CH 28.2

The purity of a grade 4 energy fluid was between 40% and 50%.

The average mid-level Energy Master produced a purity of less than 45%, and so with a purity of 48.75%, there was an over 80% chance that this was the work of a Senior Energy Master.

Lu Meng quickly reported this to the person in charge who was also his friend, happily sent a message to the Energy Master with the screen name [Bai] and waited apprehensively for a reply.

After a few minutes, he looked at the screen but there was no reply!

After a few more moments, there was still no reply.

Woo woo, did he think his identity wasn’t enough?

That was also true, because to the outside world he was just an appraiser. Who knew that he owned 30% of Star Ocean and was half a shareholder?

Therefore, the person who contacted this Energy Master was replaced by the Head of Star Ocean.

The person in charge, Huang Jiu, was equally excited and lowered the commission fee from 20% to 10% and then to 5%, but there was still no reply, which made the two of them feel a little discouraged.

Perhaps, this guru was just bored?

That’s right, otherwise he wouldn’t have extracted so little energy fluid.

Ai, they both sighed in unison. Forget it, since it was on consignment, they would auction it off first. What if the master saw that the price for it was good and came around?

The Star Ocean Auction House put items up for auction every day at 10am, with a starting price of 2000 starcoins and a minimum increase of 500 starcoins each time, and the items would be taken down at 24:00 on the same day.

Except for sellers who gave their own auction price, other items would be offered at a reference price by the appraiser to ensure that they weren’t sold at a lower price.

If the final auction price was more than 20% below the reference price, the item would be withdrawn and put back up for auction after a week.

If the bid exceeded the reference price, the item would automatically go into a one-minute countdown, and if no one bidded again, the item would go to the buyer.

If a bid was placed, the competition would continue and at the end of the one minute countdown, the highest bidder would win.

Bai Jing’s bottle of energy fluid was only a third of the size of a standard energy box, and the base price for a grade 4 energy fluid was 200,000 starcoins.

Lu Meng thought about it, then conservatively put a reference price of 70,000 starcoins, with a special note that the purity was 48.75%.

This purity was much higher than the average grade 4 energy fluid and close to the purity of a grade 5 energy fluid, so he hoped it would fetch a high price.

From 10 o’clock onwards, many people came to the Starnet Mall to look for items of interest to them.

But because Star Ocean was the fourth largest online auction house, most people only came here after shopping at the first three shops, and so it was nearly noon by the time they started bidding.

Appraiser Lu Meng and the man in charge hastily refreshed their bellies with a bottle of liquid nutrition and then stood guard nervously.

Judging from the browsing history, many people looked curiously at item 58, Bai Jing’s energy fluid, but most left quickly and no bids were placed for two whole hours.

They couldn’t be blamed. Most people preferred to trade offline for this kind of medium to high grade energy fluid or just offer the jadeite for the Energy Master to pick up.

Even if they did buy it, they preferred to buy it from the most reputable shop, not the fourth ranked Star Ocean Auction House which seemed to have a lot of miscellaneous items.

Besides, this Star Ocean Auction House didn’t seem to be reliable.

Apart from low grade energy fluids, there was only one grade 4 energy fluid, and it was only a third of the size, which was a bit absurd.

Who would buy it?

What’s more, in order to save money, the average person wouldn’t buy a medium or high grade energy fluid.

For them, a grade 2 energy fluid was sufficient. Even though it didn’t work as smoothly and needed to be changed very often, there was no need to use such a high grade energy fluid.

Moreover certain families with small assets had some sort of friendly relations with Senior Energy Masters and some went to offline auction houses. It was only a few that came to online auction houses.

Lu Meng was a bit anxious. If the energy fluid didn’t sell, how would he explain to the master?

Just then, someone approached item 58 and seemed to look at the energy fluid inside with great interest.

Lu Meng’s eyes lit up, but the next moment he heard the person snicker as he shook his head: “You’re putting this energy fluid up for auction?”

The middle-aged man looked at the price again, “A reference price of 70,000? F*ck, that’s a cash grab…”

Then, without a second thought, he turned around and left.

Lu Meng was disheartened.

“Look, there’s a bid!”

Huang Jiu shouted with some excitement as he watched the floating numbers on item 58.

But soon, the light in his eyes dimmed, as the number only went up by 500 starcoins and stopped at 2500 starcoins.

As the minutes ticked by, the mood of the two men became worse and worse.

It had taken them over ten years to get to this size, but they were still not as good as the top three shops with the right background.

Lu Meng was a senior appraiser, but in order to make their joint shop bigger and better, he quit his previously well-paid job, got up at the crack of dawn every day, didn’t waste a second of his time and spent his days appraising all those messy items, never wasting a second.

It was a shame that someone of his caliber and talent was stuck in such a small online shop.

But even with all their efforts, they had only managed to stabilize their ranking at number four and there was no way for them to move up.

Because the top three had their own mid-level Energy Master offline, they were able to bring in a steady stream of grade 3 and 4 energy fluid and so had accumulated a loyal group of regular customers.

Unlike them who had no resources and no background and so had to work their way up little by little.

So when this master with the screen name [Bai] appeared, both the person in charge, Huang Jiu and Lu Meng, saw hope in their eyes at the same time. Maybe he was an opportunity!

An opportunity for them to move up the ladder, an opportunity to move up the rankings!

But, reality struck them a fatal blow.

Lu Meng thought grimly in his heart, it was good that the master didn’t reply. They had nothing of worth to offer the Master to entice him to work for them in the first place. They couldn’t even sell out this energy fluid of such high purity level.

“Lu Meng, look, it’s sold!!!” The man in charge, Huang Jiu, shook his friend’s arm frantically.

“Ah, it’s sold? Sh*t, it’s really sold!” Lu Meng couldn’t help but burst out with foul language.

The bid for item 58 had jumped from 2,500 starcoins to 100,000, 30,000 starcoins more than his reference price!

Lu Meng and the director cried tears of joy. Heavens, they had finally gotten something to say to the master!

Coming out of the mech training room, Ning Yuchen frowned at his father’s departing figure.

Ever since he had expressed his desire to become an Imperial Sergeant, his father had expressed his disappointment more than once.

Ning Yuchen understood. His father had only one son, and so of course wanted to pass on the family business to him.

But he had never liked gambling on rough stones since he was a child, and he had no interest in the Ning family’s Rough Stone Area.

On the other hand, his sister Ning Yuxuan had a talent for gambling on rough stones and had placed 12th in the apprentice exams and would soon become a full-fledged Stone Gambler.

Why not pass on the Ning family business to Yuxuan?

With this in mind, Ning Yuchen left the house in his hover car. He was an adult and could take responsibility for his own choices.

He had secretly signed up without his father’s knowledge, passed his genetic and physical tests and would soon be an Imperial Sergeant.