Oaka tidak mencoba menusuk Lex dari belakang begitu memasuki toko, jadi itu tanda baik. Sebaliknya, ular itu dengan cepat meluncur melewatinya dan pergi ke belakang meja, menatap Lex dengan senyum paling tulus yang ia miliki — yang pada dasarnya terlihat seperti ia menebarkan taringnya. Jadi... bukan pemandangan yang bagus.
"Tuan yang baik, bolehkah aku tahu nama Anda? Dan apa yang dicari? Barang di toko ini terlalu banyak, jadi kalau aku tahu persis kebutuhan Anda, aku bisa mengarahkan," kata Oaka dengan antusias. "Oh iya, transparansi penuh: kami terima berbagai mata uang, tapi pembayaran favorit kami adalah tetes Embun Surgawi."
Lex familiar dengan Embun Surgawi. Secara sederhana, energi yang terkandung dalam tubuh Celestial Immortal bersifat unik, terwarnai pengaruh delapan hukum penguasa. Jadi jika Celestial memusatkan energi besar dan mengembunkannya, akan terbentuk tetes Embun Surgawi.
Embun Surgawi कमोबेश sama siapa pun Celestial Immortal yang membuatnya, dan bisa dipakai untuk banyak hal. Faktanya, immortal lemah dan binatang tertentu bahkan bisa menggunakannya untuk kultivasi.
Artinya semua Celestial punya cheat uang tak terbatas, cuma bikin embun butuh waktu dan energi. Jauh lebih mudah gunakan kekuatan masif mereka untuk mencari kekayaan daripada buang waktu bikin embun.
Tapi itulah yang membuat embun begitu berharga, apalagi bentuk mata uang konsumsi sehingga tidak pernah berlebihan. Lex sendiri tidak punya Embun Surgawi, tapi karena menerima uang lain, seharusnya aman... semoga.
"Namaku Lex dan aku butuh sesuatu yang bantu keluar dari kawah secepat mungkin. Mungkin kalau kau punya barang untuk menghindari atau tahan terhadap bahaya kawah. Mungkin daftar yang diharapkan di dalam dan sesudah kawah," jawab Lex sambil menatap barang-barang. Masing-masing... terasa luar biasa kuat. Bukan tiap hari Lex merasa orang lebih kaya darinya, tapi dia merasa Oaka mendekati. Kalau Lex tidak punya Getah Amber Chaos, dia pasti kalah miskin!
Ular itu hanya mengangguk dan mengayunkan ekornya ke atas meja, memanggil tiga barang saat melakukannya, lalu menatap barang yang ia keluarkan dengan kecewa.
"Menurut ekorku, ini satu-satunya barang dalam budgetmu," kata Oaka kecewa. "Kompas akan terus menunjuk ke keluar kawah di sisi berlawanan tempatmu masuk. Buku catatan berisi daftar detail semua yang kau temui di kawah. Kotak permen ini memungkinkanmu tahan terhadap ratapan Hantu Kesedihan untuk sementara."
Lex mengangkat alis, menatap ular dengan heran.
"Satu-satunya yang kupakai? Maksudmu apa? Aku tidak punya Embun Surgawi, tapi aku jauh dari bangkrut," kata dia, merasa tertantang.
"Jangan ambil hati, Lex. Tak bisa dielakkan. Cuma barang-barangnya memang... ekorku tidak pernah berbohong."
Lex tidak merasa Oaka merendahkannya, tapi merasa tertantang.
"Baik, berapa harganya?" tanya dia.
"Kompas bernilai 1 tetes Embun Surgawi, buku catatan 10, dan kotak permen 100 tetes Embun Surgawi."
"Baik, berapa dalam Kristal Spirit?" tanya Lex. Saat bertanya, dia tiba-tiba curiga kenapa Oaka merasa dia tak mampu beli di sini.
"Kami tidak terima Kristal Spirit di sini, meski bisa dipakai Earth Immortal untuk kultivasi," kata Oaka sambil menggelengkan kepala.
Biasanya inilah saat Lex mulai mengeluarkan harta acak dari realm Midnight. Tapi dia sadar di Taman Primordial, barang berharga di tempat lain mungkin sama sekali tidak bernilai di sini. Contohnya, tanah biasa Inn bisa dijual lumayan di tempat lain, tapi tanah di sini mungkin lebih baik dari Inn!
Harta alam yang tumbuh di Inn tidak seberharga yang tumbuh di sini, dan tak ada di Inn yang punya energi sebanyak barang di sini. Intinya, bukan Lex miskin — cuma kualitas mata uangnya terlalu rendah untuk diterima di sini.
Meski dia Earth Immortal, mereka masih oke, tapi sekarang dia lebih kuat, barang yang dibutuhkannya jadi lebih mahal, dan butuh pembayaran kualitas lebih tinggi.
Masalahnya dia sekarang dasarnya setara kekuatan Celestial Immortal level 1 sampai 3 rata-rata. Kualitas barang yang dibutuhkan naik, tapi sumber dayanya tidak ikut naik karena terlalu cepat. Kalau Inn punya lebih waktu berkembang, dia yakin tetap bisa pakai sumber dayanya.
Kalau Inn bisa produksi ramuan level Celestial dan esensi spirit, siapa yang tolak? Meski esensi spirit, pencairan energi spirit, bahkan level Celestial tidak seberharga Embun Surgawi, tetap bernilai cukup besar.
Lex menghela napas, dan menelusuri daftar harta yang ia miliki, dan yang mau dibagikan. Secara teknis, bukan dia miskin, tapi dia tak mau menyerahkan sumber daya langkanya.
"Aku bayar dengan sisik naga Heaven Immortal," kata Lex lelah. Kasihan Pelvailin — kalau jiwanya hidup, dia sudah bunuh diri tahu tubuhnya diperlakukan seperti pohon uang berjalan.
"Bagus, itu kami terima," kata Oaka tersenyum. "Sekarang, kalau kau bisa keluarkan sisiknya, aku akan nilai untuk tentukan nilai pasti sisiknya."
Oaka did not try to stab Lex in the back the moment he entered the shop, so that was a good sign. Instead, the snake quickly slithered past him and got behind the counter, giving Lex its sincerest smile - which basically just looked like it was showing Lex its fangs. So... not a good look.
"Good sir, may I have your name? And how about what you’re looking for? There are too many wares in my shop, so if I know exactly what you need, I can guide you," Oaka said enthusiastically. "By the way, full discretion, we accept various currencies, but our preferred form of payment is with drops of Celestial Dew."
Lex was familiar with Celestial Dew. Basically, the energy that Celestial Immortals contained within their body was unique, tinged by the influence of the eight ruling laws. So if Celestials concentrated a large amount of energy and condensed it, it would form a drop of Celestial Dew.
Celestial Dew was more or less the same no matter which Celestial Immortal made it, and could be used for a number of various things. In fact, weaker immortals and certain beasts could even use them for cultivation.
This basically meant that all Celestials had an infinite money hack, except that making the dew took time and energy. It would be much easier to simply use their immense power to acquire wealth rather than waste time making dew.
But that is exactly what made the dew so valuable, not to mention that it was a consumable form of currency which meant there was never an over abundance of it. Lex himself did not have any Celestial Dew on him, but since they accepted alternate forms of currency, he should be fine... hopefully.
"My name is Lex and I need something that will help me get out of the canyon as quickly as possible. Maybe if you have something that can help me avoid or perhaps resist some of the dangers of the canyon. Maybe a list of what to expect in and after the canyon," Lex answered as he swept his gaze over the wares. Each one of them... felt incredibly powerful. It was not every day that Lex felt someone was richer than him, but he got a feeling that Oaka was close. If Lex didn’t have Amber Chaos Resin, he would probably qualify as someone poorer than him for sure!
The snake merely nodded and waved its tail over the counter, summoning three items as he did, and then looked disappointed at the very wares he had pulled out.
"According to my tail, these are the only things in your budget," Oaka said disappointedly. "The compass will constantly point you towards the exit of the canyon on the opposite side of where you came in. The notebook contains a detailed list of everything you can expect in the canyon. The box of candy will allow you to resist the wail of the Ghost of Woe for a time."
Lex raised his eyebrow, looking at the snake in surprise?
"The only thing I can afford? What do you mean? I may not have Celestial Dew, but I am far from broke," he said, almost feeling challenged.
"Do not take it personally, Lex. This can’t be helped. It is just the things are - my tail never lies."
Lex did not feel like Oaka was looking down on him, but he felt challenged.
"Alright, what are the prices for these?" he asked.
"The compass is worth 1 drop of Celestial Dew, the notebook is 10, and the box of candy is worth 100 drops of Celestial Dew."
"Alright, so how much is that in Spirit Crystals?" Lex asked. As he asked the question, he suddenly began to suspect why Oaka felt like he couldn’t afford stuff here.
"We don’t accept Spirit Crystals here, even if they can be used by Earth Immortals to cultivate," Oaka said, shaking his head.
Normally, this would be the point where Lex would start pulling out random treasures from the Midnight realm. Yet he realized that in the Primordial Garden, the things that were valuable elsewhere might just be entirely worthless. For example, the mere soil of the Inn could fetch a decent price anywhere else, but the soil here might just be better than the Inns!
The natural treasures that grew in the Inn were not as valuable as the ones that grew here, and nothing in the Inn had as much energy as the things here. In essence, it wasn’t that Lex was poor - it was just that the quality of the currencies he had were too low to be accepted here.
While he was an Earth Immortal, they were still fine, but now that he was stronger, anything that he wanted to buy would be more expensive as well, and thus would require a higher quality payment.
The issue was that he was now basically equal in strength to a Celestial Immortal between level 1 and level 3 on average. The quality of stuff that he needed had been enhanced, but his resources had not kept up his growth in strength because he had been too quick. After all, if the Inn had more time to develop, he was certain he would still be able to use their resources.
If the Inn could produce Celestial level herbs and spirit essence, who would reject it? Although spirit essence, the liquefaction of spirit energy, even at the Celestial level would not be as valuable as Celestial Dew, it was still worth quite a lot.
Lex sighed, and went through the list of treasures he had, and the ones he wanted to give away. Technically, it wasn’t that he was poor, but that he didn’t want to give away his rarer resources.
"I’ll pay in the scales of a Heaven Immortal dragon," Lex said, sounding exhausted. Poor Pelvailin - if his soul were alive, he would have killed himself after finding out that his body was just being treated like a walking money tree.
"Excellent, that is something we can accept," Oaka said with a smile. "Now, if you can produce the scales I’ll have it appraised to determine the exact worth of the scales."
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