Chapter: 20,000 to 25,000 per piece. This is also why, when Su Xiao was advancing to Supreme rank, he preferred to trade using [Reincarnation Medals] rather than purchasing them—the acquisition cycle was too long, taking ages to acquire even one, and the premium was too high.
If he went to the Goblin Merchant Guild to buy, they did have stock, but they would inevitably demand an exorbitant price, at least 30,000 ounces per piece. Ultimately, there was basically no stable way to obtain these things; the only option was to save up.
Assuming the market price for one [Primordial Core] was 25,000 ounces of Space-Time Power, 100 pieces would be 2.5 million. Not counting the losses from the Black Maple Tree's growth, Su Xiao had invested 50,000 ounces of Space-Time Power. Just considering the acquisition of [Primordial Cores], that was a 50-fold profit!
Not to mention the 4,500 [Soul Crystals], which drove the profit even higher.
Su Xiao had been nurturing the Black Maple Tree for so long, and now, at this critical juncture when he was about to face Soul Lord and such dangers, it was beginning to yield massive returns.
Or rather, if it weren't for this Black Maple Tree, Su Xiao wouldn't have considered his current path of strengthening. His personal resource consumption alone was enough to crush a major Star Realm power.
Now, with the Black Maple Tree—no, the Black Maple Tree certified by Reincarnation Paradise and belonging to Su Xiao—this resource problem was finally starting to have a solution.
As for investing 350,000 ounces of Space-Time Power, with 300,000 ounces absorbed by the Black Maple Tree's trunk, this wasn't considered an investment cost. The reason was that the Black Maple Tree's trunk growing from the thickness of a bucket to over a meter thick represented an increase in Su Xiao's fixed assets.
Moreover, the fact that these 5 standard units of Black Maple Tree yield could bring such a terrifying profit conversion ratio was because the quality of this yield was astonishing. Assuming the yield quality of a bucket-thick Black Maple Tree was 5, now that the trunk was over a meter thick, the yield quality was conservatively estimated to be over 120.
Su Xiao's bottom line was 95 [Primordial Cores] + 4,500 [Soul Crystals]. Anything below this price, he would contact the [Underworld Bank] or the [Giluerius Family].
The [Giluerius Family] was the family of Saintess Seat. As for why he didn't contact them from the start, it was because he had a good personal relationship with Saintess Seat, making it inconvenient to ruthlessly exploit the [Giluerius Family] later.
This was Su Xiao's open scheme. There was no fixed price for Black Maple Tree yield, but the price he was offering now, while not low, wasn't particularly high either. This was slowly baiting the Goblin Merchant Guild. Given the greed of these goblins, they certainly wouldn't quietly stash the acquired Black Maple Tree yield in their vaults.
If the Goblin Merchant Guild were run by a single person, this would likely happen. The problem was that the Goblin Merchant Guild operated under a family shareholder system. Before long, a large-scale auction of this batch of Black Maple Tree yield, led by the Goblin Merchant Guild, would be held.
After two or three such auctions, the outside world would get the sense that the Goblin Merchant Guild had a channel for Black Maple Tree yield. At that point, when Su Xiao urgently needed a large amount of resources and offered a price several times higher than now, the Goblin Merchant Guild would have no choice but to grit their teeth and bear it.
After all, if they refused, the Underworld Bank or the Giluerius Family would hold their own Black Maple Tree yield auctions, and the Goblin Merchant Guild's previous efforts would be for nothing.
"Deal."
Jinguwo gritted his teeth and spoke. His trading limit was set by his superiors, and any losses would be theirs. But if this deal fell through, he would lose his current position, which was nearly everything to him.
Jinguwo's eyes darted around. He seemed to have already seen through this open scheme and said:
"Mr. White Night, if the price remains the same in the future, feel free to contact me anytime. Facilitating this deal brings me too many benefits. In return, I'll give you the maximum benefit within my authority. You don't need to trust my character, but you should trust the goblin race's loyalty to profit."
Jinguwo's words were very skillful, making people forget some of the earlier unpleasantness. In the adult world, profit mattered more.
Jinguwo lowered his voice and said, "However, if you feel that the current price can no longer satisfy you, you can contact my colleague. Here's his communicator."
Jinguwo handed over a gleaming, gold-plated communicator, the meaning clear. When Su Xiao wanted to gouge the Goblin Merchant Guild, he could contact this colleague. Of course, this person also had another identity: Jinguwo's biggest competitor.
Jinguwo didn't keep Su Xiao waiting long, and he demonstrated the formidable strength of the Star Realm's strongest merchant guild. When he returned, he handed over a metal egg the size of an apple. This was a tech-side spatial compression device containing 100 [Primordial Cores] and 4,500 [Soul Crystals].
This amount of resources seemed absurdly large, enough to push Su Xiao's technique abilities to their peak. If he didn't use [Above Grandmaster], it would indeed be about right.
The problem was, if he used [Above Grandmaster] to fuse the three techniques into one, and the resulting ultimate technique ability was initially at X with no potential for improvement, it really wouldn't be worthy of the advancement specifications corresponding to 120,000 ounces of Space-Time Power.
Don't get the wrong idea that just because Su Xiao obtained over 400,000 ounces of Space-Time Power this time, Space-Time Power was easy to come by.
He had used the Law Destroyer's Demon Blade to slay the undying and indestructible Abyss entities, then taken on the Void Tree-certified Abyss mission "Death's Grant" and the Reincarnation Paradise-certified "Hunt List: Blood Pact." Combining both, he had almost wiped out all the Abyss entities in a former Transcendent Primordial World to achieve this harvest.
Su Xiao was certain that if he successfully fused an ultimate technique ability this time, its resource consumption would be much higher than the combined total of the three Grandmasters now. However, with the Black Maple Tree in hand, this wasn't an insurmountable problem.
Returning to his Exclusive Room, Su Xiao went to the room where the [Awakening Stele] was placed. This treasure could be temporarily stored in the Lord's Train without issue, but long-term storage was inappropriate. It was safer in the Exclusive Room. Sitting cross-legged on the carpet, he took out the obtained [Soul Crystals] and [Primordial Cores].
[To upgrade Melee Grandmaster Lv.95, requires consuming 100 Soul Crystals + 750,000 Soul Coins, and one Primordial Core.]
Su Xiao assessed his own state. He hadn't yet mastered the "Supreme Passive" to have a better upgrade condition. He chose to raise Melee Grandmaster from Lv.95 to Lv.105.
A large number of [Soul Crystals] shattered, and a massive amount of Soul Coins surged from his storage space. After the [Primordial Core] shattered, its energy caused these soul forces to undergo a qualitative change, ultimately merging into Su Xiao's body.
This time, he didn't see the "Technique Vision." The reason was that Melee Grandmaster wasn't a core technique position after all; it was more about the upgrade of Blade Grandmaster that triggered the "Technique Vision."
Su Xiao pressed one hand to his chest, took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, feeling the Melee Grandmaster that had been upgraded by 10 levels at once. It seemed... there was no discomfort. This was clearly a result of training in Law Destruction abilities.
Could this be the well-intentioned effort of the Ancestral Law Destroyers? Then, this unrealistic thought was dismissed. This only fit the style of a particular Ancestral Law Destroyer, not the others.
[To upgrade Melee Grandmaster Lv.105, requires consuming 300 Soul Crystals + 2 million Soul Coins, and five Primordial Cores.]
Resources were sufficient, so Su Xiao chose to upgrade. The next second, he felt a massive surge of unique soul forces rushing in, causing pain all over his body. This sensation, as if his flesh were being unraveled thread by thread, with the pain amplified over a hundred times, nearly sent him into dreamland.
Melee Grandmaster also had a test: whether the user would die midway. A few hours later, his body radiated heat waves, scorching the carpet beneath him and the floor below. He exhaled hot air, and his body temperature quickly returned to normal.
Taking advantage of not having fully cooled down, Su Xiao decided to dump 10 Golden Skill Points into it as well. Otherwise, his body would have to endure another "warm-up phase" later. This experience was enough for a lifetime.
Three hours later, Su Xiao's body no longer emitted heat. He checked his Melee Grandmaster ability.
[Melee Grandmaster: X (Technique · Passive)]
Skill Effect: Kick damage rank +365 (increased by 285), Physical toughness +99% (increased by 30%).
Power Penetration · Kick Enhancement: Total 12 times (increased by 3 times).
X Ultimate Ability · Power Penetration · Kick Twelvefold Enhancement (Supreme Rank · Passive): The power of your "Kick" will be boosted by your "Primordial Life Force Volume," "All Main Attributes," and "Soul Strength."
Warning: Your Stamina attribute is currently below 2000 points, and you have not mastered the corresponding "Supreme Passive" for Stamina. Since the power of your "Kick" has exceeded your body's endurance limit, do not use "Full Power Kick" until you have ensured one of these two factors, to avoid causing your own death.
...
This time, he needed to obtain the "Supreme Passive" corresponding to the Stamina attribute. Otherwise, this exaggerated enhancement would instead become a restriction on his combat power.
The upgrade continued.
[To upgrade Blade Grandmaster Lv.105, requires consuming 300 Soul Crystals + 2 million Soul Coins, and five Primordial Cores.]
The opportunity to push the technique ability to max level had finally arrived. Su Xiao chose to continue.
A strong sense of regression hit him. When everything stopped, he was standing on an endless pitch-black water surface. Above, faint light reflected down.
At this moment, Su Xiao felt as if he were standing above a dark abyss. Below, powerful Abyss entities swam, having already noticed this uninvited guest.
Clang~
The long blade was drawn. It wasn't the real Dragon-Slaying Flash but a soul blade identical to it.
"Extreme."
Clang!
A slash mark diagonally split the darkness ahead. This wasn't Su Xiao's blade technique but a move mastered by the first Blade Grandmaster to reach the pinnacle of the blade in the Star Realm. Since then, the Star Realm acknowledged this peak figure. Only by slashing the same blade that once broke through the darkness could one qualify to reach the peak.
For others, this might require several attempts. But Su Xiao had dumped 120 "Initial Skill Points" into Blade Grandmaster. To put it bluntly, even the original creator, upon seeing Su Xiao, would frown and think, "This kid's blade mastery might already surpass mine."
Everything around shattered. Su Xiao opened his eyes, back in his Exclusive Room. Checking Blade Grandmaster, it had reached X, and the plus sign after it was undoubtedly good news. With 168 Golden Skill Points in hand, more upgrades to the blade were naturally welcome.
He gradually piled on Golden Skill Points. After consuming 20 Golden Skill Points, Blade Grandmaster reached X. Blade Grandmaster was the core technique ability, so its upper limit being higher than the other two techniques was only natural. Moreover, the level caps he had previously raised in blade mastery were now reflected in the upgrade magnitude of the Golden Skill Points.
[Tip: Your "Extreme Blade · White Night (Passive), Melee Slash +500%" has been converted into your "Basic Body" bonus, i.e., permanently active by default.]
[Blade Grandmaster: X (Technique Core · Passive)]
Skill Effect: Blade weapon damage rank +980 (increased by 220), Blade weapon slash judgment rank +980 (increased by 220), Blade weapon armor-breaking judgment rank +980 (increased by 220).
Soul Severing Strength: 50 points (increased by 2 points).
Blade Heart: 8/8.
X Ultimate Ability: Extreme Blade · Star Realm (Transcendent Rank · Passive): You fully release your Technique Grandmaster's aura, affecting the Star Realm's operation within a 300-meter radius, putting it into a "Star Realm Stasis" state for 3 seconds. During this time, you can move within this range at 30% of your speed and slash at full speed.
Warning: This ability can only be used once every 5 natural days.
...
The mechanism of Blade Grandmaster was time stop? No, "Star Realm Stasis" was more powerful than time stop. Time was also part of the Star Realm. When an area was under "Star Realm Stasis," if Su Xiao encountered an enemy capable of "Time Stop," he could even further freeze their time-stop ability.
With this upgrade, the "Blade Weapon Damage Rank" and "Soul Severing Strength" were far from what they would have been with "Initial Skill Points." Su Xiao had previously thought that from Lv.95 to X, these traits would skyrocket significantly.
Now it seemed more like a release of accumulated power, blooming the long-accumulated Blade Grandmaster into the formidable ability "Extreme Blade · Star Realm."
When dealing with the Abyss Descendant Dukain Family, Su Xiao had felt the power of the Abyss Descendants, and this was even after their decline.
Facing enemies with such unsolvable abilities and formidable combat power, there was only one method: to obtain stronger, more unsolvable power, to overpower strength with strength, and to crush the evil of the Abyss Descendants with even greater evil.
Free reading.