Chasing Light.

Xia Fei followed Phantom's gaze and glanced over at the time, "The Windshade Mark IV combat suit. Is it any good?"

Phantom nodded, "The combat suits of the Windshade series are specifically designed for Speed Ability Users, and can minimize air resistance to a great degree while also providing a very good defense for the user. Soon, you'll be crossing your first hurdle as a Speed Ability User, where you would create a sonic boom once your speed surpasses the speed of sound."

"If you're not wearing combat gear when that time comes, the powerful surge of force would severely injure your body, and the loud sound you'd create would even alert your enemies, making it impossible for you to catch them by surprise."

Xia Fei had once watched a television program on sonic booms. When an airplane has to surpass the speed of sound in flight, in that moment when the airplane has to break through the sound barrier, there would occasionally be a spectacular sight where clouds of mist would form around the airplane.

What followed the clouds of mist was a deafening explosive sound, as the powerful shock caused the fighter jet to tremble violently, which only showed the immense force a sonic boom created.

"The Windshade Mark IV combat suit is a product that was made a long time ago and is no longer available in the market. It uses a rare Blackstar Spider Silk as raw material. This kind of Blackstar Spider could only be found on extremely cold planets. It takes a thousand of these Blackstar Spiders a whole year before they could produce enough silk for a set of combat suit."

"Due to the high production cost, there were already very few who would use this particular raw material anymore. Instead, they would use some advanced chemical fabrics as a replacement. Although such chemical fabrics are good, they still can't compare to the quality of the natural raw material. This Windshade Mark IV combat suit must have been kept by some collector."

"The Windshade Mark IV combat suit's performance is incomparable to most legendary combat suits out there. As long as the price isn't above 300 million, we should first bid for this," Phantom said.

Xia Fei looked at the auction catalog and noted that the starting bid for the combat suit was 50 million star coins. He would at least need more than 100 million star coins if he really wished to obtain it!

While the price was shocking enough, Xia Fei did not particularly care for it. After all, he was about to participate in a Crisis grade assessment, and the quality of the equipment he possessed would directly relate to his life, so there was no room for sloppiness.

Phantom continued to scan through the catalog, "Hey, they actually managed to obtain a Silver Nocturna Blossom!"

"This is something that would be very useful for you, as it can increase your speed by an entire rank. More importantly, it can also be used in conjunction with the Aquamarine Illusory Star as their medicinal properties complement each other without any conflict."

"If you manage to combine both the Aquamarine Illusory Star and the Silver Nocturna Blossom together and make a compound medicine from it, you would be able to increase your speed and endurance at the same time. Hopefully, your body can completely absorb every bit of the medical residue before the assessment, since it would be very dangerous for you to participate in the Crisis grade assessment while you're still at the Star Base rank." Phantom explained.

"Didn't you say that it takes six whole months for the cell acceleration medicine to be completely absorbed?" Xia Fei asked.

Phantom lifted his head up to lock eyes with Xia Fei and said, "Your seventh brain region has already been fully unlocked, and the rate at which you absorb medicine is much faster than an average person. There are still around 2 months between now and the 1st of December, so whether you can absorb everything or not will all depend on your luck."

This assessment was only limited to people who were of Primary Star Base to Advanced Star Domain rank, so Xia Fei's rank was enough to qualify him for registration, though he would most likely be at the bottom of the tens of thousands of candidates in terms of his cultivation.

Therefore, it was crucial for him to increase his cultivation rank before the assessment.

…

With both his medicinal ingredients and combat suit confirmed, he still had to wait for the Masterpiece Auction to begin on the 15th of October before bidding.

Both the Windshade Mark IV combat suit and the Silver Nocturna Blossom had the starting bid of 50 million star coins, and as long as nothing unexpected were to occur, the final bid would most likely cross the 100 million mark.

Presently, Xia Fei only had 380 million star coins on himself, and he would have to sell the Heart of Spirit if that were not enough. As far as raising the funds he needed, Xia Fei had essentially put up this capital just for this assessment alone.

After purchasing a top-quality emergency medical field kit along with an assortment of the best wilderness survival equipment, Xia Fei's account balance decreased by another 4.7 million star coins.

All that was left was the most important component: a weapon!

Xia Fei was a Speed Ability User. The advantages of being a Speed Ability User was dexterity and adaptability, which was why cumbersome heavy weapons were not among Xia Fei's consideration.

Even though heavy weapons were extremely powerful, they would also slow down Xia Fei's speed as well as reduce the frequency of his attacks, so the cons outweighed the pros.

Xia Fei needed a lightweight, handheld weapon that was not only sharp but preferably capable of containing a multitude of variations as well, making it hard for his opponents to completely guard against.

Such a weapon sounded simple, but was actually not at all easy to purchase in reality; he could not afford the ones that were too expensive, and most hardly caught the eye of Phantom. Xia Fei visited dozens of weapon shops in a row, yet he couldn't find a weapon that pleased him.

He next entered a small shop next, and there was only a middle-aged man inside, aside from Xia Fei.

The middle-aged man looked to be in his 40s, bent over at his waist whenever he walked, and his feet seemed imbalanced as if there were some complications to them.

This person pretended to circle around the shop, before pulling out his communicator to call for the shopkeeper.

The man exchanged a few words furtively with the shopkeeper as if he were trying to sell something to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper then shook his head after seeing the image information of that item, sending the man packing without saying another word.

Xia Fei was curious, so he came over to that shopkeeper's side and asked, "What was that man doing just now?"

"Oh, he was trying to sell me a double-edged hidden blade. It looked really old and worn out, yet he was asking for a price of 6 million star coins. His greed knew no bounds." The shopkeeper then said, "But the material used for the blade wasn't too bad; it looked like it was made with Neon alloy."

A double-edged hidden blade was a type of shortsword that could be hidden up in the sleeves. It was a contraption that could be fitted onto the arm of the user, which kept it well concealed. When needed, the blade could be ejected out upon triggering the mechanism, making it completely unpredictable.

The production of a double-edged hidden blade would require plenty of skill because the internal mechanism was very complex, as there was no room for even the slightest errors.

It would be an embarrassing situation if the mechanism for the hidden blade were to be triggered when shaking someone's hand and a shortsword were to sprang out from the user's sleeve.

The double-edged hidden blade utilized a mechanical spring, so the raw material used could not be too poor as it required a high level of hardiness as well as tensile strength to achieve the purpose of retractability.

Due to the continuous technological advancement, many ancient production techniques had already been modified to automated production, but there were still some exceptions. Some special techniques simply could not be replaced by machines. 

Take the double-edged hidden blade as an example. The craftsmanship needed to produce such a weapon had been passed down from generations after generations, and the secrets within had never revealed beyond the circle.

Many experts had made countless attempts to crack the secret to make such a weapon that only ended in failure until the experts finally realized that there were some things that technology would never be able to replace.

The shopkeeper noticed that Xia Fei seemed to be somewhat interested in that double-edged hidden blade the man was holding, so he hurriedly added, "I think that weapon doesn't seem to be of conventional origins. Judging from how secretive he was acting, I'm sure he must have stolen it."

Xia Fei chuckled and left the shop, ignoring the enthusiastic persuasion from the shopkeeper for him to stay.

Standing in the middle of the street and glancing around, Xia Fei spotted that middle-aged man heading to the other side of the street, his mouth swearing non-stop, apparently looking very annoyed.

Xia Fei caught up with the man in a few short steps and intentionally coughed twice to draw his attention.

"Is that a double-edged hidden blade in your possession?" Xia Fei asked.

That middle-aged man looked very alert, as he checked Xia Fei from head to toe as he said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Xia Fei laughed, "There's no need for you to be afraid. I'm earnestly looking to buy what you have. Besides, we are in a virtual space; you couldn't possibly be afraid that I would steal your thing, right?"

That middle-aged man helplessly sighed, "Were it not for the fact that my father is severely ill and is in urgent need of money, I would not have even sought to sell this ancestral item of mine. But to think there would actually be no one on this street with a discerning eye, insistent that what I have is worthless, with even some accusing me of having stolen it!"

Actually, these people could not be blamed. This was nothing more than him selling something; no one would have suspected anything if he had taken it out openly to sell to others. But he had chosen to go about it so furtively that people would obviously suspect that he had come about the item through dubious channels.

"I would like to see the information of your item," Xia Fei said.

Soon, the information regarding the double-edged hidden blade appeared in Xia Fei's mailbox.

It was a holographic 3D image that could be flipped at will as if the real weapon itself had been placed there.

Phantom took several glances at the weapon as he stared at it before suddenly calling out in a somber voice, "I recognize this weapon. It's called Chasing Light!"