He tried to look into it, but found that it required one unit of Dark Ore Crystal as an additional material.
‘I’ll wait a couple of days and see.’
Starting today, the Security Committee began buying up most of the materials from the city’s mines in bulk, all for the purpose of upgrading the crystal.
Finally, there was the arena.
This structure was tinged with blood and brutality. In deathmatch mode, once time was up, the participant with the most severe injuries would be executed on the spot. When a person died, all their Runes would naturally go to the victor.
Guards were already making announcements outside, forbidding anyone from privately arranging deathmatches. Violators would be sentenced.
‘There aren’t any leaderboard rewards. In theory, there’s no reason to participate.’
Just then, Su Chen, who had just turned to leave, stopped abruptly. His brow twitched, and he tilted his head slightly. His gaze pierced through the crowd, landing on a figure beneath the colonnade on the east side of the square.
It was Xue Yao.
She wore a tactical trench coat over a form-fitting, silver-gray combat suit. A quiver was slung across her back, accentuating her tall, slender figure and giving her a clean, sharp appearance.
Su Chen hadn’t seen her in a week and didn’t expect to run into her here.
Right now, she was gazing at him with a faint smile, a hint of concern hidden in her calm eyes.
...
Having run into each other, they naturally had to catch up.
「A few minutes later.」
“Looks like your family adapted pretty quickly. Lady Luck must have smiled on you,” Su Chen remarked in the café of a resort hotel after hearing her story.
Xue Yao was doing quite well for herself, even managing to continue her life as a wealthy young lady.
After the parasitic frenzy erupted, the vast majority of people from the base had retreated to the towns. Unlike others who were now homeless or had to seek refuge with the various corps, she had returned to one of her family’s local businesses: a Five-Star resort hotel.
Well...
It was located near the present-day Cultural Square—the very place they were meeting now.
“You can base your accommodation prices on the inns around the old Rune Core. Your establishment is much nicer, so you’ll have no problem charging two or more essences per room, per night. Executive rooms, presidential suites, and other value-added services like the restaurant can be billed separately.”
Su Chen said seriously.
“Mm, my aunt and the others do have a plan for that,” Xue Yao nodded.
In addition to this expected revenue from paid services, the Five-Star resort hotel had also converted two of its grand halls to handle private trades early on, building a solid reputation in the city center.
Compared to the fierce internal competition among the major exchanges in the borderlands, the rivalry here was far less intense.
Their first big break, however, came from trading gold for a large amount of essence in the early days, which gave them the capital to rebuild their family’s fortune.
That much was true.
At least, the old saying about gold being king in chaotic times was no joke.
In the beginning, the market was still hyping up the idea that gold was a product of the Cosmos’s creation, that its Rune Energy conductivity was decent, and due to this path dependence, it remained widely accepted for a while.
But then...
The appearance of the Gold Touching Skill completely burst that bubble. Panic selling caused the price to plummet until it was dirt cheap, and it has only recently started to recover.
“Congratulations on becoming number one in Dongfu City.” Xue Yao’s eyes shone as she looked at Su Chen with a hint of awe.
This wasn’t something she had heard from her friends on the archery team. In the dead of night, she herself had been standing in the crowd, gazing up at the sky at the figure being chased by shimmering gold and silver light.
She had recognized that solitary, resolute figure in an instant.
“No wonder my sister always said you can accomplish anything you set your mind to,” Xue Yao said with a smile.
At the mention of her sister, a complex emotion flickered in her eyes, and her hands, clasped around her cup, tightened involuntarily.
Su Chen saw it, but didn’t rush her.
After she took a moment to compose herself, she decided to tell Su Chen something important.
“...I heard from my aunt that on the day of the Crossing, my sister was planning to surprise me. She was flying to Dongfu City and had booked a room at the hotel in advance. However, her flight was delayed that afternoon, so she might not have made it to Dongfu International Airport.”
Upon hearing this, Su Chen’s expression remained unchanged. After a few seconds of contemplation, he replied seriously, “I understand.”
Dongfu International Airport is in the Bright District. If she had actually reached the airport, she would have ended up in a different corner of this new world.
He and his ex-girlfriend had broken up amicably. They had ended their two-year relationship due to differing ideas about the future.
“My uncle and his family are also in the Bright District. They were supposed to meet at a campground. If she’s there, I’ll keep an eye out for her,” Su Chen offered.
“Thank you.”
Xue Yao sighed. She hadn’t expected him to have his own family matters tied up in all this.
As for now, the only clue might lie in the snowy mountains of the Northern Territory.
“Is there anything I can do to help you?” Having asked him for a favor, Xue Yao felt indebted and was eager to find a way to repay him.
Her hotel’s exchange, thanks to its prime position, already saw a lot of good Runes changing hands. It was bound to become even more popular in the future. She could help him post listings or even get first priority on trades.
“Of course.”
Su Chen responded.
“I need a Wind Element Rune: a Lv7 Vortex Skill,” he said directly.
He was currently looking for a way to group up enemies and control them.
“Alright, let’s go check the trading hall next door right now.” Wasting no time, Xue Yao immediately stood up.
...
A powerful network certainly opened many doors.
And Lingyao Hotel was surprisingly busy. In less than ten minutes, Su Chen successfully acquired a Vortex Skill in a trade with another person.
He absorbed it on the spot.
[Vortex Skill] (Lv7): Generates a high-speed cyclone that forcefully pulls surrounding targets to its center, inflicting sharp cuts and interrupting spatial leaps.
‘Not bad.’
Su Chen also had a Lv7 Dark Gravity Rune, which was enough to immobilize enemies, but because of his Dark Element Soul Core, he had ultimately decided not to absorb it into his personal Rune Map.
After some experimental weaving, he even unlocked a brand-new three-in-one Technique.
Vortex Skill + Gravity Skill + Destruction = Void-Devouring Maw.
In short, it combined the best aspects of each component: a vortex pull, multi-vector suppression, Perception scrambling, and will-erosion, making it impossible for anyone to escape the black-hole-like maw.
This was much stronger than a single Technique.
The only drawback was that to use his five-layered Attached Damage wave, or to cast his other woven Technique, “Meltdown Core Collapse,” he would have to unbind this new combination.
It naturally fell a bit short compared to his Aurora Shadow Technique, which he could maintain as a continuous weave.
In addition, Su Chen needed to get a Teleportation Skill.
The power of this Technique was that the user could freely teleport to any location within their line of sight, as well as to any area they had previously visited.
The farther the distance, the longer the casting time.
From the ranking settlement rewards that day, he still had two unused Lv8 Spirit Element Runes and two special Runes with unknown effects.
One of them was a Mind Transmission Rune. To better assist him, Ruoruo had already used the Spiritual Soul Core she acquired to feed that very Rune, so he had no need for this extra one.
With his Aurora Flash, Su Chen had no need for such a redundant Technique. After a moment’s thought, he fed it to Xiaoye along with some other Dark Element Runes.
Judging by its name, a Nightmare Soul Dog was unlikely to reject effects from Spiritual Energy. Sure enough, after being fed the Rune, Xiaoye unlocked the Mind Transmission ability.
There was no public information on the effects of the other Lv8 Spirit Element Rune, so Su Chen wasn’t in a hurry to absorb it.
However, information about the special Runes had now become available.
Around noon, the Security Committee had posted notices with the relevant information on bulletin boards everywhere, and one such flyer had made its way into the Five-Star hotel.
The information indicated that special Runes were extremely scarce.
Only seven were known to exist.
Most of them involved the elements of space and time.
Each Rune’s appearance was so unique and unconventional that it was impossible to describe with words, which was why the information had been distributed via printed notices.
Soul Pocket, Teleportation Skill, Substitution Skill, Gap Shadow Step, and Realm-Anchor Spike.
The Substitution Skill allowed a person to swap places with an object, while Gap Shadow Step allowed one to briefly slip into the gaps between spaces.
The Realm-Anchor Spike could lock down the surrounding spatial structure, countering highly mobile enemies.
It was clearly a super-upgraded version of a Gravity Anchor.

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