abnormal mutation

Chapter 158 Zhongya Hourglass
“You’re talking about the selling price. The Chamber of Commerce’s purchase price isn’t that high.” Hayden was very calm. He had prepared his words before he came. “You’re one of us. We can’t sell at the selling price. The Chamber of Commerce can still make a profit at this price.”

Roland remained noncommittal, and Hayden clearly wanted to do him a favor, but he didn't point it out.

"Don't send me materials with slight contamination anymore. It's a waste of money. We should buy more cheap goods, and the key is to buy in large quantities," he emphasized.

“I understand.” Hayden nodded slightly.

The Northern Chamber of Commerce is, after all, a legitimate chamber of commerce, and the quality of its products has always been good. They usually do not purchase materials that are heavily polluted.

After Hayden left, Roland sent all the materials into the spirit world and stored them in a secret vault, categorizing them accordingly.

Then, leaving Lycos in the room, he went into the Fugen Tavern to take stock of his recent gains.

104 pieces of lightly polluted low-sequence material, valued at 11440 German dollars. 9 pieces of lightly polluted medium-sequence material, valued at 37800 German dollars. 6 clusters of extraordinary traits extracted from low-sequence extraordinary individuals, valued at 480 German dollars.

There's also a mid-sequence sealed item, priced at 3, which is a steal.

The price of intermediate-sequence extraordinary materials is tens of times that of low-sequence materials, but the difference in the content of extraordinary properties between the two is less than ten times, mainly due to the large difference in "strength".

Quantity cannot replace quality.

For Roland, breaking down mid-sequence extraordinary materials into the energy pool is rather wasteful; it's better to feed them to the Rune Seed or the Dormant Forge.

He summoned the Seed of Runes, and new anomalous mutations had already appeared.

[Abnormal Mutation: Laser Eye]

Characteristic: Spell Damage. Fires high-energy beams from both eyes, dealing spell power-based damage to enemies in a straight line and inflicting a burn effect for 3 seconds.

'Wow, that's a pretty good ability.'

He recalled a character from a comic book who had amazed him the first time he saw him, and he dreamed of having such cool superpowers himself.

'Let's save it for now.' We're not short of money right now; we should prioritize training our own people.

He fed six clusters of extraordinary traits and a dozen or so low-sequence materials to the Rune Seed, which was enough for the basic version of abnormal mutations for the time being.

He then went to the dormant forge in the corner and casually tossed the mid-sequence sealed artifact into it.

Forging time required: 4 months.

Without hesitation, he then put in four more pieces of material from the middle sequence.

The dormant forge trembled, scattering specks of golden light, before disintegrating and collapsing into a golden magic sphere that hovered in front of Roland.

With a gentle touch, the magic orb shattered, and a palm-sized golden hourglass fell into his palm.

【Zhonya's Hourglass】: Ornn's artifact.

+45 spell power, +30 armor, +30 magic resistance.

[Time Stop]: Enter a frozen state, immune to damage and untargetable. Accumulate one second of time stop for each natural day survived.

Negative effects (exempted): The time stop state itself causes time distortion, which may lead to an unnatural decline in lifespan.

Roland chuckled. "Another life-saving artifact."

Activate this skill when you sense you can't hold on or are facing a life-or-death crisis; it can help you dodge skills and save your life.

An even more ingenious method is to activate "Enter the Unknown" or become invisible while in time-stop mode, allowing for a calm escape and eliminating fear of sudden assassination attempts. He integrated the Zhonya's Hourglass into his body, and an hourglass icon appeared on the back of his right hand. Upon closer inspection, it was even dynamic, with tiny golden particles slowly gathering and accumulating over time.

'Thinking about it carefully, even a second a day doesn't seem like a small amount.'

The Zhonya's Hourglass is entirely under your control; you don't have to use it all at once. It only lasts for one second at a time, and if you time it well, it's possible to dodge skills continuously.

There are still quite a few extraordinary materials left. Including the stock and the spoils captured on the Sunflower, the total number exceeds three hundred. You can easily pick some to make several potions.

The materials from the Thistle Flower Merchant Guild are generally of good quality, with more than ten pieces of mid-series grade material, including the Metamorphosis Butterfly Pupa.

These items are quite valuable and shouldn't be wasted. They should be kept to exchange for the potion ingredients we need.

In addition, there are three magical items, one sealed artifact, the frogman's fork, the Gluttony Pathway Extraordinary gauntlets, and dozens of loot and extraordinary traits plundered from the Gillings and Seafolk.

All three magical items were low-sequence and generally quite good, but he had too many magical items, so he could only store them for the time being and leave them to Evan and the others.

The energy level of the sealed artifact barely reaches the mid-series, leaving it as sustenance for the Rune Seed.

Both the fork and the gauntlets are mid-tier magical items, primarily focused on enhancing specific abilities. The fork excels in aquatic combat, parting water and driving waves. The gauntlets enhance physical strength and possess shock and shattering effects.

With distinctive characteristics and moderate abilities, this method has minimal negative effects, which is also the standard by which those of mid-sequence extraordinary individuals choose magical items.

Roland encountered almost no mid-sequence extraordinary individuals who possessed several magical items simultaneously; they typically had only one or two, and these items were tailored to their extraordinary pathways.

The negative effects of magical items in the middle sequence are already terrible. Only those with traits similar to the user can be exempted from some of the negative effects; otherwise, it's not worth it.

He couldn't use either of these magical items, so he listed them on Hive Network as a mysterious person, starting at 100,000, with the price negotiable.

The remaining items were a miscellaneous batch of low-sequence magical items and dozens of clusters of extraordinary traits, mainly from the dead crew, gillmen, and sea people.

Low-sequence magical items are a bit useless. After having them appraised by Pro, keep a few good ones and sell the rest on the Hive. It would be much better to exchange them for extraordinary materials.

Finally, he pointed, and dozens of extraordinary qualities shattered, turning into streams of light that replenished the energy pool.

Spiritual glimmer increased by 1890 units, and extraordinary traits increased by 55 units!

Roland secretly calculated that there were 13 two-cost pieces in the Twin Cities version. After removing Shar, he would need to draft 12 more, which would cost 2400 Spiritual Glimmers and 54 Extraordinary Traits.

Current reserves are more than sufficient!

There's no need to worry about future resources; a batch of supplies will be delivered every week, and besides, he also has a cargo ship full of high-value goods.

Just as he was about to make a big splash to fix the two-cost card pool, Lycos sent him a message that someone had visited.

“Councilor, Commissioner Safawi has arrived, accompanied by Count Bernadotte and Lady Beyana.” Leongard hurriedly stepped forward to report as he came out.

Roland was taken aback, then realized he was referring to Suleiman.

It seems his words had a great impact on Beyana. Count Bernadotte was a little worried and actually invited Suleiman over.

'Suleiman must have mastered some kind of teleportation ability.' He hurried downstairs, his mind racing.

It seems Count Bernadotte wasn't exaggerating; he has a close relationship with Suleiman and can contact him at any time, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to arrive so quickly.

'If that's the case, why is he so deeply involved with the Thistle Flower Merchant Guild? It's so contradictory.'

(End of this chapter)