Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 79 Online Auction

Kyrel Randy, a high elf spellcaster codenamed "Heart of the Forest", logged into the Magic Network forum early, waiting for the online auction that would begin in half an hour.

Three days ago, an announcement suddenly appeared at the top of the forum, informing members that today's forum exchange meeting will be an online auction and bidding for membership quotas.

In fact, forum members would occasionally conduct online transactions for some precious spellcasting materials or high-level magic tools, but this form of transaction was not friendly to new members. It was difficult to obtain points, and most members did not look down on ordinary money as a transaction equivalent. They were more willing to barter for the items they needed.

Harvey certainly doesn't like to see this happen. If everyone holds on to their points and doesn't spend them, it will definitely affect the continued depreciation of the forum's virtual currency.

It will definitely seriously affect your behavior of cutting "magic leeks" from time to time.

Therefore, holding some public trading auctions regularly can not only stimulate members to consume their points, but also allow them to benefit from the forum, which is a win-win behavior.

Harvey attaches great importance to "user stickiness" in this regard.

……

[Hand of Elements: Praise to Administrator Mr. Turing! Good evening, everyone!]

It was the familiar opening greeting from the social butterfly Mr. "Elemental Hands". Harvey couldn't help but smile as he stared at the crystal screen.

Mr. Elemental Hand, who seems gentle and polite and never breaks his defense to confront anyone, is actually a powerful elemental mage who has the ability to explore the rifts in the alien space with legendary spellcasters.

[Fadun: Good evening, everyone! It looks like everyone who participated in today's exchange meeting is here. I guess everyone is here for the auction and the bidding spots, right?]

This newly joined Mr. "Magic Shield" spoke in the style of an old-school government official. It seemed that he was an official of the Federation or other wizarding kingdom organizations.

But he didn't know why he was invited to the forum. Shouldn't he report the situation of the forum to the organization as soon as possible and then actively carry out various investigations?

But after observing his speeches and exchanges for a long time, Harvey discovered that he was just constantly seeking some magical knowledge for promotion. It seemed that he was essentially a traitor who only cared about his own interests.

Harvey likes forum members like this.

[Son of Flame: I wonder if Mr. Turing will be personally hosting the auction today? I can't wait to see what everyone has prepared...]

In reality, some spellcasters will privately organize auctions to trade some important items or spellcasting materials, but this is limited to their own trusted circle of contacts, and outsiders will absolutely not be accepted into it.

In essence, the world of spellcasters still has strict faction and class barriers.

An auction like today's, which is completely anonymous online, with traded items delivered and received immediately, and no need to worry about being intercepted, and participated entirely by high-level spellcasters, is not easy to get the opportunity to participate in, even in Alayeh, the capital of all laws.

[Administrator Turing: Today's auction is indeed hosted by me, but it's my real body projection that will serve you...]

Everyone was silent for a moment, even though it had been vaguely mentioned in the forum before by more prestigious members such as the Scorching Lord that this mysterious and powerful Mr. Turing used his own projection in the magic network plane to create the magical online organization, the Spellcaster Forum.

But hearing the administrator say this fact in person in a casual and easy manner still shocked everyone.

Legendary spellcasters can indeed form projections of their own magic patterns in the magic network, but I have never heard of any legendary spellcaster's projection being able to create a communication space like the Spellcaster Forum that exists entirely in the magic network plane and can also interact with reality through alchemical instruments.

[Administrator Turing: If you have no questions, let's get started! ]

According to the auction rules marked in advance in the forum announcement, members participating in the sale of items must display the items in order of the time they joined the forum, from the latest to the oldest.

Each lot is limited to a maximum of five bids to avoid malicious bidding. If the item unfortunately fails to sell, it will be allowed to be sold privately later.

As for the specific value of each item sold, it is decided by the item holder himself. Whether it is points, common currency, designated materials, or magic tools, they can participate in the bidding.

The first person to bid was a new member of the forum code-named "Rock Titan". Harvey vaguely remembered that he communicated frequently with Mr. "Frost Giant" and should be a member invited by him.

[Rock Titan: My item is a magical gem, the "Heart of Clarke." I won't go into detail about its specific effects; those who understand its value and purpose will naturally understand.]

Harvey frowned slightly and thought to himself: Why do you have to act so pretentious when you are selling something? Why don’t you tell me what the use of this thing is? Wouldn’t it be better to educate low-level newbies?

Fortunately, a forum member with a more outgoing personality immediately jumped out to make a comment.

[Son of Flame: "Heart of Clarke"? Haha, why don't you just say it's the heart of a petrified banshee? Why are you playing tricks on me? It's the main material for an earth-based spellcaster's tool. Anyone interested in a quote?]

[Rock Titan: I only accept point bids, starting at 150 points.]

Unfortunately, while this magical weapon material was precious, its uses were very limited, and it was ultimately bought by the "Earth-loving One" at the reserve price. Subsequently, several new members presented their items, including mid-level powerful offensive magical weapons, rare magic potions, and some relatively rare potion ingredients from the southern continent.

Most of the items were sold successfully, with only a few items with smaller uses failing to sell.

The only thing that Harvey was interested in was a set of alchemical devices that the "Man in the Mirror" took out - the "Arm of the Arcane Mentor". Its effect was to provide amplification and stability to the caster's magic power input and matrix drawing during the experimental research process.

However, one needs to accept the transplantation of this alchemical device into one's own body and constantly infuse it with magic energy to maintain its activity.

Harvey suddenly realized that this was just a "castrated version" of his own soul transfer experiment, which also had active characteristics and required magical energy to drive it.

If it weren't for the fact that the offer of 500 points was too shocking and no one was interested in it, Harvey would have wanted to buy it back to study it. However, he was concerned that giving out too many points at once might easily arouse the suspicion of other members, so he had no choice but to give up.

"Let's wait for a chance to communicate with Mr. Man in the Mirror alone..." Harvey shook his head regretfully.

The ghost captain took out a recipe for a magic potion called "Breath of the Naga Siren", which was used to assist water spellcasters in spell matrix analysis and mental strength recovery. This attracted bidding from several forum members, and it was finally bought by the new member "Magic Shield" at the highest price of 220 points.

After multiple bids appeared, the atmosphere of the online auction gradually became tense. Heart of the Forest then displayed its own item - a natural protective magic weapon, which was characterized by the ability to automatically absorb the energy of the magic network to replenish the energy of the shield. It had excellent defense and endurance.

Finally, the new member "Shadow Knight" who was suspected to be invited by the Scorching Lord was successfully bought with 200 points plus some rare spell materials.

The auction was coming to an end, and it was finally Harvey's turn to display the items.

[Kel'Thuzad: Everyone, what you know about me comes from the gains from exploring the ruins. It's an unknown liquid spellcasting material. If you're interested, I can let you inspect it on the spot through a teleportation array under the witness of Mr. Turing. However, if you want to participate in the auction, you must also tell me the name and use of the material free of charge. So this part of knowledge can be considered as part of the purchase value paid to me...]

As soon as the keyword "ruin exploration" came out, messages began to flash on the crystal screen. Most forum members chose to participate in the inspection and accepted the trading rules that required them to provide knowledge of the corresponding materials.

Harvey smiled slightly and signaled Reiner, who was standing by, to divide one of the bottles of crimson liquid seized from the evil orcs into eight even parts using test tubes and immediately send them to the members participating in the bidding.

……

A faint light flashed, and a slender crystal test tube appeared on the magic network teleportation array.

"Son of Fire" Phil Holden walked up and picked it up. He took a casual glance at it and immediately widened his eyes.

"This... this is, demon blood?"

A rare spell material rarely used by fire elemental spellcasters when casting high-level spells. The reason is that this blood material, which is said to be taken from the demon from another dimension, has the powerful negative effect of "burning blood".

"Burning Blood" actually refers to a self-destructive combat method in which the caster overdraws his or her own mental power through potions to increase the power of the spell. The negative effect is that the mental power will be in a dry and weak state for a long time. Therefore, unless it is a life-and-death situation, ordinary combat mages are not brave enough to try to use this kind of spell-casting auxiliary material.

But Phil Holden actually knew another rare use of demon blood, which was to use it in combination with other magical materials to transform the blood of ordinary people who had no talent for spellcasting.

This method also has obvious disadvantages. After the transformation, the spellcaster's rank will be stuck at the middle level and can never be promoted, and can only learn magic of the fire element.

Fair couldn't help but think of the unlucky descendants of his family who were close to him but had no talent for spellcasting. He decided to find a way to buy this material and make some plans for their future.

He hurried back to the "Magic Brain" instrument and began to reply to "Kel'Thuzad's" message.

Son of Flame: @Mr. Kel'Thuzad, I wonder how much of this material you've acquired. I'm willing to purchase it all at 20 points per milliliter, and I'll also include an explanation of the material and its basic uses...

20 points per milliliter, and a bottle can be sold for 200 points. It seems that this thing is very valuable!
Harvey thought for a moment and was about to express that he did not need the points and wanted to replace them with other equivalent materials when new news came out.

[Heart of the Forest: I'm sorry, Mr. @Son of Flame, I'm afraid I'll also bid on this. I'm willing to buy it at 25 points per milliliter, or exchange it for an equivalent amount of gold pounds and magical materials.]

[Frost Giant: Hehe, then I'll try to participate too. 25 points per milliliter, and a list of magical ore materials will be included. Mr. Kel'Thuzad can freely choose.]

"You piece of shit! What gives you the right to bargain with me?" The angry Fair slammed his fist on the table and cursed with gritted teeth.

He immediately switched to forum battle mode, ready to mock those guys who were bidding against him enthusiastically, but suddenly saw a new message appear at the bottom of the crystal screen.

Fey was stunned for a moment, and fearfully put his hand, which was on the typing keys, back into his robe sleeve.

[Scorching Overlord: If Mr. Kel'Thuzad can provide more than 100 milliliters of this material at once, I am willing to provide a matrix model for a six-ring improved spell or a high-level defensive artifact, and I don't have to compensate me for the difference in price.]

(End of this chapter)