Chapter 86: A Reassuring Exchange

Chapter 86: Chapter 86: A Reassuring Exchange

By evening, Li Heng had already come down from the mountaintop and returned to their resting spot.

"If I’m not mistaken, the two of us have pretty much cleared out all the point-yielding resources on this island. By the way, I’d like to trade some point cards for your herbs and medicinal plants. Is that okay?"

After roasting and eating some Soul Beast Meat with Bao Yaoyao, Li Heng decided to get straight to the point. He wanted to trade some point cards—the ones dropped by soul beasts—for Bao Yaoyao’s herbs and medicinal plants.

Although she was curious about Li Heng’s proposal, she didn’t ask for his reasons, instead inquiring about the terms of the exchange.

Li Heng: "Ten points for one Tier One medicinal plant, or ten ordinary Soul Energy Herbs. If you feel that’s a bad deal, eight ordinary herbs would also be fine. But if you’re not comfortable with it, we can just forget it."

He considered that any herbs he acquired would be his to keep, meaning they could be used or sold in addition to being redeemed for points.

That was why Li Heng had offered the alternative of trading ten points for eight ordinary herbs.

He proposed this trade because he’d noticed Bao Yaoyao didn’t seem to care much for herbs and medicinal plants, even frequently using Tier One herbs as "payment" for her meals.

"Mhm! No problem. I can’t trade my Tier Two herbs, but Tier One herbs and the ordinary ones are fine. Thanks for taking care of me these past few days. Let’s not worry about eight herbs or seven. We’ll do an equal value exchange!"

From Bao Yaoyao’s perspective, the Tier Two herbs were quite precious and her main source of points. The ordinary herbs and Tier One plants, however, were basically worthless, didn’t award many points, and she didn’t mind trading them to Li Heng.

After interacting for several days, they had come to a certain understanding of each other.

The exchange thus went smoothly without any hitches. At the same time, the two shared a tacit understanding, and neither pried into matters like the other’s Space Stone.

But today, after the trade was complete, something suddenly occurred to Bao Yaoyao, and she brought up another topic. "Li Heng, the exam will be over soon. Have you thought about what comes next?"

Li Heng: "Hold on! Sorry, I just remembered I have something to do up the mountain."

’Going up the mountain was just an excuse. In his mind, Li Heng was calculating his next move. Most importantly, I can’t just ’upgrade’ my things right in front of Bao Yaoyao!’

He had traded for about thirty more ordinary herbs and five Tier One medicinal plants.

’Upgrading 30 herbs to Tier Two (Rare) will cost 3,300 Soul Energy Points, and upgrading the 5 Tier One medicinal plants will cost 500 Soul Energy Points.’

’Upgrading everything to Tier Two (Rare) will cost a total of 3,800 Soul Energy Points, which will be worth 1,750 score points.’

’Add that to the roughly 2,200 score points I already have.’

’My total score will be close to 4,000!’

’A total college entrance exam score of 4,000! That should be enough, right? Getting into a top-tier Soul Energy University should be a sure thing,’ Li Heng silently calculated.

’But with so many herbs and medicinal plants, a one-cubic-meter Space Stone definitely won’t be enough. I’ll need to spend an extra 1,000 Soul Energy Points to upgrade the Space Stone.’

’That’s 4,800 Soul Energy Points in total!’

’I only have a little over 6,000, so after this, I’ll only have 1,200 Soul Energy Points left. That’s not much.’

’I need to be more frugal from now on.’

’Besides, I have to keep the necessary 100 Soul Energy Points for the basic entry fee to Wolf King Mountain.’

’The bottom line is 100 Soul Energy Points. No matter what, my Soul Energy Points must never fall below this number!’

Name: Medium Space Stone

Category: Soul Energy Items

Value: Rare

Function: Contains 5 cubic meters of storage space.

[Consume 10,000 Soul Energy Points and 1 Legendary Point to upgrade this item?]

Once he was out of Bao Yaoyao’s sight, Li Heng upgraded the Space Stone and the herbs he had just traded for, one after the other.

Once he was sure everything was in order, Li Heng returned to the resting spot, satisfied.

Now, with a score approaching 4,000, Li Heng felt confident. He guessed that at least ninety percent of the other participants didn’t have this many points!

With this foundation, Li Heng felt even more secure.

Even if he encountered a Tier Three Soul Beast later, he wouldn’t panic.

’Worst case, I can just teleport away. With around 4,000 points as a safety net, if I can’t afford to provoke a Tier Three Soul Beast, can’t I, Li Heng, at least afford to hide from it?’

When it came to laying low, he was an expert!

After composing himself, Li Heng slowly walked back to the resting spot.

———

Seeing Li Heng return, Bao Yaoyao didn’t say or ask anything, simply smiling as she spoke, "Li Heng, would you mind telling me... what your plans are for after this?"

Li Heng: "After this... what plans?"

"Like which university you’ll attend. You must know, right? The Secret Realm Entrance Exam is different from the regular one; we get the results in a week. A powerful expert like you... no, a master... your score must be way over 1,000, right?"

Bao Yaoyao’s tone was tinged with envy. She couldn’t help it. Leaving everything else aside, just the fact that he had a Tier Two High-Grade Soul Beast, an Ice Luan, as a Soul Energy pet was enough to make her green with envy.

It was enough to make her feel jealous for a good while.

Of course, it wasn’t the kind of thing you could get just by being envious. Bao Yaoyao’s feelings were limited to jealousy, and she quickly moved on to ask about other things.

"What about 1,000 points? That’s not a high score, is it?"

On the surface, Li Heng remained impassive, his tone of voice perfectly calm, but ripples stirred in his heart as he began to wonder: ’Surely 4,000 points is enough, right?!’

Hearing Li Heng’s casual reply, Bao Yaoyao seemed to deflate. "As expected of a master! Am I the only one on this island who isn’t a master...? I can’t compare to you. I only have a little over 1,000 points right now, but I think that should be enough to get into a top-ten Soul Energy University! As long as there are no altars on the island, this exam is in the bag for me!"

"Oh! Is that so?"

Hearing that Bao Yaoyao only had around a thousand points yet was confident about getting into a top-ten university, Li Heng instantly relaxed.

’Looks like I’m set, then!’

"Huh? Wait, I think I heard you mention an altar just now? What altar? What’s wrong with altars?"

Now that he was relaxed, Li Heng recalled Bao Yaoyao’s words about an altar. Connecting it to what he had seen on the mountaintop that afternoon, he couldn’t help but feel curious.

Seeing Li Heng’s curious expression, Bao Yaoyao replied in a relaxed tone, "My dad told me before that as long as the island I teleported to didn’t have any mountains or peaks, the exam would be a walk in the park for me. But if I got sent to an island with mountains or an altar, things could get pretty miserable! And on that note, I have to thank you, Master. Thanks to you taking care of me these past few days, I’ve managed to survive until now! Your barbecue skills are amazing, too!"

"What if there are both mountains... and an altar?" Li Heng asked, as if he had thought of something.

Bao Yaoyao felt she was incredibly lucky to have met Li Heng on an island with mountains. Hearing his question, she responded cheerfully.

"If there were both mountains and an altar, my dad said it would be terrifying! He told me to teleport away immediately! HAHAHA! I’m so lucky. I only ended up on an island with mountains, and I even met a master! Plus, I’ve explored the whole island over the past few days and haven’t found anything that looks like an altar! Hehe, this is a sure thing! Huh? Master, why are you suddenly frowning and thinking so hard?"

As Bao Yaoyao spoke, she noticed Li Heng suddenly frowning and couldn’t help but ask.

Li Heng: "You just said... 1,000 points is considered a good score, right?"

Bao Yaoyao: "That’s right!"

Li Heng: "Oh! Then it’s nothing! By the way, when you have time, you should go up to the mountaintop to enjoy the breeze. It’s... quite cool up there."