"Huh? Then what use does it have for us!?" Rohan asked, perplexed.

"Let me finish speaking!" Elane remarked.

Rohan quietened down.

"This place is limited to government personnel, but you know my father is a big shot in the Self Defence Force..."

Okay, now Rohan knew where she was going with this.

He looked back at Elane with a complicated expression.

"But how will that be of any use to us? Your father is in the outside universe, while we are in here. It’s not like he could make the trip all the way over here for this either."

Although he didn’t mention it as well, there was also the factor of actually being able to contact her father, since the only way to do that would be to return to the outside universe, which was completely out of the question for them.

They still had over 5 days left inside the Origin Realm, so the only way to do that was to either be killed early, which they would never even consider, or to ask someone else whose time is nearing its end to do it for them, but neither of them had such connections inside or even outside the Origin Realm.

And it defeated the purpose of them even choosing to go through the federation’s private appraisal service if they were going to involve a third party regardless.

But not all hope was lost, Rohan still hadn’t listened to Elane’s full explanation.

"My father may not be here, but I do have this!" Elane’s face looked like she’d just won a contest of wits.

And Rohan could see why, as he totally would have pulled the same face if he were in her position right now!

He’d never seen one in person, as they were so rare and usually reserved for people of privilege, but she currently held a flat piece of metal, about the size of a credit card, and waved it in front of Rohan’s eyes as if to taunt him.

But she didn’t spend long flaunting her status, as there were other people around and watching them.

"Is that...?" Rohan asked, still sceptical.

"That’s right!" She nodded enthusiastically. "...But don’t tell my father I have this."

What Elane held was almost like an ID card, but not quite. In the Federation, it’s official title was a ’Recognised Distinguished Individual ID’, though that was too convoluted, so people just referred to them as VIP cards.

They are issued to high class citizens of the Federation like Harland, Elane’s father, for example. Nobody knows the exact requirements to obtain one, since the Federation essentially hand picks every single person they issue them to, and they are impossible to counterfeit as each card is unique.

Though Elane did let out a little secret that her father had only obtained it in recent years after he became a Colonel in the Self Defence Forces, so the bar was very high for entry.

"...But why do you have this?" Was now Rohan’s biggest issue.

Family members of these VIPs did technically also enjoy privileges from the VIP cards, but that was only with their explicit permission, and the actual owner had to be present with them.

’If her father finds out she took this without asking...’ Rohan shuddered, not daring to think of the consequences.

’And she just had to rope me in with this scheme as well!’

So he wouldn’t even be able to escape punishment either.

"My father recently had to get it replaced since he thought he lost the old one. But it turned out that it had slipped under the seams in our sofa, and I just happened to find it a few days ago."

"..."

Rohan was speechless.

So not only were they using it without her father’s permission, but now its also an old, expired version???

"Don’t worry too much about it. If someone else were to be caught using it, they’d face serious consequences, but I’m his daughter, so it won’t be that big of an issue for us if we’re actually caught." Elane reassured him.

"And I don’t think anybody would dare to question its authenticity in this small tier 2 city anyway. If it were one of the tier 1 cities, then it’d be a whole different story, though."

At this point, Rohan had no other choice but to relent.

Even if he did disagree with her, she was dead set on using it regardless.

’At least it makes appraising this thing much more convenient for us...’ He thought solemnly as he glanced back at the Lava Hellebore sitting calmly on his shoulder.

***

With a real plan of action finally decided on, they two made haste towards Erenhot’s city hall, where all of the Federation’s internal services were located.

"Forget the fact we’re using your dad’s VIP card without permission, will we even be able to afford this service...?" Rohan asked, a little worried.

Their pockets weren’t exactly empty after robbing all of Rudith’s hired goons of all their Origin Crystals, and even a Gene and a Genetic Armament, but it would be heartbreaking to see it all go so soon.

Even Elane seemed worried by this.

"The appraisal fee for items like this is usually an Origin Crystal of the same rank as the item being appraised... But I’m sure that we can drive the price down since we have my dad’s VIP card backing us up."

Rohan recoiled just from hearing the extortionate prices they charged just for appraisal. If they had to pay original prices, that meant he’d somehow have to cough up an E rank Commander tier Origin Crystal.

Let alone owning one, he wouldn’t have a clue where to even set out obtaining one!

’Thank god for Elane’s thievery!’

They soon arrived at the city hall, which stood out amongst the other more mundane looking buildings lining Erenhot’s streets.

Like in many modern cities back on Earth, the city hall in this place took inspiration from ancient Greek architectural styles, with a grand pediment carved from fine marble sitting atop a row of illustrious pillars.

All in all, Rohan felt rather intimidated coming to a place like this.