Chapter 470 - Lucky Auction (1/?)

Nik is known to various types of auctions. Well, at least, he knows three of them. The first kind of auction is pretty simple where the auctioneer and the host place their goods based on the demands of the market. Once the good is successfully sold, the host will take a small cut from the product's auctioneer. This is what Nik termed as Restrictive Auction. After all, there is definitely a rule to not create troubles during the sales, and such auction only delivers the good after the auction is finalized. This meant, before coming here, Nik had to give an appropriate proof of wealth and even had to register his expected expenditure so that the moment he tries to fake a bid that surpasses his budget, the host would cancel his auction, effectively ruining his hand.

The second type of auction is quite lax in its procedure aside from entry. Nik termed this as an open auction. In this kind, the host only presides over the auction to maintain a certain balance while the auctioneer takes the stage themselves and showcase their goods. Of course, this way, the auctioneer can actively demand the goods he wants in exchange for the item placed in the auction. Of course, in many cases, the auctioneer is often disappointed due to their specific needs and this, in return, leads to the second part of the open auction— Interaction. Giving the auctioneers a duration of free time, the host allows them to interact and exchange items based on their needs and plan before continuing the auction once again.

"Hmm? Then what's the third one?" Since this was Yu's first auction, she was quite interested in Nik's explanation. Finally settling to his side and not clinging onto him unduly, Yu plucked a piece of wine grape from the bowl of fruits placed in front of her and popped it into her mouth, curving her eyes in happiness as the little crack in the peel led to a burst of sweet natural wine. Sitting beside Nik, to his left was Shen Xiu, who had her eyes for the auction. She was already well-versed with the two kinds Nik had explained and even knew what the third one might be. Meanwhile, the dark-haired woman with violet eyes, black dress, and a soothing smile sitting opposite to the rather regularly dressed Yang Xin chuckled as she looked at Yu.

"Here~ Try these, too!" Elsa produced another rare-tier fruit, a green-red apple with a flower texture on its peel as Yang Xin's lips twitched.

"Hmm? What's this?!" Yu inquired with a bright expression, making Elsa smile. "A rare poison named Last Apple. Of course, when eaten alongside the Nature Wine Grapes, the effect of Last Apple turns into the extinct fruit, Garden God~"

'Ah... she needs to learn to be suspicious of overly affectionate women...' Nik thought internally as Yu took a bite out of the apple and held her cheeks with a happy expression, making Elsa's eyes twinkle once again.

"Anyway," Nik coughed, "The third kind is actually the mix of restrictive and open auction where a special hall is created for privileged auctioneers to exchange information and items that they have purchased within the auction itself."

Nik sighed while Yang Xin turned her attention to proceedings, still reeling from the shock of 'Ye Han' dissolving into the attractive lady in front of her, of course, naked and then, wore her dress in quite a tantalizing manner. Then, Yang Xin looked at the top of Nik's head, still covered with the cloud of silver, and held her urge to pick it up and place it on her own laps. Yes, she is a cat person.

"And now," a middle-aged bald man through the recording spoke, "I would like to present the seventh item on the list— The patent of Star Restaurant and its gourmet recipes!"

The man didn't produce any physical item but stated with a wide smile. If the private room did not have soundproofing, then the clatter of the public domain of the auction would have already filled their room with unsavory noise.

"You really don't want to bid for Star Restaurant?" As Yu hugged Nik lazily, pulling another reaction from Yang Xin, Nik seemed to be at ease. He had already transferred most of the herbs to Yang Xin, fulfilling almost seventy percent of her needs before setting up another date for the exchange. Meanwhile, Shen Xiu, who used to own Star Restaurant, shrugged, "It might be hard to believe, but those recipes had long turned bland for me... it was your company that brought a better taste," smiling and unabashed by her confession, she leaned slightly to peck his lips, pulling an awkward and slightly stifled smile from Nik, who showed a certain amount of bashfulness to such honest compliments. "Thanks~" Nik stated happily, as he enjoyed both the women leaning onto him. Only now did Elsa showed a look of longing while her gaze inadvertently fell on Nik's stomach before she shook her head.

"2 million demon spirit coins!" A voice boomed into the private rooms. Only the voice of someone bidding the room could enter. Since the face of the bidder was hidden from the recording, then it meant that the bidder owned a private room himself. Of course, the voice was all too familiar to Nik and Shen Xiu.

"Well, there is goes away to the Divine Family," she chuckled, enjoying the rare moment of tenderness as she finally saw the last dregs of her worthless past getting shredded out of existence.

"The next section is the spirit herbs! Finally!" Yang Xin finally spoke up, her expression brightening. Meanwhile, Nik opened the catalog and gave the spirit herb section a cursory glance. "Spirit enhancing herb, spirit intensity herb, spirit... what the hell... there is nothing with any interesting effect!" Nik sighed, making Yang Xin tilt her head in confusion, "These effects are worthwhile. After all, any cultivator would want their spiritual energy to increase at a greater pace."

"That's right," Elsa nodded in agreement. Some of the herbs were enticing even to her.

"No, sure, they are interesting from a cultivation point of view... but isn't there anything else interesting? Like the effect of Garden God by combining two fruits!"

At Nik's words, Yu instantly bit the apple once again, snickering happily. She was already content. She became a 'woman' and also got to eat such a delicacy. Yu is taught to be a simple woman. A daily session and good food are enough to keep her satisfied as she trains her skills at her own pace.

"Like that, huh..." Yang Xin furrowed her brows for a moment before recalling the effects of purple haze grass. She could find a little credibility to Nik's train of thought since even when the concoction from the purple haze grass doesn't affect the spirituality, it is a definite winner in the market once launched.

"I'll look into the records, something might pop out."

"Thank you."

"...3, and, the rights to the Star Restaurant has been sold to Master Chen Zhenlong!"

The host stated in excitement. With that, aside from the intellectual rights to the Sacred Divination center that the Snow Wind Family obtained successfully, the remaining rights were sold to the Divine Family. Of course, while this would be a long-term investment, the faction of the 'city-lord' earned the amount of almost 17 million demon spirit coins, making it the most wealthy existence temporarily.

"Now, the next item is something that every Spirit Master needs to make use of— Blight Spirit Herb! This spirit herb takes 11 years to germinate, twenty-two years to grow a shoot, and thirty-three years to develop the blight flower which cleanses the internal 'pollution' of the spiritual energy that slowly contaminates it, reducing the potential of the spiritual master.

The opening bid is 20000 coins! The person who cleans his spiritual energy is surely going to become a great warrior in the future!" The man said as the female attendant that brought the item to showcase walked away calmly after placing the item in the display case.

'Well... Foundation Mantra... ah, no, the Heavenly God Mantra... hehe, already has this purification effect. And little did I know that [Purification] does the same, albeit, at a negligible rate and if it wasn't for Gojira, I wouldn't have known this... looks like, I need to level the skill up quickly...'

Nik thought internally. Yang Xin didn't bid on the item while Elsa took the role of her master's 'prize' and explained dutifully.

"Lord... this flower itself pollutes the spiritual energy with floral toxins, so, it isn't worth the price. In fact, I tasted a tea made from the blight herb and even that tasted quite... unsavory..."

The scowl of Elsa's face showed that the tea was far from 'unsavory' but Nik did not open the old wounds. A punk purchased it for 33000 coins and openly expressed his intentions on gifting the item to the female spirit master he was competing with... what an Idiot...

The remaining half of the section that catered to the spiritual herbs was dominated by Yang Xin and the Snow Wind Family. Although they couldn't use their reputation to suppress any bidder as it would offend the Divine Family, other spirit masters were also quite tame and didn't bid over the usual price since the current foul play might bring them fatal retribution later on. However, the last two sections of the auction— The Spirit Items and the Spirit Bones is what attracted everyone.

Of course, before the excitement could reach its peak with the beginning of the item auctions by beginning with an offensive spirit item, the host smile wryly as the attendant brought a cauldron to the stage. Instead of a cauldron, calling the item a bowl or a pot seemed apt since there were no legs to the base but a sturdy ring instead. With two handles on the side and a beautiful sheen over its black surface, Nik found the runes etched on the surface of the pot extremely strange and cryptic.

Within the public domain of the auction, Nie Li's eyes widened while another black-robed existence within the crowd licked his lips.

"In reality, the auctioneer of this item clearly stated that he doesn't know the use of the item. But, through appearance itself, this item looks extraordinary and our lord, Chen Zhenlong used his strongest ability of this... pot, and it still exists, so, we will treat it as a rank 6 spirit item. The starting bid is 90000 coins!"

Curious, Nik appraised the item through the system before his eyes widened. Yu and Shen Xiu looked at Nik curiously while Nik couldn't help but feel pity for Ray.

'Man... Ray should really start hanging out with me... he is missing some great stuff~!'

[Nightmare Demon Pot (Incomplete): Diamond

Use: A pot infused with the insight of 'evolution' and 'fusion.' Two, or more items of similar origin can be fused with enough energy as a catalyst. Failure or success depends on the peculiarities of the items themselves.]

'Well... seeing this and the chance encounter with Dream Core... I'll say it... whenever I am finding luck stat, I am getting it!'

Nik grinned as he finally straightened his back. He planned to dominate this and the remaining section of the spirit ring after hoarding an astronomical amount of wealth by hunting down whoremasters without any regard to consequences. Now, he would flex his wealth and return the 'hard' earned money back into the economy of the city.