He went out on a Sunday, when the market was at its fullest and most chaotic, and nobody paid him any attention.
It wasn't about buying. He couldn't afford anything in the spiritual district — the cultivator-facing section of the market where the real goods were sold.
But the system had been talking about spiritual tools and spiritual plants as a potential universe point conversion source, and before he could assess whether that was viable, he needed to understand what they actually cost.
The spiritual district was in the north end of the market, past the fabric stalls and the food vendors, behind an informal boundary marked by the quality of the awnings, which changed from patched canvas to oiled silk. The prices changed too — not posted, which was itself a kind of signal. If you were asking about the price, you probably couldn't afford it.
He walked through it slowly, looking.
A spirit stone, the basic unit of cultivation currency above copper coins, sat in a velvet case in the first stall: one spirit stone, thumbnail-sized, opaque white with a faint luminescence. He had to ask the price and the vendor's expression told him everything before the number did.
"Five hundred copper," the vendor said.
He nodded as though this was information he'd been expecting and moved on.
He passed a stall selling low-grade spiritual herbs — dried, processed, stamped with a provenance seal.
The cheapest herb on the display, a bundle of what the sign called River Reed Grass, was sixty copper.
The system identified it as a basic body refinement supplement that would provide minor cultivation support over several weeks — useful, but nothing dramatic.
{River Reed Grass converts at roughly 8 universe points per bundle,} the system offered. {At sixty copper per bundle, that is 7.5 copper per universe point. By comparison, a Level 2 beast hunt averages 12 universe points at zero copper cost and some physical risk. The math clearly favors hunting.}
"I know. I just wanted to see it for myself."
He moved deeper into the spiritual district. The tools got more interesting here — spatial rings in locked glass cases, formation flags bundled in sets of twelve, technique scrolls sealed with wax. A rank 2 technique scroll — one tier above his Mountain Shattering Fist — was selling for eight spirit stones.
He did not ask the vendor to clarify what eight spirit stones translated to in copper. He didn't need to.
{At your current earning rate of approximately five copper per day plus beast hunt proceeds,} the system calculated, {acquiring a rank 2 technique scroll through conventional means would take you—}
"Don't tell me."
{A long time,} the system said diplomatically.
"Good. I don't need one anyway. You can put the technique directly in my head."
{Through the Jobs category, yes. However, the Jobs category cannot provide combat techniques. Only occupational skills. The distinction is—}
"I know the distinction." He stopped at a stall selling something he didn't recognize — a shallow dish of dark liquid with a small flame floating on its surface, burning without fuel. "What is this?"
The vendor, an elderly woman with silver needle earrings and the particular kind of patience that came from having answered this question a thousand times, said: "Soul fire concentrate. For formation work. Burns off spiritual residue."
He looked at it for a moment longer than was probably normal.
"How much?"
"Twelve copper for the vial."
He bought it, not because he needed it but because he had twelve copper and the system had been hinting at formation arrays for weeks and this was the first formation-related material he'd seen at a price he could reach.
He walked home with the vial in his pocket and looked up at the city around him — the walls, the rooftops, the Spirit Sect compound visible over the northern building.
{Twelve copper well spent,} the system said.
"I think so," Jelani agreed.