Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Giant of Light

Page 31

The bandit leader said respectfully, "There's nothing I can do. Over the years, I've spent most of the money I've saved on improving my strength and buying equipment. I don't have much money left in my Galaxy account."

Most powerful beings in the universe are like this; unless their strength is difficult to improve, their main assets are in their equipment and cultivation resources.

"So few!"

Lu Yunhe was somewhat disgusted, and after searching the six bandits again, he only managed to find 100 million Black Dragon Coins. However, this money could only remain with the bandit leader for the time being, since he hadn't opened an account yet.

"Boss, stay!"

Lu Yunhe kept the bandit leader behind and named him "Liu Tie," while his five subordinates were thrown into the divine tree's auxiliary space, where they would all be turned into White Zetsu.

"Let's go, to Dragon City!"

Having found someone to pay for the trip, Lu Yunhe was too lazy to continue fishing outside and flew directly to Qiulong City.

After some time, an enormous city came into view. The entire city wall was as black as ink and could not be seen at all. However, for Lu Yunhe, who was cultivating on a star, it could only be described as having a retro aesthetic.

"arrive!"

Chapter 49 Slave

"The people inside the city are clearly more interesting than those outside the city walls!"

Lu Yunhe walked through the city, surrounded by buildings of various styles from outer space, as well as a large number of humanoid aliens of different shapes and sizes, though the tallest of them was only close to 10 meters.

While this height isn't as tall as an Ultraman clone, it's still quite a small giant for an ordinary person.

"Go register your citizenship first!"

Lu Yunhe took Liu Tie to the administrative hall of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire and registered as a citizen of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire. The fee was not high, only 50 Black Dragon Coins.

Lu Yunhe didn't care about acquiring citizenship, since this was just an Ultraman clone; his human form was still on Earth.

"The most dangerous moment is yet to come!"

Lu Yunhe arrived at the virtual universe company in the real world with some nervousness to open an account on the virtual universe network.

"Honorable guest, how many years of virtual universe network account are you willing to pay at once? There are three tiers of fees: one hundred years, one thousand years, and ten thousand years. The annual network fee is either 10 Black Dragon Coins or 0.008 Qianwu Coins," the receptionist said in a formulaic manner.

"A thousand years!"

Lu Yunhe had Liu Tie pay directly. As for the consciousness-sensing helmet, with the intelligent light brain Delacion, he could enter the virtual universe at any time.

Having resolved the account opening issue for the virtual universe network, Lu Yunhe casually found a place to stay and officially entered the virtual universe.

"The virtual universe is being connected..."

A deep, resounding voice echoed in Lu Yunhe's consciousness, and then everything went black before his eyes, and he found himself in an ancient city.

Lu Yunhe glanced at the incredibly cute little sprite on his shoulder, and then Delacion's voice rang out, introducing their current location and the functions of the virtual universe.

Lu Yunhe then looked at his image in the virtual universe, which was still a human image, not an Ultraman clone, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"It seems that even in the virtual universe, I am still human!"

Realizing this, Lu Yunhe felt relieved and exited the virtual universe again. There would be plenty of time later; he had other things to do now.

Subsequently, Lu Yunhe went to the location of the Cosmic Galaxy Bank, opened a bank account for himself, and transferred all the balance from the original owner's bank account of the Black Dragon spaceship.

"2000 million Qianwu coins!"

Looking at the funds in his bank account, Lu Yunhe couldn't help but show a look of joy. Although it wasn't much, at least he didn't have to sell equipment anymore.

"The Virtual Universe Company, the Cosmic Galaxy Bank, and the five major human powers have already visited two-fifths of the area."

Lu Yunhe pondered for a moment. In the Devouring Star Sky, the five major human forces besides the two mentioned above are the Giant Axe Arena, the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance, and the Cosmic First Bank. These five forces can be considered the true controllers of humanity in the entire universe. Then there are the various cosmic nations and some ordinary organizations.

However, the other forces were not in a hurry, because Lu Yunhe had other ideas due to the Divine Tree's clone.

"Go to the slave market."

Back on Earth, Lu Yunhe had also experimented and found that the Divine Tree Fruit was effective against Ultraman clones. Therefore, purchasing cultivation resources would have to wait.

……

Slave market!

The slave market on Qiulong Star is the largest among the hundreds of star systems around it, covering an area of ​​over 300 kilometers, and is home to a large number of diverse life forms.

In the slave market, slaves below the planetary level, unless they are beautiful women, can basically sell for less than 10 Black Dragon Coins. Planetary level slaves only fetch a few thousand or tens of thousands of Black Dragon Coins, which is pitifully low. Prices only become expensive when they reach the stellar level.

However, looking at the rows of slaves around him, Lu Yunhe couldn't help but sigh, feeling a sense of reality regarding the ancient saying "a gentleman keeps away from the kitchen."

However, upon realizing the purpose of his visit, Lu Yunhe couldn't help but feel a bit self-deprecating.

Just as Lu Yunhe was mocking himself, a person in charge of the slave market quickly walked up, clearly noticing Lu Yunhe's desire to buy slaves.

"This gentleman is interested in purchasing some stellar-level slaves."

Although the slave market is enormous, the best-selling slaves are stellar-level slaves. After all, apprentices in the cosmic realm are not even considered human; only planetary-level individuals can apply for citizenship, while stellar-level slaves have a small status. They are very suitable for guarding homes and serving as bodyguards.

“That’s right, I’m planning to buy some stellar-level slaves.”

Upon hearing the person in charge's words, Lu Yunhe nodded expressionlessly, indicating that he would like to give an introduction.

"Please follow me, sir!" The manager, with a smile, led Lu Yunhe into a luxurious shop, introducing the place as they walked:

"Guest, a first-tier Stellar martial artist is worth 1 million Black Dragon Coins, a fourth-tier Stellar martial artist is worth 20 million Black Dragon Coins, a seventh-tier Stellar martial artist is worth 500 million Black Dragon Coins, and a ninth-tier Stellar martial artist is worth 5 billion Black Dragon Coins. Under normal circumstances, the price of a Spiritualist is three times that of a martial artist."

Upon learning the price of Stellar-level slaves, Lu Yunhe immediately began to calculate: "The cheapest Stellar-level 1 warrior costs 1 million Black Dragon Coins, which is 1,000 Qianwu Coins. I currently have 20 million Qianwu Coins in my bank account, which is enough to buy 20,000 Stellar-level 1 warriors."

Lu Yunhe purchased these stellar-level slaves not to guard his home, but to create White Zetsu for his Divine Tree clone, which would then be used to produce Divine Tree fruits.

Since it's used to make White Zetsu, cost-effectiveness is very important.

A ninth-tier stellar-level martial artist is worth 50 billion, equivalent to 5000 first-tier stellar-level martial artists. However, it is obvious that a ninth-tier stellar-level martial artist cannot absorb cosmic energy 5000 times faster than a first-tier stellar-level martial artist.

Just as Lu Yunhe was pondering, the person in charge had already led him to the Chamber of Commerce's reception room: "Guest, we have a large number of virtual projections of slaves here. You can choose as you like. The prices are definitely fair..."

"No need to say it!"

Lu Yunhe interrupted the person in charge, asking, "How many Stellar-level 1 martial artists do you have here?"

"How many?"

The person in charge, whose speech had been interrupted, was momentarily stunned by Lu Yunhe's question and hesitated before asking, "How much do you plan to order, sir?"

"Around ten or twenty thousand!" Lu Yunhe estimated his total assets. Besides the third-tier Force weapon, the Arc Blade Disc, he also had some items he had looted from Earth's ruins. If he sold them, they should be worth some money. Adding the assets he had from the thieves on the road, he should be able to barely buy some cultivation supplies.

"Ten or twenty thousand?"

Upon hearing this number, the person in charge was somewhat bewildered. Who would buy tens of thousands of slaves at once, especially the lowest-level Stellar Warriors?

If you're looking for a bodyguard, a high-level martial artist is better. Even if you just want to play in the arena, a Planetary Rank 9 fighter is still very cost-effective.

"Could it be that another organization is trying to suppress the Chamber of Commerce?"

The person in charge hesitated for a moment: "Guest, you need a rather large quantity. I need to report this to my superiors."

Chapter 50 Purchase and Handover

"it is good!"

Lu Yunhe nodded, knowing that his request for slaves was a bit strange, and that he did need to be wary of a slave trading guild in such a small place.

However, just as the person in charge was leaving, Lu Yunhe suddenly realized a problem: how should he hand over this batch of slaves, after all, there were tens of thousands of them!

The Black Dragon spaceship isn't a transport ship either; its overall diameter is only 100 mm. Even if it were packed tightly, the top, middle, and bottom three decks could only hold a few thousand people at most, which would be severely overloaded.

"If we can't use the Black Dragon spaceship for transportation, we'll have to use the Divine Tree's auxiliary space!"

Lu Yunhe was deep in thought when a burly man with pointed ears walked in, and the person in charge from before followed respectfully behind him.

"Mr. Lu, this is our Chamber of Commerce's Director, Hongyu. He's in charge of the slave trade on Qiulong Star," the director introduced.

"Mr. Lu, hello." Manager Hongyu said with a smile, "Do you really need 20,000 Stellar-level 1 martial artist slaves at once?"

"What, doesn't your chamber of commerce have enough? If not, don't waste my time," Lu Yunhe sneered.

He'd been in a bad mood ever since arriving at the slave market, and he didn't want to argue with these people. He figured he'd better get rid of them quickly and avoid further annoyance.

"No, no, no, it's just 20,000 slaves. We can still gather them." Manager Hongyu shook his head, signaling Lu Yunhe to calm down. After all, it was 20,000 slaves, and they only wanted martial artists at the first level of the Stellar Realm—a very strange request.

However, those who can engage in the slave trade on Qiulong Star must have some channels, it's just a bit troublesome.

"However, for slave transactions involving too many people, the Chamber of Commerce requires buyers to pay half of the deposit in advance. Mr. Lu, are you willing to accept this?" Manager Hongyu said with a smile. Regardless of the other party's purpose, as long as they could pay, everything was negotiable.

Even if it really was a conspiracy by a rival merchant guild, Hongyu was very confident in his cultivation level. With his universe-level strength, as long as the master of Qiulong Star didn't show up, there was nothing to fear.

"can!"

Lu Yunhe impatiently prepaid 1000 million Qianwu coins to the Slave Merchant Guild's account and then hurriedly left.

"Sir, this is 100 billion Black Dragon Coins, and you didn't even blink an eye!" After Lu Yunhe left, the person in charge looked surprised: "And you didn't ask for discounts or bargaining. I suspect there's something wrong with this."

Normally, when dealing with transactions involving hundreds of millions of Black Dragon Coins, a discount would be offered, along with some slaves or something similar. But the other party didn't make any requests whatsoever.

“There is definitely a problem!” Manager Hongyu looked at the 1000 million Qianwu coins that had been deposited into his account with some doubt. He thought of the delivery location that Lu Yunhe had mentioned before he left, and with a slight thought, he began to give instructions.

After leaving the slave market, Lu Yunhe still went to the famous general store on Qiulong Star. Unlike the Treasure Pavilion, this place mainly conducted large-scale material transactions.

"I never thought I'd still end up selling things."

The 20,000 first-tier stellar slaves were worth 20 million Qianwu coins, exactly the amount of funds in Lu Yunhe's account. Fortunately, he also had materials plundered from the alien Earth ruins, as well as Xuan Iron Essence and Xuan Iron Mother from the Martian mines, all of which were still worth a considerable amount of money.

However, once they started selling, they discovered that the metals were completely worthless, totaling only a few million Black Dragon Coins. The most valuable item was actually the B-grade laser gun on Liu Tie's body. All of it, even when sold piecemeal, only fetched two hundred million Black Dragon Coins.

Half of the funds were kept, as many things in the virtual universe also cost money; the remaining half was used to buy a lot of Wood Crystals and a kind of cultivation material called Crystal Stone. The former provides a large amount of life force and is suitable for most life forms, while the latter provides more cultivation in terms of cosmic energy, both of which are more suitable for Ultraman clones.

Half a day later, the Slave Merchant Guild contacted Lu Yunhe, having already gathered 20,000 first-level Stellar Warriors.

"Okay, I'll be there soon!"

Having gathered all the resources, Lu Yunhe had no desire to continue exploring and directly flew towards the outskirts of Qiulong City with Liutie.

After flying for a while, Lu Yunhe saw a large transport ship at the place where he first met Liu Tie.

Foreign spaceships entering Qiulong Star must dock at the port, but powerful locals often manage to bypass this restriction.

Outside the transport ship, a full 20,000 stellar-class slaves stood in neat rows, awaiting the arrival of their new masters.