The Arcane Hand slowly opened the second metal box.
Inside lay a dark walnut cane.
The wooden surface of the cane was polished to a smooth finish.
A piece of transparent quartz was embedded in the top of the cane.
"A medium-risk containment object," the humanoid phantom introduced.
Elias leaned in to examine it closely.
"Its basic attack method is very simple."
"The shaft of this cane is extremely hard and can be used directly as a blunt weapon."
"The core ability lies in the fact that every time you hit a target entity with the bottom of the cane, regardless of whether it causes effective physical damage, it leaves behind an invisible Resonance Mark."
Elias narrowed his eyes slightly and listened intently.
"These marks can be stacked."
The phantom continued its explanation.
"You can confirm the number of marks stacked on the target by observing the quartz head."
Elias looked carefully.
Only then did he notice that the transparent quartz embedded at the top was not a naturally irregular shape.
It had been evenly ground into ten facets.
"A maximum of ten layers."
"When the target has Resonance Marks on them, you only need to strike the ground heavily with the bottom of the cane."
"This will instantly detonate all resonance stacks on the target."
"Every layer of the mark will cause a thunderous sonic boom."
"The higher the stacks, the more terrifying the intensity of the thunderous explosion when detonated."
Hearing this, Elias could not help but suck in a breath of cold air.
This was simply a top-tier weapon born for burst damage stacking!
"But this is a medium-risk containment object after all."
The phantom's tone shifted, carrying a hint of warning.
"While its power is great, its negative traits are also extremely troublesome."
"Every time the cane detonates the resonance, the quartz core inside will accumulate a type of negative spirituality called Soul Screams."
"It will back-pollute the holder of the cane."
"The more times you detonate the resonance on enemies, the more intense the Soul Screams accumulated in the quartz will become."
The phantom paused for a moment, seemingly giving Elias time to digest the information.
"When the Soul Screams take effect, they will cause your soul and brain to continuously hear the shrill shrieks of countless vengeful spirits."
"This is an extremely severe form of mental pollution."
"It will cause you to passively consume spirituality to resist it, and it will trigger intense dizziness, nausea, and even short-term sensory loss."
"More lethally."
"Once you are tainted by this screaming pollution, it will continuously attract nearby stray souls and evil spirits to attack you."
"And..."
"Every time the cane accumulates pollution, this screaming will forcibly take effect once."
"Even if you possess high-level purification spells like Spiritual Dispelling, it is impossible to use it indefinitely without restraint."
"With frequent purification and resistance, no one's spirituality would be able to handle it."
After listening to this long list of warnings, Elias stood in place with a blank expression.
Unable to handle it?
Coincidentally, soaking up some moonlight meant he actually could handle it.
Elias thought to himself secretly.
"Therefore, this also severely affects its market price," the phantom added.
"And the price?"
"2200 gold crowns," the phantom stated the figure.
This price was actually alright.
It was just that the side effects were indeed a bit harder to control than the previous one.
"This price is actually quite reasonable," Old Ed commented at the right time in his mind.
"The lethality of this cane is definitely worth the price."
"However, you should still look around. It never hurts to compare prices."
Elias agreed deeply and then tilted his chin, letting the phantom continue the display.
"Alright, next item."
With a wave of the phantom's hand, the Arcane Hand brought over the third box.
"The Gargoyle's Cloak, a low-risk containment object."
Inside the box was a dusty, extremely rough-textured heavy cloak that felt like a weathered rock surface.
"Putting it on will allow your skin to gradually petrify within one minute," the phantom introduced.
"After petrification, your defense will be greatly improved, easily resisting conventional flintlock bullets and sword slashes."
"At the same time, you can climb vertical walls or even ceilings like a real gargoyle."
"If it is at night and you remain still, even high-level transcendents will mistake you for an ordinary stone statue. Its concealment is extremely strong."
It sounded like a top-tier item for infiltration and defense.
"Tell me about the negative traits," Elias urged.
"The negative traits are extremely dangerous."
"The time you spend wearing it must never exceed 30 minutes."
"Once you exceed this critical point, your internal organs, blood, and even your soul will be completely petrified."
"You will truly become a lifeless stone statue."
"The only way to lift this permanent petrification is for another person to drip fresh blood onto your forehead."
"If you time out in the middle of nowhere and no one comes to save you..."
"You will stand there forever, serving as a statue for birds to defecate on."
Elias shook his head inwardly after hearing this.
"1600 gold crowns," the phantom quoted the price.
"Not buying it."
Elias's face was written with refusal.
He had not reached the point where he wanted to stop being human.
Besides, his Moonlight Veil was quite useful at night.
Seeing Elias's decisive refusal, the phantom, which had remained polite, seemed unable to figure out what this customer was thinking.
The illusory face made of white light frowned.
"Still too expensive?"
The phantom waved again.
A slightly worn wooden box flew over.
"Wind-Chaser Boots, a low-risk containment object."
Inside the box was a pair of old-fashioned leather boots with edges that were even a bit frayed.
"They can greatly increase your absolute speed when running."
"The effect is very simple and crude. It is just fast."
"However, its negative traits are not simple at all."
The phantom looked into Elias's eyes.
"These boots have extremely severe residual inertia."
"When you want to stop during a high-speed run, you must, and definitely will, run three extra steps before you can completely brake."
"This is forced inertia."
The phantom emphasized its tone.
"Even if there is a hard wall or a cliff directly in front of you."
"You must uncontrollably finish those last three steps and then crash to your death or fall to your death."
"Furthermore, every time the acceleration effect is triggered, it will continuously consume a small amount of your spirituality."
The phantom sighed like a salesman pushing a slow-selling product.
"Therefore, it is quite useless for the vast majority of transcendents."
"If you want them, I can make the decision to sell them to you extremely cheaply."
"500 gold crowns, how about it?"
Elias stood in place, staring at the boots, still without a reaction.
The entire hall fell into a dead silence.
After a full minute, the humanoid phantom finally could not hold it in anymore.
"My friend."
There was a hint of helplessness in the phantom's voice.
"You have looked at so much. Are you going to buy anything or not?"
Elias looked up slightly.
At this moment, he felt a bit like a monkey picking weapons in the Dragon Palace of the East Sea.
This one was no good, and that one did not fit his hand.
But the biggest difference between him and the monkey was—
If the monkey was unhappy, he could just rob the place directly.
But he did not have that level of skill.
If he dared to even think about robbery here, the two constructs at the door with soaring spirituality would definitely beat the crap out of him within three seconds.
After careful consideration, Elias's gaze became determined.
He took a deep breath and finally bit the bullet to make a decision.
"The Roaring Cane and these Wind-Chaser Boots."
2200 plus 500.
A total of 2700 gold crowns.
As for those extremely disgusting negative traits?
Elias already had a plan for the Soul Screams and mental pollution brought by the Roaring Cane.
He had endured the siren's song before.
Although he did not know if he could completely offset the influence of this pollution, if the impact was truly too large, at worst, he would only detonate two or three resonance stacks at a time and use it cautiously.
Furthermore, he had calculated carefully that if the Soul Screams were a type of pollution, then half a month later, when the mutated elemental revolver recovered from its silent state, he could try to feed this pollution to the revolver to use as ammunition for attacking enemies!
The Dream Horse had made it very clear that the polluted elemental revolver could absorb pollution to cause others to undergo aberrations.
Then, was there a possibility... that if the type of pollution it absorbed was different, the pollution effect it fired would also depend on the pollution absorbed?
If that were the case, he would be making a steady profit!
As for the Wind-Chaser Boots, the reason Elias bought them was entirely because of the strong obsession he had yesterday when he could not even catch up to Aaron.
He felt that his current mobility was simply too poor.
Without speed, he would not even have the qualification to escape when encountering monsters he could not defeat.
The spirituality consumed by acceleration might be a problem for others, but for him, it was not much of an issue.
As for the lethal braking problem of the extra three steps? As long as he predicted the braking distance in advance, these boots could greatly improve his survival rate.
"Very well, sir. Your taste is quite unique."
Seeing that Elias was finally paying, the phantom immediately restored its polite attitude.
It briskly collected the large bearer check Elias handed over.
After buying these two major pieces of equipment, Elias only had 500 gold crowns left in his hand.
Next, he walked to the materials section, the potions section, and the throwables section.
With these last few hundred gold crowns, he purchased a small batch of pure silver ammo with special enchantments, various basic throwables, spirit-conducting materials for making charms, and a few bottles of special potions.
Then, carrying a temporary storage box on his back, he walked out of the main gate of the Hand of Hrafn.
This storage box did not look large on the outside, but it had its own internal space, much like the storage rings Elias was most familiar with.
However, this was only for temporary storage.
The time limit was one day.
Once the time was up, the items inside would drop all over the ground like loot from a fallen boss.
"Damn, 3000 gold crowns!"
Elias looked back at the elegant gate, feeling a pang of heartache over the money.
"It's all gone just like that!"
"I can't even afford equipment to store my things!"
"These prices are simply ridiculously high. Any piece of junk easily costs several thousand gold crowns."
"Who the hell is actually making all these gold crowns?"
"The shop owners."
"..."
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