Chapter 100: The Grand Finale Auction—Void Dragon Bone! (Second Update)

"One thousand mixed yuan units. Three seconds to go. Three, two, one! Congratulations to guest number KBR38293: you have won the Tana Star Region and become its owner."

The turtle-shell elder’s booming voice rolled through the auction hall. "The warm-up auction is over! The Qianwu Auction officially begins now!"

Brilliant light flared throughout the venue.

"From this point on, we enter the first auction batch. You can all see the upcoming one thousand items on your auction tokens. Please be ready!"

The turtle-shell elder shouted at the top of his lungs.

Jiang Chen’s attention, however, had already shifted to the auction token.

By sending his consciousness into it, item after item of information surfaced in his mind.

A Borna metal lifeform, capable of merging with a spacecraft and granting it self-repair and self-upgrading abilities.

A Lanke fruit, the finest treasure for cultivating beast pets and plant lifeforms; even if one were grievously injured, consuming it would still have a healing effect.

A machine race battle suit, requiring no personal strength at all, powered entirely by internal energy crystals, and able to perfectly withstand all attacks from a fifth- or sixth-tier domain lord. Even an utterly powerless ordinary person, once wearing this suit, could endure the strikes of a fifth- or sixth-tier domain lord without injury.

...

One auctioned item after another was quickly sold, the pace countless times faster than the opening warm-up round.

Of course, the prices were low as well.

Most items sold for between several hundred million and several billion universal coins. Only a very small number reached the level of mixed yuan units, and even then the winning bids were usually only in the single digits.

During the opening warm-up auction, in order to stir up the bidders’ enthusiasm, the organizers naturally brought out heavyweight treasures and sold them at high prices.

But ordinary auction items were not worth that much.

After all, this was merely an auction open to those who met the threshold of a three-star client. Among many three-star clients, total assets might amount to only a dozen or so mixed yuan units.

If bids regularly climbed into the hundreds or thousands of mixed yuan units, how many realm lords could afford that?

Treasures worth several hundred or several thousand billion universal coins were far more in line with the needs of strong experts of that level.

In the first few rounds, Jiang Chen spent 685 billion universal coins to buy two units, a total of two hundred tons, of memory metal, as well as one Borna metal lifeform, planning to take them back and study them.

He was deeply curious about strange life-forms like metal lifeforms and rock lifeforms.

Luo Feng also made a few bids, buying two sets of Lanke fruit and a telekinetic weapon, the Divine Evolution Blade.

When he obtained the Divine Evolution Blade, the joy in Luo Feng’s eyes could not be hidden.

"Congratulations. The Divine Evolution Blade really suits you," Jiang Chen said with a smile.

A weapon fused with metal and space properties was perfectly suited to Luo Feng’s future path of the Beast God Way.

Even now, by studying the Divine Evolution Blade, Luo Feng could accelerate his cultivation of the laws of space.

Luo Feng smiled as well. "I really do like this weapon. It’s a bit expensive, but I’ll be able to use it for a long time, so it’s worth it."

More than thirty billion universal coins: even though Luo Feng had made a decent harvest in the World within a World, it still hurt to take out so much money at once.

But for a traditional cultivator like Luo Feng, wealth was merely something external. Only treasures that could raise one’s strength were truly valuable.

With the Divine Evolution Blade, Luo Feng would not need to worry about his main weapon for a very long time. No matter how much it cost, it was worth it.

Neither of them made any more bids in the auctions that followed.

Luo Feng simply did not have much money left and needed to spend carefully.

As for Jiang Chen, there was nothing else that caught his eye.

With one thousand items per batch, each round took about an hour to auction off. The pace was extremely fast.

On the tenth day of the auction:

"All fifty batches of auction items, a total of fifty thousand pieces, have now been sold."

The turtle-shell elder narrowed his eyes with a smile and announced in a ringing voice, "Now we come to the final climax of this auction: the sale of the last one hundred items! These one hundred finale treasures are all unimaginably precious, and some are even unique! The starting bid for every single one of them is zero!"

"The first auction item: one golden leaf from the ancient Klas tree!"

As the turtle-shell elder spoke, an image of a golden leaf appeared on the screen beside him.

At first glance, the leaf looked ordinary, yet it faintly exuded a strange kind of magic that was difficult to discern, as though it were only an illusion.

The appearance of this leaf left most of the experts puzzled, but it also plunged the few who knew its value into a frenzy.

Babata seemed to know the origin and worth of this golden leaf from the ancient Klas tree, but refused to say any more.

Jiang Chen and Luo Feng had no intention of joining the bidding.

In the end, the leaf was bought for 8,990 mixed yuan units by a realm lord who appeared to have a deep background.

Still, among the entire auction, treasures of that caliber were rare.

Even the finale items could not all possibly be worth thousands of mixed yuan units.

As the auction continued, the somewhat restless emotions of Jiang Chen and Luo Feng gradually settled down again.

"Among the one hundred finale items, usually only two or three are truly priceless and exorbitant, like this golden leaf from the ancient Klas tree. It’s definitely one of the most valuable items in the whole auction. There will also be another dozen or so that are somewhat precious, each worth over a hundred mixed yuan units. The rest are relatively ordinary and can be won for just a few mixed yuan units."

Babata was not attending such an auction for the first time, and carefully explained the tricks of it to Jiang Chen and Luo Feng.

"The next item is even rarer! Even at auctions held by the various universe nations, it is hard to see a treasure of this kind!"

The turtle-shell elder shouted, "A complete skeleton of a rare starry-sky beast, the Void Dragon! Although it has no internal organs or flesh, the bones have been perfectly preserved, with no damage whatsoever! This Void Dragon’s level in life was that of an immortal god!"

A giant screen showed the image of a dragon skeleton.

Just the bones alone, when assembled, measured an astonishing over ten thousand meters in length, and the span of its wings exceeded thirty thousand meters.

Even reduced to bones, it still radiated a terrifying presence.

The detailed information also recorded the origin of the Void Dragon race.

Like Luo Feng’s Golden-Horned Beast, it was a branch among the starry-sky beasts, though it was not one of the twelve peak bloodlines, merely a mid-to-upper tier race among starry-sky beasts.

Of course, even the weakest starry-sky beast was still a starry-sky beast.

Aside from a few extremely rare special lifeforms, starry-sky beasts represented the apex of innate strength in this universe.

Every starry-sky beast race possessed its own unique talent.

And the Void Dragon was especially skilled in the power of space.

The moment Jiang Chen saw that skeleton, his eyes lit up.

Noticing Jiang Chen’s expression, Luo Feng could not help asking curiously, "Chen, you’re interested in this thing?"

"Yes." Jiang Chen nodded, then said, "You know my plan. I intend to build a powerful mechanized legion. The ordinary mechanical units and weapons are easy enough to deal with; a slightly inferior quality can still be compensated for by quantity. But my own mount must be forged from the finest materials and the most perfect design. This immortal-level dragon skeleton is fully capable of serving as the main body of a powerful mecha."

The Void Dragon’s innate secret art, Phase Leap, was one of the strongest secret arts within the space system, allowing it to traverse different dimensional spaces, evade enemy attacks, or launch ambushes from the most unexpected direction.

In terms of sheer mobility, it ranked second only to teleportation.

If it could be refined into the main material of a mecha while preserving that innate ability of Phase Leap, the resulting machine would be an absolute nightmare for any enemy.

Of course, accomplishing that would not be easy.

The Void Dragon’s skeleton alone would not be enough; a large number of other precious materials would also be required.

And even if everything were gathered, the chance of failure would still be high.

But Jiang Chen was willing to take that chance.

With twenty-one Space Furnaces continuously supplying him with enormous funds, even if he failed, he would merely be wasting a few years of accumulation.

But if he succeeded, he would immediately possess an incomparably terrifying trump card.

"The auction begins!"

The moment the turtle-shell elder’s voice fell, Jiang Chen immediately entered his bid into the auction token without hesitation: 50 mixed yuan units!

A corpse of the immortal level was not usually all that expensive.

But this was, after all, a starry-sky beast.

Though incomplete, it was missing the most crucial parts of the brain and internal organs, as well as all flesh, leaving only a skeleton.

Yet whether as a collectible, a research specimen, or material for refining treasures, it was still excellent.

In terms of value, the remains of a starry-sky beast were even higher than the complete corpse of an ordinary immortal god.

Fifty mixed yuan units was merely a probe.

Jiang Chen had no illusion that he could take it at that price.

As expected, the moment he entered his bid, it was immediately surpassed in the next instant.

Then the live price on the giant screen kept updating, surging all the way up to 89 mixed yuan units.

"One hundred mixed yuan units!"

Jiang Chen entered a new price, sharply driving the bid upward.

A sudden increase of eleven mixed yuan units immediately made many competitors hesitate.

This time, it took several full seconds before a new bid appeared: 101 mixed yuan units.

Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang Chen entered 110 mixed yuan units on the token, displaying an unambiguous determination to win.

Yet inside, he was tense beyond measure.

"Don’t keep going up. I only prepared 135 mixed yuan units in total. If the price rises any further, I won’t be able to afford it!"

Perhaps his prayer worked. This time, the price displayed on the screen did not refresh again for a long while.

A moment later—

"110 mixed yuan units. Any higher bids? Countdown: three, two, one! Congratulations to guest number XXXX: you have obtained the complete skeleton of an immortal-level Void Dragon!"

The turtle-shell elder’s voice let Jiang Chen breathe out in relief.

One hundred and ten mixed yuan units would have been enough to buy the complete corpse of some powerful immortal gods.

To buy only a single set of Void Dragon bones was indeed very expensive.

But Jiang Chen felt it was worth it.

He did not have absolute confidence in forging a Void Dragon mecha.

But for the chance to try, he was willing to pay a great price.

If it succeeded, this would become a treasure capable of serving as one of Jiang Chen’s trump cards for a very long time.

"One hundred and ten mixed yuan units. You really are rich!"

Luo Feng sighed.

He knew very well that when they had divided the spoils from the World within a World, Jiang Chen had only obtained a little over seventy mixed yuan units.

At least forty mixed yuan units apart, Luo Feng could not imagine where Jiang Chen had gotten such a massive sum.

However, he had no intention of prying. Instead, he changed the subject and said to Jiang Chen, "Congratulations on winning the treasure you wanted."

"It’s only the material. It still may not be enough to complete my idea. Even if it can be done, it will take a very long time."

Jiang Chen waved a hand, though the smile on his face could not be concealed.

For Jiang Chen, studying new knowledge and using what he had already mastered to design tools of outstanding function and units of formidable combat power was his greatest pleasure.

If the design of the Void Dragon mecha could be completed as he hoped, and the blueprint was collected by the system, the reward would surely be astonishing.

Even if it failed, there would still be much to gain in the process.

...

Time moved on, and soon they reached the penultimate auction item.

The skin fragment of the Demon Slayer Clan.

"This is very suitable for nurturing your clone," Jiang Chen said, glancing at Luo Feng. "Do you have enough money? I still have a little. If you’re short, tell me. Once you miss this, finding suitable clone material again won’t be easy."

"Ah Hua just transferred me some money. I still have a dozen or so mixed yuan units left. If no immortal god makes a move, it should be enough."

Luo Feng took a deep breath, then said with a hint of relief, "Thank goodness it’s damaged. If it were a complete Demon Slayer Clan skin, I wouldn’t even have a chance!"

The Demon Slayer Clan’s life form was highly unusual, a kind of energy lifeform with no soul and no fixed shape.

After one of them died, for even a tiny fragment of remains to be left behind required extremely harsh conditions.

And as the favored children of the laws of space, if a Demon Slayer Clan left behind its complete skin after death, the secret patterns on that skin would be invaluable for comprehending the laws of space. Even immortal gods would fight frantically for it, and it would never appear at an auction of this level.

But a damaged piece of Demon Slayer Clan skin was another matter entirely.

Even complete secret patterns were difficult to comprehend; damaged ones were almost impossible to understand.

Perhaps some people would try their luck in the hope of picking up a bargain, but they would definitely not offer a high price.

Unless an immortal god made a move.

For an immortal god’s wealth, spending a few more mixed yuan units would not be enough to cause any pain.

But Luo Feng’s luck was clearly good. With no immortal god joining the competition, once he raised his bid to 4 mixed yuan units, he successfully drove away all other competitors and won the damaged Demon Slayer Clan skin.

"Next is the final finale item of this auction—"

The turtle-shell elder’s voice rang out once again through the hall.

"I solemnly announce the last finale item: one qualification to comprehend the Primal Cosmos!"