6.5 Million Points

His base gene multiplier was tenfold. There was no question about that.

So the only explanation was that R's multiplier bonus had decreased.

"It's similar to the effect of the Beast God's Blood. Once the gene multiplier gets too high, it can't raise it anymore!"

After all, he hadn't even unlocked the first stage of his R skill, and everyone knew that R had three levels in total.

That was also why, even after consuming three branches, his genes wouldn't improve by much.

Luo Feng would benefit from using these roots to improve his genes, naturally making him shine even brighter and giving Chen Ao better cover!

"Time to head back. This place has nothing left for me!"

Perhaps there were still good things farther down, but greed never ended well. Chen Ao absolutely refused to be greedy. He had already gained a great deal, and if he got greedy now, even if he didn't die...

He might end up losing everything he had gained.

Chen Ao easily returned to the first level of the Purgatory Abyss and underwent an inspection by the Undying guarding the Demon Ancestor Palace. Finding nothing wrong with him, the guard let him through.

"Tsk, tsk. A Child of Fortune like Luo Feng really does get benefits wherever he goes, while an ordinary guy like me only gets the standard treatment, even when they know I'm a Primal Secret Region Member!"

Still, he rather liked the feeling of being overlooked.

After returning to the Primal Region, Chen Ao quickly chose to turn in his mission.

A pleasant female voice soon rang out. "Your Highness Chen Ao, you have survived in the Purgatory Abyss for one year. You need only produce one piece of fire li rock to complete the mission and receive a reward of one million points!"

Chen Ao took out the fire li rock he had collected.

"Verification complete. Congratulations on completing the Purgatory Abyss mission. One million points have been deposited into your account!"

The pleasant female voice had barely finished when a stern female voice suddenly sounded.

"Greetings, Your Highness Chen Ao. I am an internal staff member of the Virtual Universe, speaking to you directly through the Virtual Universe. What I am about to discuss is top secret. I hope you will keep our ensuing conversation confidential!"

Chen Ao had been waiting for this voice.

"All right. I'll keep it confidential!"

"First, may I ask whether Your Highness Chen Ao obtained any special plant organs grown by the creatures in the abyss?"

"I did!"

Upon hearing that Chen Ao had indeed obtained them, the woman quickly continued.

"Those special plants are your gains, Your Highness Chen Ao, and in principle, we should not interfere. However, if you obtained enough of them, you should have discovered that some of those plant organs are of no use to you!"

"That's right!"

"In that case, we at the Virtual Universe hope that Your Highness Chen Ao will sell those useless organs to the Virtual Universe Company. Our company will offer a suitable purchase price!"

Without another word, Chen Ao took out 110 roots. He had 143 in total, with thirty-three set aside for Luo Feng, Hong, and Lei. These would benefit all three of them.

A flicker of surprise crossed the woman's face when she saw the 110 roots.

But she soon continued, "The Virtual Universe Company is willing to purchase them for twenty thousand points each. Would Your Highness Chen Ao like to sell? I must warn you again: these are top-secret items. Even if you do not sell them to the Virtual Universe Company, you must not sell them to anyone else without authorization!"

Chen Ao curled his lip. That line would only fool the gullible.

"These things are worth more than twenty thousand points!"

The woman on the other end froze. This was the first time she had encountered a youngster who dared to speak like that.

"This is the Virtual Universe Company's standard purchase price!"

"But they're worth at least a hundred times twenty thousand points! If I didn't know, that would be one thing. Since I do, the company can't take them away that cheaply!"

The woman's voice remained stern. "Everything Your Highness Chen Ao obtained came from the Virtual Universe Company's secret region!"

"Let's skip that kind of talk. I'm part of the Virtual Universe Company too, and my status isn't necessarily much lower than yours. You can have these things, but you have to pay a fair price!"

This time, the woman fell silent.

Seeing her fall silent, Chen Ao knew he had this in the bag.

It all came down to an information gap. Someone who didn't understand would think twenty thousand per root was an astronomical price. After all, he was only at the Universe Level.

But those who understood knew that if these things were offered to King-level Immortals, those King-level Immortals would willingly give everything in exchange.

Put bluntly, the secrecy wasn't about keeping secrets. It was about establishing a monopoly.

Once they had a monopoly, wouldn't the Virtual Universe Company get to set the price when those at King Rank wanted to buy?

If they said a hundred million, it would be a hundred million. If they said a billion, you would still have to accept it.

"How much does Your Highness Chen Ao intend to sell them for?"

"A hundred thousand each!"

He needed ten million points. As long as each root sold for a hundred thousand-no, just over eighty thousand would do-he could scrape together ten million points.

"That's impossible. To be frank, Your Highness Chen Ao, even if you learned their value through some channel, we cannot pay you the full price. The highest price we can offer at the Virtual Universe is fifty thousand points each!"

"Ninety thousand!"

"There is no room for negotiation. Fifty thousand is the maximum! The company will not give Universe Level members too many points!"

Chen Ao opened his mouth. He had wanted to get ten million in one go, but he hadn't expected the Virtual Universe to be such a rip-off.

He didn't think the woman was deliberately deceiving him. He could only conclude that this was all a Universe Level member was worth.

"Fine. Fifty thousand each. Give me five and a half million points!"

"Deal!" The woman's voice remained cold. "Your Highness Chen Ao, I must reiterate: you may still possess more of these items, but you absolutely must not sell them without the Virtual Universe Company's approval. Otherwise, the consequences will be severe!"

"I'll remember that!"

After saying that, Chen Ao checked his account. Sure enough, 6.5 million points had arrived.

"But that still leaves me over three million points short!"

In fact, even bringing out the remaining roots wouldn't be enough. He still had to find another way.

"A gap of three million... That would take about five desperation-level missions, or around ten dangerous-level ones!"

His scalp prickled. Chen Ao really didn't want to take reckless risks. What if something went wrong?

"I need to think carefully about where to get those three million-plus points!" Sitting alone in his residence, Chen Ao considered what to do next.

At the Universe Level, the only way to earn points was through trial missions. Of course, the Illusion Sea, the Immortal Altar, and the like were also options.

But the Immortal Altar offered too few points, only a little over a hundred thousand at most. The Illusion Sea was similar to the Heavenly Bridge, with a very high upper limit.

However, to get over three million points, he would have to clear at least a dozen or so levels. A Universe Level member clearing that many levels of the Illusion Sea would definitely draw attention.

That didn't suit his low-profile approach.

"After thinking it over, it seems the only way to get enough points is to go to the Blood Luo World. After all, Blood Luo Crystals fetch a high price too!"