The evolution for draconic scale armor was similarly as painful, just that it was accompanied by intense itching all over his limbs.
He barely stopped himself from dragging nails across skin like a man itching to become a flesh confetti.
When it finally settled, Kaizen stood in front of the mirror, inspecting himself again.
Crimson scales traced only his arms and legs, layered like living armor. The smallest were 0.5 cm. Most sat between 1–2 cm, overlapping in tight symmetry, small enough to flex as muscle shifted beneath.
Near the outer forearms, elbows, knees, and shins, the scales widened deliberately to 2–2.5 cm, reinforced plates clearly meant to take impact.
The scales were matte, deep red, catching light only on raised ridges.
He then went on to test various parameters, just like his eyes. Suffice to say, it was an overall improvement without compromising on flexibility like he feared.
Similar to eyes, he could hide them without much effort, and a percentage of enhancement would stick through.
It's good I booked this room for privacy.
He thought, while locking the door behind him.
First, he had been able to scream to his heart's content without alerting anyone. Second, the evolution itself was not exactly subtle, even without the screaming.
He couldn't open his eyes when they were being evolved, but he did instead witness the scale armor evolution.
Streams of energy in the shape of white clouds had been emitted by the Fragment of Heaven.
They were absorbed into his limbs. However, the problem was that he could very well see them and sense them.
That energy was a bit like Qi, but also not Qi.
In his almost a century of experience, the only other energy apart from Qi he had witnessed was law energy, the one used by awakened abilities.
If others saw this completely new energy, one could only imagine what would happen to him.
Dying would be the least of his concerns.
After leaving the hotel, he headed towards the market to buy the items for the simple arm brace.
The currency was simple. The base value was a spirit coin, or commonly termed as SC. Above that was the Celestial Note, or CN. 10000 SC was equal to 1 CN.
CN was held in a large quantity and issued only by major powers like the churches and the Cosmic University.
Yes, the latter had already managed to carve a place for itself among the churches despite not possessing a high end combat power like churches, who had gods.
Adrian, the fourth prince, had given him 15000 SC.
For comparison, the minimum cost of a Human type cultivation skill was 8000 SC.
Creations of Common grade like his sword, healing pills, and light body armor had a floor price of 2000 SC.
After buying those things, he only had about 5000 SC left.
As for the monsters, their complete corpse could be sold at 5 SC for unranked ones, and 50 for rank 1.
Selling parts rather than the whole corpse reduced the value. That fraction depended on the importance of the parts.
As he wandered the market, he gradually pieced together the general price of materials for artifact creation.
It was approximately 10 for one for Common grade materials. Obviously, one couldn't create with just one material though. An average of 4-5 were used.
Therefore, he would have to spend around 50 SC for one set.
Generously, he spent 1000 SC and bought 20 sets of raw materials. He had no experience after all.
Even if I successfully make one simple arm brace, I will be in profit.
From what he had seen, there was no such artifact as a simple arm brace in the market of this empire.
Therefore it would obviously not sell for the minimum cost of 2000 SC.
Just when he had entered the market, Phil, who had been following him from afar approached him as if he had just received a message.
Kaizen waited patiently.
Some imperial family group chat announcement?
He'd learned the phrase from the second world's memories, a world ruled by screens and machinery, where people believed tapping glass solved problems faster than swords ever could.
This newfound knowledge offered no strength or rank, at least not yet. But it did give him a fresh arsenal of insults.
"Your highness the fifth prince, the fourth prince has called you nearby in a room he has booked temporarily. He wishes to have a small talk with you.
"He says it is regarding your future."
Kaizen agreed without much thought. A small talk wouldn't take more than half an hour. He could certainly spare that much.
"Very well, lead the way."
A few minutes later, he found himself face to face with his elder brother, familiar and serene as ever, propped near the window, with one hand resting on a crutch.
"How have you been? I heard you met our mother?"
Kaizen nodded.
"I'm doing good. You should certainly know that given how you've put your men around me. And yes, I met mother, and I didn't ask for any help."
It would be weird if you didn't know I went to the voyeurs' place.
Adrian coughed into his fist and spoke with his signature smile and even voice even after being taunted by Kaizen.
"My dear little brother, why taunt me? You very well know how far they normally are from you. Your privacy is safe with you. The most they know is your location.
"But if your location happens to coincide with that of a market, a brothel, or other places of questionable decision making, one can have a general idea of what you're doing. It has nothing to do with your privacy being breached.
"If you want, I can withdraw my men. You should already have gained sufficient understanding of the world in these few days."
Kaizen instantly knew that Adrian was pointing at the fact that he shouldn't blame the guards for knowing that his location happened to coincide with voyeurs.
He replied politely.
"Yes, please withdraw your men, but give me your contact so I can notify you in case something happens or I need some help."
Having proposed the idea, Adrian agreed easily, and changed the topic.
"Do you want to enroll into the Cosmic University?"