Infinity, The Arcade Age

In the end, Qin Ming chose not to buy Andy's Head. The exorbitant price of 20,000 points was simply too much for him.

Thanks to his skill synthesis ability, the quality of materials mattered less to him. Spending such a large amount on a single item would have been wasteful.

After some haggling, Qin Ming managed to purchase the other two heads—Tarma's Head and Cyclops' Head—for a total of 15,000 points, nearly emptying his savings.

When Qin Ming handed over the large sum without hesitation, Timely Rain's eyes gleamed with interest. His warmth toward Qin Ming grew noticeably.

In the Nightmare Space, one of the best indicators of a person's power was their wealth. A lone wolf with limited points might still be skilled, but a lone wolf with substantial wealth was almost certainly an expert.

By casually spending 15,000 points, Qin Ming proved himself to be on par with even Ghost Lady, who frequently produced protagonist-level equipment.

Naturally, Timely Rain tried again to recruit Qin Ming into his squad. But Qin Ming, unsurprisingly, rejected him outright.

Not only did Qin Ming dislike the idea of being constrained by a team, but his unique abilities could easily turn him into a "gold-making machine," potentially leaving him imprisoned and exploited.

Moreover, the possibility that Timely Rain might be affiliated with Gale's squad was enough for Qin Ming to steer clear.

After paying, Qin Ming quickly left. Parting ways with Ghost Lady, he returned to his room alone to prepare.

Inside, Qin Ming rummaged through his inventory, pulling out a large number of consumable items, most of which were cheap white-grade bandages he had bought in the previous world.

He fused 14 bandages into four blue-grade consumables. Using two to upgrade one head and the other two for a second-stage upgrade, he created a new ordinary silver-grade head:

Name: Tarma's Head

Grade: Ordinary Silver

Effect: Strength +8 and randomly gain one of Tarma's abilities.

The previously damaged and bloody head was now pristine. Qin Ming nodded in satisfaction but decided not to fuse it with his gun just yet.

He wanted to push its quality even higher.

To fund the next upgrades, Qin Ming sold his silver armor, helmet, and an additional silver-grade flail with decent stats at a market stall, keeping only the Frog Orb as a last-resort escape tool.

After waiting half a day, the three items were finally sold, netting Qin Ming a hefty 42,000 points.

Standing among the crowd, Qin Ming watched the gathering of adventurers examining the items. Amid them were individuals wearing special squad insignias, scanning the area with peculiar devices.

These devices, known as Identifier Scanners, were used to detect nearby adventurer IDs.

Keeping his distance, Qin Ming accepted the payment remotely. Without showing himself, he turned and left the market.

He wandered through the low-tier adventurer zone, purchasing consumables in bulk while keeping 10,000 points in reserve for emergencies.

Stopping at a particularly crowded stall, Qin Ming froze. His eyes widened in shock.

The stall was overflowing with consumables of questionable quality but in staggering quantities:

Name: Smashed Bun (White Grade)

Effect: Restores 10% of status.

Description: "This bun seems to have been punched, ruining its appearance."

Name: Burnt Dumpling (White Grade)

Effect: Restores 12% of status.

Description: "A poorly cooked dumpling. Consume at your own risk—might be toxic."

Name: Leaking Pancake (White Grade)

Effect: ...

The sheer variety of white-grade consumables left Qin Ming stunned.

"What are these…?"

"Ugh, I've explained this a hundred times," grumbled the burly vendor behind the stall, picking his nose lazily. "These are failed creations from the World of Genius Chefs, made by some amateur cook. Why do you people keep bugging me about it?"

The man glanced at Qin Ming and waved him off impatiently.

"Like I said, I'm not joining any squads, I'm not partnering with anyone, and I'm not offering discounts! Buy it or scram! And don't think you can remember my ID and ambush me in a mission—I'm loaded. I can extend my rest period for years if I want."

Despite the vendor's hostility, Qin Ming noticed the low prices and immediately began buying in bulk.

Almost completely depleting his funds, Qin Ming walked away with an enormous haul of consumable food items.

The bald vendor watched him leave, nonchalantly shrugging before pulling out another tray of buns from his inventory. He promptly sat on them, crushing them flat, then dumped the smashed buns onto the stall.

Casually lying back in his chair, he resumed his nose-picking.

Talent: Delivery Master

Effect: Bring real-world food into the Nightmare Space and assign attributes to it.

Description: "A Taoist said I'd one day wear imperial robes and swim in riches. Turns out he was right!"

In the Nightmare Space, prodigies weren't limited to one.

Unaware that he had just crossed paths with another anomaly, Qin Ming returned to his room, laden with supplies, and resumed his upgrades.

Thanks to the low prices, he had saved a substantial amount of points, but the exponential cost of his fusion talent quickly devoured the bulk of his materials.

At the end of his efforts, the consumables worth over 30,000 points were entirely consumed, resulting in the transformation of the two heads:

Brilliant Silver-Grade Tarma's Head!

Brilliant Silver-Grade Cyclops' Head!

(End of Chapter)