Chapter 63: The Inn - A New Feature of the Tier-1 Market
Although a sense of urgency lingered in his heart, Song Chi quickly shifted his attention back to the Heavens Market itself. He remained profoundly curious about the changes it had undergone following its advancement.
Previously, due to his preoccupation with the demonic mark, he had merely glanced over it briefly. Even so, he clearly remembered that a brand-new trait had been added to the Market's attribute panel. That single addition alone was enough to make anyone's heart itch with anticipation.
Re-opening the Market's attribute panel, Song Chi began to examine the changes in detail.
Glancing past the first three columns, his gaze landed on the specifications.
After advancing to Tier 1, the area of the Heavens Market directly soared to a specification of 1,000 meters by 1,000 meters. Along with this, the number of shops increased to 50, the stall area expanded to 200 meters by 200 meters, and even the inn—whose utility he had never been able to figure out—changed from one story to two. These were undoubtedly all good news.
The expansion of the Market's area not only meant that every future trading session could accommodate more living beings, but it also equated to a further increase in the volume of Song Chi’s private super storage space, allowing him to store a greater quantity of supplies moving forward.
To this end, Song Chi specifically used the power of laws to partition a 20-meter by 20-meter enclosed area within the stall district.
This enclosed space would serve as the exclusive storage location for the floating land mining carts and the various resources they collected from then on. This way, every time he opened the Market, he would no longer have to headache over where to store the floating land mining vehicles and the various resources gathered from different price differentials.
This area was sufficient to store a massive amount of items, and even when completely vacant, it was large enough to house the *Firmament*, which had already advanced into a Psionic Airship.
Near the stall district on the central street of the Market stood a two-story inn. Prior to this, Song Chi had explored the functions of this building multiple times, but all to no avail.
Aside from discovering that each guest room possessed a slight mental recovery acceleration effect, it had no other functions.
This time, Song Chi walked into the inn once again. The reason he had regained interest in the establishment was not because of the increased number of guest rooms after the Market's advancement, but because he discovered that the 51 guest rooms were not evenly distributed across the two floors.
The first floor boasted a full 50 rooms, whereas the second floor had a pitifully single room. This discovery left him quite puzzled.
Soon, the 50 guest rooms on the first floor were checked one by one. They were no different from before, leaving him with no choice but to step up to the second floor.
The moment he arrived on the second floor, Song Chi made an unexpected discovery.
As it turned out, there was not just one guest room on the second floor. Following the corridor as he looked ahead, ten identical doors were clearly visible, indicating that the actual number of guest rooms on this floor was ten.
It was just that only one of them was currently open, while the other nine were blocked and sealed by a mysterious wall of air, remaining locked. Even he, the master of the Market, was shut out.
His gaze shifted as various speculations flashed through his mind. Ultimately, he concluded that unlocking the remaining nine guest rooms would likely have to wait for subsequent upgrades of the Heavens Market.
As for whether the specific functions of these guest rooms differed from those on the first floor, he would have to experience them personally to find out.
With this thought, he pushed open the door of the single accessible guest room before him. The instant his feet crossed the threshold, an inexplicable realization suddenly arose in his heart.
This second-floor guest room was completely different from the ones on the first floor!
He had no idea where this sensation came from, but after a moment of bewilderment, his attention quickly shifted away from the matter, as his gaze was now captivated by a bronze-colored token suspended in the exact center of the room.
The secret realm laws of the Heavens Market under his control gave no warning of danger, so Song Chi reached out directly and grabbed the bronze token.
The moment his palm touched the token, all the information regarding it instantly surfaced in his mind. Not only that, but the details of the guest room beneath his feet were also completely revealed to his consciousness.
[Name: Market Guest Token]
[Affiliation: Heavens Market (Song Chi)]
[Uses Remaining: 1/1]
[Effect: Living beings who obtain this Guest Token, regardless of where they are in the Shattered Star Sea, can actively activate the token by consuming one use, provided they have the consent of the Market Master. Upon activation, the token will teleport the user into the exclusive "Guest Room" and grant them the authority to stay for 24 hours. Once they voluntarily return or the stay duration expires, the activator and the token will be teleported back together to their original location prior to entering the Market.]
[Introduction: A derivative product born from the Heavens Market, possessing miraculous capabilities.]
[Note: The number of token uses can only be replenished by the Master of the Heavens Market.]
[Note 2: The Master of the Heavens Market holds the authority to reclaim the token at any time.]
"A Market Guest Token..."
Murmuring softly, a brilliant light flashed in the depths of Song Chi's eyes, and his heartbeat accelerated continuously.
Judging by the description on the attribute panel, the actual value of this Market Guest Token would undoubtedly surpass all imagination. It allowed other living beings to enter the Heavens Market multiple times rather than relying on elusive luck. This single point alone would cause those living beings who had experienced the convenience and value of the Heavens Market to flock to it like ducks to water.
Similarly, he, the Market Master, could also leverage this to reap even greater benefits.
To give a simple example, if he had this gadget a little over a month ago, he could have handed this token to "Gore" before the second market trading session concluded, granting him the qualification to enter the Market again in the future.
Through this, he could have had Gore collect even more Deepwater Clam Pearls for him—those of a millennium's age or even higher, or perhaps even the rare and coveted "Mermaid's Tears."
At this thought, Song Chi let out a soft sigh. This Market Guest Token had arrived a bit too late.
Aquatic Star Sea floating lands were not common, and as for encountering living beings from such floating lands again in the future who could steadily produce Deepwater Clam Pearls, he had no idea how long he would have to wait.
However, that did not mean he strictly had to target exotic tribes from aquatic floating lands.
The Star Sea was vast, and there was no shortage of Star Sea floating lands possessing even rarer resources. As long as an exotic living being could produce sufficiently precious and sustainably supplied resources, they could also be considered as candidates for receiving this Market Guest Token.
Suppressing the turbulence in his heart, Song Chi stepped back out of the inn. The distribution of the Market Guest Token was destined to be extremely strict and could not be accomplished overnight.
Naturally, he would not distribute them casually. For now, there were only a total of ten "Guest Rooms" on the second floor of the inn, meaning there could be at most ten Market Guest Tokens. The issuance of every single one of them had to be handled with caution.
As for the function of the Guest Rooms, aside from nurturing the Market Guest Tokens, they would also serve as the sole spatial nodes through which the future holders of the tokens could enter and exit the Market.
Commonly known as a transfer station.