Above the mage

Chapter 498 Starting with the Shocking Appraiser

"4000 Golden Bird Coins!"

"The VIP in Box 1 has offered 4000 Goldfinch coins."

Midi's gaze swept over the eight private boxes at the very top of the tiered seating, but his view was blocked by the outer walls of the boxes, so he couldn't see anything.

But she seemed to know who was sitting inside, and maintained her smile.

In addition to 1,600 seats, the auction hall also has eight private boxes at the top.

However, Gaode Maps did not see anyone entering or leaving the private room for the first three days, nor did it see any guests bidding in the room.

It seems that the "VIP customers" in the private rooms didn't come at all, and it wasn't until today that they started attending the auction.

It is worth mentioning that as the quality of the auction items improved, the bidding buttons next to their seats were also adjusted accordingly.

如今四个按钮依次代表加价100、500、1000以及2000金雀花币，取消了原有的50金雀花币档次，取而代之的是2000金雀花市档次。

The guests in VIP room number one were immediately charged the highest tier of extra charges.

Even so, the numbers on the auction stage screen started flashing again the next moment.

"5000 Golden Bird Coins!"

"The VIP in Box 3 has offered 5000 Golden Bird Coins! Is there any higher offer?" Midi maintained a perfectly charming smile on her face.

"Dragon Whale is not a hybrid of dragon and whale in the literal sense, but a magical creature that exists in the water elemental plane and outside the Outer Realms."

The essence is not blood, but a highly concentrated life essence that the dragon whale naturally exudes during a specific life cycle. It is extremely rare. "The dragon whale's unique life form gives its primordial energy extremely high compatibility and original vitality, and theoretically it can be absorbed by any mortal creature."

"This is a rare and precious item, obtained by chance by a powerful mage who accidentally entered an elemental plane. To see it again..."

"I don't know when that will be, since interdimensional travel is a forbidden journey for most mages." At that moment, Midi spoke eloquently, giving a further introduction to the essence of the dragon whale.

The main additions include information about the background of the dragon whale and how to obtain it.

Whether it's true or not is unknown, but it certainly adds an extra storyline to the Dragon Whale Essence, and the effect is clearly visible.

"6000 Golden Bird Coins!"

"7000 Golden Bird Coins!"

"9500 Golden Bird Coins!"

Gao De watched as the auction price surpassed his entire savings, heading straight for 10,000 gold coin.

Third-rate salespeople sell products, second-rate salespeople sell value, and first-rate salespeople sell stories. This is a universally applicable principle.

However, at this price, which is already close to the upper limit, bidders began to be more conservative in their bidding increments.

"10000 Goldfinch coins!" The guest in Box 1 made another bid.

"10000 Goldfinch Coins per attempt!"

"10000 Goldfinch Coins, Second Time!"

"10000 Goldfinch Coins, three times!"

Midi delivered the final blow: "Congratulations to the guest in Box One for winning the Dragon Whale Essence!"

Ten thousand golden birdflower coins!

This is the first item to fetch over 10,000 at this year's Wrath of the Liberation auction.

It's worth noting that Gaode didn't spend 10,000 gold coins to buy the Harland shipyard.

Today, a single item, a drop of "liquid," is worth more than an entire shipyard.

Gao De was also quite moved, and at the same time felt more and more that choosing the "Green Wood Longevity Scripture" was the right choice.

Putting everything else aside, the extra lifespan gained through the "Green Wood Longevity Scripture" alone is worth over 100,000 Golden Bird Flower Coins, based on the transaction price of Dragon Whale Essence.

As the auction progressed to the higher-level sessions, another change was that the pace slowed down considerably.

The entry-level market focuses on high prices and large quantities, while the advanced market starts to take a boutique approach.

The high-end auction will only have around one hundred lots per day, and unlike the previous three days, it will no longer be divided into raw materials and finished products, with similar items auctioned together.

Instead, according to the auctioneer's arrangement, raw materials and finished products are auctioned separately, ensuring that there are no particularly dull moments throughout the entire auction.

This is perfectly reasonable, because once you enter the higher-level auction, the number of bidding rounds increases dramatically, with an average of five or six rounds of bidding before a single item is sold.

Rare and valuable items like dragon whale essence can go through more than ten rounds of bidding.

If we were to arrange two or three hundred lots like in the previous preliminary auction, not only would we not be able to provide that many high-quality items, but we also wouldn't have enough time; the auction might not even last a whole day.

The increasing sophistication of the auction items means that Gaode Maps is now attracting significantly more attention.

Even the raw materials that were met with a lukewarm reception in the first three days are now highly attractive.

In this auction, Gaode suffered a major loss, acquiring three items, equivalent to the total from the previous three days.

All three items are raw materials needed to create rune constructs.

One is "Refined Dragon Blood Ink," a high-level magic ink made by mixing special solvents, magic-guiding powder, and dragon blood.

Of course, the dragon blood in this is not pure dragon blood, but rather blood from a fourth-tier red lizard that contains a faint dragon bloodline; it is actually giant lizard blood.

The reason it's called "Dragon Blood" is obviously to play on that theme and elevate its status.

Magic ink is one of the core consumables for rune masters.

Such high-quality magic ink would be a bit extravagant to use for inscribing large rune arrays, but it is just right for making rune constructs.

It cost 800 gold coins for Gaode to acquire this bottle of magic ink, which should be of the fourth rank.

The other two treasures were "Deep Sea Silver Ore," the core structural material for rune constructs, which sold for 950 gold.

This is a piece of mithril ore salvaged from a deep-sea vein that is difficult for sunlight to reach.

Having been exposed to water pressure and water elements for a long time, it has good magic conductivity, excellent toughness and corrosion resistance, and a surface with flowing water-like ripples. It also looks quite good and is suitable as the main base material for chest armor and arm armor in rune construction components.

The other is a set of four small bottles of Tier 3 Elemental Dust, containing the four basic elements of earth, wind, water, and fire.

This is a commonly used auxiliary and processing material for rune masters.

Sprinkling this on the surface of the material before inscribing or drawing runes can slightly enhance the sensitivity of magical perception and slightly strengthen the rune's effect on the corresponding elemental attributes.

The former increases the success rate of drawing runes and reduces errors.

The latter is to improve the quality of the runes.

The price was still acceptable; I managed to acquire it for just 850 Goldbird Coins.

Raw materials are generally auctioned in this way; their inherent value is what it is, and there is rarely any premium.

Moreover, the amount of refined dragon blood ink and elemental dust is quite large, enough for multiple uses when making rune constructs.

After acquiring these three items, the fourth day of the auction was a very fruitful one for Gaode.

But it seemed his good luck had run out. By the fifth day, after an entire auction with nearly a hundred items up for sale, he hadn't found anything that appealed to him.

The first time it "went empty".

Returning to the inn with a slight sense of gloom, Gao De once again took out the Bone-Eating Vine Magic Crystal.

After three days of absorption and refinement, the energy remaining in the magic crystal is now less than a quarter, and it will be completely turned into a useless crystal today.

Gao De sat cross-legged and, just like the previous three days, began to absorb the wood element energy and toxin energy.

After three days of tempering, the magic runes on the magic crystal in his body have reached 67, and the progress on the [Adaptive] side is also very encouraging.

[Your body is continuously being attacked and tempered by toxic energy... Your immunity to toxins increases by 112%, and your body's organs' ability to metabolize and excrete various toxins increases by 119.7%].

After the energy from the Bone-Eating Vine Crystal entered his body, Gao De's senses gradually quieted down, and his mind focused on his body.

One after another, streams of pure wood elemental energy flowed into his wood magic crystal like streams flowing into rivers and seas.

At the same time, the toxic energy was constantly attacking his body, traveling through his blood vessels and leaving bluish-black marks wherever it went.

Gao De's skin was covered with strange bluish-purple patterns at a visible speed, like the roots of an old tree creeping all over his limbs and torso. Even his lips were ashen, making him look like he was terminally ill.

But he remained unaffected, focused, and methodically refined the wood elemental energy, pouring it into the wood magic crystal floating above the mana pool.

When the last wisp of energy within the Bone-Eating Vine Magic Crystal was completely absorbed into his body, a water-ripple pattern finally reappeared in Gao De's Wood Magic Crystal.

69 lines.

When his runes reach 120, his mage level will be able to advance to the mid-second ring.

One-sixth of the work has now been completed.

This was only three months after he was promoted to the second ring road.

"The Mage Fighting Tournament... there's still more than a year to go..." Gao De murmured to himself, then opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of turbid air mixed with toxins.

The turbid air quickly dissipated into a pale green mist.

Looking again at the Bone-Eating Vine Magic Crystal in his palm, it had lost all its luster, turning from a deep dark green into a transparent crystal.

With a gentle squeeze, Gao De caused the magic crystal to turn into fine powder and drift away in the wind.

The toxins in his body had not yet been completely metabolized, causing him continuous, needle-like pain.

However, this pain had virtually no effect on him.

First, he filled a glass with water, then used the [All-Purpose Elixir] to prepare a [Pain-Relieving] elixir for himself. After drinking it all, he cast [Comfortable Sleep+] on himself, and he easily fell into a deep sleep amidst the pain, his breathing gradually becoming long and steady.

When I woke up the next day, all the toxins and energy in my body had been completely eliminated.

The mana pool was brimming with energy, and the Wood Magic Crystal shone even brighter than yesterday.

Gao De stretched slightly, and his bones cracked all over.

Then, as if he had sensed something, he suddenly raised his hand.

On the back of his hand, the mark representing astral teleportation was shimmering with starlight.

The intricate runes flowed endlessly as if they had come alive.

This means that the astral teleportation charge is now fully complete.

If he so desired, he could instantly disappear from Black Sails City and head straight to the North in ten seconds via astral teleportation.

This trump card, like a protective charm, completely put Gaode at ease, and a calm smile appeared on his lips.

With the assurance of astral teleportation, he felt much more confident and at ease about his actions in Black Sails City.

He straightened his robes, left the room, and knocked on the door of Lan Wen's room next door.

"Let's go have breakfast, then continue with the auction," Gao De said, looking refreshed.

Today is the sixth day of the auction, which is the penultimate auction.

For most of the people who have traveled from afar to attend the Wrath of the Liberation auction, the highlight is undoubtedly tomorrow's final session.

However, for Gaode, today is the highlight of the day.

Today, he had to consign the two Blackwing Gang relics that Sarah had given him for auction.

This is the only way to attract the attention of Davy Jones, the pirate king hiding behind the scenes, as originally planned.

At the same time, it can also be exchanged for enough money so that tomorrow I can use this money to bid for the bottle of the five-ring enhancement potion that Midi had previously revealed.

He arrived at the Blue Flame Auction House with practiced ease.

But this time, after entering the main hall of the auction house, Gao De turned a corner and walked towards a corridor with authentication signs on the side.

"Honored guest, please wait a moment," a servant immediately approached, "How may I help you?"

"I have a treasure I'd like to consign for auction," Gao De said in a low voice.

A knowing glint flashed in the servant's eyes, and he stepped aside to gesture for the way: "Please follow me. All items consigned for auction must be appraised by our appraisers, and we will provide a minimum estimated value based on the item's worth."

Gao De nodded and followed the attendant's steps.

Upon entering the corridor, he discovered that the long, narrow corridor was neatly divided into nearly ten small secret rooms.

The attendant led Gao De to one of the small secret rooms, pushed open the wooden door, and gestured for Gao De to enter.

"Distinguished guest, you only need to hand over the treasures you wish to consign to the appraisers inside for evaluation and review."

Gao De led Lan Wen into the secret room, and Lan Wen closed the door behind them.

The small room wasn't large, but it was brightly lit and the air wasn't stuffy.

Inside sat an elderly man with white hair and crystal glasses perched on his nose, scrutinizing Gao De and Lan Wen with a critical gaze.

"Please sit down and bring out what you need to send for auction." He glanced at the two of them and casually pointed to the chairs in front of the table.

Without saying a word, Gao De sat down in the chair and took out a ring and a silver chain from his pocket, placing them on the table.

"Jewelry? It looks a bit old-fashioned?"

The old man looked at the two pieces of jewelry that Gao De had taken out, a hint of misunderstanding flashing in his eyes.

It was more than just a little old; the crystal on the ring had spiderweb-like cracks on its surface, and the silver chain was covered in rust.

Today's event is a high-level event with a minimum spend of 500 Gold Coins. Bringing out these two obviously defective pieces of jewelry is just ridiculous.

The old man found it absurd, but he still maintained good professional conduct. He didn't want to offend an unknown monk and bring trouble upon himself, so he adopted a businesslike attitude to cover up his complicated emotions.

"My dear guest, let me make this clear from the outset: the Wrath of the Sea auction has strict standards for consigned items. If an item fails to meet the minimum standards for this auction, we reserve the right to refuse to accept it."

"Also, if you are not satisfied with my appraisal results, you can raise this issue on the spot, and our auction house will arrange for another appraiser to conduct the appraisal." As he took the two pieces of jewelry, preparing to begin his appraisal process, he also made a disclaimer in advance.

"Let's begin the identification," Gao De interrupted him without changing his expression.

The old man took a deep breath, suppressing his doubts.

He didn't touch the two ornaments immediately, but first adjusted the angle of the lantern on the table so that the soft but bright light would shine evenly on the two ornaments.

Immediately afterwards, a faint magical fluctuation emanated from the old man's body.

As the magical fluctuations rose, his pupils gradually gained a layer of glass-like shimmer, as if they could reflect scenes that ordinary people could not see.

Then, the old man's gaze swept over the ring and necklace.

The next instant, his eyes widened suddenly, and he exclaimed in shock:

"A Tier 5 Extraordinary Accessory!"