Chapter 4645: The Essentials of the Outerworld

’Hum?’ Rean caught something in Howard’s explanation. ’Your elders said they didn’t know? Does that mean we can return to the places we came from? The protected areas? After all, if they know about it, it is because they had been here before.’

’Well, of course!’ Howard confirmed. ’Once you reach the World God Realm, you’re allowed to return to the protected areas where you used to live. After all, that’s probably your home. It’s where you lived and where your family is. It would be ridiculous to keep you locked out of such a place forever.’

’World God Realm...’ Rean muttered.

The twins’ group had only two Law Gods among them, while Rean and the others were still at the Zone God Realm. Reaching the World God Realm was still a long way off for them, so the possibility of returning to protected areas wasn’t something they needed to worry about just yet.

Besides, they didn’t have much reason to return to the Besgol Region, or anywhere else in the protected areas, for that matter. Ascenders might wish to return to the places where they first arrived in the Celestial Plane, especially if they wanted to visit their Great Voids. After all, those places were connected to their respective Great Voids, making them important points of access.

In the twins’ case, however, their Great Void was literally their Pocket Dimensional Realm. They could enter and leave it wherever they wanted, regardless of where they were in the Celestial Plane. That alone made their situation quite different from that of ordinary ascenders.

Roan decided to leave the matter aside for now and focus on something more immediately useful. ’Howard, is there a map of this place? Also, is there a network our Ring Communicators can connect to?’

’There are maps, but no normal networks here,’ Howard replied. ’Ring Communicators can still connect directly to one another to share information, but that’s about it.’

As mentioned before, RCs didn’t require a server to function. They could detect each other’s signals and exchange information as long as they were within range. However, their communication range was rather limited without a proper network. Here, they could communicate with one another, but accessing information from the wider area was another matter entirely.

’You can find pocket networks, though,’ Howard continued. ’Some cultivators have built their own small networks, but they’re mostly used for advertising rather than anything else. The city has many of those too. This shop, for example, has a pocket network that works within a radius of a few hundred meters. Let me send you the updated software so you can detect these networks.’

A request immediately appeared on the group’s Ring Communicators, and everyone received the update from Howard. Of course, Rean wasn’t about to install unfamiliar software without checking it first. He had Sister Orb inspect the entire package before allowing it to be added to their RCs.

[It’s fine. There are no tracking codes, backdoors, or anything like that,] Sister Orb confirmed a few seconds later.

Only after receiving her approval did Rean proceed with the installation. The process took about a minute, and once it was complete, everyone in the twins’ group could detect the small network pockets scattered around them.

The shop they were currently inside was called Essentials of the Outerworld. As its name suggested, it sold the basic items and resources cultivators needed to survive in this part of the Celestial Plane’s Outer World. Given the harsh conditions outside, even the most ordinary necessities could become extremely valuable.

The shop’s selection was limited to essentials, but those essentials included Godly Crystals. In fact, there were even Godly Apex Crystals for sale, although their prices were so outrageous that Rean almost wondered whether the shopkeeper had made a mistake.

A single Initial Apex Crystal cost one hundred Peak Horror Crystals. That was an absolutely terrible deal. Based on Celis’s estimates, approximately ten Peak Horror Crystals contained an amount of energy equivalent to that of an Initial Apex Crystal. In other words, the shop was charging ten times the equivalent energy value for the Initial Apex Crystal!

And the exchange rate in the opposite direction was even worse. If someone wanted to exchange an Initial Apex Crystal for Peak Horror Crystals, the shop would offer only five of them. Yes, buying an Apex Crystal required one hundred Peak Horror Crystals, but exchanging that same Apex Crystal back would yield a mere five. The difference between the two rates was twentyfold!

’This is ridiculous...’ Rean couldn’t help commenting.

The shop also stocked basic recovery pills and cultivation pills, although there was nothing remotely close to the level of Roan’s concoctions. Naturally, it carried materials for array construction and pill concoction as well. Unfortunately, the prices of those items were just as absurd as the prices of the Godly Crystals.

Normally, Roan could concoct one of his Cultivation Stabilization Pills using materials worth only a few Godly Beast Crystals. That was already taking into account the cost of the ingredients needed for pills suitable for Zone Gods. Stabilization Pills for lower cultivation realms were even cheaper, since their ingredients were easier to obtain and their concoction was less demanding.

Yet, if Roan wanted to buy the materials required to concoct the same kind of pill for a Zone God here, he would have to pay the equivalent of a Middle Horror Crystal!

’This is pure daylight robbery,’ Roan commented, his expression darkening.

’Hahaha!’ Howard burst out laughing, as though he’d been waiting for that reaction. ’It certainly is! I remember when I first saw those prices three months ago. I thought someone had made a mistake, too. But everywhere you go, you’ll find the same kind of ridiculous prices.’

’There are no other reliable sources, after all. Well, you can negotiate with other cultivators, but they all know the usual prices here, so you won’t get much of a discount. You’ll be lucky if you manage to buy something from another cultivator for ten percent less than the shops’ prices.’

Tobao also took a look at the available items and their prices. After a moment, he seemed to reach his own conclusion. ’Let me guess. No one trades Godly Crystals.’

Howard immediately confirmed it. ’You got it. Godly Crystals are precious here. They provide the energy you need to resist the temperatures and survive encounters with the desperados every day. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, not a single cultivator will willingly trade their Godly Crystals for anything else. Besides, there’s a limit to how many Godly Crystals you can bring into this city once you first arrive, so you won’t find many cultivators with a surplus.’

’A limit?’ The twins’ group exchanged surprised glances. ’What limit?’

Howard stared at them in disbelief. ’Weren’t you told? You can’t bring more than one Godly Apex Crystal, five Godly Horror Crystals, or ten Godly Predator Crystals into the city. Tyrant-grade Crystals and anything above them are completely forbidden.’

’As for Godly Beast and Spawn Crystals, they’re useless when it comes to covering the energy expenditure required to withstand the heat, and there is nothing sold that requires such low-level crystals, so there are no restrictions on those. Simply put, they might as well not exist.’

He paused, then added with a knowing smile, ’Check your Spatial Rings. If you brought even a single Crystal more than the permitted limit when you crossed the portal, it definitely disappeared.’

Arcis, Kachia, Luxa, Lunelle, and Tobao immediately turned their attention toward the twins’ group. After reaching the Sprouting Portal, everyone had shared their gains, but most of the accumulated resources had remained under the twins’ group’s safekeeping.

There had been a good reason for that decision. They hadn’t known what awaited them on the other side of the portal, and Spatial Rings could be stolen. Since they knew that cultivators who reached the Sprouting Portals were usually Region Gods, they had no intention of taking unnecessary risks by carrying their entire collection of resources on themselves. As a result, most of everyone’s Godly Crystals were currently stored inside the Vinx Great Void.

’It seems that the portal can’t detect Crystals stored inside our Great Void. All our Crystals are still there,’ Rean quickly informed the others.

The others immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Losing so many resources would have been a serious problem, especially considering how much energy they had already consumed just to endure the heat.

Arcis alone had used three Godly Predator Crystals that day, and Kachia had consumed the same amount. They were the two who had struggled the most with the temperature. Given their Arctic Arcurio lineage, their strong affinity for Ice made such extreme heat particularly uncomfortable for them.

Still, Roan wasn’t entirely reassured. He narrowed his eyes as he considered Howard’s explanation.

’Everyone will consume far more Crystals than that over the next few days. How exactly are cultivators supposed to survive after exhausting their supplies?’

’You said you’ve already been here for three months. From what I can see, the Spatial Rings of those who died disappeared without a trace, along with their bodies and even their ashes. Anyone can tell that’s deliberate. On top of that, I haven’t seen anyone attempting to rob others of their Spatial Rings. There must be rules governing these things, right?’

Howard seemed to have expected that question. ’Yes. Let’s start with robbery. If you can spend the energy, try taking my Spatial Ring.’

Roan’s eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t hesitate. He used a little more energy to crawl toward Howard, who calmly allowed him to reach for the Spatial Ring on his finger. Roan carefully removed it, expecting some kind of resistance from the owner or perhaps a protective array.

Instead...

*Vup!*

The moment the Spatial Ring left Howard’s finger, it vanished and reappeared in exactly the same place, as if it had never been removed at all.

Roan hadn’t been idle during that brief instant, either. Before the Spatial Ring disappeared, he had tried to probe it with his Godly Sense. Yet, some strange force had completely blocked his attempt, preventing him from accessing anything inside.

’No wonder...’ Roan understood.

The restriction wasn’t simply a matter of preventing cultivators from stealing one another’s possessions. Something was actively enforcing it, making the theft of a Spatial Ring impossible even if the thief could physically remove it.

Howard smiled, clearly satisfied that Roan had grasped the point. ’As for how you can acquire more Crystals to survive... just wait until nighttime, and you’ll see.’