The black speck had vanished without a trace, but Li Ziran's gaze never left the spot where it had disappeared. He understood the value of currency very well. It was the simplest channel for communication.
What intrigued him, however, was this element. He seemed never to have seen it before. More precisely, it did not seem to be an element at all.
"How can I obtain this?" he asked quietly.
"Trade!" the old man replied politely. "Or labor."
"I mean how this energy is produced, not how to accumulate wealth," Li Ziran clarified.
"Labor. Extraction, to be exact. The Void Expanse may look completely empty, but faint traces of energy do exist there. If you can gather that diffuse energy together, you can obtain a Void Coin." The old man gave a peculiar smile. "You can try it if you think you're capable. But I guarantee that even a hundred years of extraction might not produce a single coin."
"Why?"
"Strength. As you saw, Void Coins are the exact opposite of the elemental tide. The moment they appear, the elements annihilate them. So to obtain Void Coins, you must escape the interference of the elemental tide as much as possible. The farther you travel from the Red Soil Continent, the easier they are to obtain. But the risks are much greater. One careless move, and the Void Expanse will swallow you. Hunting for Void Coins is a game only the strong can play."
Having said that, he gave Li Ziran an odd look, seemingly very interested in what he would ask next.
"What can this currency do?" Li Ziran asked. If those powerful beings pursued it, it must have some definite use.
"Barriers. Barriers made of void energy. Apply it to a special cloak, and it can form a temporary