Above the mage!

Chapter 495 was also a lucky find.
"I see." After listening to the servant's words, Gao De nodded, but did not take any further action. Instead, he turned and walked towards the corridor leading to the auction hall.

Although he was planning to auction off the two Tier 5 extraordinary artifacts that Sarah found on Ash Isle as relics of the Blackwing Gang, in order to attract the attention of the mastermind behind the scenes, David Jones.

But it certainly doesn't mean that the auction hasn't even started yet, and they just casually put these two priceless and extraordinary pieces of jewelry up for auction.

When putting on a show, you have to go all the way.

They must create the illusion that they are truly in dire financial straits and have no other choice but to make the move.

Therefore, for the first two days, he will attend the auction as usual, as if the mission never existed.

After walking through the narrow corridor, the view suddenly opened up.

A very spacious hall came into view, the overall lighting of which was slightly dim. Although it did not fit the tone of an auction hall, it was in line with the habits of the people of Black Sails City.

The floor is paved with polished obsidian.

The rock surface is covered with fine honeycomb-like pores, and when you step on it, it has a slightly rough frictional feel, but it does not feel rough.

The seams between the pieces were inlaid with fine phosphorescent coral powder, which emitted a faint blue glow in the dim light of the auction hall, outlining the path leading to the central auction stage.

The Blue Flame Islands do not produce obsidian; it is all imported from elsewhere at great expense.

The central auction table was made from a single piece of dark gold deep-sea shipwreck deck, with jagged edges left by sea monsters, but it had been polished smooth as a mirror.

At the very back of the auction stage was a huge light screen.

The seats on both sides of the hall extend upwards in a stepped, arc-shaped fashion, spreading out in layers to surround the central auction stage.

All the seats are made of reinforced shipwreck timber and covered with a layer of dark brown sea monster leather.

Next to each seat is a palm-sized crystal panel, which displays basic information about the item being auctioned with a soft glow, and is also equipped with several differently colored bidding buttons.

This is a very basic alchemical machine, used only for temporarily displaying information and for auctions.
At the very top of the tiered seating area are eight private boxes, resembling a captain's cabin. The box doors are designed in the shape of a ship's wheel, made of brass, and can be opened or closed by turning the wheel.

The windows of the private rooms are made of specially treated giant jellyfish umbrellas. The semi-transparent umbrellas can block the outside view but do not affect the view inside.

In addition, a string of iron chains hangs from the edge of the umbrella, with rusty bells attached to them, which make a dull sound when someone enters or exits.

Only 800 tickets were released for the Wrath of the Liberation auction.

One ticket allows one extra person to accompany the ticket. Even if each ticket is the full two-person package, the maximum number of people attending the auction will be 1,600.

Therefore, the entire auction hall has only 1,600 seats.

In fact, many people do not attend every auction.

Especially during the first three days of the "200 gold coins" auction, unless there is something you are really interested in, many people may just pick one or two sessions to watch the excitement and have a taste of auctions.

Therefore, the nearly two thousand seats on site were sparsely populated and far from being full.

Gao De activated his Mandora's Eye and scanned the area, instantly obtaining the precise number of people: 1014.

There was still some time before the auction began, and most people remained silent in their seats.

Some people lightly tapped the armrests with their knuckles, their gazes wandering in the surrounding shadows, while others simply pulled their hoods down even lower, as if trying to blend into the seats beneath them.

The auction hall was filled with a considerable number of people, yet it was permeated with an almost stagnant stillness. Even the sound of breathing seemed to be deliberately suppressed, which was more oppressive than any noise.

Moreover, half of the guests were dressed like Gaode, hiding their figures and most of their faces in long robes. Combined with the dim lighting in the auction hall, it didn't look like an auction, but more like some kind of shady conspiracy.

Gao De randomly chose an empty seat in the middle and sat down next to Lan Wen, quietly waiting for the auction to begin.

Because the timing was precise, the auction hall only had to wait about twenty minutes before a clear bell rang out.

As the bells rang, the wide-open doors of the corridors behind slowly closed.

Almost the instant the doors closed, two brighter lights shone on the central auction stage.

An elderly man with a full head of white hair, dressed in a dark purple robe, slowly walked onto the stage.

"Distinguished guests, you have been waiting for a long time," the old man said, his gaze sweeping over the entire room with a subtle look. His voice was not loud, but it was amplified by the amplifying alchemy machine set up on the auction stage, and it carried throughout the room: "Then I will not waste any more time with nonsense and will go straight to the first item for auction."

A slight commotion arose in the room. People who had been leaning back in their chairs sat up straight, and those who had been looking down raised their heads slightly, their eyes under their hoods all turning to the stage.

Everyone knows that even in a "200 gold coin auction," the principle of a successful opening is universally applicable, and as the first item in the Allegiance auction, its specifications will be anything but ordinary.

As the old man's voice faded, the auction table in front of him suddenly split open in the middle, revealing a deep passageway. The "click-clack" sound of the machinery was particularly clear in the silence.

A moment later, a crystal pillar about half a person's height slowly rose up. The pillar was as clear as ice, and its surface was covered with a light blue aura of runes.

Two beams of light shone precisely on the crystal pillar, illuminating the contents of the tray at the top of the pillar clearly.

It was the carcass of a strange sea monster, half a meter long.

The flat body has translucent membranous wings on both sides, and the wings are covered with spider web-like pale golden patterns. Even though it is dead, there are still faint electric current halos flowing slowly between the patterns, like lightning that has been captured and trapped inside.
Its tail is long and thin like a whip, with three barbed bone spurs at the end, the tips of which have a dark blue luster, clearly indicating that it is coated with a deadly poison.

The most peculiar thing is its head. It has no obvious facial features, only a diamond-shaped indentation at the tip of its snout. A crystal the size of a pigeon egg is embedded in the indentation. Lightning seems to flow slowly inside the crystal, and it makes a faint crackling sound when it occasionally bumps into something.

It was sealed in a crystal dome engraved with anti-corrosion and vacuum runes, with pale blue runic light flowing along the edges of the crystal.

"The first item up for auction is the complete carcass of a deep-sea electric ray lizard, which the hunting fleet captured just three days ago in the shipwreck area of ​​the icy waters. Because only three days have passed, it still retains some of its vitality."

The white-haired old man then proceeded to introduce: "Deep-sea electric ray lizard, a third-tier sea beast, and its value far exceeds that of creatures of the same tier."

"First of all, the tail stinger of the deep-sea electric ray lizard can be purified to produce pure venom, which is a superior raw material for making high-level paralysis potions."

The wing membrane has extremely strong lightning resistance. After being peeled off, it can be used to make small armor or the lining of a robe.
The pale gold patterns on the wing membrane possess excellent magic conductivity; once peeled off, they can be melted down into magic-conducting gold foil.

"Of course, these are all extras. Its most precious part is the electric core crystal on its head, which is a rare elemental condensation containing pure lightning elemental energy."

The old man suddenly raised his voice and pointed to the crystal the size of a pigeon's egg, saying, "Because it has not been extracted yet, the essence within has not dissipated at all, and the retention rate of lightning elemental energy is close to 99%. If a mage who cultivates lightning attribute magic is willing to use his own magic power to guide the energy within into his body, although he will have to endure the pain of lightning tempering, he can quickly improve his mage level."

"This is a third-order lightning element condensation, so it has a significant effect on mages of the third ring and below."

Then, the old man stepped back, and the spotlight completely enveloped the entire corpse of the deep-sea electric ray lizard. "Aside from decomposing its body, because it still retains some vitality, if a mage skilled in golem studies or puppetry were to photograph it, they might be able to create a lightning lizard golem that obeys their commands. The body of a third-tier sea beast, combined with the mage's manipulation, its combat power is unimaginable."

"Starting bid: 2000 Gold Coins. There are four buttons to your right. Pressing them will increase the bid by 50, 100, 500, and 1000 gold coins respectively!"

The moment the words left his mouth, the light screen behind the white-haired old man suddenly lit up, displaying a huge "2000 Gold Bird Flower Coins". The value of a third-tier sea beast is generally between 2000 and 2500 gold coins. For example, the Throat-Gnawing Octopus that Gao De killed when he first arrived at the Blue Flame Islands was valued at 2300 gold coins.

But this deep-sea electric ray lizard is clearly a top-tier third-tier sea beast, and its final price will inevitably exceed the 2500 gold limit.

Because the electric core crystal alone, with its near-perfect energy retention, is worth more than 2500 gold.

Gao De only practiced two cultivation methods, one related to wood and the other to ice, neither of which had anything to do with lightning, so he wasn't very interested in this thing and just planned to look at it for fun.

Meanwhile, just a moment later, the number on the screen jumped from 2000 to 2100, and the number "45" appeared next to it.

"The customer in seat number 45 has bid 2100 Goldfinch coins!"

Blue Flame Auction House understands its customers' needs perfectly. During the entire auction, bidding can be done simply by pressing a button next to your seat, without having to make a sound, thus protecting the privacy of your customers to the greatest extent.

"2200 Goldfinch coins, okay, customer number 56 has bid 2200 Goldfinch coins, any higher bids?"

"2400 Golden Bird Flower Coins"

"2500 Golden Bird Flower Coins"

"3000 Golden Bird Coins, the guest in seat number 45 can add 500 Golden Bird Coins directly, is there anything higher?" The white-haired old man's voice was full of seduction as he kept tapping on the crystal cover that held the deep-sea electric ray lizard's corpse, making a knocking sound.

However, the act of customer number 45 raising the price by 500 gold coin in one go, revealing his determination to win, seemed to intimidate the other competitors, thus creating a moment of silence, with no one raising the price again.

"3000 Golden Bird Coins once, twice, three times!" The white-haired old man shouted three times, then brought down the gavel. "Congratulations to guest number 45 for winning the first item of this Soul Reaper's Day auction: the carcass of a deep-sea electric ray lizard!"

The first item sold for a high price of 3000 gold coin, which was undoubtedly a good start and stirred up the atmosphere of the auction.

"As with previous auctions, the items to be auctioned next will be various raw materials," the white-haired old man added.

The crystal pillar carrying the electric ray lizard's carcass slowly sank into the platform, but immediately another new crystal pillar rose up beside it.

On the tray atop the crystal pillar lay a fist-sized, dark green crystal.

"The second item is a Bone-Eating Vine Magic Crystal, taken from a 500-year-old second-tier Bone-Eating Vine that grows in a highly poisonous swamp. It contains extremely rich wood element energy and toxin energy with strong corrosive properties."

"Although the presence of toxin energy prevents mages from absorbing it to increase their mage level, embedding this magic crystal in a staff can enhance the power of wood elemental spells and poison spells. Mages whose cultivation methods are related to this should consider purchasing it."

Starting bid: 250 gold!

Gao De, who was sitting in the corner watching the show, suddenly had an idea.

This Bone-Eating Vine Magic Crystal is actually somewhat similar in essence to that Electric Core Crystal, but the latter is extremely pure, while the former contains a large number of impurities, which limits its scope of use.

But while toxins are impurities for others, they are nothing to him!

It is not only not an impurity, but can even be considered a treasure.

Because he possesses [Adaptive] and [Primary Amber Body], he can slowly metabolize these toxin energies, thereby increasing his poison resistance.

After removing these toxic energies, the remaining wood element energy can help him quickly improve his cultivation progress in the "Green Wood Longevity Scripture".

Thinking this, Gaode reached out and pressed the first button next to his seat.

"Guest in seat number 66 has bid 300 gold!"

"300 gold coins for the first time!"

"300 gold coins, second time!"

At this moment, a number appeared on the screen, 300 suddenly became 350, and the number 45 appeared next to it.

The customer who bought the carcass of the deep-sea electric ray lizard has made another bid.

Gao De's heart stirred slightly. It was normal for someone to bid, but judging from the way this customer number 45 had bid earlier, he was obviously very wealthy. If this bidding continued, the price would probably exceed expectations by a lot.

He thought for a moment and then pressed the second button to directly increase the price by 100 Gold Finch Coins.

"Guest in seat number 66, the price will increase by 100 gold, now it's 400 gold!" The white-haired old man raised his voice slightly.

The price of 400 gold actually exceeds the value of a second-tier extraordinary material itself.

The customer number 45 was wealthy, but certainly not someone to be taken advantage of. Bidding higher would have cost 450 gold, which was clearly not worth it, so he didn't bid any further.

After shouting three times, the white-haired old man made the final decision.

Gao De's face lit up with joy.

The price of 400 gold is actually a premium for the Bone-Eating Vine Magic Crystal itself, but for him, it's an incredible bargain.

No wonder the story of finding a bargain is a classic; it's because of this feeling—it's really satisfying!
I guess I managed to snag a bargain!
The pace of the Wrath of the Liberation auction is extremely fast.

After the hammer fell, the crystal pillar dropped, and the other crystal pillar rose up.

"A single scale from a second-tier red-scaled fish is a top-grade ingredient for medicine." The third item in the auction was a palm-sized red scale.

While the old man was enthusiastically introducing the auction items, a servant brought a packaged Bone-Eating Vine Magic Crystal to Gao De's seat, opened the box, and asked Gao De to confirm its authenticity.

After Gao De confirmed that the items were correct, he nodded in satisfaction. Lan Wen, who was standing next to him, immediately took out 400 gold coins that had been prepared in advance, put them in a money bag, and handed them to the servant.

After counting the gold coins, the servant closed the box again and handed the Bone-Eating Vine Magic Crystal to Gao De.

"A fragment of a Tier 3 Molten Core"

"The tail feather tube of the Windbird from Storm Pass."

"The silk sac of the Flame Spider, an excellent material for making robes."

Various extraordinary materials are used for making potions, crafting staves, making robes, and creating golems, but most of them are at the second tier.

This tier perfectly matches the style of the "200 Gold Coins Arena".

However, apart from the Bone-Eating Vine Magic Crystal, there was nothing else that Gao De was particularly interested in, so he chose to observe discreetly from the sidelines.

When the number of items auctioned reached sixtieth, the types of items auctioned finally changed, shifting from raw materials to finished products.

(End of this chapter)