Chapter 85: Unexpected
In the Trade Market, in front of a stall, over a dozen men and women were waiting anxiously. Some were Contractors, others were Workers.
"I hope we run into Miss Kitty this time. Every time I come to the Trade Market to wait, it feels like buying a lottery ticket."
"What are you all waiting for here?"
"Just trying our luck. Waiting for a cat that sells potions. Don't look at me so puzzled. If that cat finds out someone hid this information, it'll permanently block that person's trading rights. Dozens of greedy folks have already been blocked."
The group chatted among themselves. A few of them had been waiting for a while. For potions priced so low they couldn't help but smile, it was well worth it. For some Workers, occasionally trying their luck here had become a habit.
"Look over there, Miss Kitty is coming. Every time I see her, my mood gets especially good."
"We're really lucky this time."
Under the gaze of the dozen or so men and women, Beini walked over, her fur a mix of gold and white. Seeing people waiting, she quickened her pace a little, then crouched down behind the stall. The image of the Holy Flame Alchemist needed to be casual and neutral enough, and Beini worked hard to maintain that image.
"What good stuff is there this time? Has Mr. Holy Flame developed any new potions recently?"
"Meow."
Beini responded, then continued setting the potion prices. The common-grade [Life Trait · 01] was priced at 10 Soul Coins, the Perfect-grade at 25 coins per bottle, and the [Ancient Secret Medicine] was priced at 220 Soul Coins, four times the production cost. She put one bottle up for sale and kept the other.
Beini finished pricing in 5 seconds, opened the stall, the potions on the stall were cleared out, and the stall closed.
"You guys bought without even looking? Aren't you afraid that cat will rip you off?"
A big-mouthed man looked utterly speechless. He had heard from a friend that there were cheap potions for sale here, so he waited for several hours. Before he could even see what was on the stall, the items were already sold out? He was dumbfounded.
The few who bought the potions hurried away. Just as the big-mouthed man was about to leave, he noticed the cat behind the stall starting to set out potions again.
The big-mouthed man crouched down and saw the attributes of the various potions on the stall. His eyes widened.
[Activity · Strength · Perfect (Light Gold · Rare), Price: Cannot Purchase.]
[Radiance Potion · Perfect (Gold), Price: Cannot Purchase.]
[Tree of Life · Perfect (Legendary), Price: Cannot Purchase.]
[Life Trait · 01 · Perfect (Legendary), Price: Cannot Purchase.]
[Ocean Essence · Perfect (Holy Spirit), Price: Cannot Purchase.]
[Ancient Secret Medicine · Perfect (Holy Spirit · Rare), Price: Cannot Purchase.]
...
Beini placed six types of potions on the stall. She did this every time. Passing Contractors could view the potions' attributes, but couldn't buy them. All six types of permanent enhancement potions were brewed by the same person, which spoke volumes.
Inside the Exclusive Room, Su Xiao held a bone staff in his hand. He had conquered many islands in the Demon Sea, and among the treasures obtained, this bone staff had the strongest fluctuation.
Through the curse refinement of the Doom Number, while enhancing the staff's strength, it was also transformed into equipment that could be brought back to Reincarnation Paradise.
Now, the [Death Cry] bone staff had finally been identified. Su Xiao checked its attributes.
[Death Cry]
Origin: Demon Sea
Quality: Immortal Rank
Category: Spellcaster Staff
Durability: 95/95
Attack Power: 260 ~ 326 (Death Trait Attack Bonus)
Equipment Requirements: True Intelligence 215 points, Death System Basic Ability Lv.56 or above.
Equipment Effect 1: Evil Spirit Aura (Passive). This weapon can generate an Evil Spirit Aura. The aura's diameter range is a base of 50 meters + the user's own True Intelligence attribute value. If an enemy creature dies within the aura's range, an evil spirit will be born from the enemy's corpse.
Tip: Evil spirits ignore physical damage. They take 16% increased energy damage and 95% increased soul damage.
Tip: The maximum existence limit for evil spirits is 500. Their movement range depends on the user's own Intelligence attribute.
Equipment Effect 2: Evil Spirit Witch (Active). When the number of evil spirits reaches the 500 limit, all evil spirits can be combined into a single entity, the Evil Spirit Witch. The Evil Spirit Witch exists for 60 minutes and can grant buff effects to all friendly undead and ghost-type units.
Tip: This ability has no cost, cooldown time is 12 hours.
Tip: If forcibly condensing the Evil Spirit Witch without any evil spirits, you must sacrifice 500 friendly undead or ghost-type units and consume 30% of your own body energy.
Equipment Effect 3: Death Funeral (Core · Passive). While the Evil Spirit Witch exists, the user of this equipment can temporarily gain the 'Death Funeral' ability, controlling friendly undead and ghost-type units to self-destruct.
Tip: Self-destruct damage is a base of 300 points + the equipment user's own Intelligence attribute × 2.1 + the self-destructing unit's internal energy × 0.15 points of Death-type damage.
Tip: If an enemy repeatedly takes self-destruct damage, their body defense will be reduced due to the erosion of Death-type ability. The damage they take will increase by 8~12% each time, up to a maximum of 85%.
Tip: If 5000 undead or ghost-type units are controlled to self-destruct simultaneously, it will cause a large area of high damage.
Rating: 1475 points (Immortal Rank equipment rating is 1000~1500 points).
Description: Departed ones, fight for me.
Price: 1860 Soul Coins.
...
Su Xiao knew two Undead System Contractors. He first contacted Solomon. Solomon replied a few minutes later.
Solomon: "Bai Ye, what's up?"
Bai Ye: "[Death Cry (Immortal Rank)], interested?"
Solomon: "14,000 Soul Coins?"
Bai Ye: "Deal."
Solomon: "I'm just making an offer. Can't afford it right now. Special circumstances lately. Bai Ye, just sell it normally. If you can't sell it, save it for me."
Bai Ye: "Okay."
...
Solomon was too broke lately. Su Xiao chose to contact the Undead System girl. Not knowing her name, Su Xiao had saved her contact info as 'Undead System Girl'.
Bai Ye: "[Death Cry (Immortal Rank)], interested?"
Undead System Girl: "[Endless Undead +12 (Immortal Rank · Full Socket · Immortal Rank Gem × 3 · Immortal Soul Secondary Enhancement)], I already have this (laughs)."
Undead System Girl: "This weapon is pretty good. I have a few Undead System friends who might need it. Want me to contact them?"
...
Contacting the Undead System girl yielded results. As for selling [Death Cry] on Trade Street, given the poverty of the Undead System, it would also need to be sold on a pre-order basis.
The Undead System girl's weapon proved one thing: the Undead System wasn't really poor; it was just that their resource consumption was terrifyingly high.
Putting the [Death Cry] bone staff away, Su Xiao walked out of his Exclusive Room. The resources he had obtained this time were almost depleted, leaving only some Soul Coins. It was time to go to the Land of All Beings.
Over ten minutes later, Su Xiao entered the Trial Grounds and activated the permission for Land of All Beings · Layer Six.
[Yes/No to enter Land of All Beings · Layer Six. Cost: 60 Soul Coins per hour.]
Su Xiao checked his remaining stay time in Reincarnation Paradise and chose to pay 2220 Soul Coins to purchase 37 hours of usage time in Land of All Beings · Layer Six.
The array diagram under his feet lit up. When Su Xiao's vision cleared, he was standing on an icefield. Inside the ice beneath his feet, he could see Soul Crystals the size of millstones. He could see them, but couldn't get them, so he simply ignored them.
Su Xiao gripped the hilt of the blade at his waist. The arduous training began. Once immersed in training, time passed faster than imagined.
[Tip: Land of All Beings · Layer Six usage time has expired.]
[Reincarnation Paradise stay time has expired. The Hunter is about to return to the Real World.]
[Teleportation begins.]
When the teleportation fluctuations dissipated, Su Xiao was already inside the second floor of the Accessory Shop. All he wanted now was to rest. 37 consecutive hours of intense training had drained his last ounce of stamina.
The next day, 8:00 AM.
Bright sunlight streamed in, and a gentle breeze blew in from the shop door. Su Xiao lay back in his recliner. Even after resting all night, his right arm was still a bit sore this morning. He had trained too hard in the Land of All Beings. Swinging the blade for 37 hours was one thing, but continuously unleashing sword techniques was a different concept altogether.
Picking up his phone from the small table beside him, Su Xiao dialed a number. He planned to contact Mad Doctor to discuss selling potions in the Real World.
The earpiece rang for a long time with no answer. Calculating the time, Mad Doctor should also be in the Real World.
Su Xiao hung up and dialed the Dean's number instead. It also rang for dozens of seconds with no answer. This made him frown.
He tried dialing Mr. J's number. Same as the previous two times, just the ringing tone. The call went through, but no one answered.
Su Xiao hung up the phone, pondering. Could the 'Behind-the-Scenes Poop Squad' have collectively run into trouble? He felt the probability wasn't high.
Su Xiao dialed the last number from the Madhouse, the landline for the Dean's office. A few seconds later, the call connected.
"..."
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak, and the other side remained silent too.
"Are they all dead?"
Su Xiao's voice caused the other side to pause for a moment. Clearly, the person on the other end had heard Su Xiao's voice before.
"Maybe not dead."
Hearing this, Su Xiao slowly sat up straight. He vaguely guessed who this was. Logically speaking, the possibility of this person returning to the Real World was slim. But that guy couldn't be judged by common sense; he was an anomaly among anomalies.
A few seconds later, the person on the other end of the line spoke:
"Bai Ye, long time no see. I am Gray Gentleman."