Chapter 406: Two Methods of Forging

Rod could tell.

This was a rip-off shop.

No wonder no one had bought it in over seventy years.

As far as he knew, specimens were mainly used for display or for preserving biological information.

If the species later went extinct and its physiological data was needed, that was when a specimen would come in handy for magical research.

Star Realm Ambushers weren't numerous, but they certainly weren't rare either.

380,000 Jin Along was an absurd overpay.

Seeing the doubt on Rod's face, Pavla also looked embarrassed and explained:

"This is an early work of this shop's owner, Ms. Stephanie. Back then, Ms. Stephanie was still in a phase of being arrogant and dismissive—she believed no one could appreciate the artistry of her specimens, so she priced them absurdly high, hoping to find a kindred spirit."

"And this Ms. Stephanie is…?"

"She used to be the chief dwarven artificer of the Arcane Control Union, though she's stepped back to a supporting role now."

"Last time it was Master Darwin's magic jewelry shop, and now it's the chief dwarven artificer's specimen shop, Pavla. Are you some kind of child of fortune? You keep working under big names."

"Hehehe—I've always had a lot of confidence in my job-hunting skills, that's all. Honestly, I'm pretty sure they can pull off that deep-fried tapeworm skewer from the Calvin brown bear! Mr. Rod, you should hurry and try it too."

Alright, you can stop talking now.

Rod once again dodged the girl's burning gaze.

In that gaze was the image of a Calvin brown bear walking down the road, dragging a five- or six-meter-long white tapeworm behind it, then getting wrapped up in wooden sticks and dropped into a fryer—an absurdly vivid picture.

Nauseating, my man.

At the same time, he had to think it over a little.

Now that Rod had advanced, new methods of war-soul construction had opened up.

One was like before with the bronze dragon and the Gorgon—constructing by referencing the outward form.

Two was directly borrowing the target's flesh to carve the war soul.

Simply put.

Rod could now drive his spirituality into the target's body, bit by bit replacing parts of its flesh with spirituality. Once the war soul was complete, the target's body would turn to ash along with it.

He called the former "Form Casting," and the latter "Spirit-Devouring Casting."

Spirit-Devouring Casting was about 12–20% stronger than Form Casting, and the casting speed was faster too.

380,000 Jin Along for a 12–20% boost to the war soul—

In the past, Rod would have waved his hand and bought it, overpay be damned.

But things were different now.

After recognizing the dragon's true strength, he felt a sense of crisis and urgency.

He still needed to set aside a sum to hire a dragon-slaying team, so that 12–20% no longer seemed worth it.

"There are priorities to weigh. It's not like this is a one-of-a-kind psionic war soul anyway."

Rod made up his mind.

He looked back at the girl behind the counter, but she spoke first with a wry smile:

"This price is ten times higher than a living Star Realm Ambusher—that's probably why it's been sitting in this shop for over seventy years. Maybe Mr. Rod, you could wait two months for the extraplanar cleanup squad to return. They'll bring back a lot of intact remains, and Star Realm Ambushers definitely won't be in short supply."

"Two months is too long. Pavla, let me discuss something with you."

"Please go ahead, Mr. Rod. You saved my life—anything I can do, I will!"

Next—

Rod politely expressed his admiration and fondness for Stephanie's specimens, and asked if he could take a look at the specimen in person and record it with a recording orb.

Naturally, Pavla wouldn't refuse such a small request.

She happily agreed, asked Rod to watch the shop for a bit, and skipped off toward the back warehouse to fetch it.

Soon—

The rumbling sound of wheels rolling came over.

Pavla struggled to push a large square sealed display case out from the room behind the counter.

Behind the clear glass—

A strong humanoid creature with thick dark-green skin stood quietly, held up by a frame.

About 1.8 meters tall—Rod was quite a bit taller than it.

But its shoulders were absurdly broad—wider than two Rods put together.

Its bare upper body was visible; in the hollows between its muscles ran strange, aged-white meridians that clearly outlined and divided its heavily developed black muscles into sections and blocks—better than any fitness oil.

Arms like poured steel reached all the way down to its knees, thicker than its waist. Its thick fingers had no nails; from the second knuckle on, they had mutated into thick, sharp white bone—claws like blades.

Its head, oddly, wasn't far off from a normal human's—still bald, with a mouth that flared outward, filled with interlocking fangs.

Supported by its massive trapezius muscles, the head looked even smaller than Rod's face.

In its eye sockets, the solid black irises still held a small patch of glowing white—cruel and supremely arrogant.

Honestly—

Pretty cool-looking.

Especially the muscles on its body—big, yes, but combining both power and a natural feel.

It didn't look bulky; if anything, its height—nothing special among cosmic creatures—gave it an oddly agile-expert air.

Rod didn't delay.

He quickly used the recording stone to document the specimen from every angle.

The process was done in no time.

Of course, he didn't feel right buying nothing, so he picked out a slightly smaller Hyakume and a Locust Lord specimen from the display area.

Anyway, Rod also wanted to try out "Spirit Devouring Forging," so it wasn't useless.

These two were clearly the dwarf Shi Difen-ni's recent works, looking quite new, and far less exquisite than the Star Realm Ambusher, so the price wasn't quite as arrogantly high.

Altogether, just under fifteen thousand Jin Along.

Three hundred and eighty thousand versus fifteen thousand — compared like this.

Rod felt he'd made a killing.

Before leaving, Pafla slipped over the coupon for that tapeworm fried-skewer shop.

Rod's face changed; he pushed it away again and again, but the girl was far too enthusiastic, and he couldn't refuse.

Helpless.

Then he could only follow the old rule, and sneakily give it to the front-desk young man at the service hall again.

Night.

Outside Shi Ying Town, at the outer perimeter of the slightly dispersed green acid-fog breath.

"Watching Yuna."

Rod returned from the Magic Control Alliance, waving to the spider-kin elf who had long been waiting here; she respectfully bowed and joyfully welcomed him.

Under the blowing of winter's unstable wind direction, the acid fog showed signs of gradually spreading toward the farmland district.

When he got closer at this point, he discovered that the sky-full of green fog was domineering to the extreme — even the yellow of the sandstorm had been driven clean away.

Hissing, piercing sounds corroded everything they touched into nothing.

The dragon's breath was very strong; the mages of Shi Ying Town were establishing a defensive ward against the acid fog in the farmland district.

But Rod felt it should be dealt with at the source.

This was the place where he had crossed blades with the black dragon Mihail.

One could clearly see that at the hill the strong-acid breath had torn through, black solid residue remained, continuously releasing acid fog.

"Just right to try the shared skill of the mushroom-man Toru's girlfriend."

— 【Throat of the Abyss】.

(End of this chapter)