Lin Zeyu, seeing the bracelet on Su Muyu's wrist, suddenly jumped up and said, "I almost forgot. I have to go now, can't miss the chance to make big money. I need to go back and buy up Engraving Materials."
He said this and rushed out the door, pulling out his phone to call the company executives. While waiting for the elevator, he shouted:
"Buy up all the Engraving Materials; don't worry about the price, just get them all—regardless of Attribute, regardless of quality, I want everything. Sweep them all up."
He had already made big money twice, from quenching materials to forging materials.
However, in recent months, earning from material acquisitions hadn't been as aggressive as before.
After all, other syndicates weren't foolish. Following the price surges in quenching materials, when it came to forging materials, many syndicates also joined in sweeping the goods.
This time with Engraving Materials, the competition would only be fiercer.
Especially now that all major syndicates were keeping an eye on the movements of the Flame Emblem; essentially, any movement from the Flame Emblem, those syndicates would be the first to respond.
To avoid the attention of these syndicates, Lin Zeyu started acquiring materials covertly.
Even so, within less than three days, the prices of Engraving Materials had begun to skyrocket, basically changing every day.
After returning, Lu Heng and Su Muyu both went home to spend a couple of days with their parents. The two families lived close by and would have dinner together.
In her spare time, Su Muyu would take up her Engraving Pen to carve, initially starting with stones.
She discovered that carving stones also earned her experience towards the Apprentice Rune Master Vice Profession, although it was slow.
Lu Heng took her to Quenching Castle to practice her Engraver skills and had Lin Zeyu bring over the first batch of Engraving Materials they had acquired.
Lin Zeyu came holding two suitcases and complained, "You don't know, those buyers are like crazy. Whatever I buy, they buy; and they pay more, just like beasts."
He opened the two cases and said, "I've acquired a batch of Engraving Materials, but the cost wasn't low. I estimate the prices will still rise."
Hearing this, Lu Heng chuckled and said, "If others mindlessly follow trends in acquisitions, then I can shear them till their minds boggle."
Lin Zeyu's eyes lit up, "Exactly. Whatever I buy, these tycoons buy the same, I could acquire cheaply, then sell to these fools at high prices. But what should I use to shear these beasts?"
"There are many options, like batteries from Cyber World or Black Iron Ore from the Abyss World, either would work." Lu Heng suggested two options.
Batteries from Cyber World, if placed on the Wasteland Planet of Sikes Civilization, could be considered a hard currency and used directly as a high-value item.
On Blue Star, there were also quite a number of Cyber World batteries.
After all, these batteries had higher energy storage and efficiency than those produced by humans, much better.
A brick-sized Cyber battery holds more total energy storage than the whole battery of a new energy vehicle on Blue Star.
Therefore, many Superpower Users bring over Cyber batteries to retrofit existing new energy vehicles.
Given only the functional values of Cyber batteries, they held a notable market.
Since Cyber batteries could only be obtained from the Abyss Battlefield, their prices were relatively high.
Lin Zeyu curiously asked, "Cyber batteries are pretty expensive now, can we really shear those syndicates with those? And, won't their prices really skyrocket in the future?"
Lu Heng reminded, "We've provided the Academy of Sciences with battery technology, and it's one of the most practical technologies among those feasible for human use, a key project supported by the state.
"So, our human battery technology will rapidly improve, and while there will still be some difference compared to Cyber batteries, that gap will continuously narrow, and the pace will be fast.
"Another thing, you should know, whatever we in Da Xia can manufacture, even if it's the crown jewel of industry, will eventually plummet in price and drive those who only produce the jewels into a corner."
Lin Zeyu gave a thumbs-up, "Got it, Cyber batteries will definitely drop in price. I'll start acquiring them and shear those syndicates hard, let them keep an eye on me all day."
In a few words, the two had already plotted out a "cunning plan" to shear the wealth of the syndicates.
While the two were plotting, Su Muyu was focused on sorting the Engraving Materials.
All the materials were piled together, unsorted by Attribute or quality, which would make them difficult to find when needed.
She sorted them all, neatly organizing them into small boxes.
Seeing her almost done with sorting, Lu Heng said, "Use these materials for your Vice Profession skills, use them vigorously. The gemstones produced by the engravings could be tested for sale, and if you can break even, that's ideal. If there's a loss, it doesn't matter, first boost your Vice Profession, later the gains will increase."
Engravers and Quenching Masters were not quite the same.
Quenching Masters could take custom orders, letting clients provide materials.
Engravers mostly had to spend money to acquire materials and consume them to boost skills.
So, Engravers were more costly in the early stages.
"Okay, I'll try to keep the income and expenses balanced," said Su Muyu with much determination.
Accustomed to frugality, the idea of spending to boost skills still felt painful to her.
Thus, in her spare time these days, she was contemplating how to boost her Engraver skills in the most cost-effective manner.
Within the community of Superpower Users, the most expensive were always the offensive weapons, equipment, skills, gemstones.
Whether they performed well in practice didn't matter, anything related to offense was absurdly expensive.
Therefore, these days Su Muyu was practicing inscribing engravings that enhanced the power of attributes like Flames, Thunder, Shadow, and more.
Once she had sorted the materials, she picked them up and said, "Well, I'll find a place to get to work."
"Go ahead. I need to talk to Master Gulu about Forging Weapons."
Lu Heng then got up, carrying the Purgatory Sub-Dragon Horn and other Forging Materials, to discuss the three-forging plan for the Aurora Blade with Master Gulu.