The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 76: Jinwu

“Oh, you know about it?” War Tiger sounded surprised. “You sure are studious.”

He gave a brief introduction to the currency, which was pretty much what Liu Qingying had told him.

“Most of the time, the coins are used for trades, and the commodities can be put into four categories. What are they, Wu Dahai?”

Wu Dahai cocked his head and answered with some irritation, “Medicines, equipment, items, and intel.”

“Medicines?” Officer Huang asked. “Those can be bought with money.”

“Not regular medicines, you idiot,” Wu Dahai said with a scoff. “It’s medicines specifically for awakeners, and they are potent!”

Realization dawned on Gao Yang. He turned to Qing Ling. “The remedy you gave me! When I put some on my injury, it healed overnight.”

“My cousin gave me that,” Qing Ling said with an impassive look on her face. “He didn’t tell me how he got it. That was the only bottle I had.”

That moved Gao Yang. He and Qing Ling had been practically strangers at the time, yet she gave him her last bottle without hesitation.

“I’ll make it simple.” War Tiger wasn’t terribly interested in anything outside of battles. “There are some awakeners who can create special tools with Black Gold. With a mix of special herbal ingredients and the energy of awakeners with Support-type or Life-type Talents, different specialized medicines can be made.”

“One of the ingredients for the medicine you got before, Gao Yang, is Dead Pig’s blood. Qilin Guild manufactures all kinds of medicines for regular uses in batches, and Dead Pig gives them his blood every six months. Not for free, of course. They have a deal.”

“Outside of healing medicine, there are also medicines for temporary buffs to your strength, speed, or defense, as well as those that increase your willpower and explosive power for the short term. Naturally, there are poisons, stimulants, aphrodisiacs, and psychedelics as well... There’s nothing you can’t buy with jinwu.”

The elevator door opened, and the five of them entered Wu Dahai’s private underground garage.

Wu Dahai took out his car key and walked up to a black S-class Benz.

War Tiger continued, “As for equipment, most are made of Black Gold, and they each have their own magical ability to grow and be molded as you wish. Over time, the equipment may develop in countless different ways from resonating with the energy generated by the awakener’s Talents.”

“Green Snake, your Tang Dao is the best example of this.” War Tiger gave her an expectant look. “With God of Blades and Metal as well as your Black Gold Tang Dao, the whole will certainly be greater than the sum of its parts. I look forward to how far you will get. If you push both Talents to level 4, you’ll have no trouble getting into the top 20 ranks, and one on one, you’ll be able to survive 30 seconds against me.”

Qing Ling looked frigid. She obviously didn’t take that as a compliment.

“Now, let’s talk items. They’re like medicines, only they are made differently. Most items are objects awakeners have injected their Talents into for particular situations.”

“Sleep gas is an example. Regular sleep gas doesn’t really work on awakeners, but if Songstress imbues a sleep gas grenade with Requiem, the effectiveness will grow tenfold.”

Gao Yang, Qing Ling, and Officer Huang looked thoughtful.

“Don’t underestimate items. When facing an enemy at the same level as you, the key that determines the victor will be your items and how you use them.”

“Last but not least, intel. With something like information, it can be worth nothing or everything. There’s intel on your rivals, on the whereabouts of Rune Circuits, on the Mist World, on monsters, and on the Spectres.”

War Tiger threw Wu Dahai a glance. “This kid saves up 2000 jinwus and posted a bounty for information on the Element Rune Circuit to the Walled City of Ten Dragons’ forum, but so far, no one has responded.”

Gao Yang didn’t say anything.

Liu Qingying wanted information from him, and the cunning woman offered 4 jinwu for each piece of information. As a newcomer into the world of awakeners, he would suffer great losses if he didn’t know how valuable the information he held was.

Fortunately, he could choose to give or not give her the information.

He had to quickly learn the ways of this brand new world and turn himself from a newbie to a bigshot. Even if he couldn’t be that, he had to at least be a shrewd senior!