Chapter 56

Putting away the identity card, Du Qian picked up the box containing the storage container, naturally, he couldn't give this thing to the Association. Du Qian prepared to sell it later. Although selling it would result in a loss of half the money, it was still ten yuan each, and that would be another 340 yuan in income, making him feel like he was getting rich.

"Sir, please wait a moment, our supervisor wants to talk to you."

"Talk? Alright, let's talk then." Du Qian's heart stirred, wondering if they were going to raise the price. This was the Association service area, and even if it was someone from the Association, they wouldn't ruin their reputation, so there was no safety issue.

Even if it wasn't safe, what did he have to fear? He was a member of the Flying Tiger Team, he had a gun, he was a martial cultivator, and he was extremely powerful.

Selling so many at once, would they raise the price or lower it? Damn it, if they dared to lower the price, he would fight them. It was agreed that each one would be ten yuan, not a cent less.

In the VIP reception room of the service area, Bian Jingchun looked at the spirit piece in the storage container in his hand, his expression serious. It wasn't until the waiter led Du Qian into the room that he looked up.

Du Qian was also observing the man in front of him, who was around forty years old, with mostly gray hair, looking somewhat old at first glance. However, upon closer inspection, it was clear that he wasn't actually that old.

"Sit down. You're Du Qian, right? Let me introduce myself. I'm Bian Jingchun, a board member and appraiser of the Association." He naturally wouldn't reveal his true identity; board member and appraiser were just titles for the public. His true identity was that of a Symbol Gatherer.

That's right, the highly revered and widely admired Symbol Gatherer.

Symbol Gatherers are mysterious and noble. That's just what outsiders think. As a Symbol Gatherer, he knew very well that Symbol Gatherers are also human, martial cultivators, and then Symbol Gatherers. Compared to ordinary people and ordinary martial cultivators, they only have a deeper understanding and control of energy attributes.

When energy transforms within the body, it naturally carries attributes, and these attributes are theoretically uncontrollable, which is the hardest part of becoming a Symbol Gatherer.

Yun, a term that is also quite fitting, is preferred by most Symbol Gatherers, as it is more vivid than energy attributes.

The first thing a Symbol Gatherer learns is: no Yun, no symbol.

No matter how standard your combat power is separated, no matter how meticulous you are in making it, if you can't understand Yun, it's not just a matter of producing defective items; making symbols is dangerous.

Yun is the understanding of energy, the balance of energy attributes, and the fusion and interweaving of different energy attributes. Why are there so many martial cultivators but so few Symbol Gatherers? The reason lies here: most people can't discern the existence of Yun in energy, and even if they feel it, they don't know how to balance and utilize it.

First, there must be a sense of Yun, then analytical and computational abilities, and finally creative ability.

The combat power requirements for Symbol Gatherers are not high; the worst Symbol Gatherers just need to meet the minimum standard of martial cultivators. Of course, the higher the combat power, the more helpful it is for making symbols. With the nourishment of spirit symbols, Symbol Gatherers' combat power is usually not too bad, but it's also not too good.

This is inevitable; Symbol Gatherers spend too much time studying Yun, plus a lot of analytical and computational work, hoping that one day they can create better spirit symbols.

Time is fair to everyone; if you spend more time here, you naturally have less time for other things. Having a spirit pool to absorb spirit energy autonomously doesn't mean you can quickly improve your combat power without effort.

The item in his hand was naturally not unfamiliar; spirit pieces were researched by predecessors long ago. Spirit pieces can only be used for low-level spirit symbols, and their effect is not significant, but the value lies in their ability to be mass-produced.

The production of spirit pieces is usually divided into three to four parts, and the final result varies greatly depending on the type of spirit symbol and the method of division.

More ingeniously, the production of spirit pieces cleverly avoids Yun, allowing ordinary martial cultivators to complete them, and then they are combined into spirit symbols by Symbol Gatherers.

The spirit piece in his hand was a component of a Star Ascension spirit symbol, a basic type of spirit symbol with a huge demand. Every martial cultivator needs Star Ascension spirit symbols, and the quantity required is very large.

The number of Symbol Gatherers is not high, and good Symbol Gatherers are even fewer. As a basic auxiliary spirit symbol, Star Ascension spirit symbols can be made by any Spirit Gatherer.

Of course, there are many nuances to Star Ascension spirit symbols; even many Symbol Gatherers can't explain their subtleties.

The spirit piece in his hand was of relatively poor quality, but when three different spirit pieces were combined, a Symbol Gatherer could easily create a Star Ascension spirit symbol. This not only saved a lot of time and reduced the waste of combat power but also freed Symbol Gatherers from this repetitive and meaningless labor.

There are many types of spirit pieces, such as Star Ascension, Spirit Pursuit, and Spirit Enhancement. They can all be divided into spirit pieces, completed by ordinary people, and then combined by Symbol Gatherers to form true spirit symbols.

Of course, this is not easy either; it just simplifies the task and reduces the workload of Symbol Gatherers. The quality of the final spirit symbols is usually average, and the most important thing is that the Yun is quite chaotic.

What does it matter? They are all basic spirit symbols with high demand, and as long as they are useful, it's fine.

These spirit symbols that can be divided are relatively simple, but to break them down to a level where ordinary people can complete them is not easy. Such Symbol Gatherers are all highly capable.

Different methods of division directly affect the difficulty of producing spirit pieces. This difficulty includes the amount of combat power required, the complexity of the production process, and the requirements for Yun.

The most important of these three aspects is the requirement for Yun. By breaking down the spirit symbols, the requirements for Yun are reduced, sometimes to the point where even those who don't understand Yun can produce them.

In fact, completely ignoring Yun is impossible; no Yun, no symbol. No matter how you break it down, it always involves increasing the complexity of the production process to reduce the need for understanding Yun, to a level that ordinary people can accept and Symbol Gatherers can combine.

Du Qian's spirit pieces were the first he had handled. It was said that he had sent one before, but the people in the service area, who were not all Symbol Gatherers, also didn't understand Yun. They could only judge the quality of the spirit pieces by their appearance and testing, and would accept them if they met the standards.

Today, he was lucky; he had just finished making a spirit symbol and came out to move around when he discovered Du Qian's spirit pieces. Normally, he wouldn't bother with a single spirit piece, but Du Qian's quantity was truly impressive.

Thirty-four spirit pieces at once, something that had never happened before. If there were records, this would definitely be the first, with no one able to compare.

With such a large quantity, he naturally wanted to take a look, and once he did, he couldn't stop. The same spirit piece looked completely different to ordinary people, even appraisers, compared to a Symbol Gatherer.

He immediately saw that this spirit piece used a completely different method of division, yet it fully met the Association's requirements.

A first-grade Star Ascension spirit symbol, the method of division, and the size were different, with the breakpoints specifically analyzed and calculated, allowing no room for error. Any mistake would result in a defective spirit piece and ultimately a failed spirit symbol.

Du Qian's spirit pieces met all the requirements, but the method of division was completely different. Most importantly, it simplified the production process, not just a little, but by dozens or even hundreds of times. After simplification, the requirements for Yun did not increase but slightly decreased.

Ordinary people wouldn't understand what this meant, but as a Symbol Gatherer, Bian Jingchun knew very well. To call it a groundbreaking invention might be an exaggeration, but the practical significance and economic benefits were enormous.

Such a person, he had to meet.

Du Qian's identity card had a high confidentiality level, fourth-grade citizen, member of the Flying Tiger Team, information that ordinary people couldn't access, only showing a series of confidential labels.

This didn't affect the Association; for citizens below the seventh grade, as long as they weren't from highly confidential units, he could access their information.

Clearly, Du Qian didn't belong to such a unit, so most of his information was visible to Bian Jingchun, with only a small part marked as confidential. This was enough to surprise Bian Jingchun; he couldn't see all of Du Qian's information, indicating a high confidentiality level.

"Hello, Mr. Bian, you're not going to lower the price, are you?"

As soon as Du Qian said this, he regretted it. All the way here, his mind was full of this, worrying that the Association would lower the price. If he had known, he wouldn't have brought so many spirit pieces to sell at once.

"Huh? Lower the price?" Bian Jingchun didn't understand; the two had different thoughts and were not on the same wavelength.

"Not lowering the price?"

"What?" Bian Jingchun blinked, still not understanding.

"Ten yuan each, not a cent less." Du Qian was angry; he was a member of the Flying Tiger Team, and even if the Association was powerful, they wouldn't dare to oppose the City Lord's Mansion.

"Are you talking about the spirit pieces?" Bian Jingchun held up the spirit piece in his hand, looking puzzled. Clearly, Symbol Gatherers were busier and more introverted than martial cultivators, with less social interaction and not much higher emotional intelligence than Du Qian.

But he was a Symbol Gatherer; even if his emotional intelligence was low, who would dare to treat him poorly? If this place didn't keep him, there were plenty of other places that would. Emotional intelligence wasn't very useful for Symbol Gatherers.

"Of course, what else would we talk about?" Du Qian looked surprised, wondering if Bian Jingchun wanted to discuss the construction of the Flying Tiger Team. Was that his business?

"Yes, we're talking about the spirit pieces."

"Then that's settled. I won't agree to a price drop." Du Qian was quite nervous but appeared extremely determined.

Apart from knowing they were called spirit pieces, Du Qian had no idea what they were. Apart from selling them to the Association, he didn't know who else to sell them to, so it was natural for him to be nervous.

"Alright, no price drop."

Du Qian was delighted and clapped his hands, saying, "That's good, I'm leaving." Once the talk was over, he naturally had to leave.

It must be said that a conversation between two people with low emotional intelligence would make anyone who understood it feel like they were going to collapse.