by <unknown>
"The decorations of the Grand Desolate War Institution's booth are so unique! Their battle-scarred crystal suit is very interesting, too. They seem to be very confident about the quality of their crystal suit."
"The Cultivator who was wearing the crystal suit was awesome! His subtle control over his fists is unbelievable! We've never heard that the Grand Desolate War Institution has such an ace Exo before, have we?"
"Wow! Publicly snubbing 'Magical Equipment World'? That's so impressive!"
Such discussions were all over the Nexus.
Grand Desolate War Institution, Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, Vulture Li Yao… became trending words of the day on many major forums.
Back in the Magical Equipment Exposition, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit attracted more and more eyes, too.
Visitors crowded to the Grand Desolate War Institution's booth. Every staff member was cornered by enthusiastic reporters. Li Yao didn't avoid his fate of being besieged, either. All those who came touched the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit in person to examine whether or not the damages were real.
The competitors of the Grand Desolate War Institution felt great pressure.
After watching Li Yao's astounding performance, the visitors had questioned the stability and the durability of other MP crystal suit models.
This time, many sects were dripping cold sweat.
Even the Mournful Mist Battlesuit of the Star Nebula University and the Sword Torrent Battlesuit of the three major sword-training sects were not good enough for a performance of precision like Li Yao's due to different designing purposes, let alone the rest of the MP crystal suit models which were basically pieces of previous models patched up together.
…
Below Deep Sea University's booth, deep inside the Kingdom of Magical Equipment, in an enclosed testing room.
"Pa! Pa Pa Pa Pa!"
Zuo Feijing was punching a dynamometer wearing the Tiger King Battlesuit one time after another. The dynamometer was shaking violently.
The light beam beside showed the reading of his strength,
"999.99 kg!"
"888.88 kg!"
"999.99 kg!"
"888.87 kg!"
Zuo Feijing stopped.
The helmet split, revealing a gloomy face, whose owner was deep in thought looking at the glittering reading in front of him.
Behind him, Jiang Sheng, the Supernova, remarked calmly, "Feijing, don't let it bother you too much.
"In order to be an instant hit, the Grand Desolate War Institution must've put a lot of thought into it before they finally figured out a test that could best demonstrate the characteristics of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.
"The test pilot must've practiced it many times, too. It's even possible that he did nothing but practice precisely punching over the past month.
"Besides, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit on the stage must've been adjusted to strengthen its stability and precision.
"This is your first try. It's perfectly normal that you didn't achieve the result you wanted, and it doesn't mean that Tiger King is worse than Mystic Skeleton, or that you are worse than the test pilot.
"You've read the specifications of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, which are poles apart from ours. This is just a gimmick. In a real battle, stability and precision are indeed important. But how will a ten-minute punching with a constant velocity help a soldier? God knows!
"So, we don't need to be distracted by the Grand Desolate War Institution and dance to their rhythm.
"There are a thousand tests that the Tiger King Battlesuit can do and the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit can't. Why do you cling on this particular test which is utterly absurd?"
Zuo Feijing was quiet for a while. Then he said, "Professor, I heard that the name of the Grand Desolate War Institution's test pilot was Li Yao. Is he the same Li Yao who defeated Jiang Shaoyang before?"
Jiang Sheng nodded his head and sighed.
"Correct. That's him. I'm not optimistic about the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit. However, this 'Vulture Li Yao' is indeed a good disciple of my beloved Senior Sister Yuan's. An exemplary young man of his age."
Zuo Feijing continued, "Is it true that he never touched crystal suits until last year in the Thunder Training Camp?"
Jiang Sheng paused for a moment. Then he replied, "I have arranged someone to check it out. But I don't think they would lie about that. Besides, Li Yao was born in a magical equipment graveyard, which is not a decent place for anyone to grow up in. It's not unusual that he never touched crystal suits before."
"I got it."
Zuo Feijing nodded. His furrowed brows suddenly loosened as he put on a sunny smile, "I was regretting that Mournful Mist and Sword Torrent were not enough to fulfil my hungry stomach.
"But with Vulture Li Yao joining the game, I think I might be able to enjoy a nice meal with Mystic Skeleton, Mournful Mist, and Sword Torrent on my tray."
"Shua!"
The helmet wrapped up again.
A hurricane suddenly appeared in front of Zuo Feijing, who was punching at a much faster speed than Li Yao did. Hundreds of punches were completed within ten seconds.
"999.99 kg!"
"888.88 kg!"
"999.99 kg!"
"888.88 kg!"
This time, the readings were identical without the slightest flaw.
…
Luo Jingang, leader of Thunderbolt Hall, was a high-level Cultivator at the Building Foundation Stage and a tough man who had gained his expertise through mountains of dead bodies and seas of blood.
His soul was extremely solid. He didn't even wince when he fell into a trap made by more than ten high-level demon generals.
But as he went into the booth of Red Serpent Sect, he felt so dizzy that he was falling to the ground at any moment, partly because the advanced and splendid crystal suits inside dazzled him, and partly because he was shocked by the price tag below them.
"Dammit, why are crystal suits so expensive nowadays?"
Cold sweat was appearing on the forehead of Luo Jingang, who had never raised his eyebrow even when surging beast tide was coming at him. He was starting to realize that this shopping trip was not going to be as smooth as he had thought.
Luo Jingang used to be an unaffiliated Cultivator who often went to the depths of the Grand Desolate Plateau with his brothers to hunt down demon beasts. Slashing the sharpest saber, drinking the strongest liquor, slaughtering the brutalist demon beasts… It had been quite an enjoyable life back then.
However, as they grew older, they all started their own families and recruited many disciples. More and more mouths were counting on them to feed.
Hunting demon beasts was a dangerous job. After decades in the wilderness, many of his friends had been seriously wounded. Some even perished, leaving broken families behind them.
Wounds of the living had to be treated. Families of the deceased had to be attended to. As the team grew larger and larger, money became a top priority. It seemed irresponsible to be a free unaffiliated Cultivator anymore.
It happened that Luo Jingang discovered a mother lode of rare crystals while he was hunting demon beasts. According to the federal law, the exploitation right fell into their hands after they paid a huge amount of tax.
After discussing with his brothers, Luo Jingang registered his own sect, Thunderbolt Hall, based on the mother lode.
He had thought that with such a precious mother lode, they would be able to live a comfortable life for several years.
However, development of the mother lode was not as easy as it sounded. What Luo Jingang discovered was a deep mother lode. The valuable resources were buried thousands of meters down in the ground, which required special mining magical equipment to dig out. The initial costs would be very high. But the yield when the resources were retrieved was promising, too.
Luo Jingang's ambition was burning brighter than ever. He gritted his teeth and borrowed a large sum of money from the bank with the mother lode as the collateral. With the loan, he pu
rchased the latest mining magical equipment and hired a research-type Cultivator who was adept at earth-class and metal-class spiritual energy as the technical director of Thunderbolt Hall.
His brothers and he had invested all their savings into the new sect. According to the estimation of the technical director, as long as the mother lode was mined normally, their initial input would be redeemed within five years. The mother lode had enough resources for the use of a hundred years, which was long enough for the Thunderbolt Hall to develop into a middle-size sect with around a hundred Cultivators.
The promising project plan had elated both Luo Jingang and his brothers.
However, fortune is always fickle. Since last year, the demon beasts on the Grand Desolate Plateau grew more and more irritated. The mother lode of the Thunderbolt Hall had been frequented by them.
The demon beasts murdered the miners and destroyed the mining magical equipment, resulting to a tremendous loss for the Thunderbolt Hall. The miners were panicked and refused to go down the wells anymore.
Luo Jingang's life savings had been poured into the enterprise. Every day when he opened his eyes, the first thing that occurred to him was always the astronomical interest that he need to pay to the bank. He was counting on the mother lode to get rich someday.
The miners' strike nearly choked his friends and him.
As an old Demon Hunter, Luo Jingang bothered little about the demon beasts before which had been jeopardizing his endeavor because they were not strong at all.
However, the demon beasts were locals of the underground world. They were good at stealth and sneaking, as well as employing guerilla warfare tactics. Luo Jingang cleared the mother lode up twice, and even found two nests of the demon beasts deep in the underground which he demolished. However, it didn't help at all. The demon beasts crept back again, angrier and crazier than before.
The only solution was to set up a patrol team in the mother lode 24 hours a day for the protection of the labors.
However, Thunderbolt Hall was a newly established sect. Only Luo Jingang and several of his old friends were at the Building Foundation Stage. Their disciples and children were mostly beginners who'd just arrived at the Refinement Stage. In the underground world which was dominated by darkness, their chances of winning were slim.
After careful consideration, Leader Luo had decided to bulk purchase a batch of magical equipment for his subordinates to better defend his sect.
Chapter 309: Shopping Around |
The initial costs to develop the mine were enormous and had nearly drained all the capital of Thunderbolt Hall.
Due to recent demon beast invasions, not only had the Thunderbolt Hall suffered a tremendous loss from the worker strike, it needed to pay a huge amount of compensation to the miners who were killed, too.
Right now, Thunderbolt Hall's cash flow was running dry.
Luo Jingang and a few elders of Thunderbolt Hall did their best and managed to raise almost two billion.
But when they arrived at the exposition and looked around, they noticed that it was enough to buy common magical equipment such as chainsword, storm bolters, or Hellfire-Lightnings. But the crystal suits, the kings of magical equipment, were too expensive for them.
A disciple of Red Serpent Sect came up to them and greeted them with a smile. He quickly introduced himself.
"Hello. I am Cao Huorong, a disciple of the Red Serpent Sect. We are a renowned sect in refining and our history can be dated back to hundreds of years ago. In regard to magical equipment of fire attributes, we are definitely top of the federation. May I know what you're looking for?"
Seeing that Luo Jingang and his companions were gazing at a crystal suit, he continued, "You've picked a good one. This crystal suit is called 'Bursting Flame Battlesuit XVII'. It is the latest model of a classic crystal suit of our sect. It is mainly made of Thousand Flames Scale, Hundred Crimson Stones, and Phoenix Dance Gold and is most suitable for the Cultivators who are good at manipulating fiery spiritual energy, or the environments that were extremely hot.
"The Fire Dragon Saber that it carries can automatically absorb the fiery spiritual energy floating in the air and transform it into unstoppable saber attack. Our super crystal processor, which boasts amazing computational ability, can store five ultimate skills beforehand. With a telepathic thought, the skills can be performed without the Exo doing anything.
"The God Slayer Cannon on the crystal suit is even more powerful. It has two working modes. In the maximum mode, it takes three minutes for it to charge up with spiritual energy, and then it will perform a deadly attack like a volcano eruption that is equal to a full-strength strike of a Core Formation Stage Cultivator!"
"Full-strength strike of a Core Formation Stage Cultivator…"
Luo Jingang swallowed. He looked at Ge Feipeng, an elder of Thunderbolt Hall, and noticed that his companion was as tempted as himself.
More than thirty different kinds of fiery crystals were buried in the mother lode of Thunderbolt Hall. The temperature of the underground mines was extremely high. Sometimes it could be hundreds of degrees.
Meanwhile, the demon beasts that lived on the fiery crystals nearby mostly belonged to the fire class, too. Their burning attack could have a temperature as high as a thousand degrees.
Therefore, the purpose of their trip was to purchase a batch of magical equipment of fire attributes that was suitable for the high temperature and sweltering environment.
Red Serpent Sect was best known for its fire-class magical equipment. Its classic crystal suit 'Bursting Flame Battlesuit' was a heat-resistant heavy crystal suit specially designed to fight fiery demon beasts. The elegant outline and the intimidating plate armor, which seemed to be made of thousands of solidified flames, were indeed enticing.
However, its price burned Leader Luo's heart like a fire of thousands of degrees, too.
"The price for a standard 'Bursting Flame Battlesuit XVII' is 1.55 billion. With the latest attack modules, its price will be just over 2 billion. Every time it is used, the spiritual energy consumption and the erosion of magical equipment components will result to a cost of several million. If it is damaged in a battle, the repair fee…"
Cold sweat was dripping from Luo Jingang's forehead as he was running the calculations.
"Actually, we are planning to purchase some magical equipment for the juniors of our sect. Do you have any crystal suit that is more suitable for Refinement Stage Cultivators?"
Cao Huorong's face remained unchanged. He continued smiling as he replied, "That's no problem. Bursting Flame Battlesuit is indeed too advanced for Refinement Stage Cultivators. It would be wasteful.
"Here, we have an MP crystal suit model named Flying Flame Battlesuit which is the simplified version of the Bursting Flame Battlesuit. It is specially designed for the Refinement Stage Cultivators. Please follow me."
Cao Huorong led the two Cultivators of the Thunderbolt Hall to a crystal suit that was smaller in size.
The crystal suit looked alike to the Bursting Flame Battlesuit. It was also shining in incandescent brilliance which was indicative of its supreme quality.
But, of course, its specifications were far from those of the Bursting Flame Battlesuit.
On the bright side, its price was much lower, too. The naked version without any additional magical equipment would cost 230 million. The fully equipped version was about 300 million apiece.
"Well, the price…"
Luo Jingang stroke his beard.
Cao Huorong was smiling brightly as he said, "Mister, judging from your outlook, I can tell that you must be a seasoned warrior from the Grand Desolate Plateau who knows a lot about the cost and performance of different crystal suits.
"The Flying Flame Battlesuit refined by us might not be the strongest of all MP crystal suit models. But it's definitely one of the best in regard of price-performance ratio. Also, it is particularly suitable for high-temperature environments where the fiery spiritual energy is abundant. In su
ch cases, no crystal suit will be match for the Flying Flame Battlesuit!"
Luo Jingang nodded his head. As a Demon Hunter, he had worn a lot of crystal suits in his decades of hunting life. He knew very well the price of a decent crystal suit.
In fact, he was quite surprised to see that the price for a fully equipped crystal suit was below 500 million, and he was embarrassed to negotiate over the price.
According to the information that he gathered before he came, most of the MP crystal suit models provided by the major sects were of similar price. Few of them were cheaper than this one.
Although there were several other renowned MP crystal suit models such as Tiger King, Sword Torrent, and Mournful Mist, they were much more expensive and not suitable for battles in the underground mines. Therefore, Luo Jingang had never taken them into consideration since the beginning.
The Flying Flame Battlesuit seemed to be their best choice right now.
"Big Peng, what about it?" Luo Jingang asked Ge Feipeng, elder of Thunderbolt Hall and also his lifelong brother, in a low voice.
"We've visited a lot of booths. It seems that this model fits us best, doesn't it?"
"It's still a little too expensive."
Ge Feipeng frowned. "300 million apiece. Even if we put all our money into it, we can only buy five to six, which would only be enough for one tactical squad."
"But we have five working sites and more than thirty mines being exploited in our mother lode. How can one tactical squad defend all of them at the same time?"
"I guess we the old men have to do more work then. What other choices do we have? The king of magical equipment is always expensive!"
Luo Jingang sighed and said, "If we want cheaper ones, we'll have to look for second-hand crystal suits."
As experienced Demon Hunters, the two of them knew too well how messy the market of second-hand crystal suits was.
A well-maintained second-hand crystal suit was less expensive than a new one, but its price could still be as high as 200 million. There were other second-hand crystal suits which had been used for more than a hundred years with deep-buried problems due to battlefield damages.
