The Immortalization Pool is controlled by the native Immortal clans. For a native Immortal to enter the pool and condense an immortal body, it only costs five hundred lower-grade immortal stones, but for ascenders, the minimum fee is two thousand lower-grade immortal stones.
This leaves ascenders feeling deeply frustrated, but since their strength is far below that of the native Immortal clans, all they can do is swallow their resentment.
The nearest Immortalization Pool to Giantwild Village is in Whitecrest City, which is ruled by the powerful Nine-Sun Sword Immortal, a Golden Immortal who commands two other Golden Immortals.
Now, back to Giantwild Village.
Giantwild Village is made up of ascenders and their descendants, numbering over thirty thousand.
Of them, only a handful have managed to condense an immortal body in the Immortalization Pool—after all, immortal stones are incredibly hard to earn.
Take Toren Tong's hunting squad, for example. Today they hunted over a hundred Black-Armored Bulls, which could sell for more than three thousand lower-grade immortal stones, but thirty percent of that must be handed over to the village.
It's not that the village is oppressing them—it's just that maintaining the village's defensive formations requires a huge amount of immortal stones.
So, after that, only a bit over two thousand immortal stones are left.
But Toren's squad has more than two hundred members, so split evenly, each person would only get a little over ten lower-grade immortal stones.
In reality, they don't even get that much. Weapons wear out during hunts, people get injured, and all that takes immortal stones to cover, so the squad sets aside twenty percent for emergencies, and only the remaining fifty percent is divided up.
So, each person ends up with just seven or eight lower-grade immortal stones.
Immortal stones are cultivation resources. For someone like Toren Tong, a late-stage Human Immortal, he needs almost ten lower-grade immortal stones every month just to maintain his cultivation.
Mid-stage Human Immortals need three to five stones each month.
And if they've started a family, they need even more stones to support them.
Plus, hunting isn't something they do every day. Like this Black-Armored Bull hunt—they spent three whole days just preparing. So getting in seven or eight hunts a month is already pretty good.
And there's no guarantee they'll succeed every time. Sometimes, they even lose money on a hunt.
That's why it's nearly impossible for an ordinary ascender to scrape together two thousand lower-grade immortal stones to enter the Immortalization Pool and condense an immortal body. Otherwise, Giantwild Village wouldn't have only a handful who've managed it out of nearly twenty thousand immortals.
On top of all that, there's another expense: taxes. Each person owes twelve lower-grade immortal stones a year, collected by forces established by the native Immortal clans. Honestly, living comfortably in the Immortal World isn't easy at all.
So, after hearing Toren Tong's explanation, all of Ian's women had their beautiful fantasies about the Immortal World completely shattered.