The Gentleman at the End -
Chapter 423 - Chapter 423 Chapter 422 The Dukes Auction
Chapter 423: Chapter 422: The Duke’s Auction Chapter 423: Chapter 422: The Duke’s Auction Since the ‘night’ designated by the Duke was unpredictably long in coming — for the concept of time in the Old World had long been disrupted by war — there was no choice but to summon the Golden Mask to inquire,
Surprisingly, the Golden Mask, serving as the Duke’s left hand, was equally unaware of the timing,
He simply informed Yi Chen that the time defined by the Duke would not be disclosed to anyone, but there would be a clear indication in the commercial area half an hour before the auction started.
With that settled, Yi Chen found himself with little to do in his room, so he took Thirteen to the streets ahead of time to address his thirst for knowledge,
They found the Candle Puppet Shop again, where the owner was busy packing belongings and cleaning up merchandise, with numerous Candle Puppets participating in the process, shouldering bundles large and small, preparing to head to the Duke’s Chamber of Commerce.
Yi Chen was straightforward, directly stating his desire for books on Candle Puppet knowledge,
To his surprise, the owner cared little for such things and promptly brought them out, adding that similar Candle Puppet craft books could be found in various bookstores across Light City,
There was even a specific Lamp Society School, and countless young people aspired to become Candle Puppet Masters, yet very few could translate that knowledge into practical application.
At the same time,
The owner also noticed the changes in the Candle Puppet following Yi Chen, but since he was preoccupied with moving, he did not inquire further.
Returning to the commercial district,
Thirteen held an old, wrinkled book, engrossed in its content,
Each page was filled with neat notes, and even some staging sketches drawn by the owner when he was young, which more than doubled Thirteen’s understanding speed, even allowing her to quickly overcome difficult comprehension points with the help of the notes.
Of course, the most important thing,
Was that Thirteen’s Candle Brain, educated exclusively, not only possessed a complete consciousness but was also able to establish a Memory Palace centered around the word “frenzy.” Moreover, as a Candle Puppet, her brain was already above average among her kind, which is why she could sustain such a frenzied character.
In terms of reading, although she had no eyes, she could rely on the fire inside her skull to cast light through her eye sockets, enabling vision feedback and reading as if shining two flashlights onto a book — an ability that allowed her to read unaffected even in the darkest environments.
The two did not linger long in the commercial district,
One by one, swelling balloons floated up in the streets, beneath them trailed massive golden banners, and the liquid text on them even proceeded with a countdown.
At the same time, numerous Golden Mask employees shouted through the streets, “The auction will start in half an hour, please all guests with entrance qualifications proceed to enter in an orderly fashion.”
Simultaneously, a Golden Mask approached Yi Chen, giving the premium customer passage through a special entrance, leading up the stairs to the highest floor’s private suite,
Not only would they be undisturbed by other bidders, but they’d also be provided with food and personal services throughout.
This rather embarrassed Yi Chen, who didn’t have much money himself; after the auction ended, having enjoyed such VIP treatment without buying anything felt awkward to him.
The Golden Mask on the side, pouring prune juice, seemed to perceive Yi Chen’s discomfort and said in a magnetic and friendly voice:
“It seems there is some misunderstanding, Mr. William. The service we provide to you is entirely irrespective of whether you make a purchase, it solely concerns your prestigious status. We are already very happy that you could visit us, so please do not feel any mental burden,
You can consider this auction as a real-life show to watch.”
“Thank you.”
The Golden Mask glanced at the Candle Puppet by Yi Chen’s side, engrossed in reading, and the smile on the mask transformed, “Mr. William, have you bestowed self-awareness upon the Candle Puppet?”
“Yes.”
“To modify the Candle Brain, you clearly possess considerable brain skills. If interested, we can discuss this knowledge later. I have my own golden understanding of the brain.”
“Sure.”
“I won’t disturb you any longer.”
As the Golden Mask left, Yi Chen turned his attention to the auction arena, designed much like a theater, with VIP boxes, the atrium, and the lower floor all fully occupied.
The treasures of gold and silver that had been piled on the central stage had been cleared away, and the Duke had also temporarily stepped away.
Despite nearly ten thousand people participating, the entire venue was steeped in respectful silence, with even the sound of breathing minimized to show respect for the Duke.
Time was up,
Boom!
The ceiling of the auction hall shattered under the impact of some colossal object, and a miniature castle dropped down, breaking and replacing the original display stand,
As the castle unfolded, the Duke himself was inside, chewing on some food.
“Time flies, indeed. Just a slight distraction and it’s already evening.
Today’s auction held by Lamp City Ignasi follows the usual format–a total of 30 selected items for auction, followed by the segment of forced auction,
I will randomly pick ten lucky audience members, and you must bring out sufficiently high-quality, rare items to forcibly auction. If you can’t, you will have to become slaves, with more than ten years of slave usage rights auctioned off.
Let’s begin!
The first item…”
The Duke took out a steel-fork-like toothpick and dug out a large amount of twisted detritus from between his teeth, rolled it into a ball, and held it in the palm of his hand.
“This is a remnant of the gourmet dish I enjoyed at a Lamp City evening banquet. Bidding starts at one coin!”
No sooner had he finished speaking than over a thousand people in attendance bid at the same time,
The price was instantly raised to thirty thousand, followed by a bid of forty thousand from an old man whose face was covered with squid tentacles and who bore the face of a fishman.
Yi Chen furrowed his brows at this scene, finding it somewhat hard to comprehend.
Thirteen, however, continued reading undisturbed,
Little Grape popped half of her head out with a mouth growing atop her head, “Even the remnants from between teeth can sell for so much? Are these people secretly in love with the Duke or what?”
The usually quiet Yellow Skin provided an answer within his retina display.
“This is no ordinary dental residue. It is a top-quality ingredient stained with the Duke’s saliva and gold teeth marks. It’s quite rare to start an auction with such an item, which indicates that the Duke is in a rather good mood.
Direct consumption has a certain chance to increase that elusive ‘Luck Value'”
“Luck, huh?”
As a gentleman, Yi Chen also has ‘Luck’ as a Basic Attribute, but in over three hundred years, no one in the organization has ever managed to advance using luck, nor have they ever heard of anyone enhancing it.
He now knew a way to increase Luck Value, but the cost was far too high.
As the meatball sold for the high price of forty-five thousand, the prices of the subsequent exhibits mostly ranged from ten to thirty thousand, and while a few items were rather interesting, Yi Chen didn’t consider them worth spending heavy gold on.
With the exhibition of all thirty items, Yi Chen’s horizons were indeed broadened, deepening his understanding of the Old World, with Yellow Skin occasionally popping out to explain the value of the items.
The Duke unveiled an excited smile within the castle, “Alright! Now comes everyone’s favorite, the forced auction. I’ll do the drawing directly.”
The Duke extended his greasy palm inside his body, pulled out ten gallstones with numbers engraved on them,
The numbers correlated with the bidders’ numbers,
The chosen individuals showed expressions of joy, for they had prepared auction items in advance and hoped to fetch a good price, but most importantly, to get close to the Duke, to be tinged with his aura, and possibly even to gain the Duke’s favor and become valued customers.
But there were also audience members with grim faces,
They had nothing on them worthy of the auction, which meant they would have to auction themselves as slaves.
At that moment,
Yellow Skin, clad in gentleman’s clothes, trembled as if sensing something,
And Yi Chen’s gaze also captured one of the ‘lucky ones’ making his way to the stage.
“A Skin Slave? No… Why does the skin on this person look so decayed and rotten?”
If you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.
Report