Chapter 584: Market Surge and the Sea King’s Ring

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

After a violent surge of spatial energy, countless white lights shot into the sky, scattering into the unknown reaches of the Sea of Stars.

Soon, vortex portals began to appear all over the Market entrance.

Now that the Market had reached level 62, the number of spatial gates it could open had reached a new record.

Taking advantage of the Market’s brief opening—before any foreign Starsea races could enter—Song Chi focused his mind on the Oddities Exchange below.

The Oddities Exchange now held well over a hundred thousand items. Most of them were white or blue oddities, but there were more than ten thousand purples, two thousand oranges, several hundred reds, and even over fifty Silver Legendary Oddities.

Staring at this dazzling array of treasures, Song Chi couldn’t help but feel a swelling sense of pride.

This was the legacy he’d built up over four centuries. If he could sell even a fraction of these oddities, it would be a tremendous fortune.

Of course, the most eye-catching pieces were those displayed at the shop’s most prominent spot.

Among them were not only Golden Sanctum Oddities but also some of the rarest, black-tier perfection-grade treasures.

Black: Tomb of Light and Shadow.

Gold: Starlight Compass, Fireglass Armor, Flame of the Crimson Wheel, Star Spirit Gem, Space Birthing Stone.

Just these few items alone were enough to drive every Starsea alien in the Market crazy.

……

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye several hours were gone.

After these few hours, there were now well over a hundred thousand Starsea aliens in the Market.

Song Chi had been looking forward to seeing how these newcomers would react, especially since he’d spotted several talented Starsea races earlier.

That group included the Ancient Dwarves and the Golden Ogres.

Both were famed species across the Shattered Sea of Stars.

The Ancient Dwarves possessed incredible forging talent. Legend had it they held secret techniques capable of reliably forging specific Starsea Oddities, making them one of the premier races for producing high-tier oddities.

As for the Golden Ogres—they were a unique branch of ogres. The story went that long ago, an ogre had the good luck to devour the flesh and blood of a high-tier Golden Giant and, by absorbing and fusing part of that giant’s powerful bloodline, brought about the Golden Ogre race.

Ogres were already fierce and unafraid of death, and after mixing in the Golden Giant’s unmatched physique, the result was the formidable Golden Ogres, a truly high-level civilization.

But, funnily enough, the surprise of the day didn’t come from these two new high-tier races. It came from an old customer who’d been with the Market for centuries.

Song Chi was a little surprised to see Deku’en stride quickly into the Oddities Exchange.

This Deepsea Naga from the Northern Sea Court had already ascended to fourth-tier long ago, but for the past few centuries had kept a low profile. Now, though, there was something different about his serious expression.

Before Song Chi could think more, Deku’en stepped inside and spoke earnestly:

“Great Master of the Market, Your Majesty! Your loyal follower, the Deepsea Naga Deku’en, humbly begs for your protection!”

Hearing this, Song Chi immediately replied.

“What’s the matter?”

“It’s like this. My Northern Sea Nagas…”

Deku’en hurriedly explained the situation, going over the general details for Song Chi.

It turned out that his Northern Sea Nagas had been forced by several other major naga courts to go to war with the Deepsea Blackstripe Whale clan.

Song Chi vaguely recalled Deku’en mentioning this before—though it had been centuries ago, when the Nagas and Blackstripe Whales were about to start fighting. He couldn’t believe it had taken all this time for war to truly break out.

Deku’en went on, and finally Song Chi understood.

The reason the Blackstripe Whales had been quiet for centuries was because their king was attempting to become a Sea Emperor. The outbreak this time was because the Whale King had finally advanced to seventh-tier Sea Emperor.

Because of this, the Deepsea Nagas—already at a slight disadvantage—were now struggling more than ever.

At the recent royal court meetings, the other naga courts had all voted for their oldest sixth-tier nagas to go all-in and try breaking through to seventh tier. But that process needed time. So, inevitably, the weakest Northern Sea Court got pushed to the front lines as the first sacrifice to hold off the Blackstripe Whales.

In Deku’en’s words, the other courts were planning to use the Northern Sea Court’s lives to buy time.

……

Once he’d heard it all, Song Chi fell silent for a moment, then sent another reply.

“As an old-timer here, you know the rules for trading in the Market!”

Deku’en stared at the rules displayed on the projection in the middle of the shop, hesitated a moment, then finally produced a Storage Capsule. When it clicked open, Song Chi caught a flash of golden light from inside.

Soon, he could see the object in full—a dazzling gold item.

Oddity: Sea King’s Ring

Grade: Gold

Convertible: Sea King’s Ring

Note: An oceanic treasure born from the deepest seas, filled with the boundless power of the deep.

……

Sea King’s Ring lv0

Grade: Gold

Trait: Water Source Affinity

Trait 2: In aquatic environments, boosts battleship speed by 140%

Trait 3: Water resistance +1000

Trait 4: Deepsea Blessing

Trait 5: Sea King Dominion Soul Protection

Cost: 200 Eon Energy Points per second

Effect: Allows a battleship to freely navigate through aquatic environments.

No charging or cooldown required.

Upgrade requirements: 200 wisps of Eighth-Tier Floating-Land Origin, 20,000 Eon Energy Points.

Note: This module occupies 5 equipment slots.

Water Source Affinity: Battleships equipped with this aura gain 20% combat power in water environments.

Deepsea Blessing: Consumes 100,000 Eon Energy Points to bless any two allied units. Grants a 20% combat boost in aquatic environments for 6 hours. Cooldown: 720 hours.

Sea King Dominion Soul Protection: Consumes 100,000 Eon Energy Points to summon an Eighth-Tier Sea King Dominion Soul to protect the user. All designated allied units within the Dominion Soul’s area receive 80% of its protection for 30 minutes. Cooldown: five years.

This was a classic water-element dominion soul protection module—not really suited for Song Chi himself.

But that didn’t affect its value. Dominion soul protection modules were lifesaving gear—especially with group effects. Even if the number of battleships it could shield wasn’t huge, its worth was obvious.

After a moment of thought, Song Chi decided to accept.

“Deal.”

A golden Market Projection Token appeared in front of Deku’en. As he picked it up, another line of rules popped up on the projected screen.

“From today, you may keep this Market Projection Token for five hundred years. During these five centuries, you can call on my projection five times.”

With a wave, Song Chi easily pulled the Sea King’s Ring into his hands.

He already knew what to do with it—nobody in his family really used water law anyway, and none were fourth-tier or above.

After the Market closed, he planned to share the module specs in the Yaoguang Star Order Group Chat—some tower members might follow the water law path.

And if nobody wanted it, he could always trade it in at the Star Tower Mall. The Mall never cheated you on exchange, so he could use his Star Tower Mall credits to pick up a different gold module instead.

If he remembered right, there were several gold modules still available at the Star Tower Mall.

Time flew by, and soon this round of trading was wrapping up. To Song Chi’s satisfaction, both the Ancient Dwarves and Golden Ogres managed to exchange for Market-Walking Tokens of their own.

They might not have brought out anything especially jaw-dropping yet, but he could tell their backing was impressive. Sooner or later, they’d bring real surprises.

……

With the Market event finished, Song Chi tallied up his profits and headed straight back to the Dragon-Spine Continent.

Yaoguang Star Order Group Chat

“Jingzhe” (Order #32): Gold dominion soul defense module—Sea King’s Ring! Module specs attached (see JPG)!

“Jingzhe” (Order #32): Anyone need this sort of module? We can trade item for item!

His two consecutive messages soon sparked activity in the once-quiet group chat.

“Lancang” (Order #16): I do, but I’m not sure if I have anything you’d be interested in, Jingzhe.”

“Jingzhe” (Order #32): That’s fine—just show me what you’ve got. And if not, I can always swap it with the Star Tower Mall. You can use your Mall credits to trade for it, Lancang.”

“Lancang” (Order #16): Sure!”

With that, Lan Cang and Song Chi both logged into the Star Tower.

Once they met, Lan Cang took out several items.

These included Eighth-Tier Floating-Land Origin, a Gold energy shield, a Seventh-Tier Dominion Soul, and more.

Lan Cang had joined the Star Tower centuries before Song Chi, and now, having lived over a thousand years, he was a full Dreadnought Captain. Being a member of Yaoguang Star Tower proved his strength was among the best of the Torch Captains—and with the background he likely possessed, the items he offered weren’t cheap.

Not to mention the Eighth-Tier Floating-Land Origin and Seventh-Tier Dominion Soul, which Song Chi needed most—his gaze mostly landed on a particular, special gold module.

The module was called Mirror Image Split.

Mirror Image Split lv0

Grade: Gold

Trait: Mirror Image Split

……