Chapter 78: Price Gouging
Upon reaching Alchemical Creature Manufacturing Lv.20, a total of three formulas appeared. The Death Claw and Bazer were high-level alchemical creatures, though they were far from the level of a Wolf Butler, which possessed personal will. As for the Overseer, it was a mid-level alchemical creature.
The Death Claw was an agility type, while Bazer was a strength type. Both had decent abilities, but neither was the alchemical creature Su Xiao had in mind. His ideal alchemical creature was a stamina type.
A stamina-type alchemical creature had three advantages: first, it could block enemy attacks for Su Xiao at critical moments; second, stamina-type alchemical creatures possessed control abilities; third, they could tie down enemies for extended periods. If Su Xiao faced multiple enemies simultaneously, the alchemical creature's survivability was naturally better the higher it was.
The most ideal alchemical creature would be medium-sized, with a human or canine appearance, not requiring high intelligence, only needing to understand commands like follow or attack.
Unfortunately, none of the three creature crafting blueprints met these criteria. Obtaining new creature crafting blueprints wasn't just a matter of spending Paradise Coins; it also required a certain amount of luck.
After hesitating for a moment, Su Xiao took out a card. The card resembled a bank card, with "24K" written on one side.
Activating the card, Su Xiao put it away. About five minutes later, his Reincarnation Mark received an email.
[Welcome to the Black Sail Merchant Guild.]
Su Xiao began to reply.
"Alchemical creature crafting blueprints, the higher the rank, the better. Stamina type."
After Su Xiao replied, the Black Sail Merchant Guild indicated to wait a moment. About half an hour later, a new email appeared.
This email contained a large number of images. The images showed information on various creature crafting blueprints. The quality of these blueprints ranged from Purple to Gold, with Gold-quality blueprints being relatively scarce, only three in number.
Seeing so many alchemical creature crafting blueprints, Su Xiao was quite surprised. He had previously tried to acquire blueprints for Bomb Science and Pharmaceutics, but unfortunately, the blueprints for those two skills were extremely expensive and of low quality.
Originally, Su Xiao had only contacted the black merchant on a whim. He didn't expect to have such an unexpected gain.
Such a large quantity of creature crafting blueprints indicated that contractors had low demand for these items. Why would alchemical creatures, which were fearless and loyal enforcers, have low demand?
Su Xiao attempted to craft a Death Claw, and a prompt appeared.
[To substitute related materials, requires consuming 120,000 Paradise Coins for substitution, and requires consuming Soul Crystal (Medium) x2.]
120,000 Paradise Coins + Soul Crystal (Medium) x2. This cost was already somewhat exaggerated. The 120,000 Paradise Coins were manageable, but Soul Crystal (Medium) x2 would be a severe blow for most contractors. Soul Crystals were used to upgrade skill levels, and most people wouldn't consume them to create alchemical creatures.
The Death Claw blueprint was probably around Dark Purple. If it were a Gold-quality blueprint, the cost would only be higher, and correspondingly, the alchemical creature produced would be stronger.
Su Xiao sent a message to the black merchant, asking to meet in person. Strangely, the black merchant seemed hesitant, which puzzled Su Xiao.
What Su Xiao didn't know was that he had gained a fearsome reputation among second to third-rank contractors. Not to mention anything else, just the fact that he, as a lone wolf, was hostile to the Blood Gate Adventurers was enough to shock most third-rank contractors, making it hard not to be famous.
What surprised many third-rank contractors even more was that Su Xiao was still alive and well after offending Stan.
The reason the black merchant hesitated was because he had heard a rumor. The rumor claimed that Su Xiao was completely unreasonable; just one look at him could get your head chopped off.
Of course, rumors couldn't be fully trusted. Moreover, the black merchant 24K had traded with Su Xiao once before, and both parties had profited from that transaction. The Gold-quality dagger traded from Su Xiao had helped the Black Sail Merchant Guild's auction gain fame. After that, it was a snowball effect. Once their reputation improved, many lone wolves began entrusting the Black Sail Merchant Guild with consignment sales.
Originally, the Black Sail Merchant Guild had a bad reputation for price gouging by selling potions in derivative worlds. Fortunately, the guild leader, Qian Dapang, was very far-sighted. He was even willing to do business at a loss just to clean up the Black Sail Merchant Guild's reputation.
Qian Dapang succeeded. The current Black Sail Merchant Guild could be considered a rising star among many merchant guilds, with excellent reputation. Receiving commissions to sell Gold-quality items had become routine. Qian Dapang's status had risen accordingly. It was said that due to the Black Sail Merchant Guild's vast trade network, Qian Dapang's span between entering derivative worlds had extended to a full year. He had demonstrated his value in a certain field, thereby gaining recognition from the Reincarnation Paradise. Compared to entering derivative worlds, the guild under Qian Dapang was more important.
From a masked small-time merchant who sold potions and price-gouged in derivative worlds, to developing into someone who controlled a huge merchant guild and a terrifying amount of Paradise Coins, Qian Dapang was definitely a character. His talent wasn't in combat, but in business.
Setting aside Qian Dapang's rise to wealth, in a café within the Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao was waiting for news from the black merchant 24K.
The music in the café was soothing. A cup of coffee sat in front of Su Xiao, untouched. He was engrossed in a game.
"I'm late."
The black merchant 24K, wrapped up tightly and wearing a black skull mask, sat down opposite Su Xiao.
"Mm."
Su Xiao responded and continued to be engrossed in the game. Seeing this, the corner of the black merchant 24K's mouth twitched under his mask. In his impression, Su Xiao was the extremely cold and aloof type who would kill at the slightest disagreement. But now, the god of death in his impression was engrossed in a game...
The black merchant 24K didn't know that Su Xiao had almost chopped down Er Zhuzi with the tablet in his hand. If Dai Tu hadn't stopped him back then, Er Zhuzi would most likely have been chopped.
"Here are the blueprints."
The black merchant placed over a dozen blueprints on the table. The Light Gold and Gold light made the female shopkeeper not far away crane her neck to look.
Su Xiao put down the tablet and began searching through the blueprints. He had already chosen one earlier.
[Alchemical Creature Crafting Blueprint]
Origin: Third-Rank Low-Intensity Battlefield
Quality: Gold
Type: Knowledge Skill Scroll
Effect: After use, master the Fierce Winter Minotaur creature crafting blueprint.
Prerequisite: Must possess Alchemical Creature Manufacturing Lv.20, Intelligence attribute 70 points.
Rating: 328 points (Gold scroll rating is 310-400 points)
Introduction: The Frost Minotaur is a unique product of Alchemy.
Price: 27,000 Paradise Coins (This item is a knowledge skill branch scroll, selling price is lower).
...
Seeing the price at which the [Alchemical Creature Crafting Blueprint] was sold to the Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao had already guessed that this item probably wasn't easy to sell.
As for why the Black Sail Merchant Guild acquired these items, the reason was simple: to hoard them. Once they found a contractor in need, the Black Sail Merchant Guild would definitely gouge them heavily.
Now, Su Xiao was the target for the black merchant 24K to gouge. There were very few people specifically looking to buy alchemical creature blueprints. Compared to popular blueprints like potions, creature blueprints were hard to move.