Chapter 662 - 371: Wealth Moves the Heart

Su Ze was utterly bewildered by the Pope’s words.

He had thought the people of Luofan were already quite wild, but he never expected to find such "talents" among the various races of the universe.

’As a righteous man—straight in more ways than one—he would never frequent such a place.’

The two headed straight for the commercial district of Thousand Illusion Star. It was the largest district on the entire planet, housing outposts for the universe’s major merchant guilds, auction houses, a mercenary hall for accepting and posting missions, and more.

Su Ze’s destination was the marketplace.

The moment he reached the entrance to the marketplace, the electronic map in his hand connected to its network. Su Ze could now use it to browse the resources for sale at every shop and even every stall.

The entire marketplace was divided into an outer area for stalls and a central district for permanent shops.

The stall area was filled with transient vendors. They uploaded their own product information, so there was a risk of them passing off shoddy goods as high-quality ones, or even selling counterfeits.

The merchants in the shop district were on long-term leases and had deposited a significant amount of money with the Illusion Race as a security deposit, giving them a certain degree of credibility.

However, the rent for shops on a Public Planet was far from cheap, so the prices of their goods were generally higher.

Items at the stalls were cheaper, but they tested a buyer’s discernment.

If you bought a fake from a shop, you could go back and confront them, and even have the proprietors of Thousand Illusion Star—the Illusion Race—mediate on your behalf.

But if you were duped at a stall, you might never find the vendor again. Even if you did, they could simply deny everything. Without proof, you could only chalk it up to bad luck.

As a result, many professional swindlers roamed the major Public Planets, setting up stalls. The rule forbidding conflict on these planets had become their shield.

The major Public Planets offered no guarantees for stall transactions. This was intentional, as it drove more people to the shop district, ensuring stable business and propping up rental prices there.

Su Ze’s main purpose for this visit was to sell off the various low-tier resources he had accumulated and to purchase some commonly used Tier-7 resources, such as different extracts and digestive aids.

For this kind of business, it was best to deal with the merchants in the shop district.

In addition, Su Ze needed to purchase a Tier-8 extract to forge a Tier-8 Wondrous Item, and this extract had to be compatible with his Shadow Jade.

Specifically, an extract from a creature whose primary abilities were of the Shadow or Dark Element.

The term "extract" wasn’t used in the wider universe. These substances were generally called "Evolution Liquid" or "Evolution Crystal," depending on the form of the Evolutionary Material.

Su Ze typed the keywords "Tier-8," "Dark Element," and "Shadow Element" into the search bar of his electronic map, and a long list of results instantly appeared.

Su Ze pulled the Pope over to help him sift through the results.

To be precise, the Pope did the sifting while Su Ze watched from the side. There were quite a few resources that met the criteria, and he had no idea which one to choose.

As he swiped through the holographic display, the Pope explained to Su Ze how to select the right Evolutionary Material.

"The Wondrous Items on Blue Star are all naturally formed. That is, after Exotic Beasts, Spiritual Plants, or human evolvers die, the Evolutionary Material within them uses their remains as a vessel to form those miraculous items.

"But for artificially crafted Wondrous Items, we can choose the vessel ourselves. Your Tier-8 Shadow Jade, for instance, is already a superior Tier-8 material, far better than mere corpses and remains. An excellent vessel and the Evolutionary Material can complement each other, mutually reinforcing their effects and taking the power of the crafted Wondrous Item to a whole new level.

"Besides the vessel, the other factor determining a Wondrous Item’s power is, of course, the Evolutionary Material itself. You should have some experience with this. On Blue Star, all Wondrous Items are natural, and their vessels are all just remains, with no real difference in quality. However, Wondrous Items derived from human evolvers are clearly more powerful than those of the same tier from Exotic Beasts or Spiritual Plants.

"This is because the Evolutionary Material from Intelligent Races is superior to that of non-intelligent ones.

"You already possess a superior vessel. To forge a top-tier Tier-8 Wondrous Item, all you need now is a compatible Evolutionary Material from an Intelligent Race."

With the Pope’s explanation, Su Ze understood. He could now filter out the Tier-8 Evolutionary Materials from Exotic Beasts and Spiritual Plants, focusing only on those from the evolvers of Intelligent Races.

A quick comparison revealed that Evolutionary Material from Intelligent Races was priced a notch higher than that from Exotic Beasts and Spiritual Plants.

However, spending a little extra for a considerable boost in the Wondrous Item’s power was a trade-off Su Ze was more than willing to make.

Soon, the two of them had narrowed the list down to five suitable items.

"A Moon God Evolution Crystal from the Bag Race, containing the Dark Element attack skill ’Dark Devouring’."

"A Moon God Evolution Crystal from the Flame Race, containing the dual Flame and Shadow Element skill ’Shadow Burn’."

"A Moon God Evolution Crystal from the Pan Race, containing the Shadow Element skill ’Shadow Stab’."

"..."

Su Ze noticed that most Evolutionary Material in the universe was processed into a crystalline form—Evolution Crystals. This was likely because solids were easier to transport and store than liquids.

Of these five Evolution Crystals, some were from stalls, and others were from shops.

Su Ze’s eyes were immediately drawn to the Moon God Evolution Crystal from the Pan Race.

The advantages were simply too obvious.

First, the Pan Race was a Dominator Race with powerful innate talents. Theoretically, their Evolutionary Material should be of a higher quality.

Second, the Pan Race were rock-based lifeforms, and his vessel, the Shadow Jade, was a mineral. The two were highly compatible.

And most importantly, it was cheap!