Supreme Devil Lord: I Can Refine All Energy-Chapter 50: The Cheat To Become Rich

After Eric left, Riya and Elena also returned to their rooms.

Sitting on the bed in her room, Elena was lost in her thoughts.

Ever since Eric was 14 years old, she had noticed that he seemed to have some other feelings for her apart from the familial feelings, even though he tried hard to hide them.

She ignored it, thinking it was just a phase and would soon pass.

Unfortunately, although as he grew older, he learned to better mask his feelings, they were still there, and she didn’t know what to do about it. So, she chose to act as though she didn’t notice anything.

Today, however, he had all but confirmed that he saw her more than a family member—he saw her as a woman.

Sigh!

She sighed and lay back on the bed and muttered, "It would have been better if he just liked Riya. Why did he have to have feelings for me too?"

She knew both Riya and Eric liked each other more than siblings do, but she was never worried about it, nor did she try to stop them from developing feelings for each other because she knew they weren’t related, and when they found out about it, they could just get together and marry.

Since they grew up together and cared a lot for each other, she wouldn’t have to worry whether they would mistreat each other like she would have to worry if they married someone else.

"This is too messed up." She mumbled, putting a hand over her eyes.

...

In her room, Riya was giggling happily, hugging the pillow between her hands and legs. No one would believe she was the same girl who had been crying so hard and was so anxious just a while ago.

After Eric told her he wouldn’t leave them, all her fear and anxiety disappeared, and the news that he wasn’t her blood brother that was weighing on her heart became the source of her happiness.

"Now I can marry him without anyone saying anything. Hehe." She giggled, her face flushing an enchanting shade of red as she imagined being his wife and taking care of him.

"He looked so good when he said he would protect and take care of us for life." She muttered, a dreamy look in her eyes.

She then suddenly blushed and pouted, "Hmph! He took advantage of me, making me sit on his lap."

...

As Elena was lost in her thoughts and Riya was rolling in her bed like a lovestruck girl, Eric had ordered the system to refine all the spirit stone powder.

A moment after he agreed to the system deducting the refinement cost, the white halo from his palm covered the bag, and a moment later...

[It’s done, host.]

Eric pulled his hand back and was about to check how much refined energy he gained when the system screen rapidly flickered.

[Congratulations, host, for reaching the milestone of gathering 100 units of refined energy!]

[Congratulations, host! You have fulfilled the requirement of unlocking the system’s trading function—The Shop.]

[Congratulations, host! You have unlocked the system shop.]

Eric calmly dismissed the notifications and opened his status screen.

[Refined Energy: 45—>124]

Seeing his hard-earned refined energy was still there, he sighed in relief.

Then, his gaze went down to the new addition to his status screen, right below the inventory.

[Shop]

[Description: This shop is connected to the branch of ##@### and therefore contains a wide array of things that can be found throughout the universe. The system’s refined energy can be used as currency to buy the things from it. 10 Refined Energy—> 1 Shop Point.]

’From throughout the universe?’ Eric was astonished. He had heard from the storytellers that the world they were living in was just a small part of the vast cosmos, or universe, and there were an uncountable number of worlds like theirs in it.

He, just like many others, hadn’t believed it, but seeing that vision where he saw his real mother and heard her say she had to send him to some isolated world and now seeing it was mentioned in the description, he realized it was indeed true. There were many worlds out there.

Ba-Dum! Ba-Dum!

Suddenly, he realized his heart was beating wildly from anticipation and a strange, strong but unfamiliar sense of longing.

Shaking his head, he took several deep breaths. When he felt he had calmed down enough, he ordered the system.

’Open the shop.’

[Yes, host.] The system responded, and immediately, the system screen changed.

Eric looked at the long list of items in a daze.

He casually focused on/selected one of the items.

[Permafrost Ice Essence]

[Description...]

[Price: 100,000 SPs/1 unit]

After reading the name, he ignored the description, his gaze going down to the price, and immediately, he dismissed it before ordering the system, ’Only show the items I can buy.’

[Understood, host.] The system responded, and the long list was immediately filtered out, leaving less than a dozen.

He focused on the first, and his eyes lit up.

[Spirit Stone (Low Grade)]

[Description: Formed by the natural condensation of spirit energy. Suitable for beginner cultivators.]

[Price: 1 SP/3 Pieces]

He currently had 120+ units of refined energy that translated to 12 SPs. This meant if he wanted, he could buy 36 low-grade spirit stones. He didn’t know the exact price of one low-grade spirit stone, but he was aware it was in the thousands.

His mind whirled with thoughts, but he stopped himself from becoming excited and asked, ’System, how much refined energy can you get from a single low-grade spirit stone?’

The system’s answer would determine if what he had thought was feasible or not.

[Spirit stones vary in the quality of the spirit energy due to various environmental and other factors, host. But normally speaking, the system should be able to get around ten units of refined energy from one low-grade spirit stone.]

’Hm? Just ten?’ Eric frowned. ’Then why are spirit stones so expensive?’

Even if the price of one spirit stone was... let’s say, 2000 credits, though he suspected it was higher than this, it was still a bad deal because he could just buy half a kilogram of spirit stone powder and get just a little less than 40 units of refined energy, four times what he would get from a spirit stone.

[Host, if a normal person were to cultivate using one kilogram of spirit stone powder, the most spirit energy he could absorb from it wouldn’t exceed 15-20 units. Though it’s more than what he gets from a spirit stone, the refinement of spirit stone powder is several times more difficult, takes more time, and the spirit energy in it isn’t as pure.] The system explained. Then, as if it thought Eric wouldn’t understand, it continued.

[Let’s understand it this way, host. A normal person, even with an ordinary talent and ordinary cultivation technique, only needs around one hour to refine a low-grade spirit stone, and it isn’t too difficult. However, if he were to refine spirit stone powder, not only would it be more difficult, he would need at least 8-9 hours to refine it. Even then, the spirit energy he would get wouldn’t be as pure. For this reason, the price of spirit stones is higher.]

Hearing this, Eric nodded in understanding and couldn’t help but feel lucky that he had the system and didn’t need to worry about refining it, and nor about the energy being impure.

Then his eyes flashed, and he unconsciously licked his lips. ’Now I don’t need to worry about earning credits. I can just buy spirit stones from the system shop and sell them in the market. I’ll then keep the profit and buy the spirit stone powder from the rest.’

Suddenly, he thought of something and asked, ’System, there isn’t a limit on how many spirit stones I can buy from the shop, right?’

[Yes, host. There is no limit. As long as the shop has them, and you have enough refined energy or Shop Points to pay, you can buy as many as you want.]

Eric couldn’t help but grin upon hearing this. Now, he wouldn’t need to waste his time in earning credits.

’I just need to focus on my cultivation, and soon no one will be able to threaten me.’ He thought, clenching his fists.

He then swept his gaze across other items and realized that save for a few items, the others were useless to him. Fortunately for him, among these few were two physique refinement techniques, just the thing he needed right now.