As Aske was deep in thought, the fishermen were secretly observing him.

His clothes were tattered, yet his demeanor was calm and composed. Besides carrying a longsword, he had nothing else with him (the Dragon Bone Longsword being a special material weapon, its Spirituality consumption through Conceptual Weapon simulation was too large), making him appear like a down-and-out mercenary.

Not to mention, this guy had actually drifted over on a chunk of floating ice... This inexplicably made the fishermen think of incredible witchcraft, reminiscent of rumors about famous mercenary groups that would keep evil witch masters.

They manipulated flames or lightning, could control people's minds or bodies, and even resurrected the dead from their graves... Southern undead wizards did just that, and to these fishermen, a mercenary with extraordinary powers and such wizards were barely different.

As for the fishermen's secret prying, Aske didn't care at all. He was well aware of how these fishermen, or more so almost every player upon arriving in this world, found themselves similarly gawked at.

Besides, in this world, extraordinary power was ultimately not a common thing accessible to the masses, held only by a few.

Of course, extraordinary power had its limitations, the most basic issue being that its activation required the consumption of Spirituality. Once Spirituality neared exhaustion, the Transcendent was in danger of losing control.

This problem was most evident in Law Level Transcendents because Law Skills required a significant consumption of Spirituality from Level 10 to Level 19 Transcendents, especially during long journeys.

Otherwise, empires like the Seljuk Empire, possessing massive amounts of Level 20 and below army Transcendents, could directly form an "Airborne Transcendent Squadron"—even from the perspective of the game company, such an excessive design would not be allowed.

Thus, along the way, Aske could only remain on the floating ice, occasionally using Thira's Storm + Gravity Abilities to speed up, and sometimes using Sigrdrifa's Frost Abilities to stabilize the "vehicle," slowly "sailing" along.

Even when compared to the speed of an old diesel engine, it hardly matched up, illustrating that although Transcendents could nearly infinitely draw energy from the Magic Tide, in terms of energy conversion efficiency, they were indeed far behind technological civilizations.

Luckily, this time he encountered fishermen from the Aragon Kingdom out on a long fishing voyage, so Aske could take their fishing boat back, saving a considerable amount of Spirituality and time.

About half an hour later, the fishing boat finally reached the port of Valencia.

The city, located on the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, was a natural port city. The Turia River, flowing from west to east, divided the city into northern and southern halves, with the northern Inner City being a commercially prosperous modern area, and the southern Outer City comprised of large plowed farmlands and randomly built fishing villages along the coast.

The city was originally defended by feudal knights from various parts of the Aragon-Castilla Kingdom. However, after the arrival of the Bull Mercenary Group in Valencia, these knights had retracted their defenses to the north bank of the Turia River in the Inner City, leaving the defense of the open Outer City on the south bank to the Bull Mercenary Group.

The Bull Mercenary Group was naturally frustrated, as everyone wanted to be stationed in the lucrative Inner City, not mingling around farmlands and fishing villages all day. However, the higher-ups in the mercenary group had already agreed to the City Lord's request, so they had to silently patrol the south shore every day.

Soon, Aske, who had disembarked from the port, attracted the attention of a nearby mercenary patrol team.

This guy... something's not quite right.

Many mercenaries had recently come to Valencia City, but most were in groups, armed with swords and guns. After all, with the ranger profession being prevalent in the Iberian Peninsula, encountering an enemy usually meant starting with a barrage of gunfire, then moving in for close-quarters sword slashing. If you didn't carry a gun, you'd likely be at an immediate disadvantage.

Yet this unfamiliar male mercenary, with only a bulky broadsword and no firearms (Aske had originally given his handgun to Eleanor), puzzled the people of the Bull Mercenary Group.

"Mercenary?" the squad leader asked as he stopped him, eyes scanning him up and down.

"Yes," Aske said with a smile, "just like you."

This remark somewhat displeased the Bull Mercenary Group.

One must realize that the Bull Mercenary Group of Iberia, born from the world's earliest militarized mercenaries, the "Catalonia" mercenary group, remains No. 1 in terms of both scale and strength in the Iberian Peninsula, even though they've declined somewhat.

Great Captain Roger Deslar is hailed as a military genius that comes once in a century. Not only is his personal strength formidable, but his experience in strategic command is also vast. He has led the Bull Mercenary Group in several tough battles, to the extent that the King of Aragon once proudly referred to this large mercenary group as "the pillar of the kingdom."

And you, a poor bumpkin from who knows where, dare to say you're just like our Bull mercenaries?

Are you worthy?

Of course, as members of a well-known large mercenary group, the Bull mercenaries would never openly express their disdain—they'd just write it on their faces for you to discern.

"Is Valencia City still recruiting mercenaries?" Aske pointed across the river to the city district.

"They are," replied a Bull mercenary, "but, because resources in the city are limited, the city lord currently only recruits those wearing exquisite glass knight armor; they disdain to recruit mercenaries like us who dare to lick the blood off our blades... Currently, it seems the only ones willing to hire idle mercenaries are our Bull Mercenary Group."

"Are you recruiting then?" Aske asked.

"We only recruit mercenaries who can fight," a Bull mercenary replied, his refusal apparent in his tone.

As if afraid Aske didn't understand, another Bull mercenary nearby added:

"And we don't cover equipment expenses. If you want to join us in battling the undead, at least get your gear in order first."

He patted the gun pouch on his waist, and Aske gazed at his handgun for a moment and chuckled:

"Do firearms bullets work on the undead?"

What is this newbie talking about? The Bull mercenaries grew impatient. Firearms bullets against the undead...

Obviously useless.

Common undead types include: ghosts that completely ignore physical damage; the Blood Clan, which get hit but heal extremely fast, thus almost immune; skeletons are full of gaps, maintained by magic power, and breaking a few bones doesn't really affect them.

Altogether, it probably only hurts the Corpse Witches. However, within this bloodline race, the average level of Transcendents is the highest...

So strictly speaking, ordinary bullets indeed don't do much against the undead, unless they are enchanted bullets. Naturally, only large military organizations like the Bull Mercenary Group can provide their mercenaries with rare enchanted bullets.

But there's no need to explain all this, as clearly this newbie doesn't understand much.

Even if we provided enchanted bullets, you'd still need a gun, wouldn't you?

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