Chapter 449 - 433: Star Travel Merchant
"You’ll buy anything?"
"Even fate?"
As a Nirvana Tier powerhouse hiding his strength, Shi Ming had instantly scanned the Star Travel Merchant with his Spiritual Power. She looked like a young girl with an overwhelming aura of treasure. And despite her youthful appearance, she was a Saint Hall Level Awakener.
Her real age was far greater than Shi Ming’s.
Shi Ming was already used to this.
The universe had long-lived races, creatures that never aged, and even a peculiar species that was born old, then grew progressively younger until they regressed into an infant after 200 years, finally passing away in that state.
The vast universe,
held no shortage of marvels.
"That’s right. We buy anything."
"If you’re really short on cash, we also have a method to drain all the blood from your body and extract your Holy Hall Origin. However, there’s a 50% surgical fee. You know, a procedure like this consumes a vast amount of resources, so a 50% fee isn’t unreasonable."
The girl looked at Shi Ming.
A glimmer flashed in her eyes.
Her Holy Hall Skill had a perceptive ability, but right now, she couldn’t see through this child of an unknown race. His treasure aura was white, which meant he didn’t have any good treasures. The only other explanation was that his strength surpassed her own.
Shi Ming noticed the girl’s subtle movements.
He paid it no mind. Just like most customers, he took a sparkling gem from his pocket and placed it on the crystal counter.
"How much is this worth?"
This was from Rui Liang’s collection.
A Burialite Gemstone.
Wearing it would enhance a creature’s charm, making its wielder popular and attractive to all races.
The girl behind the crystal counter glanced at it.
She then took out a lens that looked like a magnifying glass and scanned it. "A gem polished from the scales of a Burialite. Worthless. 10 Cosmic Crystals."
The price was within Shi Ming’s expectations.
Shi Ming was more interested in the lens that could seemingly inspect an item’s details and value than he was in the price.
His Brain of Creation scanned it.
[Kaleidoscope Mirror]
[Level: 5]
[A lens linked to a large treasure database. It scans and matches items against the database to retrieve preset information.]
[Upgrade materials: Engine Stone x1, Star Tear Crystal Fragment x1]
’So it’s just a search engine.’
’A large treasure database?’
He then took out several more items of roughly the same value and handed them to the merchant for a quote.
"Desolate Star Oil. Worthless. 15 Cosmic Crystals."
"Martean eggshell. Worthless. 1 Cosmic Crystal."
"...This one’s even more useless."
The girl put her hands on her hips and yelled:
"Hey, kid! Can’t you take out something valuable? Stop wasting my time and the uses on my detection lens! I can see your strength seems to be at the Holy Hall Tier. Surely your collection isn’t all junk like this! Even if I buy this stuff, it’s not in demand. It would sit on my shelves for who knows how many years before selling!"
???
’Kid?’
’Getting called "kid" by a loli feels a little creepy. And she’s already getting impatient after looking at just a few items? Didn’t she say she’d buy anything and turn no one away?’
Of course, there were good treasures in Rui Liang’s collection.
The Wandering Atlas and the Starry Sky Specimen could both fetch a good price.
But those treasures were extremely useful to Shi Ming, so there was no way he would sell them. It was only natural that the items he didn’t care for wouldn’t sell for a high price.
"What kind of treasures are worth more than 100 Cosmic Crystals?"
The girl tapped on the holographic screen lying flat on the counter.
Rows of lists reappeared on the screen.
As if worried Shi Ming wouldn’t understand, the girl began to explain,
"For people like you, a Holy Hall Origin is the most sought-after commodity. Depending on the skill, they generally sell for over a thousand Cosmic Crystals! Some treasures that meet the ’Curio’ threshold can also sell for several hundred Cosmic Crystals. Weapons with an Attack Power bonus over 200 are very popular with adventurers and can also fetch a good price!"
"Also, I’m buying soil samples from the Star Grottoes—100 Cosmic Crystals per portion!"
"The remains of Holy Hall Tier creatures... I’ll take those, I guess."
"The most, most, most, most, most, most, most, most, *most* expensive things are the fur, bones, materials, blood, and... Skill Origins of Nirvana Tier creatures. Even a basic Nirvana Skill Origin would be bought at a high price by some big shots. If you have a suitable source and just connect us, you could earn tens of thousands in broker fees once the deal is finalized!"
"Do you have any of that?"
’Of course I do.’
Shi Ming grumbled to himself.
Most of the corpse of Rui Liang from the Dark Star Race was still lying in his personal inventory. It seemed this Dark Star Person couldn’t create much value before he died, but in death, he was in high demand. His whole body was a treasure trove, useful as upgrade materials and as a source of income.
’He died a worthy death, in a way.’
’But unfortunately, today I’m just a plain, unremarkable "White Aura Holder."’
’Someone at the bottom has to act the part.’
’As for the things you mentioned... maybe next time.’
He glanced at the acquisition list on the sign, looking at the other items they were buying.
The number one item was indeed a Nirvana Tier Skill Origin. The listed price was unbelievably long—a 1 followed by a long string of zeros...
Of course, it was a price without a market.
Just because it was written there didn’t mean this short girl actually had the ability to acquire it. It just meant her backer had a strong desire for one and hoped that advertising this way might increase the chance of a successful purchase, even by a little.
After that were classifications for various Curios.
Cosmic Rarities, Magical Fruits, Fierce Beast Blood, Exotic Beast Materials, and so on.
Shi Ming thought for a moment.
He took a stone out of his pocket.
This was the lowest-level Curio he could take out. It was loot he had confiscated from Iwami, the A-rank Awakened from Vortex Country, during the battle against the Deep Sea Titan.
The Taunt Stone.
The stone’s surface was like a mirror. Anyone reflected by this Curio would emit an aura that sea beasts found repulsive, causing them to prioritize attacking that person for a short time.
The effect was decent, but the Taunt Stone only worked on creatures that lacked full sentience and acted on instinct.
It was no longer useful to the current Shi Ming.
He needed to save up 1,000 Cosmic Crystals to have basic "human rights" on this planet. It would allow him to offset the debuff from his white treasure aura and enter various "high-end establishments" to spend money—or even just to browse and broaden his horizons.
The girl glanced at it,
then waved the lens over it again.
"An uncatalogued Curio?"
Her eyes visibly lit up. She took it and studied it for three or four minutes.
Just as Shi Ming was about to hurry her along, a pointy-eared woman in a blue maid outfit, clearly a staff member with "Star Travel Merchant No. 776" on her chest, walked up to the crystal counter.
"Boss, I’m back. Thank you for watching the stall for me while you’re so busy."
"Go, go, go. Stand aside for a moment."
The girl waved her hand impatiently, then looked up at Shi Ming.
"Kid, 500 Cosmic Crystals. Selling or not?"