CH 24.2

Alpha 01 stood motionless, the light in its eyes extinguished. Without the energy, it had indeed become a scrap machine.

Feeling a little guilty, Bai Jing hurriedly turned his light brain on, with the intention of buying another energy box.

The grade 1 energy box cost 2,000 starcoins, which was a good deal for the lifespan of a household robot.

However, thinking of the grey-black grade 1 energy fluid with countless impurities in it just now, Bai Jing suddenly felt a little sick.

‘It’s better to buy the grade 2 energy box.’ Bai Jing thought to himself.

However he averted his eyes slightly when he saw the grade 2 energy fluid inside the energy box. The dull green color looked uncomfortable and didn’t seem much better than the grade 1 energy fluid.

‘Hmm, might as well get the grade 3 energy box.’

The Grade 3 energy fluid was much better than the first two grades in terms of both transparency and color, showing a translucent lime green hue, which should have at least come from jadeite of the bean variety, with fewer impurities in it.

Then Bai Jing saw the price tag: 50,000 starcoins.

He looked at it for a few seconds without expression and then turned off his light brain.

Forget it. It was so expensive, he might as well try it himself.

He took out the egg-sized piece of dry green jadeite he had unraveled at the Gambling Street.

Because of its poor seed quality and small size, there had been no bids at the time, but it would be a shame to throw it away, so he might as well give it a try.

Most importantly, he wanted to know what the role of mental power was and how it related to jadeite.

Perhaps from the extraction of the energy fluid, he could learn a little of the answer.

Fortunately, the requirements for mental power for junior energy masters weren’t too high. As long as one’s mental power was at level B or above and one was able to exercise control over mental power, then one had some probability of becoming an energy master.

However, just like the distribution of the pyramid, the number of Senior Energy Masters at the top of the pyramid was also very small and highly respected, with no more than fifty in the entire Empire.

Bai Jing followed the steps for extracting the energy fluid found on Starnet, focusing all his attention on the egg-sized piece of dry green seed jadeite.

After about ten minutes, the piece of dry green seed jadeite seemed to turn into a see-through 3D model, as Bai Jing could see the obvious distribution of particles and tiny impurities inside.

Mental power, like a thin white wisp of thread extending from his body, fell into the dry green seed jadeite, combing and refining it a little as it drew the ‘liquid’ out of the stone and slowly dropped it into the silver box next to it.

It was just that mental power couldn’t separate the impurities from it and even advanced energy masters could only break them down into smaller particles but not separate them.

Bai Jing was annoyed when he saw the tiny black particles flowing into the box along with the grey-green liquid. It was as if they were gangrene attached to the bone.

Perhaps by reflex, his sense perception ability entered the interior of the jadeite at the same moment, sensed the deadly impurities and tried to separate them.

Bai Jing discovered that his sense perception ability had improved significantly; previously, he could only sense jadeite activity, but now he could even sense the coarseness of the particles and the distribution of impurities in the jadeite.

However his sense perception ability also had no way of purifying the liquid.

Seeing that the black impurities were about to enter the energy box, Bai Jing’s discomfort reached an extreme all time high and he even felt the urge to re-seal the energy fluid into the raw rough stone.

Just then, his sense perception ability and mental power collided then merging gradually, the thin white thread of the mental power was slowly tinged with gold and then split into two.

One of them continued to channel the energy fluid from the jadeite into the silver box, and one gradually stripped the impurities from it, gradually coalescing it into a single mass.

Bai Jing’s eyebrows relaxed slowly, and although the energy fluid extracted this time was dark in color, it was even and clean in color and many times better than before.

Most importantly, this time the extracted liquid didn’t contain those dense, unbearable black impurities!

Soon, the silver box was full of the energy fluid and Bai Jing withdrew the threads immediately. His sense perception ability and mental power separated in the air and then entered his body.

The egg-sized piece of dry green jadeite had now turned into a white stone, with a black mass the size of a peanut on top– the very impurities that had been separated out.

Putting the lid of the silver box back on, Bai Jing reinserted it into Alpha 01’s chest.

Almost instantly, the eyes of the housekeeping robot lit up immediately.

[Alpha 01 thanks master for replacing his energy box!]

The white housekeeping robot’s eyes narrowed into two straight lines as it circled around Bai Jing happily many times to show its love and gratitude.

Although it didn’t know what had happened, it felt lighter and its movements were much more nimble. Woo woo woo, it’s Master was really so nice!

Bai Jing didn’t know that he had created a miracle by enhancing the purity of the energy fluid as he looked at the white robot that kept circling around him, the corners of his lips rising up involuntarily.

At that moment, a ‘beep’ sounded and a message popped up automatically on the interface of his light brain. He noticed a change in his skill designation:

ID: 1053166247

Name: Bai Jing

Gender: Male

Age: 18 years old

Status: Citizen of the Galactic Empire

Genetic Rank: C

Physical Rank: A

Mental Power Level: A

[Skill Designation: Level 1 Stone Gambler]

[Accumulated points: 7]

[Betting Rate Increase: 50%]

Seeing the betting rate increase displayed on the light screen, Bai Jing pursed his lips. It was still too high.

Today he had solved a total of five rough stones at the Gambling Street– the two cut-down rough stones he had purchased from Mr. Yu and the three rough stones he chose himself.

Two of these had an increase in bet and three of them had a collapse in bet, which should have been counted as a 40% betting rate increase.

Except that he had purchased Mr. Yu’s two rough stones together at a total cost of 30,000 starcoins, so they only counted as one.

That made it four rough stones. Two up and two down, which made it a 50% betting rate increase.

Fortunately, his skill designation was only that of a Level 1 Stone Gambler, which in the eyes of the casual observer was only a beginner’s level, with the number of gambling sessions being small and fortuitous, so the figures weren’t indicative, and even if he solved a good quality jadeite, it could be attributed to luck.

But he couldn’t keep doing this. He would have to bring the betting rate increase slowly down in the future.

Bai Jing thought about it carefully. From tomorrow onwards, he was prepared to participate in the betting battles.

Since the Gu Conglomerate had hired him as its exclusive Stone Gambler and paid him above and beyond the call of duty, then he would definitely honor his agreement and get things done.

He had already decided that at least one of the five rough stones chosen for each betting battle would go up, ensuring that the rate of increase would be at least 20%, while at the same time, his betting rate increase wouldn’t be too high. If it was too high it might cause unnecessary trouble.

He sighed softly in his heart.

The Gambling Guild wielded enormous power. As long as he made a transaction with his light brain, the betting rate increase would be calculated automatically, what’s more each rough stone had a corresponding number, so there was no way for him to hide it.

But then if it was like this, it would be a shame. What if he happened across another good rough stone in his selection? Wouldn’t he just have to pass it by regretfully?

Most importantly, he still owed Gu Yuanzhao thirty three million starcoins for the treatment of his genetic decay and he didn’t know when he would be able to pay it back.

Just as Bai Jing was feeling sorry for himself, he caught a glimpse of the white housework robot playing bright music as it cleaned the floor. Suddenly, a flash of light went off in his mind.

Right, he had other ways of making money, such as extracting energy fluids!

That egg-sized piece of dry green seed jadeite just now, an offcut that no one would buy, wouldn’t cost more than 500 starcoins at most, but a grade 1 energy box would sell for 2,000 starcoins, quadrupling it in one fell swoop!

That was as much of a windfall as gambling on rough stones was.

Anyways, the Gambling Guild would only calculate the betting rate increase, so he could try to choose a rough stone that had jadeite in it but which would constitute a collapse in bet.

He didn’t have to get a white stone from the unravelling of a rough stone to get a collapse in bet. He could do it just like that exam question– as long as the price of the jadeite was less than the price of the raw rough stone, then it was a collapse in bet.

When the time came, he could choose one or two rough stones of average quality and then use the jadeite from the collapsed bet to make energy fluids, causing him to earn another strong inflow of money!

This way, even the Gambling Guild wouldn’t find out.

Having solved this problem, he remembered another problem that gave him quite a headache.

The betting battle of the rough stones would take place at the Gu Conglomerate’s Gambling House in front of everyone, with thousands of spectators below the stage, plus the crowds of bettors on Starnet. It would be a real spectacle.

Bai Jing frowned slightly at the thought of all those rabid fans. He would probably have a hard time adjusting to that scene.

He wondered if he could use a different identity for the betting battles?

He didn’t want to use the name Bai Jing, nor did he want to make everything about himself public.