Above the mage!

Chapter 502 Game
"According to the rules of our Blue Flame Auction House, we charge sellers a commission based on a certain percentage of the hammer price. This percentage usually fluctuates between 0.5% and 20%, depending on the final transaction price of the item you consigned."

"Both of the items you submitted for auction have a hammer price of over 10,000 gold coin. For such high-value items, our auction house has always focused on facilitating transactions to obtain large-scale profits, so our commission rate is the lowest, 5%.

"The final transaction price for the two extraordinary ornaments is 34100 Golden Bird Flower Coins. We can offer you an additional 20% commission discount on top of the original percentage."

"We hope that if you have similar treasures to consign for auction next time, you will give priority to our Blue Flame Auction House."

"Based on this calculation, the commission our bank will take is 1364 Gold Sparrow Coins. After deducting the commission, we need to give you 32736 Gold Sparrow Coins." The manager in charge of the auction house said as he stamped the consignment receipt and handed it back to Gao De.

After Gaode confirmed that it was correct, he put it away.

"As you wish, the proceeds from the auction should be used to offset the cost of this bottle of Siren's Salt Marsh Elixir."

"You purchased the Siren Salt Marsh Elixir for 40000 Golden Bird Coins, so you still need to pay our bank an additional 7264 Golden Bird Coins." After a quick calculation, the manager announced the price difference that Gaode needed to pay.

Upon hearing this, Lan Wen, who was standing next to him, immediately coughed lightly twice.

This is a reminder to Gaode Maps that they don't have enough funds.

After spending money at the auctions a few days ago, Gao De only has a little over 6100 Golden Bird coins left in his savings.

There is still a shortage of 1000 gold coin.

However, Gaode Maps remained calm.

"I'm short of funds and need to pawn some items," he said to the manager.

Blue Flame Auction offers pawn and auction services.

This is to facilitate auctioneers in realizing their cash and to solve the problem of auctioneers who want to buy an item but do not have enough funds on hand and do not have time to consign it for auction to cash out.

This method is fast, but its drawback is that the auction house has complete control.

Whether the auction house is willing to buy your cash-out items, and at what price, is entirely up to them.

In most cases, the purchase price offered by the auction house will be lower than the market price, and can only be used for emergency purposes.

"What items do you intend to offer as payment?" the manager asked.

Gaode waved forward.

Lan Wen, who had been standing behind him, immediately stepped forward, took out a jade box, opened the lid, and displayed the contents to the steward:

Five crystal-clear ice jade parasol tree leaves, each with a pale blue halo flowing through its veins, resemble exquisite jade artifacts.

"Ice Jade Wutong Leaf," Gao De leisurely explained the effects of the Ice Jade Wutong Leaf to the manager.

Before leaving the North, Sunafa specially packed fifty more Ice Jade Wutong Leaves for Gaode to take with him, so that he could easily convert them into cash if he needed money urgently. And they actually came in handy.

After hearing what Gao De said, the manager was slightly surprised, and finally understood why Gao De was so confident.

A treasure that permanently enhances mental strength will never have to worry about finding a market.

This thing has always been something that is expensive but unavailable.

"Wait a moment, I need to have an appraiser come and confirm this." The steward gave a wink to the male waiter beside him.

The other party immediately gestured and left through the door.

A moment later, the waiter returned with an appraiser.

The steward took out a piece of ice jade paulownia leaf and handed it to the appraiser.

The appraiser placed the ice jade parasol leaf in his palm, calmed his mind, and began to circulate his magical power, with faint magical fluctuations emanating from it.

After several minutes of work, the appraiser put the ice jade parasol leaf back into the box and nodded to the manager: "Indeed, as the customer said, it has the effect of enhancing mental strength, and the quality is excellent."

"Then please give me an estimate," Gao De said.

"Five ice jade parasol leaves, I'll give you 1,500 gold coin coins, how does that sound?"

When Gaode sold Ice Jade Phoenix Leaves in Lagos, the average price of one Ice Jade Phoenix Leaf was 340 Golden Bird Coins.

The price offered by Blue Flame Auction was significantly lower in comparison, but there was nothing that could be done about it; that's how things are with auctioned items.

Anyway, he only took out five pieces to make up the price difference, so he might as well lose some money.

Gao De immediately nodded, "Okay, then it'll be 1,500 Golden Bird Coins."

The best course of action is to complete the transaction as quickly as possible and then "run away".

Walking briskly out of the Blue Flame Auction House, Gao De looked up at the slightly dim sky, touched the box containing the Siren Salt Swamp Elixir in his arms, and exhaled a long breath.

This trip to the Blue Flame Islands has already yielded far more than he expected.

But the plans couldn't keep up with the changes.

Under normal circumstances, he should have been heading home now, having made a great purchase.

But for him now, this trip to the Blue Flame Islands has only just begun.

Unexpected complications are one thing, but high risk also comes with high reward. If everything goes smoothly, the final harvest will be extraordinary.

Thinking this, Gao De took a deep breath, quickly adjusted his mindset, cleared his mind of distractions, and sharpened his gaze.

"Let's go back," he said to Lan Wen beside him, and the two quickened their pace in tacit agreement.

It wasn't until they were almost at the corner that Gao De casually glanced back at the Blue Flame Auction House.

Within the pupils, the strange symbols representing Mandora's Eyes have lit up.

Before leaving the auction house, he had just cast the [All-Purpose Elixir+] spell to create a bottle of [Super Memory] elixir for himself and drank it.

The combination of the [Hyper-Memory] potion and Mandora's Eye's [Insight] results in a brief but powerful rapid "scanning and modeling".
Across the street from the Blue Flame Auction House stands a tavern belonging to the Bloodsail Pirates, one of the most prominent buildings in the Upper City.

The signboard is a weathered ship plank, said to be taken from the imperial warship Ironcrown, and has an extraordinary significance.

The ship's deck was painted with crimson blood as paint, depicting a blood-red sail and a musket. The colors had faded slightly under the erosion of the sea wind, but they only added to its ferocious aura.

On the top floor of the tavern, by the window, a burly middle-aged man silently watched Gao De and Lan Wen stride out of the Blue Flame Auction House.

Only after Gao De's figure disappeared at the end of the street did he suddenly pick up his glass, down the rum in one gulp, then get up and quickly leave the tavern.

After navigating through a maze of alleyways and descending along a creaking pier, Gao De and Lan Wen headed straight for the downtown area, arriving at the hotel where they would be staying for the next few days.

The two entered the hotel together.

A moment later, "Lanwen" reappeared at the hotel entrance. He pulled his hood down low, covering most of his face, and hurried into the shadows of the lower town, as if he had something important to do.

He arrived at the Ice Anchor Dock area, lightly touched the ground with his feet, and floated into the air, using the "Flight" spell to head towards Ash Isle.

Ash Island, the Fireblade lay quietly anchored in the island's secluded bay. "Lanwen" slowly descended onto the deck, but before she could even steady herself, a woman's voice abruptly rang out from a corner of the deck.

"The auction isn't over yet, is it?" The red-haired beauty, leaning against the ship's railing, slowly raised her eyes. Her long red hair, like flowing flames, was casually draped over her shoulders.

"After buying what I needed, I left the store. I wasted my money. If I didn't leave sooner, I was afraid someone would target me."

As Lanwen explained, he removed the hood from his head, and the face hidden in the shadow of the hood rippled and quickly changed into an extremely young face.

It was Gaode.

After quickly exchanging clothes with Lanwen in the hotel room, he used the [Disguise Technique] to impersonate Lanwen and leave the hotel.

[Your method is clever, but it may fool others, but it will never fool David Jones.]

Sarah asserted that the method of communication had now changed to [telecommunications].

David's strength and reputation speak for themselves; such a ruthless, cunning, and treacherous person cannot be fooled by ordinary tricks.

At the same time, she said something else entirely: "I've already told you, my business is important, and I shouldn't show myself easily at a time like this, or things will go wrong if I'm exposed."

【I see】.

While replying via [Communication], Gao De also said verbally, "Don't worry, I'm very careful. Even if there are any ill-intentioned people, I'll definitely shake them off. I won't leave Ash Island again until I finish what you need to do."

Sarah's plan consisted of two things. The first was to auction off Blackwing Gang relics at the Blue Flame Auction to attract David Jones's attention.

The second thing was to return to Ash Isle after the auction and go ashore to "act out" a scene.

The rest was none of his business.

Ultimately, his role in Sarah's grand scheme was that of bait, a lure to entice Davy Jones.

But the prerequisite is that Sarah can actually win over Davy Jones; if she fails, he will certainly not escape death.

—That's how it works normally, but with Gaode's trump card of "Astral Teleportation," everything changes.

He would immediately flee at the first sign of trouble.

“That’s more like it,” Sarah said slowly, her eyes flickering slightly.

As the two were talking, a flock of very common grey-feathered seabirds spread their wings and flew by not far from the Fire Knife.

Several birds landed on the protruding rocks of the cliff, tilting their heads to preen their feathers, their claws scraping softly on the wet rocks.

Below the surface, in the sea no more than three zhang from the ship's side, a group of silvery-scaled fish were swimming with the ocean current, stirring up tiny splashes of water as they swung their tails.

This kind of scene is obviously too common to attract anyone's attention.

But among the school of fish, a tiny, inconspicuous silver-scaled fish, no more than the length of a thumb, was exhibiting an extremely strange state.

Instead of following the movement of the school of fish, it remained still in the water, its pectoral fins trembling slightly. Its originally murky eyes suddenly became unusually clear, and the figures of Sarah and God were faintly reflected in its pupils on the deck.

The underwater current brushed against the fish's body, but it remained motionless, with only its gill covers opening and closing at high frequency, converting the vibrations of the surrounding water flow into perceptible "sound".

Its tail fin occasionally twitches very slightly, adjusting the angle of observation to ensure that it can fully "record" every detail on the deck. That focused posture is completely unlike the instinctive behavior of ordinary fish.

In the next instant, Gao De once again cast "Flight," nodded slightly to Sarah, and then his figure soared into the air like an arrow, flying towards the inland areas of Ash Isle.
The fish then turned its body in a remarkably human-like manner, its eyes fixed on Gaode's soaring figure.

Only after watching his figure land on the island did the fish freeze, as if it had lost its soul, its once clear eyes instantly losing their luster.

Then, all the human emotions in its eyes disappeared, and it returned to the chaos and confusion of an ordinary fish.

It flicked its tail, as if recovering from a brief daze, and wobbled as it changed direction, speeding up its swim towards the main school of fish, quickly merging into the silvery waves of fish.

Some distance from the Fire Knife, a hunting ship was cruising at a leisurely pace, as if scouting for prey.

Inside the cabin of the hunting ship, a man sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.

The next second, his eyes suddenly opened, his face expressionless, as if he were thinking about something.

Another moment passed.

With a casual wave of his hand, the porthole was opened, and the damp sea breeze, carrying the cries of seabirds, rushed in.

A flock of grey-feathered seabirds flew in a V-formation over the hunting boat.

The man waved his hand again, and the once steady flight path of a gray seabird in the flock suddenly became disordered, as if it were bound by an invisible hand and pulled down. No matter how hard it flapped its wings, it was to no avail and could only let out a terrified cry.

The surrounding seabirds were startled and scattered.

It fell straight toward the porthole of the hunting boat, hovering half a foot in front of the man.

The man reached out his hand, which was adorned with a conspicuous brass finger guard. He gently touched the seabird, and a powerful surge of magical energy flowed from his finger to the gray-feathered seabird.

The seabird's body trembled violently a few times before it stopped struggling. Its previously bewildered eyes cleared, and the scene inside the cabin was reflected in its pupils, just like the silver-scaled fish that had appeared near the Fire Knife earlier.

It flapped its wings, no longer flustered, and flew quickly out of the window. After circling once in the air, it precisely locked onto the direction of Ash Isle and swooped down.

It was the second-circle prophecy spell, [Beast Perception], which Gaode had also mastered.

During the spell's duration, the caster can switch their sight and hearing to the senses of the target beast, then perceive their surroundings through the beast's senses, while also gaining access to the creature's own unique senses.

Ash Island.

After landing on the island, Gao De immediately went to the location he had previously explored.

He planned to slowly make his way towards the core area covered by blue flames on Ash Isle, while simultaneously improving his blue flame immunity through adaptive abilities, following the areas he had already explored.

He had no interest in the specifics of the game between Sarah and Davy Jones.

In fact, there's nothing we can do about it.

Gao De is extremely self-aware.

What can a mere second-ring mage like him possibly do in a contest between two fifth-ring mages?
As he was thinking this, Gao De stepped out without changing his expression and entered the raging blue flames that others regarded as ferocious beasts.

Blue flames instantly enveloped his body like a tidal wave, his robes swaying gently in the flames, yet showing no signs of burning.

These seemingly violent flames appear to be merely a manifestation of some kind of energy field, penetrating the clothing fibers with a cold, scorching sensation.

The terror of blue flames cannot be seen by sight alone; one can only understand it by experiencing it firsthand.

A heavy hammer, formed from pure spiritual energy, slammed down heavily onto his soul.

Intense pain swept through my consciousness like a tsunami.

[Your spirit has been damaged by Abaddon's Blue Flame energy. Your tolerance to Abaddon's Blue Flame energy has increased by 51.6%, and your mental injury recovery ability has increased by 19.1%.]

(End of this chapter)