Having just read a pile of informational articles, Zhou Chen recognized the state he had just been in.
According to the records, that state was called "consciousness dissociation." It was an extremely rare phenomenon that had a minuscule chance of occurring only during Advancement, a spiritual transformation, or under certain special circumstances.
Consciousness dissociation could be understood as the Soul leaving the body, but that wasn't entirely accurate. To be precise, it was when one's spiritual consciousness attached itself to pure Essence, allowing one to "see" and feel more by radiating that Essence.
This wasn't an Extraordinary visual Ability like Spiritual Vision or the Yin-Yang Eye, but rather an extremely dangerous act.
If one were in a place filled with Curses and corruption, their dissociated consciousness could come into contact with strange and terrifying things, leading to direct or indirect spiritual damage and contamination.
In more severe cases, it was even possible for one's consciousness to be killed and replaced by some evil entity during the mingling of Essence.
Of course, besides the dangers, consciousness dissociation also offered quite a few benefits, such as increasing one's spiritual strength, developing Extraordinary Abilities, and improving one's Control Power over them.
But Zhou Chen hadn't felt any of that. A deep exhaustion was all that washed over him, as if that brief moment of dissociation had drained all his energy.
The good news, however, was that he had now mastered Meditation. He could enter the state at will and, even when completely exhausted, could use Meditation to recover quickly.
Overcome by a deep drowsiness, he closed his eyes and, with even breaths, entered a state of Meditation.
...
Early in the morning, the sound of a nurse making her rounds came from the hallway.
Zhou Chen emerged from his Meditation feeling as if he'd fully healed at the fountain of life. He was brimming with energy, the side effects from his Essence overdraft had vanished, and even his Spiritual Power had increased by a small amount.
Yet he couldn't help but sigh.
At this rate, the grass on his grave would probably be six feet tall by the time he advanced to Tier Two: Sea of Silver.
When he learned that advancing to Tier Three: Golden Soul could repair his damaged Soul, Zhou Chen had been ecstatic. He thought he had found another path to survival, but the cold, harsh reality gave him a hard slap in the face—
You're dreaming!
Advancement wasn't that easy for Ascenders. The vast majority of Tier One Ascenders could never break through to Tier Two in their entire lives. Similarly, many Tier Two Ascenders died without ever reaching Tier Three.
The sharp increase in difficulty between each tier was one factor; another was an individual's overall aptitude.
For someone like him, a Level 10 Disability with a fragmented Soul, even his "Origin," the most crucial part of an Ascender, was incomplete. Wanting to advance was nothing more than a fool's dream.
His greatest hope right now lay with that new boss of his.
After the nurse finished her rounds, Zhou Chen took out his tablet and opened the shopping platform run by the Star Association.
It was time to sell the Fire Slave Crystal.
Now that he had left the research department, he no longer had access to free nutrient fluid. He needed to make money to buy more, or it would affect his Extraordinary Development Stage.
After registering an account and confirming the various app permissions, the moment Zhou Chen logged into the online store, he was dazzled by the vast array of products.
[Hot Selling: High-Frequency Vibration Blade, High-Frequency Vibration Axe, Lightweight Alchemy Protection Clothing, Helandy Soaring Boots, Enchanted Holy Silver Bullet, Alchemy Talisman Stone...]
[Flash Sale: Tree Elder's Blood, Blood Beef Jerky, Golden Sunflower, Face Rose, Starlight Sapphire, Heart Energy Amethyst, Ultra-thin 0.0001...]
'Wait a minute, isn't there something at the end that doesn't quite fit the theme?'
Zhou Chen scratched his head. 'It feels like something weird got mixed in.'
He scrolled through the page a few more times and felt like he had just opened the door to a whole new world.
Weapons, armor, potions, support Artifacts, Alchemy Materials, rare metals... It seemed like everything imaginable related to the Extraordinary Realm was for sale here. They had it all.
And it was all ridiculously expensive.
Take the hot-selling High-Frequency Vibration Blade and Axe, for example. The standard versions cost 600,000. If you wanted the Alchemy Enchantment version, the price nearly doubled, soaring to one million. And that was just for the most basic Enchantment effect; if you wanted more Advanced services, you had to pay even more.
Even at such a steep price, the popularity of these two Weapons remained high. They were bestsellers with monthly sales reaching 999+. He wondered if the merchant was faking their sales numbers...
Zhou Chen scrolled down and saw that the merchant was the Helandy Alchemy Workshop. That likely ruled out any suspicion of faked sales.
He recognized the name. It was a world-famous Alchemy Workshop that perfectly blended technology and Alchemy, exclusively selling high-end equipment.
For instance, the "Helandy Soaring Boots" were one of the Helandy Alchemy Workshop's signature products, and they still were today.
The Helandy Soaring Boots were a product they launched fifty years ago. They took the world by storm upon release and, after countless upgrades, remain the best-selling footwear on the market today. That's because the things really let you fly. As long as you inject enough Essence, you can fly for as long as you want.
The price had also soared to five million—for one boot.
That's right, for one!
And if you wanted an Enchantment, you had to pay extra for that too.
As for the methods of Enchantment, besides enchanting an item during Forging, there was a simpler way: Alchemy Talisman Stones.
You just had to place an Alchemy Talisman Stone on the item you wanted to enchant and recite three corresponding secret phrases to activate the stone and complete the Enchantment.
Simply put, it required a verification code—recited three times, no less—to prevent customers from accidentally using up the Talisman Stone.
Similarly, the price of Alchemy Talisman Stones was also staggering. The lowest-grade ones started at 500,000, and the more Advanced the stone, the higher the price, with some even reaching tens of millions.
"Do Alchemists make this much money...?"
Zhou Chen stared blankly at the astronomical figures listed under each product, a sudden desire blooming in his heart.
'I want to become an Alchemist!'
He then flipped to the materials page and found that Alchemy Materials were just as outrageously expensive. A single Face Rose cost two million, and a Starlight Sapphire was three and a half million. It seemed that while Alchemists were ruthless at making money, they were just as ruthless at spending it.
After fiddling around for a bit, Zhou Chen successfully registered as a seller. He took a pouch from his bag by the bed, opened it, and snapped a few photos of the Fire Slave Crystal inside before uploading them to the trading platform for sale.
Within a few minutes, he received a notification. The item had been purchased, and the buyer had sent him a private message.
MissKalinaIReallyLikeYou: "Bro, I'm a new Alchemist. Any chance you could give me a discount? Let's just say it's to make a new friend."
'Dealing with this kind of buyer is the worst...' Zhou Chen's brow twitched as he typed his reply.
MeowMeowSquadGoesFishing: "Dear, this item is not eligible for haggling~"
MissKalinaIReallyLikeYou: "I can trade something of equivalent value. Believe me, as an Alchemist, I have a sufficiently large collection."
'Yeah, right. If you were really that well-off, you wouldn't be here haggling with me...' Zhou Chen thought for a moment, then casually typed, "Well, do you have a way to repair a Soul?"
MissKalinaIReallyLikeYou: "...Bro, you're asking for a bit much now."
MeowMeowSquadGoesFishing: "Then there's nothing to discuss. You can either cancel the order or pay the original price."
MissKalinaIReallyLikeYou: "Hang on a sec. I have something here that you might be interested in."