Ek or one of the Ek, I still wasn’t sure led me to a large warehouse. “Prince. Super steel ingots listed.”
“I can’t read any of this,” I replied. The rodent like creature let out what appeared to be a grumble and then began to point out the items on the shelves and descriptions one at a time. I was able to pick up their numerical system after a bit of observation. It operated on a base eleven, which raised the question of why offer 500 super steel bars?
Maybe they knew cultivators operated on a base ten counting system. Or were they offering that much based on their counting system. At least they had a large room of displayed trade goods with descriptions and amounts. Ek, who was escorting me spent hours going through the entire room and I carefully paid attention. The place was one massive warehouse. We finally came to the end.
Anything more complicated than raw metals had a very clear markup. Their items appeared to run on basic electricity, but appeared to be compatible with my hover craft’s power source. Less hard connections like plugs and more pressing one surface to another surface. I guess when you have a range of technology, certain standards develop if you want to trade or use another civilization’s goods.
I also noticed that most prices were listed as fractions of a super steel ingot. Clearly these creatures used the special steel ingots has low volume, high value trading goods. Also, the demand was probably pretty consistent if they used them as the benchmark of their trading.
There had also been a six limbed figure in a suit walking about, being escorted by another Ek. Apparently customer service was very important, or they preferred to keep an eye on their guests.
“Is this all of the goods?” I asked.
“Small goods, yes. Display single of bulk, yes. Composite goods, no. Information, no,” Ek said, and I nodded.
“Can I get a preview of the composite goods and information?” I asked.
“That seems simple enough,” I replied.
“In theory. In practice it is far more complicated. Immortals constantly study such things, but the nuances are complex the deeper you study the interactions that come from energy.”
“Specialization. It is always better to specialize. Force is a very good choice and has a wide range of applications. I use foresight, myself.” That raised even more questions.