Chapter 659 - 370: Services on a Public Planet

"We’ve been talking for so long, but I still don’t know the name of this plant. Did the notes mention it?"

Su Ze casually tossed the seed to the Pope and asked.

"The notes say it was named the ’Hundred-Change Flower’ because its evolutionary paths are diverse and ever-changing, just like the Hui Race," the Pope replied.

"The Hundred-Change Flower? So this plant takes the form of a flower?"

’I thought it might be a tree or some other form.’

"The Hundred-Change Flower was cultivated using the genes of the Hui Race. Since the Hui Race are themselves floral in form, it’s a direct continuation of that lineage."

Su Ze nodded, officially entrusting the task of cultivating the Hundred-Change Flower to the Pope and Liou Wenxin.

The Pope hesitated for a moment before saying, "Master, the notes mention that cultivating the Hundred-Change Flower requires watering it with Evolutionary Liquid in the early stages."

"Evolutionary Liquid?" Su Ze took a large bottle out of his storage item. "I happen to have a bottle."

This was the bottle of Evolutionary Liquid Su Ze had acquired during his first visit to the Central Treasure Vault.

"This stuff is supposedly a hard currency in the universe, used like a universal currency. What exactly does it do?"

Su Ze had always heard people praise Evolutionary Liquid, calling it omnipotent. In reality, though, he had only seen significant effects the first two times he consumed it. He had tried it again in private later, but drinking a glass had no effect, just like regular water.

However, he suspected it might be because he drank too little. The Shepherd King had said before that it was useful even for God-level evolvers, but only in large quantities.

"Evolutionary Liquid has many uses, but the main reason it has become a hard currency in the universe is that it can help evolvers perfect their race’s Origin Gene."

Hearing the Pope’s words, Su Ze froze. He quietly pulled back the bottle he was handing over.

Seeing Su Ze’s expression, the Pope gave a wry smile and explained, "It’s actually not as effective as it sounds. It can help various races perfect their Origin Gene, but the effect is minuscule. To see any significant results, you need a massive amount!"

"How massive an amount? Even if you drank Evolutionary Liquid like water every day for a hundred years, the completeness of your Origin Gene might not even increase by 1%. And the further you progress—the more complete your gene becomes—the weaker the effect."

Su Ze said thoughtfully, "The effect is weak, but it does work. The Dominator Races don’t lack money or resources. Couldn’t they mass-produce experts?"

The Pope shook his head. "You still don’t have a personal sense of it. If you wanted to become an Ancestral God by drinking this, you probably couldn’t do it even if you drank the entire universe’s supply of Evolutionary Liquid."

"Moreover, the production of Evolutionary Liquid is limited. Only certain Divine-level Spiritual Plants in the universe can produce it, but the consumption is immense. It’s needed for everything—cultivating Spiritual Plants, forging Divine Artifacts, healing injuries, and so on. This keeps the price of Evolutionary Liquid consistently high."

"Even the Dominator Races, which have dedicated Spiritual Plant Star Realms to produce Evolutionary Liquid, still don’t have enough and must import it from other races. Therefore, they are only willing to provide large quantities of Evolutionary Liquid to the geniuses of their race to build a foundation. Once these geniuses grow to become Star Gods, the supply of Evolutionary Liquid is cut off."

"This is because it’s not cost-effective for a Divine-level expert to use Evolutionary Liquid to perfect their Origin Gene. With that kind of money, they could just buy some prisoners of war from other races to plunder."

’So that’s how it is...’ After hearing the Pope’s explanation, Su Ze immediately felt the Evolutionary Liquid in his hand was less important. With just this one bottle, even if he chugged it all, it probably wouldn’t increase the completeness of his Origin Gene by even 0.1%.

"How much is this bottle of Evolutionary Liquid worth? Is it enough to trade for a Tier-8 Divine Artifact?"

Although he wasn’t very hopeful, Su Ze asked anyway.

"Not enough. Master, you want a Tier-8 Divine Artifact?"

"That’s right. Do you have any good suggestions?"

"Do you remember what I told you before? That your Shadow Stone might contain the Tier-8 ore, Shadow Jade?"

Reminded of this, Su Ze recalled it instantly. He had been about to cut open the Shadow Stone, but the spaceship had arrived at Zexing right then, and the interruption had made him forget all about it.

The Pope continued, "Even without any processing, that Shadow Jade can be used as a Tier-7 Divine Artifact. If you use it as the main material, you can definitely forge a Tier-8 Divine Artifact."

Su Ze had long heard that there were methods in the universe for creating Divine Artifacts. He asked, "Do you know how?"

The Pope laughed awkwardly. "Everyone has their specialty, and this isn’t my area of expertise. However, Divine Artifacts of Tier-8 and below can now be made entirely by machines. When you go out this time, you can look for a forging machine on a Public Planet. Your bottle of Evolutionary Liquid should be enough to cover the fee for using the machine."

Upon hearing this, Su Ze immediately took out the huge Shadow Stone and started cutting it open on the spot.

And he really did find a piece of jade inside the Shadow Stone, as black as ink but with a fine, smooth texture!

The Tier-8 material, Shadow Jade.

"This is a little too small, isn’t it?" Su Ze said, taking out the fist-sized piece of Shadow Jade.

"It’s not small. Shadow Jade can merge into darkness, becoming invisible and intangible. Even Spiritual Power can’t detect or capture it. It’s usually used to make hidden weapons, which don’t require much material."

’Hidden weapons, huh...’ Su Ze hadn’t expected that even the type of Tier-8 Divine Artifact he could forge was so predetermined.

"So if I take this Tier-8 Shadow Jade, plus this bottle of Evolutionary Liquid, and find a forging machine, I can create a Tier-8 Divine Artifact?"

"You’re still missing one thing. A Divine Artifact is essentially a combination of materials and Evolutionary Material. You have the material now, but you still lack the matching Evolutionary Material."

"So you’re saying I also need a Tier-8 extract?"