Chapter 660 - 370: Services on a Public Planet (Part 2)

The Pope nodded. "That’s right. Tier Eight Evolutionary Material—the extract you mentioned—isn’t actually too expensive. Once a being reaches God-level, they can no longer absorb Evolutionary Material to gain new skills.

"Tier Seven extracts can still be absorbed by Legendary-level beings. Tier Eight extracts can only be used to craft Divine Artifacts, as ingredients for medicine, or as skill upgrade materials if you happen to find the right person.

"These remaining Shadow Stones we have here are enough to trade for Tier Eight extract."

Su Ze pondered for a moment and said, "If I use one Tier Seven Wondrous Object, would that be enough to cover the cost of using the forging machine?"

"More or less."

"Alright then. I’ll leave this Evolutionary Liquid with you to cultivate the Hundred-Change Flowers. But before that, you need to accompany me on a trip."

Su Ze left the Evolutionary Liquid behind, planning to use the Storm Horn to pay the fee for the forging machine.

He was now a Star God and could easily unleash attacks stronger than the Storm Horn, so the item was no longer of much use to him.

On the other hand, his other Tier Seven Wondrous Object, the Land Lock, was still somewhat useful.

As for this trip, Su Ze could leave anyone else behind, but he absolutely had to bring the Pope. After all, he was the person on Zexing most familiar with the universe.

That way, if any accidents happened while they were out, he would have someone to consult with.

After packing briefly, Su Ze boarded the Magic Cube and prepared to depart.

This time, besides the Pope, he also brought Mr. Ya.

It was Mr. Ya who had asked to come along, wanting to go out and see the world.

However, members of the Human Race couldn’t reveal their true appearance while traveling outside, or they would attract attention and possibly invite disaster.

Su Ze’s "Self-Control" skill allowed him to change his appearance at will. It wasn’t some crude disguise, either; it directly altered the flesh-and-blood structure of his entire body, so there was no need to worry about being seen through.

The Pope possessed a "Corpulent Flesh" skill and could also change his appearance, leaving only Mr. Ya without a proper disguise ability.

So, it seemed Mr. Ya would probably only be able to look outside from the spaceship.

Su Ze could find a disguise-type wondrous object for Mr. Ya to use, but low-tier wondrous objects were not reliable at all. Coupled with Mr. Ya’s relatively low evolutionary level, it would be easy for the gods of other races to see through his disguise.

This time, Su Ze also brought many low-tier resources, all of which were mined on Zexing. The quantity of resources below Tier Six on Zexing was immense; the current thirty thousand people couldn’t even use up a ten-thousandth of it.

Su Ze planned to trade all these resources for Tier Seven resources, which could help Zexing cultivate a few more God-level beings.

The Magic Cube slowly lifted off, only beginning to accelerate after it broke through Zexing’s atmosphere.

Their destination for this trip was the Public Planet, "Thousand Illusion Star," which was several Star Realms away from Heze Star.

The Magic Cube flew faster than light, entering Space Jump. A round trip would take about a week.

This was already the closest known Public Planet to Zexing.

So-called Public Planets could, in fact, be understood as "cosmic markets."

There were two types of "safe zones" in the universe: one was "Public Planets," and the other was "Public Star Realms."

If Public Planets were likened to "cosmic markets," then Public Star Realms were the "cosmic CBDs."

Although they were called "public," in reality, both Public Planets and Public Star Realms had owners.

Behind a Public Planet, there were usually one or several Strong Races with good reputations. They worked together to maintain the safety and stability of a Public Planet, attracting beings from all races and corners of the cosmos to come and trade.

The proprietors behind the Public Planets, in turn, earned astonishing profits through methods like collecting commissions and rent.

The most important aspect of a Public Planet wasn’t its location, its size, or its environment. It wasn’t even the price of its goods. It was safety.

Only those Public Planets that were safe and stable could attract large numbers of merchants and customers.

Once an incident occurred on a Public Planet—say, someone was killed—and news of it spread, the planet’s reputation would be ruined, and naturally, few would be willing to go there anymore.

A Public Planet where an incident had occurred would often need at least several hundred years to recover. Some might even fall into complete decline.

Therefore, the Strong Races backing these Public Planets would do everything in their power to maintain the planet’s public order.

In short, to be able to establish and maintain a Public Planet, a race needed to be at least second-rate, or even first-rate, in terms of power.

As for Public Star Realms, there were currently five in the universe, each backed by one of the five great Dominator Races.

A Public Planet is just a single planet, but a Public Star Realm covers an entire Star Realm and contains hundreds of thousands of Public Planets!

Only the five great Dominator Races were capable of establishing a Public Star Realm and maintaining security across an entire Star Realm.

The Thousand Illusion Star that Su Ze and his group were visiting was backed by the first-rate Strong Race, the Illusion Race. Thousand Illusion Star had been officially open for over a hundred thousand years, and so far, no major incidents had occurred.

This was nothing special, though. There were even Public Planets in the universe that had been in operation for over a hundred million years.

"For this trip to Thousand Illusion Star, which race should we disguise ourselves as?" Su Ze asked.

He didn’t know if the Illusion Race held a grudge against any particular race, so he definitely had to ask the Pope first.

The Pope thought for a moment and said, "We should disguise ourselves as my race, the Nian Race. The Nian Race and the Illusion Race have no significant interactions. They are neither enemies nor allies, which is ideal."

"Alright, we’ll disguise ourselves as your Nian Race then."

Disguising themselves as an enemy race was out of the question, but pretending to be an ally was also very risky. The Illusion Race would certainly know their allies well and might even approach them to be friendly, which could easily expose their cover.

But by disguising themselves as the Nian Race, they wouldn’t be exposed. The Pope himself was a pure-blooded member of the Nian Race and knew every detail about them, so there was no risk of blowing their cover.