her hand and slowly stepped into Akashi's store.
Everything here made him feel as if he had stepped into a medieval European country.
No, to be precise, this wasn't an ordinary medieval setting.
It was more like a world straight out of a Western fantasy novel.
Because in addition to the conventional weapons and armor, he also saw wooden magic staves inlaid with crystal balls and red crystals, parchment magic scrolls neatly arranged on shelves, and various potions stored in glass test tubes.
There were even several grotesque, reptilian monster head specimens—creatures he had never seen before—hanging high on the walls, courtesy of the little swindler.
This suggested that the Teaching Nation of Saint Losoren wasn't entirely identical to medieval Europe on Blue Star.
Instead, it resembled the fantasy worlds of works like Dungeons & Dragons, where supernatural powers like magic existed.
"Commander, look at this—it's so cute~"
Just as Lin Lan was about to examine the potions out of curiosity, he suddenly heard Lützow's amused voice beside him.
Turning his head, he found himself face-to-face with a grotesque green creature with a large nose and a pointy chin. Instinctively, he shuddered.
But he quickly realized that it was just a mask—after all, the "creature" was holding a shark plushie in its other hand.
"Hahaha~ Commander, did I scare you?"
Seeing the brief moment of shock on Lin Lan's face, the curly-haired girl giggled and took off the green-skinned monster mask.
"You little troublemaker, do you even realize how scary that mask is?"
Lin Lan chuckled, reaching out to pinch the slightly chubby, baby-fat cheeks of the gray-haired girl.
Giggling, Lützow casually tossed the mask to him before wandering deeper into Akashi's peculiar shop, as if searching for something.
Holding the mask, Lin Lan studied the lifelike, hideous green-skinned monster and found it oddly familiar.
After thinking for a moment, he suddenly realized—
"Isn't this the infamous goblin?!"
"That's right, Commander! This is a goblin, nya!"
As soon as Lin Lan muttered to himself, the shopkeeper Akashi's cute voice rang out from behind him.
"The supplier of these goblin masks is the Adventurers' Guild of the Teaching Nation, nya!"
"Besides these masks, we also have many goblin-related materials that can only be found in the Teaching Nation, nya~"
Hearing the words "Adventurers' Guild" and "goblin," Lin Lan's thoughts drifted back to his days on Blue Star.
In his memory, goblins were common monsters found in all sorts of games, novels, and other fictional settings—typically considered weak creatures.
However, no matter the work, goblins always shared eerily similar traits.
They were violent, malicious, communal, and cunning.
Under normal circumstances, even an ordinary human could be stronger than a goblin, as these creatures were only half a person tall and lacked outstanding physical attributes.
But goblins were social creatures.
They reproduced rapidly and often formed large groups that raided villages far from cities, making their homes in caves deep within mountains, where their terrain advantage made them difficult to eradicate.
Lin Lan's understanding of the Teaching Nation was limited to the fact that its people could use magic and that devout believers of its faith had halos above their heads.
He had no idea how the Teaching Nation dealt with these monsters—whether they allowed them to roam freely and attack villages.
"The only good goblin is one that never appears before humans."
Lin Lan tossed the goblin mask back to the little swindler Akashi, confidently quoting the famous line from a well-known anime he had seen.
"Commander, you've never even been to the Teaching Nation, yet you said that with quite the conviction, nya."
Akashi returned the goblin mask to the shelf, twitching her small cat ears.
Next, Lin Lan decided to try wielding the weapons engraved with runes.
With the blessings of his Hero's Strength and Weapon Mastery skills, he could already wield these melee weapons with expert proficiency.
Swinging them felt as simple as playing a highly familiar action game.
"Commander, according to the instruction manual provided by the Tianou Group, these weapons can significantly enhance their power when activated using Magic Source Crystals, nya."
Seeing how effortlessly Lin Lan lifted the heavy greatsword, Akashi reminded him.
Lin Lan, of course, knew what Magic Source Crystals were. In the Teaching Nation, they were as vital as oil in Orlan—never exported to outsiders.
"It's a pity that in Orlan, finding a Magic Source Crystal is nearly impossible. The Teaching Nation must strictly control such a strategic resource."
He deftly twirled the greatsword in a skillful flourish before preparing to return it to the wall—much to Akashi's visible relief, as she feared he might accidentally demolish the store's shelves.
But just then, his gaze caught a pile of loose Wisdom Cubes displayed on a nearby counter.
As his eyes focused on them, the particles and lights within the cubes began to rotate at an accelerated pace.
Lin Lan suddenly remembered that Battleaxe Industries' shield generators could be powered using Wisdom Cubes.
His Hero's Strength skill tree could also be upgraded using Wisdom Cubes.
Then, could these magical weapons from the Teaching Nation also be—
Following this train of thought, a look of realization spread across Lin Lan's face. His eyes lit up with excitement as he turned to Akashi.
"Akashi, I just had a bold idea."
"Nya?"
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50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta
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