Exchange

The next day,

Mu Yuan logged directly onto the Tai Xuan Covenant platform. As he browsed the various exchange items, he pondered how to use his three thousand Contribution Points.

"Sixty units of Black Iron Stone are worth three Soul Crystal Coins, and the platform also lists the exchange price as 300 points. It's not expensive, but there's no discount either."

Mu Yuan mused.

His Elemental Orb was still nowhere to be found, so there was no need to buy this batch of Black Iron Stone so early. However, he had to reserve those 300 Contribution Points.

As for the rest, the construction of the various Common Star Miracle Buildings had already used up all the subsidized Soul Crystal Coins. He had personally added several hundred grams, and there wasn't much Soul Sand left. He hadn't even counted the Mage Tower, that crystal-devouring behemoth.

He had to exchange for some Soul Crystal Coins.

After thinking it over, he began searching for Remnant Souls again, sorting their grades from low to high.

"Gargoyle Remnant Soul (Rare One-Star): 300 Contribution Points."

"Imperial Guard Remnant Soul (Rare One-Star): 250 Contribution Points."

"Griffin Remnant Soul (Rare One-Star): 350 Contribution Points."

Mu Yuan fell silent for a while, then changed the sorting option to price from low to high.

What popped up was a Goblin Warrior Remnant Soul, priced at 199 Contribution Points.

Mu Yuan: "..."

What about the ones below that? Why weren't there any lower-grade Remnant Souls?

He had originally planned to exchange for some Falcon Remnant Souls, then exchange for a few Little Skeleton and Slime Remnant Souls depending on the situation.

However, there weren't even any Little Skeleton Remnant Souls, let alone Skeleton Soldier Remnant Souls.

That couldn't be right.

Wasn't the Tai Xuan Covenant platform supposedly capable of exchanging for any rare treasure? He couldn't find them at all!

Most likely, even the Big Shot who had created the platform had never imagined that a lord would use precious Contribution Points to exchange for One-Star Remnant Souls.

Most lords were only willing to spend their precious Contribution Points when they couldn't buy a treasure on the market.

But Mu Yuan was helpless too. If he didn't use these three thousand Contribution Points, was he supposed to save them for the New Year?

Of course, he could directly exchange them for Soul Crystal Coins, then slowly purchase various Remnant Souls with Soul Sand.

That was indeed what he planned to do.

In that case, he would exchange for some more Soul Crystal Coins.

"However, exchanging all three thousand Contribution Points for Soul Crystals would be too wasteful. Big Shot Jiang had emphasized that Contribution Points were hard to come by, and new lords didn't have many opportunities to earn them."

But at this stage, Rare-grade treasures couldn't be sent into the Eternal World. What should he exchange for?

Mu Yuan pondered, patiently searching bit by bit.

Soon, his eyes lit up.

"Right, I almost forgot about breakthrough materials. It's not easy to gather them through a player's own efforts, and they've always been in short supply on the market. Exchanging for them with Contribution Points is perfect."

He checked the prices. Depending on the category, breakthrough materials cost between 200 and 350 Contribution Points, including one primary material and several supplementary materials.

Perhaps because Undead System materials were relatively scarce, one set of breakthrough materials required 300 Contribution Points.

Whale Players would certainly prepare them early. If he forgot about this, he would be in an awkward position once he got stuck at a level not long afterward.

Mu Yuan considered it. No matter what, he had to prepare three or four sets, right?

After all, when the Lord Trial arrived, could his territory remain secure without three or four Professional Grade combatants? He already felt that was too few, but he couldn't exchange for too many either.

What Mu Yuan was grateful for was that, judging by the grades of Deathbone, Bone Two, and the other skeletons by then, breaking through to Professional Grade wouldn't be difficult. Unlike veteran players' Three-Star Troops, which still had a chance of failing when advancing to Professional Grade.

That was why some veteran players had struggled for so long without managing to enter the Professional Grade.

"Using Contribution Points to exchange for breakthrough materials is actually a slight loss. After all, these things can be bought with Soul Sand; at most, I'd have to wait in line for a while."

"However, many veteran players can buy breakthrough materials but can't buy Rare-grade Remnant Souls. Those are the rare treasures that should be exchanged for with Contribution Points."

"It's just that Rare-grade Remnant Souls are useless to me. As for other Rare-grade items... wait, I think I can exchange for some precious treasures that don't need to be sent into the Eternal World and can be used in reality."

For example, the most precious treasures among cultivation-type treasures—those that could directly increase a player's own strength.

The Crimson Blood Fruit was only the most ordinary type. He needed something rarer and more potent, a treasure that could help him shed the weakling title of possessing only the strength of one skeleton. That way, he would not only feel safer in reality, but also avoid holding his team back when venturing outside in the Eternal World.

Moreover, advanced treasures of this kind were almost impossible to find.

Soul Sand was difficult to purchase, so using Contribution Points to exchange for them was precisely worthwhile.

Those were the rare treasures most worth exchanging for.

Mu Yuan searched for a while and ultimately settled on an item called the 'Nine Profound Nurturing Fluid'—a nurturing medicinal fluid infused with various Rare-grade medicinal ingredients.

"That means what I'm preparing to exchange for includes a large amount of Soul Crystal Coins, nurturing fluid, and several sets of breakthrough materials... wait, I don't seem to have enough Contribution Points!"

After reserving some Contribution Points for essential items he would exchange for later, Mu Yuan directly exchanged the rest for six Soul Crystal Coins and nurturing fluid worth 1,000 Contribution Points.

All he had to do was wait for the delivery.

While waiting, Mu Yuan switched back to the game and began today's hard grind.

He controlled the three Falcons to take off in turns, flying toward the North Side, east, and west.

His main focus was exploring the North Side.

That was because he had already received information that this batch of new lords was located northeast of the Tai Xuan Alliance. Naturally, the farther north they went, the deeper they ventured into the wilderness, and the richer the resources became.

But at the same time, the deeper they went, the more likely they were to encounter powerful monsters. They had to remain vigilant and scout the situation carefully at all times.

Mu Yuan recorded the following in his notebook:

"Through the Falcons' reconnaissance, I pushed the map's boundaries outward by another three or four kilometers today and discovered several new monster species, including ghouls, Gnolls, and Harpies."

"That Harpy was really huge... I mean, really vicious. They're Three-Star monsters, capable of flight and ranged attacks. The Falcon was almost killed. We can't go back to that area."

"Today's reconnaissance of the Goblin Camp to the North Side still yielded nothing. There are too many Goblin Spearmen there, and they're far too vigilant. The Falcon got its feathers shot off again. I'll remember this grudge for Ah Falcon."

"Falcon Three ventured deep into the Poisonous Spider Forest and discovered quite a few enormous Mottled Poisonous Spiders, roughly the size of a sedan. Although these Mottled Poisonous Spiders were only Three-Star monsters, their size showed that their levels were definitely not low. They were probably powerful spiders at Ninth Level Great Perfection, and they were guarded by a group of small Poison Spiders... Falcon Three almost got stuck in their webs and died."

The Falcons spent every day almost dying. No wonder Falcons were called "luxury consumables."

Mu Yuan scribbled on the rough map, marking out each important area. He also made plans for his daily schedule over the next few days.

However, today's reconnaissance also brought bad news—he had lost track of the Wandering Ogre.

Having a Rare monster wandering around nearby always made it difficult to sleep or eat. Fortunately...

"Prompt: The construction of the arrow towers is complete. Lord, please inspect them."

After more than half a day, the two arrow towers had finally been completed.

The Defense Buildings, more than ten meters tall, with gray lower halves and brown upper halves, finally stood within his territory, giving him considerably more peace of mind.

After all, the arrows fired by these arrow towers were even more powerful than Bone Two and Bone Three's Charge throws, and the arrows could be fired continuously.

The only problem was...

The arrows weren't free.

Mu Yuan tested them. The consumption was roughly one Soul Crystal Coin per hundred arrows. It was a little expensive, so he definitely couldn't use them in daily life.

"Clearly, the territory has become safer. Clearly, I've just received a large amount of Soul Crystals. This should have been twice the happiness, so why... do I feel more and more like I don't have enough money?"