A sharp click echoed through the cavern, and the walls of the cave began to shake and groan.
Lirian watched in awe as the cave structure shifted.
As if by magic, an opening leading to a room appeared in front of them.
As they stepped forward into the unfamiliar space, Lirian's eyes roamed over the outdated transfer array in front of them. It was rusty and covered in dust, and he felt a surge of apprehension as he looked at it.
"Is this thing even safe?" he asked, his voice tight.
Evan shot him a reassuring smile and said confidently, "It's old, but it still works."
Lirian raised an eyebrow, his gaze flickering to the faded symbol of the frost clan etched onto the array.
"I think this was left behind by the founder of the Frost Clan." Lirian mused. "Who else but him could be so extravagant?"
Evan shrugged his shoulder.
"Maybe," Evan said nonchalantly. "I don't know."
Lirian helped Evan power up the transfer array with some soul energy crystals. After that, they punched in the coordinates for their desired destination into it.
Vroom!
The transfer array whirred to life, and with a sudden rush of vertigo, they vanished from the cave and reappeared in an abandoned warehouse on planet Crystalline, the capital of the Sun Moon Empire.
The first thing they did after returning to their secret hideout was removing their disguises by deactivating the face changer. After all, long-term use of the face changer could cause skin damage.
With nothing affecting their looks, their faces returned to normal.
It was time to split their gains.
Evan, with a mere thought, effortlessly retrieved an impressive array of items from his inventory: 500 low-level soul crystals, 50 poisonbane herbs, 2 Spirit Surge Elixirs, and 1 Celestial Connector.
As he summoned them forth, flashes of light signaled their appearance on the ground.
pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ "They're all yours." Evan offered the items to Lirian without any hard feelings.
"Thanks, bro!" Lirian accepted them with gratitude and wasted no time in planning his next move. "I am going to the authorities to turn in Vera's head and claim the reward. I will wire half of it to you."
Seeing how excited he was, Evan felt curious about the worth of the bounty. He couldn't help but inquire. "For you to feel so excited... how much can it be?"
"Let's see. Pretax, it's a thousand high-purity soul crystals. After taxes are paid, it should be 700. If we split it in half, we will get 350 crystals each." Lirian, who was an expert when it came to such things, calculated the numbers with ease.
The empire's tax on yearly income was a whopping 30%, and it could go up to as high as 50% depending on the source and the yearly income of a person.
Evan's eyebrows jumped as he couldn't believe his ears. "That's quite a lot. I didn't think a psychopath like him would be worth so much dead."
"His bounty is so high because he is part of that group of the cosmic crusaders that caused ShadowFall Cataclysm. Otherwise, he would have the same bounty on his head as the other Cosmic Crusaders in the Soul Fusion Realm - a measly 50 high-purity soul crystal," Lirian said sarcastically.
"Goodbye," Evan bid farewell to Lirian.
"Bye."
Lirian waved back at him and turned away, making his way out of the warehouse that was dimly brightened by the rays of sunlight coming in through the windows.
The sound of his footsteps echoed off the concrete walls, growing fainter and fainter as he disappeared from Evan's sight.
The atmosphere of the warehouse shifted once again as Evan was left alone there with his thoughts.
He had in his possession everything that he went to planet Avalon to obtain. It was time to put them to good use.
Evan began to sort through the items he had acquired from the testing ground of the powerful ancestors of the Frost and Firestorm clans swiftly, his eyes flickering with excitement. He knew that each one would prove to be extremely helpful to him!
"For now, I have no use for the 500 low-level soul energy crystals, but I can use them to power my personal transfer array 5 to 7 times in the future. I should keep them close by."
All five hundred of them were stored in his inventory. Five of its slots were taken up by the low-level soul energy crystal.
"The Three Spirit Surge Elixirs might just help me level up once."
In the midst of sorting out his items, Evan set about utilizing them one by one.
First up was the Spirit Surge Elixir, a tool for opening soul pockets, albeit with slightly less potency than its modified counterpart, the Soul Pocket Opening Elixir. It was only for low-level soul manipulators. Nevertheless, it was a valuable aid for cultivators who had yet to reach the 4th level of the Soul Manifestation Realm!
Without further ado, he ingested all three elixirs at once.
[Ding! The consumption of three Spirit Surge Elixirs has been detected! A large amount of spirit energy has been introduced into your body!! The torrents of energy will keep on attacking your Soul Pockets until they open or they evaporate!!!] the system notified.
In an instant, Evan could feel the surge of energy coursing through his body, attacking his soul pockets with a torrent of power.
Bam! Rattle!
His whole being shook with the force of it as if he was experiencing an earthquake, and it was so ridiculously painful that he felt his body on fire, but Evan, the Crown Prince of Frost, endured it with gritted teeth.
He knew that this was the fastest way to unlock his soul pockets, and that was why he did it. So what was there to regret?!
Bam!
The torrents of energy attacked his soul pockets a second time, making him feel as if his body would burst under the assault.
To endure the pain, he tightened his fists so much that his nails piecer into his skin and drew blood.
He could feel that a gap had appeared in the seal of his soul pockets.
"Open for this prince!"
Evan shouted as the torrents of energy attacked his soul pockets a third time.
Boom!