Mated to the Beast of the Wasteland novel Chapter 152

Chapter 152 Liquid Burn

Chapter 152 Liquid Burn

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Gillian didn’t bother denying it. The sphere had meant so much to Elara as a child, and she couldn’t bring herself to toss it.

Up in her room and about to turn in, Gillian found her thoughts drifting back to the sandsphere. She wanted to give it a proper clean, so she padded back down to the living room.

Strangely enough, every last drop of liquid inside had drained out.

The sandsphere now sat featherlight, floating in a puddle of black water with a scatter of snowflakes sti riding the surface. The black and white tangled together in a way that looked deeply wrong.

Gillian didn’t want to fish it out by hand. She wrapped the sphere in her psionic power instead, and the second her hair-thin threads of power coated its surface, they slipped inside and caught something off.

The thing turned out to be a bio-metal box.

Gillian’s psionic power pressed down hard on the snowflake bubble tucked inside the little flower-bowl.

Something clicked inside the sphere.

The metal box twisted and warped, tumbled off the coffee table, and started skipping across the floor.

Gillian’s psionic power wrapped tight around it, and in a flash of golden light the clear sandsphere shifted into something else entirely.

As the gold light faded, a square metal box settled neatly into the palm of her hand.

Unlike the cheap plastic shell from before, this box was fully transparent, with delicate threads of golden light drifting through its body.

Gillian couldn’t help marveling at the sight. How did a metal this gorgeous even exist?

Pure transparent metal wasn’t all that rare. Transparent metal threaded with veins of gold was a different story entirely.

Gillian hefted the box in her palm. It had to weigh roughly a pound.

She sucked in a breath through her teeth and started counting the threads of gold drifting through the › metal one by one.

“One… two… three… five… twelve. God, this is top-grade cryogold!”

Cryogold of any quality was sold by the gram, weighed out like the rarest of treasures.

It came in three tiers, low, mid, and high. The high-tier pieces carried ten or more gold threads woven through them, almost turning the clear metal into a solid brick of gold.

Treasures of that caliber stayed locked away in the hands of the top families on Capital Planet.

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Chapter 152 Liquid Burn

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The mid and low grades, split at the five-thread line, still moved for five thousand and ten thousand cons a gram, and even at those prices, buyers tripped over themselves to grab any piece that surfaced.

Cryogold and mithril were the only two metals known anywhere across Capital Planet and the Outer Planets that could hold the taint at bay, however briefly.

Both ran scarce, and the moment any surfaced on the market, it sold out in seconds.

Gillian cradled the crystal box and gave it another close inspection. The thing really was the genuine article, a top-spec 12 gold-thread cryogold box.

Did Elara know her crystal-snowflake sandsphere wasn’t a cheap toy at all, but an honest-to-God treasure?

At a rough guess, this box was worth at least 10 million coins.

Had Mom and Dad really been that rich? Rich enough to turn top-grade cryogold into a child’s toy?

Gillian snapped a quick photo and fired it off to Elara.

Elara must have still been awake, because her reply came back almost instantly.

Elara sent, “Gillian, where did you get cryogold ore? Did Merrick give it to you?”

Gillian realized Elara had no idea what the box actually was.

Gillian sent, “Elara, this is that crystal box of yours. It started leaking the second I picked it up today. That’s how I found out it’s actually a bio-metal box. I tripped the switch and it shifted into this.”

Elara sent, “Gillian, put it away right now. Don’t let anyone catch sight of it. I’m coming over!”

Elara’s tone came through tight and urgent.

Gillian got the message loud and clear. This thing was no ordinary heirloom.

Gillian sent, “Okay, Elara. Drive safe.”

The second Gillian hit send, she looked up and found herself face to face with Merrick. She had no idea how long he’d been standing there watching.

Gillian didn’t bother hiding it. She held the box out for Merrick to see, plain as day.

(

“Long story, but that leaky crystal box Elara left me is actually a bio-metal box.”

Merrick had come down looking for her because Gillian still hadn’t made it back upstairs.

Worry had driven him out of bed, but the sight waiting for him in the living room was Gillian cradling a 12 gold-thread cryogold box, looking sweet enough to eat.

Merrick had caught the way her hand was moving across her wrist terminal a second ago. She’d been messaging Elara.

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11:25 Wed, Jun 30 A

Chapter 152 Liquid Burn

“Gillian, come sit. You told Elara already?”

“Yeah. It belongs to her, after all.”

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