Surveying the Market; The Tianming Imperial Clan Trial

Lu Yuan found himself hesitating.

A single Spatial Type Emperor Grade gene alone cost twenty million Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals. Factor in everything else, and the total would come to roughly thirty million at minimum.

Possibly more.

The expenses were truly outrageous.

*What if I skip the evolution and just cultivate directly?*

It would be somewhat slower, but at least his remaining resources would be enough to fully temper all six Battle King Rank genes. After breaking through, he could even evolve a few of those Emperor Grade genes to Saint Grade.

Wouldn't that be perfectly satisfying?

But then his thoughts drifted back to the black-cloaked figure — and those two Soul-Devouring Orbs.

He had no idea when that figure would make a move, but whatever happened, the consequences would be enormous.

His strength wasn't lacking, but against a Battle Emperor he still fell short. Survival was within his reach — but he couldn't confine his ambitions to mere survival.

Li Qinghe, his mentor, and the others were all here. So were his close friends, whose families ranked among the greatest in the Red Maple Empire. If things truly came to a head, none of them would easily abandon the Empire and run.

And if those Aberration Entities were actually released — the death toll across the Red Maple Empire would be beyond reckoning.

The ordinary people who had never Awakened were no Gene Warriors. Gene Warriors at least had some capacity to protect themselves. Ordinary people, faced with Aberration Entities and Aberration Events, had no means of defense whatsoever.

If Lu Yuan could grow stronger as quickly as possible, and a crisis truly struck, he could at least make a difference.

The same logic applied to the Soul-Devouring Orbs. If more of them surfaced, the situation would spiral into something far worse.

Whether for Li Qinghe and the others, or simply because he himself was a citizen of the Red Maple Empire — he couldn't abandon it and flee.

Every bit of strength gained mattered.

As for insufficient resources, he'd acquire them through his evolution ability when the time came.

Having thought it through, Lu Yuan made his decision.

Once he'd pushed his cultivation to its limit for the session, he left the Training Hall.

Amy and Wang Lingling were both in seclusion, and he had no intention of disturbing them.

He thought for a moment, then decided to make a trip to White Cloud City — to survey what was selling best and at the highest prices in the Auction Houses there.

Whatever sold best, that would be what he evolved.

No sooner decided than done. With a flicker of Space Teleportation, Lu Yuan vanished from the spot and reappeared in the teleportation hall. From there, he traveled through the transfer array to White Cloud City.

The Auction House in White Cloud City wasn't far from the central plaza — a towering, lavish structure clad in gold.

Lu Yuan used Space Teleportation to arrive directly at its entrance.

His gaze swept across the ranking boards displayed in the distance, and a thought sparked. *If I'm going to auction evolved items here, I'll need to crack the King Rankings' top ten first and claim that commission-waiver perk. Otherwise the fees would be brutal.*

Fortunately, he wasn't planning to auction anything yet, so there was no rush. His current resource reserves were still decent.

As for the Auction House itself — Lu Yuan had spent roughly two months here previously and knew every corner of it.

Though most of that time had been in private consignment rooms serviced by Land of Origin Constructs, where he'd lodged his items for sale.

The main public auction floor where buyers browsed live listings, and the private purchase rooms — those were areas he was less familiar with.

Despite having consigned a considerable number of items at this Auction House, Lu Yuan held four-star VIP status here.

Only a handful of Battle Emperors and select Battle Saints ever carried cards of that tier.

Unfortunately, the VIP card offered no discount on commission fees.

The only way to reduce commissions was through the various ranking boards.

Lu Yuan understood the reasoning. After all, Yeye's grandfather had said it himself — time was running short. Given that, the Land of Origin would naturally keep enhancing the benefits tied to the rankings, pushing people to cultivate harder.

Still, even without fee reductions, the card came with plenty of other perks.

For instance, simply arriving guaranteed access to a fully secure, private consignment room and a private purchase room — no waiting in line.

Additionally, before major large-scale auctions, the White Cloud City Auction House would send a personal invitation allowing the cardholder to attend and bring up to five guests.

Access to major auctions required qualification on its own, and the items inside were extraordinarily rare and precious — being invited at all was a privilege.

All things considered, not bad.

Lu Yuan entered the Auction House and moved past the crowd of Gene Warriors browsing the live auction floor, heading for the staircase.

He handed a black card to the Construct stationed at the base of the stairs.

A thread of pale blue light swept across the card from the Construct's eyes, and it bowed with practiced deference:

"Welcome, esteemed guest. Please proceed upstairs."

The greeting turned heads throughout the hall.

Onlookers caught a glimpse of Lu Yuan's retreating back and leaned toward their companions, voices dropping to murmurs.

"Who was that?"

"Didn't catch a good look. But if he's a VIP, whatever he's consigned here must be worth an extraordinary sum."

"Did you see how that Construct acted? Ordinary one-star or two-star VIPs don't get treatment like that."

"Three-star or above?"

Eyes went wide around the room.

Nearby, a Cat-kin laughed softly. "I know who he is."

"Who?"

Heads turned.

"He walked right past me just now," the Cat-kin said. "I got a clear look — that's Lu Yuan, the human who held the top spot on the Prodigy Rankings."

"Lu Yuan? That explains everything."

A ripple of understanding moved through the crowd.

A Kaman bared his teeth in a grin. "Top of the Prodigy Rankings means zero commission fees. Who knows how many people's treasures he's sold on their behalf — a three-star VIP card makes perfect sense."

Nods all around.

"Speaking of Lu Yuan... I heard he already broke through to Battle King Rank. And so fast."

"Right? That's what it looks like to be a genius. His cultivation speed is terrifying."

The onlookers sighed, admiring and a little helpless.

Ordinary Gene Warriors had to fight tooth and nail just to inscribe a Transcendent Gene at their own rank — and for some, the next Gene Lock was iron-solid and couldn't be cracked at all.

But geniuses like him casually inscribed Transcendent Genes beyond their own cultivation rank, and even their breakthroughs seemed effortless.

Comparing yourself to someone like that was enough to make you sick with envy.

With another collective sigh, the crowd let the topic drop.

Meanwhile, while the chatter played out below, Lu Yuan had already settled into a private purchase room on the fifth floor.

Unlike consignment rooms, the purchase room had no Constructs on hand to appraise or price items — just an open, uncluttered space.

Well-appointed, though. Plush sofas, a low table, an array of fruit and drinks. Quite comfortable.

That level of comfort was, of course, reserved for four-star VIPs.

An ordinary Gene Warrior who wanted a private purchase room had to pay for it, and even then it would be cramped and bare.

The difference was stark.

Lu Yuan settled onto the sofa. With a mental push, a holographic screen shimmered into existence before him, displaying every item currently up in the live auctions.

Having consigned quite a few things here before, he was well-acquainted with the categories.

The listings covered Gene Armaments, gene serums, one-time Talismans, rare herbs and spirit fruits that could be gathered in the wild, mineral ores sourced from veins usually controlled by major powers, and materials dropped by Feral Beasts. Beyond these, there were mounts, combat aircraft, and other specialty items.

Everything was meticulously catalogued. Gene Armaments alone were divided into weapons, battle armor, Emblems, rings, and similar — further sorted by rank from First-rank to ninth rank. Trainee Warriors weren't represented since they couldn't even reach White Cloud City. Items were also sorted by quality grade, from Common through Elite and Boss Grade all the way to Sovereign Grade, Saint Grade, and Divine Grade.

Having categories was one thing, of course. Whether anyone had actually consigned items at the higher tiers was another matter.

Items in the divine artifact class were typically reserved for major auction events rather than live listings.

Not that Lu Yuan was eyeing that tier anyway.

For external items, the Evolution Cube could only evolve up to Sovereign Grade — divine artifacts were simply beyond its capability, with no room to maneuver.

His target range was Third-rank through Fifth-rank.

For one thing, Battle General through Battle King Rank warriors were the most numerous tier — geniuses included — and people with spending power naturally concentrated there, making it the largest market.

For another, he could only evolve up to Sovereign Grade.

The quality ceiling for Fifth-rank items reached Emperor Grade, but Sovereign Grade items would sell without difficulty.

In fact, Lu Yuan was even considering pulling back a little. Depending on market conditions, he might not bother pushing lower-rank items all the way to their quality ceiling.

Peak-quality treasures were rare by nature. Flooding the market too suddenly would inevitably attract attention — and disrupt the market itself.

*Better to earn a modest, steady income and stay under the radar.*

He let out a quiet sigh at the thought.

*This really is modest income.*

If he had his own city, he could rake in money lying down.

Like Tianrao City — just collecting taxes every day would bring in floods of Spirit Crystals. He was deeply envious.

Sadly, establishing a city like that required extraordinary luck: obtaining a City Heart, and then building it up step by step over time.

Even Old Man Adams hadn't acquired such a city overnight.

The same went for every Gene Warrior city.

Lu Yuan shook his head and let the fantasy go.

He began browsing carefully, occasionally purchasing sample items to test.

His focus was primarily on broad-category items like Gene Armaments and gene serums.

Even evolved up to Sovereign Grade, items in these broad categories wouldn't draw undue attention.

A Fifth-rank Chief Grade Gene Armament might sell for a few hundred Fifth-tier Spirit Crystals. But a Sovereign Grade Gene Armament of the same rank could fetch anywhere from five million to ten million Fifth-tier Spirit Crystals.

The cost of evolution ran around two and a half million.

That left a profit of several million Fifth-tier Spirit Crystals per piece — equivalent to tens of thousands of Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals. Not bad at all.

The downside was that buyers who could actually afford them were mostly Battle King Rank geniuses — a few thousand people at most. Still, that translated to tens of millions, potentially even hundreds of millions, of Seventh-tier Spirit Crystals in total market capacity.

For Lu Yuan's purposes, more than enough.

*And to avoid looking too conspicuous, I can evolve fewer Sovereign Grade items and mix in some King Grade Gene Armaments and serums. That should do it.*

Satisfied that the approach was viable, Lu Yuan relaxed.

With this plan in place, his resources wouldn't be in such dire straits.

The one inconvenience was that income would still come in somewhat slowly.

*If only the Evolution Cube's ability to evolve non-bonded items could be upgraded to Emperor Grade, or even Saint Grade...*

Then he could tap into Battle Emperor and even Battle Saint wealth, which at his current consumption rate should be more than sufficient.

Too bad the Evolution Cube still needed another metamorphosis before that could happen.

Thinking it through: once he'd burned through his current resources, his first move should be to push for the King Rankings.

Breaking into the top ten would bring in a lump sum of resources, and he'd also evolve a batch of items to put up for auction.

Auctions took time, and during that period his Spirit Crystals wouldn't be enough to sustain steady cultivation anyway.

Perfect timing — no need to cultivate during that window. He could spend it exploring the locations the Evolution Cube had connected to, and see what was actually there.

With his plan settled, Lu Yuan left the Auction House in a satisfied mood.

Only a little over three hours had passed.

He wanted to continue cultivating, but would have to wait a while first. He found himself wondering whether to just head home and sleep.

Hmm?

No — he had Starfield Roaming now. He could use it to travel to a suitable location and hunt Feral Beasts. Maybe he'd even stumble across something valuable.

Come to think of it, since the Aier Mechanical Ruins, he'd barely set foot outdoors.

Understandable, really — with enough resources on hand, he hadn't needed to. Just cultivate steadily, no other concerns.

Well then. For old times' sake, let's head outside.

Besides, at his current strength, he was fully capable of taking on Sovereign Grade Feral Beasts.

*I wonder where there might be a pack of Sovereign Grade Feral Beasts...*

Just as he was mulling it over, he paused — and reached for his Communication Crystal.

White light flickered across its surface. He accepted the call, and Yeye's delicate face appeared within the crystal's glow.

He smiled.

"Yeye? Just arrived in the Land of Origin?"

He'd messaged her before, but she hadn't replied — until now, calling him directly.

Yeye gave a small nod and a soft hum of acknowledgment. Then her gaze shifted, and she looked at him quietly.

"Today I'm going to attempt my Battle King Rank breakthrough. After I've broken through, there's something I'd like to ask for your help with. Are you willing?"

Lu Yuan blinked. This was the first time Yeye had ever asked him for anything. He smiled. "Of course. Tell me what it is."

Yeye's expression shifted. Her black cat ears gave a faint twitch, and when she spoke her voice dropped even quieter than before.

"In the Tianming Imperial Clan, after a member breaks through to Battle King Rank, they undergo a trial. The better your performance, the more recognition you receive going forward. The trial tests cultivation talent on one hand — but it also tests your connections, so friends are permitted to help. I want to ask you."

She said it all in one breath, then watched him steadily.

Lu Yuan was taken aback. "The trial — where is it held? If it's on Tianming Star, there's no way I can get there."

A faint smile touched Yeye's lips. "It's in the Land of Origin. Every trial is held there — our ancestors chose the location themselves. Although..."

She glanced at him. "Every trial is extremely difficult. If you're not careful, you could die."

Dying in the Land of Origin, of course, wasn't truly death — it simply meant being barred from entry for a lengthy period. But that was already a severe enough penalty.

Yeye watched him, slit pupils glimmering softly as she waited for his answer.

Lu Yuan noticed the faint embarrassment in her expression and couldn't hold back a smile.

"Who do you think you're talking to? Don't you already know what I'm capable of? Relax — with me there, you'll pass the trial without a problem."

At that, a genuine smile broke across Yeye's face.

She nodded firmly. "Mm."