After the welcoming speech, Rohan looked for Mia but still didn’t catch a glimpse of her anywhere.

Although most awakeners entered the Frontier Realm at midnight, delays occasionally happened due to special circumstances involving Classes, Titles, or System-related anomalies.

With nothing else to do, he decided to familiarize himself with First Jianghu.

After all, this would likely be his home for a long time.

Leaving the registration district, he followed the main stone road deeper into the settlement.

The further he walked, the more the Region seemed to resemble an already established eastern city.

Hunters filled every street. Weapon shops lined the roads, displaying swords, spears, bows, shields, and equipment crafted from monster materials.

Training grounds echoed with the sounds of clashing weapons.

"Maybe I should get myself a weapon and some decent armor," he mused.

What he was wearing was actually a Frontier Inventory armor type, but still, Rohan didn’t like the idea of wearing the same armor as thousands of others, and it didn’t exactly look strong.

When he checked his inventory, the leather armor was labeled as a Common-Class Armor.

He stopped in front of a stall that had the name "Man Of Swarm Tools and Pulls" written on a wooden board mounted above it.

’What does pulls mean?’

The trader was a young man wearing a white tunic with a brown leather jacket. He had short black hair and a fairly handsome face. What attracted Rohan’s attention, though, were the insects that swarmed around the entire store.

"Hey! New here, huh? What do you want? Tell me. Is it Common, Uncommon, or Rare? Whichever you choose, we have it at Tools and Pulls," he advertised, moving from one inventory to another while trying to attract Rohan.

Rohan frowned slightly and brushed a fly away from his face.

The man smiled. "Don’t mind Robin. He gets easily attracted to handsome people."

He turned away from Rohan and clapped.

"Okay, guys, I have a customer. Do me a favor and go play."

Soon, the different swarms of insects formed a river of black dots above the stall and zoomed into the sky.

"Be good, kids!" the trader yelled with a smile and waved at the swarm.

The insects formed a waving hand in response before continuing their journey to who knew where.

’So that’s why it’s called Man Of Swarm,’ Rohan thought inwardly.

"So, young man, have you decided what you want to buy?" Man Of Swarm asked with a gentle smile.

"Ah, I was hoping I could get some Uncommon armor and a sword."

"Oh, we do have that... Let me just..."

His voice slowly died down as he rummaged through his small stall.

Soon, he brought out two inventories, making Rohan’s jaw drop.

"What in the—"

In front of him stood a suit of golden armor that looked as though it belonged to some legendary warlord. The chestplate was engraved with roaring dragons. The pauldrons were large enough to shelter a child from the rain.

Beside it rested an enormous golden greatsword nearly as tall as Rohan himself.

Of course, Rohan knew all of that was merely the projection shown by the inventories. Currently, the golden armor was nearly rusted, and the sword... ah, the sword.

The sword looked less like a weapon and more like a... like a...

What exactly did it look like?

Rust covered nearly the entire blade. Several chips lined the edge, and a crack ran halfway down its length. If someone told Rohan it had been dug out of a ruin after being buried for a thousand years, he would have believed them without question.

He slowly looked from the magnificent armor to the miserable sword. Then he glanced between the armor, the sword, and the merchant.

"...What happened?" Rohan asked with a raised eyebrow.

The merchant stared at the sword and sighed.

"Life."

"What?"

"Life happened," he repeated.

Rohan wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

The merchant gently picked up the sword and patted it.

"Don’t listen to him. You’re still beautiful."

The sword remained silent.

"As you can see," the merchant continued, "this is a package deal."

He pointed at the armor. "Rare-Class Armor."

Then at the sword. "Rare-Class Sword."

Rohan’s mouth twitched.

"That thing is Rare?"

The merchant looked offended.

"Of course."

"I might be new and look calm, but I can’t be scammed that easily."

The merchant ignored him and tapped the sword. A translucent panel appeared above it.

[Sunfall Greatsword]

Class: Rare

Durability: 7%

Status: Severely Damaged

Effects: • Strength +12

• Endurance +8

• Solar Strike — Unavailable (Insufficient Durability)

Rohan blinked a couple of times.

"It’s actually Rare?"

The merchant nodded proudly.

"See?"

"Why are you proud of that? It’s still severely damaged," Rohan scoffed.

"Because it’s still Rare."

"..."

"..."

The two stared at each other.

Finally, the merchant coughed awkwardly and shoved both items back into their inventories.

"Right. You wanted equipment you could actually afford."

Rohan shrugged as the man shoved the two inventories back into his stall and brought out a dark leather chestpiece reinforced with iron plates and a simple straight sword.

Neither item looked impressive, but unlike the previous sword, both appeared capable of surviving a fight.

The merchant placed them on the counter.

[Ironhide Vest]

Class: Uncommon

Defense: Moderate

Durability: High

—

[Steelwind Sword]

Class: Uncommon

Attack: Moderate

Durability: High

Rohan nodded.

"This is... manageable." He turned to the merchant. "How much?"

The merchant grinned, making Rohan suspicious.

"Just twenty-four points."

"Twenty-four—!"

"...each."

"Each?! Twenty-four points each?! What?!" Rohan exclaimed in shock.

He summoned his System and checked his Frontier Points.

[Frontier Points: ---]

A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.

’I guess I should have gathered some points before coming to purchase inventories.’

"Hellooo, young man," the merchant called out. "I’m sure your Hunter parents left you enough to survive. How much is forty-eight points? It’s not a big deal."

"I... grew up in an orphanage..." Rohan said with a sad look.

He really was sad. The man wasn’t going to earn any points after all the trouble he had gone through to bring the inventories out of his stall.

"Oh. Then you have guardians, right? Right?"

Rohan didn’t reply and only smiled sheepishly, silently confirming he had no means of support.

The man sighed dejectedly.

"One of those broke new Hunters? Ah, take them."

Rohan’s eyes widened slightly.

"Take what?"

The man turned away and began arranging his stall in disappointment, which almost felt comical.

"Take the two inventories, boy. Before I change my mind."

Boundless happiness rushed through Rohan’s body.

He stammered, not knowing what to say anymore, and reached for the two inventories.

But nothing happened.

"Wait," the man said with the same dejected tone.

He moved toward the inventories and touched them. They disappeared into golden specks, making Rohan shift slightly.

Then he grabbed Rohan’s hand, and the same voice and message that had appeared when he received the blue leather armor returned.

[You’ve earned an Inventory: Steelwind Sword]

[You’ve earned an Inventory: Ironhide Vest]

Rohan immediately bowed respectfully.

"Thank you so much, sir. I’ll forever be indebted to you. I’ll stand by you forever—"

"Just leave," the man waved dismissively. "It’s not that deep."

"I’ll guide and protect you! I’ll be your human shield!"

The man looked moments away from going mad.

"I SAID LEAVE! GODDAMMIT!"

Rohan smiled and walked away happily.