After entering Winters Tower, Ryan immediately felt as though he had stepped into an entirely different world.
The spacious, brightly lit grand hall was decorated with luxurious furnishings that blended perfectly with its antique architectural style. The entire place was magnificent and elegant, exuding an extraordinary sense of grandeur.
Row after row of transparent glass counters displayed a dazzling variety of treasures, including pills of different tiers, combat artifacts, cultivation techniques, combat skills, and numerous other valuable resources.
The pills on display were mostly First-Tier and Second-Tier, while the other treasures were primarily Profound Tier. Each item was meticulously packaged in exquisite jade bottles or ornate boxes, making them appear even more valuable.
Ryan’s gaze swept across the hall.
At this moment, the areas surrounding the various counters were bustling with activity. Numerous beautiful and amiable young women patiently explained the functions and effects of different treasures to the visiting guests.
From time to time, guests could be seen approaching the counters to discuss prices, negotiate purchases, or inquire about the treasures in detail.
The entire first floor was lively and bustling. A moment later, Ryan followed Elena up a wide wooden staircase to the second floor.
At a glance, the layout and decorations here were quite similar to those on the first floor.
However, the treasures displayed in the counters were completely different.
Third-Tier pills. And even then, there weren’t many of them.
Seeing this, Ryan couldn’t help but narrow his eyes slightly.
If even Winters Tower displayed such a small quantity of Third-Tier pills, it was obvious that pills of this tier and above were extremely rare in Ashfall City.
As his gaze continued across the floor, he noticed several counters displaying scattered Spirit Rank combat artifacts, along with a pitifully small number of other high-tier treasures.
They seemed to be displayed alongside the Third-Tier pills as the primary commodities of the second floor.
Ryan also knew a little about the classification of combat artifacts.
They were primarily divided into four major tiers:
[Profound Tier]
[Spirit Rank]
[Earth Tier]
[Heaven Tier]
Each major tier was further divided into four grades:
Low Grade, Medium Grade, High Grade, and Top Grade.
However, when Ryan casually glanced at the prices of some of the treasures, he couldn’t help but secretly gasp.
The prices were simply terrifying. A single Spirit Rank Low Grade combat artifact could actually sell for more than thirty to forty thousand Low-Grade Origin Stones!
That was more than a hundred times the price of the Profound Tier Low Grade artifacts displayed on the first floor.
And these weren’t even ordinary fixed-price sales.
Instead, they were being sold through a sealed-bid auction system.
A plaque beside one of the artifacts clearly stated the rules:
With a Winters Token, the highest bidder within one week wins.
This made it obvious that Spirit Rank Low Grade and higher combat artifacts were extremely sought-after resources in Ashfall City.
There was clearly far more demand than supply.
The number of guests on the second floor was also noticeably lower than on the first.
Only a few scattered Bloodline Fighters could be seen browsing the counters, and from the auras they inadvertently revealed, each one appeared to be considerably stronger than the average customer downstairs.
"The second floor is the VIP area of the Winters Family. The floors above the third are not currently open to the public."
Seemingly sensing Ryan’s curiosity, Elena explained with a smile.
"Besides selling a small quantity of Third-Tier pills, the second floor also sells some Spirit Rank treasures. These treasures are extremely rare in Ashfall City, so purchasing them requires a Winters Token."
"Without one, you don’t even have the qualification to participate in the bidding."
"So that’s how it is." Ryan nodded calmly.
On the surface, he maintained a composed expression, deliberately trying not to reveal any nervousness or awkwardness.
But inwardly, his heart had tightened..The barrier to obtaining these Third-Tier pills and Spirit Rank treasures was truly high.
It seemed that in Ashfall City, high-end cultivation resources were firmly controlled by a select number of powerful forces.
Even if one possessed abundant Origin Stones, that alone wasn’t enough.
One also needed sufficient strength, status, and influence to gain access to these resources.
Money could buy many things, but in this world, money alone wasn’t always enough.
...
As soon as she finished speaking, Elena had already led Ryan into a spacious VIP room.
The room’s layout was relatively simple, but intricate energy patterns continuously flowed across the walls, appearing and disappearing like faint ripples. It was obvious that special formations had been inscribed throughout the room, providing excellent soundproofing and privacy.
A redwood Eight Immortals Table stood in the center, with several intricately carved dragon chairs arranged neatly around it. The simple yet imposing furnishings gave the room an understated sense of grandeur.
"Sir Ryan, please have a seat."
Elena walked to one side of the Eight Immortals Table and gestured toward the guest seat opposite her.
"Alright." Ryan didn’t stand on ceremony. He pulled out one of the carved dragon chairs and sat down.
When he had first entered Winters Tower, Ryan had felt somewhat uneasy.
However, as Elena led him through the building, he had seen countless guests browsing various treasures, while the display counters were filled with goods priced at hundreds or even thousands of Low-Grade Origin Stones.
After seeing so many treasures and astronomical prices, he had gradually become numb to them.
This was his first time visiting a place like this, so feeling somewhat awkward was inevitable.
But since he was already here, he might as well make the most of it.
He was here to conduct a legitimate business transaction.
With the exquisite products produced by the Creation Furnace, there was no reason for him to doubt the quality of his pills. As long as the pills themselves were valuable, he didn’t need to be overly nervous or feel inferior.
He certainly couldn’t allow others to look down on him.
More importantly, if his nervousness caused him to behave timidly during the negotiations and allowed the other party to heavily suppress the price, it could directly affect the valuation of his pills.
That would be disastrous.
Thinking of this, Ryan quickly calmed himself.
At this point, he had only one goal in mind:
Sell the pills, obtain his first substantial amount of capital, and return home to properly digest everything he had seen today.
"May I ask what other pills Sir Ryan intends to sell this time?"
Elena sat down as well, looking at Ryan with a gentle smile as she asked directly.
"Not many. Just three."
Having already calmed his mind, Ryan didn’t waste any words. He reached into his clothes and pulled out a piece of old, yellowish cloth, spreading it across the table.
Then, one by one, he placed the three pills on it before gently pushing them toward Elena.
One Origin Power Pill, one Blood Circulation Pill, and one Healing Pill.
’Uh... They were all First-Tier pills.’
Witnessing the three pills, Elena’s expression remained unchanged on the surface, but a hint of disappointment flashed through her heart.
She had expected Ryan to bring out something of a higher tier.
However, the moment she looked at the pills again, she suddenly felt that something wasn’t quite right.
She narrowed her eyes and carefully examined them.
The next moment, her pupils contracted. A sharp gleam flashed through her eyes, accompanied by an unmistakable trace of shock.
’This is...’ Elena forcibly suppressed her surprise, wondering if she had simply seen incorrectly.
She immediately pulled the three pills closer. Using two fingers of her right hand, she carefully picked them up one after another and placed each in her left palm, examining them with extreme concentration.
"This... How is this possible?!" Even Elena, who had remained composed throughout their entire interaction, couldn’t maintain her calm any longer.
Her beautiful face was filled with shock.
"They’re all flawless First-Tier Top Grade pills!"
She had originally expected Ryan to bring out some higher-tier pills, yet to her surprise, all three were merely First-Tier.
She already knew that one of them was a First-Tier Top Grade Origin Power Pill, which was why she had felt slightly disappointed at first.
But she had never expected that after carefully examining the other two, she would discover that they were also Top Grade pills of exactly the same quality.
And that wasn’t even the most astonishing part.
These three pills were even more perfect than the countless pills Elena had appraised throughout her years managing Winters Tower.
They were so perfect that they almost seemed unnatural.
There wasn’t a single visible flaw. Their purity was astonishing, and their medicinal energy was perfectly restrained.
It was almost as though they hadn’t been refined by an alchemist at all, but had instead been naturally formed by the heavens themselves.
This was a Masterpiece!
A Masterpiece referred to an exceptionally perfect pill whose purity and medicinal quality surpassed even the ordinary standards of Top Grade pills.
For Low Grade pills, the difference might not be particularly obvious. After all, the efficacy of ordinary pills at that level was relatively similar.
But for higher-tier pills, the significance was completely different.
Only pills that reached the Masterpiece standard possessed an extremely small chance of giving birth to a rare existence known as a Pill Spirit.
A Pill Spirit was a sentient being with relatively low intelligence.
Its greatest function was to allow the pill to passively absorb the Origin energy in its surroundings.
In other words, a perfect pill possessing a Pill Spirit wouldn’t simply retain its medicinal efficacy indefinitely like an ordinary pill.
It could actually continue absorbing Origin energy from its surroundings and gradually increase its own potency.
The longer such a pill was stored, the more profound its medicinal properties would become.
Its pill fragrance would grow richer, and its effects would become stronger.
If enough time passed, some exceptionally fortunate pills could even spontaneously advance to a higher tier.
It was nothing short of miraculous. Elena was completely astonished.
’This is truly absurd. Since when had Top Grade pills become so common?’
These were Top Grade pills!
They were absolute hot commodities among Bloodline Fighters, and even Winters Tower had only a limited supply of them.
Yet all three pills in front of her had reached the Masterpiece standard.
Although none of them had given birth to a Pill Spirit, meaning their immediate value was still roughly comparable to ordinary Top Grade pills, the fact that they had reached such an astonishing level of purity was already extraordinary.
Even setting the Masterpiece quality aside, ordinary Top Grade pills would be immediately snapped up the moment they were placed on the market.
One or two wouldn’t be particularly strange. But three appearing at the same time was another matter entirely.
Elena had managed Winters Tower for many years, so she understood this better than most.
The Top Grade refinement rate of First-Tier pills was already pitifully low; roughly one percent.
As for higher-tier pills, the difficulty of successfully forming a pill was already extremely high.
The probability of producing a Top Grade pill was naturally even lower.
Moreover, pills could generally be divided into two broad categories based on their effects.
Energy-type pills, such as Origin Power Pills, could be consumed repeatedly to improve one’s strength and cultivation. Normally, the body wouldn’t develop resistance to them, allowing them to be consumed indefinitely.
Functional pills were different. If consumed repeatedly, the body would gradually develop a certain degree of resistance, reducing the effectiveness of subsequent doses.
And the more powerful the medicinal effect, the stronger this resistance tended to be.
Some pills with extraordinarily powerful effects could even only be consumed once in a lifetime.
Because of this, when it came to pills of the same tier, the higher the grade, the better.
A Top Grade pill could provide superior effects with fewer doses, making it the optimal choice for Bloodline Fighters.
As a result, Top Grade pills of every tier were highly sought after and were often difficult to obtain.
Elena’s thoughts raced.
The only reasonable explanation was that Ryan, or rather, the powerful force behind him, had deliberately selected the best pills from a much larger batch for sale.
Perhaps the slightly inferior pills had been kept for their own consumption, while these Masterpiece-grade Top Grade pills had been chosen specifically because they were the most valuable.
Otherwise... How could she explain this?
Three First-Tier pills. All Top Grade. All Masterpieces. Not a single Low Grade, Medium Grade, or High Grade pill. A 100% Top Grade rate?!
This... It simply didn’t conform to common sense!