252: Chapter 252 Internal Treasury Exchange, Monetizing Battle Merits

The Zhenhai Fortress General Command—located in the deepest part of the fortress's inner city, built on a reef mountain with a leveled top.

The main entrance of the command headquarters bore no flags—only a relief sculpture of a long sword cast in dark copper embedded in the lintel.

The blade spanned the entire lintel from left to right—with the tip pointing due east—the direction of the Dragon Burial Trench.

Lu Changyuan used his Grade B stronghold's Gold-Inlaid Jade Token to pass through three checkpoints.

The first two—Late Foundation Establishment Stage sentinel Puppets—automatically stepped aside after scanning the military department imprint on the token.

The third one—was not a Puppet.

It was an old Quartermaster sitting behind a stone desk, flipping through a register.

The outer ring of his left pupil shimmered with a very faint silver halo—a Late Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator on the verge of reaching the False Core stage—and there was an old sword scar on the web of his right hand, stretching from the base of his index finger to his wrist.

"Inner Treasury Exchange." Lu Changyuan placed the Gold-Inlaid Jade Token on the stone desk.

The old Quartermaster picked up the jade token—flipped it over—and glanced at the stronghold number.

His expression did not change.

There were several Grade B strongholds in Zhenhai Fortress—two on the left flank, three on the right, and at least four on the main defensive line at the front.

He inserted the jade token into the inspection Formation Plate next to the stone desk—the spiritual power sensing lines on the Formation Plate lit up one by one.

The first line—Stronghold Rank: Grade B.

The second line—Stronghold Number: Left Flank Number Seventeen—Blue Moon Island.

The third line—Cumulative War Merit points.

The old Quartermaster's eyes stopped on the third line.

The War Merit point value on the Formation Plate shimmered with a faint golden light under the glow of the cold light stone lamp—a cumulative total of all categories including long-term defense, beast tide repulsions, Ore transport, and refugee reception—far exceeding the kill points for just one or two Golden Core level targets.

Among the twenty strongholds on the left flank—Blue Moon Island was the only one still accumulating War Merits.

The War Merit points of the other nineteen strongholds—were either zeroed out or marked with the military department's red ink notation: "Stronghold Decommissioned."

The old Quartermaster pulled the jade token out of the Formation Plate—and placed it on the stone desk.

Then he stood up—and pushed open an ironwood cabinet door behind him.

Inside the cabinet was an Inner Treasury catalog several inches thick—the cover wrapped in three layers of waterproof tarpaulin, the edges of the pages flipped through at least several hundred times—creating deep paper creases.

"The Inner Treasury is divided into six levels.

The first level—Foundation Establishment Stage equipment and consumables, redeemable starting from fifty War Merit points.

The second level—Late Foundation Establishment Stage—starting from two hundred points.

The third level—False Core stage—starting from five hundred points.

The fourth level—Golden Core stage—starting from one thousand points."

He opened the catalog to the first page of the fourth level—"Your War Merit points—are enough."

Lu Changyuan took the catalog.

He did not flip through it immediately—first scanning the category labels on the table of contents page.

There were more items in the Inner Treasury than he had expected—each level's categories were broken down into specific item types and exchange conditions.

The handwriting in the catalog was in the standard military department clerical script—every horizontal and vertical stroke was precise to the point of almost no error.

But some entries had a line of extremely fine annotations added in cinnabar ink next to them—the handwriting showed variations in stroke weight—it was running script, different from the stiff style of the clerical script where every stroke was rigid.

These were the true conditions recorded by successive Quartermasters during actual handovers.

First level, second page—Foundation Establishment Stage formation base repair Materials and spare Spirit Stone slots—stock was sufficient, almost the entire page was marked in green—indicating it was available for exchange.

Second level, fifth page—Late Foundation Establishment Stage standard Formation Plates and sensing array chips—mostly green, a few lines marked in yellow—stock less than ten.

Third level, third page—False Core stage deep-sea combat Talismans and armor—yellow marks accounted for nearly half.

Fourth level, first page—Golden Core stage supplies.

Lu Changyuan's gaze lingered on this page for nearly ten breaths.

Star Core Fragments—core Materials used by Core Formation Stage Cultivators to nourish their natal Magic Treasure.

Each piece was the size of a thumb's nail, and in the images recorded by the image-recording bead, they emitted an extremely restrained silver-white light—cold light that permeated from the core after being compressed to the extreme, unlike the dazzling spiritual light of Magic Treasures.

Exchange condition: four thousand War Merit points per piece.

Stock—only three pieces.

Deep-Sea Formation Base—a large Formation Plate core that can continuously release Spiritual Pressure underwater.

The entire formation base weighed nearly two thousand catties and required at least four Late Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators to move.

The Spiritual Pressure release range covered a radius of at least three li—sufficient to form a temporary safety zone underwater.

Exchange condition: twenty thousand War Merit points per base.

Stock—only one.

Protective Jade Talisman—Core Formation Cultivator level—can block a Golden Core strike when triggered.

The Talisman surface was only half a palm wide, and the jade surface was engraved with a circle of micro-sensing Array Patterns that were almost invisible to the naked eye.

When the wearer received an attack exceeding the limit of the Late Foundation Establishment Stage—the Array Patterns would automatically activate.

Used once—the Array Patterns on the jade surface would burn away—the jade piece itself could still be kept as a souvenir.

Exchange condition: three thousand War Merit points per piece.

Stock—five pieces.

Lu Changyuan flipped the catalog to the pages further back.

Fifth level—Late Golden Core stage—starting points jumped directly to ten thousand.

Sixth level—the catalog only wrote three words: Pending Commander's Approval.

The ink color of these three words was nearly a shade darker than the previous clerical script—written by Commander Tie Zhan himself in cinnabar ink.

The handwriting was thick and hard, every stroke like a knife carving—exactly the same as the handwritten postscript at the end of the Blue Moon Island promotion resolution.

He closed the catalog.

Then he flipped back to the first page of the fourth level.

His finger pointed line by line at three items—Deep-Sea Sensing Talisman—can maintain perception in a lightless environment, eight hundred War Merit points each, twelve in stock.

Hidden Spirit Formation Plate—can briefly shield spiritual power fluctuations, one thousand five hundred War Merit points each, four in stock.

Protective Jade Talisman—three thousand points.

"Deep-Sea Sensing Talisman—one.

Hidden Spirit Formation Plate—one.

Protective Jade Talisman—one."

The old Quartermaster took the three items out of the cabinet one by one.

The Deep-Sea Sensing Talisman was a translucent dark blue Talisman paper—the surface was engraved with extremely fine sensing Array Patterns—it did not reflect light under the cold light stone lamp, and when placed in a dark place, it could emit a very faint fluorescence from the Talisman core—it was the same light-emitting mechanism as that inside deep-sea jellyfish.

The Hidden Spirit Formation Plate was a dark copper circular plate with a diameter of less than half a foot—the array lines on the plate surface were at least twice as dense as a standard Formation Plate—when activated, it would release a low-frequency Spiritual Pressure interference—making the wearer's spiritual power fluctuations appear like background noise of rocks or stagnant water on scanning arrays.

The Protective Jade Talisman—the jade piece was only half a palm wide, less than half an inch thick—the jade quality was smooth and warm—it felt nearly twice as heavy in the hand as it looked—that was because the micro-sensing Array Patterns embedded in the jade quality were extremely dense.

"Three items—totaling five thousand three hundred points.

Deducted from your accumulated War Merits."

The old Quartermaster re-inserted the Gold-Inlaid Jade Token into the inspection Formation Plate—the point number on the Formation Plate jumped down a chunk—and then stabilized.

After the jump—the remaining point balance was still nearly seventy percent.

He pulled the jade token out of the Formation Plate—and pushed it back to Lu Changyuan.

When pushing—his fingers lingered on the stone desk for nearly a breath.

"Blue Moon Island—I haven't been there.

But your points—you should look at a few more pages of the fourth level catalog.

Some things—if you have enough points, exchange for more."

"It's enough."

Lu Changyuan put the three items into the inner pocket of his sleeve—pressing them on top of the ten sheets of paper stacked together.

The icy, smooth surface of the Protective Jade Talisman pressed against his arm through the paper layer—the micro-Array Patterns embedded in the jade quality were still slightly heating up even when not activated—that was the automatic response of the spiritual power sensing array after sensing the spiritual power fluctuations in his body.

He turned and walked out.

The old Quartermaster watched his back—closed the catalog again—and put it into the ironwood cabinet.

When the cabinet door closed—the old sword scar on the web of his left hand shimmered with a very faint waxy white light under the cold light stone lamp.

After leaving the command headquarters—the sky had already turned from the gray-blue of the morning to the grayish-white of the afternoon.

People were coming and going on the stone-paved roads of the Zhenhai Fortress inner city—military messengers riding spirit horses made very rapid hoofbeats on the stone road, runners wearing robes of various merchant guilds hurried back and forth between warehouses and the Pier, Foundation Establishment Stage Loose Cultivators sat on stone Piers by the street setting up stalls—spreading out various spirit Ores and Spiritual Plants salvaged from the Outer Sea in front of them.

Lu Changyuan did not immediately go to keep his appointment with Chu Yunfei.

He first went to the Inner Harbor East District 3—and circled around the berth directly under Elder Wei Changfeng.

Pier number thirty-six—it was still that location.

The wooden box on the Pier was still there—new cracks had been blown into the box surface by the sea breeze.

No one was watching this place.

He turned and walked back—traversed a neighborhood of low stone buildings along the stone road in the eastern district of the inner city—and stopped in front of an inconspicuous wooden door.

Pushing open the door—Chu Yunfei was sitting at the table.

On the table was a dark cyan wine jar.

The wine jar was not large—less than a foot and a half high, the mouth of the jar was sealed with a dense layer of Array Patterns—the lines of the Array Patterns were at least several times denser than ordinary Seal arrays.

At the end of every line, a tiny fragment of Spirit Stone was embedded—twelve fragments formed a circle, creating a closed-loop Seal.

The jar body was made of coarse pottery—the surface was unglazed, and it had a very fine granular feel to the touch.

The bottom of the jar body had a few fresh scuffs—as if it had been bumped on stone steps when being retrieved from a very deep storage room.

The coarse pottery dust on the edges of the scuffs was still there—not wiped away by anyone.

"Don't ask me where I got it."

Chu Yunfei pushed the wine jar forward half an inch.

He wore that smile peculiar to merchant guild brokers—the smile was restrained—but the slightly suppressed excitement in his eyes had already betrayed him—"Three-hundred-year-old Azure Sea Jade Liquid.

In the entire Zhenhai Fortress—this is probably the only jar left."

Lu Changyuan reached out and pressed on the sealing Array Patterns of the wine jar—the twelve Spirit Stone fragments of the Array Patterns simultaneously sensed his spiritual power fluctuations—and lit up with a very faint cyan cold light.

The Spiritual Pressure inside the jar body was permeating through the coarse pottery—his palm could feel a kind of warm, continuous low-frequency pulsation—like sticking his fingers into a shallow sea illuminated by moonlight.

"I had to bribe the old man in charge of the storage for three months before he let go."

Chu Yunfei fished out two coarse pottery cups from under the table—the cup rims had a tiny chip.

"I'll drink one small cup—you take the rest.

Don't be polite—if I drink too much of this stuff, I can't handle it."