Chapter 105: The Level-Up Gift

Chapter 105: Chapter 105: The Level-Up Gift

Liam slept soundly in the armchair beside the hibernation pod, lazily opening his eyes only when late afternoon arrived.

His sleep was so deep that it was completely dreamless because the pheromones of the 2S-grade Alpha enveloped him at close range. When he woke up, not only were his spirits refreshed, but even the mild swelling in his ankles from a few days ago had visibly subsided, leaving his body feeling extraordinarily light, comfortable.

Liam moved his fingers slightly, discovering his little finger was still hooked tightly by the large hand of the man inside the pod. He felt caught between laughing and crying, using his other hand to pry each of Noah’s fingers loose before pulling the edge of the thin blanket back up across Noah’s chest, only then stretching his shoulders as he stood up.

Liam was just about to turn around to head up to the ground floor to find something to line his stomach when the Sunflower and Light of Time smart watches on his wrist simultaneously rang out with a rapid series of "Ting ting" chimes.

Sunflower jumped out of the screen, planted both hands on her hips, then excitedly reported:

[Master! The financial system side of planet Sirius has just completed reconciling the revenue for the official ticket sales of the first and second quarters! Counting the revenue from hotel services, the hot mineral mud bath area, the eco-culinary restaurant chain, and the recreational fishing zone, the net profit share transferred to your personal account is 185 billion silver stars!

In addition, the bamboo fiber and handmade wool fashion brand of Sister Isabella just launched its spring collection this morning, selling out across the entire Galaxy after only half an hour of opening sales; she just transferred 40 billion in technology dividends over to you! Adding on the money from selling the rerun screening rights for the film The Love Song on the Rooftop across three neighboring star systems that Brother Benjamin just sent over...]

Liam opened the account balance summary panel to take a look.

The idle funds belonging entirely to him personally at this moment had reached the milestone of 328 billion silver stars after deducting all the previous infrastructure investment expenses, the personnel payroll fund, and the capital retained for the revolving expansion of the Cygnus farm!

Over 300 billion silver stars!

That meant it was more than enough to fill the 30% energy needed to upgrade the Cross-World Trading Hall System from level 1 in a single leap straight up to level 3!

Liam took a deep breath, his heart pounding wildly. He looked around the underground room, seeing Theodore upstairs studying medical charts while the man inside the hibernation pod was still sleeping soundly with shut eyes, so he plopped back down into the armchair, closing his eyes to enter straight into the soul space.

"Nirvana! Come out here quickly! It is time to go spend money!"

The blue-furred cat lying with its belly exposed atop a cloud of data heard the call, springing up like a coil, its two eyes shining as bright as headlights:

"Host! Have you gathered the full 300 billion already?!"

"328 billion, with a full 28 billion left over as pocket change for tea!" Liam excitedly waved his hand upward: "Open the energy deposit panel for me! Today I will show you what it looks like when a tycoon throws money around to smash through levels!"

Nirvana let out an excited meow, its claws swiping swiftly through the air. The system control panel appeared in front of Liam with the energy bar currently resting at 25% (Level 1).

Liam entered the figure of 300 billion silver stars into the energy conversion box without the slightest hesitation, then pressed the [Confirm] button.

[Ting! Deducted 300,000,000,000 silver stars from the host’s account! Proceeding with energy conversion... 26%... 35%... 40%...]

[Ting! Energy reached the 40% milestone, the Cross-World Trading Hall has officially upgraded to Level 2! Unlocked the list of items with low energy fluctuation, unlocked the authority to browse stalls of the equivalent level!]

The progress bar did not stop there, continuing to shoot rapidly forward amidst a dazzling blue light.

[41%... 48%... 55%!]

[Ting! Energy reached the 55% milestone, the Cross-World Trading Hall has officially upgraded to Level 3! Unlocked the list of B-grade items with mid-grade energy, unlocked the Wholesale function (maximum 10,000 products/order, 2 orders/month)!]

The blank white expanse around Liam suddenly trembled slightly. The ground beneath his feet began to condense from an initially formless space into a glossy marble floor carved with ancient patterns, while all around him rose rows of display shelves made of glazed light stretching as far as the eye could see and a shimmering miniature starry sky dome high above his head.

The blue cat Nirvana itself also tumbled a full circle amidst the stream of light; its fur that was already smooth now grew even thicker and glossier, with a tuft of golden-yellow fur appearing on the tip of its tail, looking exceedingly regal.

However, what caused both the human and the cat to freeze in place was the rapid series of notification sounds ringing out right afterward:

[Ting! Detected Nirvana Stall performing a consecutive level-jumping operation from Level 1 to Level 3 within a single energy deposit! Breaking the level-up record of the newbie zone over the past 500 years!]

[The system is proceeding to award a special prize: Level-Jump Gift Box x1! Expanded system storage bag capacity by 10 times! Reduced transaction fees by 20% for the next 50 exchange turns!]

A chest of purple light with a sparkling gold border fell from high above, landing neatly in front of Liam.

Liam widened his eyes, turning to look at Nirvana whose jaw had dropped so wide that even the virtual dried fish fell to the floor, slapping his own thigh with a loud smack in satisfaction:

"See that! I told you that saving up money to smash through multiple levels in one go would definitely yield a hidden reward! Come on, get over here, open your eyes wide to see just how supreme the Koi carp luck of your host is!"

Nirvana hurriedly picked up the dried fish to stuff into its pocket, trotting over to squat beside the chest, its two forepaws pressed together as it muttered: "May the Master God bless us, so long as it does not turn out to be another embroidery or sewing course, anything will do..."

Liam snorted a laugh, extending a finger to touch the lid of the purple chest.

"Boom!"

Fireworks of light burst open brilliantly; two glowing items hovered into view in mid-air accompanied by the system’s introduction:

[Congratulations to Nirvana Stall on receiving the level-jump reward items: 1. "Pure Morning Dew Collection Vase" (B+-grade special item); 2. "Cross-Level Purchase Privilege Card" x1 (Allows the host to exchange for 1 arbitrary item belonging to a stall one level higher than the current level)!]

Liam and Nirvana stared fixedly at the two items in front of them, the breath of both seeming to stop for three full seconds.

"A... A cross-level purchase card?!" Nirvana’s voice lost its pitch completely from excitement as it bounced up and down on Liam’s shoulder: "Host! It is a card to jump levels up to a Level 4 stall! Level 4 stalls have the Child-Nurturing Elixir from a cultivation world that can nourish innate foundations and completely eliminate the baby’s 3% risk of genetic defects! We do not need to wait to gather the full 150 billion anymore, we can trade for it right now!"

Liam was overjoyed beyond measure as well. The constant worry weighing on his heart throughout the past several months regarding the little one’s 3% probability of risk was finally resolved thoroughly at this very moment!

He hurriedly picked up the sparkling platinum card, then picked up the palm-sized emerald-green jade vase beside it to read the description.

[Pure Morning Dew Collection Vase: Capable of automatically collecting and condensing essence from plant respiration and pheromones within a 10-meter radius every day, forming 10 drops of Pure Spiritual Dew. Spiritual Dew has the effect of mild marrow cleansing, soothing mental power riots, and increasing the recovery speed of a damaged mental sea by 5 times.]

Liam was completely stunned upon finishing reading the explanatory note for the jade vase.

Increasing the recovery speed of the mental sea by 5 times, while even automatically condensing from plant respiration and pheromones?!

If this vase were placed on planet Cygnus or Sirius, set right beside Noah’s hibernation pod and combined with fresh Grass Worm soup every day, would it not take only another month or two before that "pheromone generator" could open his eyes to wake up completely, while Daniel’s eldest brother Ethan Mason would also have the chance to restore his mental power rather than remaining a cripple for life?!

"Nirvana..." Liam swallowed his saliva, exclaiming from the bottom of his heart: "Sure enough, in this world there is nothing more satisfying than the feeling of spending money in the right place!"

Afterward he spoke again: "Wait, right now I already have a mobile pheromone generator, so why would I need the Child-Nurturing Elixir anymore? With the Grass Worms and that Alpha, the baby’s genetic defect rate has dropped from 3% down to 0.5%; moreover, the level 3 stalls already have products supporting the treatment of genetic defects, so what would I still buy the Child-Nurturing Elixir for?"

Nirvana twitched its ears: "That is true... Ah! Then wait until reaching level 4 to use it; we still have a 5S mineral stone, using it to trade in advance for a life-saving item in a 5S stall works too!"

Liam nodded, putting the Cross-Level Purchase Privilege Card away.

Liam took advantage of the Level 2 and Level 3 stall lists having just unlocked, using all ten exchange turns for the day right away to trade in advance for a box of three tubes of "Gene-Defect Restoration Fluid (B+-grade)" from a Level 3 Biomedical stall, simultaneously gathering a large batch of fish fry, shrimp fry already carrying a trace of spiritual energy from a low-level world, along with a whole series of rare spices such as black cardamom, star anise, cassia twigs, golden-flower glutinous rice seeds, red beans, and especially... ten smart multi-function electric rice cookers that had been automatically converted by the system to crystal-energy ports!

His days of having to cook rice in bamboo tubes or watch the heat with a super-pressure cooker had finally come to an end!