I'm a Pauper

In the blink of an eye, a full 100 million had been deducted from Luo Zhe's martial artist account. Only then did he feel his heart rate spike and his blood rush to his head; this was a whole 100 million! It was enough to buy a third of the detached villa he was currently living in.

"Fortunately, this isn't my own money, otherwise, it would have pained me for a long time." He calmed his emotions slightly.

With the secret manual successfully purchased, the next step was to buy weapons, combat uniforms, and the like, as well as add some training equipment to his home gym. After all, constantly running to the martial arts hall wasn't a sustainable solution.

Opening the weapon list interface, Luo Zhe hesitated for a moment before clicking on the 'Blood Shadow Battle Blade Series 3'. The heaviest blade in the Series 2 that Instructor Zhuge had prepared for him during the assessment was only 120 kilograms, which was still relatively light for him. Given his current rate of strength growth, he feared he would need a heavier blade to be properly equipped.

Blood Shadow Battle Blade Series 3, Model A1—Price: 200,000 Huaxia Currency (full price), 120,000 Huaxia Currency (half price, requirement: 1 contribution point).

Blood Shadow Battle Blade Series 3, Model A2—Price: 600,000 Huaxia Currency (full price), 300,000 Huaxia Currency (half price, requirement: 1 contribution point).

...Series 3, Model A5—Price: 8 million Huaxia Currency (full price), 4 million Huaxia Currency (half price, requirement: 1-star contribution level).

Luo Zhe carefully examined the descriptions for each model. Taking the A5 model as an example, it weighed up to 500 kilograms and could effectively pierce the scale armor of medium to average high-level beast-general monsters. Luo Zhe wouldn't feel strained swinging a blade of this weight during normal combat, and its lethality against monsters was sufficiently high, making it just right for his current needs.

The problem, however, was that models like the A5 and higher required at least a 1-star contribution level to enjoy the half-price discount, which demanded 10,000 contribution points! Luo Zhe's current contribution points were a mere 0.

"Model A6 costs 24 million at full price. Model A5 costs 8 million at full price. It's not that I can't afford them, but it's not cost-effective." Luo Zhe shook his head. The A5 model could handle most 'medium-level beast-general' monsters without fear of the weapon breaking. The A6 model could handle most 'high-level beast-general' monsters without breaking.

Models below A5 only required 1 contribution point, which, according to the martial arts hall's rules, could be obtained by donating 10,000 yuan. However, blades below the A5 level were extremely prone to wear and tear when fighting high-level monsters and could even break during intense combat. Only by using an A5 or higher-level blade could Luo Zhe fully exert his true combat power; otherwise, if his weapon broke in the middle of a fight with a monster, he would be left completely helpless!

As for the so-called 1 contribution point, it was a distinction between martial artists within the martial arts hall and those outside. After all, the Extreme Martial Arts Hall had its internal network—the 'online mall' of the Home of Extremes—but they also had physical martial artist malls. Martial artists from other factions could also make purchases, but they had to pay the full price!

In fact, items like weapons and combat uniforms were manageable. Chen Gu had mentioned to him earlier that he could select the models, make a list, and hand it over to Chen Gu to purchase on his behalf. Since Chen Gu had been a martial artist for many years, his contribution points at the martial arts hall had long reached the 1-star level, allowing him to fully enjoy the half-price discounts.

Standard equipment like cold weapons and firearms could generally be purchased by others. However, items like secret manuals could not be bought by others because it involved issues of copyright infringement, unauthorized copying, and distribution. The country currently placed great importance on such intellectual property rights, so they could not be purchased by proxy.

Just as Luo Zhe had purchased the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade manual on the Home of Extremes, the information would be entered into the joint database of the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, the Thunder Martial Arts Hall, and the HR Alliance: Luo Zhe has purchased the first three volumes of Nine-Fold Thunder Blade. This way, he would face no issues even if he displayed the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade in public.

"Let's look at shields." A good shield could prevent a martial artist from being disemboweled by a monster's sharp claws at a critical moment, which was why every excellent martial artist chose to equip a hexagonal shield.

Opening the shield page, he saw that the prices were significantly cheaper than the blades. A B5 model, which could also withstand attacks from medium-level beast-general monsters, cost only 1.5 million at half price, though it still required a 1-star contribution level!

Great!

Seeing this, Luo Zhe finally understood: whether it was blades, shields, or other equipment, anything Model 5 or higher capable of withstanding medium-level beast-general attacks required at least a 1-star contribution level!

He stopped looking at the others and went straight to the combat uniform page.

A set of combat uniform, especially one that included boots and other accessories, was usually the most expensive piece of equipment a martial artist owned! This was because combat uniforms not only required high defense but also had to be comfortable to wear without hindering the martial artist's rapid dodging and movement.

However, when Luo Zhe actually clicked on it, he realized that the previous blades and shields were just child's play. Even a D5 series combat uniform capable of resisting medium-level beast-generals, including arm guards and boots, cost a staggering 18 million Huaxia Currency at full price, or 9 million at half price. The D6 series cost a full 80 million Huaxia Currency.

He had known combat uniforms were expensive, but he hadn't expected the 5-series to cost more than twice as much as a blade of the same tier!

By this calculation, if an outside martial artist wanted to buy a full 5-series combat uniform set, a B5 shield, and an A5 blade from the Home of Extremes, it would cost a total of 29 million. If they chose the higher-tier A6 blade, the total price would soar to 45 million!

And this was without even purchasing a combat watch or a backpack.

With the mindset of just browsing, Luo Zhe opened the pages for backpacks and combat watches. "Not bad, these two items, even the better ones, only cost 100,000 and only require 1 contribution point."

"Plus, Chen Gu can help me buy the blade and combat uniform. A 5-series combat uniform is enough, and the B5 shield is also sufficient. The blade, however, needs to be better; otherwise, if my strength improves again, the blade won't keep up. I'll go with the A6 model."

After a careful calculation: 9 million for the 5-series combat uniform + 1.5 million for the B5 shield + 12 million for the A6 Blood Shadow Battle Blade Series 3, totaling 22.5 million. Adding the expenses for the backpack and combat watch, the total expenditure would be nearly 23 million.

After deducting these expenses, Luo Zhe would still have 17 million in funds available.

With a light tap of his finger, he searched the search bar for the prices of punch force testers, speed testers, and nerve reaction testers.

The first two were fine; standard models that met the needs of ordinary fighter-level and war-general-level martial artists could be acquired for just over 10 million. As for the nerve reaction tester, the price—the long string of zeros following the digits—was something Luo Zhe didn't even have the courage to count.

Heaven knows why such a broken machine had to be so expensive!