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2.74% Global Era of Star Trekking / Chapter 19: Chapter 19: The Bustling Zhu Tian Ruins Market

Chapter 19: Chapter 19: The Bustling Zhu Tian Ruins Market

The rules listed on the screen were numerous, but the one pinned at the very top, with just eight characters, read:

1: Willing seller, willing buyer, free trade.

The second rule was even more succinct:

2: Fighting and conflict prohibited.

As for the subsequent ones, each rule was not overly strict, yet they all ensured the basic order of the Ruins Market, as well as Song Chi's own profits.

3: A 10% transaction tax is required for each Ruins Market transaction.

4: In case of language barriers, one may use the universal translator available at the entrance of the Ruins Market for a fee of one Zero Rank Life Core per use.

100: The duration of this Ruins Market transaction is 24 hours, with 23:58:27 remaining.

Having arranged everything, Song Chi entered the Ruins Market, not as the lord of the market but as a curious youngster seemingly fortunate enough to find his way there, looking here and there.

Before long, a slight spatial fluctuation emerged at the entrance to the Ruins Market, and a creature with the body of a human and the head of a bull, holding a hefty mace, stepped out from one of the Spatial Gates, its eyes filled with vigilance.

As the Lord of the Ruins Market, Song Chi received a prompt from the Ruins Market the instant the creature arrived.

However, he did not look back but continued browsing the various shops. Having opened the Ruins Market for the first time, he naturally had to demonstrate how to shop to prevent subsequent creatures from entering the market without understanding how to proceed.

As expected, after the Minotaur read the string of rules on the screen at the entrance, it noticed Song Chi moving from one shop to another and quickly followed suit, examining the items for sale in each shop.

While discreetly observing the creature, Song Chi also searched through the "Compendium of Starry Sea Civilizations and Creatures" stored on his communication bracelet and soon found information on the newcomer.

Race Name: Bull-headed People Tribe

Introduction: A common hybrid race in the Shattered Starry Sea, most of whom still live in a primitive, tribal civilization.

Racial Advantage: Reverence for martial strength, individuals possess astonishing combat power.

Racial Weakness: Technological development is almost non-existent; they rely too much on their physical bodies.

Song Chi raised an eyebrow and breathed a sigh of relief.

"It looks like at least one of the ten Spatial Gates has landed on an unknown Level Starry Sea Floating Land. Not bad at all, at least it ensures I won't come out empty-handed."

According to the information he had gathered about the many Zhu Tian Ruins Markets, he knew that the placement of the Spatial Gates was completely random. They might not necessarily land on a Starry Sea Floating Land but could appear in the quiet starry sky or an uninhabited Asteroid Belt, and so on.

Therefore, in the history of the Ruins Market, there were embarrassing occasions where not a single creature had entered, especially in the early phases of Zero Rank Ruins Markets where the probability was highest.

Lost in thought, the Zero Rank Minotaur entered a shop displaying Basic Gene Optimization Potions. After scanning the central screen describing the potions' effects, the Minotaur's expression turned to one of ecstatic joy.

Yet, soon after, it resumed its guarded demeanor.

"%@༏%]/@"

The creature suddenly spoke, and simultaneously, Song Chi heard the creature's voice even while he was in another shop.

Song Chi's face showed no confusion. The language spoken by the other creature was not the Torch Human Race's but the common language of the Starry Sea. Being someone who had received over twenty years of High Level education, he understood it perfectly.

The meaning of the creature's words was simple: "How can the effect of these gene optimization potions be confirmed?"

Song Chi pondered for a moment, then with a thought, the message on the screen in the center of the Genetic Optimizing Potion Shop changed to form a coherent sentence in the universal language of the Starry Sea.

"You can pay a deposit to test it personally."

Seeing the words appear on the screen, the Minotaur's expression grew tense. As an Elite Warrior of the "Cangniu" tribe, it cherished its life; it was not willing to risk using an unfamiliar potion, which could be either real or fake, toxic or non-toxic.

After some hesitation, the Ruins Market suddenly stirred with activity from outside, indicating that other creatures had also entered the "Zhu Tian Ruins Market". In desperation, the creature decided it could not hesitate any longer. It took out "fifty" Zero Rank Life Cores as collateral for the shop and then drank down a potion.

The next second, it felt a powerful and gentle heat spread throughout its body, coursing through every inch of its flesh, repairing and remodelling every cell, while intense pain erupted from every part of its body.

Two minutes later, when the Minotaur reopened its eyes, the sharpness in its gaze could no longer be concealed. Feeling the seemingly inexhaustible strength within its body and its physical fitness nearly doubled, the Minotaur had never felt so powerful.

Coming to its senses, it quickly spoke.

"I'll take all the remaining 99 gene optimization potions."

With that, it proceeded to take out more Life Cores from its body. As an Elite Warrior of the "Cangniu" tribe, it had no shortage of Life Cores.

However, just then, footsteps sounded from behind along with a fluent use of the universal language of the Starry Sea.

"Hold on, I also want to purchase these gene optimization potions."

Turning to look, the creature entering the shop had an exceedingly large head, with two tentacles supporting a brain that constituted over 90% of its body weight, presenting a strange appearance.

The attitude of this creature was clear; it too wanted to purchase gene optimization potions. Even without trying the potion first, it was not hard to deduce from the Minotaur's urgency that the effect of the potion must indeed be astonishing.

At that moment, a new message appeared on the central virtual screen of the shop.

"Each customer may only purchase a maximum of 10 potions at a time."

Not far down the street, unable to find information on that large-headed creature in the Compendium of Starry Sea Civilizations and Creatures, Song Chi understood that it was a new species undiscovered by Torchlight Humanity.

But that was not the focus. Song Chi felt a twinge of regret; had he known that the Primary Gene Optimization Potion would be so popular, he would have bought more. A "five times" markup, what's faster than that for making money?

Reluctantly, he added the "single person ten potion maximum" rule. With the limited stock he had, better to generate more interest rather than selling out in one go.

And, as expected, after learning about the purchase limit, the Minotaur and the large-headed creature each bought ten potions and hurriedly left the Ruins Market, evidently to call their kin.

ps: New book asks for recommendations, follow-up reading.


Chapter 20: Chapter 20: The Discovery of the Street Stall Area

As time went on, the number of creatures in the Ruins Market increased more and more, quickly reaching several hundreds. Under the deterrence of ten First Rank Fire Peony Soldier Figurines, these creatures of different races were exceptionally well-behaved. Several hours had passed, and not a single one had caused any trouble, which somewhat surprised Song Chi.

In just a short time, the goods he had bought wholesale yesterday had all been sold out, each at least tripling his selling price, which truly earned him a handsome profit.

Yet, beyond the joy, Song Chi also felt a sigh in his heart.

His initial capital had indeed been too little, meaning that even with the several times markup, the materials only earned him just under a thousand threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin. It was not too little by any means, but it definitely wasn't too much either.

Fortunately, the transactions in the free stall area continued unabated, and the simple transaction tax also allowed Song Chi to earn quite a bit more.

With funds of over a thousand threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin, Song Chi felt confident and, donning the guise of a trader, blended into the stall area.

Of course, the phrase "a thousand threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin" was just a figure of speech; it didn't mean that he had more than a thousand threads of Floating Land Origin in his hands. In fact, what he had more of now were Life Cores, but based on the exchange rate in the Torch Human Civilization's domain, their total value exceeded that of a thousand threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin.

Resources like Floating Land Origin are typically used as currency only by Starry Sea Civilizations of Intermediate level or higher. For the lower civilizations, the Life Core is the hard currency.

...

The stall area wasn't large, and an area of 10mx10m seemed exceedingly crowded for the count of over several hundred intelligent Starry Sea beings.

Seeing this, Song Chi spent 150 threads of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin to upgrade the Ruins Market from lv0 to lv5.

In the midst of the puzzled expressions of hundreds of intelligent beings, the Zhu Tian Ruins Market began to rapidly expand, quickly growing from a size of 100mx100m to 300mx300m.

At the same time, the size of the stall area also increased from a meager 10mx10m to a 30mx30m, and although it was still crowded, it was much better than before.

Name: Zhu Tian Ruins Market

Ruins Market Master: Song Chi

Level: lv5

Size: 300mX300m

Basic Configuration: 24 vacant shops, 1 stall area of 30mx30m, 1 inn with 30 guest rooms, 1 lv0 All-Attributes Cultivation Room (efficiency doubled when cultivating Spectral Energy), 1 lv0 Spectral Energy Protection Formation, 1 lv0 Ultra Long-Distance Space Gate Random Deployment Platform.

Additional Configuration: None (0/4)

Feature: Averting Misfortune (able to move freely in the void, mysteriously avoiding natural disasters)

UpRank Requirement: 60 threads of Floating Land Origin (Zero Rank), Ruins Market transaction volume to reach 600 threads of Floating Land Origin (Zero Rank)

Note: An inconspicuous little Ruins Market located in the dark side of Shattered Starry Sea appears to allow only First Rank and below creatures to enter, but it has good potential.

Looking at the Ruins Market attribute panel that only he could see before him, Song Chi's brows slightly furrowed.

Even the additional configuration slots increased by two when the Ruins Market level was raised to lv5, but the All-Attributes Cultivation Room, the Ultra Long-Distance Space Gate Random Deployment Platform, and the Spectral Energy Protection Array remained unchanged. Clearly, if he wanted to enhance these features later, it would evidently require additional resources.

Receiving this news did not improve his mood.

The only consolation for him was the Ruins Market's once-a-month opening, which was still quite lucrative. As long as he had enough initial capital and the location of the Spatial Gate deployment was also decent, the income would be quite stable.

After upgrading the Ruins Market, Song Chi began to browse the various stalls, trying to see if he could pick up any bargains.

The prices of items around the Shattered Starry Sea varied greatly; maybe some cheap goods in the hands of other Alien Races were extremely scarce resources in the Torch Human Civilization's domain.

His gaze swept over the stalls, and Song Chi kept shaking his head.

"A ton of Refined Iron Ore, asking for twenty Zero Rank Life Cores, that's twice as expensive as the market price outside. Even dogs would shake their heads at this."

"Two tons of Mithril Ore, asking for eight First Rank Life Cores, this is actually cheaper than the market price, but without a distribution channel, going through the black market would actually result in a loss, so that won't do."

...

Several minutes later, Song Chi paused, stopping in front of a small stall set up by a Minotaur.

His gaze seemed to drift, but he was constantly watching a palm-sized black sphere out of the corner of his eye.

[Strange Object: Refined Gold Ore]

[Quality: White]

[Evolvable into: 1{Gold Moon Scimitar},2{Goldrock Shield},3{Goldrock Ship Armor}]

[Note: A fine piece among the white strange objects.]

This unremarkable black spherical object turned out to be a white strange object.

When he first found it, Song Chi was extremely excited. His earlier mention of finding a bargain was about looking to sift through for some goods with a price difference; he hadn't even thought about strange objects, and completely did not expect to come across such a big surprise.

It's known that every Starry Sea oddity is extremely precious, requiring a very long time to be nurtured. Even the lowest-ranked white oddities are no exception.

Pretending to browse the other items on the stall, Song Chi eventually picked up the black sphere casually.

"What is this?"

Hearing his question, the Minotaur stall owner scratched his head in embarrassment. He had acquired the stone after killing a warrior from a rival tribe and had never been able to figure out exactly what kind of ore it was, only that it was extraordinarily hard, and even the best blacksmith in his tribe could not refine it.

"If you want it, take it for 100 Zero Rank Life Cores. The ore is of very high quality, and once forged into a weapon, its destructive power would be absolutely astonishing."

Song Chi frowned and started bargaining.

"Not even knowing what kind of metal ore it is, 100 Zero Rank Life Cores is too high. How about we cut it in half, to 50 cores?"

Agreeing directly would raise suspicion, only through several rounds of haggling could he avoid raising doubts.

In the end, Song Chi bought the white strange object for 75 Zero Rank Life Cores.

Looking at the Refined Gold Ore in his hand, his face remained unchanged, but he was already smiling inside.

As its name suggests, Refined Gold Ore is essentially a kind of ore. However, Refined Gold Ore is the essence gathered from an entire large vein of Refined Gold, and its value far exceeds that of ordinary Refined Gold Ore.

From its attributes panel, it was clear that as a Metal Attribute oddity, it could not only be transformed into the armor of the Torch Warship but also into a weapon and shield for individual use.

With this acquisition, Song Chi got a taste for more and started appearing more frequently around various stalls, although he did not find a second Starry Sea oddity.

On the way, he did purchase several batches of supplies seldom seen in the strongholds of Torch Civilization, which could still make him a profit of over a hundred strands of Zero Rank Floating Land Origin if he later sold them through the black market—better than nothing.

As time ticked by, and as the time for this Ruins Market to be open had already passed by more than half, Song Chi's expression began to look a bit troubled.

He remembered clearly that he had set a Spatial Gate to be deployed within a Mechanical Race's domain, which had been recorded by Torchlight Humanity, but up to now, no Mechanical Race beings had entered the market, which disappointed him.


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