Senior Appraiser Feng’s trembling hands wrapped the star-white-gold micro-needle in a strip of oiled sheepskin, securing it inside a small brass carrying tube before handing it to Lin Tao as if it were a lump of burning charcoal.
“The... The transfer stone stand is in the Central Escrow Vault on the fourth floor, Honored Clerk,” Feng stammered, bowing so deeply that his marten-fur collar swept the carpet. “If you’ll follow me... The Guild Master himself often oversees the high-value transactions.”
Lin Tao tucked the brass tube into his cuff. He felt the reassuring, needle-sharp weight of the Precursor alloy settling beside his steel metal pen.
The grand stairs connecting the foyer to the upper galleries was carved from a single trunk of thousand-year-old hardwood, its banisters polished to a deep amber sheen by the passage of ages of wealthy patrons. Along the landings, private security detachments composed of Foundation Establishment guards in star-iron breastplates stood with heavy axe-spears, their cold, disciplined gazes sweeping across every visitor who crossed the threshold.
Lin Tao climbed the wide wooden steps with measured, deliberate strides, his dark wool cloak brushing against the carved stone railing. He didn’t look at the glittering displays of sky swords or high-grade spirit elixirs. To his trained engineer’s eye, these decorative luxuries were merely consumer distractions designed to extract silver from vain fighters. What mattered were the load-bearing channels running through the building’s skeleton. The thick copper ground loops, the Precursor air-flow ducts, and the high-voltage energy channels that…
