area51novel Chapter 204 Top-Tier Auction (Star Core Tulip)
Chapter 204 Top-Tier Auction (Star Core Tulip)
The decorations throughout the space were indeed eye-catching, but the Shrek Academy group was now focusing more on the unadorned, pure wall.
They came to attend the auction, but this room clearly looks more like a lounge, with no trace of an auction stage. So, they must have had other means to participate in the auction, and that wall that doesn't quite match the overall decor of the room is the best suspect.
"Please be seated, everyone. I will now introduce you to everything in the room and how to participate in the auction."
Noticing the probing gazes from the Shrek Academy students, Qingya's smile deepened. She gestured for everyone to sit on the sofas covered in pristine white animal hides. Then, together with the two girls in golden dresses who had accompanied her, she began explaining the rules and participation methods of the top-tier auction to everyone present.
With the memories in his mind as a foundation, Long You listened for a short while and realized that the various arrangements in the room had not changed. Therefore, Long You did not continue to listen attentively to the rest of the lecture, but instead focused on dealing with the various foods on the table in front of him.
Formal meals were definitely not an option on this occasion, but the wide variety of pastries were exactly what Long You wanted. He had always loved sweets, and the desserts on the table made him as happy as a mouse that had fallen into a rice bin. Whenever he got tired of the desserts, there were refreshing fruit juices and various crisp and sweet fruits waiting for him, providing maximum comfort to his stomach that had been empty all night.
While Long You was enjoying his meal, the undecorated wall over there was given a detailed introduction by the elegant auctioneer, who explained that it was a special soul-guided device, a light-guided screen, from the Sun Moon Empire.
The moment this light-guiding screen, powered solely by mineral energy, appeared, most of the students from Shrek Academy frowned. Although Auctioneer Qingya later explained the reality of the weak mineral energy, the somber feeling still lingered.
However, after all, everyone was just there to attend the auction, so after the initial tension, they started eating and drinking as usual. The Shrek Academy group had arrived relatively early, and since none of them were actually very hungry, the food on the table quickly dwindled.
During the meal, Auctioneer Qingya didn't just wait idly by; instead, she would occasionally chime in with a few well-timed remarks, ensuring the atmosphere wasn't too awkward while also maintaining her own pace. However, as the conversation progressed, the topic shifted to Wang Yan personally. Qingya revealed that Starlight Auction House intended to establish a presence in Shrek City, and while Wang Yan expressed his welcome, he also received a small gift from Auctioneer Qingya: a communication soul tool.
Although this communication soul tool is far inferior to the communication soul tools currently popular at Shrek Academy, if we ignore the fact that Shrek Academy is overpowered, this communication soul tool with a communication range of only fifty kilometers can still be considered a fairly convenient soul tool.
After a while of eating, drinking, and chatting, a soft golden light suddenly shone from the light guide screen, bathing the entire room in a golden hue and drawing everyone's attention to it.
"Distinguished guests, our auction is about to begin."
Qingya, who was responsible for explaining the auction, informed everyone of the news at the opportune moment as the golden light spread out.
After a few breaths, the golden light on the light guide screen gradually faded, and a melodious voice rang out: "Welcome, distinguished guests, to the Starlight Auction House's top-tier auction. Today, we will present nine precious items for your enjoyment. Next, we will display all the items one by one according to their value. We hope that you will find something of value at today's auction."
After the golden light subsided, the auction stage returned to its original clean white color. However, the previously empty auction stage now had a young girl in a red dress.
After a brief self-introduction, the auction immediately got on track. The screen on the Soul Guidance Display changed, and an enlarged image of the item appeared directly on the screen.
The ten-meter-wide soul-guided display screen showed the auction items in minute detail. However, Dai Yueheng did not immediately focus his attention on the auction items. Coming from the White Tiger Duke family, Dai Yueheng keenly noticed that the auctioneer who called himself Jiujiu had used court etiquette of the Star Luo royal family.
After the auctioneer Qingya explained the situation to everyone, the Shrek Academy students were able to understand why the Starlight Auction House was able to successfully deliver the invitation to the Star Emperor Hotel.
The first item in the auction was the Tyrant Tiger Soul Refining Blade. This was an eighth-level melee soul tool, made easier to use by incorporating a fragmented soul bone. It looked powerful, but technically it didn't offer much to boast about; its level and power were purely built up using rare materials. Ultimately, this battle blade soul tool, just as Long You remembered it, was purchased by Dai Yueheng for a hefty sum.
The second item in the auction, a set of soul-guided projectiles with different attributes, was clearly more worthy of investigation. Considering that these projectiles still held technical reference value for Shrek Academy, Wang Yan personally auctioned them off.
Next, the Starlight Auction House offered four more soul bones as auction items. Although none were rare gems like the 100,000-year soul bone, they were still worthy of its reputation as a top-tier auction house. Looking at the constantly changing numbers on the optical guide screen, it was clear that this auction was a success.
However, the fluctuating numbers had little to do with Shrek Academy, as the compatibility of these soul bones wasn't particularly suited to the students. The students didn't have a strong demand, and Shrek Academy itself didn't lack reserves of soul bones of this level, so Wang Yan didn't intend to auction them off in the academy's name.
After the soul bone auction concluded, the picture on the auction stage was replaced with a picture of a mineral. According to the princess's introduction, this mineral was a very precious raw ore; the Starlight Auction House had acquired it and then sealed it away, where it remains to this day.
The person who wins the bid for this ore can entrust Starlight Auction House to refine the metal. The final amount of metal received by the buyer will definitely be greater than or equal to the expected figure shown in the auction report. However, once the auction house takes action, it cannot work for free; there will be handling fees, labor costs, and allowances for heat loss. If the buyer is unwilling to accept these conditions, they can refine the metal themselves. However, if the refined metal content is less than that shown in the auction report, Starlight Auction House will not bear any responsibility; it will only be attributed to the buyer's own lack of technical expertise.
It was somewhat domineering, but also a fair approach. After all, as long as the technology was solid, buyers didn't need to care about these terms. However, looking at the magnified image of the raw ore on the optical guide screen, Long You had to use a glass of beverage to conceal the gleam in his eyes.
According to the auction house's description, this raw ore is the ore of the ultra-rare metal Starlink Titanium. This metal has no veins on the Douluo Continent; it originates from meteorites. The earliest recorded discovery of this metal came from the Sun Moon Empire. According to information released by the Sun Moon Empire, once refined, this metal displays a beautiful starlink structure from any angle. Combined with its lightweight, hardness, and excellent ductility, it meets the physical properties of the rare metal titanium, hence the name Starlink Titanium.
At this point, the qualities that would make Starlink Titanium a top-tier auction item haven't even been fully revealed. Even if it's a meteorite and extremely rare, if its characteristics were similar to existing metallic deposits on the planet, its value would at most be slightly higher than native planetary metals. However, the fact that Starlink Titanium is here clearly indicates that it's not a mistake by Starlight Auction House.
While its physical properties are unremarkable, its chemical properties are nothing short of miraculous in the current Douluo Continent. Starlink Titanium possesses chemical properties remarkably similar to those of catalysts in chemical reactions. No matter what rare metal it is, as long as Starlink Titanium is added, even just one gram, it can double the various properties of that rare metal.
This Starlink titanium isn't even in Shrek Academy's inventory. Long You only came into contact with this extraterrestrial meteorite metal through his grandfather, Old Master Long Guozhang. Old Master Long's business in the Sun Moon Empire was very successful, and coupled with his considerable skill, he had quite a few valuable items. However, even so, Old Master Long only possessed a small amount of Starlink titanium, just 1.6 grams.
When Grandpa Long showed this to Long You, it was partly to broaden Long You's horizons, and partly to show off. However, it was precisely because he had seen the Starlink Titanium in person that Long You was so excited now.
Using Starlink titanium as a catalyst is actually the greatest waste of this meteorite metal.
As the previous description shows, refining Starlink titanium from its ore is extremely difficult. However, this is only because the refining method is incorrect. After burning in the atmosphere, Starlink titanium is actually free of impurities. The reason it still looks like a piece of ore is simply because the portion considered an impurity is too stable, and for a long time, people did not discover its uses.
However, Long You was different. The moment Xiao Yan saw the Starlink Titanium in person, he reminded Long You that it was an incomplete stellar core metal. Well, although it was named a stellar core, this stellar core was not some exaggerated thing like a small planetary core; it was just some special cosmic dust that had condensed together.
These special cosmic dust particles, with their active components as mentioned before, act as a rather dramatic catalyst. If someone could combine these active components with the stable components in the right way, Starlink Titanium would become a magical metal called Star Core Tulip.
Well, to be more precise, it should be called material. Because at that point, Longyou wasn't sure if it still belonged to the category of metallic materials.
Why is this material considered so magical? The answer lies in its name: "Star Core." While not some overpowered celestial core, anything called a Star Core possesses terrifying load-bearing capacity. The 8.6-kilogram Star Core Tulip auctioned at the Starlight Auction House, once processed, would be enough to support a virtual world in Longyou capable of supporting tens of thousands of people online simultaneously.
This is exactly the ideal server in Longyou's mind, capable of supporting the virtual universe.
[Ah, how lucky! From now on I can start preparing for the divine artifact of the future! I wonder what the reaction will be in the divine realm when I actually create such a devastating weapon as a virtual universe?]
Despite the lengthy and verbose description in writing, in reality, Long You merely took a sip of his beverage, sorted out his thoughts, and recalled how much savings he had and what items he could temporarily sell at auction for cash.
Taking out the Bourne Tablet from his storage belt, Long You began to take stock of his assets. Thanks to the high success rate of his soul tool creation, although Long You didn't have the same kind of daily gold-farming experience as a member of the inspection team like the Shrek Academy inner court students, the income from selling soul tools was already quite considerable. However, even with such a considerable income, it was only a mere million gold soul coins.
They're considered wealthy, but that's far from enough to acquire this Starlink titanium (currently still in the auction stage, so we'll refer to it as Starlink titanium). What Longyou is currently investigating is exactly how much liquid capital he can access in his shop's account.
Yes, Longyou has its own shop, a dessert shop, which has now developed into a chain of dessert shops in mainland China.
Do you remember what happened in the main house of the Long family shortly after Long You's martial soul awakened? At that time, Long You's uncle joked that Long You's mother, Zeng Xianjun, would be very happy because Long You could use his martial soul to help his mother improve the recipes in her vegetarian restaurant, making the dishes in her vegetarian restaurant more and more attractive.
Long You had already turned that joke into reality. He had played a significant role in the immense reputation of Zeng Xianjun's vegetarian restaurant in Tiandou City. However, his uncle's words also reminded him that he might be able to do something in the catering industry himself.
In his previous life, China was a culinary empire. Even without counting the eight major cuisines, there was an abundance of various desserts and snacks. Add to that the killer weapon of "milk tea," and Long You was fully confident that he could build a dessert empire on the Douluo Continent.