The Trade
Though not as fast as Lin Hong, Franming still covered several hundred meters in moments and closed on the burning high-rise.
As he drew near, he spotted Lin Hong standing to one side, face grim, staring up at the floors still writhing with fire.
"A-Hong! You alright?"
Lin Hong turned to look at him and shook his head.
"I'm fine. I'd barely gotten close when it went off — the black mist cleared with the explosion."
Franming let out a breath and walked over.
"I'll go up and have a look."
"I'm coming with you."
They exchanged a glance and leapt simultaneously, clearing dozens of meters in a single bound to reach the blazing upper floors.
Inside the building, the heat and smoke hit them at once. Both men grimaced — but Franming barked a short command and a white barrier bloomed around him, and an identical shield materialized around Lin Hong at the same moment. The fire beat against the outer edges of both shields and went no further.
The explosion had been severe. Doors blown to splinters, walls cracked and fissured throughout the corridor. The floor was carpeted with burning wreckage, wood popping and snapping in the flames.
Moving together, they entered one of the blast-damaged rooms. Every piece of furniture inside was fully ablaze; some had been reduced to rubble by the force of the blast. In the center of the room, a charred body still burned on the bed.
Lin Hong's expression was grim. He shook his head without a word.
Franming frowned. "No Shadows came out?"
Lin Hong looked back at him, jaw tight, and shook his head again.
They stared at each other. Neither had an answer.
Just then, a gust of wind swept through the shattered room, and the flames roared and shuddered violently.
Li Qinghe appeared at their side without warning, clad in black leather armor. Her gaze swept across the charred remains on the floor, her brows drawing together. She looked at both men.
"This time, probably twenty or thirty dead."
Her frown deepened.
"Not a single trace," Franming said, his expression tight. "That thing is impossibly slippery. Over a year, and we still can't catch it. Every single time we arrive, it's already gone."
Lin Hong's face was equally troubled. "The problem is, the Aberration phenomenon keeps getting worse. Even a few months ago, this entity wasn't capable of anything on this scale."
Franming felt a heavy weight settle in his chest. "If we don't find it soon, the body count is only going to climb."
Li Qinghe drew a slow breath, then spoke. "For the Aberration host to sustain control over this large an area, the main body should be within a limited radius. Search the surrounding streets — there may be something. Also contact the police. We can't let this turn into a public panic."
Franming and Lin Hong both frowned.
"If those residents can't evacuate in time, everyone in this building is at risk."
Both nodded.
"Understood."
"Understood."
Li Qinghe's frown continued to deepen as they moved to carry out her orders. With their abilities, both Franming and Lin Hong could hear the sounds of panic filtering through the building — voices from floors above and below, lights flickering on in every surrounding building as the neighbors woke to the sirens.
For the residents of this complex, tonight was going to be a very long, sleepless night.
In the forest, a flash of jet-black sword light.
A gray Giant Wolf — shoulder height at least a meter and a half — took the cut across its flank, blood spraying in a wide arc. Its body let out a dying wail and pitched sideways to the ground.
Two Elite Grade Ancient Sea Giant Wolves and over twenty Common Grade ones. All down.
Lu Yuan shook the blood from his blade and exhaled slowly, taking in the bodies scattered across the ground. Without a full squad, a normal Gene Warrior would have been encircled and torn apart by a pack like that. For him now, it was merely an inconvenience.
He looked at the larger wolves' builds and estimated their tempering at eighty percent or above.
He gathered the Spirit Crystals and materials from the ground, surveyed the area, and pressed on deeper.
This was two days into his current trip. Over those two days of pushing into the Ancient Sea Oasis core, he'd already encountered more than twenty Elite Grade Feral Beasts. He'd also run across a Boss Grade one — its power on an entirely different level from even the Ancient Sea Giant Crocodile Boss he'd killed. One look was enough. Even on dry land, something at that caliber was beyond him. He'd skirted around it and continued on without a second thought.
Two days in, he reached the shore of the Ancient Sea Great Lake.
Standing at the water's edge, Lu Yuan looked out at the vast, unbroken expanse before him — no far shore visible in any direction. A genuine flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.
"Didn't expect the oasis to have a lake this size."
The lake erupted.
A massive cyan shape burst from the surface — a fish, thirty to forty meters long — launching itself skyward in a cascade of towering waves. Every Feral Beast that had been drinking at the shoreline scattered instantly, vanishing into the treeline.
The aura rolling off that creature left no room for doubt: a Boss Grade Feral Beast, and an extraordinarily powerful one at that. Stronger by far than anything he'd faced.
Lu Yuan stared at the lake.
*Not worth thinking about.*
He couldn't handle something like that even on land. In the water, he'd be fighting at one-tenth capacity — if he were lucky. He turned his back on the shore and kept moving.
The seven days passed quickly. When Lu Yuan finally exited the Land of Origin, his haul was substantial.
Thirty-six Elite Grade Feral Beasts killed. Five Elite Grade Gene Armaments, thirty-one Common Grade armaments. Two Transcendent Genes — one dropped by an Ancient Sea Giant Wolf, one by an Ancient Sea Giant Python. Generous quantities of materials and Spirit Crystals besides.
He kept ten thousand Spirit Crystals in reserve and fed the rest straight to the Evolution Cube. His tempering was already at a hundred percent — no need to absorb any more.
His Battle-mark Space was crammed to capacity. He'd never offloaded last trip's materials with Xue Wang before re-entering — he'd been tied up with the Origin Stone business at the time — and even though the space had expanded considerably, it was still packed full. He'd been forced to discard the lowest-value materials to make room.
As for the two Combat Techniques — Poison Mist and Battle Roar — neither was something he actually wanted. Both were Common Grade, inferior to his Water Arrow technique in quality, and their effects weren't especially impressive either. The only path to using Boss Grade Combat Techniques through his own body would be to evolve his Black Iron Body to Boss Grade first — but his physical foundation was nowhere near sufficient for that. Forcing it would likely kill him. Completely out of the question.
He planned to sell them.
The moment he was back in his room, Lu Yuan dropped into his chair and pulled up his computer before he'd even caught his breath. He opened the Gene Warrior Network.
The same problem was still waiting for him. One more Origin Stone to complete the breakthrough. He'd searched the Battle Net marketplace — nothing. Not a single Origin Stone listed anywhere in the regional posts.
He leaned back and stared at nothing in particular.
*Wait.*
A thought surfaced, and he went still.
His gaze moved to the jet-black staff sitting in his Battle-mark Space. The Ancient Sea Giant Crocodile Staff. Boss Grade.
*Other people hunt Boss Grade Feral Beasts and walk away with Origin Stones. If they already have what they need and want to trade — wouldn't I have something worth offering?*
A Boss Grade staff was worth every bit as much as an Origin Stone by any honest measure.
*If I trade the staff, I might actually be able to get one.*
The more he turned the idea over, the more realistic it seemed. The knot of worry that had been sitting in his chest for days began, gradually, to loosen. He felt a flash of annoyance almost immediately after — he'd completely forgotten to get Yeye's contact information. Again. *Next time.*
He opened the marketplace module, followed the registration guide, and set up a shop.
**Shop name:** Youyuan's Little Store **Shop owner:** Youyuan
No transaction history meant the shop launched at the floor rating: one star. He wasn't bothered.
More valuable listings drove more exposure for a new shop — that was the logic. Lead with quality items to build visibility fast. He uploaded the Ancient Sea Giant Crocodile Staff's details and set the settlement terms: *Origin Stone trade only. No other offers.*
Then, after a moment's thought, he also added Combat Technique: Poison Mist and Combat Technique: Battle Roar.
Each leather armor set: 1.5 million Red Maple Coins. Poison Mist: 2.5 million. Battle Roar: 3 million.
He also listed two sets of Elite Grade leather armor.
He priced everything at market rate, slightly below average, to move things efficiently. Elite-grade armaments typically ran around ten thousand Spirit Crystals apiece. Transcendent Genes, even at Common Grade, tended to fetch a little more — anywhere from ten to twenty thousand Spirit Crystals was reasonable. The rarer kind commanded even higher prices. He'd take those to auction separately. For the Ancient Sea Giant Crocodile Staff, however, Origin Stone trades only — no exceptions.
He also posted directly on the Battle Net forum. His first ever post.
**[TRADE POST: Boss Grade Trainee Warrior Staff — Seeking Trainee-Grade Origin Stone]**
He laid out the Ancient Sea Giant Crocodile Staff's full specifications and stated clearly: Origin Stone exchanges only.
That was the whole point of the exercise.
Lu Yuan looked at his screen. A quiet sense of possibility settled over him.
*There's a real chance this works.*