Chapter 65 – A Surprise

Trading with just one exploration team, regardless of whether the other party was trustworthy, there was one problem that couldn’t be avoided: whether they could become his long-term, stable outlet. After all, he would acquire a lot of Beast Patterns.

As for the Xiao Family’s Red Rock Merchant Guild, with its deep foundation, it must have accumulated quite a lot of Beast Patterns, which would cause some of his Beast Patterns to sell at a lower price.

However, the Qi Lian Merchant Guild wouldn’t have this worry. A large number of small exploration teams meant a large number of elite warriors, and the market demand was there, so he didn’t need to worry about not being able to sell them.

The only problem was that he might not be able to sell them at a high price.

But it didn’t matter. Su Hao always won by volume. The market price was generally above twenty Gold Yuan, but he could sell his Beast Patterns for just fifteen Gold Yuan.

Fifteen Gold Yuan was not a small sum.

He could get rich by selling just one.

However, Su Hao didn’t plan to keep the Beast Patterns a secret. Besides the four Beast Patterns that ‘Perception’ Harmony obtained from Jin Da Mo, he intended to sell the remaining five.

What’s the point of keeping these? Their value is only realized when knowledge circulates.

As for whether he would be targeted, Su Hao’s initial judgment was no. The market in Lingyun Town was vast, with countless transactions happening daily. Both openly and in secret, there was a set of rules governing its operation.

Although five Beast Patterns were valuable, in the grand scheme of the market, they were merely ripples on a lake, indistinguishable amidst the countless large and small waves, not drawing any particular attention.

Besides, even if he were targeted, would he be afraid?

For him, it was basically one opponent defeated after another.

Once he made up his mind, Su Hao no longer hesitated.

He first used his remaining money to buy five rough, blank scrolls, then prepared his ink and began to draw.

Generally, official Beast Pattern scrolls needed to be drawn with ink, supposedly for ease of checking completeness. Su Hao didn’t know the specifics of how this checking was done.

This process didn’t require the use of Blood Qi, making it very easy. He finished drawing quickly.

The next morning, after applying mature makeup and adding height-increasing insoles, he looked nearly 1.6 meters tall, which wasn’t small.

He soon arrived at the main store for sales and acquisitions of the Qilian Chamber of Commerce.

Immediately, a shop assistant greeted him, ‘Hey there, young man, please come in! How can we help you?’

Su Hao asked, ‘Do you buy items?’

The shop assistant immediately nodded, ‘Of course, we buy anything of value.’

Su Hao leaned in and whispered, ‘Do you buy Beast Patterns?’

The shop assistant blinked, confused, ‘Beast Patterns?’

Su Hao’s face went dark. This assistant was an ordinary person and had probably never heard of such a thing.

Just as Su Hao was hesitating whether to ask someone else, he heard the shop assistant let out a ‘hissing’ gasp, lowering his voice even more than Su Hao’s, ‘You mean those very expensive Beast Patterns? The things that even legendary Warrior Lords fight tooth and nail for?’

Su Hao nodded.

The shop assistant gasped again, ‘I can’t make that decision. Wait here for a moment, I’ll call our Shopkeeper down.’

The shop assistant quickly ran inside and soon returned with an old man, gesturing towards Su Hao in front of him.

The old man immediately stepped forward and said, ‘Young friend, please come this way.’

What happened next was surprisingly straightforward, not as troublesome as Su Hao had imagined.

There wasn’t much exchange between the two parties. The old man simply explained the rules of the transaction. Beast Patterns that the guild hadn’t recorded were bought at a uniform price of 18 Gold Yuan each. Those that had been recorded were not accepted.

Then he asked how many Su Hao wanted to sell.

Su Hao directly said, “Five!”

It was evident that the old man’s eyelids twitched. Then, stroking his white beard, he said expressionlessly, “We need to verify the completeness of the Beast Pattern first.”

Su Hao curiously asked, “How do you verify it?”

The old man stood up and smiled, “This way, please.”

Then the old man opened a heavy black metal box, which looked like lead. Inside the box was a shiny, dark greenish-black stone.

He took out the Beast Pattern Su Hao had drawn, placed it on the dark greenish-black stone. Soon, the patterns on the Beast Pattern emitted a faint green light.

The old man removed the Beast Pattern and said, “That’s right, this is a complete Beast Pattern. And the guild hasn’t recorded it. Eighteen Gold Yuan.”

Su Hao nodded, then curiously asked, “What is this stone?”

The old man shook his head and didn’t answer.

Su Hao immediately said, “Seventeen Gold Yuan is fine for this Beast Pattern.”

The old man immediately smiled and said, “This stone is called Sky-Gazing Stone. It’s specifically used to test the completeness of Beast Patterns. As long as a complete Beast Pattern is placed on it, the patterns will emit light. However, this kind of stone cannot be in prolonged contact and needs to be stored in this soft stone box, otherwise it will quickly get sick and die.”

Su Hao’s scalp immediately tingled. He stood up and quickly retreated a few steps, roaring internally, “Holy crap, isn’t this just a radioactive element? They keep it like a treasure all day, aren’t they afraid of dying?”

The old man thought Su Hao was scared by him and chuckled, “Don’t worry, short-term contact is not a problem. And this Sky-Gazing Stone is very precious; there are less than ten in the entire Lingyun Town.”

Su Hao calmly said, “I suddenly have something to do. Let’s continue, trade quickly.”

The old man nodded, having no objections.

Soon, Su Hao walked out of the shop with a bag of Gold Yuan and immediately fled.

This place was too dangerous to stay long.

He had a rough understanding of how this world verified the completeness of Beast Patterns.

The special energy produced by the radioactive element was intercepted by the ink. If the Beast Pattern had a complete circuit, it would produce some effect; if the Beast Pattern was incomplete, there would be no reaction.

“Genius! Tsk tsk tsk!” Su Hao couldn’t help but admire it. Using radioactive elements like this was truly ingenious.

Weighing the money bag in his hand, Su Hao was extremely pleased.

Although two Beast Patterns were duplicates, three were still sold at a high price. After deducting the one Gold Yuan the old man kept, he made a profit of fifty-three gold!

Now that the money is in hand, the next step is to go shopping.

With a heavy purse, everything looks so cute.

A set of custom-fit high-strength Armor costs 5 Gold Yuan? Bought!

A set of high-spec cutting tools costs 3 Gold Yuan? Bought! Two sets!

A exquisite portable Short Blade for 1 Gold? Bought! Two sets!

A Violent Terror Beast special leather backpack for 1 Gold? Bought!

…

When Su Hao walked out of Lingyun Town again, he was wearing a different brand and was armed to the teeth! With the boost of money, his aura had greatly improved, dazzling everyone he passed.

The charm of wealth was fully displayed at this moment.

Su Hao drove his Radar deep into the Wilderness, avoiding all exploration teams. It only took him four days to return to that Cave.

Unexpectedly, after only half a Moon away, the Cave had been occupied by a Praying Mantis Beast that resembled a mantis.

There was nothing to say. He went up, decapitated it with one strike, eviscerated it, recorded the Beast Pattern, and disposed of the corpse.

The corpses of these giant insect-like Ferocious Beasts were worthless to Su Hao. After recording the Beast Pattern, he simply disposed of the corpses.

This was because he disliked experimenting on the corpses of these Ferocious Beasts, which would leave him smelling foul. The blue-green fluid that leaked out was also extremely sticky and nauseating; if even a drop got on his hands, it would take days to wash off.

Two Moons later.

Su Hao dragged the corpse of a Needle Burst Lizard into the cave and began the familiar dissection.

After successfully acquiring a partial Beast Pattern, he pulled out all the spines from the Needle Burst Lizard’s body and began conducting various Rune experiments on the now bare corpse.

The Runes used for experimentation were not complete Beast Patterns, but small structural components from complete Beast Patterns. These structures were identical components that Su Hao had discovered by comparing multiple Beast Patterns.

He believed that the simplest way to decipher a Beast Pattern was to start by analyzing similar structures.

The continuous attempts during this period had led him to a new discovery.

This discovery was thanks to his core Beast Pattern, ‘Perception’.

He found that by concentrating and fully activating the ‘Perception’ Beast Pattern, he could sense subtle changes in Blood Qi.

Therefore, during his structural experiments, he kept ‘Perception’ active the entire time, observing the different reactions of fragment structures under various conditions.

After another Moon of research.

Su Hao actually made an unexpected discovery.

He seemed to have found a direction for researching Runes.

“A sudden surprise!” Su Hao’s eyes were full of excitement.

(End of Chapter)