-What kind of soul is this?- Ringo asked curiously, using his evolutionary energy to sense each soul and stopping at a specific one.
A white crystal with a brown figure inside, resembling a humanoid, was waving its arms around.
-Titan Monkey, that's the name I gave it.- Bradd glanced at it and said. -I got it from a mercenary group who was tasked with dealing with the awakening of the ancient gods. I don't even know if there are others like him in the galaxy.
Ringo knew what the Awakening of the Ancient Gods was, they were powerful figures who slept for so long that people forgot about them, perhaps even before any civilization existed. Then one day these creatures would awaken out of nowhere and destroy everything around them.
Most of the time, their intention wasn't even to destroy, they simply got up and walked around, hunted for food, and went on with their lives. Most intelligent beings were so small that they barely filled their teeth, it was like expecting to see a lion crouching down in an anthill to eat.
Unfortunately, coexistence was mostly impossible, either the "ancient gods" died out or destroyed the current civilization, greatly hindering the development of intelligent creatures on a planet.
This titan ape was probably the first case where a civilization paid someone to deal with it. They were lucky to be able to connect with the galaxy and ask for help, some less developed civilizations don't even have that luck.
Ringo sensed the tremendous power of this guy, a soul like that would be great for Pugilists. Ringo looked at Eva and handed her the crystal. Eva glanced at it, interested. Looking at the titan monkey, she didn't have any connection with it like Hila did, but seeing that Ringo had chosen it for her, it must be a good thing, so she nodded with a smile.
Ringo continued to look at the crystals, there weren't many, only a few dozen, but each one was extremely valuable, to the point that Bradd kept them carefully guarded under lock and key.
Those compatible with his bow were even fewer.
Finally, after looking at them all, Ringo picked up one of the crystals that was crystalline with something that looked like an octopus moving its tentacles as if it were swimming through the crystal. Without needing to ask, Bradd spoke. - This is not an animal soul, although it looks like one, but a natural soul, it belonged to a water elemental, if you want to use this, the bow will tend towards the water attribute.
Ringo didn't care much, he only chose it because it was the strongest compatible soul. Although there was a plant attribute soul, it was much weaker than this water attribute soul.
-Okay.- Ringo agreed.
Bradd retrieved the unchosen crystals and began to think, asking Ringo for some materials he had and selling others he needed, of course, the selling price had not yet been set.
Bradd started calculating everything, but he didn't ask for money as payment, he wasn't very interested in money. But this time, Ringo had to pay 50 kg of Maktru and 100 kg of Grade A void bones, that was worth both the materials and the production fee.
But while Ringo had a sour face, Ames prevented him from paying.
She looked at Ringo with calm eyes, then turned to Bradd and took something out of her space bag.
Ringo was stunned, but Bradd, on the other hand, stared at the smooth gray stone in a perfect circle. There were several runes around it, yet Ringo's pupils contracted violently. He felt his precognition vibrating like crazy, this was extremely dangerous for him, very dangerous indeed.
Ames placed the sphere on Bradd's workbench, the old man already staring at it in shock.
-Is that a planetary cornerstone?!- Bradd asked in shock, taking a step back.
Even Aesop's eyes widened as he looked at it, though he didn't move.
Ringo was confused. - What is this?
Ames didn't answer, nor did the shocked Bradd, it was Aesop who spoke. - The core of a planet, literally.
Ringo, Hila, and Eva were confused, this didn't look like the core of a planet as they knew it.
Aesop foresaw their confusion and spoke. - Some planets with extreme gravity have different cores, this is one of them, it looks like just a small sphere the size of a chicken egg, but it is contained by magical inscriptions, if this thing were released, this planet would have become a crust around this core so quickly that no one here would last more than a second, only Ames could survive, the mass of a planet formed by this thing is ridiculous, the gravity is even greater.
Ames shrugged. -I found it while training across the Galaxy, wandering through the universe. My ship was destroyed because of it. I got furious and destroyed the planet. This thing was inside. Austin helped me seal it.
The group stared at her, speechless. For a moment, no one knew what to say.
-This is very precious.- Bradd shook his head, not daring to accept it, even if this thing had only a few uses for him, if he sold it to a universal civilization, he could buy several entire secondary dimensions.
Ames shrugged, unconcerned, she only kept it as a memento, she didn't care about it, but Bradd still refused.
In the end, Ames let Ringo pay, and she handed the angular planetary core to Ringo. Ringo looked at it like a ticking time bomb, but he still appreciated Ames' gesture. Swallowing hard, he put the item away.
This thing, despite seeming useless, could be very useful someday. Although its effect is limited against a Grade S enemy, if Ringo breaks the runes and teleports away, this thing would be no less powerful than a galactic-level weapon, it could decimate an entire enemy space fleet at once.