101: Counting the Harvest

With a good amount of star cores in his possession, he wasn't too concerned about Chu Xinnian's offer.

Seeing this, Chu Xinnian knew the news was true; this kid had definitely harvested a large batch of star cores.

He needed to find another way.

"What do you need, little brother? Just name it. As long as this matter can be resolved, anything is negotiable," Chu Xinnian said, feeling a headache coming on.

Lin Ye thought for a moment, then said,

"Those who attacked me should be punished as they deserve. I will not agree to pardon them, including their accomplices."

Chu Xinnian frowned; this was not good news.

"However, I can agree to speak out and salvage some of Yuanyang Development's reputation, as long as you make a good offer."

Lin Ye drew a clear line; there was no need to attribute the hatred of a small group to an entire company.

Chu Xinnian breathed a sigh of relief and felt a bit of goodwill towards Lin Ye. His main purpose in coming was to recover the loss of reputation.

As for the employees, if he could save them, he naturally would lend a hand, but if not, it didn't matter.

There were plenty of people who wanted to join Yuanyang Development.

The two discussed the relevant matters.

Since the resolution was not as thorough as a complete private settlement, the price offered by Yuanyang Development was not as generous.

Lin Ye mainly requested scarce resources; he wasn't short on money now.

A rare Star Level ability seed and one unit of top-grade neutral star core.

Unfortunately, Chu Xinnian did not agree; he couldn't produce a top-grade neutral star core.

After some negotiation, they finally settled on two rare Star Level ability seeds and a property in Sky City as compensation.

Property in Sky City was many times more expensive than in the Star Realm.

Anyway, this 400-square-meter property alone cost 50 billion.

Afterward, when the media interviewed Lin Ye, he stated, as per the Contract, that it had nothing to do with Yuanyang Development, but rather that their team leader had become greedy upon seeing his wealth and harbored ill intentions.

Although Yuanyang Development's reputation was not fully restored, it improved significantly.

Chu Xinnian finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After handling the legal procedures, media interviews, and so on, Lin Ye finally relaxed.

It was time to tally his gains.

Lin Ye laid out protective mats in his new property and released huge black stones one by one from his spatial storage.

The outside world already knew he had harvested a batch of black stones, and many buyers had proactively contacted him, though they weren't sure exactly how much he had obtained.

Lin Ye himself wasn't entirely clear about his harvest either, as many of the black stones were still encased in rock that needed to be polished away.

Lin Ye hummed a tune as he polished each black stone, removing the rocky protective layer to reveal the true black stone.

The black stones were beautiful, like black onyx, yet even more dazzling.

Polishing took a lot of effort, but Lin Ye was unwearied.

Each one he cleaned meant billions in hand.

The dream of counting money until his hands cramped had come true.

It took a full three days to finish polishing all the black stones, even with the help of machines.

1468 units of medium-grade black stones, 164 units of high-grade black stones.

He was rich, so rich!

One unit of medium-grade star core averaged 1 billion, while high-grade was 10 billion, and often unavailable on the market.

What a massive windfall!

This wave brought in a direct 3 trillion.

Lin Ye's brain short-circuited a bit.

Damn it!

His first wave of sudden immense wealth had arrived unexpectedly.

The only problem now was how to sell them.

star cores were in high demand and short supply, so there was no worry about sales, but simply exchanging them for money would be foolish, an extreme waste.

Bartering was the best way to trade top-tier resources.

He added all the buyers to a large group chat.

He got straight to the point, saying, "Selling medium-grade and high-grade black stones. Only exchangeable for top-grade neutral star cores. First come, first served."

"Lin Ye, are there no other exchange methods? I can offer a 50% premium."

"So much wealth! How many black stones do you have for trade this time?"

"Can high-grade neutral star cores work? I have a lot of star diamonds here."

"I do have some, but what's the exchange ratio?"

The group chat was buzzing.

After Lin Ye emphasized that he only wanted top-grade neutral star cores, many people fell silent, scrambling to activate their connections to see who had them.

Neutral star cores were common, much more so than other attributes, so their price was relatively lower.

When Lin Ye set the exchange ratio to a decimal system, the group became even more excited.

The price was quite fair. Although neutral star cores were cheaper, high-quality exchanges for lower-quality often came with a premium, so overall, it was very reasonable.

While Lin Ye was busy with all this, he didn't expect the Star Realm Administration to directly contact him.

"Comrade Lin Ye, our bureau has many of the star cores you need. Can we exchange them for a batch of black stones with you?"

Lin Ye readily agreed.

The Star Realm Administration, true to its official status, directly produced seventeen units of top-grade neutral star cores—star stones.

These were the rewards Lin Ye received from the racial battles.

The Mohe Clan rewarded him with one, and the Alliance rewarded him with another.

He exchanged them for one thousand units of medium-grade black stones and seventy units of high-grade black stones.

Remaining: 468 medium-grade black stones, 94 high-grade black stones.

He then traded another batch with the buyers in the group, and the remaining black stones were mostly depleted within seven days.

This brought him 31 star stones.

The remaining eight units of medium-grade black stones in his possession were also exchanged by buyers for rare ability seeds.

Adding the two he already had, he now possessed 33 star stones.

What a huge harvest!

There was no fixed amount of star cores required to break through to the Star Level.

It gradually increased based on the ability's quality and proficiency.

The more consumed and the higher the grade of star core used, the stronger the core after breakthrough and the higher the physical amplification.

Most people needed about 100 star cores for a breakthrough.

But Lin Ye felt he needed far more than that.

It was a long and arduous journey.

To break through to the Star Level, if one didn't spend a fortune, buying low-grade star cores for 10 billion would suffice. But if one pursued the extreme, like Lin Ye, it would require at least 10 trillion.

Terrifying!

Lin Ye wasn't sure if he could gather enough. If he couldn't do it himself, then he could only rely on the country.

He would pursue the path of extremity no matter what.

Even if it meant taking on loans or having some freedom restricted, it didn't matter.

Both of those could be regained, but the path of extremity could not be redone.

........

After all this, it was time to make new plans.

He needed to arrange his subsequent itinerary.

For now, White Stone City was out of the question.

His legend filled that place.

Hiding his identity was useless; there weren't many six-stage cultivators, and he'd be recognized at a glance.

Traveling to other cities in the Star Realm for training followed similar logic.

Lin Ye went to White Stone City to handle some matters and sold his property.

Upon hearing that Lin Ye had lived there, the buyer directly offered a premium, purchasing it for 300,000 gold coins, which was 3 billion.

Lin Ye hadn't expected to earn a sum just from his fan effect.

Hmm, very good.

Reputation truly was a good thing.

He didn't plan on traveling aimlessly for now; he would first focus on breaking through to the seventh stage.