4: Chapter 4 Sorry to bother you, I'm broke.

The place where Su Ming lived was in the suburban area twenty thousand kilometers away, which was a bit far.

However, there were countless gods in this world, among whom many were technology-oriented, and they had developed countless powerful technological creations.

The star-rail train that Su Ming took, for instance, was a low-end product phased out by a technological god, specially used for internal movement within the planet. Its speed reached up to one hundred thousand kilometers per hour, and it was open for free to poor students like Su Ming, making it the transportation he had ridden the most since childhood.

"Arrived at the Bright Community station. Passengers getting off, please disembark promptly."

After getting off the train, Su Ming did not pause for a second and walked straight back to his sci-fi-styled community.

Don't let his community's high-tech feel fool you; this place was a veritable slum, incomparable to those wealthy districts.

However, Su Ming didn't mean to despise it; to him, home was merely a place to rest.

Returning to his desolate home, there was not the slightest change in Su Ming's eyes as he sat directly on the sofa and activated the star-ring in his hand.

A light screen immediately appeared in front of Su Ming.

[Divine domain link detected!]

[Identity confirmed, Human Federation citizen Su Ming.]

[Please select a module: Trading Center, Entertainment, Deities Forum...]

Su Ming's gaze swept across, and he quickly spotted the most eye-catching email from the Education Bureau, immediately opening it.

"Student Su Ming, comprehensive evaluation E+.

Because the student has obtained an E+ grade evaluation, the Education Bureau grants two rewards:

1. Thirty thousand divine crystals.

2. Resource Card (E). (Nether attribute, unsellable)"

Su Ming immediately looked at his panel, where the divine crystal balance showed forty thousand, a flash of joy crossing the bottom of his eyes.

Su Ming had lived frugally and saved diligently since he was a child, barely managing to save twenty thousand divine crystals. He had just spent ten thousand divine crystals on evolving his talent, and he was currently in desperate need of them.

Yet the Education Bureau directly rewarded him with thirty thousand divine crystals simply because he obtained an E-grade evaluation, not to mention there was also an E-grade resource card. The gesture was truly staggering.

You must know that hundreds of millions of deities awoke in the Human Federation every year, and the resource consumption alone by the Human Federation to cultivate the new generation of deities had reached a shocking level.

Su Ming tapped his hand in the void, feeling a ripple appear behind the void, and then a card appeared in Su Ming's hand.

On the other card was the pattern of a spring.

Su Ming was inwardly overjoyed and thought to himself:

"I didn't expect it to actually yield a spirit-refining spring. This is an absolute blood profit!"

As an E-grade resource card, the spirit-refining spring had a selling price as high as three hundred thousand divine crystals.

"Just having this spirit-refining spring is not enough. I plan to take the path of a war deity, so I still need to find a way to recruit my dependents as soon as possible."

Thinking of this, Su Ming's gaze turned to the star-ring in his hand. With a wave of his hand, a light-blue light screen emerged in front of him.

Su Ming tapped lightly on the Trading Center, and in an instant, a myriad of dazzling items floated before Su Ming's eyes.

"Mineral Card (F): Contains a miniature iron ore vein, priced at 20,000 divine crystals."

"Dependent Card (F): Can recruit elemental spirits, priced at 30,000 divine crystals."

"Divine Power Card (F): Contains 100 points of ownerless divine power, priced at 10,000 divine crystals."

"Expansion Card (F): Can expand the divine domain by 10,000 square kilometers, priced at 10,000 divine crystals."

"Dependent Card (F): Can recruit militiamen, priced at 10,000 divine crystals."

...

"Although I knew dependent cards were expensive, this is just too ridiculous."

Seeing that the dependent card for elemental spirits actually cost thirty thousand divine crystals, the corners of Su Ming's mouth twitched.

Afterwards, he searched for Nether-attribute dependent cards. When he saw that the dependent card for recruiting skeleton soldiers actually cost fifty thousand divine crystals, Su Ming was even more speechless.

"Sorry to disturb you, I'm broke."

It was already outrageous for the elemental spirit dependent card to cost thirty thousand divine crystals, but for the skeleton soldier dependent card to cost fifty thousand—that was simply out of this world.

You had to know that skeleton soldiers were just cannon fodder, and a single divine war could consume tens or hundreds of thousands of them.

Yet this piece of junk was actually selling for fifty thousand divine crystals now.

Su Ming's gaze couldn't help but wander towards the remaining Nether resource cards. The more he looked, the more desperate Su Ming's face became, because almost none of the Nether resource cards were cheap, and some were even two or three times more expensive.

"No wonder they say Nether deities are all money-swallowing giants; I've finally experienced it now. Moreover, Nether-attribute resource cards are truly both expensive and rare."

Looking at the few filtered Nether-attribute resource cards, Su Ming shook his head helplessly.

"I hope my previous idea wasn't wrong, otherwise it will be very difficult for me to develop further."

A trace of entanglement appeared in Su Ming's eyes, but in the end, he gritted his teeth and spent ten thousand divine crystals to buy the militiaman recruitment dependent card.

A crack appeared behind the void, and a card flew out from the void into Su Ming's hand.

After purchasing the dependent card, Su Ming did not continue browsing the center, but directly exited the star-ring and entered the Nine Nether.

After Su Ming entered, two cards appeared in his hand.

Su Ming looked over, and numerous evolution routes appeared on both cards.

Among them, the consumption of each evolution route for the spirit-refining spring was no less than one hundred thousand, completely beyond what Su Ming could currently afford.

As for the militiaman dependent card, it was still relatively normal, but this was not what Su Ming cared about right now.

He looked at the militiaman's dependent card with expectant eyes. At this moment, that dependent card was enveloped by Nether yin qi.

Under Su Ming's expectant gaze, that dependent card quickly underwent a change, and the image of the militiaman on the card turned into a floating ghost.

"Dependent Card (F): Can recruit yin spirits, +"

"It really works! My guess was correct!" Su Ming looked at the brand-new card, his eyes filled with excitement and thrill.

When he saw the description behind the Nether Sovereign, he had been thinking: since everything within the divine domain could be transformed into the Nether attribute, could resource cards also be transformed into the Nether attribute?

Buying the militiaman dependent card that clearly didn't match his divine domain at all was precisely to verify this idea.

"With the Nether Sovereign here, can I recruit Nether angels and Nether Titans? If these dependents can still retain their previous abilities, I can't even imagine how terrifying my dependent legion would be!"

Thinking of this, Su Ming's eyes were full of burning heat.

However, Su Ming did not use the dependent card immediately; instead, he looked at those evolution routes.

Su Ming casually tapped, and countless evolution routes emerged before Su Ming's eyes.

[Evolution Direction ①]: Berserk Yin Spirit (E), consumes 10,000 divine crystals.

[Evolution Direction ②]: Warlock Yin Spirit (E), consumes 10,000 divine crystals.

[Evolution Direction ③]: Shadow Hunter Yin Spirit (E), consumes 10,000 divine crystals.

...

Looking at the dazzling array of evolution routes in front of him, Su Ming couldn't help but fall into hesitation.

The consumption of each route was fixed at 10,000 faith points, and their abilities each had advantages and disadvantages, making it hard for him to choose instead.

But just as he scrolled down along the evolution routes, a unique option instantly caught his eye.