Chapter 119: Shopping

Chapter 119: Chapter 119: Shopping

The school district house awarded to him by Thirteenth Middle School came with a storefront. After the family discussed it, they decided to rent it out, and his parents continued to work their usual jobs.

After all, the food business was too exhausting. And if they were to sell items related to soul energy, they would need the Alliance’s approval. Getting the various licenses would be a huge hassle, not to mention the difficulty of securing a supply chain.

Thus, the entire family agreed that renting out the whole property was the most sensible option.

As for the prize money, his parents put it on a card for Li Heng and told him to manage it himself. They adamantly refused to take it.

Seeing his parents’ unyielding stance, Li Heng didn’t press the issue and put the card away.

In the next day or two, local media outlets in Maple City contacted Li Heng, hoping to get an exclusive interview, but he turned them down.

And it wasn’t just media from Maple City. Li Heng had a clear plan: ’From now on, I’ll avoid all media interviews whenever possible.’

He had the 200,000 award from Thirteenth Middle School, and after selling off all the unneeded Tier Two medicinal herbs from the medium-sized Space Stone, he made about 600,000 more.

A grand total of 800,000 Alliance coins!

It was worth noting that when Li Heng sold off the Tier Two medicinal herbs, a staff member gave him a reminder.

As long as one passed an identity verification and wasn’t on the Alliance blacklist or a wanted fugitive, they could sell any medicinal herbs.

However, purchasing Tier One or higher herbs required certain prerequisites, such as proof of status as a Tier One Alchemy Master.

Li Heng thanked the staff member for the information but insisted on selling the Tier Two herbs anyway.

It was the first time in his life Li Heng had ever had so much money, and it went to his head a little.

With a fortune in his pocket, Li Heng decided it was time to do some spending.

Because he had found the Cold Ice Python eggs in the Ice Jiao Lake Dungeon, among other reasons, Li Heng’s first stop was a pet store.

Li Heng had always suspected pet stores were expensive, but he never imagined the prices would be this ridiculous.

The eggs of creatures from Secret Realms—not Soul Beasts, but things like wild wolves or Snow Leopards—started at 50,000 Alliance coins.

There was also paperwork to file. All told, acquiring a common Secret Realm Creature would set you back about 80,000 Alliance coins.

Tier One Soul Beasts were divided into high, middle, and low grades, with prices descending accordingly. The pet egg of a top-tier specimen, a Tier One High-Grade Soul Beast, would cost over 500,000 minimum, all told.

As for Tier Two Soul Beasts, they started at a million Alliance coins. Moreover, they wouldn’t even sell one to you unless you had reached the rank of Soul Warrior.

The most valuable item the Maple City pet store had for sale was a Tier Three Middle-Grade Soul Beast egg. Li Heng knew better than to even look at it; he had no desire to, as it was completely out of his league.

Despite being taken aback by the prices of Soul Beast pets, Li Heng was still quite happy as he browsed the store.

After all, just based on his Tier Two High-Grade Ice Luan alone, his visit to the pet store confirmed that he was basically a millionaire.

And the Cold Ice Python eggs from Ice Jiao Lake were also worth a small fortune.

Li Heng hadn’t come to the pet store to buy a pet, but rather to scope out the market. In the end, he only bought some ice-attribute pet food before leaving.

The pet store was just for market research; Li Heng’s real focus was on the skill store.

The service at the skill store was, as always, friendly and attentive, making one feel right at home.

Having been here once before, Li Heng knew the service wasn’t free, so he wasn’t surprised. He went straight to an attendant and told them he wanted to see elemental Body Technique Soul Energy Skills.

The attendant paused for a split second after hearing Li Heng’s request before their professional smile returned. There wasn’t a hint of condescension in their demeanor; they didn’t seem to mind at all that Li Heng was just a kid in a school uniform.

Wind-Thunder Step: 300,000 Alliance coins.

Profound Ice Step: 430,000 Alliance coins.

...

The elemental Body Technique Soul Energy Skills were almost exclusively footwork-based, and the cheapest ones started at three or four hundred thousand coins.

Li Heng specifically asked about ice-elemental Body Techniques, and after searching the system, the attendant began to introduce them to him one by one.

The more Li Heng listened, the deeper his brow furrowed. He then asked if they had any Body Techniques that allowed for direct, short-distance displacement.

But even after the attendant searched through techniques costing over a million coins, none of them had the effect Li Heng was looking for.

In truth, ever since Bao Yongyan had mentioned that they would be facing semi-explored and unknown secret realms in the future, Li Heng had already decided on the foundational Soul Energy Skill for his Soul Warrior rank.

’Flash!’

’Blink!’

’The type of Body Technique doesn’t matter; instant displacement is what’s important. And if it could ignore terrain, that would be even better!’

"Body Technique Soul Energy Skills are indeed a popular category, sir. Unfortunately, our current inventory is limited, and we don’t have any Body Technique skills that produce a displacement effect."

"If you’d like, you can leave your contact information. Should we get a suitable skill in stock, we will be sure to notify you immediately."

"While we don’t have any Body Technique skills with that effect, I did notice while searching that there is a weapon-based Soul Energy Skill that might fit your needs. Would you be interested in seeing it?"

After Li Heng’s repeated inquiries came up empty, the young female attendant offered this multi-part response, her final question posed with a practiced smile.

"Let’s take a look!"

Since there were no Body Technique options, Li Heng decided he might as well see what the weapon skills had to offer.

Snow Patterned Flying Knife: 1,500,000 Alliance coins.

When this technique is used, the throwing knife frosts over, forming snowflake patterns on its surface. Throwing the knife produces an extremely short-range displacement effect. Best suited for those with extremely high ice/snow-type talent.

———

Furong Red Training Spear: 1,330,000.

The spear’s flourish is like a hibiscus blooming from the water. Each thrust can produce an extremely short-range displacement effect within a limited area.

These were the descriptions for the two Soul Energy Skills. In the entire skill store, they were the only two that could produce a displacement effect, and neither of them was for Swordsmanship.

According to the attendant, these were the only two Soul Energy Skills with a displacement effect available in all of Maple City’s skill stores.

’Honestly,’ Li Heng thought, ’if I had to pick one, I’d lean toward the Snow Patterned Flying Knife. A long spear is too difficult to master, and it feels clumsy compared to my own Swordsmanship.’

’But a throwing knife is different. Even though it’s harder to master than a spear, I wouldn’t be throwing it for accuracy.’

’In other words, I couldn’t care less about the knife’s accuracy or lethality. All I need is speed. Speed is everything!’

’Even if I’m just flinging it around blindly, as long as it triggers the displacement effect, that’s good enough. I don’t need it to be accurate or do any damage. I just need to be able to throw it.’

’Come to think of it, the Snow Patterned Flying Knife actually sounds pretty good.’ The idea of displacing himself by throwing a knife suddenly sparked a new concept in Li Heng’s mind.

But wanting it was one thing. There was still one crucial problem staring Li Heng in the face: he only had 800,000 coins, but the Snow Patterned Flying Knife cost 1,500,000.

Li Heng now felt he had gotten ahead of himself earlier. He was still a poor man.