https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-177-A-21-Light-Year-Across-Asteroid-Belt/12833785/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-179-The-Red-Epic-Neutron-Star-Core-Armor-/12833791/
Chapter 178: Red, Farewell to the Red Epic Curio
Chapter 178: Red, Farewell to the Red Epic Curio
After a lengthy discussion with the third-stage Soul Spirit Tribe, Song Chi decided to leave Zhao Lei behind as well, transferring the [Market Walker Token] to him.
With ten Raging Tiger mining vehicles and two standard civilian mining starships at their disposal, along with the detailed resource distribution map provided by the [Silver III Hyperwave Demon Energy Detection Radar], it was clear that the mining efficiency would be extremely high.
However, getting these resources back to Song Chi himself was a challenge. Should he wait a month to come and collect them personally? It wasn't impossible, but a month was a long time, and there was no guarantee that nothing would go wrong.
Thus, Song Chi decided it was safest to have the resources sent to him in real-time. This meant Zhao Lei was the best choice, as he possessed a high-level storage bag and could transport large quantities of minerals to the market at any time.
In contrast, the Soul Spirit Tribe, despite being third-stage, excelled in mental abilities and had one of the weakest physical builds among beings of their rank. They could only carry a few tons of goods at a time, and the constant trips to transport thousands of tons of minerals would be a significant strain.
Additionally, during this time, Zhao Lei had used the Foundation Establishment Pill and, with the help of the all-attribute training room, successfully advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage. Now a second-stage being, he had the basic survival skills needed to navigate the star sea without accidentally perishing.
With these final arrangements made, the Skybound finally returned.
...
Soul Spirit Floating Land, Western Sky
After a violent spatial fluctuation, the 120-meter-long escort ship appeared in the sky.
Scanning the surroundings and finding no abnormalities, the Skybound sped southward.
It had been a day, and Song You's mining operation in the west was only about a third complete. It would take two more days to finish extracting the small medium-grade soulstone vein.
During these two days, he could explore the southern region to see if he could find more veins, ensuring he wouldn't waste time when the next market opened.
If he found two or more veins, he could have Song You and his flagship each oversee one, allowing him to open the market and maximize his time usage.
Time passed, and by the next day, the market could have been opened, but Song Chi wasn't in a hurry. He had found a suitable mining vein in the south.
The following day, after Song You successfully completed the mining of the small vein in the west, Song Chi made a trip to bring him to the south.
After two days of initial exploration, covering a third of the southern region, he discovered two medium-grade soulstone veins, one small and one medium.
They were currently at the Tiancang Mountain in the southern region, where the medium-grade soulstone vein was located.
"Little You, the vein below is a medium one, with an estimated 140,000 medium-grade soulstones. I'll leave you six Raging Tiger mining vehicles. You can continue with the same operation. Once the mining is complete, you'll get 14,000 soulstones. How does that sound?"
Song You nodded eagerly. He had no reason to refuse. In just three days, he had obtained 3,200 medium-grade soulstones, equivalent to 9,600 merit points. Now, with 14,000 soulstones, that would be 42,000 family merit points. Such an easy way to earn money was something he would wholeheartedly agree to.
After giving Song You his instructions, the Skybound set off again, heading to another medium-grade soulstone vein several thousand miles away.
This one was a small vein, estimated to yield around 40,000 medium-grade soulstones. With only four Raging Tiger mining vehicles left, it would take about two and a half days to complete the mining.
Song Chi was somewhat frustrated, regretting not buying more Raging Tiger mining vehicles when he left his family. Originally, 20 vehicles would have been more than enough, but the plan to mine the asteroid belt had halved that number, making the current quantity insufficient.
If he had more vehicles, the mining efficiency could have been even higher.
Upon arriving at the second soulstone vein, Song Chi deployed the last four Raging Tiger mining vehicles. Thanks to the [Silent Sonic Field] component, the four vehicles began their mining operations.
In the Skybound's main control room, Song Chi gave the remaining third-stage Soul Spirit Tribe member instructions to monitor the [Silent Sonic Field].
Once the designated time had elapsed, Song Chi ordered the four Anger Tiger mining vehicles to stop their operations.
Then, with a thought, he reached out to another soul spirit in a distant, unknown light-year away.
"Is everything going well on your end? How is the mining progressing?"
After about two minutes, a fragmented reply echoed in his mind.
"Master, everything... is... normal. We've... extracted... some... resources and can... hand them over... to Zhao Lei... through... the Travel Order... at any time."
Song Chi wasn't surprised by the broken communication. He had tested the limits of the Red Epic Component in the star domain where the Yellow Sand Floating Land was located, and the results were similar.
Clearly, while the Red Epic Component was powerful, it was still inadequate for the vast, fragmented star sea. The delay was significant, and the mental voice was choppy.
Despite this, Song Chi was highly satisfied. Given the immense distance between him and the soul spirit, being able to communicate at all was a miraculous feat.
Moreover, this was just regular communication. He still had the Marketplace of All Realms to rely on.
With a thought, he vanished from the Azure Sky.
In the Marketplace of All Realms, the Marketplace Law swiftly converged around him, enhancing his body.
He then attempted to communicate with the soul spirit in the asteroid belt.
"Have Zhao Lei activate the Travel Order and come to the Marketplace."
This time, a reply came back in just thirty seconds, and the voice was much clearer.
"Yes, Master. Should I... bring the extracted... minerals and resources?"
"Bring them along!"
A few minutes later, Song Chi's gaze shifted to the third floor of the inn behind him.
Zhao Lei had activated the Travel Order and, without being prohibited by Song Chi, the owner of the Marketplace, had been teleported to the travel room on the third floor.
Song Chi gently pushed open the door to the only open travel room on the third floor.
Inside, Zhao Lei bowed.
"Master!"
Song Chi nodded. Understanding his intent, Zhao Lei patted his waist, and in the next second, a large amount of mineral resources appeared in the travel room.
Ten Anger Tiger mining vehicles and two standard civilian mining ships had been working simultaneously for two days, extracting thousands of tons of minerals.
Without the storage bag at Zhao Lei's waist, the third-stage soul spirit would have had to make multiple trips to transport the resources.
With a wave of his hand, Song Chi used the power of the Marketplace Law to sort and send the mineral resources to the designated mineral resource shop. He then glanced at Zhao Lei and instructed him to return to the asteroid belt.
After Zhao Lei left, Song Chi exited the inn.
At the far end of the Marketplace, in front of the [Ultra-Long-Range Spatial Gate Random Deployment Platform], Song Chi's breathing quickened, his eyes filled with anticipation.
This was the first transaction after the Marketplace had ascended to the second stage. This time, not only zero-stage and first-stage alien beings but also second-stage aliens could enter.
Second-stage star sea aliens possessed far greater wealth than their zero-stage and first-stage counterparts, which meant the transaction volume of this Marketplace session would significantly increase.
Naturally, he was brimming with anticipation.
Suppressing his excitement, Song Chi activated the [Ultra-Long-Range Spatial Gate Random Deployment Platform].
A burst of light, and over seventy beams of light shot up from the platform, dispersing to various corners of the fragmented star sea.
After a brief delay, over seventy vortex portals slowly formed at the entrance of the Marketplace.
As usual, the first to enter the Marketplace was the goblin Luke.
For him, each Marketplace opening was a golden opportunity to make money, and he always approached it with the highest enthusiasm.
Of course, before heading to his own shop, Luke first visited the mineral resource specialty shop. He took out a large bundle of zero-stage Floating Land Essence from his briefcase.
Yes, exactly 500,000 strands.
He then exchanged these 500,000 strands of zero-stage Floating Land Essence for one million Terra Stones. Satisfied, Luke left the mineral resource shop and headed to his Silver House shop to restock.
...
Compared to Luke, Song Chi was equally pleased. One million Terra Stones, when combined with the family's acquisition costs and labor fees, amounted to only 25,000 strands of zero-stage Floating Land Essence. Selling 500,000 strands at a twentyfold profit—how could he not be satisfied?
As usual, Song Chi extracted 100,000 strands for himself and planned to hand over the remaining 400,000 strands to his grandfather later.
Song Chi quietly waited for the commotion at the entrance of the market.
As time passed, various interstellar beings, mostly of the zeroth and first rank, cautiously entered the market. While second-rank beings were fewer, they were not entirely absent.
After reviewing the rules displayed at the entrance, the tension in their eyes significantly eased, and they began to enter the market with curiosity, wandering in and out of different shops.
The most popular shop, surprisingly, was not the potion store, nor the goblin Luke's, the centaur's, or Zhou Ping's shops. Instead, it was the newly restocked mineral resource shop.
Over time, the mineral resource shop had accumulated over a thousand different types of ores.
Although Song Chi marked up the prices of these mineral resources tenfold compared to the market price in the Ember Human civilization, many of these ores were highly sought after in the star domains of the new arrivals, leading to a surge in bulk purchases.
Shaking his head, Song Chi, despite being the market's owner, lacked the ability to predict the future. Before the market opened, he couldn't know which ores would be in high demand, and thus couldn't adjust their prices accordingly. Once the market opened, it wouldn't be appropriate to change prices on the fly, as it would undermine the market's integrity.
...
In the vast, unknown reaches of the star sea, a cluster of peculiar starships was racing at near-light speeds. Despite their rapid cruise, the ship cannons on their hulls were not idle, continuously firing into the dark void ahead.
"Keep chasing! There's definitely something valuable in that patch of stellar debris. It's a remnant of a neutron star from the multiverse era!"
The voice echoed through the starships, and in the next second, their speed increased even further.
Ahead of these starships, another peculiar starship was racing. However, compared to the pursuers, this ship was heavily damaged, with its rear thrusters sparking and flickering, clearly affected by the chase.
Glancing at the radar, Airon, the ship's pilot, had a grim expression. As a common citizen of the Star Origin Empire, today had been the most tumultuous day of his life.
First, as a space scavenger, he had discovered a new wormhole and, through it, reached an unknown star domain. In this ancient, derelict region, he found an astonishingly rare artifact.
Then, unfortunately, he encountered a group of imperial pirates who discovered his find, leading to this chase.
Watching the radar, Airon's heart turned cold as the distance between him and his pursuers shortened.
As a space scavenger, his ship's performance was inferior to the pirates' ships, and with his damaged thrusters, the outcome was almost certain.
Gritting his teeth, he glanced at the artifact emitting a blinding red light. Airon felt a deep sense of injustice.
With this red-quality artifact, he could have risen to prominence with some time to develop. He was confident that he could become a powerful figure in the Star Origin Empire.
But fate had played a cruel joke on him. He had the luck but not the life to enjoy it.
He had considered handing over the red-quality artifact to save his life, but the pirates were notorious. With such a valuable artifact at stake, they would never let him go.
As the pursuing starships drew closer, Airon felt utter despair. Just as he was about to self-destruct, a portal appeared at the edge of the dark void ahead.
Overjoyed, Airon clung to this newfound hope like a drowning man to a lifeline. Without a second thought, he steered his ship toward the portal.
Note: Many have said the previous Enslavement Badge was useless. Here comes the second red-quality artifact. Can you guess what part it might be?
(End of Chapter)
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