The old dwarf recollected his mind and took out a pouch as if he was offering a treasure. He said, “Master, these are the fluorescent stones and other materials I got these few days. These cost 15 black crystal coins in total.”
There were about 10 pieces of materials in the pouch including 5 or 6 fluorescent stones of varied qualities. However, an average quality fluorescent stone usually cost 10 black crystal coins in a magic store, so it was quite worthy.
“Well done. For now, don’t worry about other things and focus on getting magic materials; mainly the fluorescent stones. The more the better. As for the money, you don’t have to worry. I will find a way.”
The old dwarf looked joyful for being praised in front of Jesse and he said, “It’s like this, my master. The fluorescent stone is a relatively unpopular material that is produced in the Dark Shadow Empire, so merchants usually don’t keep much in stock. However, I received a message that a merchant named Silva has a batch of stock, but the price they asked is pretty high. 18 black crystal coins for high quality, 9 black crystal coins for medium quality and 2 black crystal coins for low quality. If you want to take all the goods, it probably needs 600 to 700 black crystal coins.”
Chen Rui just won 750 black crystal coins. It totaled up to 760 together with the reward of 10 black crystal coins which was just enough to buy this batch of fluorescent stones. 10 days ago, he had 35,000 auras, but now there were only 3,000 left. That wasn’t enough for the spending on the training ground at all. Besides, he would be fighting against Reka after 20 days, so he needed a lot of auras. Therefore, the old dwarf’s information came right about time.
“I know Silva.” The dark elf suddenly spoke, “This guy is very despicable, and he has quite a number of subordinates. If you deal with him directly, you might be devoured completely.”
The old dwarf nodded, “Sir Jesse was right. Silva’s reputation isn’t very good, but he is very strong. In fact, an unpopular business like fluorescent stones is just his cover. Rumors said that he is secretly doing some shady trades.”
Chen Rui was silent for a while and asked Jesse, “What are the powerful characters under Silva?”
“The most powerful one is a centaur called Grau, who has already reached the highest stage of Intermediate Demon. However, his strength is incomparable to Reka. The rest includes a number of Intermediate Demon. If you give me 30 black crystal coins, I will accompany you on this trip.”
That’s too expensive! 30 black crystal coins! That’s equivalent to 3000 purple crystal coins! The old dwarf almost jumped. If the money was given to him and his daughter, it was enough for them to live for 3 years. Who knows that his master, Aguile agreed without any hesitation, “Good! That’s a deal.”
Chen Rui could still afford 30 black crystal coins as the demand for aura was urgent. This trip could only be successful but not fail.
“How long do you need to recover your injuries?” Chen Rui asked Jesse. He saw the dark elf raised a finger and nodded, “Didi, I will come to the Cloak Gang in the morning the day after tomorrow. By then, I want you to contact Silva and say that I want all the fluorescent stones. In terms of the pricing, you can make the call.”
Didi hurriedly agreed. Chen Rui didn’t stay any longer and returned directly to the lab. During this period of time, he was not questioned by the palace guards because of Princess Royal’s instruction. Similarly, Aldas, who learned about the two-months test, also expressed his maximum support. In fact, the dark elf master didn’t know that he was now “challenging grand master” because someone’s lies. He was just hoping that this “inheritance” could bring him a potion-related surprise.
When Chen Rui returned to his secretary identity, he activated the ability of <Breath Holding>. In the eyes of others, he was still a powerless human.
He asked Kegu to send a letter to Paglio, saying that he was safe so that the poison dragon wouldn’t worry. During these times, Kegu had been traveling back and forth between the blue lake and the lab, so he had already been familiar with the path. After the wyvern left, Chen Rui returned to his room.
Over the days, the improvement in the control of Star Power and muscle strength increased the Experience Value tremendously. Of course, the Experience Value was just a digitized display. It didn’t mean that when the Experience Value reached 100%, then he could “level-up”. It only meant that he had reached a certain level of mastery in the current stage. The skeleton of filaments in the status bar had been completely solidified. It was the result of his 10-days special training. To be precise, after using 5-fold the time for 4 times and 2-fold the time once, it was equivalent to more than 1 month.
This changes in the human light figure not only made Chen Rui’s power reach the middle level of Intermediate Demon which was the stable state of the Alkaid state, but his body’s defensive ability was also greatly enhanced. Today, although the battle at the arena was fierce and he had a lot of wounds, he didn’t actually receive serious damage. Instead, it was just trauma; it was a lot lighter compared to the battle with Lance.
Today, the truth for Chen Rui to break Jesse’s ultimate move was <Analytical Eyes>. Among the 5 shadows of Jesse, only 1 could be realistically analyzed, and that was the true body. Although the other illusions couldn’t be judged by naked eyes or feelings, they couldn’t deceive the skill of <Analytical Eyes>. This also inspired Chen Rui in future battle.
In the status bar, after the “skeleton” completely consolidated, the countless filaments centered from the light ball of “Alkaid” wasn’t absorbed into the “skeleton”. Instead, it expanded further by gathering on the skeleton weirdly in groups; it seemed to be faintly forming pieces of “muscles”.
With the experience from the increased-gravity training ground, Chen Rui faintly understood that once the “muscles” became solid like the “skeleton”, the Alkaid state that was characterized by <Refined Body> would likely be completed. If he truly reached completion of the Alkaid state and subsequently triggered two-star evolution, breaking through to the next state, then rivaling the Greater Demon would no longer be a fantasy.
Practices have proven that the gravity rule is the best way to train the body. In the current state, twice the gravity is of little use already. Subsequently, it should be 4-fold the gravity. However, for 4-fold the gravity, even without any time rule, it still needs 4000 auras per day. The material provided by the old dwarf provided a total of 1,500 auras. Along with the initial 3000, it only totaled to about 4500 points. I should just wait after the trade with Silva the day after tomorrow.
He had been stretched too tightly physically and mentally in these days. Everything needs to be done at an optimal level, otherwise, it will be counterproductive. I’ll better take a break tomorrow during the day, then go to the poison dragon for special training at night.
Chen Rui slept till dawn, got up and ate something. When he was walking out of the lab, he bumped into Slee. The imp reported a thing to him. It turned out that Zach, the centaur from the “Guillotine” blacksmith shop, just purchased a large batch of waste ores, and he wanted to find Chen Rui to deal with them. Yet, it was during Chen Rui’s “seclusion”, and the imp got Aldas’s instructions, so he dared not to disturb Chen Rui in his room. Now that the imp saw his master walking out, he hurriedly reported.
Although 1 ore didn’t provide much aura, it was still something. Chen Rui was in desperate need of aura currently, so he immediately rushed to the blacksmith store.
Zach deliberately bought a large number of “waste ores” with crystals. When he was anxious as he couldn’t do anything with them, he was suddenly overjoyed when he saw Chen Rui came.
“Zach, as Princess Royal gave me a mission, I have been very busy during these 2 months. That’s why I’m late. I’m sorry!”
The human’s apology moved Zach, “My friend, you are now the secretary of Dark Moon City. The mission of Princess Royal is, of course, more important. I’m really grateful for you to make time here to help!”
Chen Rui couldn’t explain much, so he patted Zach’s shoulder, “Well, we’re friends, so let’s not be courteous. Let’s see those minerals.”
Zach immediately took Chen Rui to the yard. There were a lot of ores, approximately 100 pieces. The crystal on them was more than the ones previously. In the blacksmith’s perspective, they were basically useless ores, but they were a lot of auras in Chen Rui’s eyes.
“Chen Rui, there’re quite a lot of ores…” Zach scratched his head in embarrassment. “I’m not sure if you bring enough powder? If you don’t have enough, I can give you some money to buy from the master.”
The more the merrier… Chen Rui said in his mind and shook his head, “Don’t worry. I have enough. Yet, you have to collect all the powders remained after converting the crystals, so that I can give it to Master Aldas for research.”
The centaur obviously agreed instantly for such request. Chen Rui immediately began his work of turning waste into treasure. In Zach’s happy eyes, the annoying crystals on the waste ores magically turned into powder, and the pieces of ores were also “resurrected” subsequently. The more crystals on these waste ores, the more aura was provided. After some hard work, Chen Rui harvested more than 4,000 auras; the total amount was close to 9,000.
Chen Rui received the powder that Zach collected and said, “Zach, let me know the next time you bought minerals. As long as I have time, I’ll come here as soon as possible.”
“Thank you so much.” Zach nodded quickly, “My brother and I also can’t consume too many minerals at once. Besides, the mine’s situation in recent years is very bad. I heard that the thieves even occupied the main mining pit. These waste ores were stolen from the main mining pit by the miners by risking their lives.
Chen Rui learned from Shea that the trade route in the west was controlled by the thieves. However, he didn’t expect them to expand their control over the mines. Although a waste mine could only provide dozens of auras, there was a saying of “many little drops make an ocean”. The waste ores that had been accumulated for hundreds of years could definitely provide a considerable amount of auras.
At present, he was forced into the urgent collection of magic materials such as fluorescent stones. Besides, the cost was too high, so it wasn’t suitable for long-term development. After passing this two-months test, he had to visit the mines and ‘settle’ all the waste ores. That could be considered as a win-win action of turning waste into treasure.
Leaving the blacksmith shop, Chen Rui thought of Alice’s newly opened store. Due to the urgent special training in the past few days, he was unable to attend the opening ceremony. Now that he had nothing to do, obviously he had to go and take a look.
Upon reaching the wide street, he could see the initial “strange” shop at the end of the street from a distance that had a huge signboard with 3 big, magic words: Princess Retail Store.