Chapter 488: Bargains and Upgrades Aboard the Heavenly Ruin

Song Chi had no idea what was going on inside the distant White Castle. All he knew was that once he’d successfully sent off that crystal, now reduced to its most primitive form, the crowd around him stirred restlessly.

He wasn’t bothered. With the Mirage Dragon Metamorphosis Pearl enhanced to level 70, he was confident that no prying eyes could uncover any real information about the Heavenly Ruin.

Inside the battleship, he glanced over his shoulder at the Flamewrath Giant.

“So this trace of high-grade chaotic fire is actually a huge benefit for you?”

Though Song Chi had finished the extraction, he only returned the transformed crystal. As for the chaotic fire he’d separated out, he claimed to have removed it thoroughly—but secretly kept it for himself.

This wisp of fire was remarkably advanced, packed with a potent fire energy and certainly valuable.

Unexpectedly, the Flamewrath Giant leaned in, hunger for the chaotic energy burning in its eyes.

Song Chi didn’t overthink it. Since it was an extra perk and clearly useful to the Flamewrath Giant, he didn’t mind letting it have it.

Just not right now, though. After all, that guy was holding not just one of these crystals, but an entire batch. Separating them all would take some time.

When the Ten-Winged Angel stepped off the dreadnought again, Song Chi received news that was less than friendly.

With so many crystals to process, he wanted to do them in batches. But the ‘Compass · Return to Origins’ trait, even at level 70, still needed a 60-hour cooldown. If he separated them one by one, who knew how long it would drag on.

That was where the problem started. The crystals were incredibly valuable, and their owner wasn’t comfortable leaving them in Song Chi’s hands all at once. So they proposed a temporary spatial lockdown to prevent the Heavenly Ruin from warping away with both goods and payment.

Song Chi couldn’t possibly agree to that. If the space was sealed, he’d be trapped if the other side decided to get any funny ideas.

After several rounds of negotiation, they finally agreed that Song Chi would put up the Silver Dragon Spear and several other silver oddities as collateral. Once the separation was complete, they’d exchange the items back.

With the ‘Compass · Return to Origins’ trait on the Destiny Compass, he could process large batches at once. The other side sent all several hundred special crystal resources onto the ship. Song Chi only needed three cycles—less than seven days—to finish the entire separation.

Once he’d returned all the restored crystals, he retrieved the Silver Dragon Spear and the rest. With that, this task was wrapped up perfectly.

When it came to choosing his reward, Song Chi hesitated for a moment on the ship, then tried asking:

“Could I get half of it in Titanite Crystals and the other half in Sand of Time?”

Sand of Time was rare. Running into it was a stroke of luck, and he didn’t want to miss the chance. Meanwhile, Titanite Crystals were exactly what the Heavenly Ruin desperately needed.

The dreadnought up ahead didn’t answer right away. Over a minute passed before a response came.

A comms request suddenly popped up from the Heavenly Ruin.

In the ship’s bridge, Song Chi frowned.

Honestly, he didn’t really want to answer—it was risky to expose himself.

But since it all stemmed from his own rather bold request, he finally accepted the call.

Naturally, before doing that, he pulled out the bionic skin mask he’d made long ago from the Motherbug’s Amethyst Skin and slipped on the Moyun Goldvine Armor—a full helmet covering his face.

Once everything was in place, he connected to the channel.

The very next second, behind two layers of disguise, Song Chi’s eyes brightened. A projection appeared—an elegant woman whose features were so exquisite she was almost unreal.

Still, it was just a fleeting appreciation. He didn’t lose composure or anything. Hidden from view, his dual pupils flickered once before he quickly collected himself.

He spoke up first:

“I apologize for causing trouble with my request. I really am sorry. But if possible, I still hope you’ll allow it—or maybe I could buy them with high-tier Floating-Land Origin instead.”

The woman said nothing, but Song Chi thought he caught a flash of surprise in her eyes.

Just as he was about to speak again, she finally responded:

“It’s not an unreasonable request at all. Of course we can!”

Her abrupt change in attitude and casual tone left Song Chi quietly suspicious.

Still, he quickly said:

“Thank you!”

Efficient as ever, she soon had ten thousand Titanite Crystals and seven kilograms of Sand of Time delivered right to him.

With everything settled, Song Chi got ready to end the conversation and take his leave.

But just as he was about to, the woman spoke again.

“How about we exchange contact info? I don’t mean anything else by it. It’s just that in the future, I might have more resources like these that need processing, and it’d be easier to stay in touch.”

Aboard the Heavenly Ruin, Song Chi fell silent.

His first instinct was to refuse. Who knew if those comm modules could trace his location?

After a brief hesitation, he replied tactfully:

“The comms module on my ship isn’t great. It can’t reach beyond a hundred thousand light-years, and I’m not originally from the Silverplate Galaxy, so…”

He tried to be as diplomatic as possible and hoped she’d get the hint. But her response made him wince behind his double-layered mask.

“That’s easy. My comm module works from over ten million light-years away. Besides…”

She paused for a few seconds, then sent over a data sheet.

Chaotic Interaction Ring lv70

Grade: Gold

Trait: Ultra-Long-Range Chaotic Communication

Trait 2: Triple Encryption

Trait 3: Chaotic Signal Flow

Trait 4: Doubled Sub-Ring Comm Uses

Trait 5: Doubled Number of Sub-Rings

Cost: 40/s (Nether Energy points)

Effect: Consumes 50,000 Nether Energy points to create a sub-interaction ring. Current max sub-rings: 3 (13/16).

…

{Ultra-Long-Range Chaotic Communication: Main and sub-rings can freely connect, each call lasting up to 30 minutes. Each sub-ring can be used 2 (1+1) times. Maximum communication range: 10 million light-years.}

{Triple Encryption: Communication between rings is heavily encrypted, making third-party interception or decoding extremely difficult.}

{Chaotic Signal Flow: Communication uses strong chaotic energy, making it almost impossible to block by spatial locks, jamming, or anti-magic fields.}

…

Song Chi cast a look of surprise at the woman—this was a gold-grade Sanctum comms device, and she was just showing him all its specs, plain as day.

The specific traits and details of a component were its most important secrets. Exposing them like this could let enemies find a counter.

He looked at her one more time, then turned away.

This time, he didn’t hesitate. He nodded and agreed.

Her meaning was clear—the sub-interaction ring really was just a comms tool, nothing more. She’d made it plain she had no ulterior motives, just wanted an easy way to contact him in the future.

Now that she’d been so candid, Song Chi couldn’t possibly refuse.

He accepted the sub-ring she offered, then left without lingering, steering the Heavenly Ruin straight for the sky.

Only when the Heavenly Ruin vanished beyond the edge of the Silverplate Floating-land did two figures, one after the other, turn away from the viewing window atop White Castle.

“Madam, was it really necessary to go this far? That Chaotic Interaction Ring is important…”

Before the elder could finish, the elegant woman raised a hand to stop him.

“I know what I’m doing. That’s enough talk. Since the chaotic source crystal has been purged, start enhancing the component.”

…

Beyond the Silverplate Floating-land, the Heavenly Ruin streaked away from the shield. In the next moment the orange warp module hummed, spatial ripples twisted, and the ship vanished into the starry void.

Song Chi hadn’t forgotten the whole reason he’d come to the Silverplate Galaxy. After spending over a month here, it was time to track down what might be a second Timepiece Chess component.

Since he arrived, the light dot on the Destiny Compass marking his next target was now less than 300,000 light-years away. As long as the ship kept moving, he shouldn’t be far from his destination.

In the battleship’s control room, Song Chi held the storage capsule full of ten thousand Titanite Crystals, eyes drifting across the ship’s components.

Ten thousand Titanite Crystals, plus three Dominion Souls and a good stockpile of Sixth-Tier Floating-Land Origin—enough to level up three components to tier seven.

After thinking it over, he’d already picked the first one to upgrade.

The Antimatter Evolution Engine!

Right now, this gold-grade engine could just barely handle the ship’s needs, but there were two more components that also had to reach tier seven. Without an upgrade, that meant real trouble ahead.

Even now, at level 69, the engine’s Nether Energy pool held only 2.45 million points. That wasn’t enough for the ship’s higher-tier modules.

Any time he used special features on a tier-seven silver component, it would drain two or three hundred thousand points per activation. Gold and black-grade modules were even hungrier. Triggering several high-end modules at once could easily run the ship out of power.

A flash of gold light later, the engine was upgraded from level 69 to 70.

It might sound like just one level, but after the upgrade, the engine’s specs changed dramatically.

Power output was way up, but the main thing—its Nether Energy pool—jumped from 2.45 million to 5 million.

Song Chi was more than satisfied. Now, even if all the ship’s tier-seven modules activated their special functions at once, this pool should be able to handle the draw.

After the Antimatter Evolution Engine, Song Chi’s eyes naturally found the Pusa Zen Seal.

It was the first gold sanctum component ever installed in the Heavenly Ruin, and by far the most frequently used. Until now, he hadn’t upgraded it only because he’d lacked the resources. With both Sand of Time and Titanite Crystals in hand, he could finally do it.

Ten flashes of golden light—the Pusa Zen Seal leapt to level 70.

Pusa Zen Seal lv70

Grade: Gold

…

Trait 4: Time Resistance +8,200

Effect: If the ship is struck by time-based attacks, the attack’s power is reduced by 65%.

…

{Zen Seal: External Time Stop: Spending 400,000 Nether Energy points, you can pause time for any target within a million kilometers for eight seconds. Cooldown: 120 hours.}

{Samsara Time Domain: Slow: Uses 700,000 Nether Energy points to form a ten-million kilometer diameter time field around the ship: inside, time slows to one-tenth speed for everything—beings, energy, thought, all of it. (Note: the ship itself is not affected.) Lasts 50 minutes. Cooldown: two years.}

These changes were insane. The Zen Seal’s time resistance alone was a huge leap, but the diameter of both Time Stop and the Samsara Time Domain also grew dramatically.

Most importantly, the Samsara Time Domain could now last almost an hour. With time slowed tenfold, that was easily enough to get a lot done.

The real game-changer, though, was the reduced cooldown. With the Pusa Zen Seal at level 70, plus the Timepiece Chess’s partial cooldown cut, it now rested at two years. With a boost from ‘Zen Seal · Internal · Time Acceleration’, it could drop to under five months.

That meant Song Chi no longer had to be too stingy with using the Samsara Time Domain. Less than five months between uses wasn’t so long—a single meditation or epiphany could bridge the gap.

After finishing with the Pusa Zen Seal, Song Chi looked around again.

But the third upgrade wasn’t as easy to pick. All the black and gold components were either already upgraded or missing something vital, making them ineligible. As for the silver components, none seemed urgent.

After some thought, he put aside the final Dominion Soul, saving it for later.

Better to keep it on hand. If trouble came up, he’d be able to strengthen whatever he needed on the spot.

With his resources stashed away, Song Chi handed ship control back to the Sky-Domain AI, left a Voidform Avatar onboard, and headed into the Omniverse Market.