Volume 3 Chapter 8: The Auction House

The next morning, Qin Lun was woken up by a series of clattering sounds. He got out of bed and went downstairs to the hall, only to find that Didi was trying to use the kitchen utensils to make breakfast.

In the Moonlight Forest, meals were specially delivered for both of them, so they didn’t need to cook for themselves. Now that they were here, the little Goblin finally had a chance to show off his skills in front of his master. When he left the Lu-Lu Tribe camp, his personal bundle was filled with many ingredients.

Qin Lun covered his face and let out a bored yawn. He just glanced at the blackened, hard ingredients on the table and immediately poured cold water on the little one’s efforts.

“Throw those ingredients away. Let’s order takeout!”

Didi’s pointed ears drooped dejectedly. He puffed out his cheeks and pushed all the ingredients on the table into the trash bin, secretly vowing to obtain some exquisite recipes in the future.

The villa had a projection caller, which displayed the numbers of various shops offering door-to-door services, including breakfast places and restaurants of different styles.

“Master, Miss Adeline came by this morning and left something for you to give to you!” Seeing that Qin Lun was still sleepy and wanted to go back upstairs for more rest, Didi’s eyes shifted thoughtfully, and he spoke timidly.

“Oh, let me see!” Qin Lun had no choice but to turn around on the stairs and threw himself onto the large sofa.

“Huh!” Holding the crystal bottle handed by Didi, Qin Lun felt a surge of energy after just one glance. “World Tree Dew, and it seems like there’s quite a bit of it!”

Qin Lun rubbed his chin. There were about ten drops of World Tree Dew in the crystal bottle, probably Mafa’s way of thanking him.

It appeared that after Mafa returned yesterday, the Moonlit Elves had already verified the matter regarding the candidate races. For them to get results so quickly, his guess was most likely correct. The Night Elves and Moonlit Elves were close relatives. Once they had a target to investigate, one night was more than enough.

Qin Lun turned his hand and stored the crystal bottle in his Storage Space without a second thought. It might seem like he gained something just by talking, but if he hadn’t owed Mafa a favor, even if he had seen the trouble the Moonlit Elves were facing, he wouldn’t have said anything.

This conspiracy involved not only the two major Elven Races but also four other Sapient Races. Getting entangled in such trouble was definitely not a good thing. If he happened to catch the attention of one of those Sapient Races, no mere bottle of World Tree Dew would be enough to make up for it.

“Little one, yesterday when you were chatting with that coachman, did he tell you where to go to get the formal identity for an Apostle’s attendant?” Qin Lun asked lazily.

In Devil’s Horn, besides Apostles and the service providers of the managing races, there were many attendants of Apostles who took care of their daily lives. In fact, Devil’s Horn provided the strictest protection for Apostle attendants because they were the group that faced the most probing and provocation.

Provoking an Apostle with an unknown identity could easily backfire, but probing between attendants was no big deal. If an employed combat attendant angered an Apostle and revealed the Apostle’s true combat power, that would be even better. Even with a formal attendant identity issued by the city, such probing incidents couldn’t be completely eliminated, but it would still be much safer.

“Hmm, the City Hall can handle it. It’s three blocks from here!” Didi licked his lips, his eyes shining brightly.

“Call that Gnome coachman from yesterday and have him take you there!” Qin Lun thought for a moment, then took out a Vine Seed and a Magic Eye and handed them to Didi. “For self-defense. Give them back to me when you return!”

“Master, aren’t you coming with me?” The little Goblin twisted his neck nervously.

“I’m going to the Auction House to take a look. Your appearance is too distinct and not good for hiding your identity.” Qin Lun waved his hand weakly.

He found that after talking with Didi for a while, his sleepiness had faded, but his body still felt soft and weak. In prison, he had always slept until he woke up naturally. Waking up so early was really not something he was used to.

“Little thing, don’t wake me up so early in the future. Otherwise, I’ll have Joey turn you into a Goblin Skeletal Angel…” The Serial Killer bared his teeth with malicious intent.

An hour later, after they had finished their takeout, Qin Lun’s energy had recovered. Didi left in the middle-aged Gnome’s carriage. Qin Lun gave Ram 5 Shattered Crystals and instructed him to stay with Didi until the little Goblin finished his procedures at the City Hall and then bring him back.

The middle-aged Gnome was very happy. Not many people actually took carriages in Devil’s Horn. Even including service providers and Apostle attendants, Devil’s Horn was just a small city with a population of a few tens of thousands, and the urban area wasn’t very large.

Those who took carriages were either High Apostles who didn’t care about the fare at all or Apostles who used the carriage to avoid various malicious intents and didn’t want to run into trouble on the way.

Qin Lun, wearing his Demon Mask, strolled slowly along the wide streets. According to the navigation map on his electronic Identity Plate, the large Auction House in Devil’s Horn was located in the city center, just two blocks away from the villa where he lived.

There were few pedestrians on the road, and the occasional Apostles they encountered were also in a hurry. After turning a corner, Qin Lun immediately saw the Devil’s Horn Auction House marked on the navigation map.

This Auction House had three floors. In front of the fan-shaped steps were twelve huge milky white columns, making it look grand and magnificent.

Entering through the main door of the Auction House, Qin Lun found that the first floor was a huge exhibition hall, with 3D projections of equipment and items everywhere. On the large screen directly ahead, some high-level equipment and items were displayed in rotation for all viewers.

Qin Lun only watched for a while before shifting his attention away. These items were not for auction but were equipment and items previously successfully auctioned by the Auction House. Each one was at least of Legendary quality, and their transaction prices were all astronomical figures exceeding six digits.

Qin Lun curled his lip and passed through the main hall, heading toward the white jade steps at the back. The booklet issued by the Demon Clan had introduced the Auction House. The main hall on the first floor was just an exhibition hall, while the second floor, filled with small booths, was the actual trading area.

As for the third floor, it was a specialized auction hall for high-tier equipment and items, only accepting consignments of Dark Gold Quality or higher. After a successful auction, Devil’s Horn would take a portion of the commission.

Qin Lun went up to the second floor, looked around, and then entered an empty small booth nearby. The booth’s furnishings were simple, with only a large, comfortable sofa and a 3D Projector. He sat on the sofa and turned on the Projector. Immediately, rows of item lists appeared in front of him.

The item lists were dazzling. At the bottom was a search box; entering keywords by handwriting could quickly narrow down the search. Qin Lun thought for a moment and directly entered two different keywords into the search box: “Atlas” and “Intelligence.”

The search results for these two keywords were very different. There were only about a dozen entries related to “Atlas,” while “Intelligence” had tens of thousands of entries. Qin Lun skimmed through them briefly and then focused his attention on two atlases.

“Encyclopedia of Low Magic World Monsters” and “Molde Research Specimen Atlas.” Both were white-quality items, categorized as Apostle books. Below them, it showed that each had been searched tens of thousands of times, and the number sold so far was over a thousand copies each.

What surprised Qin Lun was that the number of searches and sales for the “Molde Research Specimen Atlas” was actually slightly higher than that of the “Encyclopedia of Low Magic World Monsters.”

After quickly browsing the public content displayed for the books, Qin Lun immediately spent 1200 Shattered Crystals to buy both. The “Encyclopedia of Low Magic World Monsters” had very complete types of monsters, but the introduction content wasn’t detailed enough.

The “Molde Research Specimen Atlas” featured far fewer types of monsters, only introducing some common ones. However, the research content inside was very rich. It not only described the characteristics and habits of the monsters but also listed in detail how to deal with them and the valuable items that could be obtained from them.

After obtaining these two books, Qin Lun’s basic goal at the Auction House was achieved. As for equipment and items, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to buy any, but he didn’t know what to buy.

After returning from the Other World, Qin Lun had thought carefully about what combat profession he should pursue in the future. Based on an analysis of his current situation, he realized he should dual-cultivate summoning and long-range attacks.

This wasn’t just because of his Mazer Summoning Art and Wind Spirit Crossbow, but also because of his Combat Model. In the battle with the Witch, Qin Lun’s Combat Model played a significant role, but when he faced Laura alone, the Combat Model was useless.

This was an unavoidable weakness of the Combat Model—it required a lot of observation time and couldn’t be interrupted by the enemy’s attacks. Such a weakness destined the Combat Model to only develop towards long-range attacks and control systems, with significant limitations in close combat.

Using summoned creatures to entangle the enemy while he himself performed long-range attacks. This way, he would not only have observation time but could also avoid being interrupted by attacks during self-hypnosis, maximizing the Combat Model’s effectiveness.

For a normal person, this combat combination would be very ideal. However, for Qin Lun, there was a very unstable factor.

That was Joey!

With Joey’s stubbornness and obstinacy, he would never accept such an arrangement, just like Qin Lun could never accept personally creating a Skeletal Angel.

This fact frustrated Qin Lun greatly. Joey wasn’t his servant; he appeared naturally when he wanted to, and Qin Lun had no control over it.

Qin Lun vaguely felt a fear. Even though he was usually the dominant one, that was only because Joey couldn’t be bothered to appear. Once the “Dissector” encountered something that interested him, Qin Lun simply couldn’t stop Joey from kicking him offline.

Thinking of this, Qin Lun felt helpless. He continued clicking on the item list, excluding items below blue quality, and browsed casually.

Soon, one piece of equipment caught his eye, and his eyes slowly lit up. If it was this thing, even Joey probably wouldn’t refuse to use it, right?