Chapter 76: Ocean's Heart
Su Xiao and the black market merchant arrived at the same café as before, sitting across from each other.
"Mr. White Night, I've brought the three dark-purple weapons. As for the 'Destruction Fist Scroll' and the 'Golden Dagger'..."
The black market merchant truly lived up to his title of 'black market merchant,' intending to trade three dark-purple blade-type weapons for the 'Destruction Fist Scroll' plus the 'Golden Dagger.' Though not explicitly stated, that was clearly his intention.
Su Xiao took out the 'Destruction Fist Scroll.'
"Let's trade. This item for the three dark-purple weapons."
"This... Mr. White Night, are you joking?"
"Do I look like I'm joking?"
Su Xiao stared at the black market merchant with a full smile. He dared to kill or rob members of the Traveling Group within Reincarnation Paradise, let alone a black market merchant who feared them.
The black market merchant looked up and met Su Xiao's gaze. After a brief moment, he turned his head away, cold sweat seeping from beneath his mask.
"Mr. White Night, since we both have things the other needs, let's deal with sincerity. I've brought plenty of good goods this time."
The black market merchant dropped the previous topic. He hadn't explicitly stated he wanted to trade three weapons for the scroll and dagger; he was merely testing Su Xiao's limits.
But the black market merchant realized this guy wasn't easy to probe. He read a certain meaning in Su Xiao's eyes.
'If I run into you in a derivative world... I'll kill you!'
Su Xiao remained unmoved, simply staring at the black market merchant with a smile, just staring.
"Heh, Mr. White Night, um..."
The black market merchant's laugh was awkward, his face covered in cold sweat.
"Brought plenty of good goods? Let me see."
Su Xiao took out a cigarette and lit it. After taking a deep drag, the tense atmosphere dissipated.
The black market merchant breathed a sigh of relief. He was all too familiar with this oppressive feeling. Contractors with this kind of pressure were not to be trifled with—either madmen, psychopaths, or murderers.
"Of course. By the way, Mr. White Night, what would you like to drink? My treat."
The black market merchant quickly worked to make the atmosphere more harmonious. Su Xiao waved his hand; he had already drunk his fill of juice here a few minutes ago.
The black market merchant decided not to order anything and simply gave the waiter 5 Paradise Coins as a tip. The worker waiter winked at him before walking away, pretending not to notice that the two hadn't ordered anything while discussing business in the café. Since no one would drink anything anyway, it was better to tip the cute girl nearby.
The black market merchant first took out three dark-purple weapons, then pulled many items from his storage space.
These items were of decent quality, but most were impractical. Only about a dozen were truly good.
This was also the black market merchant's tactic—bringing out a pile of items, both good and bad.
"If I still need more after this trade, can you get more weapons? I'll pay extra for any additional ones."
Although Su Xiao already had two dark-purple weapons, he estimated that to upgrade Dragon-Slaying Flash to light gold, he would need at least five to seven dark-purple quality weapons. This was a conservative estimate.
"I don't have any more..."
The black market merchant looked Su Xiao up and down, his gaze clearly saying: 'Bro, are you eating these things? You need this many? You've already bought so many blade-type weapons from us—don't you have any self-awareness?'
Su Xiao naturally didn't know what the black market merchant was thinking. He picked up the three dark-purple weapons on the table.
[Wind Bell Fang (Dark Purple, Rating: 160)]
[Dragon Kiss (Dark Purple, Rating: 180)]
[T333-K9 (Dark Purple, Rating: 201)]
All three weapons met the specifications. Although the last one had a strange name, it had the highest rating—a weapon crafted by a worker.
These three weapons were already reserved. Su Xiao's next task was to find good items among the goods the black market merchant had brought out and strike a deal.
The Destruction Fist Scroll clearly wasn't worth these three weapons, but if he added the Golden Dagger, the black market merchant would need to offer more chips. That was why the black market merchant had twelve light-gold items and twenty dark-purple items in front of him. Heaven knows how they had stockpiled all this. The Black Sail Merchant Guild's financial power was becoming increasingly terrifying, no longer what it once was.
Moreover, this time, the Black Sail Merchant Guild's chairman, Qian Dapang, had ordered that they must acquire this Golden Dagger. It would help the Black Sail Merchant Guild make a name for itself in Reincarnation Paradise.
For a lone wolf like Su Xiao, fame didn't matter; the fewer people who knew him, the better. But for the Black Sail Merchant Guild, the more people knew about them, the better their business would be.
The Black Sail Merchant Guild's rise hadn't been honorable. They had started by selling potions at high prices in derivative worlds.
After getting rich, Qian Dapang immediately stopped this easy way to earn hatred. Initial capital accumulation could be dirty, but afterward, it absolutely couldn't. So he switched to normal business, which led to the joint auction with the Divine Emperor Adventure Group. For a time, they were riding high, growing bigger and bigger, and their reputation gradually improved. This was why Su Xiao sometimes bought things from the Black Sail Merchant Guild.
Unfortunately, the Black Sail Merchant Guild's previous reputation was too tarnished. Chairman Qian Dapang secretly decided to hold an auction on his own, one with excellent credibility, to boost the guild's name.
When he learned that a gold-quality dagger had appeared in the Trade Market, Qian Dapang's eyes lit up! He ordered: they must get their hands on it, using this dagger to promote the auction.
For now, the auction was only a rough idea in Qian Dapang's mind. Whether it could proceed depended on his personal ability. If successful, the Black Sail Merchant Guild would no longer have to fear the Traveling Group, using the power of money to resist them.
Before the black market merchant 24K left, Qian Dapang had him bring all the Black Sail Merchant Guild's high-level inventory.
Su Xiao began picking through the items on the table. He didn't care about the item's grade; he only cared about whether it was practical. So even dark-purple items, he examined carefully.
When Su Xiao picked up a 'blue gem,' his hand paused. The black market merchant's heart clenched across from him.
[Ocean's Heart]
Origin: One Piece · Holy Land · Mary Geoise
Quality: Light Gold
Category: Gem (Can be embedded into any metal equipment)
Embedding Effect: Mana Points +400, Mana Recovery Speed +35 points (per hour).
Rating: 310+ (Highest rating for Light Gold quality)
Selling Price: 99,990 Paradise Coins
...
Su Xiao's current Mana Points recovery speed was 57 points per hour, including equipment bonuses. He had a total of 1,733 Mana Points. If he depleted all his Mana Points, it would take at least 30 hours to fully recover.
But if he embedded this gem into his equipment, his Mana Points recovery speed would reach 92 points per hour, and fully recovering his Mana Points would only take 18.8 hours.
Not only that, Ocean's Heart would also increase his Mana Points by 400. That was 400 Mana Points. If Su Xiao used Soul Devourer to absorb them, it would take four entire derivative worlds. Although the Mana Points absorbed by Soul Devourer were permanent, these 400 were an equipment effect.
This way, Su Xiao's Mana Points would exceed 2,000, allowing him to activate Counter Shield one more time. In intense combat, what did activating Counter Shield one extra time mean? It could be the key to victory or defeat.