It was not the fault of Tang Ling’s curiosity.
The manual only had a single ultimate and no basic techniques to support it. The introduction clearly stated that the manual was not missing anything and even specifically mentioned the author, Lucar.
If this Lucar guy was not some kind of expert or master, the manual would not have specifically mentioned his name.
“Why are you asking?” The old man laughed.
“Actually, even I hesitated for a while before recommending this manual to you, but by the looks of it, you are Tang Ling, aren’t you? I guess since you don’t walk the common path, maybe you will like Lucar, but you don’t even know who he is…”
Tang Ling pouted at the old man’s teasing comments. It was not the first time that his insufficient knowledge had embarrassed him.
His lack of haughtiness and humble sincerity was likable. That was why the old man did not mind spending more time and energy explaining who Lucar was.
Lucar was not a genius. He was a maniac, a lunatic, a madman! He concentrated on studying and writing combat arts but never did it the common way.
He always had all kinds of strange thoughts in his mind and never lacked any ideas. Furthermore, given his unusual stubbornness, one could imagine what kind of combat arts originated from his hand.
“Out of 10 manuals, I guess there’re only three to four…Uh…two to three that are practical,” said the old red-nosed man.
However, whether the practical manuals were useful or not, even the old man could not provide an exact answer because most of them were incomplete versions. Although they only had the basics, the techniques could not be fully considered as basics as well.
The techniques did not include the proper way to unleash one’s strength or the steps to mastering the combat steps. There were only combat techniques! According to Lucar, those who did not know how to use their strength efficiently or how to utilize combat steps were useless garbage that were not worthy of his Purple Moon Combat Arts.
Tang Ling blushed. He somehow felt that Lucar was talking about him.
As for the others, it was what Tang Ling saw. It only had the ultimate!
On a very rare occasion, Lucar would produce a complete manual, but it was so rare that one might have a better chance of finding a speck of gold on the beach.
However, if one looked down on Lucar’s combat arts and diminished the value, one could not be any more foolish. The combat arts from Lucar were either a big hit or a big miss.
“Yes, it can be as great as shaking the heavens. Be it an incomplete or a complete one, as long as it has practical value, it’s considered a top-tier skill and is probably the strongest of them all! Since you aren’t a Purple Moon Warrior yet, I don’t even want to start on the skill categorization of the Purple Moon, but you have to remember that Lucar’s combat arts are at the top two spots of the rankings, every single one of them!” The red-nosed old man sounded a little too enthusiastic.
Even Tang Ling was aroused by the old man’s excitement, so he could not help but ask, “How much is Lucar’s ultimate then?”
“Do you want this?” the old man responded strangely and hesitated for a moment. “For the sake of the 10 Black Sea coins, I have to remind you that buying Lucar’s Purple Moon Combat Arts is like buying those boxes in Darkness Port. You might even end up worse than opening the boxes.
“Only a handful of people can understand what he’s written and if you can’t understand it at all, that’s the end. Lucar the maniac won’t come out and explain it to you. Let’s say you understand what he wrote, but you might not be able to find a way to use it because everything that he wrote is crazy and defies logic.
“Okay, even if you can use it, you’ll notice that the effects are as useless as your fart! You guessed it. He himself didn’t even test out his own theory, so the final outcome of the combat arts might only be as useful as a fart, get it? Finding something useful from Lucar’s work is even harder than finding a speck of gold on the beach.”
Tang Ling was not frightened. Conversely, it spiked his interest to buy one just to test it out. He stubbornly asked, “How much is this?”
“400 Black Sea coins,” the old man stated the price with a shrug.
“That cheap?” Tang Ling found it difficult to believe.
“Of course, it is. Lucar might have a huge reputation but so was his output. Everyone knew that there’s at least an 80% chance of getting a useless manual. There are only three possibilities that his things can be sold for at astronomical figures.
“Firstly, it’s the translated version. As its name suggests, it’s the translated version by people who understood Lucar’s work. Since even normal people can’t understand it, the price usually jumps three-fold.
“Second;y, it’s been proven to work and is applicable. The price will jump ten-fold, but the effect of the usage will be kept secret.
“The third one is the same as the second but with its effect stated. Don’t worry. Those useless-as-farts manuals won’t be auctioned. This version is the most expensive. If you don’t have at least tens of thousands of Black Sea coins, uh…wait, I think you can only use True Capital coins to buy this version and the price won’t be lower than 10,000.” The red-nosed old man was very transparent with the information.
Tang Ling was speechless, but it sounded amazing.
“So, 400 Black Sea coins is actually a reasonable price. There’s a huge possibility that I earned your money with a piece of junk. A lot of them are gambling by buying this, and if you can translate it, you’ll earn more than you’ve spent, but do you think it’s that easy? I’ve sold a few hundred of Lucar’s combat manuals, including a copy and only two have made it.” The old red-nosed man put up two fingers with a proud look.
“I’ll get it!” It was not blind confidence, but Tang Ling believed that the work of a maniac who studied something and worked it to the extreme would certainly be worth 400 Black Sea coins. He wanted to have a read and enter the world of a genius maniac as it might be helpful to his future.
Tang Ling was a person with a long-term vision. He was willing to spend money on something that people deemed worthless. In fact, it was not that the things he bought were worthless. It was just that the effect had yet to be revealed.
The old man realized that Tang Ling had made up his mind. It would not be appropriate for him to continue his dissuasion since he had told Tang Ling what he needed to know. The choice was up to the kid.
The deal was struck. Tang Ling got two strange Purple Moon Combat Arts. Boss Huang would probably have beaten him to death if he knew what Tang Ling had bought.
The first manual might seem powerful, but who the hell was the author? The most basic insurance of a Purple Moon Combat Arts would be its author. It was also the most important factor to determine the value.
Tang Ling bought a nameless manual.
Regardless of Boss Huang’s reaction, Tang Ling paid 1,900 Black Sea coins.
The two USB drives that contained the manual were passed to Tang Ling and his iris pattern was registered to them. If anyone else other than him looked at the contents, the drive would self-destruct.
“You can also purchase the copyright. It’s only 100 times the price. Then, you’ll be able to make countless more copies and sell it like the Floating Ice.” The old man was obviously joking.
No one would probably buy what Tang Ling had just bought. The nameless manual would probably have sunk into the pile of drives if not for the old man’s sharp insights.
He had honestly recommended the nameless manual to Tang Ling because only someone as blank as the kid would not consider the author.
…
The purchase of combat arts was settled, but maybe because Tang Ling had too much money in his hands, he did not want to stop there. He decided to visit the auction in three days.
The old man even told him that there would be another one of Lucar’s combat arts up for bidding at the auction and his insider news told him that it was a translated version. Tang Ling was very interested.
It was three more days until the auction and Tang Ling did not plan on wasting his time. Because of his sudden wealth, Tang Ling booked the cultivation room that cost 30 Black Sea coins per hour for three days for 10 hours at a go.
To avoid wastage, he did not prompt for 10 hours of consecutive cultivating. Instead, he split the session into three three-hour sessions and one more hour of rest.
The wealthy Tang Ling’s extravagant spending did not stop there. He bought himself 50 vials of cell enhancement serum. Even though it was the lowest grade, it still cost 20 Black Sea coins per vial.
The cell enhancement serum only had a single-use. Consuming it after the cultivation would hasten the rejuvenation of the cells and slightly enhance them. It would allow him to return to cultivation quicker than usual.
Even though he was just storing energy, the process would not stop tempering his cells.
It would be great if his cells could handle the stress, but if they could not, he would have to put his cultivation on hold and he could not continue storing energy.
Tang Ling spent the money just so he could get more time storing energy. Moreover, the cultivation was a type of accumulation, so it was not bound by states or conditions.
Even for someone who was not a Purple Moon Warrior or a Rank 1 or Rank 2 Purple Moon Warrior, the cultivation could continue, and when the cultivation broke through a certain state, it might even help in breaking through the genetic locks!
Therefore, no one could give up on cultivation.
How long could 50 vials of serums last? Tang Ling did not know. He only knew that all these were considered the basics for the young geniuses with a powerful faction behind them. A lot of factions provided their own geniuses with at least two low-grade cell enhancement serum daily.
It made Tang Ling sour.
Just look at our differences! Is it wrong for me to spend all this money now?
Other than the cell enhancement serum, Tang Ling even bought something called the Dream Energy Pill. The pills were said to be made from Level 3 vicious plant materials via herbology methods.
The pills were mild. Having one before bed would help the body dissolve a small amount of energy gently without any side effects unlike the rough vicious beast meat, having too much of which could kill someone.
Tang Ling did not want to waste even his sleeping time! He bought 50 pills at the price of 30 Black Sea coins each. He was advised to take a maximum of two before bed.
Lastly, Tang Ling even bought a bag of digestive tea! Its only use was to aid digestion! Although it was not as effective as the tea from the Mysterious Store, which could boost 10% of his absorption rate, this digestion tea was great at disintegration. It could hasten the digestion speed by 15% and it was up to Tang Ling to absorb the energy.
Great! If I can’t absorb it, it’s also going to waste. Why should I keep them in my stomach?! I’ll just have to pass it out and eat it again!
Tang Ling was prepared to go all out in his cultivation session.
In short, with sufficient funds in his hand, Tang Ling spent lavishly. The digestive tea was counted by the gram. A gram of tea cost 3 Black Sea coins and Tang Ling had probably 500 grams of tea in his bag.
Tang Ling spent a total of 5,900 Black Sea coins before he started his cultivation, yet he did not feel a twinge of heartache whatsoever. He invested a huge amount of money in his cultivation because he wanted to see what were the possibilities of his Perfect Genetic Chain.
Tang Ling did not leave the cabin area for three whole days.
Other than the cultivation sessions, he even booked a luxurious suite at the cabin area to spend the night. The suite provided a massage service so that he could dissolve the energy faster.
Unfortunately, it was not a cute massage girl who serviced Tang Ling but some ridiculously buff middle-aged woman. Every time the woman massaged Tang Ling, he felt like his bones were going to break.
Tang Ling felt extremely grouchy about that.
After three days of extravagant cultivation, what did he get?
He even paid 900 Black Sea coins for a three-day use of the cultivation room.
He realized that the money spent was worth his while!
