Chapter 151: The Purchase Plan
Thinking of the legend hidden in this city, Mihawk couldn’t help but sigh.
“This is also a part of the reason why I’ve always been low-key. I was warned once after I took down a pier. After that, I became very well-behaved. If it’s not someone coming to cause trouble, we generally don’t make a move. I just do my business honestly, to avoid a certain eye staring at me uncomfortably one day. If I’m targeted, it will probably be a disaster. At least others will have plenty of reasons to deal with me.”
Chen Ran scratched his hair, speechless. “Then if I make a big move in this city, is there always a risk of being checked?”
“Checked?” Mihawk was stunned for a moment, not understanding the meaning of Chen Ran’s sentence. But from Chen Ran’s tone, it probably meant that. He thought it was a local dialect and didn’t mind. He smiled and said, “I can only wish you good luck as much as possible.”
Hearing Mihawk say this, Chen Ran fell into a certain contemplation.
With the existence of that prophet, it seemed he really had to be a little careful. But if he were to rely on the city’s leader to personally come out and protect world peace and deal with those guys from the Dark Holy Court, it was a bit unrealistic. At that time, Chen Ran would definitely make a move in advance. After all, there was no better way. If there was any safest way, it would be to get on the line of the Deep Blue Palace as much as possible. Having some informants would always make him feel a little more at ease.
Everyone has their likes and dislikes, and their weaknesses. If there was a suitable opportunity, Chen Ran would definitely not let it go. With his good craftsmanship, he would have a great chance to get on a few big lines by making some excellent-grade weapons and equipment. But right now, there was no chance to enter the upper class. His network of relationships was just like that, and the current time was not enough for him to break through to the top step by step. The enemy was already on the move.
At this time, the people at the auction had gradually taken their seats. Chen Ran quietly waited for the auction to begin. He didn’t pay attention to what the beautiful female host on the stage was saying enthusiastically. He just looked at the rough introduction of the items to be auctioned in his hand.
There were dozens of items to be auctioned this time. The items that could be placed in the neutral auction could not be ordinary goods. The goods here were almost gathered from all over the place, such as the rare products of the various realms of the Imperial Capital, the special items of the neighboring country of Ikadan, all kinds of captured top-quality slaves, and even treasures smuggled from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Chen Ran was not very interested in other finished goods. He had a good net worth now, but he wouldn’t be a sucker and spend a lot of money to buy those things. No matter how much his net worth was, it couldn’t withstand buying a few things. He was more interested in some of the rare raw materials in the auction. Not many people competed for those unfinished things. Generally, only a production master like Chen Ran would be interested in buying them. The bidding would not be too fierce then, and he should be able to buy them without too much of a price.
Chen Ran casually flipped through a few pages and quickly picked out a few materials he liked: Chaos Meteor, Essence Stone, Green-veined Jade, and Thousand-year-old Divine Snow Wood. These few things were rare and good things for Chen Ran. Because of their shape, the room for modification was limited for ordinary masters. This kind of non-metallic, difficult-to-recycle item would be gone after one use, and there was no room for any mistakes. If there was a suitable shape, it could definitely be sold for a good price. But this was not a problem for Chen Ran. With the characteristic of physical form change in the effect of Material Refinement, he could arbitrarily change the physical form of non-recyclable items, including stone and wood, and make full use of every resource, which was something others could not do.
Until he flipped to the last page, Chen Ran found an interesting thing among the final items: Divine Spirit Jade.
In the introduction, this was a magical material that could change the characteristics of light, and this thing had a relatively complete form. It could absorb the power of light to the greatest extent and was an excellent material for making holy equipment.
Of course, the appearance of the Divine Spirit Jade was also very beautiful, suitable for making all kinds of decorations. As long as it absorbed a little bit of light energy, it could emit a beautiful and brilliant light for a long time. In the dark night, it could also emit a light as bright as day.
However, the price was also very expensive. The starting price was three hundred thousand gold coins. For such a thing, Chen Ran only had a fluke mentality. The thing was good, but it was not necessary to buy it.
After reading it, Chen Ran couldn’t help but continue to talk to Mihawk. “Big brother, what have you got your eye on this time?”
Mihawk pointed to a few items in the booklet. Most of them were finished goods, and they were all relatively distinctive. It seemed that he was thinking of reselling this kind of thing again. He himself did not deny it. “There’s nothing I want too much this time. I just casually looked at a few things. I don’t know if anyone will compete with me then. I’m a pure merchant. I won’t buy it if it exceeds the price in my heart. And there are no rare slaves this time. I estimate that the atmosphere at the scene will not be as lively as when it’s at its peak.”
“What are the rare slaves you’re talking about? There doesn’t seem to be one in this booklet?”
“It’s just not the right time. They only appear occasionally,” Mihawk explained at the side. “Sometimes, people can get slaves like elves, sirens, mermaids, and orcs through adventure or other opportunities. These living creatures can often be sold for a high price and are widely sought after.”
Chen Ran asked curiously, “Actually, I’m more interested in knowing how humans capture them. Logically, these races either live in the barren lands or in places that are difficult for ordinary people to reach. For example, mermaids. They all live in the deep sea. Can humans still dive thousands of meters into the sea to capture them?”
“Some of it is up to luck. Every race has people who are overly curious. Most of the foreign races are captured by greedy humans in their personal adventures. But some are also voluntary. For example, the mermaid race. They sometimes trade with humans in exchange for some scarce resources. Male mermaids are ugly and not valuable, but female mermaids are naturally beautiful and have a high trade value. Sometimes, the mermaid race will use some mermaids who have made mistakes or are willing to sacrifice for the tribe to trade with humans. This has mainly happened in these years. I always feel that the merman race seems to have run into some trouble for this kind of transaction to appear. Otherwise, with just human power, it would be absolutely impossible to capture the mermaids under the deep sea.”
Chen Ran couldn’t help but smile wryly.
He was actually quite interested in those foreign races.
In the texts he had studied before, there was the story of the mermaid princess. Although it was a tragic story, the impression the mermaid had left on him was still very beautiful. If he had the ability, he really wanted to go to the underwater world to see what the living environment of the mermaids was like. As for other slaves, such as those with beast ears and cat tails, as a former super otaku, no one would not hope to fill their harem with such beautiful foreign races like in the games. It would definitely be a very interesting and super-fulfilling thing.
However, he said hypocritically, “Who would be so bored as to collect so many foreign slaves?”
“There is,” Mihawk pointed to a seat in the very front. “The person in the front is one. In his palace, there are at least a dozen foreign female slaves.”
