Feng Xue was not surprised by the old man’s answer. As for Miuke crystals, in terms of output alone, they could not exactly be called scarce. However, their circulation was strictly controlled by every nation. Those below S-15, which could only be used to manufacture three- or four-star industrial mecha, were one thing; but once they exceeded S-16, they were already military-controlled materials. As for those above S-24...
Put it this way: this stuff was even more tightly controlled than enriched uranium had been in Feng Xue’s previous life.
As mentioned before, this world’s existing technological tree had developed based on the relics of a prior civilization, but mecha were not a technology that the prior civilization had originally possessed.
Technology was not something you could necessarily reproduce just because someone handed you a complete set of blueprints. Industrial foundations, productivity, materials, and all sorts of details could bottleneck progress. Naturally, deciphering the technology of the prior civilization faced the same problem. Everyone had metallurgical formulas and production line blueprints, but what they alone lacked were the high-precision machine tools needed to process those things.
The ruins of the prior civilization were treasures of the world, but this world had more than one country. Naturally, the struggle over the legacy of the prior civilization became the main cause of war.
And under the impetus of war, how to reproduce even more advanced technologies using existing productivity and materials science became the focus of every nation.
Mecha were born from this line of thinking.
After all, if precision was insufficient, just make it bigger!
With materials science up to standard, scaling up cybernetic prostheses proportionally to reduce precision requirements became the simplest method. However, after being enlarged, the burden of controlling a mecha far exceeded that of cybernetic prostheses. It could practically be called a cyberpsychosis manufacturing machine.
At first, only those who possessed soul source energy could abandon their fleshly bodies and use mecha as their bodies, barely managing to pilot them. Later, mental source energy users developed a technology that built mental frameworks to share the pressure. After that, Miuke crystals were discovered. People used these crystals, which had properties similar to mental power, to construct mental-power skeletons that shared the pilot’s mental burden. From then on, this weapon of war truly became a mass-producible general armament.
And the S-24 Feng Xue was talking about now could be used to manufacture six-star mecha!
What was a six-star mecha?
As a transmigrator, Feng Xue did not have much of a concept of it, but from Old Jiang’s information, he could see descriptions such as “a single soldier destroying a nation.”
However, Feng Xue had not really intended to buy one in the first place. He merely raised an eyebrow, then said in a slightly teasing tone,
“You don’t sell to new customers. Does that mean you sell to old customers?”
The shopkeeper did not reply. As if deaf, he placed the cybernetic arm Feng Xue had sold him into the display cabinet.
Seeing this, Feng Xue chuckled softly and lowered his voice.
“Then do you take this?”
Click...
The cybernetic prosthesis in his hand fell onto the table. The old man raised his eyes, and his pair of cybernetic eyes shone with a frightening brightness. Suppressing his emotions, he said in a low voice,
“Anything above S-12—as much as you have. Name your price!”
Of course the shopkeeper knew that the probability of actually acquiring any was minuscule, and he might even run into a trap. But if the other party could truly take out a Miuke crystal as bait, then so what if he had to gamble with his old life?
At present, all the world’s high-grade Miuke crystal veins were completely controlled by Gelian and Da Yan, and the purification technology was locked down layer upon layer. If he could obtain a single high-grade Miuke crystal, the force behind him could exchange it for half a country!
Not one of those tiny, sesame-sized small nations, but a major country with vast territory, abundant resources, and everything except power!
After all, as long as one could produce a single six-star mecha, it meant one had obtained a seat at the table!
Seeing the shopkeeper’s expression, as though he were ready to stake everything on one desperate gamble, Feng Xue reached into his coat and took out a palm-sized box. He opened it for an instant, then immediately closed it again, the corners of his mouth carrying a smile.
“How much will you offer?”
“S... S-24?!” Although it had only been a fleeting glimpse, the old man was certain he had not seen wrong. The recorded data in his cybernetic eyes compared it again and again, to the point that even his brain-bridge chip was starting to heat up.
Suddenly, the old man’s movements paused slightly, and his excited expression also eased. He actually gave himself a shot of sedative on the spot.
“3.7 million. That’s everything I can take out. Don’t be in a hurry—I know this price is low, but the piece you brought out is too small, nowhere near enough to build a mecha. But if you can bring out ten more S-24 pieces of the same size... No, as long as they’re above S-18, twenty billion! No, not just money. Whatever you want, we’ll give it to you!”
The old man’s cybernetic eyes seemed about to pop out of their sockets; the sight was truly somewhat terrifying. Feng Xue did not care. He merely placed the box on the table, pressed it down with one hand, and said, “Bring the money. This will be yours. As for anything else, we’ll talk later.”
The old man also knew that the other party was testing the waters. After considering it for a moment, he still decided to gamble. He mobilized all the liquid funds in the shop and borrowed several high-interest loans through his channels. It was not that he could not contact those above him to borrow money, but even his own backers absolutely could not match the transfer speed of loan sharks. This Miuke crystal was one of a kind. If he delayed too long and caused the other party to grow suspicious, that would be truly bad.
Once the credits were all transferred into the chip, Feng Xue pushed the small box over as well. The shopkeeper hurriedly opened the box and verified the goods repeatedly, his entire person so excited he almost fainted.
Feng Xue did not linger. After confirming the amount in the chip, he recharged it all into his golden finger, then turned and left.
Naturally, he had purchased this Miuke crystal from the golden finger’s shop, for a total of six thousand points. The money spent was exactly what he had earned from selling five pairs of cybernetic prostheses.
Yes, you read that right. Only six thousand points.
As said before, the actual output of this thing was not low. Whether in Da Yan or Gelian, the internal price was just an inflated figure; in reality, it was the wages the state paid to miners.
And this also led to the fact that, in Feng Xue’s system shop, which sold goods according to local prices, all sorts of controlled raw materials were the cheapest.
As for why he did not sell more when it was so cheap...
Because Feng Xue knew what mattered. For a small piece of crystal insufficient to build a mecha, a black-market merchant would choose to spend money on it, because he hoped you could sell more in the future. But if you sold twenty pieces in one go, then it would be hard to say whether what awaited you was twenty billion—or two hundred axemen.
Even if the other party truly kept their promise, the emergence of an unofficial six-star mecha would be an extremely explosive matter—explosive to the point that the authorities could directly blow Shengluotan to pieces.
Over three million in liquid funds was already enough for him to buy himself a full set of four-star cybernetic prostheses from the shop. If he had the blueprints, it would even be enough to put together a set of five-star ones. There was no need to be greedier. If he lacked money again in the future, he would not sell Miuke crystals again; at most, he would look for some other controlled minerals.
Thinking this, Feng Xue was in an excellent mood. He did not linger in the black market any longer, and turned to look for an elevator, intending to leave.
The elevator design in this black market was rather excellent. Even the same exit could lead to different entrances, and the reverse was the same. Together with his black cloak, there was basically no need to worry about being locked onto, to the point that the being-followed scenario Feng Xue had been waiting for actually failed to play out.
Since we’ve written this far, let’s briefly mention the selling price of cybernetic prostheses, excluding medical insurance markups and tariffs:
1-star: starting at 100. Manufacturing one means losing money on one; the prosthesis is cheaper than the materials, and that’s not even counting labor costs.
2-star: starting at 300. The profit does not even match the wear and tear on the assembly line. Factories basically do not make them, and those on the market are mostly handmade by small workshops.
3-star: low-end starts at 500, high-end can reach five figures. The most widely circulated cybernetic prostheses on the market, with mixed quality and numerous brands. Because the technology is relatively widespread, there are a large number of modified products on the market.
4-star: starting at 100,000. High-end consumer goods with relatively high market penetration. Military branches are widely equipped in the army, among mercenaries, senior enforcers, high-end security, and similar industries. There are also various professional versions subdivided according to different occupations. They count as production materials for high-end technical jobs, such as medical prostheses, engineering prostheses, and so on.
5-star: starting at one million, with no upper limit. Broadly divided into entertainment goods and military goods. Entertainment goods serve top-tier billionaires; they are powerful in performance and superior in technology, but at most can be considered toys. Military goods, on the other hand, are the other extreme. Only Da Yan and Gelian have the ability to mass-produce them, and they are the source of their main conventional combat power.
6-star: priceless. Each one is unique, a treasure of the prior civilization. Each one is enough to become an entirely new technology tree.
P.S. The above prices are for cybernetic prostheses. If converted to mecha, the price must be multiplied by 10 to 50 times. Although in theory, mecha technology is inferior to cybernetic prostheses of the same grade, mecha are enormous and consume far more resources.
Incidentally, Da Yan and Gelian can both mass-produce six-star mecha, but pilots are difficult to train.