Chapter 2622: Refusal and Farewell
"Close, but not quite." Xu Huo pointed out the key issue. "If it were just an A-grade item, I have plenty."
There was no need to risk accepting a deal for a flawed Primordial Stone.
"Hear me out before you decide whether to accept." The female player's expression remained unchanged as she continued, "I'm offering this deal to you because you're the right person. If I didn't see any hope of success in you, I wouldn't waste my breath saying all this."
"My grandfather had a particularly beloved youngest daughter. She went missing ten years ago after entering a certain district, and she's likely dead. My grandfather has always been deeply attached to her. In recent years, as his health has deteriorated, his longing for this missing daughter has intensified. As a result, recovering her remains has become one of the criteria for evaluating the family heir."
"While this doesn't directly determine who the final heir will be, it does affect the distribution of the inheritance. As a junior member of the family, I want to maximize my own interests, which is why I came to District 001 to become an apprentice."
"You want to try whether you can achieve Temporal Evolution?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow slightly. "You're from an A-level wormhole point, with an extraordinary family background. Do you really need Temporal Evolution just to retrieve a relative's remains?"
"Temporal Evolution is just one possibility." The female player said, "Before this, I tried Mental Evolution but didn't succeed. And my Spatial Evolution isn't strong enough to be of much use."
"It's a mental-type instance site." Xu Huo said.
"Based on the data, yes. The entire district has only one instance. You should know how large a district is. A person disappearing inside is like a needle lost in the ocean—finding them is no easy task." The female player said, "Searching an entire district requires an enormous cost. Moreover, this is a very special district. Relying solely on a vague longing for a dead person isn't enough to mobilize the vast resources of a family."
"Aren't there bounty hunters in A-level wormhole points?" Xu Huo shifted to another topic.
"Of course there are, but the terms I offered weren't enough to tempt them." The female player smiled. "After all, I have to consider the possibility of ending up with nothing after all the expenses. I can't exactly use up the inheritance I'm supposed to receive in advance."
"I originally planned to go myself, but time waits for no one. If my grandfather dies first, all my efforts will be wasted."
She tapped the box as she spoke. "This is the down payment. I can pay you another S-112 Primordial Stone afterward."
Xu Huo listened and instead laughed. "High reward, high risk. The items are good, but not worth me taking that risk."
Someone who could offer Primordial Stones as payment clearly had an extraordinary family background. For a family like that, arranging for some players to go find someone would be no problem at all. Whether they actually went and failed, or never sent anyone at all, was anyone's guess. And this "searching for remains" story might not even be true.
The only thing that was real was that someone was willing to pay two Primordial Stones and two Subclass Stones to hire someone to go to this district and handle the matter.
The female player didn't seem eager to convince him. She toyed with the Primordial Stone on the jade pendant. "There are actually many Primordial Stones—of course, I'm talking about non-time-space types. They're excellent materials for making items and instruments, but that's all they are."
"Offering two Primordial Stones means I think this deal is only worth that much. I won't go higher."
"The reason you think two Primordial Stones is a high price is simply because you've seen few Primordial Stones."
"You're a Mental Evolver, which fits my needs. Plus, you have decent luck, so there's a certain chance you'll survive and complete the deal."
She idly spun the Primordial Stone, her relaxed posture making it seem like this was a completely trivial matter.
But the fact that she appeared here and said all these words was itself an attitude.
"I haven't seen many Primordial Stones, but they're not exactly ready-made good items." Xu Huo said. "If you could offer some parts of the Field Battle Angel, I might consider this deal."
"Ah, that item." The female player was clearly aware of the Field Battle Angel. "Wasn't that item already destroyed? What use would finding its parts be? Could it still unleash its original power?"
Xu Huo set down his teacup. "Even if I used two Primordial Stones to craft an item, it would only be a top-tier A-grade item. Anything below a Super Item is a no-go."
The female player stood up with some regret. "If you're just testing the waters, I can tell you directly—this deal isn't worth a Super Item."
"No need to see me out."
Once the door closed again, the smile faded from Xu Huo's face.
The female player came from an A-level wormhole point. Using Primordial Stones as decorations to some extent indicated that her family's influence was considerable. She had heard of the Field Battle Angel and acknowledged its combat power, but her attitude was subtle. Even when she mentioned the Field Battle Angel as a top-tier Super Item, she spoke of it casually. There was usually only one explanation for this: while the Field Battle Angel was indeed powerful as an item in combat, it wasn't anything remarkable for an A-level wormhole point.
Primordial Stones were top-tier materials for crafting items. Unless Primordial Stones were so abundant in A-level wormhole points that everyone had them, these materials would definitely be used where they mattered most. The female player's family influence was one thing, but the combat power of A-level wormhole points was another.
Did this mean that the combat power of A-level wormhole points wasn't as dependent on top-tier items as players imagined?
A-level wormhole points were the birthplace of the game and the first to undergo evolution, possessing the most resources and information. Most people would assume that A-level wormhole points had an inexhaustible supply of high-grade and Super Items, and that these were a major component of their combat power—aside from ticketless districts, this should be the case in all other districts.
But now it seemed he might have underestimated the value of A-level wormhole points. Not only ticketless districts, but even some A-level wormhole point districts accessible by ticket might not truly rely on items.
Although he knew that A-level wormhole points must have ways to sever the connection between players and the game, the reduced reliance on items indicated that A-level wormhole points hadn't just treated this as an emergency measure but had already developed a mature system. As a result, item resources that were extremely scarce in the eyes of ordinary players weren't considered all that important to them.
No wonder so many players, upon becoming A-grade players, chose to farm instances with well-established strategies to complete their missions. It probably wasn't just because the threshold for Super Players was unreachable, but also because some high-difficulty A-grade instances were located in places too dangerous for players.
He initially thought this was just a minor episode, but unexpectedly, two days later, Xu Huo encountered this female player again on the train.