Chaos Carrier With A Broken Talent-Chapter 32: Hollow Orb
Using a magnifying glass with multiple lenses, Louis carefully examined the Energy Core. He held the white crystal with tweezers as if it were a precious gem, while the green flame inside actively swirled.
Ethan and Menir watched from the sidelines. Usually, Louis smiled slyly, but now his face was serious.
Since he was both a merchant and a Fabricator, he viewed the Energy Core from both a sales perspective and from the angle of whether he could utilize it to create Products.
The final result would determine the price Louis would offer for the Energy Core. This was one of the reasons why very valuable items were brought to people like him.
Since Louis evaluated goods from two sides, his price was usually higher than that of a simple merchant who bought everything in sight. However, his standards were also much higher.
Basically, people like Louis would offer more for valuable goods than ordinary merchants, but much less for poor quality items, or refuse to buy them at all.
After a while, Louis nodded deeply as he took off his glasses and put his magnifying glass aside.
"Good. This is a very good Energy Core. The Borderline Monster you killed would have reached the next stage in the coming days. The element is not very rare, any Fabricator has plenty of them, but it is quite useful because of its properties."
Ethan waved his hand. "So, how much are you willing to offer for it?"
Louis carefully placed the crystal on the cloth.
"Hmm, 450 claw coins, or 500 if you sell it to me right now. I wouldn’t want another Fabricator to take this core for themselves."
Ethan and Menir were in a difficult situation. Although Louis treated them politely, he was an experienced trader and could easily impose unfavorable terms on two novices.
However, for both Ethan and Menir, the amount Louis had offered was too good to turn down.
"What do you say?"
Louis raised his chin.
"Alright, we agree."
"Good." Louis went to the shelf behind him. "Do you prefer coins or banknotes? Any merchant or bank at the Exalted Claws will accept banknotes with my signature and energy print."
Coins weren’t suitable for everyone, as they were difficult to carry around in large quantities. Banknotes were a different matter, light and easy to carry, but there was a risk that they would become invalid if the person who issued them ran into trouble with the Exalted Claws.
"Coins," Ethan said firmly.
He wasn’t worried that Louis’s banknotes would become invalid anytime soon. He just wanted to see a large amount of coins and feel what it was like to have money, real, physical money, at least once in his life.
"Sure."
Tap.
Louis took out the pouch. Ethan approached, and Louis half-opened it. Inside were 50 white metal coins, glinting slightly in the lamplight.
Ethan took one coin and examined it closely. On one side was a narrow eye with a vertical pupil — the emblem of Orsire City. On the other side were three claws — the Exalted Claws emblem.
Thus, all coins at the Exalted Claws had the same mark on the back, but the mark on the front was different and unique to each of the four major cities. They had the same value throughout the Exalted Claws, with no differences.
Between the edge and the center of the coin was a single blue ring. This meant that one such coin was worth ten without a ring. That is why Louis gave them 50 coins instead of 500, because 50 one-ring coins were equal to 500 zero-ring coins.
Creating fake claw coins was very difficult because they were not made only of metal. Each claw coin contained a certain amount of energy embedded in it when it was created at the mint.
The more rings there were on a coin, the higher not only its value but also its energy volume.
This did not mean that if a certain item cost 100 coins, the amount of energy in the item and the coins would be the same. No, that would be an extremely inefficient solution on the part of the Exalted Claws, because then the energy reserves would simply lie in thousands of coins as useless cargo.
The presence of energy in coins was necessary to give them value, uniqueness, divide them into ranks, and seriously complicate the creation of counterfeits.
Louis smiled. "Are you satisfied with everything?"
"Yeah, now, what about the element? We need to strengthen our elements to connect with the fragments."
In response, Louis hid the Energy Core, headed for the passageway, and gestured for them to follow him.
Soon they found themselves in a warehouse, one of several just behind Louis’s shop.
Numerous shelves divided into compartments surrounded them as Ethan and Menir looked around with astonished eyes.
In each cell was a glass orb with fires of different colors swirling inside. It was somewhat similar to the green flame in the Energy Core of the Voracious Plant, but there was no crystal full of energy, only the element itself.
"What is this?" Ethan asked, confused. He never saw anything like it before.
Louis waved his hand.
"These are called the Hollow Orbs. Usually, the outer shell is made of crystal or glass, like mine. Inside are samples of various elements.
"Some are more popular."
Louis pointed to a shelf with flaming orbs.
"Some are rarer."
He directed his gaze toward the lightning orbs.
"Naturally, the rarer Hollow Orbs are more expensive. However, their price is not very high since they are mainly used by Fabricators. There is no energy in the Hollow Orbs, only elements, so they are not very useful in progression, but they are suitable for creating the Products or for cases like yours to strengthen the connection."
Ethan nodded with interest, examining the various elements. He was familiar with only a small fraction of them, having heard of most, but there were quite a few he knew nothing about.
"So... What are you offering us?" Menir asked.
Louis folded his arms behind his back.
"Choose the Hollow Orbs with the elements you need, and I’ll tell you how much it will cost. It’s simple."
They set off in search, when Ethan stopped in front of an orb in the corner.
His gaze fell on the dark flame smoldering calmly inside, drawing him in like something familiar.
