Gear Up

Zhao Lin took the same route he took from his previous visit, a black market area. A legal site even the Warrior Organization allowed. Anything could be sold, and was practically the marketplace for the city as well. His part of the city was where the shady did the business. It wasn't very well kept, many trash and poor people could be seen. Broken buildings and scary individuals lurked around.

The Warrior Organization was practically the new government of earth, rallying all the people to their call. But, the infrastructure of the city was much more orderly, as everything was a means of survival. Crimes were reduced, as casualties and death became normal, drugs were practically simple pleasure things, and only a certain of the crimes would require some official. After all, the main focus was to survive, even criminals needed to fall in line to survive.

Zhao Lin walked down a certain flight of stairs that lead to a small corridor. At the end was a wooden that has many weird decorations such as lizards with nails to attach them, skulls, entrails and a variety of others.

He did not give them a second glance, as he walked straight in. Inside was actually quite neat and properly lit. The shelves had single displays for what you wanted, and prices attached. The front desk had a young woman reading a book crossed legged on a stool. As she heard the door open and saw Zhao Lin's face. She was in high spirits all of a sudden.

"Oh oh oh, its little Zhao! It looks like your little mission was a success! Come, come. What goodies did you bring Big sister." She said as she gestured him over. As he got closer, it showed that the young lady was also quite attractive despite being in the slums. She was a gem in trash.

But her cheery attitude didn't make it seem so. She seemed like she was at home.

"Sister Fei, I got some decent goods for you today. I nearly died getting them too." he said smiling while taking out the materials he stored in the ring, the ring went from 57% to 10% after Zhao Lin had taken out the beast parts. As he unwrapped each one, Fei Hung's eyes were glimmering with excitement. For her small shop, and her area, these were fine materials.

"Ooh, you got me a Rooster Rex, not bad not bad."

As she examined each one, she was muttering numbers to herself, as if calculating. After the last patch of materials were examined she let a breath of air before looking at Zhao Lin.

"How much do you want?" she asked

"How much is it worth?"

"If we are talking standard straight credits, this would be more entire patch would be around 150,000 credits. Or 150 Silver credits if you want."

"Throw in 3 low grade Healing Injectors." As he said that, Fei Hung looked down for a moment before agreeing.

She took used the same type of ring that Zhao Lin had, and all the materials were sucked in. Zhao Lin could tell her's was a much more advanced version. These rings were storage rings, and were common storage units for mankind. One of man's great achievements since the Old Age. Items like the ring and health injectors were not uncommon in Warrior Households, but for his household, they would be luxuries. Just his ring alone was 20,000 credits, and that was money he saved up from 3 years of saving. He had often gone and foraged some things in the wilderness to trade with Fei Hung. She was one of the best traders in the Outer Ring. Gave fair prices, and helped a lot of people. Thus, many people favored and would gladly help her. Even people from the Inner Ring would come to trade with her.

"Sister Fei, do you have anything that could get me stronger?" he asked while taking a metal card. Money was now digit, and the cards were made to be strong as it would not be lost or destroyed easily. When Fei Hung heard the request she couldn't help but snicker.

"Heheheh. So little Zhao is also planning on taking the Warriors Examination in 3 months."

Zhao Lin simply nodded. Fei Hung went into the back of the shop, and soon came back with a large suitcase like box. Opening the latches and the top revealed 6 crystals in a pyramid formation. The bottom 3 were green crystals, the middle two were blue crystals, and the single top crystal was violet.

These crystals were also labeled with a price tag. From 200 silver credits, 400,and then 800 silver credits. That was 800,000 credits! That was the cost of two house. His parents yearly salary didn't even come close to that amount. This was why Warriors were very wealthy, they were rewarded for their efforts, and the materials that gather are bought and used to sell and manufactured many of currents time technology.

"What are these?" He asked as he picked one up. As he did he felt a strange jolt go up his arm. Before he could even comprehend what just happened, the crystal was then swiped by Fei Hung who then started polishing it.

"These, are low grade Evol Energy Crystals." She said as she presented the sparking crystals. Hearing this Zhao Lin's jaw dropped as he stared at the crystals.

Evol Energy Crystals. A condensed crystal containing the very energy that increases the power of an individual. Absorbing this allowed you to get stronger and stronger as you trained. These were very rare, as making them was quite difficult, thus, they were usually bought at very high prices. He had heard a Top grade Evol crystal had sold for hundred of millions.

The grade types for Evol crystals were drastically different as it contained more and more each grade higher. Each grade had 3 ranks. Just like the Healing Injector, all items like these were ranked by the results they produced. Low grade first rank, second rank and third rank. Then Mid grade, and Top Grade. Each rank doubled in efficiency, each grade multiplied by 20 in efficiency. One would understand why top grade items were only for executive like figures.

Evol crystals were also hard to obtain, as they were distributed by the Warrior Organization, and usually only people more towards the inner part of the city could buy them.

The city had 3 parts. Outer, Inner, and Core. Central city's Core ring was where the most important individuals lived. People who can protect cities by themselves, split mountains, raise tidal waves, and create eruptions. They were the final line of defence for Central city.

The Inner ring held many of the upper class families or individuals. Battle Lords and above would often stay in that part.

Then there was the Outer ring. Where many of the normal citizens lived. Or new Warriors.

Many things in the more inner regions of the city, were expensive as the the people who could afford them were mainly Warriors. Such as Evol Crystals.

"Where do you get them? I heard the Warrior Organization only gives them to selected distributors." He said in amazement. Most people in the who weren't Warriors, would find it near impossible to get. Not only was it rare, it was expensive. A rank 3 Low Grade Evol Crystal was just 800 silver credits alone.

The ring he had was for only 35 silver credits, and this was money he worked up from explorations. And many of them. His knife just as expensive as well. And yet this little crystal of the lowest kind was more than his entire wealth.

"Heh heh heh. This great sister has connections throughout the city. Well. Aren't i great?" She said as if she was gloating to him.

Zhao Lin looked at the crystal for just a bit longer before he smiled before declining.

"Forget, Maybe next time. I don't got have the credits for that." He said.

"Ah, but i know you do. If you got this Rooster Rex, then you must have gotten its Beast Core." She said as she eyed his ring. That was when Zhao Lin remembered the crystal he had before.

But when he tried to look for it in the ring, he couldn't find it. He had no idea where it could have gone. He was sure that he had stored it in his ring after he had harvested it. But now it had disappeared.

Beast Cores were similar to Evol Energy Crystals. In fact, that's how the idea of Evol Energy Crystals was made. Only difference is, was that beast crystal, had a bigger range of differences. They were grade as letter grades, corresponding with their former beast host. F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS. The Rooster Rex could be considered a E grade while the Chicken Raptors were Fs. Humans could absorb the Beast Cores for the same energy stored in Evol Crystals. Only problem was, the quality was never as good as the Evol Crystal, so it took more time to for the body to process it.

"Hmm. You must've dropped it when you left. Pity. Oh well, you can still buy a lot of other things in here." She said as she stored the crystals away. Zhao Lin felt a little regretful and annoyed. It was a lie if he said he did not want the Evol crystal badly. It was truly an amazing boost for young Warriors.

But for now, he could only wait until he hunted some more. This time, he was lucky, and got a lucky kill. If it was a normal face to face, he would not have seen today's morning.

"How about some weapons. The knife was good, was for long a bit."

"Hmm, if you want, you could return that blade and trade for something a bit better. Just pay the difference in price left over."

"Sure."

Fei Hung took out a tablet and gave it to him. As he looked he saw a various different categories of weapons. From Guns to Swords.

"Inside are what I have in stock. Just take your pick." She then went to store the materials in a different spot.

As Zhao Lin leaned on the counter looking at the tablet. He did not know what he should buy. He preferred close combat. But the knife only did so little. A sword was good, but he wanted some range as well. But there was no such thing as a gunblade in storage. So he went with a sword.

He chose a simple katana made from a strong alloy the very same as the knife. It was ten times stronger than steel, and incredible light. The sharpness could cut steel plates like butter. The only unique feature was that the hilt was made of conductive metal, that made the blade quite alluring. The price was over twice the price of the knife.

135 silver credits. If he bought it, it would cost him 100 silver credits. But the price was worth it, and the knife's abilities to cut the Rooster Rex hide was clear enough.

With this, he should be able to hunt more easily, and if he could get good enough to hunt Grade Fs and Es easily, than he could gain enough money for an Evol Crystal, which would give him a huge advantage.

He then looked through the other parts of the catalog that weren't weapons. He bought what he could afford, and by the end of the transaction he had only 5 silver credits. Not a lot, but enough for him to spend on gifts for his sister later.

———————

Zhao Lin had left with a satisfied look. He was excited to go out for another exploration. If he could quickly get some more credits, he would able to get Evol Crystal in time before examination. Just the anticipation made him anxious to go. The day barely hit noon, so he had plenty of time.

———————-

Fei Hung had taken out the Evol Crystals from before and was polishing them and checking them again. But as she was polishing one that Zhao Lin had held, she noticed that its glow was dimmer than the others. This one was only a rank 1 low grade crystal. But when she had gotten these, she was assured that the quality was 100%. Seeing this she was instantly furious. She did not assume Zhao Lin because she had forgotten that he held it. She looked at her wrist where a bulky wrist watch was strapped on. She turned it on and a calling holographic monitor appeared. A man appeared who was quite scared on the face, but even then he looked like a wild handsome man. Like a General from a grand army.

"Ooh Fei Hung. Whats up? Looking for a good time?" He said jokingly.

"Cut the crap Yun Bao. I asked you for absolutely 100% quality Evol Crystal, yet i have one defected one. Are you trying to play me?" She said as she stared viciously at him. The man that was snickering turned serious when he heard this.

"They were, i even checked them myself." The tone was completely different from before.

"Then explain this." Seeing the crystal, he saw that the crystal was indeed different from what should have been. He's seen thousands of Evol Crystal, and the memory he had was one of the best in his trade. But seeing his products defected made him a bit irritated.

"I'll swing by in a few hours. With a new one." The called end immediately. Fei Hung sighed in annoyance before putting the crystal and case away.