Chapter 406: Two Casting Methods

Luo De figured it out.

This is a shady shop.

No wonder no one bought anything in over seventy years.

According to him, specimens are primarily used for display or preserving biological information.

If this species goes extinct and its physiological data becomes necessary later, only then will the specimen demonstrate its value for magical research.

Star Ambushers are not numerous, but they're far from rare.

380, 00 Jin Along is an absurdly inflated price.

Pavla saw Luo De's skeptical expression and offered a embarrassed smile.

"This is an early work by Master Stephannie. They say back then, she was arrogant and dismissive of everyone, convinced no one could understand her art of specimen crafting, so she set wildly unreasonable prices, hoping to find someone who truly appreciated it."

"Who is this Master Stephannie?"

She used to be the Chief Dwarf Artisan of the Magic Control League, though now she has stepped back to a secondary role.

"Last time it was Darwin Master's magic jewelry shop, now it's the Chief Dwarf Artisan's specimen shop—Pavla, are you some kind of fate-born girl? You always end up working for big names."

"Hehehe—I've always been confident in my job-hunting skills, that's all. Honestly, I'm certain those Karlvin Brown Bear's tapeworm skewers will take off! Mr. Luo De, you should go try them too."

Alright, stop talking already.

Luo De again avoided the girl's burning gaze.

That gaze showed Karlvin Brown Bear walking down the street, a white tapeworm five to six meters long dragging behind its anus, then being wrapped in wooden sticks and dropped into a hot oil pot—too grotesque.

Made me sick, man.

At the same time, he had to think for a moment.

Since Luo De's promotion, new methods for constructing Battle Souls have emerged.

One, like the Bronze Dragon and Gorgon before it, is constructed by referencing the target's appearance.

Two is to directly use the target's physical body to carve the Battle Soul.

In short,

Luo De can now guide his spiritual energy into the target's body, gradually replacing its flesh with spiritual energy; once the Battle Soul is complete, the target's body disintegrates into ash.

The former he calls "Appearance Casting," the latter "Spirit Devouring Casting."

"Spirit Devouring Casting" is roughly 12–20% stronger than "Appearance Casting" and faster to execute.

380, 00 Jin Along for a 12–20% boost to the Battle Soul…

In the past, Luo De would've waved his hand and bought it outright—overpriced or not.

But now it's different.

After recognizing the Dragon's true power, he felt urgency and dread.

He still needs to save money to hire a Dragon-slaying team; this 12–20% boost seems hardly worth it.

"There are priorities. After all, it's not a unique Spiritual Battle Soul."

Luo De made up his mind.

He turned back to the girl behind the counter; she smiled wryly first.

"This price is ten times higher than a live Star Ambusher—that's why it's been sitting here for over seventy years. Perhaps Mr. Luo De, you could wait two months until the Interdimensional Cleanup Team returns; then there'll be many complete corpses, and Star Ambushers won't be scarce."

"Two months is too long… Pavla, let me propose something to you."

"Please, Mr. Luo De, you saved my life—anything within my power, I'll do it!"

Next,

Luo De politely expressed his admiration for Master Stephannie's specimen and requested to view it closely and record it with a recording orb.

Pavla naturally had no reason to refuse such a small request.

She gladly agreed, asking Luo De to watch the shop while she dashed off to the back warehouse to fetch it.

Soon,

A rumbling, rolling sound came from behind.

Pavla struggled to push a large square sealed display cabinet into the shop.

Inside the transparent glass,

A powerful humanoid creature with thick, dark green skin stood motionless on its stand.

It stood about 1. meters tall—Luo De was considerably taller.

But its shoulder width was absurd, wider than the combined width of two Luo Des.

Its bare upper body revealed ancient white veins snaking between the muscles, sharply delineating the dense black muscle groups—better than any gym oil.

Arms like cast steel reached down to its knees, thicker than its waist; its ten fingers had no nails, instead transforming into thick, sharp white bone protrusions at the second knuckle, claws like blades.

Its head was not much different from a human's—bald, with a mouth full of overlapping, protruding fangs.

Resting atop its massive trapezius muscles, it looked smaller than Luo De's face.

In its eye sockets, single-toned black pupils still glowed faintly with a patch of white—cruel, supremely arrogant.

To be honest,

It looked cool.

Especially its muscles—huge, yet balanced with raw power and natural form.

It didn't look bulky; rather, due to its relatively low height among cosmic beings, it carried an unexpected aura of agility.

Luo De didn't delay.

He quickly used his recording stone to fully document the specimen.

The process finished swiftly.

Of course, he couldn't leave without buying something, so he picked out a slightly smaller Hundred-Eyed Demon and a Locust Lord specimen from the display.

After all, he wanted to try "Spirit Devouring Casting"—not useless.

These two were clearly recent works by the dwarf Stephannie—new-looking, far less refined than the Star Ambusher, so their prices weren't as arrogantly inflated.

Together, they cost less than 15, 00 Jin Along.

Comparing 380, 00 to 15, 00,

Luo De felt he'd just made a killing.

Before leaving, Pavla shoved a coupon for the tapeworm skewer shop into his hand.

Luo De's face darkened; he pushed it away repeatedly, but the girl was too enthusiastic—he couldn't refuse.

Helpless,

He followed the old routine and secretly slipped it to the front desk clerk at the service hall.

Nightfall.

Outside Shiying Town, at the edge of the fading green acidic breath.

"Yuna."

Luo De returned from the Magic Control League and waved to the spider-elf waiting there; she bowed respectfully, delighted to see him.

Under the erratic winter winds, the acidic mist was slowly spreading toward the farmland zone.

Only now, as he drew closer, did he realize how violently domineering the green fog was—it had completely driven away the yellow dust storms.

A shrill hissing sound corroded everything it touched.

The Dragon's breath was powerful; Shiying Town's mages were building anti-acid barriers in the farmland.

But Luo De believed the solution must come from the source.

This was where he had fought the Black Dragon Mikhail.

He could clearly see black solid residue left where the acidic breath had shattered the hillside, still continuously releasing acid mist.

"Perfect chance to test Toru the Fungus's girlfriend's… shared skill."

——【Abyssal Throat】.

(End of Chapter)