Chapter 143: Dimensional Items

"Not selling." Luke replied. "I’ve seen what it can do, and I want to keep it for myself, to strengthen my Beast and me. So, I’m not too inclined to part with it."

"Brother, don’t be so quick to refuse."

The Department Head Man said desperately.

"Hear me out. This Insect Metal, it’s not as simple as just forging a weapon. Its suppleness, its sensing properties... if innovatively developed, they could be applied to city defense fortifications, to Beast armor, could give rise to no end of new things.

You know how many years the Beast Armor on the market has been stuck on flexibility? Never solved. This material of yours could break that deadlock."

The blacksmith added too: "That’s right, I just forged one piece into your spear and the Affix jumped by seven turns just like that, tracking up fifty percent. And that’s just from the smallest piece of the material! If there were more, the things humanity could do— you can’t even imagine!"

Luke wished they can see he was similarly enthusiastic.

Every of his Dimensional Items was a world-shaking thing.

If these got out into the world, they would change it and pioneer a new era.

But on the surface, he must put on the act of someone slowly coming to understand.

"So it’s really that powerful? I did only just find out this thing had such great uses."

The Department Head Man smiled and asked, anticipating, "So you’re willing to sell, then?"

"No. I understand now that it’s useful to society. But I still don’t feel I have any obligation to sell it to you or help the very society."

"Why not?"

"I risked my life to get these things out of the Dungeon." Luke said. "Why should I sell it cheap? I’d rather use it to strengthen myself and my Beast. This is something I fought for myself, and I have the right to use it myself."

Unfortunately, this could not be denied.

When something is obtained at a risk, the value must not be measured linearly.

Since the one who obtained it had paid the price, there was no reason to give it away cheaply. It could instead be used to strengthen oneself and one’s Beast.

Overall, make oneself a better summoner.

Ember Knight Guild was somewhat embarrassed for putting Luke in this position.

"He has no idea of the value of what he holds in his hands," the Head Man thought.

"This is a discovery of monumental proportions. A Hunter with such precious rewards, yet he has no interest in selling them. If the Ember Knights Guild can be the first to convince him and secure these goods, our standing within the city will be completely different. After all, among the powers of this city, we are not considered one of the most influential."

"We shouldn’t press too hard and scare this young man away!"

"Brother, don’t rush. We’re not forcing you. If you want it for yourself, then use it for yourself. No pressure at all," the Head Man said. "But if you ever want to sell in the future, come find us anytime. The price is negotiable, you name it. Whatever you have now, or whatever else you find later, we’ll take it all."

"You want all of it?" Luke asked.

"All of it. You’re just one summoner, surely you can’t use that much, can you? Too much just sitting around is still just sitting around — might as well trade it for something solid."

Luke kept up his sense of "not quite understanding," thought it over for a moment, and nodded, saying this arrangement sounded fine.

Finally, the two sides exchanged contact, so establishing a line between.

But before leaving, Luke possessed them with a second Insect Metal (Size 1).

"This one’s a gift," he said. "Consider it a sample. Take it, try it out, see what other uses you can develop from it."

Overjoyed, the two men thanked him profusely.

"Definitely! Definitely!" the Head Man. "Safe travels!"

The excitement to experiment on this Insect Metal had them disregard Luke’s initial inertia and embrace his generous part.

Little did they know that Luke was taking them for bench pigeons.

Feed them something little, and they would come again.

One piece of the Insect Metal (Size 1) was nowhere near enough to satisfy their thirst. Thus, they’d keep thinking about it, and keep wanting more.

This way, the initiative remained in his own hands.

Finally, Luke turned and left.

He realized he got both trust and demand without trying to sell his Dimensional Items in the first place.

Since there’s a working method, this was the time to open more arteries for his success.

Luke had other Dimensional Items— Insect Leather, Insect Thread, Insect Cloth, these three needed buyers too. Who was the target? Tailors.

In this carnival, tailors were everywhere you looked.

To get a tailor to use Insect Thread, you needed a cloth, and to get the tailor to use Insect Cloth, Luke first needs a piece of Beast Armor, then instructs the tailor to sew the cloth into the Beast Armor. Hence, he started with the Insect Cloth first.

So he went for a stroll and saw a Primal-rank Falcon Hound Beast, forging a chest plate sized to fit it.

Luke couldn’t use his own Beast Armor because the rank was far too high, so giving any to a tailor would warrant curious questions.

And so, a mere piece of Primal-grade Beast Armor ended up stuffed full of Dimensional Items!

Insect Cloth sewn in, Insect Thread woven in, Insect Leather tucked into the lining. To an outsider’s eye, it just looked like fine craftsmanship. Only those in the trade could see what was really going on underneath!

The Guilds he interacted with were the Green Grace Guild, Nexus Guild, and Ox Guild.

All small Guilds, the unranked sort. But they adored the samples Luke gave them, eyes lighting up one after another, all but ready to hand over cash on the spot for more.

Subsequently, Luke liked the fact that he was starting at the ground level of the market with low-rank guilds.

Small Guilds sat at the bottom, big Guilds sat at the top. Building his way up from the bottom was like climbing a ladder, rung by rung.

If the lower rungs are firmly in place, the upper rungs would be easier to climb.

Only this way could his goods sell wide, and sell whole.

There was one commodity he was yet to advertise.

〖Insect Rune〗

He didn’t know what it was, but would get to.

"Two hours, and I’ve got these deals all worked out," Luke muttered to himself. "If Seraphina hasn’t been slacking off, she ought to have made some progress by now too."

He arrogantly summoned Seraphina back from wherever she’d wandered off to, so he could catch her in the act if she wasn’t cultivating.

One moment Seraphina had been doing who-knows-what, the next she was standing in front of Luke.

"Seraphina, got anything to explain??"

Luke questioned the enormous ball of cotton candy in her hands.

"Master, it’s not what you think." Seraphina panicked, making it disappear. "I was resting. Because I’d made progress. I’ve witnessed a hundred acts of Kindness. All that’s left now is acts of Cruelty."

"Then why didn’t the System give me a notification? You’re already over halfway through this," Luke asked.

"It did. Maybe you didn’t see it."

Luke muttered something under his breath, then summoned the System to check Serpahina’s panel. Sure enough, there was now a progress bar for 〖Cultivation Condition One〗. And it was at — 50/50.

He rubbed his chin. Somewhat unexpected.

The Empyreal Angel really witnessed a hundred acts of Good before Evil?

So, were there more good deeds than evil ones in this world?

In this day and age?

"Master, there was a stall in the middle section of the carnival," Seraphina said. "I cast a spell on the guard to let me in without payment. Inside, I witnessed the birth of a Flame Horse and a Solitary Lion!"

"?"

"Master, you don’t understand, these two Combat Beasts are the finest bloodline the Ox Guild has! Their mother beast was paired through the Black Stone Conglomerate’s Bio-Magical Techniques!"

Luke pressed his fingers to his temple.

"Seraphina, I’ll hear the rest of your story later. Let me just think for a moment. I need to work out how much Evil you’ve still got left to go, and where I should take you to make up the difference."

"Master, you don’t understand." Seraphina grew anxious. "Witnessing the birth of a Beast is also a path of cultivation! I’ve already started on Cultivation Condition Three!"

Luke: "What?" "Walking two paths at once?"

Was that even possible?

Luke had his doubts.

He thought of Amigo, his little Astral Tortoiseling.

Luke and Amigo knew firsthand just how rigid Amigo’s Conditions and Paths were. Also, Amigo hadn’t even finished a Branch of one Path, let alone opened two at the same time.

But if Seraphina had managed it... that would mean her evolutionary tendencies were more flexible than Amigo’s.

Walking two paths in parallel — maybe it wasn’t impossible after all.