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Translator: Raikov
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
Inside the Arcane Glade, Lu Ye got up and once again approached the Divine Opportunity Column. He connected his consciousness with the Vault of Providence, but this time he wasn’t there to buy anything.
Instead, he wanted to upgrade his Inviolable Saber.
The Inviolable Saber was currently a Middle Grade Spirit Artifact with eighteen enchantments. It had been upgraded once a few months ago from Low Grade to Middle Grade.
However, Lu Ye made rapid advancements recently in his cultivation. In less than five months since entering the Cloud River Battlefield, he had reached the Fourth Order Cloud River Realm.
Now, he had enough qualifications to wield a higher grade Spirit Artifact.
Normally, cultivators in the Spirit Creek Realm used Low Grade Spirit Artifacts, which could be upgraded to Middle Grade upon arriving in the Cloud River Realm. Around the Fifth Order Cloud River Realm, they could switch to High Grade Spirit Artifacts. As for the Top Grade Spirit Artifacts, those were typically used by Real Lake Realm cultivators, and beyond that were Spell Artifacts.
Although Lu Ye’s cultivation was one order below the Fifth Order, it wouldn’t pose much of a problem.
Since he had nothing else to do recently and didn’t need to engage in any fights, he decided to take advantage of his free time to upgrade his Inviolable Saber so he wouldn’t have to bother with it later.
Inside the Vault of Providence, Lu Ye muttered softly under his breath, “Request, upgrade Spirit Artifact!”
He had done this in the past, so he was familiar with the process.
As soon as the words left his mouth, his vision warped, and he appeared in a small and empty room with only a counter inside.
So, Lu Ye began his wait there.
Even if he wanted to put in a request to have his Spirit Artifact upgraded, there also had to be a free artificer to take his request. Then, the two of them could negotiate the price, set the specifications and time frame, and if no artificers accepted his request then, he would just continue to wait.
For a cultivator from Jiu Zhou, this was undoubtedly a convenient process. There was no need to spend any effort in hunting down an artificer himself. He could just do it through the Vault of Providence.
And, it was not limited to just upgrading Spirit Artifacts. He could commission a new one, or even ask to have Spirit Pills and such refined.
So, as long as one had skills in a specialized profession, earning Contribution Points wasn’t actually that difficult. Cultivators specialized in refining and alchemy didn’t even need to engage in battles, they could simply accept various commissions in the Vault of Providence and earn enough Contribution Points to meet their own cultivation needs.
There were quite a few artificers taking on such commissions in the Vault of Providence. Lu Ye only had to wait a moment before the space in front of him distorted, and a figure appeared.
When he looked up, Lu Ye saw a young woman who appeared to be in her thirties. Her skin was fair, and she had a beautiful face. She was dressed in a fitted floral dress that accentuated her graceful curves.
Lu Ye was surprised.
During these types of transactions within the Vault of Providence, a natural disguise and protection mechanism was provided by the Heavens that shrouded the identities and appearances of both parties. Each side was enveloped in a mist that made it impossible for both trading parties to discern each other’s identities and even their genders.
After all, the two parties involved in such transactions may come from different factions, so disguising their identities and appearances could reduce many unnecessary troubles.
However, since Lu Ye received the Gift of Providence, this disguise had lost its effect on him. He seemed to possess some useless privileges as he could see the artificer he was trading with clearly without any mist enveloping them.
Lu Ye’s surprise was at the fact that the artificer who came this time was the same woman as last time!
This seemed far too coincidental.
His Inviolable Saber had been upgraded from Low Grade to Middle Grade by her last time, and Lu Ye was quite satisfied with the result. Since it was her again this time, there shouldn’t be any issues.
Remaining calm, Lu Ye placed his Inviolable Saber on the counter in front of him.
When the woman picked it up, she furrowed her brows. In a somewhat old voice, she expressed her dissatisfaction, “Just a mere Middle Grade Spirit Artifact…”
Last time, it was, “Just a mere Low Grade…”
Apparently, the grade of the Spirit Artifact was too low to offer her much of a profit.
However, unlike last time, the woman didn’t finish her sentence. Instead, she seemed to have discovered something as she turned the Inviolable Saber around and glanced at it, her expression slightly changing.
The handle of the Inviolable Saber used to be inscribed with only one word, “Inviolable”, but since the last upgrade by this woman, a feather symbol had been added.
It didn’t affect the functionality, and Lu Ye knew that some artificers liked to leave special marks on their works to prove that it was theirs. The feather symbol was undoubtedly the special mark left by this woman.
Now, she saw her own mark.
Surprised, she looked up and glanced at Lu Ye, seemingly not expecting such a coincidence. The Spirit Artifact that she had once upgraded had appeared before her again.
Thinking back, she recalled the event from a few months ago.
After all, not many people were willing to pay a hefty price to upgrade a Low Grade Spirit Artifact. Most cultivators would simply exchange them, which wouldn’t cost that many Contributions anyway.
[It’s only been a few months, yet he needs another upgrade already? How is this guy cultivating so fast?] The woman couldn’t help but wonder to herself.
Even though she couldn’t see Lu Ye’s face clearly, she had already inferred a few things from the Inviolable in her hand.
“Upgraded to High Grade?” the woman asked in that aged voice. If one were to judge solely based on her voice, they would think she was an elderly person. In reality, however, she was a charming woman in her prime.
“Yes.”
“What are your requirements?”
“The shape and length remains the same, 27 enchantments, make sure it’s sturdy enough and double the weight.”
“All right. Name your price.”
Lu Ye pondered for a moment. The last time, it cost him 2,000 Contribution Points to upgrade the Inviolable Saber from Low Grade to Middle Grade. Now that he was upgrading from Middle Grade to High Grade, it would surely cost more than before.
After some consideration, he made his offer, “5,000 Contribution Points.”
The woman raised an eyebrow and a smile appeared on her lips. Clearly, she was satisfied with the price, but mainly, she did not expect that a young cultivator from the Cloud River Realm like Lu Ye would be so generous.
But rather than accept the offer, she said, “It’ll be 8,000 Contribution Points at the very least. Upgrading from Middle Grade to High Grade requires a significant amount of materials, all of which I’ll have to purchase myself.”
Lu Ye watched her. If he didn’t have the privilege bestowed upon him by the Heavens that allowed him to see her expression, he would have thought she made a reasonable argument. However, now that he had seen the change in her emotions, it was not hard for Lu Ye to realize that he had offered too much at 5,000 Contribution Points.
This woman seemed to be taking him for a fool.
Upon careful consideration, Lu Ye understood that while he earned Contribution Points easily, any other cultivator from the Cloud River Realm would have to think twice before spending thousands of Contribution Points.
“Forget it, then. I don’t have that many Contribution Points.”
While saying so, Lu Ye made to take back the Inviolable.
“It’s not like it’s non-negotiable,” the woman interrupted him in a hurry.
“4,000 Contribution Points?”
“What?” The woman’s brow twitched.
“I’m afraid I just realized 4,000 are all the Contribution Points I have left.”
“You little brat, are you messing with me?” Her expression sank. “Final offer, 5,000 Contribution Points, you can retrieve your blade in 3 days. If you agree, then sign the Sacred Pact!”
“Hm… Fine!” Lu Ye answered with some reluctance.
He made a mental note to himself that he would let others name their price the next time he decided to upgrade the Inviolable, then he could gradually negotiate for a good price based on their reactions.
The woman promptly brought out the Sacred Pact, listed down the terms, and after Lu Ye checked and confirmed them, both parties signed it.
“Three days!” the woman said before swiftly disappearing.
Lu Ye lingered in the Vault of Providence for a while longer and chanced upon a few Flames of Earthen Spirits out of stock previously and immediately purchased them with Contribution Points.
It seemed that his earlier speculation was correct. The items in the Vault of Providence had a source. He had already bought all the Flames of Earthen Spirits before, but a few more had appeared today. There was no doubt that someone was collecting them from somewhere and selling them to the Vault of Providence.
It seemed that he would have to visit the vault from time to time in the future. Who knows, he might find something valuable.
Now that there was a Divine Opportunity Column in the Arcane Glade, it wouldn’t take much effort to do so.
After his consciousness left the Vault of Providence, Lu Ye turned around and his eyebrow was raised.
A large group of Wolf Mutants were standing quietly behind him, their wolf eyes focused on him, with the tallest wolf, the pack leader, standing ten meters in front of him.
Though Lu Ye had become acquainted with some of the Wolf Mutants during this period, most of them ignored him, but that wasn’t limited to just him. The Wolf Mutants never showed any signs of affection towards anyone other than Ju Jia.
Especially the pack leader, who was the most prideful of them. Usually, it wouldn’t even spare a glance to Lu Ye and the others.
However, it was waiting here today, and it even brought the entire pack with it.
Next to the pack leader was the Wolf Mutant that received the Sharp Edge Tattoo. It was undoubtedly an honor for it to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the pack leader, something which it didn’t have the privilege of doing before.
And, it seemed to appear somewhat smug with traces of fresh blood still remaining at the corner of its mouth.
It was clear that it had won a fight against its companions!
Lu Ye immediately understood what was happening.
“You also want to have that special ability?”
The pack leader slightly lowered its head, and it was clear what it was trying to express.
With just a simple Sharp Edge Glyph, a Wolf Mutant’s bite could be enhanced by at least thirty to forty percent. This improvement was naturally tempting to all the other Wolf Mutants.
That was also the reason why the leader had brought the pack here to wait for Lu Ye.
Lu Ye found this situation unexpected. He had originally planned to find a few other Wolf Mutants he was familiar with and continue practicing with them.
Now, he had saved himself a lot of trouble. They had come to him themselves, and the effect would naturally be different than if he had approached them himself.
There were over a hundred members in the wolf pack, and if Lu Ye could Tattoo each Wolf Mutant, he could accumulate even more experience and insights, which he would be happy to have.
After pondering for a moment, he took out the Mutant Core of a Spirit Beast from his Storage Sphere and presented it to the pack alpha. “Trade for it with this!”
The wolf pack would go out hunting every few days, bringing back fresh meat and occasionally some Mutant Cores. However, the pack would consume the Mutant Cores themselves.
Amber wasn’t the only one who loved Mutant Cores. All Spirit Beasts enjoyed devouring the Mutant Cores of other Spirit Beasts as it accelerated their growth, especially when the Mutant Cores matched their own elemental affinity. The benefits they could gain were significant.
While Lu Ye could provide the Wolf Mutants with Tattoos for free, it would be even better if he could benefit from this opportunity. After all, he had spent Contribution Points to acquire the materials from the Vault of Providence, and it also took time and effort to Tattoo the Glyphs.
