Demon Tattoo Spirits
When Terros returned the following evening with more payment and two lists worth of materials that Deon sent him out to buy, Deon showed him the demon tattoo spirit, curious to see if they could sell it. Unfortunately, Terros knew next to nothing about demon type spirits other than how to identify this type of spirit based on its aura…he would need to do some subtle inquiring.
Everyone knew that demon type spirits were hated by the righteous path, so if they sold a brand new demon spirit carelessly, it could easily attract trouble.
As for the effect of the demon tattoo spirit, it was both mild and incredible, depending on how you looked at it. This spirit was expendable, like all body transformation spirits. Upon its activation, a tattoo would be burned into the shaman's flesh. This tattoo became part of the body and could be used to store a single 1-Star spirit inside.
The stored spirit didn't need to be fed, nor would it drain the shaman's origin energy. Instead, the tattoo itself converted the surrounding spiritual energy into origin energy directly, sustaining the stored spirit. The spirit stored within the tattoo could be instantly switched with a 1-Star spirit within the soul space, instantly unbinding one spirit and binding the other.
Unfortunately, the demon tattoo spirit could only be used a single time, meaning it was limited to storing a single 1-Star spirit…however, that was an additional spirit that was nearly as good as bound to the soul space! It was a small bonus, but it was a bonus, something that other shamans didn't possess!
Shortly after Terros returned, Shi finally approached Deon, agreeing to continue the origin soul trade with higher quality souls. She still insisted that they inflict damage upon the souls, but she stopped asking for souls which were below 90% intact.
He filled the soul pouch worms, of which they now possessed five, with souls which were up to 93% intact. This went above Shi's previous limit, but Deon said nothing, watching to see if she would accept it.
She did. Without saying anything, she immediately bound the five spirits and departed once again. She returned a few hours later with Deon's next payment.
And remember, this was the payment after adding in the re-purchase cost of the soul pouch worms which were also given to the buyer.
She returned with five more soul pouch worms and 20 3-Star drop spirits. This was double what Terros was earning each day by selling off so many of the spirits that Deon had refined…though Terros wasn't taking so much of a risk, playing it safe and doing his dealings patiently.
Terros also searched for the shoot of success spirit for Deon. Deon promised to pay him heavily if he could find procure this spirit sold by the Trading House for him, but unfortunately, it was nowhere to be seen.
Deon's life continued in this fashion for the next couple of days. He refined spirits almost without taking a break, only stopping when his energy was depleted or when his mental stamina exhausted itself and he needed to meditate to recover.
Like this, five days passed by. Shi returned tonight after engaging in her fifth transaction, having become more and more emboldened each time, now throwing in a single 94% intact origin soul to one of her buyers. That origin soul was valued at double that of a 93% intact soul, making Deon choke slightly.
In that case, how much would an undamaged origin soul sell for…?
During the mountain war, he managed to gather 67 undamaged peak stage 1-Star origin souls with Shi's assistance, along with 14 souls above 80% intact, and the remainder being undamaged late stage souls. Whilst these could of course be used to attempt an activation of the soul refinement spirit, Deon decided that for now, selling them was the better choice. He could always gather more later on.
On this night, Deon finally left the temple once again, this time alone. He had only been out a single time with Terros until now, but Deon finally decided that the time was ripe.
The city was now filled with travellers who came from all around to attend the main auction. Since Terros informed him that they would be going to a different auction tomorrow, Deon chose to head out tonight to engage in his business. He was done with refining now, having refined everything that Terros would be selling during their stay.
Aside from this, Deon also refined some spirits that he planned to sell by himself on this night.
When he stepped out of the temple hotel, he quickly slinked back into the shadows. When he reappeared, he seemed to be wearing a mask, but on closer inspection, one would realise that it was actually a spirit. It was the 1-Star dark mask spirit, a dark type spirit that hid the user's facial appearance. It was only a 1-Star spirit, but it was good enough that other shamans would be unable to see through it unless they used a detection type spirit which could see through such camouflage methods.
Spirits like this mask were somewhat rare, whilst Deon's, a platinum class mask, was even less common. To anyone else though, it looked not much different to the types of masks typically seen on assassins. Anyway, many travellers were using similar methods during their stay in the city, so it didn't draw much attention.
Other spirits that Deon used to ensure his secrecy, included 'destroy detection', 'alert detection', 'aura disguise' and 'gliding wind'.
The names were all fairly self explanatory, aside from gliding wind, which was a movement type spirit. He still used the swift leaf spirit for instantaneous acceleration, but the 1-Star gold class gliding wind spirit was superior for travelling at greater maximum speeds for a longer period of time.
His small figure sped through the streets, keeping gliding wind activated, yet going unnoticed by most people. With his aura disguise spirit, it was extremely easy for others to overlook his presence, even if he was standing right beside them.
This combination of 1-Star spirits was very assassin like, but Deon needed this level of stealth to ensure his safety.
His first stop was actually the dark palace from before, the home of a certain demonic path sect.
As Deon waited on the bottom floor, a floor he was at first refused entry into until he casually flashed one of the demon tattoo spirits to the stunned attendant, Deon thought back and recalled Terros's assessment of this spirit.
Terros had said that after looking into it, he wanted nothing to do with the sale of demon type spirits. They were too uncommon, there was no such thing as a common demon spirit. Everyone involved with these spirits was also an unscrupulous individual who would have no issue with robbing and killing their trade partners.
And so, Deon walked into the lion's den with the intention of selling five of these spirits. This sort of transaction would only be ordinary for him tonight.
He was led below ground by an attendant, who directed him into a cold stone room, one of many along the vast underground corridor. All dealings on this floor were conducted in private, and although it was quite eery, Deon said nothing and took his seat.
"I apologise for the wait." A few minutes later, a woman opened the door and stared at him as she entered. Deon didn't say anything as he looked back at her, maintaining his concealment spirits to disguise both his appearance and his aura. He was like a spectre, sitting on the chair with no presence to speak of. The woman narrowed her eyes slightly, but she quickly hid her expression.
Sitting down across the table from him, Deon realised that this woman was the definition of the term 'cold beauty'. She had an elegant, slender body, and hair so dark that it was almost the same colour as Deon's dark mask spirit. She maintained an indifferent expression, looking at him as if she was trying to see through his secrets.
"So I'm told that you used a demon type spirit to gain entry into this floor…who introduced you to our operation?"
Whoosh!
The woman was startled when Deon didn't reply to her question, but instead suddenly stuck out his hand and opened his palm. Five demon tattoo spirits dropped onto the table, making her expression become far more serious. She immediately forgot about his dubious knowledge of their demon type spirit trading hub despite nobody in the building recognising him, and began examining these spirits carefully.
"These…are they body transformation spirits?" She murmured.
"These spirits allow the user to form a tattoo which can store a single 1-Star spirit within. The spirit is sustained by the tattoo itself, which refines spiritual energy on its own. Only one demon tattoo spirit can be used per individual." Deon replied in a startlingly deep voice.
The woman was startled when she heard such a deep voice coming from such a small individual, but it was just an effect of the dark mask.
"This…I'll give you three 2-Star drop spirits each." She replied slowly, trying to gauge his reaction, but struggling due to his high level of concealment.
"If you're going to take me for a fool, then good day." Deon directly stood up to leave.
"Wait!" The cold beauty's facade broke down. She was anxious in her heart and quickly stood up.
"How much do you want?!"
"Three 3-Star drop spirits each!" Deon directly increased her evaluation by 100 times, though obviously, she wouldn't pay this much…right?
"That's far too much…I can do 50 2-Star-"
Just as Deon was sitting back down and her heart eased somewhat, he stood back up and began to turn. At this point, she suddenly grabbed for his wrist, but Deon was a second faster and pulled his hand back.
"Trying to investigate me?" He snorted coldly, making her face turn pale. She just grabbed him on instinct, but it really was too unprofessional of her…
"Two 3-Star drop spirits each or I'm leaving right now." Deon stared at her, making the woman's eyebrows furrow. After she didn't answer for three seconds, Deon silently turned around and walked towards the door.
"Fine!" She gritted her teeth and yelled out.
Deon paused.
'Seriously?!'
This was all part of his plan to raise the price by as much as possible. Since he had absolutely no idea how much this spirit, or any demon type spirit for that matter, was worth, he was trying to coax an honest evaluation out of her by acting so unreasonably.
But she actually agreed to the ridiculous price that he stated randomly, the price he only said because he thought it was way too high! These were only 1-Star spirits! They were so easy to refine, it cost him barely anything!
How could they be valued at twice that of a low level 3-Star spirit?!