After Zhang Lie handed over the appropriate number of points, a design interface popped up. There were quite a lot of options possible, and he would have to choose the design he preferred most. Once he made his selection, the process was over: the robotic forge would take care of the grueling forging process for him.

All he had to do now was wait. In twelve hours, he could either return to the forge to collect the armor, or have it teleported to where he was.

It was rare that he would head to the center of the settlement, so instead of returning to the Blackgold Inn, Zhang Lie took a stroll around the stores all around the area. It was reminiscent of the heart of a metropolis. The stores largely belonged to the settlement itself, with only a rare few being owned—at significant expense—by the six great clans.

Zhang Lie stopped by a pub.

The dimensional world was rife with danger, and the hunters who fought here day and night lived in primal stress. The struggle and pressure to survive was magnitudes more intense than one would normally experience out on Earth, and methods to relieve said stress were commensurately more popular.

In fact, the entire street was filled with bars.

The reason Zhang Lie stopped in front of this specific bar was because it seemed to be owned by the Yun clan.

"Welcome!" Upon seeing the black-cloaked Zhang Lie, two hostesses rapidly walked over. "Why don't you come in and have a drink? We've just launched our newest offering, an electrifying liquor that's sure to leave your throat sizzling!"

Zhang Lie laughed. "In that case, I'll have to give it a try."

The two hostesses were naturally overjoyed to have roped in a paying customer, and they immediately welcomed him in. The interior of the bar was like a different world entirely. The music was so loud that the entire bar trembled in beat.  Hunters, wearing all sorts of strange clothing and even armor, were splayed out in the bar, intermittently visible under the multicolored, strobing lights.

The hostesses brought Zhang Lie to a secluded corner and handed him a menu, which Zhang Lie didn't even glance at. "I'll have a flask of that electrifying liquor you mentioned!"

The two hostesses reared their heads in surprise, and one carefully whispered in his ear, "Sir, have you looked at the price?"

Zhang Lie glanced at the menu, and his eyes bulged in shock. 800 points for a flask?! Isn't this daylight robbery?

He should have returned to the inn! But he'd already said that he would get a flask of that liquor, so it would be embarrassing to take back his words now.

"Serve me a flask!" he repeated, waving his hand in mock largesse.

"Sir, would you like an escort?" Zhang Lie glanced around to see hostesses accompanying guests at all the tables around him.

"No, no, there's no need. I'm just here to enjoy the atmosphere." Zhang Lie rejected the offer and sent the two hostesses away.

He'd been to bars on Earth, but never in the dimensional world. It was certainly an... interesting experience.

The tables in the pub were relatively close together, and the guests at a neighboring table were easily able to overhear Zhang Lie's order.

One hunter, dressed in a black and white suit, couldn't help laughing at Zhang Lie's appearance. "What's this bar coming to? I thought it catered to a rather distinguished clientele, so how did someone like him make it in here? He's just a country bumpkin playing at wealth—did you see how his eyes bulged when he learned how expensive the new wine was?"

There were people who enjoyed causing trouble everywhere, weren't there? Zhang Lie was just trying to have a new experience or two, and then...

"You think you're all that?" Zhang Lie turned to the boorish guest.

When the other hunters at the table heard him talk back, they immediately made a fuss.

"Eh, the bumpkin's getting mad!"

"Do you know whom you're speaking to? The second son of the head of the Qin clan, one of the ten largest clans of the Blacksteel settlement!"

"Bumpkin, it's not too late to apologize. Otherwise, if you offend him, you won't be able to survive in the Blacksteel settlement for much longer!"

"Don't you know how valuable Young Master Qin's time is? And here you are, getting mad at having his attention!"

Zhang Lie scoffed. "What ten major clans? Aren't there only six in the settlement? Is this the same Qin clan that Qin Xiao's in?"

Some of the hunters at the neighboring table stood up, enraged.

"What, you don't know the Qin clan?"

"You bumpkin, you'd better apologize now, or I guarantee you won't be taking a step out of this bar today!"

"I pity your teammates, saddled with an ignorant fool like you! You'd better kneel down and apologize now. Young Master Qin obtained a superior-grade soulshard today, and he's feeling rather generous at the moment, so he might spare you if you show him proper respect!"

Zhang Lie glanced at them superciliously like he was looking at a trio of clowns. He had no intention of listening to them any longer, let alone apologizing. If this Qin clan wasn't the same Qin clan that Qin Xiao was in, then they were nobodies in the Blacksteel settlement.

Zhang Lie regretted speaking with them at all: it was too damaging to his reputation to be seen with a bunch of fools.

The hunters at the neighboring table began to walk over, as if they were about to start a fight.

"Brat, are you really looking for troub—"

"Qin Feng, are you sure you want to offend someone like him? Don't blame me for not warning you: you'd better apologize now if you don't want your clan to be utterly ruined!" A female voice suddenly spoke up from behind Zhang Lie.

Qin Feng jerked in his seat, recognizing the voice. 

What was a little devil like Chu Xun doing in this bar? Now that she was here, he would have to greet her. Otherwise, if he were to rouse her anger, he and his clan would be in for a bad time. He would even be willing to let matters lie with this country bumpkin if she requested it.

Qin Feng turned to greet Chu Xun, only to jump up in his seat.

"Young Master Chu, Young Miss Yun—w-what are all of you doing here?"

He was frozen stiff. Chu Feng, Yun Bing, Chu Xun, and Yun Meng were all at the bar to talk to him? No, they couldn't be here for him!

Who was he, Qin Feng, to deserve the attention of scions from the Chu and Yun clans themselves? A message to the Qin clan would be all it took for him to be delivered wherever they wanted, trussed up like a pig!

But if they weren't looking for him, then… Qin Feng's pupils widened. "Could it be..."