Chapter 256 The Seed Of Fire
Ether powder
Description: The remnant powder is made from depleted ether crystals. It is used to make ether weapons according to the quality of the powder.
Price: 10 silver coins per gram (copper); 1 gold coin per gram (silver); 10 gold coins per gram (gold); 100 gold coins per gram (platinum); 1000 gold coins per gram (diamond, ruby, Crystal); 10k gold coins per gram (Mithril); 100k gold coins per gram (Celestial); 1m gold coins per gram (God);
"Seriously? The ether firearms could be made from those worthless things?"
Mark always thought that ether weapons are made from high-quality metals and blood or any part of a spirit beast. So far from his inspection, he concluded that way.
But, he didn't know that he can simply make ether weapons from those white crystals that are thrown away after absorbing the ether energy. So far, he had absorbed the energy from thousands of ether crystals of various qualities and dumped the white crystals as trash. Just a day ago, he had absorbed that 1500 carat ore of high quality, and Allen threw it away at the garbage collection site.
"Ugh, I don't know whether to laugh or cry now." Mark was happy that he can make the ether weapons from now onwards but he felt like he threw away gold coins for nothing.
In the end, Mark convinced himself that he actually received a better reward as he can make even God-grade firearms in the future. He then returned to the real world and went to sleep right away.
Two days later;
The Genesis training ground, which was once used for weapons testing and sparring field, now, had become the venue for the engagement ceremony. A huge tent was placed inside, covering almost every inch of the land inside the compound wall. The inside was also decorated quite nicely with chandeliers, aluminum candle lanterns, and all, suitable to host guests with wealthy backgrounds. As for the food, Alina rented one of the kitchens of a restaurant and personally cooked all the items including a few recipes from Mark's past world. He planned to use this occasion to introduce them to the guests. And based on their reactions, he might also think of opening a restaurant of his own to have an additional income later on.
The business might not be even half profitable as the weapon store but there are reasons for him to do this. First, he no longer has to depend on Androids as much as before. So, he might as well use their other talents and cash it.
Secondly, the store was doing poorly during afternoon hours except for weekends. So, it can serve as a secondary income. Not to mention, it will be the perfect place for him to use those butler robots for something.
It was just an idea that came to his mind and he wants to see if it can succeed or not. That's all. If opening the restaurant is not possible, as long as the guests like it, he could still sell those recipes to the other restaurants and make money out of it. Speaking of which, there are so many ideas from his past world that he can actually sell to the businessmen of this world.
As for why he making these sudden plans out of nowhere, it's mainly because of the rising debt. He could see the debt will only rise to exorbitant amounts in the future and unless he plans on continuing to extort money from the noble clans, he should do something about it.
While this will not clear the debt he owes to the system, it will atleast help him with the interest the system charges him. And that's enough for Mark. As for the huge debts, he also has a plan for them and will soon unveil it, today.
It was around 10'o clock in the morning. Since it is Monday, people were busy with their work but it wouldn't stop everyone to take a look in the sky where a giant stingray is moving toward the outer sector where the Hanga District and the Genesis Weapon store are located.
The imperial family of four along with Supreme Commander Bai, Grand Secretariat Li, and Northern General Ye Yin were seated inside a house-sized carriage that is attached to the stingray's back.
The fourth member of the imperial family isn't the third prince or some other wife of the Emperor. Surprisingly, it is the second prince, who coincidentally returned to the Imperial City just a day ago to receive the order.
Of course, he didn't come all the way without knowing whether his order is ready or not. Only after enquiring with a subordinate did he finally decide to visit.
But then, why does a general like him have to take the items in person? The store's new rules don't restrict his subordinates to visit the store and take it.
It is because of four reasons.
One, it would give the second prince a perfect reason to return to the Imperial City where his mother's grave is located.
Two, the rocket launchers and grenade launchers are a bit too powerful to let any normal soldier have their hands on them. After all, these aren't swords or bows. Whether in the hands of a civilian or a Supreme Being, they work the same.
Three, 50 panzers are too big to be stored in normal storage rings. Each of its widths is slightly more than 2 meters big. So, even a gold-grade storage ring will be cramped. He owns a semi-divine grade storage ring and could comfortably store an entire palace in it. So, there's that too.
And the fourth and final reason is that he wanted to meet Mark to see if the latter had any new advanced weapons. After all, every time they met, Mark has introduced a new weapon to him and it's been like ten days since they last met. So, he had curiosity too.
As a result, he made a personal trip once again, surprising his father and the others, making some people like the crown prince and Nie Rougang wonder whether Shang Wen was also eyeing the throne.
Upon learning that Song Yue and Mark are going to get engaged, he decided to tag along with his family to give his blessings to the couple and also finish his business at the same time.
Back to the present, the Emperor is currently in a discussion with the other three subordinates regarding some important stuff.
"If the seed of Fire will really appear on our lands, then, we might have to be extra careful on security. More than those guests from outside, we have to worry about our internal matters. Some people will try to take advantage of this chaos and cause a disturbance," said the Emperor in a serious tone, indicating the possible invasion from Kunyu bandits. The others agreed without hesitation.
Bai Xun then stated his opinion, "how about we talk to Lu Zhen? He has those rocket launchers and Grenade launchers that can even take care of 5-circle realm experts. Having a dozen of them in each unit would be able to help us, right?"
"I'm afraid that's not possible, Supreme Commander Bai." The Second Prince immediately rejected the idea. He opinioned, "Our soldiers are working with his weapons. So, I knew very well what are their strengths and weaknesses. They are indeed stronger and can put fear in enemies but the wielder needed a lot of training. Honestly, these weapons are never seen in history. So, we don't have any training manuals for guidance.
At present, we are only depending on Lu Zhen's training given to a couple of our soldiers, a while ago. For the new weapons, we plan on sending them here so that they train under him and return to us before training the rest of our regiment.
All of this will take atleast a month and we barely have a week or two left till the birth of the fire seed."
"Do we actually know its location?" asked the Second Prince.
"Well, according to the envoy of Eastern Sun, it will be born in a volcano somewhere in the south," replied the Emperor before looking at the Grand Secretariat, who then said, "We have 92 active volcanoes on our land excluding the Bloodhill forest. So, it is tough to say which one the fire seed will choose. But, I would place my bet on the Zhao Province, which has over half of the number."
"Hmm…"