“Hey, old man, is there a reward exchange for energy stones by any chance? I’m kind of broke right now.” After teasing his grand teacher for a bit, Dyon decided to get back down to business.

When he left for the trials, he left all of his wealth with his wives so they wouldn’t have to struggle for anything. He ended up leaving the most with Clara since he knew that her mission would require the most capital, but in the end, that left him with nothing. He didn’t even have a spatial ring to carry his things anymore although that role could be taken by his Inner World.

As of now, the only things he had on him were his ragged and torn sweat pants, the Dragon King wrist band on his right arm, and the mask that had melded and disappeared into his face. He didn’t even have a shirt, it was truly too sad to witness.

‘You come to a treasure room like this, and you ask for energy stones? Truly not putting heaven’s treasures in your eyes. Don’t waste the opportunity on useless things, if you need money, there are plenty of ways to make some in the outside world. With your strength, it’s especially easy. And once your soul is unsealed, it’ll be even easier.’

Dyon sighed, he knew the old man was right, but having no money made him feel uncomfortable. Although he planned to see his wives as soon as he left this room, he couldn’t very well ask for some back, could he? How pathetic would that be? He would rather die.

Putting that matter aside for now, Dyon began to once again scan the room, when he suddenly thought of a question.

“How do you feel about my Battle Changpao, old man?”

Dyon’s Battle Changpao was a treasured armor he had only worn once during his very first campaign. It was designed exactly like the traditional Chinese garb, with elegant folds and an ancient air to it, but, obviously, Dyon wasn’t too fond of wearing it. Other than looking cool, with its bright white and gold leather like exterior, he didn’t find much benefit to it other than it adding an almost unnoticeable layer of protection.

Truth be told, this wasn’t necessarily the Battle Changpao’s fault. It was a transcendent level armor. But, the problem was that without celestial level energy cultivation, or at least sainthood level at a minimum, it wouldn’t be able to bring out much of its power at all.

As Dyon had long learned, weapons could be split into two paths: the Legendary path and the Common path. The Legendary path weapons had the ability to display their prowess regardless of the energy provided to them because they had the capability of borrowing energy from the universe. Common path weapons relied on their wielders to provide them with the necessary energy.

Since the changpao was a common path weapon, since Dyon didn’t have the energy to give to it, it was only partially better than normal clothes. Not to mention the fact it was ridiculously heavy, so it restricted Dyon’s movements a lot. In the end, it just wasn’t worth wearing.

That said, pseudo weapons of the 33 heavens, as well as actual treasures of the 33 heavens, could all count as pseudo legendary weapons. This means that although many of their abilities might require the direct interference of their owner, they might have one or two abilities that can be used passively, or, in other words, with the help of the universe’s energy.

Knowing this, Dyon was thinking of replacing his changpao with something more suitable, not only in power, but also helpfulness. After all, he couldn’t very well take out the Dragon King armor all the time.

‘Since you’re asking that question, you probably already know that it’s mostly useless to you. As for what you could use to replace it, there are many options here, but none of them are any less flashy than your Dragon King armor. I assume you want something more covert.’

Dyon nodded, that was indeed what he wanted. “You don’t have anything in the style of chainmail? Something that can be hidden under clothes, perhaps? I’d prefer to not use the mask’s life saving measure unless I absolutely have to.”

‘Hm. If you plan on hiding it under your clothes, there may be a few options. But, you should know that the Reverse Scale is quite the defensive treasure. It’s possible to use it, instead.’

Dyon raised an eyebrow, “It can be used like that?”

‘It can, yes. But, in order to do so, you just have to make use of your runic flame. Normally, I wouldn’t bring this up, because if your body is connected to it, and the scale breaks, the backlash would be enough to kill a normal expert at your level.

‘But, not only do you have a celestial level body already, breaking the scale of a Golden Dragon, a scale of the half-step Sovereign level no less, is a pipe dream even for a peak dao expert.’

Dyon was surprised. “Even for one not attached to its original owner?”

‘Yes, even then. A reverse scale protected the most vital flesh of a Dragon. As such, it’s also by far the hardest scale on its body. In addition to the nourishment it receives from the dragon’s blood essence, much of the dragon’s vital energies pump through it as well.’