The Auction System

"Lord Saint, may I begin?"

On the fifteenth day, Kent entered the Mowling Secret Realm. After news spread that the Heavenly Fire Kylin resided there, no one dared to enter the secret realm except for Kent.

As per the agreement, Kent was required to help the two children of the Heavenly Fire Kylin—Big Brother and Second Brother—evolve around the middle and end of the month.

Big Brother and Second Brother had lived in the Red Fire Ore Vein, and under the Heavenly Fire Kylin's guidance, their evolution had been rapid. In just a few years since their birth, they had already become Emperor-level beasts. Furthermore, because they frequently absorbed Red Fire ores, their bodies had accumulated a lot of undigested energy, which, according to the system, was essentially a large amount of experience points that could be used for leveling up and evolving.

"Go ahead," Kent said.

Since Kent had already helped Little Brother Chi Xing evolve in the secret room previously, the Heavenly Fire Kylin probably knew the exact process. Nevertheless, Kent still chose to perform the evolution alone in the secret room. After all, it was better to show than to tell. If the Heavenly Fire Kylin was watching, it might detect something unusual.

Kent and Big Brother Chi Ri entered the secret room. Kent made a few gestures, and as Big Brother Chi Ri watched with some confusion, Kent pointed at him and softly commanded, "Evolve."

Big Brother Chi Ri suddenly felt his body itching all over as if his cells were being flooded with vast amounts of energy, improving the physiological environment and structure of his cells. Soon, a thick golden beam of light erupted from within his body, and under its glow, Big Brother Chi Ri's body rapidly grew larger and thicker.

When the transformation ended, he had visibly grown stronger, and the aura emanating from him was no longer that of a top-tier Heavenly-level beast, but rather that of a low-tier Saint-level beast.

Big Brother Chi Ri looked at his body in disbelief. In such a short amount of time, he had evolved from a top-tier Heavenly-level beast to a low-tier Saint-level beast?

He still couldn't fully believe it, but when he remembered that Kent had also helped Little Brother Chi Xing evolve, he, as the elder brother, felt a sense of pride. He nodded toward Kent with gratitude.

"Wait," Kent called out. "Let me help you a bit more."

Big Brother Chi Ri looked at him in confusion. Wasn't the evolution already complete?

Kent then flicked his fingers twice. Immediately, two more golden lights appeared from Big Brother Chi Ri's body, though they didn't last as long as the previous golden beam.

Soon, the golden light dissipated, and Big Brother Chi Ri felt his strength increase once more. Upon closer inspection, he realized that his strength had increased by two full levels.

What…?

For high-tier beasts like them, the evolution speed was much faster than that of low-tier beasts, but there was a rule to it: the higher the level, the harder it was to level up. Big Brother Chi Ri, being a top-tier Heavenly-level beast, soon reached King-level, though breaking through to Emperor-level took more time. Once at the Emperor-level, progressing any further became even harder.

Usually, for Heavenly-level beasts, reaching the Emperor-level meant they had reached their peak, and further progress would be very slow.

Thus, Kent's casual gesture had saved Big Brother Chi Ri a significant amount of effort on his path to becoming stronger.

Big Brother Chi Ri gratefully glanced at Kent before excitedly running outside. He was too thrilled to contain himself.

After hearing about the evolution, the Heavenly Fire Kylin's gaze toward Kent softened considerably. "Kent, I will remember this favor."

Kent cupped his hands in respect. "Lord Saint, there's no need for formalities. You've also done your best to help me."

...

After evolving Big Brother Chi Xing, Kent would evolve Second Brother Chi Yue in half a month.

A few days later, large corporations from Earthstar City arrived. This time, three major financial groups and three prominent families were present. These financial groups and families each managed several large corporate enterprises.

Long Buyu quietly introduced them to Kent: "This is Bei Xianqi, the CEO of the North Moon Group; this is Song Xiaolong, the CEO of the Guo'an Group; and this is Peng Xianyu, the CEO of the Wind Thunder Group. This is Ye Guangquan, the third elder of the Ye family; this is Huang Guyuan, the fourth elder of the Huang family; and this is Hua Shansong, the third elder of the Hua family."

Kent took note of these individuals and stepped forward to meet them.

Though this was Kent's first time meeting them, there was some connection between the Ye and Huang families. Ye Qiugao came from the Ye family, and Huang Jintian came from the Huang family.

Ye Qiugao and Huang Jintian were both prominent figures at Saint Stone High. Huang Jintian ranked first, while Ye Qiugao ranked sixth.

Kent had no real ties to either Ye Qiugao or Huang Jintian. At most, they were rivals—Ye Qiugao, being proud and arrogant, didn't like Kent's superiority, which was perfectly normal. However, this small conflict didn't affect business between the Ye, Huang families, and Kent. And since it was an internal matter, no one else knew about it.

Kent didn't show any displeasure and didn't bring up the issue. He greeted each of the six leaders and received their praises and compliments.

"Kent, my young friend, when will the auction begin?" asked Bei Xianqi, CEO of the North Moon Group.

The others turned to look at him as well, unsure of the exact time and rules for the auction.

Kent paused for a moment and replied, "As I'm sure your representatives have informed you, there are 120 billion pounds of low-grade Red Fire Ore and 12 million pounds of mid-grade Red Fire Ore here. The energy contained in the mid-grade ore is 100 times that of the low-grade."

"The Red Fire Ore is very easy to mine and use. It can serve as an energy source, be absorbed by fire-elemental beasts, or be used to create fire-based potions. This is certainly not a simple deal, so it will take a few more days before the auction starts, to give everyone some time to think."

Although the media had widely publicized the news about the Red Fire Ore, there weren't many major buyers yet. Most were potential customers, waiting to see how things would develop.

Therefore, Kent intended to wait another two days. With more participants, the auction pressure would naturally increase.

He continued, "Given the massive quantity of the ore, I've decided to hold six auctions, each two days apart. Every auction will feature 20 billion pounds of low-grade Red Fire Ore and 2 million pounds of mid-grade Red Fire Ore. Each auction will be divided into 20 rounds, with each round auctioning 2 million pounds of low-grade Red Fire Ore or 200,000 pounds of mid-grade Red Fire Ore."

"What?"

The three CEOs and three family elders' faces changed drastically, clearly displeased. It seemed the Red Fire Ore would be divided into smaller portions, as no one could possibly win over a hundred rounds of bidding in one go.