Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Trading Post

The next day, the clone and Celestia walked through the ship’s commercial district.

Deck Seven was bigger than he’d expected. The corridor opened into a massive plaza that stretched for kilometers, the ceiling arching overhead like they were inside a giant dome. Shops lined both sides—hundreds of them, maybe thousands further down. Holographic signs advertised everything from cultivation pills to weapon refinement services.

The qi density here was higher than the residential decks. Not massively so, but enough to make breathing feel slightly different. Formations built into the floor and walls concentrated ambient energy, making the entire commercial area function as a passive cultivation space.

Smart design. People shopping would naturally cultivate just by being here. Made them want to stay longer, spend more money.

“There,” Celestia pointed.

A large building near the center of the plaza had a sign that read Absolute Trading Company in glowing blue text. Three stories tall, wider than most of the other shops, with security formations visible as faint shimmer around the entrance.

Official trading post. Run directly by the ship’s management rather than independent merchants.

They walked in.

The interior was clean and organized. Shelves lined the walls displaying various items behind protective barriers. Pills in jade bottles, weapons on stands, technique manuals stored in formation-sealed cases. Everything was labeled with prices and grade classifications.

A woman behind the counter looked up as they entered. Middle-aged, Planetary Core realm based on her energy signature. She smiled professionally.

“Welcome to Absolute Trading. How can I help you today?”

“Looking for soul cultivation resources,” the clone said. “Pills, elixirs, anything that enhances soul strength.”

“Of course. Soul items are on the second floor, east wing. Take the stairs.” She gestured toward the back of the shop.

They climbed the stairs. The second floor was quieter, fewer customers browsing. The soul cultivation section occupied a large corner area with its own separate room and additional security formations.

Made sense. Soul items were expensive and rare compared to body or qi cultivation resources.

The clone walked along the shelves, examining the inventory.

Soul Cleansing Pill (Divine Grade) – 50,000 high-grade spirit stones each

Soul Expansion Elixir (Supreme Grade) – 200,000 high-grade spirit stones each

Soul Tempering Incense (Supreme Grade) – 150,000 high-grade spirit stones per stick

Prices were reasonable for Divine and Supreme grade items. He’d expected them to be marked up on a ship, but apparently the Absolute Trading Company kept prices competitive.

He kept looking.

Soul Crystal (Primordial Grade) – 1,500,000 high-grade spirit stones each

Quantity Available: 3

The clone stopped. Primordial grade. Three crystals available.

He pulled one from the shelf. The crystal was small, maybe the size of his thumb, but it pulsed with condensed soul energy. Just holding it made his spiritual sense tingle. Quality was good—not as potent as the ones he’d bought from the system mall, but still useful.

“Found something?” Celestia appeared beside him.

“Primordial Soul Crystals. Three of them.”

She examined the price tag. “One and a half million each. That’s actually cheap for Primordial grade.”

It was. The system mall sold similar crystals for two million system points, and spirit stones converted roughly one-to-one with system points for high-grade items.

The clone grabbed all three crystals and continued browsing.

Soul Essence Pill (Primordial Grade) – 2,000,000 high-grade spirit stones each

Quantity Available: 5

He took all five.

Soul Convergence Liquid (Primordial Grade) – 3,000,000 high-grade spirit stones per bottle

Quantity Available: 2

Both bottles went into his hands.

Spiritual Root Enhancement Elixir (Primordial Grade) – 2,500,000 high-grade spirit stones each

Quantity Available: 4

He grabbed those too.

Celestia watched him collect items without comment. After a few minutes, he was holding fourteen different Primordial-grade soul treasures worth roughly thirty million high-grade spirit stones total.

“That’s a lot,” she said.

“The original needs them.”

“I know. Just saying.”

They walked back downstairs to the counter. The woman’s eyes widened slightly when she saw the pile of Primordial-grade items the clone was carrying.

“You’re purchasing all of these?”

“Yes.”

“That will be…” she pulled up a calculation formation, “thirty-two million, four hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones total.”

The clone pulled a spatial ring from his finger—one of several he kept loaded with currency. He placed it on the counter.

“There’s fifty million in there. Keep the change as a deposit. I might be back later this week.”

The woman’s professional demeanor cracked slightly. Fifty million in high-grade spirit stones was serious money. Most cultivators saved for years to accumulate that much wealth.

She scanned the ring with a formation to verify the contents, then quickly processed the transaction.

“Thank you for your purchase. All items have been transferred to your designated storage ring. Would you like a receipt?”

“No need.”

The clone turned to leave, then paused. “Do you get new inventory during the voyage?”

“We receive shipments when we dock at major stations. Next one is Earth-Prime in four days.”

“There is no need then, I will get the things I want at the academy.`”

The woman nodded and made a note in her record formation.

The clone and Celestia left the trading post and walked back into the plaza.

“Thirty-two million spirit stones,” Celestia said. “Gone in five minutes.”

“I have more.”

“I know you do. The Stellar Foundation Method sales alone gave you trillions.”

That had been absurd. Gaia had made the technique compulsory for the entire Federation, which meant every citizen—all seven hundred trillion of them—needed to learn it. The contribution points and spirit stones from that had been astronomical. The clone didn’t actually know the exact total. The numbers were too large to matter individually.

He checked his system inventory. Current liquid wealth: 47 trillion high-grade spirit stones. Plus another few hundred trillion in contribution points that could be converted to currency if needed.

Money wasn’t a concern. Finding the actual items was the hard part.

Cultivation Treasures were getting scarce day by day in the universe

“Want to check the other shops?” Celestia asked.

“Might as well. We’re already here.”

They spent the next two hours browsing. Most shops sold standard cultivation resources—pills for qi refinement, weapons for combat, formation diagrams for study. Nothing special. The Absolute Trading Company had clearly monopolized the premium items.

One shop specialized in techniques. The clone browsed their collection out of curiosity.

Flame Dragon Fist (Peak Divine Grade) – 5,000,000 high-grade spirit stones

Void Step Movement Art (Supreme Grade) – 15,000,000 high-grade spirit stones

Star Crushing Palm (Peak Supreme Grade) – 50,000,000 high-grade spirit stones

Good techniques. Well-designed. Completely useless for him.

The clone had created his own Primordial-grade technique—Eternal Nexus Ascension—that was specifically tailored to his cultivation path. Buying random techniques from shops didn’t make sense when he could design better ones himself.

Celestia found a shop selling spatial accessories. She picked up a storage bracelet that had interesting formation work—instead of storing items in a separate dimension, it compressed them and attached them to the bracelet’s surface as microscopic particles.

“This is clever,” she said, examining the formation arrays. “Much faster access time than traditional spatial rings.”

“Want it?”

“No. I’m just appreciating the design work.”

She put it back and they kept walking.

By the time they finished browsing, the clone had bought soul items from three additional shops—smaller places that didn’t have Primordial grade items but carried decent Supreme and Divine grade pills. Another twenty million spirit stones spent.

Total soul treasures acquired: 14 Primordial grade, 37 Supreme grade, 63 Divine grade.

Good haul. He’d transfer everything to the original body later through the soul connection.

“That’s probably all we’ll find on the ship,” Celestia said as they headed back toward the residential decks.

“Yeah. Real treasures will be at the academy.”

“Four more days.”

They took the lift back to Deck Four where their suite was located. The corridor was quiet—most candidates were either training in private chambers or exploring other parts of the ship.

Marcus Sunfire was coming out of his suite as they passed. He looked better than yesterday. Still tired, but recovered enough to move normally.

“Hey,” Marcus said. “Heard you bought out the trading post’s entire Primordial soul item inventory.”

News traveled fast.

“Needed them,” the clone said.

“For what? You’re already strong enough to kill Star Fusion cultivators in seconds.” Marcus laughed. “What are you preparing for?”

“Future breakthroughs.”

“Must be some breakthrough if you need that many Primordial treasures.” Marcus shook his head. “Well, good luck with whatever you’re planning. I’m heading to the training facilities. Want to test my new Law comprehension levels against the combat formations.”

“Have fun.”

Marcus waved and walked off.

The clone and Celestia entered Suite 4701. The door sealed behind them with a soft click as privacy formations activated.

“I’m going to transfer these to the original,” the clone said, settling onto the couch.

“I’ll be in the meditation chamber if you need me.”

She disappeared into the side room. The clone closed his eyes and focused on the soul connection.

The original was there, deep in the Comprehension Space, running the soul tempering technique continuously. Millions of cutting cycles. The soul had grown stronger over the past day—Middle Black Hole realm now, progressing toward Late Black Hole.

Got treasures, the clone thought through the connection.

The original’s attention shifted slightly. How many?

Fourteen Primordial grade. Thirty-seven Supreme. Sixty-three Divine.

Good. Transfer them.

The clone activated the resource transfer function built into the Runic Clone technique. The soul treasures in his spatial ring dissolved into pure energy and flowed through the soul connection. They rematerialized in the original’s system inventory inside the Comprehension Space.

The transfer completed in seconds.

More coming when we reach Earth-Prime, the clone sent.

Keep searching. Need Chaos-grade eventually.

Working on it.

The connection faded. The original returned to soul tempering, now with a fresh supply of resources to accelerate the process.

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