Chapter 24: A New Round of Starship and Market Enhancements

Song Chi had originally intended to continue, but the resources required to reinforce an Orange Glory-quality component were truly staggering. Even with the nearly 4,000 strands of Rank-0 Floating Land Essence he had recently earned, he could not afford such extravagance.

Reinforcement beyond Rank-1 required even more exorbitant resources per level. When factoring in the actual market price of Rank-1 Floating Land Essence, each level would easily cost at least 400 strands of Rank-0 essence. Song Chi simply could not afford it right now; he still had other components to reinforce and needed to reserve a pool of startup capital for the second market trade in a month.

Furthermore, he did not have enough Rank-1 Floating Land Essence on hand. Unlike Rank-0, the supply of Floating Land Essence from Rank-1 and above dropped off a cliff. The cores of the vast majority of floating lands in the Star Sea could produce Rank-0 essence, and it could also be obtained by killing creatures from alien floating lands. However, to stably produce Rank-1 essence or higher, one needed at least a Level-2 Star Sea floating land, and even then, the annual yield was quite low.

As everyone knew, the higher the level of a Star Sea floating land, the rarer it became. Over ninety percent of the floating lands in the Shattered Star Sea were unranked or Level-1. The White Tower Floating Land, for instance, was a Level-1 floating land—though it was a life-bearing one, making it the most valuable among all Level-1 floating lands.

...

Fortunately, the Dark Matter Energy Shield Generator, now reinforced to Rank-1, was quite impressive. Its attributes far surpassed the previous Psionic Shield, which had also been reinforced to level 10.

Dark Matter Energy Shield Generator (lv10)
Quality: Orange
Trait 1: Shield value increased by an additional 60%.
Trait 2: Shield protection value doubled.
Consumption: 40/s (Psionic Points)
Protection: 380
Shield Value: 6080/6080
Recharge: 20s; Buffer after overload: 40 minutes
Upgrade Requirements: 20 strands of Floating Land Essence (Rank-1), 5000 Psionic Points, 20 tons of Mercury Crystal.

The shield value alone was six times that of the previous Psionic Shield, which served as a testament to the power of Orange-quality components.

Originally, the White-quality Golden Rock Hull Armor should have been next in line. However, as another defensive component for the airship, the presence of the Orange Glory-quality Dark Matter Energy Shield Generator reduced the priority of reinforcing the hull armor; it would likely not be needed in the short term.

Thus, Song Chi shifted his focus to the Psionic Engine. With a high-consumption energy hog like the Orange-quality shield, the Psionic Engine, only reinforced to level 7, was no longer sufficient. The Dark Matter Energy Shield Generator alone consumed 40 Psionic Points per second, while the level 7 Psionic Engine only provided 27 points per second. For Song Chi, who cherished his life and wanted to keep the Sky Dome’s energy shield active at all times, this was absolutely unacceptable.

Dozens of seconds later, he had raised the Psionic Engine to level 14.

Psionic Engine (lv14)
Quality: Colorless
Consumption: 8/s (Psionic Points)
Supply: 68/s (Psionic Points)
Buffer after overload: 20 minutes
Psionic Pool: 5000 points (can store 5000 Psionic Points)
Upgrade Requirements: 140 strands of Floating Land Essence (Rank-0), 2300 Psionic Points, 70 Life Cores (Rank-0).

Reinforcing it to this point meant he could barely maintain a balance between supply and consumption even when all components of the Sky Dome were operating under heavy load. The cost, however, was that his resources dwindled by another 400 strands of Rank-0 Floating Land Essence.

(Note: The market exchange rate between Rank-1 and Rank-0 Floating Land Essence is 1:10.)

Looking at the roughly 2,600 strands of Rank-0 Floating Land Essence remaining, Song Chi abandoned his earlier plans to invest in the White-quality Fire Seed hull and the Fire Sunflower Soldier Tree components. After all, both newly replaced components were basic ones that did not occupy special component slots, and the Rank-1 Fire Sunflower Soldiers were currently sufficient. More importantly, another major resource drain was waiting for him.

He moved the mineral stocks he had acquired in the market into his shuttle, intending to sell them later on the black market, and then recalled the Sky Dome into his Fire Seed ancestral aperture.

Deep within the Heavens Market, Song Chi began the next stage of the market’s upgrade. He first spent 300 strands of Rank-0 Floating Land Essence to raise the market from level 5 to level 9.

[Name: Heavens Market]
[Owner: Song Chi]
[Level: lv9]
[Dimensions: 460m X 460m]
[Basic Configuration: 28 vacant shops, 1 stall area (70m x 70m), 1 single-story inn (accommodates 40 people), 1 lv0 All-Attribute Cultivation Room (doubles efficiency for Psionic cultivation), 1 lv0 Psionic Protective Array, 1 lv0 Ultra-long-range Space Gate Random Deployment Platform.]
[Additional Configuration: None (0/4)]
[Trait: Danger Avoidance (Can move freely through the void, instinctively avoiding natural disasters)]
[Upgrade Requirements: 200 strands of Floating Land Essence (Rank-0), market transaction volume reaching 10,000 strands of Floating Land Essence (Rank-0), personally initiating three market trades (1/3)]

...

At level 9, the area of the Heavens Market had increased further, and the shops, free stall areas, and the inn had all seen varying degrees of improvement, excluding the All-Attribute Cultivation Room, the Psionic Protective Array, and the space gate deployment platform.

One thing that surprised Song Chi was that to reach level 10, the market required not only Floating Land Essence and transaction volume but also a specific number of market openings. The conditions were not overly strict, but it was impossible to level up the market again in the short term.

Positioned between the All-Attribute Cultivation Room and the space gate deployment platform, Song Chi split his focus and began reinforcing both simultaneously.

After reaching level 9, which consumed a total of 900 strands of Rank-0 Floating Land Essence, the attributes of both had improved significantly.

[Name: All-Attribute Cultivation Room]
[Level: lv9]
[Effect: When a Rank-0 creature cultivates in the room, cultivation speed increases by 290%. When the practitioner is performing Psionic cultivation, the speed increases by 580%.]
...
[Upgrade Requirements: Market Level lv10, 150 strands of Floating Land Essence (Rank-0)]

---

[Name: Ultra-long-range Space Gate Random Deployment Platform]
[Level: lv9]
[Effect: Once activated, it will randomly deploy 19 space gates across the Shattered Star Sea that allow access to the market. Each gate lasts for 24 hours, with a buffer time of 720 hours.]
...
[Upgrade Requirements: Market Level lv10, 150 strands of Floating Land Essence (Rank-0)]

Although the resources consumed were terrifying, the effects were undeniably excellent. The level 9 All-Attribute Cultivation Room provided a staggering 580% boost when practicing Psionic Guidance Techniques. Even the exclusive Psionic cultivation platform on a Fire Seed airship only offered a 290% boost at the same level. Seeing this data, Song Chi completely abandoned the idea of reinforcing the Psionic cultivation platform on the Sky Dome; the All-Attribute Cultivation Room was simply too good.

Meanwhile, the level 9 space gate deployment platform increased the number of gates from 10 to 19. This meant that when he opened the market for the second time, there would be more alien visitors, and his profits would increase accordingly.

Seeing only about 1,400 strands of Rank-0 Floating Land Essence left, Song Chi weighed his options carefully and decided against reinforcing the Golden Rock Hull Armor. He needed to reserve emergency resources for the second alien exploration in twenty-eight days, and startup capital for the second market trade in thirty days.

With 1,400 strands already stretched thin, spending more would severely impact his future market earnings if the next exploration didn't yield significant results. There was no need to gamble when more stable profits were within reach.

Without rushing to experience the high-boost cultivation room, Song Chi exited the Heavens Market.