Chapter 49: Eighth-Stage Source Opening (2)
Su Yu wanted to buy some blood essence and see if he could find a suitable weapon for himself. If he had enough money, he also wanted to buy a suitable martial technique. The secondary school would provide foundational martial techniques. Those were low-tier yellow-grade techniques.
At a place like Nanyuan, even if the school provided a better martial technique, the students wouldn't be able to use it either. As for students capable of reaching the eighth-stage Source Opening Realm, Nanyuan might only see one every few decades.
Of course, the instructors had middle-tier yellow-grade or even better techniques, but merit points would be required to purchase those. Su Yu would rather spend some cash instead of merit points. He had finally realized how much more useful merit points were than cash. For example, he would be able to purchase original myriad race texts after entering the academy with merit points. Those were things he wouldn't be able to purchase with money.
In fact, he also had a martial technique with him. The Blood Clotting Blade he had looted previously was a middle-tier yellow-grade technique. His father also had a military-issue technique, but that technique was more suited for those in the Great Strength Realm. The present him would find that technique hard to comprehend.
Chen Hao hurriedly got to work. While sweeping the floor, he asked, "Yu, do you want to buy some beast meat from the Xia Trade Company? We can roast them when we return. They taste wonderful when roasted."
"All you know is eat!" Su Yu chided. "We'll see. Also, it would be fine if nobody asks, but if someone asks the reason I'm buying blood essence, just say that I'm studying Divine Characters."
"Ok. Got it."
Chen Hao wasn't really too worried about that. However, he was also curious as to the reason Su Yu was buying blood essence. If he remembered it correctly, Su Yu had bought quite a lot of blood essence by now. This fellow couldn't be consuming blood, right? According to his father, it was very dangerous for someone to consume blood essence before reaching the Great Strength Realm.
"Yu, why don't you teach me how to form a Divine Character as well?"
"Huh?" Su Yu was stunned. "Are you sure?"
"My dad said that cultural researchers are actually very strong as well. Of course, the warriors are still stronger."
Su Yu rolled his eyes. "Forget it. You want to form a Divine Character? How about you finish reading and master the Source Opening Codex I gave you first?"
Su Yu didn't even bother explaining much to Chen Hao. That fellow would probably disregard most of what he heard, so it would be a waste of time. He was never one to never think too deeply into things.
...
One hour later.
Xia Trade Company.
Su Yu still had 170,000 dollars and ten gold coins with him. Out of respect for Liu Wenyan, the trade company had been allowing him to purchase blood essence at thirty thousand per drop recently. That was much cheaper than their previous price.
"Three drops of iron-winged bird blood essence."
Su Yu was already an old customer at this point. He went straight to the blood and meat section and the supervisor personally received him.
The supervisor did not ask much and directly had some employees go get what Su Yu wanted. When she saw that Su Yu was looking at a different section, he smiled and asked, "Mister Su, are you interested in something else today?"
"What's the price of your weapons?"
"Depends on what you need. As a rule of thumb, Source Opening cultivators only require weapons forged of regular iron. Those at the eighth-stage Source Opening Realm can start using yellow-grade weapons. Those weapons are more suited for them and will be helpful for source qi channeling."
The supervisor continued introducing, "Weapons, cultivation methods, and martial techniques are the same. They're separated into the grades of heaven, earth, profound, and yellow. Their grade is mainly decided by the materials used, which will affect the rate in which they could channel source qi."
Su Yu nodded. He knew that. Regular iron did not have the ability to channel source qi. The training blades in the secondary school were all made of regular iron. These weapons were cheap. However, materials capable of channeling source qi weren't cheap either. Thus, when cultivators reached a point where they needed weapons, they wouldn't be able to get these weapons for cheap.
"Those in the Great Strength and Infinite Strength Realms only need yellow-grade weapons. At the Skysoar Realm, they will need to make an upgrade to profound-grade weapons. The richer ones can even start using earth-grade weapons. Of course, only the big shots at the capital can afford to use those. Nobody in Nanyuan can afford something like that."
The supervisor flashed a smile and asked, "Mister Su, do you want regular iron weapons or proper cultivator weapons?"
"Proper cultivator weapons." Su Yu gave it some thought. "A poor weapon will only last me until the middle-stage Great Strength Realm. At the late-stage Great Strength Realm, one needs to use at least a middle-tier yellow-grade weapon, right?"
"Yes, but it is still too early for you to think about that, Mister Su..." The supervisor was telling the truth. That was still quite far away from Su Yu. "Therefore, a low-tier yellow-grade weapon will be sufficient for you, Mister Su."
Su Yu did not say anything about that. He could unleash the strength of a late-stage Great Strength cultivator with blood essence. He was afraid that a low-tier yellow-grade weapon would be broken after a few times of doing so.
"I want a middle-tier weapon. I can keep using it instead of changing when I reach the late-stage Great Strength Realm." Su Yu asked, "What's the price?"
"Depends on the type of weapon. But for middle-tier yellow-grade weapons, the price ranges between a hundred to three hundred thousand."
"So expensive?" Su Yu frowned. "Premium regular iron weapons can be purchased at around three to five thousand each. Even low-tier yellow-grade weapons will only be around ten thousand each."
"You're right. But a single increase in tier would mean higher forging difficulty and better materials. The cost is much higher."
The supervisor explained, "Mister Su, you're Instructor Liu's student. We won't deliberately raise our price when selling to you. That is a fair price. These weapons are mainly prepared for late-stage Great Strength cultivators. Most middle-stage Great Strength cultivators won't use them."
"For those at the seventh-stage Great Strength Realm and above, that is an expensive but affordable price."
Su Yu was speechless. Affordable? Were they serious? Would his father be able to afford a weapon like that? Wait, his father would probably really be able to afford it. But his father would have to pay the price of losing half his life savings to buy only an average quality weapon. To get the best in the tier, his father would probably need to exhaust all his savings for one such weapon.
"After spending ninety thousand on the three drops of blood essence, I still have eighty thousand in cash and ten gold coins, adding to a total of 180,000 dollars in value. I can afford a weapon, but...this is too expensive.
"I'll also be needing martial techniques...I'm better off forgetting that. I guess I'll be practicing the Blood Clotting Blade. It is trash, but it's good enough for now."
After a quick calculation, Su Yu discovered that although he could earn money easily, it was even easier to spend all he had earned. He was going to finish spending the three hundred thousand his father left him soon. Even the ten gold coins he looted previously would probably be spent soon.
His instructor was right. Martial cultivation was for the rich while studying was for the poor. If even Great Strength weapons were so expensive, how about the Infinite Strength Realm? Or the Skysoar Realm?
Cultivation methods, martial techniques, weapons, blood essence, pills...At the thought of all that, Su Yu shivered. No wonder those fellows from the Windcatcher Department were so eager to hunt the Myriad Race Cult, sparing no effort to get even one cult member. Those cult members were basically walking bags of money.
One could earn a single merit point for an early-stage Great Strength cult member, two merit points for middle-stage, and three merit points for late-stage. There was much more money in that compared to the paltry salary they received.
Before long, Su Yu received the blood essence he bought. As for the weapons sold in the trade company, he did not bother checking them up. Most weapons sold in Nanyuan were standardized weapons similar to what the military used.
If he wanted custom-made weapons, he needed to go to the capital. In any case, custom-made weapons would be excessively expensive anyway. He would probably have to forget about it and just use a regular standardized weapon for now. A standardized middle-tier yellow-grade weapon was priced at 150,000 dollars. That was the price after his special discount.
As for his choice to use sabers, that was because that was what the secondary school had trained him in. That was also his father's weapon of choice in the army. There was a saying that the saber represented the courage of soldiers. But the main reason for the saber to be so widespread in the military was due to the relative ease in which one could learn it. Weapons such as spear, sword, halberd, and so on were much harder to learn.
With a saber in hand, one could make it work even if one was randomly swinging it around. One would not end up injuring oneself doing so. But if one did the same with a sword, perhaps one would only get away if one was using a broadsword. A smaller sword with a flexible blade could easily injure an inexperienced user.
After paying for his purchases, Su Yu was left with thirty thousand in cash. He would need to keep that money for his daily expenses. He had completely given up on martial techniques. He was broke! Sure, he still had some merit points, but he had more use for them. He wasn't willing to waste them.
"Three drops of blood essence can activate the book three times. I can use them for either cultivation or combat. They won't last long...Sigh. My money is flowing away like tap water. Life is so hard."
While leaving with what he had bought, he made a short calculation. With three drops of blood essence and thirteen merit points, he hoped to reach the ninth-stage Source Opening Realm. He wouldn't be able to make more money for now. Nowadays, the Source Opening and the Great Strength Realms weren't exactly money-making realms.
If his instructor hadn't brought him everywhere to hunt the Myriad Race Cult, he wouldn't even have the chance to earn more merit points. Nanyuan did not lack Great Strength cultivators. The entire Windcatcher Department was eagerly waiting for more cult members to appear.
"Hao..."
"What?"
Chen Hao, who was walking out of the trade company with Su Yu, was still daydreaming about roasted beast meat. He appeared dazed when his name was suddenly called.
"If I sell my house, will my father whoop my ass when he returns and find his house gone?"
"..."
Chen Hao was dumbstruck. Yu was selling his house?
Su Yu continued muttering, "If I sell the house, I can get at least 500,000 dollars. But I'm afraid that my father will come back and see that he no longer has a house. He'll probably pick up a saber and turn me into mincemeat on the sidewalk."
Chen Hao nodded repeatedly, "Don't court death! If I sell my house, my parents can probably spend a lifetime hunting me down. Yu, you need to calm down!"
Chen Hao wiped his sweat. He was feeling nervous on behalf of Su Yu. He concluded that a top student was very scary when they went crazy.
"I'm just saying. Do you think I'll really do it?"
Su Yu smiled. How would he do that? Even if he wanted...he wouldn't be able to! The house was under his father's name. His father was absent and the ownership of the house had yet to be transferred. How was he supposed to sell it? Sigh. He regretted that he hadn't asked for the ownership before his father left. Otherwise, he could keep the house as his final trump card to be used during emergencies.
...
Allheaven Battlefield.
Within a military tent.
Su Long was muttering, "I left that kid over three hundred thousand dollars. I'm also sending my monthly salary back. With my monthly salary of over ten thousand, that is enough money to keep that kid fed for life. If he doesn't squander the money away, it will probably be enough for him to buy a small house in the capital by the time I return."
Su Long was confident that his son wasn't the kind of person to spend money recklessly.
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