Sky-High Price: Battle-General Spirit Essence

The gymnasium incident had caused quite a stir, but like all things, it would fade with time — especially now that most people's attention had shifted to the young prodigy who had emerged from the Zhao family.

Zhao Manyan truly was a born playboy. From the first day of school all the way through the gymnasium incident, the only impression he'd left on Mo Fan was an endless stream of chasing girls.

That seemed to be the entirety of his existence. And yet here he was, riding the wave of this one incident straight to fame — overnight the most talked-about figure on campus. Remarkable, in its own way.

Fortunately, Zhao Manyan at least knew how to return a favor. Every now and then he'd introduce some pretty girl to Mo Fan — though a man of Mo Fan's sterling moral character, naturally, had to decline every single time.

On the agreed-upon weekend, the two of them headed to the International Trade Center.

The top floor of the building housed an auction hall that held sales once a month. Mo Fan had never been to a place like this before — a privilege he owed entirely to Zhao Manyan, who had gotten him a visitor's pass.

"This auction house has restrictions," Zhao Manyan explained as he led the way. "Either you spend a small fortune buying a membership here, or you need to hold a certain standing. Hunter Masters from the Hunters' Alliance qualify to bid here — other factions and Noble Clans all require some kind of credentials too."

"So even someone flush with cash can't just walk in and bid on whatever's up for auction?" Mo Fan said.

"Exactly. Whatever Mages need — at any tier — is always in short supply. That's why so many people move heaven and earth to claw their way into the upper ranks of the major factions. Resources are extremely scarce — not every Mage has the guts of those Hunters' Alliance lunatics who'll head out into the wilderness to dig for treasure. Meanwhile, whatever resources do exist within the Safe Zone have long been carved up and locked down by the big powers. Honestly, I genuinely admire you. You have no backing, no connections, and yet you've cultivated yourself to your current level. You should know — every Mage who rises to the top is either the grind-until-you-bleed type, or someone who's signed themselves away to a major faction."

"I have something to sell," Mo Fan said offhandedly. "Where do I go?"

Mo Fan's finances were in reasonably good shape at the moment. The school had previously awarded him two million as a scholarship. Then the man who had commissioned him added another million — originally for bringing his wife back safely. Even after learning that his wife had very nearly become the source of a catastrophe and had been personally dispatched by Mo Fan, he paid in full.

He understood what being parasitized felt like. As he'd put it: at least she was freed from it.

Add the earlier commission of 150,000, and Mo Fan was now a man sitting on 3.15 million — more than enough to keep a university girlfriend well provided for, if he were so inclined.

The problem was, according to Zhao Manyan, everything up for auction today was worth upward of five million.

Mo Fan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He'd fought tooth and nail for every yuan of that money, and he still couldn't afford a single lot in this hall. The world really was full of people with far deeper pockets than him.

"What are you selling?" Zhao Manyan asked.

"A Battle-General-class Spirit Essence." Mo Fan didn't bother hiding it. After all, selling something like this would almost certainly require borrowing Zhao Manyan's credentials.

Same as with bidding — you needed either a membership or an appropriate social standing to participate.

Come to think of it, the little girl Lingling's Hunter Master title really was something invaluable. Without status like that, carving out a place in the Mage world was genuinely difficult.

"Easy enough — wait." Zhao Manyan stopped dead. He stared at Mo Fan, eyes wide. "Did you just say Battle-General-class Spirit Essence??"

"Yeah."

"Holy crap — what kind of insane luck do you run on? You actually got your hands on a Battle-General-class Spirit Essence??" Disbelief was stamped across every inch of Zhao Manyan's face. "Was it a drop from the Mother Demoness?"

Mo Fan was mildly amused. Zhao Manyan talked exactly like a gamer — just like him.

"Yeah. I didn't expect it either." Mo Fan nodded.

"I am completely speechless. Truly. People have slaughtered god knows how many Battle-General-class Demon-Beasts and never seen one of these, and you just went and killed the one…" He trailed off, reconsidering. "Actually, thinking about it — the Scale-Skin Mother Demon was probably far more extraordinary than your average Battle-General-class Demon-Beast. The more unique the creature, the higher the chance its soul crystallizes into Spirit Essence upon death. Still — how did you even have a Soul-Capture Vessel? That stuff is anything but cheap." The envy on Zhao Manyan's face went well beyond simple admiration.

Even as a Noble Clan scion, his access to resources wasn't unlimited. Items like Spirit Grade elemental seeds and Battle-General-class Spirit Essence were extraordinarily precious — the clan wasn't about to hand things like that to the younger generation without reason.

In all his years within the clan, Zhao Manyan had never once gotten his hands on anything of this value.

And here was Mo Fan: first, the man had traded with Zhao Manyan's own clan and walked away with a Lightning Element Spirit Seed. Then, to Zhao Manyan's even greater disbelief, it turned out he'd also come away with a Battle-General-class Spirit Essence.

*If I'd known the Scale-Skin Mother Demon could drop something like that, I would've taken that risk myself.*

"Soul-Capture Vessel?" Mo Fan looked puzzled.

"Without one, how do you collect Spirit Essence? Soul-Capture Vessels can only be crafted by certain Undead Element Mages who specialize in that kind of work — they're designed to collect Remnant Souls and Spirit Essence. From what I remember, the cheapest Soul-Capture Vessel on the market runs around five million. One capable of capturing Battle-General-class Spirit Essence? You wouldn't get one for less than ten to twenty million." Zhao Manyan said.

"A single vessel costs that much?!" A chill ran through Mo Fan.

Actually, he had noticed something peculiar for quite some time. Remnant Souls and Spirit Essence seemed to be things only *he* could collect. Back when he'd run with the Demon-Hunting Squad, none of his companions had ever shown the slightest interest in Remnant Souls or Spirit Essence — they couldn't even see the firefly-like glimmers of Spirit Essence drifting through the air.

"Man," Zhao Manyan said, "Spirit Essence is what goes into crafting Stardust Artifacts and Star Nebula Artifacts. Normally, only Undead Element Mages can harvest it at all. Now that someone's invented the Soul-Capture Vessel, of course it costs an obscene amount. Think about it — even the cheapest Stardust Artifact a Basic-Level Mage could use runs five to ten million. Get lucky and collect a few pieces of Spirit Essence, and you're set for life overnight."

Mo Fan nodded quietly to himself.

So collecting Spirit Essence was something only Undead Element Mages could do.

No wonder Stardust Artifacts and Star Nebula Artifacts crafted from Spirit Essence were so rare — Undead Element Mages weren't exactly a common sight to begin with.

Mo Fan glanced at the Loach Pendant hanging against his chest and murmured softly to it, "Little Loach, turns out you're far more capable than I ever realized. I'm getting more and more curious about where you actually came from."

"All right, let's get moving. I'll get your Spirit Essence added to the auction list — it'll fetch a great price!" Zhao Manyan said.

A small thrill of anticipation stirred in Mo Fan. He was genuinely curious how much the Spirit Essence would go for.

*Could I actually buy a place somewhere in Shanghai with this?*