Shang followed the Treasury Master for several minutes. He wasn't worried about meeting an aggressive Ancestral Beast since the Natural Selection Company gave the gatherer families ways to navigate the wilderness.
The Treasury Master probably knew exactly where all the more powerful beasts were.
Due to the size of Shang's Spirit Sense, he didn't even need to hide from the Treasury Master's Spirit Sense. Shang could simply follow him from 200 kilometers away.
After a couple of minutes, Shang noticed something.
The sensitivity of Shang's Spirit Sense was very high since he couldn't see, and without that sensitivity, Shang wouldn't have noticed it.
There was a small Magic Circle between him and the Treasury Master.
It didn't have a lot of Mana, and it was rather hidden, but it was definitely there.
'A temporary Sense Expansion Magic Circle,' Shang thought.
These kinds of Magic Circles were used to connect one's Spirit Sense to a different spot.
The houses of the gatherer families were surrounded by these kinds of Magic Circles, but theirs were of the permanent kind.
Because of that, the gatherer families could watch around 700 kilometers of their surroundings, giving them enough time to spot an Ancestral Beast and contact an Enforcer.
Of course, thanks to Shang's Shroud, he wouldn't be seen by them.
Mages could infuse these Magic Circles with their Spirit Sense. Their Spirit Sense surrounding their body would shrink while the Spirit Sense around the Magic Circle would grow.
The Treasury Master was probably throwing several of these Magic Circles around and swapping between them to keep watch over a much greater area.
'He's probably worried that an Enforcer is following him.'
The Treasury Master's tactic of throwing Magic Circles out and swapping between them was pretty useful.
These Magic Circles weren't very expensive, and he scattered them behind him and around him.
Eventually, nearly 1,000 kilometers of the surroundings were littered with them, and the Treasury Master was swapping between them.
If there were an Ancestral Mage, they would have issues getting close to him.
But Shang simply passed through them.
Due to Shroud, he was invisible to all of these Magic Circles.
'He's quite suspicious.'
Shang just kept calmly following the Treasury Master.
And ten minutes later, the Treasury Master stopped.
He had reached his goal.
It was the house of another gatherer family.
The Treasury Master stopped in front of the door of the other gatherer family and waited.
'He doesn't seem like he's trying to keep things secret.'
The Treasury Master was just openly standing there, in view of probably the entire gatherer family.
This was definitely not some sort of shady deal. After all, the gatherer families were colleagues, not enemies. Because of that, they were in contact a lot.
'Probably official business.'
Shang saw the Treasury Master of the gatherer family come out, and the two of them exchanged Space Rings shortly after.
After some more talking, the Treasury Master left again.
'Could be an internal trade,' Shang thought.
The gatherer families were not allowed to pocket the resources, but they still had their own belongings and wealth. The individual families often traded with each other.
'Would also explain why he is so careful.'
This could be a regular exchange, which would mean that the Treasury Master probably carried the wealth of around 50 members of his gatherer family with him.
The Treasury Master left and continued flying.
Surprisingly, he wasn't going home but somewhere else.
Shang continued following him, and a couple of minutes later, the Treasury Master stopped in front of another gatherer family.
The same thing happened again.
And again.
After around two hours, the Treasury Master made his way back to the Urbring Family and entered the house without doing anything suspicious.
Shang wasn't surprised or disappointed.
If the Patriarch of the Urbring Family suspected the Treasury Master of something, the Treasury Master probably also suspected the Patriarch of suspecting him.
If the Treasury Master actually had a secret, he definitely wouldn't unveil it in the short term.
Shang knew that he would probably have to keep watch over the Treasury Master for a long time.
After returning, Shang buried himself in the ground again and resumed waiting.
Five days later, the Treasury Master left the family again, and Shang followed.
He traveled to a gathering of the Urbring Family's members and killed a Late Archbeast.
Then, he returned.
20 days later, he left the house and traveled to the closest city.
Shang couldn't follow him there since every city here had an Ancestral Mage of the Natural Selection Company overlooking it. Shang was confident in hiding from an Archmage's Spirit Sense, but he wasn't confident in being able to hide from the Spirit Sense of an Ancestral Mage.
However, Shang also didn't need to worry.
The Urbring Family's Patriarch kept watch over everything inside his house, and the Ancestral Mage of the Natural Selection Company kept watch over everything in the city.
If the Treasury Master had a secret, it definitely wouldn't be located in the city.
Half an hour later, the Treasury Master returned to his house.
Seven days later, he left again to kill another beast.
Some days later, he welcomed a visitor.
Some days later, he killed another beast.
He visited one of the Urbring Family's gardens and inspected it.
He left the house and collected the Space Rings of some people.
He killed another beast.
He went on another round trip to some other gatherer families.
He killed another beast.
And so on.
The job of following someone would seem interesting to many people that hadn't done it before. Sadly, the truth was that it was very mundane and boring work.
Nevertheless, Shang documented everything. He was supposed to gather information and deliver it to the client if the Treasury Master wasn't doing anything suspicious.
Shang kept shoving earth around while waiting for anything suspicious to happen.
He didn't enjoy this job at all, but it paid well.
It was not an easy job, but he could do it.
