Chapter 94 - Testing My Luck

After finishing eating, Nadira took Mu Liang and Huang Lian to a free and open market that was located near avenue square. The open market was located between four pillars that support a protective barrier that would prevent sudden attacks and served as an alarm if someone left with stolen goods.

Alessandra-066: I analyzed this barrier and it is almost as good as the one in the palace.

Mu Liang: Was it the government that placed this barrier?

Alessandra-066: No, the free market is sponsored by non-profit organizations (NGOs) that aim to help small traders to settle in the capital. It is practically free advertising and local for them.

Nadira took Mu Liang to a tent with several colored stones and some decorative dishes, the stones were shiny and special look, but of course, they could be fake too.

"This is all 20 Kwanza1, you can take your luck and find a beautiful stone with cosmic essence or just a beautiful and useless stone," the seller said with a smile.

The seller was black fur but had two rabbit ears on top of his olive-green hair and his eyes were pink, he had a pretty face but everything else made him look too exotic even on a foreign planet for Mu. Liang.

Alessandra-066: He must be a mixed-race between Zergs Diablos and Zergs Animalia.

Mu Liang: Zerg Animalia? I thought you would say you were a half-breed between Diablos zergs and the beastmen.

Alessandra-066: Beastmen don't have the types of animals that are not apparently ferocious, rabbits, cats, dogs, guinea pigs, domestic pigs, rats of lesser species, among other animals that did not present risks to humanity in your Era of Cultivation, here they are part of the Animalia Zergs. Tigers, lions, elephants, rhinos, among others, are part of the beastmen.

Mu Liang vaguely understood the concept, but in the Age of Cultivation, even a rabbit could train to be immortal and easily win over a tiger. He didn't know that species split that way in the technological future.

"Do you want to try?" Nadira caught the attention of Mu Liang, who was curious to know the relationship between the Diablos zergs and the Animalia zergs.

"Yes, but I don't have local money," Mu Liang said realizing that he didn't have any local money, as he didn't have to leave the mansion or even deal with the money since his employees did everything for him, he ended up leaving without money .

Alessandra-066: Money? Aya! We have the technology here, hello ?!

Alessandra-066 pulled the money from Mu Liang's bank account to the Cyber ​​Card by converting the International Galactic (IG) currency to Kwanza. 1,00 international galactic currency equals 1.50 Kwanza.

The difference between the two currencies was very small, which showed the strong economic power of the Diablo Empire, the money was placed with ease. On the one hand, Alessandra-066, left her trail behind to get the attention of the authorities who should now be looking for Mu Liang on the other hand she was letting her Host have some more fun.

"No problem, I can pay," Nadira said before Mu Liang could say that money had arrived on his cyber card.

"So welcome to try to choose a stone" the salesman spoke with a friendly smile. He well knew that among the many beautiful and shiny stones that were there, only five or six would be stones of cosmic energy, not even he knew which ones were.

However, the fun was trying to guess at a low price and having fun with friends competing. Nadira paid 40 Kwansa for her and the half-elf could play.

Mu Liang looked at the stones that looked absolutely precious, he looked through many of them, but none, in particular, caught his attention, so a purple stone caught his attention. The stone appeared to be amethyst, but there was a peculiar neon and cold glow.

He touched the stone in his hand and felt something pulsing in his hand, his soul seemed to resonate with that stone, it was a strange sensation.

Alessandra-066: How rare! That Elixir of Life!

Mu Liang: Elixir of Life?

Alessandra-066: Look here it is similar to that liquid that is in this bottle that the goddess Lan-Lan gave you.

The system showed a purple, shiny liquid, but it gave off a warm sensation and not an icy sensation like that stone.

Alessandra-066: The Elixir of Life brings even a person who is already in the arms of the dead lady, it's not even figuratively. An absolutely precious item.

Mu Liang: But this stone is cold and does not look as warm as the elixir in the bottle.

Alessandra-066: In a solid-state, the Elixir of Life is very cold, but it becomes perfect to put in the body of someone who is dying, at least easier than the liquid since you just have to put the stone on top of the intended person. In a liquid state, it is necessary to make the person swallow the elixir.

Mu Liang now understood how precious the solid version of the Elixir of Life is, who would have thought that throwing a colored pebble could bring someone from the underworld so easily.

Nadira held a pink stone similar to the seller's eyes, she looked very proud holding the stone.

The two brought their respective stones to a device that detected whether the stone had cosmic energy or not.

"Congratulations to you, this is not just a stone with cosmic energy, but a complete essence of cosmic energy," the salesman said with a smile, his lips were a little quivering. A stone with cosmic energy was relatively cheap and the seller of the game would not lose much, but a cosmic essence was at least 1000 Kwanzas.

However, the seller had to swallow that loss as there were security and surveillance systems that guaranteed the honesty of all sellers and customers, he looked at Mu Liang who was holding a purple stone that looked like a beautiful jewel.

"I'm sorry sir, this is just a beautiful stone," the salesman said a little more relieved. He was a little surprised at Mu Liang's calmness in accepting the crushing defeat and saving the stone in his space item.

"Want to try again?" Nadira asked with a slightly arrogant smile, but Mu Liang felt more compelled to find that smile cute. It was cute to see someone so happy with only a cosmic essence, while he himself had taken an elixir of life.

"Sure, I'll win this time" Mu Liang said with a smile full of amusement. Nadira looked at the half-elf's smiling face and thought it was very cute for being so optimistic.

The salesman felt cold in the spine when seeing Nadira so confident, he was sure that this girl couldn't be ordinary when finding the essence of cosmic energy in the first attempt.

"I'm thinking too much... As far as I know, the only people who were so sensitive to cosmic energy in the entire empire are just the retired Empress and the second Prince Chad... She doesn't look like the retired Empress" the seller thought vaguely.

The retired empress had light blue hair like a summer sky, purple eyes, and a dignified bearing, looking at Nadira who was beautiful as a flower in high season, she didn't have the dignity that people in power seemed to inspire.

Mu Liang looked at the collections of stones stacked on the tables and it took even longer to select a new stone, he then stopped at a red stone similar to the color of the sunset, he remembered Gyasi and took the stone to appreciate it better.

The red stone was quite hot in his hand, Mu Liang's face became a little red, it was as if the heat was also penetrating his body.

Alessandra-066: Primordial Chaos Stone!

Mu Liang: What?

Alessandra-066: It is a special stone that will give the power of Primordial Chaos to whoever absorbs it completely. This is one of the items in the catalog that Lan-Lan gave me in case you need more help.

Mu Liang: When did the goddess Lan-Lan give this to you?

Alessandra-066: (...)

Cough ... Cough ...

Mu Liang: When was it?

Alessandra-066: It doesn't matter now, this stone can be a blessing to you or a disgrace. If you can absorb the essence of this stone you can overcome your Chaos Energy weakness, but if you fail you will lose all health you have recovered.

Mu Liang could hold this Stone of Primordial Chaos for the simple reason that he had human blood in his veins, of course, the solid-state greatly helped the primordial chaos energy not harm his body.

Nadira picked up a midnight blue stone that seemed to glow like a night with beautiful moonlight. Mu Liang's stone was the size of a baby's fist, while Nadira's was the size of a brooch.

"Congratulations, miss, this is a stone of cosmic essence with an ice element," The seller said feeling a sharp pain in his heart, but he kept his smile cordial.

Nadira was even more proud and looked at Mu Liang with defiance, the half-elf wanted to laugh a little, he still thought it was very cute that the young zerg was proud of a simple stone with cosmic essence.

Huang Lian looked at the two as if they were two children competing to see who was the best, which was useless, with Prince Mu's wealth he could buy hundreds of stones with cosmic essence if he wanted to.

"I'm sorry sir, but this is just another beautiful stone," the salesman said, feeling a little better when he saw Mu Liang lose again. However, he was surprised once again by the calm demeanor of the man who just shook his head and smiled politely while storing the rock in his space item.

"Want to try again?" Nadira asked even more proud of her achievements.

"Let's go to another tent and try, otherwise you'll go bankrupt the poor seller," Mu Liang said jokingly and took Nadira's hand1 to get her out of there. The half-zerg salesman had his beautiful eyes filled with tears and thanked the benevolent customer who took that monster detector of cosmic energy.

Nadira was a little stunned and then embarrassed, she was having a lot of fun and forgot about her conduct and ended up pretending to be an arrogant and greedy person.

That same night, the salesman with a rabbit's ear received a warning from his bank about a deposit from the imperial family, the warning was quite simple:

"Keep this secret"

The salesman looked at the many zeros after the number 1 and remembered Nadira who had taken two cosmic essences, he felt his skin cool and the sweat drain. He had been right in his conjecture, was he really one of the imperial family, he just didn't know who that girl was, one of the princesses? Or the empress herself?

Many years later the salesman would tell this story to his children and grandchildren, of course, everyone would think it was a story just to deceive children.