The Ultimate Evolution

Facing Sheyan’s enquiry, the miner had no intention of withholding any information. He contemplated for a while before he answered.

“In terms of the strength, technically speaking, the gap between legendary grade and gold storyline grade is not that big, but of course, legendary grade equipments are usually a little stronger. The difference between the two is similar to the difference between black and silver storyline grades. Some black grade equipments may surpass silver storyline equipments, but in most cases, silver storyline equipments have the upper hand.”

“As for light green grade, those are the equipments or items that can grow stronger. When they grow to the limit, they’ll definitely be stronger than dark gold equipments, but a bit weaker than legendary equipments and gold storyline equipments. Of course, the most powerful are still the divine equipments.”

Sheyan then enquired further about the difference between legendary grade and gold storyline grade.

The miner replied, “Legendary equipments are usually famous items originating from human myths and legends. There’s a chance to obtain them in most worlds — of course, the chance is really minute, and the acquisition method is unknown, so one can only hope to get lucky.”

“For example, the legendary weapons and equipments that I know of include the Excalibur, the Spear of Longinus, the Holy Grail, the giant sword of Beowulf, the bow of Cupid, the Xuanyuan Sword, the Dragonslayer, the Muramasa, and so on… Of course, these are all top class legendary weapons that are unique and one of a kind. When someone obtains one of them, a second one won’t appear.”

“One step lower are the legendary items and equipments like the Sorcerer’s Stone just now. They’re very well known and very distinctive in their own world, but more than one of them can exist at the same time. Other examples include the Black Pearl in the Pirates of the Caribbean, the liquid metal in the Terminator’s world (here, the miner gave Sheyan a glance, which may be intentional or otherwise), the three Elven Rings of Power in the world of the Lord of the Rings, and so on.”

“As for gold storyline equipments, the way to acquire them is quite direct and simple. They must be obtained from specific powerful storyline characters. The top-class ones are similarly unique and one of a kind. In addition, because they’ll always carry their master’s soul imprints on them, they cannot be used if they’re stolen, so it’s necessary to either kill the original owner, or obtain the consent of the original owner. The odds of the latter are usually slim.”

“I’ll give you an example. If you kill the Zerg Queen in the Starship Troopers world, you stand a chance to get her exclusive gold storyline equipment, and if you kill the Great Leonopteryx in the Avatar world, you stand a chance to get a gold storyline equipment from the dropped loot, too. The same holds true for many other important storyline characters such as Voldemort, Dumbledore….you know what I mean.”

“As for divine equipments, there’s only one confirmed divine equipment presently: the One Ring in the Lord of the Rings! Another theory is that some equipments can evolve into divine equipments.”

Sheyan nodded slightly to the miner’s words. He could tell that the miner’s explanation was honest and in detail. Sheyan also understood that this should be a treatment afforded to him because he had shown enough strength previously.

At this time, Gungnir’s brilliant light was slowly dissipating. Its specific properties gradually emerged before their eyes.

According to the Poetic Edda, the spear was fashioned by the Dwarves; Loki discovered the Spear while visiting the Dwarves on an errand to commission golden hair for Sif. Runes were carved on the tip of the spear, while the handle made from the wood of the world tree Yggdrasil.

When Odin threw the spear, it would emit a light as it crossed the sky. People on the ground would call it “lightning”. Some stories called it “shooting star”.

It was recorded in mythology that those who swore an oath to a flying Gungnir would have their oath fulfilled. This may be the origin of the practice of making a wish upon a shooting star.

Its properties were very straightforward, and abnormally strong.

Its attack carried the lightning attribute. After hitting the enemy, there would be a very high probability of causing paralysis. Its maximum attack power was over a thousand.

It would never miss.

It would always penetrate through the enemy.

All its properties had Domain precedence.

These properties were only the ones displayed. There was still a long list of properties below them that were masked by ?????. Those properties would only be known to the buyer.

More importantly, this weapon, like Brother Black’s Spartan spear, would not occupy the main weapon slot.

A combination of all these frightening properties caused the spear to trigger a wave of intense bidding as soon as it appeared.

Did Sheyan want this spear? Of course he did! But after a bit of contemplation, he realised that the chances of successfully bidding for the weapon were almost the same as the chances of Melody and Zi living happily together. So, he decisively gave up after a few more glances at the spear.

There was no point wasting his energy and time on something he could not possibly get.

At this moment, a few lines suddenly emerged on the screen in front of him.

“Esteemed Lieutenant Colonel, we have something we would like to discuss with you. Can we have five minutes of your time?”

Sheyan smiled and pressed on ‘YES’. His seat immediately sank into the ground. Under the ground, he felt as if he was sliding through a tunnel at high speed. He landed in a brightly lit conference room after a few seconds. A smiling white-collar woman with a friendly appearance was seated at the opposite side of the coffee table.

“Hello, Lieutenant Colonel. What would you like to drink?”

“Just water, thanks,” replied Sheyan with a friendly smile.

After his drink was served, the woman went straight to the point. “First of all, let me introduce myself. I’m Rongji Lee, the Deputy Director of the Sales Department of the Milky Way United Commerce Group. The reason we would like to talk to you is because we found out that you had just bid a price of 850,000 utility points in the auction of a dark gold weapon named ‘Repentance’.”

Sheyan narrowed his eyes like a fox that was cunningly aware of the trap in his opponent’s words.

“Oh, that really was too impulsive of me. Good thing I managed to rein myself back in time and avoid making a huge mistake.”

The woman, Rongji Lee, laughed gracefully while she grazed her hair and said, “It’s no mistake to spend some money for something you love.”

“In my opinion, the bid of 850,000 utility points was definitely a mistake — and a serious one, at that. Fortunately, the kindhearted Mr. Chabar gave me the chance to save myself,” replied Sheyan with a shrug.

Facing Sheyan unwavering attitude, Rongji Lee’s smile turned a little stiff. She realised that she had met a very difficult opponent.

But even before he came, she already knew that he had played two reserve-duty Generals for fools. Someone like that would never be simple.

When she saw that her probing was futile, she coughed drily and said in a solemn voice, “Well, Lieutenant Colonel, we’ve actually just received another commission for an item to be auctioned….and the client would like to receive payment as soon as possible. The item he offered is also the gun called ‘Repentance’. In view of the great sincerity you just showed in the previous auction, we invited you over to see if we can come to an agreement. Otherwise, we will inform the other bidders.”

Sheyan looked at Rongji Lee with a smile that did not reach his eyes. The glint in his eyes seemed to pierce through her.

“Haha, another commission, huh?…. But why do I feel like it’s the same gun that had failed to be sold after Chabar breaches the auction agreement? If that idiot defaults, he’ll just be in a bad shape due to the penalty, but if he actually pays for the gun, he’s really going to die.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, but it’s our company’s policy to keep every client’s information strictly confidential. Our company agrees that the bid you made in the previous auction was indeed a little too high, so after some discussion, we agreed that you only need to pay 600,000 utility points to get the weapon of your dream,” Rongji Lee kept her smile as she replied.

Sheyan sighed. “Do you really think I’ll accept that price? Chabar had no intention of purchasing the weapon from the start; he only wanted to stir up trouble. He actually drove the price of an ordinary dark gold equipment up to nearly a million utility points! I even suspect that he’s a shill paid by your company to do so. And now, you’re quoting me the price of 600,000??”

“I’m sorry, Lieutenant Colonel, but I shall reserve the right to pursue legal action for your slander against our company. No cases such as the one you described has ever occurred since the establishment of our company” Rongji Lee’s face hardened as she retorted.

“As for the whereabouts of the previous ‘Repentance’ and the winning bidder, I know nothing about them because I’m not in charge of that client. I’m only responsible for discussing the transaction of this newly-received ‘Repentance’ with you, Lieutenant Colonel.

Sheyan laughed when he heard Rongji Lee’s words.

“Fine. If that’s the case, I’m willing to pay 300,000 utility points for the gun. If that damn shill Chabar didn’t cause trouble in the auction just now, that would’ve been the final deal.”

Rongji Lee glared at Sheyan. “Lieutenant Colonel, please mind your words! Also, please show a bit of sincerity in your offer!”

Sheyan sighed. “I’m offering 300,000 utility points for a gunner’s dark gold weapon, and your company actually feels that I’m not showing enough sincerity?! Well, then, try putting this weapon up for auction again and see if anybody will offer a higher price!”

There was no way the company would do that. The auction of Gungnir, which was ongoing right now, would suck away a large amount of funds. The response for ‘Repentance’ at the higher price range in the previous auction was also rather mediocre. More importantly, doing so would be as good as admitting to the public that the auction house had been played by Chabar. Due to these reasons, it was impossible for ‘Repentance’ to appear in the auction in the short term.

And as soon as the auction was over, the weapon would have to be returned to the seller. Without a successful transaction, the auction house would only receive the deposit fee, which was much, much lower than a sales commission. That would be most intolerable for the auction house which pursued profit above all else.

It was precisely because Sheyan understood these things that he had nothing to fear.

(TL: This is bonus chapter #5 for January. Enjoy!)