Chapter 790: God of Gamblers Arrives
"Borrow money?" Upon hearing Zhang Menglong's request, Izek was not only unsurprised, but was actually delighted!
Although he was just a person from a planet of Barbarians, he was, after all, a Level Four Life Form. Having a Level Four Life Form owe him a favor was much more valuable than just lending some money.
You should know, the lords of the Izek civilization don't just have one son. As the levels of life begin to evolve, lifespans extend accordingly—a Level Three Life Form could live nearly a thousand years, while a Level Four Life Form lived even longer.
A lord who could live for thousands or even tens of thousands of years, how could he possibly have only one wife and son?
Ireel had more than two hundred older brothers and sisters, and he was the last in line. Under normal circumstances, the next lord of the Izek civilization would definitely not be him.
Even though he wouldn't be lord and yet owning dozens of civilized planets, his life could still be quite fulfilling. But who wouldn't want to try for such an opportunity?
Previously, Ireel wouldn't even dare to dream about it, but after meeting Zhang Menglong, a small plan emerged in his heart. If he could win over a Level Four Life Form, his father would surely see him in a new light, and by then, he might even become a strong contender for the next lord!
"Brother Zhang, there's no need for a mortgage, that feels too estranged. Everyone has a moment of inconvenience when they're away from home. The fact that we could meet on this planet is also our fate. How much money do you need?"
"This..." To tell the truth, Zhang Menglong didn't even know how much money he should borrow, as he was unsure about the purchasing power level of the so-called Izek Crystal Coins.
"That won't do, clear accounts make good brothers," To cover his ignorance, Zhang Menglong decided to mortgage his spaceship to Ireel first, "My spaceship burns through money, just set a price for it, and as soon as I earn the money, I'll pay you back immediately."
"Alright! Brother Zhang, you are a straightforward person," Ireel said. "Although your spaceship is an old model from the peak of a Level Two civilization and has stopped production with not so great performance, as an antique, it does have some collector's value."
To be honest, when Ireel first saw Zhang Menglong's spaceship, he somewhat wanted to buy it, as a son of a lord of a Level Two civilization, he had plenty of good spaceships, but one with certain collector value was truly not bad.
"Let's do this," Ireel said, "I'll give you a price of 8 billion Izek Crystal Coins for now, how does that sound?"
"Gou Dan, what do you think?" Zhang Menglong asked.
"This Ireel is quite credible," Gou Dan said. "According to the exchange rate from twenty thousand years ago, along with the level of civilization of the Izek civilization, it would have been worth about 16 billion Izek Crystal Coins at that time. Considering the wear and tear and depreciation of the spaceship, it would actually be worth at most 5 billion, he's definitely running at a loss, let alone it being just a mortgage."
"My goodness, this lord's son is rich!" Zhang Menglong exclaimed.
"Considering the living standard of the Izek civilization, the ordinary class spends about 1,000 Izek Crystal Coins a year. 8 billion is a staggering amount," Gou Dan chuckled. "But you should know, a lord of a Level Two civilization is incredibly wealthy."
"How so?"
"Normally, a Level One civilization has to remit 10% of its GDP to a Level Two civilization. Converted proportionally, the GDP of a Level One civilization per year is roughly between 10 billion and 10,000 billion. A Level Two civilization has at least a few hundred Level Two civilizations, so that's at least a few hundred trillion Izek Crystal Coins a year."
"That's really frighteningly a lot." A son of a Level Two civilization pulling out a few hundred billion of a Level Two civilization's currency is too simple, almost like the rich second generation on Earth pulling out a few hundred thousand or million.
"This Ireel is not too bad," Zhang Menglong said, regardless of whether he has other intentions, at least for now, he has given him a lot of benefits and help.
"Let's go with this price!" Zhang Menglong said, anyway when he pays him back double, he can't be accused of being insincere.
"Okay, I think Brother Zhang doesn't have a bank account right now," Ireel said, "I'll send someone with an unregistered temporary card shortly. Could you give me an address?"
Zhang Menglong told Ireel his current location, and within half an hour, a servant following Ireel had found him.
"Respected sir, this is what our master asked me to give you." The servant handed Zhang Menglong something that looked like a chip. Bank cards of this era had shrunk to less than the size of a SIM card, appearing like a piece of ordinary broken glass.
"Thank him for me," Zhang Menglong said, "If your master ever needs help, he can come to me anytime."
"I will relay the message to my master." Although the servant knew Zhang Menglong's life level was very high, he doubted Zhang had the ability to help his master at present, so he didn't take the statement seriously and merely passed it on.
The moment he got the money, Zhang Menglong began to feel expansive, thinking that since he couldn't activate his account at the bank right now, he might as well have some fun and make some money. "Where are we going?"
"Host, 1270 kilometers from here, there's a large Zidel Ore sale site."
1270 kilometers, on Earth, was almost the distance of crossing countries. But thanks to the electromagnetic railcar, it only took about fifteen minutes, including the time for acceleration and deceleration. In fact, most of the journey involved speeding up or slowing down, while cruising took the least amount of time.
"This is the place," Gou Dan said. "The development of Zidel Ore is almost monopolized by several large universal companies. All the sales points of all civilizations are personally arranged by them, and the prices are transparently public, averaging around 100,000 Izek Crystal Coins per stone on this planet.
"And the price of Energy Crystals?"
"The cheapest, Level One Energy Crystals, start at over ten times the price of the ore. Every increase in crystal level multiplies the value by a thousand. Do the math!"
"Ouch!" Zhang Menglong gasped in surprise. A Level Five Crystal Stone, converted to the highest class of Cosmic Coins, was worth millions!
What was the concept of 1 million Cosmic Coins? Gou Dan told Zhang Menglong that generally, the price of a Level One civilization ranged between 10,000 and 100,000 Cosmic Coins.
"A whole planet is so valuable?"
"Actually, not really valuable," Gou Dan explained. "A Level One civilization planet, even if exploited to the extreme, cannot produce 10,000 Cosmic Coins, but all planets in the universe belong to the Universal Alliance. Even those planetary lords only have rights to the revenue, not ownership."
In other words, if he managed to get a Level Five Energy Crystal, he could buy dozens of Level One civilization planets!
"Boss, Level Five Energy Crystals aren't so easy to come by," Gou Dan threw a wet blanket on. "A single Level Five Energy Crystal is enough for a year's energy consumption of a Level Two civilization, even enough to maintain a year of high-intensity combat mode for a Level Five civilization warship. Even for a Level One Energy Crystal, you can't extract one from 100 stones."
"This isn't gambling; this is betting lives!" Zhang Menglong couldn't help but express his disbelief. Compared to Earth's stone gambling, this was child's play.
"It truly is a bet on lives," Gou Dan said. "Some high-grade civilization lords even gamble their own civilizations when they're feeling lucky!"
Zhang Menglong entered the impressive raw stone company, where massive amounts of raw stones, each about the size of a head, were densely piled.
Depending on the place of origin, the price of raw stones could vary by up to ten times. Naturally, the more expensive they are, the better their average quality.
Zhang Menglong rubbed his hands together, "The God of Gamblers is here!"