Chapter 68 - Demon Hunt’s Secrets (IV)
Chapter 68: Demon Hunt’s Secrets (IV)
Translator: GravityTales Editor: GravityTales
Lin Jia Lu said with a smile: “Little boy, don’t be dissatisfied. The auction house is a place you will frequently visit in the future. Inside, we can find almost everything we may need. Of course, the first issue is whether or not you can come up with the money. If you can become the member of a Demon Hunt Squad in the future, you will come into contact with auction houses several times. Let’s go and explore this place, to avoid getting lost in the future.”
Li Xin nodded and simultaneously answered: “She’s not wrong, a lot of good things can be found in the market district. In addition, the biggest auction houses within our Temple Alliance and belonging to the Holy Union have the backing of the Six Great Temples, and only the ten major cities have one. This Aimei City is among the first few built. The experience you acquire here will be good for you; in the future, whether to sell or buy goods, the Holy Union’s Auction Houses will be the most suitable places.”
Long Hao Chen asked: “Then why is it that we didn’t call the two Chen brothers?”
Lin Jia Lu answered: “They don’t have any goods to buy or sell, so there was no need for them to come. Now let’s hurry up, I was informed that an auction is going to be held tonight.”
The biggest city Long Hao Chen had ever been to was Hao Yue City. In fact, since he had met his father, the absolute majority of his time had been spent training, and he had rarely interacted with the outside world. Now that he was 14 years old, he was naturally very curious in regard to all kinds of new things. In addition, both Long Xing Yu and Ye Hua told him that the strength of a person would increase by relying on external factors to boost it. For example, there were weapons, equipment and pills. At the very least, it was a very good thing to increase one’s knowledge.
Aimei City’s Auction House was located in the most bustling section of the city, in its center. An enormous white oval building could be seen in the distance.
This enormous oval building was 6.5 kilometers away. It was a dome that seemed to be made of a special material; the twilight shone from the building and distributed its radiance upon itself.
“So huge.” Long Hao Chen gave a somewhat dull look to this enormous building. The walls surrounding the auction house made people feel as if they were the walls of the city, that were extending endlessly.
Li Jia Lu gave a smile: “Aimei City’s Auction House is not the largest in the Holy Union: the Holy City’s Auction House, which is at least twice its size, can hold 20,000 people at the same time during auctions. This auction house, from my estimations, can hold roughly 10,000 people.”
Long Hao Chen was amazed and asked: “With so many people at the same time during auctions, wouldn’t the prices reach heavenly levels?”
Lin Jia Lu shook her head and gave him her answer: “This is impossible. The prices during the auction are already considerable, so unless people really have an urgent need for some item, no one wastes their money during the auctions. The highest priority of the Holy Union’s Auction Houses is not to collect commissions. Because they are big enough, all they rely on to make their profit is the entrance fee. Ordinary tickets cost a single coin, and the ticket price for seats that are nearer to the front are more expensive. The seats closer to the center of the auction site are said to cost a thousand gold coins each.”
Li Xin went to buy the tickets, and came back with three cards, giving one to both Long Hao Chen and Lin Jia Lu, and telling them: “Let’s go in. Hao Chen, we should have the corpse of the Dark Green Dual Bladed Demon appraised so that we can sell it today.”
As they entered the auction house, the first thing they saw was a large hall with a classic layout. Going through, on both sides of the group there were high sales counters, each one containing at least ten guards. There were not only warriors among these guards but also several ones clad in mage attire.
Through Lin Jia Lu’s presentation, Long Hao Chen already knew that the counters on both sides were respectively for the appraisal of the goods and the retrieval of the gold gained through auction. To cope with the scattering streams of people, there were a total of eight counters of these kinds in this auction house. The auction house organized auctions daily, and as a result, the place was constantly bustling with noise and excitement. The relatively wealthy went so far as to participate in the auction as a form of entertainment. After all, all kinds of items could be found here! Also, being informed had a lot of benefits.
Li Xin brought Long Hao Chen to the left side to take a look at the articles on the sales counter. There weren’t a lot of people lined up here, so they quickly advanced in succession.
“Hello, I want to auction the corpse of a magical beast belonging to the demon race.” Long Hao Chen said directly to the middle-aged man behind the sales counter.
The middle-aged man activated an unknown device as he raised his head to take a look: the walls in the sales counter were slowly changing shape, taking the form of a three meters wide platform.
“Please approach.” The middle-aged man said indifferently.
“Thank you.” Long Hao Chen poured his spiritual energy into his ‘Forget-me-not’ ring, and a faint blue light glittered all around the ring. The Forget-me-not ring seemed to become alive, as it directly emitted a dark green-colored luster, while something rapidly appeared on the platform.
“Yi!” The middle aged man behind the counter was bewildered, “Dark Green Dual Bladed Demon. What a rare sight.”
As he spoke, he stood up, approaching the corpse of the Dark Green Dual Bladed Demon while carefully looking at it. After a short period of time, the middle aged man wrinkled his brows and said: “Too bad, there’s no magic crystal. Otherwise, it would have been twice the regular price. In this situation, the price will start at 800 gold coins. A Dark Green Dual Bladed Demon is uncommon, so it should not be directly bought.”
The middle-aged man handed a black-colored tile to Long Hao Chen, with a magic crystal embedded in the center. Behind the crystal, there was a number, ‘26’.
“When the auction is finished, please show us this as proof to receive your gold coins. Be careful not to lose this tile, we only identify by tile, not by person.”
800 gold coins was the initial price, everyone could then only raise the bid by 100 gold coins. In Long Hao Chen’s eyes, this was a lot of money. It would be at least enough to feed Hao Yue dried fish. This little guy ate gradually more and more, which ended up consuming the majority of Long Hao Chen’s money.
“Wait a moment!” Just as the middle aged man was about to put away the demon’s corpse, a rushed voice could suddenly be heard from Long Hao Chen’s back. Immediately, a person approached with quick steps.
“Please do not proceed yet. I want to directly purchase this item.”
Long Hao Chen looked at him, shocked by his appearance. This person was a youth that could not be much older than himself. At most 20 years old, he stood roughly half a head taller than Long Hao Chen. His deep green-colored hair reached his back, and even hung down as far as his waist. His skin was sparkling and translucent, milky white-colored. He looked almost as handsome as Long Hao Chen. Only, because of his long hair reaching his waist, he looked even more like a girl than Long Hao Chen. Fortunately, his Adam’s apple could still clearly be seen.
The white-colored long gown of a mage covered his slender figure, and his build looked like a mage’s as well. Only, he was not carrying a magical staff in his hands.
The most peculiar thing was this person’s eyes. Faintly green-colored, they expressed a kind of playful and mischievous intent but they could easily make others feel like he was full of affection towards them.
Simultaneously, he lowered his head, looking at the Dark Green Dual Bladed Demon. Seeing its fierce appearance, the facial expression of this young mage immediately changed. He looked absolutely bewitched, to the extent that he started to gently caress the shell of this Dark Green Dual Bladed Demon.
“A good item, what a good item! I want it, little brother, please tell me your price.” As he spoke, he straightened his waist, looking at Long Hao Chen, face to face.
Clearly seeing Long Hao Chen’s appearance, this youth with a deep green-colored hair couldn’t help but stare blankly at him, his eyes were shining, and he appeared absolutely amazed as he rumbled: “How can there actually be someone even more handsome than me in this world? It’s impossible.”
“Puhu.” Li Xin stood at the side, and couldn’t help but fall in laughter. This youth was handsome. Only, his character was as different to Long Hao Chen as black and white. He was narcissistic, and was far beyond comparison with Long Hao Chen.
Long Hao Chen’s face became rigid, as he said: “I have already entrusted it to the Holy Union’s auction house, so I am afraid that I cannot sell it to you directly.”
The youth continued to give a few glance to Long Hao Chen, his eyes filled with envy, “Impossible, this is impossible! How can someone more handsome than me exist?” As he spoke, his hands adjusted his deep green-colored long hair.
,
*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes
*[12.47 to 13.07]: don’t ask me about the tree sap