Chapter 076: Attribute Test
Looking at the supremely magnificent longsword on the table, the person in charge of the auction house, the fat supervisor who appraised the value of the goods, couldn’t stop raising his eyebrows, his expression incredibly complex.
After a long while, he finally looked up at Chen Ran and said seriously, “Are you planning to sell this sword?”
“Of course. I came to your auction house. Besides consigning items, did I come here specifically to drink free tea?” Chen Ran said with a smile, his expression completely natural.
Looking at the longsword before him, the supervisor stroked the shiny black mustache on his lip and praised, “I have to say, I’ve been the supervisor of the Xilan City auction house for more than a dozen years, and this is the first time I’ve seen goods of this caliber. I estimate that only auction houses in the large coastal cities and the Imperial Capital would have the opportunity to see items of this grade. With the value of this sword, it will definitely be able to sell for a considerable price.”
“That’s natural,” Chen Ran said with a matter-of-fact smile. “Its production cost is not cheap in itself. I just want to know what kind of positioning you are willing to give it.”
The supervisor nodded. “Of course, if it’s auctioned, we will naturally place this sword, named Light’s Defiance, as the final, show-stopping item. I initially estimate that this sword can be sold for more than three hundred thousand, and may even reach a terrifying price of five hundred thousand gold coins. You know, the richest person in Xilan City is only worth a little over a million gold coins. If it’s really sold, you will definitely become one of the few richest people in Xilan City.”
At this point, the supervisor hesitated for a moment and said to Chen Ran, “I wonder if you would be willing to sell this weapon to us? If you are willing, our auction house is willing to buy it from you for five hundred thousand gold coins. This will also save you tens of thousands in handling fees. What do you think?”
Chen Ran naturally knew what this fat man was up to. A sword of excellent quality like this had a limited value in Xilan City, but if it were placed in a large city, a place with a high concentration of wealthy people, it could often fetch an even more outrageous price. Reselling it would definitely be profitable.
“Mr. Supervisor, I am not a pure merchant,” Chen Ran said with a smile. “Perhaps as you said, based on the past auction market in this city, my highest estimate for this sword is also around five hundred thousand gold coins. But I have my own ideas for selling this weapon. No matter what you say, I plan to sell this longsword by auction, even if it means I earn a little less.”
The supervisor sighed and said, “If that’s the case, then so be it. I respect your choice.” The supervisor made a gesture and called over a recorder, saying to him, “Replace a spot on the list for this auction. Set the final item as the two-handed longsword ‘Light’s Defiance,’ with a starting price of two hundred thousand gold coins.”
“Understood, I’ll go and modify it right away,” the recorder said, stunned for a moment after hearing the price. Perhaps he had never expected the starting price of an item to be so high this time. But he quickly came to his senses, and after receiving the order, he simply registered the item and then withdrew again.
Because Chen Ran had a treasure like “Light’s Defiance,” his status would surely soar in the future. The supervisor’s tone toward Chen Ran was much more polite than before. He greeted him, “I estimate that in half a month, Xilan City will have another young rich man. I look forward to an even greater miracle happening then.”
After speaking, he handed a high-level VIP card to Chen Ran. With this card, he could easily enter and exit the auction house. With this card, Chen Ran could sit in a more forward position in the auction house, which was also a confirmation of his status.
You know, the seating at an auction house was also particular. Apart from the specially invited dignitaries of the city, the seats after entering the door all had to be bought. The more forward the position, the more expensive it was.
“Heh, I hope so. The task on my shoulders is too heavy, so I can only make do by selling weapons,” Chen Ran said, packing up Light’s Defiance. “That’s it for now. I have something to do, so I’ll go back first. I’ll definitely be on time then.”
“Take care, sir.”
After returning to the church, and after settling the matter with the auction house, Chen Ran found that he finally had nothing to do. He just had to wait for the auction to start in half a month, sell the sword, and then the real money would come in.
Out of boredom, Chen Ran couldn’t help but check on the situation of the children in the church.
Overall, it was not bad here. With Sister Marian’s management, the children were living a self-sufficient life. Not only did they keep the church environment clean, but they also brought an extra bit of life to this originally dead-silent church.
These children had been here for half a month and had come to regard this place as a home. Perhaps because they no longer lacked food, these children were obviously much more spirited than when they first arrived. They were also dressed cleanly, at least no longer having the feeling of being homeless children.
But when it came to children, it was not enough to just let them work. They also needed to receive some education. He hadn’t had time to manage it before, but now he felt that he needed to find a teacher for this group of children. At the very least, they had to learn to read, right?
But, everything would have to wait until he had money…
Just then, someone couldn’t help but tug at the corner of Chen Ran’s clothes.
Dongfang stood behind Chen Ran, pouting, with a dissatisfied look on her face. “You’ve been making me trim leaves recently. I’m so tired of it. There’s no sense of accomplishment. I strongly protest. I want to change jobs.”
“Alright then. I’ll be free for a while starting today, so I might have some new jobs for you. Now, go and gather everyone. I have new instructions.”
“Okay, I’ll go right away.”
In less than ten minutes, with a loud shout from Dongfang, all the children were gathered.
Chen Ran took out a self-made energy test stick and tested their respective talent perception.
As Chen Ran had expected, most of these children had no talent for cultivating fighting spirit or magic. After testing seven or eight of them, not a single one met the standard. It was no wonder that none of these children could beat Dongfang in a fight. Their talent was probably very limited.
After testing everyone else, Chen Ran sighed. It seemed there were really no geniuses to focus on cultivating. So, he placed his last hope on Dongfang. This spirited little girl should meet some standard, right?
The test stick was held in Dongfang’s hand. Chen Ran carefully observed the energy reaction on the stick.
As he had expected, this girl did have a talent in a certain area. He looked at the silver light flashing on the test stick. Dongfang’s talent seemed to be in shamanism…
This was a bit beyond Chen Ran’s expectations. He had originally thought that Dongfang, being agile and clever, should be suitable for fighting spirit and have an excellent talent for assassination and the like. As for her shamanistic talent, he thought about whether there was a most suitable cultivation system.
Chen Ran took out a pile of secret manuals and notebooks from his spatial ring. These were the seemingly precious secret manuals he had extorted from the old demon king in the demon world on the day of the Fire Tribe’s blood moon.
The power system of this world was divided into four categories: magic, fighting spirit, shamanism, and star power. Fighting spirit was the most common, followed by magic. Eighty percent of the professions in the world used these two powers. The number of people who knew shamanism was relatively small, but they often had many special abilities. As for star power, it was the most mysterious, mostly used by stargazers to predict the future. But a very small number of people with a talent for star power could also cast powerful attack spells.
After a good search through this pile of mostly magic and fighting spirit secret manuals, Chen Ran finally found the only booklet on the application of shamanism.
