Soul Appraiser

Kainegi could hardly believe it. Five minutes had not even passed, yet Rayne had actually refused him.

Given his wealth and status, he rarely personally approached newcomers to recruit them into the Mechanics Guild anymore.

It had only been a coincidence today. He had happened to hear a friend mention Rayne's Soul Test near the Violet House, saying that such talent was rarely seen in decades. Thus, he had suddenly felt a desire to recruit a promising talent and immediately rushed over, setting aside everything else.

Moreover, the conditions he had offered were far better than those given to ordinary Mechanics. He had thought it would be a sure thing, but he never expected to be rejected.

Kainegi suddenly laughed and said, "Rayne, if you feel these conditions aren't enough, we can still negotiate. There's no need to make a decision so hastily."

He thought Rayne was using a retreat to advance, trying to demand better treatment.

Rayne shook his head. "Mr. Kainegi, I'm not haggling with you. The conditions you've offered are already excellent. As a young man from a commoner's background, I can't ask for more."

"A house, wealth, status—I want all of those. I believe becoming a Mechanic can bring me everything I want and allow me to enter the upper class."

"I'm personally very interested in mechanical technology, and I have some insights of my own."

"The Mechanic is an excellent Transcendent profession, stronger than most professions and with broad prospects for development."

"To be honest, I also really want to become a Mechanic."

"But the Mechanic has one fatal flaw."

Rayne candidly stated his view of Mechanics. Kainegi listened very seriously, but his expression grew increasingly unpleasant. When he heard the final sentence, he instinctively asked, "What flaw?"

"It isn't a Wizard," Rayne said calmly.

Kainegi froze, then immediately understood what Rayne meant. That reason left him speechless.

Everything a Mechanic possessed as an advantage, a Wizard possessed as well.

In terms of status, this was the Aurelian Empire, whose highest rulers were a group of Soul Saint Wizards.

In terms of strength, Wizards were absolutely stronger than Mechanics at lower tiers. Even when Mechanics' strength soared in the later stages, they could only possibly stand on equal footing with Wizards; it was not certain they could defeat them.

In terms of wealth, this was the Mechanic's greatest advantage. But Wizards were not lacking in this regard either, as they had plenty of opportunities to make money.

For a young person determined to pursue greater power, the appeal of becoming a Wizard was far greater than that of becoming a Mechanic.

Kainegi remembered that when he was young, he had also been determined to become a Wizard. Unfortunately, his talent was not among the very best, and he could not resist the tempting conditions offered by the Mechanics Guild, so he had embarked on the path of becoming a Mechanic.

In the dead of night, he had sometimes wondered what he would be like now if he had become a Wizard back then.

He did not know the answer.

But the young man before him did, because Rayne clearly knew what he wanted. That was why he had refused so decisively.

Kainegi's expression was extremely complicated. After remaining silent for several seconds, he let out a sigh and said, "All right. It seems you've truly thought this through, so I won't force you. However, since you've refused me today, even if you want to change your mind in the future, you won't have another opportunity or conditions this good."

"I understand. Thank you for bringing me here, Mr. Kainegi."

Rayne opened the door and got out of the car without the slightest hesitation, then stood by the roadside and waved goodbye.

Before the car started moving, Kainegi suddenly lowered the window and said, "Keep my business card safe. If you run into trouble in the future, bring it to me. Perhaps I can help you once."

As soon as he finished speaking, the car accelerated away.

Rayne carefully examined the gold-embossed business card in his hand. This card probably wasn't cheap to make. Of course, he would not throw it away carelessly. He nodded and put it in his pocket.

He turned to look around him. A huge Magic Soul Market stood right before his eyes.

It was located in the southern part of the Silver Star District. The Magic Soul Market occupied most of the street. Infrequently, indistinguishable roars came from some corner of the street, while an unpleasant smell drifted from the roadside gutters.

Rayne rubbed his nose, feeling somewhat unaccustomed to it.

The smell carried a strong stench of blood, reminding him of a slaughterhouse.

He had not forgotten that he still bore the Strife Mark and did not dare run around everywhere, lest he encounter Loxi's Cultists. He had originally planned to return to his apartment, but he did not want Kainegi to learn his address, so he had changed his destination to the Magic Soul Market at the last moment.

Rayne thought for a moment and decided to look around the Magic Soul Market after all. Surely he could not be so unlucky as to encounter an evil god's cultist the first time he went out.

"Since I'm already here, there's nothing to do if I go back so early."

The Magic Soul Market was a huge canopy more than ten meters high and covering tens of thousands of square meters. The ground was divided into neat shops, and people walked between them, casually examining the goods for sale. Its overall layout was much like the flower-and-bird markets of his previous life.

The only difference was that they did not sell ornamental flowers, plants, fish, and birds here, but all kinds of strange creatures!

The moment Rayne entered the market, the first thing he saw was a massive iron cage ahead.

The massive iron cage was six or seven meters tall, constructed from steel bars as thick as a person's arm. Inside was a giant snake. Its body was thicker than an adult's waist and covered in fine, dark-green scales. It coiled around the central pillar of the cage, wrapping around it more than a dozen times. Its estimated length exceeded twelve meters, making for a shocking sight.

But the most eye-catching feature was a pair of broad wings on the upper half of the snake's body.

"A Winged Serpent!"

Rayne had seen descriptions of this creature in books.

If this Winged Serpent fully spread its wings, they would span more than ten meters. But inside the cramped iron cage, it was forced to curl them up, making it extremely uncomfortable.

A thick steel cable pierced through its neck and bound it to the central pillar, which weighed several tons, leaving it unable to escape. From time to time, it flicked out its tongue and sprayed translucent wind blades at the crowd gathered outside the cage, leaving white marks on the bars.

"Hisssss..."

Rayne activated his Soul Eye and observed the Winged Serpent.

The Winged Serpent was a Magical Beast and not particularly rare, but one this large was exceptionally uncommon.

As expected, it's an Intermediate Tier Magical Beast.

Whether Magical Beasts or other non-sapient creatures, they did not have specific levels.

People only roughly distinguished their tiers based on their strength and past experience, then matched them to the tiers of Transcendents, from Beginner Tier to Advanced Tier, with Legendary above that.

When Transcendents fused with Demon Souls, they could generally only fuse with Demon Souls of the same tier. They could not cross tiers, or success was nearly impossible.

A Demon Soul below one's own tier could be used, but few people did so, because it provided only limited improvement to a Transcendent's strength.

In Rayne's eyes, he could directly see souls and determine the Winged Serpent's strength with great precision.

Its soul was clearly a notch stronger than that of a Beginner Transcendent, as if it had undergone two soul transformations. It was roughly comparable to an Intermediate Tier Transcendent. If divided more precisely, its strength was equivalent to that of a level-five Transcendent.

"An Intermediate Tier Winged Serpent. It has four Soul Elements."

Rayne moved a little closer to the iron cage and intensified his perception of the Winged Serpent's soul. He soon obtained information about its four Soul Elements.

Two were Arcane Elements. One could control the atmosphere to form wind blades and slice targets. The other could create a whirlwind around itself to increase its flying speed, and could also be used to attack approaching enemies.

One was a Physique Element, allowing its body to recover rapidly while injured.

The final element surprised Rayne. It was actually an Ability Element that granted an affinity for the wind element, increased the power of Wind Spells, and strengthened its resistance to Wind Spells!

"This Winged Serpent is truly rare. It actually has Wind Element Affinity!"

Rayne secretly marveled. All elements related to affinity belonged to the Ability category. As long as a Demon Soul possessed such an element, its value would instantly increase several times over.

Wind Element Affinity was an excellent key element for both Wizards and Bloodline Sorcerers.

A Wizard could use this Winged Serpent to advance into an Elementalist, while a Sorcerer could add another elemental bloodline to themselves.

However, before someone killed this Winged Serpent and extracted its Demon Soul, no one besides Rayne knew that it possessed Wind Element Affinity.

An idea stirred in Rayne's mind. It seems I can use my Soul Eye to profit from the price difference.

There were generally two ways to trade in the Magic Soul Market.

One was to trade living creatures, and the other was to trade dead ones.

Trading a living creature, like this Winged Serpent, meant the seller could not determine what elements it possessed. It might have several powerful elements, or it might have only one or two ordinary ones. The prices could differ tremendously, even by more than several hundred times.

To play it safe, many sellers chose not to kill the creatures, selling them at a relatively average price so they would at least avoid losing everything.

After buying one, the buyer could kill it and extract its Demon Soul on the spot. Regardless of the Demon Soul's quality or the number of elements it contained, it would no longer have anything to do with the seller.

This method of trading involved great uncertainty, but there was no alternative.

Demon Souls were difficult to preserve. Even when contained in a Soul Stone, from the moment they were extracted after death, their power continued to dissipate without pause. A Soul Stone could only slow the process; it could not preserve one for a long time.

Trading dead creatures meant directly selling Soul Stones.

The Demon Soul inside a Soul Stone was somewhat easier to inspect than when it was alive. At the very least, one could see how many elements it had. Experienced Transcendents could determine the functions, strength, and categories of those elements through observation, and even name them.

The trading of Soul Stones gave rise to a very popular profession called the Soul Appraiser.

Some of the most top-tier Soul Appraisal Masters could even determine a living creature's Demon Soul elements by observing its characteristics, with a very high rate of accuracy.

Rayne's heart began to burn with excitement. With my Soul Eye, I'm even better than any Soul Appraisal Master.

He looked at the price tag beneath the Winged Serpent's iron cage. It read eight hundred Gold Shields!

"That expensive?"

Rayne was extremely frustrated and realized that he had been taking things for granted.

Even without the Wind Element Affinity, an Intermediate Tier Winged Serpent was worth roughly five hundred Gold Shields. Yet it was currently priced at eight hundred, clearly because a Soul Appraiser had noticed that it was extraordinary but was not entirely certain.

Of course, this Winged Serpent was definitely worth more than eight hundred Gold Shields. Just its Wind Element Affinity alone could double its value.

Rayne touched the wallet against his chest. His entire fortune amounted to only three hundred and sixty Gold Shields. Where was he supposed to get eight hundred Gold Shields?

"Should I borrow some?" Rayne immediately thought of Viola and Kainegi, but quickly rejected the idea. They had only met him today, so why would they lend him money? Eight hundred Gold Shields was no small sum. They might throw him out the moment he opened his mouth.

"Forget it. I'll look at something else." Rayne shook his head and walked away.