Chapter 15

Surrounded by the "Commodity Sales Platform" developed around the "Super Universe Tournament" and the personal terminal "God of Combat Armor," the immense commercial value is enough to establish Prince Shar-Sago at the core of the "Pan-Civilization Commercial Consortium," a coalition of multiple powerful forces. According to the promotional materials from the system AI, Prince Shar-Sago even has a fixed seat in the "Supreme Heaven Council," which governs billions of galaxies.

As the only Earth user of the "God of Combat Armor" brand, Li Pu can be said to have the unique channel to upload various Earth materials. Two months ago, he tried to upload a "Praying Mantis Fist" book he bought from Xinhua Bookstore through the system scan to the skill trading platform. After the platform reviewed and rated it, they determined that this skill was of ordinary lower level, classified as a "mimetic combat technique textbook, shallow and lacking uniqueness." Referring to other similar materials, they suggested a selling price of one meteorite coin.

One meteorite coin is too little—after all, even if it sells, the platform will take half, meaning he would need to sell two to earn one. But with the spirit that even a small fly is still meat, Li Pu still used the right of every "God of Combat Armor" terminal user to try to set up a personal store on the skill trading platform.

However, the most basic personal store can only freely list one item at a time. Want to sell a few more? Not impossible, but you need to pay the system platform to buy virtual shelves! Want the system platform to help you with recommended ads and top placement? You also need to pay the system platform!

"Damn, these greedy alien capitalists!" Li Pu thought about scanning a copy of Marx's theory to upload, but it might not pass the review...

In fact, Li Pu's attempt at this interstellar business was too simplistic. After uploading the "Praying Mantis Fist," it was quickly lost in the vast ocean of countless similar skills. This type of theoretical textbook, in the skill trading platform that encompasses an unknown number of wisdoms, probably has at least a billion or ten billion. With the listing deadline approaching, it still stubbornly maintained zero sales.

A promotional martial arts book that costs a few dozen yuan at Xinhua Bookstore naturally wouldn't have any real secret transmissions. It would be strange if it could sell in the interstellar trading platform that encompasses the wisdom of countless civilizations.

"Still thinking too simply, making money is really hard," Li Pu couldn't help but sigh.

"Why not try other types of goods?" Chen Xian suddenly suggested, "In the 'Special Materials' section, you can sell non-combat materials, right?"

Speaking of which, when she first learned about the interstellar trading platform, she was so excited that for several days, she stuck to Li Pu during the day and wanted to crawl into his bed at night to study all night long. But at that time, she couldn't directly read the alien common language. Fortunately, these months of extracurricular study weren't in vain, and she basically mastered the grammar and some main vocabulary.

Unlike Li Pu, who was full of "powerful skills," Chen Xian was more interested in the "Special Materials" section of the trading platform. After Li Pu brought up the display interface, she flipped through some of the items in the "Special Materials" section. Besides a massive amount of "Star Hunter" hunting intelligence, there were also cultural and artistic products from different planets, and even some civilian-level technological materials and products (with fixed shipping) that the platform reviewed and allowed to be promoted to all races.

For example, the industrial manufacturing drawings and physical models of the "Curvature Drive Engine," described as "the best choice for most enlightenment-level civilizations to enter the expansion-level civilization"; and the "Nuclear Fusion Power Plant Structure Diagram," evaluated as "a classical energy device widely used before the invention of the multi-variant infinite engine, along with antimatter power plants and stellar energy collectors (Dyson Spheres)." There were also "Anti-Gravity Device Structure Diagrams," "Light Constraint Device Structure Diagrams (widely used in products like lightsabers)," "Force Field Shield Generators," "Carbon-Based Life Extension Gene Capsules," and a series of dazzling and countless technological materials and products.

These are just the civilian-level technologies that have been reviewed and determined to "not cause interstellar power imbalances." Each one is advanced technology that could make the Earth nations go crazy. However, these technological products are one more expensive than the other. Even the antimatter power plant (standard model for small and medium-sized spacecraft), evaluated as a classic technology of the previous generation, requires tens of thousands of silver meteorite coins, and the authorization price for the design drawings is even higher.

"In the eyes of advanced cosmic civilizations, all of Earth's modern technology bundled together might not be worth much more than that promotional version of the 'Praying Mantis Fist' book," Chen Xian analyzed. "So, the only things left on Earth that have a chance to sell and are easy to obtain in complete versions might be—artistic works."

Li Pu nodded, "Right, whether it's music, painting, novels, or poetry, these artistic products are easy to obtain in complete versions. Just play the music, scan the text..." He perked up and jumped off the sofa, "That's right! This can work!"

"I'll go get the CD player!" Chen Xian also happily ran to her mother's room, took out an Aiwa Walkman from the bedside, and a CD of her favorite album, "Grammy Cheers 1997."

However, after taking out the CD player, Chen Xian hesitated a bit, "Would there be copyright issues? After all, these are other people's songs."

"Hmm..." Li Pu pondered for a moment, "I checked the platform's rules. All artistic products that have not been registered with any entertainment company on any planet under the Supreme Heaven Council are considered 'pristine art,' and the discoverer—i.e., the first uploader—can profit from them as long as they cite the source."

"And the only one who can upload from Earth is probably me," Li Pu winked at Chen Xian, "You understand, right? You really like the Cat's Eye trio, don't you? Being an art thief is pretty cool, isn't it?"

"That's different! The Cat's Eye trio steals their father's paintings," Chen Xian, who has always been serious about comic plots, immediately corrected. But after a moment of hesitation, she cutely wrinkled her nose, "Forget it, Earth's laws probably don't have regulations against this kind of thing yet..."

The close childhood friends played around for a bit more. Chen Xian was a bit tired, and Li Pu said he was going downstairs to practice for a while—since he couldn't afford good skills, he could spend more time practicing.

This was Li Pu's habit, and Chen Xian didn't mind. "I'll continue reading my notes. Remember to come back early," the girl reminded, then took out a thick notebook written in a mix of alien and Chinese characters from the bookshelf, reading and writing with a pencil.

Li Pu's training ground wasn't far, just by the roadside next to a green belt outside the neighborhood. There were several old, thick trees lined up. Each tree trunk had old and new fist marks.

Li Pu first did a warm-up exercise, then walked to one of the largest, oldest trees with a trunk diameter of nearly half a meter. He touched the scarred and solid trunk, took a quick breath, and then punched.

—Unlike when he hit the little tiger, he naturally mobilized the full force of every muscle fiber!

The tree trunk made a dull sound, and the tough wood fibers were forcefully compressed by the punch, sinking nearly half an inch and squeezing out some sap. The half-meter-thick tree trunk swayed, and the tall tree crown rustled in the quiet night sky as if it were being blown by a strong wind.

If this punch had hit the little tiger's face, its neck bones would definitely not have been able to withstand it. The fists of this 14-year-old boy were already a lethal weapon.

Li Pu looked at his right fist. Such a swift and powerful punch only caused minor abrasions on the surface of his fist, with no damage to his bones, which were far more resilient than those of his peers.

"Three months ago, when I did this, my hand bones were all broken. That time was really painful..." He gripped his hands, moved his fingers, and then, in this state, slid along the row of tree trunks, punching! Sidestepping, punching! His speed increased, and in the moonlight, he looked like a shadow.

Simple, direct, and completely disregarding the possibility of injury. After about five minutes, the trunks of a dozen trees on this quiet roadside were indented with countless fist marks.

"Phew." Li Pu, who had thrown nearly a thousand punches at 75% of his "Ultimate Enhancement Mode," deeply exhaled and stopped this clearly somewhat brutal training.

He looked at his arms, which were red on the surface, with blood surging under the muscle fibers, each cell squeezed to unleash its potential. His already reinforced fists were covered in numerous bruises and visibly swollen.

If it were a regular boxer, such consequence-free training would almost certainly lead to a disability in the hands. But for Li Pu, he just lightly "hissed."

"Indeed, it still hurts a bit. But at least the bones didn't crack like before."

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Book Setting Term Explanations:

【Starforge Bank】: A cross-river super-scale interstellar bank under the Transdimensional Commercial Consortium, with a logo of a steel-mechanical planet. Initially, it was the native financial system of the silicon-based race called "Starforgers." At the beginning of the Third Cosmic Era, the great adventurer and super-rich Shar-Sago invested in Starforge Bank, gradually developing it into the first issuing bank of the universal currency recognized by the Supreme Heaven Council.

The basic currency units of Starforge Coins, from smallest to largest, are:

Shattered Meteorite Coins (shattered comet pattern): colloquially known as "shattered coins" or "half coins." Approximately equivalent to 50 cents on Earth. This is the smallest currency unit.

Meteorite Coins (flying comet pattern): colloquially known as "stone coins." Approximately equivalent to 1 yuan on Earth (but the actual value can vary greatly depending on the product).

Silver Meteorite Coins (planet pattern): colloquially known as "dirt balls." Approximately equivalent to 10 yuan on Earth.

Cluster Meteorite Coins (the number of planet patterns determines the value): colloquially known as "pile of dirt balls." From the lowest 2-star coins, 5-star coins, to the highest 10-star coins. That is, 2-star coins are equivalent to 20 yuan, and 10-star coins are equivalent to 100 yuan. This is the most common currency unit used in daily life by the various races under the Supreme Heaven Council.

Stellar Meteorite Coins (pattern of a star): colloquially known as "fire balls." One stellar meteorite coin is equivalent to 10 ten-star silver meteorite coins, or 1,000 yuan.

Galactic Meteorite Coins (pattern of a swirling galaxy): one galactic meteorite coin is worth about 10,000 yuan. This is generally a less commonly used unit for small transactions, but it is used as a commemorative currency issued by Starforge Bank.

In the financial systems of the interstellar worlds under the Supreme Heaven Council, virtual data unification has been largely completed. Starforge Galaxy has also introduced the face value of physical currency into the virtual system. However, as a tradition, Starforge Bank still maintains the issuance of physical currency. There are different versions of star coins, such as silver meteorite coins with the planet of a civilization's home world as the pattern, and on the side of the planet pattern, the famous representative figures or commemorative events of that civilization are also depicted. Therefore, the value of some commemorative physical star coins has far exceeded their actual face value.

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