Upgrading the Kindling Seed's Quality

Song Chi felt even the hand beneath the stall trembling. If the orange Glory-quality oddity had filled him with boundless delight, then the sight of the Ten-Thousand-Year Stellar Core Flame among the three oddities before him made his very heart hum.

It was the helpless disorientation brought on when immense excitement overstimulated the brain.

The moment he saw the properties of the Ten-Thousand-Year Stellar Core Flame, Song Chi had already made his choice. But to keep the Mechanical Clan from noticing how badly he wanted it, he still put on a show of inspecting the detailed properties of each oddity.

Oddity: Energy-Gathering Stone

Quality: Purple

Can evolve into: {Energy-Convergence Thruster}

Remark: A fairly standard purple-quality oddity.

Oddity: Ten-Thousand-Year Stellar Core Flame

Quality: Purple

Can evolve into: 1{Star-Core Thermal Engine}, 2{Kindling Seed Ascension Flame Source}

Remark: A fire-element purple-quality oddity with a great many uses.

Oddity: Snook Starship Cannon

Quality: Purple

Can evolve into: {Snuke Star Cannon}

Remark: A starship cannon left behind by the Snuke Ancient Civilization. After the passage of countless years, it had ultimately become a purple-quality oddity.

It had to be said that, aside from the Stellar Core Flame, the other two oddities also had excellent properties. Yet neither could shake Song Chi's decision in the slightest.

Once he felt that he had put on enough of a show, Song Chi did not drag things out any longer. He directly chose the Ten-Thousand-Year Stellar Core Flame and completed the transaction along with the Advanced Dark Matter Energy Crystal.

After taking the Grade 1 Floating Continent Essence Core Fusion Body, the Mechanical Clan did not linger and quickly left the Myriad Heavens Market.

Not long afterward, amid Song Chi's surging emotions, this first Market Ruins trade officially came to an end.

The various Star Sea alien races all raised their heads. Clouds and winds churned across the Market Ruins sky as eight characters containing laws gathered out of thin air.

The Star Sea was boundless. Until fate brought them together again.

Ten seconds later, as the alien races felt reluctant to part, a powerful force of repulsion descended upon every creature still remaining within the Market Ruins.

Then the world spun around them, and every creature was precisely teleported back to where it had been before entering the Market Ruins.

Within the Myriad Heavens Market, once everyone had left, the place fell quiet at once. Song Chi had no time to dwell on it. As he took stock of the resources in his hands, he swiftly summoned the Cangqiong.

A few minutes later, Song Chi, his face brimming with joy, slowly stepped into the Cangqiong.

After a preliminary count, the total value of the resources in his possession had already approached four thousand strands of Zero Rank Floating Continent Essence. Including the small amount of Floating Continent Essence previously spent upgrading the Market Ruins, he had netted 3,700 strands of Zero Rank Floating Continent Essence from this Market Ruins trade, along with three oddities.

A white Fine-Gold Rawstone, a purple Ten-Thousand-Year Stellar Core Flame, and an orange Advanced Dark Matter Energy Crystal.

Inside the Cangqiong, after he entered the shuttle, the Colorless Kindling Hull within began quietly converting the three oddities in his hands.

Once the conversion was complete, the properties of the three oddities underwent major changes as well.

Golden Rock Hull Armor lv0

Quality: White

Consumption: 3/s

Defense: 13

Upgrade requirement: 5 strands of Floating Continent Essence (Zero Rank), 500 Energy Points, 1 ton of fine gold.

Kindling Seed Ascension Flame Source (Ten-Thousand-Year Stellar Core Flame)

Effect: After being fused into a Colorless Kindling Seed, the Kindling Seed's quality will rise by one rank.

Remark: An exceedingly rare flame source capable of benefiting a Kindling Seed. It held unimaginable appeal for low-quality Kindling captains.

Dark Matter Energy Shield Generator lv0

Quality: Orange

Trait: Shield value increased by an additional 40%

Trait 2: Shield defense doubled

Consumption: 10/s

Defense: 38

Shield Value: 532/532

Charging: 30s; cooldown after overload: 1 hour

Upgrade requirement: 10 strands of Floating Continent Essence (Zero Rank), 1,000 Energy Points, 1 ton of Mercury Crystal

Setting the two ship-mounted components aside for the moment, Song Chi immediately circulated the Void Energy within his body, opened his Kindle Ancestral Aperture, and drew the Stellar Core Flame in his hand into it.

As everyone knew, flame-source oddities capable of raising the quality of a Kindling Seed were at minimum purple-quality. Other white- and blue-quality flame-source oddities could not provide the Kindling Seed with any benefit at all.

This strand of Ten-Thousand-Year Stellar Core Flame could only be considered the lowest grade among purple ascension flame sources. It could only raise a Colorless Kindling Seed to white quality. Some exceptional purple ascension flame sources, however, could raise a White Kindling Seed to blue quality, though such exceptional purple ascension flame sources were naturally even rarer.

Even so, Song Chi was still filled with impatience. For him right now, this strand of Ten-Thousand-Year Stellar Core Flame was more than enough.

As the Ten-Thousand-Year Stellar Core Flame entered the Kindle Ancestral Aperture, the firelight of the Kindling Seed within abruptly flared. It sensed a flame source that held immense attraction for it, and its instinct to advance drove it to devour and fuse with that cluster of Ten-Thousand-Year Stellar Core Flame as quickly as possible.

Guided by the Kindling Seed, the Ten-Thousand-Year Stellar Core Flame slowly moved toward the center of the ancestral aperture.

When the Ten-Thousand-Year Stellar Core Flame finally touched the Kindling Seed, the latter seemed to have had a huge pile of firewood thrown onto it. Its blazing flames were like a powerful wild horse, leaping madly.

The devouring and fusion process lasted for roughly ten minutes. Once it was fully complete, the pitch-black Kindling Seed underwent its transformation, changing from black to blazing white.

As the Kindling Seed in the ancestral aperture transformed from colorless to white, Song Chi's somewhat weary mind was instantly revitalized. All the mental energy he had expended was restored in that moment, and under the enhancement of the White Kindling Seed, his mental strength became increasingly solid and stable.

The Kindling Seeds of Kindling Human Civilization not only granted Void Energy, but also protected and enhanced the mind. The higher the quality of the Kindling Seed, the stronger those protective and enhancing effects became.

Under the protection of a Kindling Seed, members of Kindling Human Civilization possessed an innate advantage when facing soul-type Star Sea alien races.

Furthermore, raising the Colorless Kindling Seed to white quality meant that the Cangqiong's future limit had risen from First Rank to Second Rank. The maximum enhancement level of its various mounted components also increased from lv19 to lv29.

Moreover, the number of special component slots had increased to a certain extent. A Kindling Starship bound to a Colorless Kindling Seed had, aside from its initial two slots, been able to gain only two additional slots for every five levels. Now, it could gain four additional slots for every five levels.

All in all, it truly counted as a comprehensive improvement.

Only after the most important upgrade to the Kindling Seed's quality was complete did Song Chi shift his attention back to the two basic components.

Without hesitation, he replaced the standard Hull Armor and Psionic Shield with the two new components, then began enhancing them.

The white Golden Rock Hull Armor could wait. The Dark Matter Energy Shield Generator was naturally Song Chi's foremost enhancement priority.

He had happened to receive a batch of Mercury Crystals during the previous Market Ruins trade, making this the perfect use for them.

Spend 10 strands of Zero Rank Floating Continent Essence + 1,000 Void Energy Points + 1 ton of Mercury Crystal to upgrade the Dark Matter Energy Shield Generator from lv0 to lv1?

"Confirm!"

Several dozen seconds later, Song Chi successfully enhanced the Dark Matter Energy Shield Generator to lv10.

In total, it had cost 420 strands of Zero Rank Floating Continent Essence and 60 tons of Mercury Crystal.

Calculated entirely in Floating Continent Essence, that amounted to 1,020 strands of Zero Rank Floating Continent Essence.