Chapter 1116 Moontooth Port
No matter how much it hurt Xia Fei to do so, he still had to take out a large number of White Pearls just to supply the rate at which Silver Specter went through energy. It had a huge advantage over the average wars.h.i.+p, but precisely because of its highly advanced system, its energy consumption was simply too much.
The Silver Specter could use Origin Crystals, refined or not, as its energy source; it was the same for White Pearls and the Spirit Energy Xia Fei had stored in his seventh brain region.
Unfortunately, the great variety of energy, which could be used, did not change the fact that the s.h.i.+p continued to generate staggering expenditure. Piloting the Silver Specter across the stars would cost them at least three hundred times the energy needed to pilot a wars.h.i.+p of the same cla.s.s, and this was without the premise of forced acceleration. As such, anyone could tell just how frightening the propulsion power of this s.h.i.+p.
“Coordinates confirmed. According to calculations, 55% of max propulsion is required for us to reach our destination onboard this s.h.i.+p,” Radix informed with a sigh.
Xia Fei turned to Fuchen and wondered, “Just what sort of place are we heading with those coordinates from you? Why is the starmap completely blank?”
Fuchen chuckled. “Starmap? Such a thing is used by commoners. There are so many secret locations out in the universe, so how can they be noted down? The place we’re heading is a marketplace—one that Spiritualists gather to trade. Don’t look at me for information, though. That place is very remote, and while I know of its location, I haven’t been there myself.”
Xia Fei nodded. It made perfect sense for the starmaps not to mark places of great importance, otherwise there was no need for it to remain a secret. A truly important location like such would all be faithfully remembered by those who were in the know, and spread by words of mouth.
“A marketplace for Spiritualists? This ought to be interesting,” Xia Fei shrugged.
Moontooth Port, an inconspicuous s.p.a.ce fortress in the universe.
After showing their identification, the Silver Specter was allowed to dock in Moontooth Port.
Fuchen’s credentials were faked, as he did not belong to the Spiritualist a.s.sociation, nor in anything that had to do with Spiritualists. The reasons for this, Xia Fei could guess at least 80% without needing to ask any questions.
Nonetheless, given the position he held, Fuchen had not had difficulty obtaining his fake ID. Xia Fei even secretly contemplated if he should get a set for himself, too. This way, being able to berth at fortresses, where all sorts of Spiritualists gathered, would be very easy.
As for joining the Spiritualist a.s.sociation, that would be impossible for Xia Fei. Fuchen had a strong dislike to people in the same field, and considering how good a relations.h.i.+p the two shared, it would not be wise for Xia Fei to annoy Fuchen by doing so. After they disembarked from the s.h.i.+p, an AI robot led the way for them. This reminded Xia Fei of Avril and Pod, wondering how both were doing at the moment.
Directly outside the port was an old city district, with the streets deserted. The occasional shops were shuttered, making it seem like Xia Fei and his crew had come at a bad time.
Fuchen casually pointed at a restaurant and said, “It isn’t easy to open a shop here, as each one needs a Spiritualist’s vouching. Actually, the common folks make up a majority of the population where Spiritualists gather, with the Spiritualists themselves only taking a trip at such places at fixed dates.
On
II
“Today isn’t one of their scheduled gatherings, so no Spiritualists can be seen around. Don’t you worry, though, for a few stores here and there are bound to be open all year round in case of emergency. You’re looking for Origin Crystals, and that’s hardly a big deal.”
Xia Fei nodded and headed toward the square. At the center was a large fountain, which was not on, completely covered in moss. Several crows were drinking from the fountain.
This was the central district, and many of the shops here were operational.
Xia Fei and Fuchen randomly found one with a fairly respectable storefront and entered. The place itself was quite dim, and no one could be found inside. There was only a bell at the door to summon the storekeeper. Just as Xia Fei moved to reach out and tug on it, Fuchen’s hand shot out and stopped him.
“Use Spirit Energy, so people’ll know that it’s a Spiritualist present,” Fuchen advised.
Xia Fei promptly circulated Spirit Energy into his palm and lightly tapped the bell. Unexpectedly, the bell did not ring. It turned out that this bell actually did not have a clapper part to make a jingling sound. If Xia Fei had casually rung it moments ago, he would have definitely become a laughingstock. Very soon, an elderly man with white beard came out. He looked fairly lively, with his sparkling eyes. In tow was a young servant. “Please be seated, masters.” The elderly man was fairly courteous, inviting them to take seats at the tea table in the center of the parlor before sending the young servant to fetch some good tea.
“These two masters must’ve come from afar, seeing as I don’t find either of you familiar,” the elderly man said with a smile.
“Indeed, we were pa.s.sing by when we ran low of some materials,” Fuchen answered softly, putting on airs.
“Please don’t hesitate to ask if either master has any needs that I can fulfill. This isn’t the time when the market is open, so many shops on the streets are closed, but our little store doesn’t dare to follow their example, all because we are worried about figures like yourselves encountering trouble in the area and then making impromptu visits. If we’re not around, we’d inevitably be neglecting distinguished guests.”
These words were said with much courtesy, leaving a favorable impression to Xia Fei and Fuchen.
Xia Fei asked casually, “Is business always
good?”
The expression on this elderly man’s face immediately turned ugly when he heard the question, heaving a sigh as he lamented, “How could it be good? You two distinguished guest must know that there are fewer and fewer people in the circle and we’re out here in a remote region of the Alpha Universe. If I’m being honest, even during the fifteenth of every month when the market is at the busiest, the people out and about on the streets hardly exceed what you’re seeing today.”
“So the business is that bad?” Xia Fei asked with knitted eyebrows.
“The important figures have all been invited to more bustling locations, and they can’t be blamed for accepting. After all, humans will always seek to rise just as water will always flow lower. I heard from those in the a.s.sociation that the people on top are in the midst of discussing if they should disband this particular branch. If they push through with that, then this one will have to go for an early retirement, head back to my home planet and spend the rest of my old age there.”
Fuchen smiled and said, “It’s not a bad thing to lead the rest of your life in peace. There’s no way for us to earn every single pearl in the universe, after all. Our s.h.i.+p is out of energy, and we require some unrefined crystals. If there’s none of that, we can also take the refined crystals. Plus, if there’s anything good in your store, do take them out for us to look. Send forth some of the local specialities and delicacies for us to sample on, too.”
The elderly man agreed, but he eyed Fuchen with suspicion, for it was rare to find an esteemed Spiritualist who would actually be keen on buying food to eat.
The elderly man accompanied his a.s.sistant back inside to retrieve the sought items, leaving Xia Fei and Fuchen in the parlor, with the latter taking a sip of tea as he said to the former, “This is the current situation of Spiritualists. The status they hold increases as time goes by, even as their numbers dwindle year after year. Right now, aside from some of the flouris.h.i.+ng star regions, there are hardly any traces of Spiritualists left.”
After a pause, Fuchen mentioned, “I have to tell you a secret: The Spiritualists who end up staying in remote and farflung places often have secrets; they are either secretly forging soul weapons in distant regions or have offended a major force and are afraid of returning. This is especially true for those forging soul weapons. There are even rumors going around that some have dabbled in tabooed items.”
“Tabooed items?” Xia Fei asked, curious.
“Dark soul weapons…” Fuchen whispered secretively.
Before he finished speaking, the shopkeeper had already returned, so both men could only shelf their conversation.
“These are the best ones our little shop has for sale, including the crystals that you two require. They are all grade 8 Origin Crystals, the best of the best,” the elderly man said with a big smile on his face.
“Will this much be enough?” Xia Fei wondered aloud.
In front of him was just small crate containing at most fifty grade 8 Origin Crystals. This much energy would be consumed the moment the Silver Specter accelerated once and was definitely nowhere enough for him to make the trip back to Garde
83.
The elderly man was taken aback and exclaimed, “Did you two perhaps come here onboard a Supercarrier? These are fifty grade 8 Origin Crystals we’re talking about!”
Xia Fei chuckled and replied, “Don’t ask so many questions. The s.h.i.+p I’m on is a little energy-intensive, that’s all. In any case, just give me all the Origin Crystals your store has in stock. I’ll take whatever I can.”
The elderly man walked out, all suspicious. Fuchen laughed. “What an appet.i.te. You’re intending to buy all their stock, but you ought to do your calculations first. Though the Silver Specter is really powerful, its energy consumption isn’t small by all means. I suggest that you find it a stable energy source, for it’ll be terrible if we run out of propulsion during emergency situations.”
Xia Fei nodded but said nothing in response. This was a problem that he had already been mulling over.
The greatest trait that the Silver Specter had was its explosive speed! Even at normal cruising speed, it would take three hundred times the energy that a wars.h.i.+p of a similar cla.s.s consumed when operating at maximum. It would be even perfectly normal if it broke past ten thousand times, making the s.h.i.+p’s consumption even more ridiculous than that of a whole fleet.
The best solution was to use top-grade crystals; grade 9 crystals, colorless and transparent, were a hundred times greater than the black grade 8. If Xia Fei could get his hands on a batch of such top-grade items, perhaps it would be enough for the Silver Specter to burn through for a while.
Unfortunately, while Origin Crystals were cheap in the Alpha Universe, that did not include the grade 9 Origin Crystals. After all, with few available on the market, there was no way for anyone to purchase them in bulk. Even if he got hold of them, it would still come at a price that Xia Fei could not afford.
As for using Spirit Energy, Xia Fei was even more unwilling to do that. He would rather save them for combat or for forging soul weapons.
Thinking of this, Xia Fei and Fuchen browsed through the items that the storekeeper had brought out. Several were soul weapons, while some were books that Spiritualists could use, information like when to set up soul arrays or how to position them and the like.
These were pretty low level items, so forget Fuchen, even Xia Fei did not care to spare them a second glance. In Xia Fei’s many years of experience, it was imperative for his equipment and items to be excellent and forever-improving. He would rather go broke buying the very best than settle for inferior products. After all, the quality of equipment was a matter of life and death.
There was a compa.s.s that seemed to give off a different aura to others, giving Xia Fei this somewhat strange sensation, so much so that he could not help but spare it a few more glances.
“See anything?” Fuchen asked with squinted
eyes.
“Something’s different. What, is there something else to this?” asked Xia Fei curiously.
Fuchen chuckled, happily elaborating, “That item was once mixed with a dark soul weapon, which is why it’s tainted a little by dark aura. Sure enough, Spiritualists in remote corners of the universe are far too dishonest. Who knows? Maybe this store has connections to Spiritualists that forge dark soul weapons.”
“Should we buy it?” Xia Fei asked in a hushed voice, immediately perking up when he heard of dark soul weapons.
“It’s just something insignificant; what do we want it for?” Fuchen waved his hands dismissively, thinking nothing of it. At the end of the day, he was a well-traveled man, and such trinkets hardly caught his eye.
Soon, that elderly man returned with even more crystals. Actually, there were not a lot, so he had even brought out the unrefined ores on top of the refined crystals, totalling to somewhere below two thousand seven hundred pieces.
After tallying, the bill came up to more than ten million pearls. Fortunately, Xia Fei still had the hundred million pearls from Yeyun’s payment for his services last time, so he could afford this purchase. Of course, the trip out here, which had cost him close to ten million pearls, made Xia Fei feel very heartbroken.
Paying the bill, Xia Fei and Fuchen turned to leave.
This was when the elderly man appeared to feel quite panicky, stopping them by asking, “Did none of the items pique the interest of the two distinguished masters?”
Xia Fei was observant, and from the disappointment in the elderly man’s eyes, he caught a hint of anxiety?
Disappointment was to be expected for failing to make a trade, but why would he feel anxious?
‘Could he be holding some unspeakable secrets?’ Xia Fei wondered to himself.